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Over dinner one evening at the 2013 CES, I was being grilled by other magazine editors about my measurements of the Wilson Audio Specialties Alexandria XLF speaker that Michael Fremer reviewed in the January issue. In vain did I point to the XLF's superb in-room response; in vain did I emphasize that no one measurement fully describes a speaker's sound; in vain did I point out that the best way to integrate all the measurements was to listen to the thing. What I should have done was bid my peers to visit the dCS suite on one of the Mirage's penthouse floors where Wilson's Alexia loudspeaker…
And then there were five. At the end of the show on Friday evening, the remaining members of the Stereophile crew met for dinner at the same BLT Burger restaurant at the Mirage where they had eaten the night before the Show opened. Larry Greenhill, Michael Fremer, Kal Rubinson, Jon Iverson, Tyll Hertsens, and Jason Victor Serinus had already departed, so remaining were (left to right) myself, John Atkinson, Michael Lavorgna (AudioStream.com), Stephen Mejias, and Tom Norton (Home Theater, erstwhile Technical Editor for Stereophile). We don’t even look too tired!
Photograph: John Atkinson
Las Vegas? Why bother to fly across the country or around the world when you can visit New York City, Venice’s Grand Canal, and Egypt’s Great Pyramid in one easy, smoke-filled, retail therapy-rich, constantly stimulating stop? Why search out music on the net when, in Las Vegas, it constantly bombards you in elevators, from outdoor loudspeakers, and at your free lunch at T.H.E. Show?
Las Vegas? Why bother to fly across the country or around the world when you can visit New York City, Venice’s Grand Canal, and Egypt’s Great Pyramid in one easy, smoke-filled, retail therapy-rich, constantly stimulating stop? Why search out music on the net when, in Las Vegas, it constantly bombards you in elevators, from outdoor loudspeakers, and at your free lunch at T.H.E. Show?
Ah, Las Vegas. In his wrap to CES 2012, Stephen Mejias did a beautiful job of asking the simple but profound question, “Why?” Why, of all the god-forsaken places on Planet Earth,…
Register to win the Fela Kuti Box Set Compiled by Ginger Baker from Turntable Lab (MSRP $99) we are giving away.
According to Turntable Lab:
The second curated box set of long-awaited reissues from Fela Kuti is finally here! This time around, Knitting Factory Records has enlisted frequent Fela collaborator Ginger Baker to take the honors in selecting 6 classic LPs from the godfather of afrobeat's illustrious catalog. Baker's selections for this set include his own collaboration record, Live with Ginger Baker from '71, Roforofo Fight from '72, Confusion and Alagbon Close from…
Congratulations to Scott Leslie of Portland, Connecticut winner of the Pat Metheny The Orchestrion Project Blu-ray Sweepstakes. Robert Baird named the original recording our February 2010 Recording of the Month. Scott's copy of this Blu-ray was signed by Pat himself. Everyone give a big hand for Scott! Now who wants some Fela Kuti?
Bruckner: Symphony 9 (with Finale)
Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic
EMI Classics 9 52969 2 (CD). 2012. Christoph Franke, prod., ed.; René Möller, Tom Russbüldt, engs.; Alexander Feucht, ed. DDD. TT: 82:10
Performance ****½
Sonics ****
Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic
EMI Classics 9 52969 2 (CD). 2012. Christoph Franke, prod., ed.; René Möller, Tom Russbüldt, engs.; Alexander Feucht, ed. DDD. TT: 82:10
Performance ****½
Sonics ****
This reconstruction of the Ninth's Finale is the result of 30 years' work by Bruckner scholars Nicola Samale, John A. Phillips, Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs, and Giuseppe Mazzuca (SPCM). (See March 2010 feature story.) For this new "Conclusive Revised Edition 2012," SPCM shortened by 18 bars the coda, of which little of Bruckner's writing…
Slowly, painfully, high-end audio seems to be dying. We all know it but we're apparently unable to resuscitate the patient. US dealers are closing at alarming rates—it must be the economy. Women continue to avoid the High End—it must be the technobabble combined with male equipment fetishism. Younger people aren't hopping aboard—it must be all those other things competing for their money. (Then again, it might be the High End's abhorrence of rock'n'roll.)
While it seems we're quick to point fingers and find scapegoats, we haven't addressed the primary causes of high-end audio's…
Letters in Response appeared in April 1994 (Vol.17 No.4):
The High End's blindness
Editor: Well done, Jack English! Truer words have rarely been written in the pages of Stereophile. In the opening paragraph of your "R.I.P. High End Audio" in January, you nailed the culprit: people. For all its brilliant scientific success, the High End has failed miserably at the most important science of all: that of human psychology. Since a good understanding of human psychology is the basis of successful marketing, nobody should be surprised to learn that the High End can't market its way out…
There was a time not too long ago when my favorite NYC hi-fi dealer lived side-by-side with my favorite NYC record shop: In Living Stereo occupied a small space at 13 East 4th Street, with Other Music right next door at lucky number 15. Complete ecstasy was so close, so obvious. I often dreamed of tearing down the dusty old wall that separated the two, in essence creating my ideal world—all the hi-fi and music I could ever want, in one beautiful space. Music lovers might finally realize that there were options besides just boomboxes and Beats; and, similarly, audiophiles might finally…
While we contemplate high-end audio’s long, slow, and stinking death, Magico, manufacturer of high-performance, high-priced loudspeakers, is in the mainstream press: USA Today ran an article earlier this week, which asked, “How much would you pay to bring music to life?”
The author, Marco Della Cava, seems convinced of hi-fi’s potential. He writes: “Opening your eyes to see not a band but a cold rack of hi-fi gear is a genuinely jarring experience, like drifting to sleep in a hot tub only to wake up in the factory that makes the hot tub.”
This comes just weeks after two NYC hi-fi…