We reported last November that Thiel Audio Products, the Kentucky-based speaker manufacturer founded by Kathy Gornik and the late Jim Thiel, had been had been acquired by a private equity firm based in Nashville, TN, and that Gornik was no longer with the company. At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, held January 8–11 in Las Vegas, the Thiel display at the Sands Convention Center was packed. I met up with Thiel's new CEO, 55-year old Bill Thomas, and asked him what had led him and…
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Bill Thomas at CES with the ground-breaking coaxial HF/MF unit designed by Jim Thiel (Photo: John Atkinson)
Photo courtesy the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
I certainly am no stranger to the idea that a "student" orchestra can turn in a performance undeniably superior to those offered by many "professional" orchestras. After all, my favorite commercial recording of Mahler's Symphony 6 is by the orchestra of The Manhattan School of Music, conducted by Glenn Cortese.
But what a special treat it was to hear Daniel Barenboim conduct the orchestra he founded with Edward Said in Weimar in 1999, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, in a program of Beethoven's Second and Third ("Eroica") Symphonies…
You would think that Stereophile.com user MtnBeachBum created his username to gain a winning edge in the Beach Boys box set sweepstakes, but per my records, this guy registered on Stereophile.com well before this contest was listed. So it just so happens that this randomly selected winner had the absolute perfect username. And it gets better...
Chris Hubbard of Murphy, NC won a fat stack of Beach Boys remaster CDs as well as a Beach Boys hat, poster, and other random swag, and he received it all on his birthday!
A huge thanks to this music lover who will now have plenty of Beach…
I'm always happy to hear about audiophiles in Alabama.
Here's Steve Gibson of Killen, Alabama. For some reason, there seems to be a reserve of music lovers in the North Alabama/Tennessee border, many of which are active members here on Stereophile.com. Maybe it's the proximity to Muscle Shoals. Maybe 'Bama raises the best ears. Or maybe its the cheese grits.
Steve, or sgibson389 as he's known on Stereophile.com, made a couple resolutions for this New Year: to single task more year and to just "listen" to music. You and me both brother. Luckily, he just won an AudioQuest Dragonfly…
Clifford Brown/Max Roach: The Clifford Brown/Max Roach Emarcy Albums
Clifford Brown, trumpet; Max Roach, drums; Harold Land, Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone; Richie Powell, piano; George Morrow, bass
Mosaic MRLP 3004 (4 LPs). 1954–56/2012. Bob Shad, orig. prod.; Michael Cuscuna, reissue prod.; Ryan Smith, remastering. ADA.
Performance *****
Sonics *****
Clifford Brown, trumpet; Max Roach, drums; Harold Land, Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone; Richie Powell, piano; George Morrow, bass
Mosaic MRLP 3004 (4 LPs). 1954–56/2012. Bob Shad, orig. prod.; Michael Cuscuna, reissue prod.; Ryan Smith, remastering. ADA.
Performance *****
Sonics *****
Trumpeter Clifford Brown's death in a car accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike on June 26, 1956—his second wedding anniversary—set up an eternity of unanswerables headed by the belief, among many, that had Brownie lived,…
The demo seemed simple enough. A distributor proposed a session for the Bay Area Audiophile Society (BAAS) that would pit his relatively low-cost speaker cable against an ultra-expensive competing model named for a Norse god. We would listen to the music first with the high-priced spread, then with his cable, then discuss the differences. As far as the distributor was concerned, everyone would hear that the Nordic Emperor had no clothes.
When the first of two groups of BAAS members arrived, I played three complex selections that challenge a system far more than does the standard choice of…
Vladmir Lamm flips the record. The LP1 is on the top of the shelf to his left.
On Wednesday January 29th, 2013, Innovative Audio Video Showrooms hosted the NYC premier of the Lamm LP1 Signature phono preamplifier ($32,790).
After a cornucopia of Diet Coke, kosher sandwiches, and vegan quesadillas, listeners were invited to three listening rooms hosting three Lamm inspired systems: The Signature Room, the Reference Hybrid Room, and the Vacuum Tube Room.
I first popped into the Signature Room where Vladmir Lamm presented his new LP1 Signature phono preamplifier. The LP1…
Register to win an Audience aR2p Adept Response Power Conditioner (MSRP $695) we are giving away.
According to Audience:
The Audience Adept Response aR2p power conditioner is designed to elevate the performance of your audio system and provide superior power protection. It’s ideal for single-component applications like monoblock amplifiers, receivers, video projectors and video displays and plugs directly into a power outlet with no separate power cord required. The aR2p is hand-built with premium-quality high-current components throughout.
The Adept Response aR2p…
Today, Sony announced an end to production on all MiniDisc players. In a few years, MiniDisc production will cease as well. I know what you're asking yourself: "They still make those things?". But the MiniDisc was cool, if slightly deficient, and like many extinct formats, to some music lovers, it meant a lot.
Before the iPod but after my Discman, I owned a portable MiniDisc player. In fact, I still have it, and all my Minidiscs. I'm a bit of a hoarder when it comes to audio gear—good or bad I need to keep it because I never know when I'll need it again. I considered selling the MiniDisc…
When I reread my February “As We See It,” Music? Or Sound?, my first thoughts about a piece I had written a while ago were: (1) I wish I’d devoted less space to telling the story and more to expanding upon my thesis; and (2) I’m afraid that my motivation will be misconstrued. Indeed, the flurry of furious comments makes clear that I failed to make the best case for my argument.
I regret that, to some, I came off as arrogant or condescending. It’s not that I have a golden ear; rather, I’ve had sufficient experience with the particular performers and compositions in the recordings used at…