The first program is the wonderful Ken Burns documentary series, Country Music, which runs for an astounding 16 hours while uncovering biographical detail on the artists that established each important country sub-genre: the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, and on and…
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Under the category of "abundance of musical riches," there are two fantastic series about music airing on PBS right now. You probably already know about one of them, but another, which many readers will like even better, is getting far less press.
Let's talk about management styles. If you want to run a successful small business, you must first be happy. If your personal goals are to learn and to discover, and you combine those with an intrinsic need to share your achievements and connect with people in your chosen field, you are likely to succeed. Given those qualities, if your business goal is to provide desirable goods and needed services, you will not fail. You will succeed beyond your wildest dreams if these are your goals and if you hire happy, smart, big-hearted people, with strong creative forces lodged inside their chests.…
Just then I was struck by a memory from decades ago, of being in a corrugated-metal pole barn, in the middle of nowhere. It too was super-clean and filled with 50 years' worth of vintage Leica film cameras. While perusing the shelves, I stumbled on a dozen or so black-bodied Nikon rangefinders hidden in a remote corner. All these cameras were supremely beautiful—and timeless looking. I wanted one of each. Driving home from the Leica barn, I wondered which digital cameras might someday be considered timeless and beautiful.
After lunch, Sphere and I began our carefully orchestrated…
This is the 100th and—surprise!—final edition of Music in the Round. MitR began in mid-2003, shortly after SACD and DVD-A discs made high-quality multichannel music convenient and widely available. At the time, I was convinced that multichannel reproduction was superior to stereo because it was able to reproduce the full sound of the performance—not just the performers. Stereophile's founder, J. Gordon Holt, had promoted this idea many times, but the appearance of the new media finally brought it to a wider audience. I recall that, when then-Editor John Atkinson and I floated the idea of a…
Alternatively, if you're interested in sophisticated DSP functions such as upsampling, downsampling, equalization, room correction, and so on, at high sample rates, you're going to need a faster box. Choose a computer with an 8th or 9th Generation Intel i7 or i9 processor (or the equivalent AMD Ryzen CPU), with fast RAM and a solid-state drive for storing the OS and programs. You can buy a so-called silent or quiet PC from the Internet, build your own, or buy a purpose-built computer constructed by a specialist for dedicated audio use. That last option is the easiest way to assure that your…
One of my biggest surprises since I became the editor of Stereophile—and so started focusing more on all things audiophile—is how often I find myself thinking about the ethics of this hobby. This is unusual for me: I dislike moralism and prefer aesthetics to ethics.
A small example: Recently, while I was writing an audio review, I started to type the phrase "pride of ownership." I don't know who coined it, but I know I've read it more than a few times, and I've probably written it myself. It's so common that it's practically a cliché.
But that's not why I didn't type it. Rather,…
In the realm of loudspeaker reviews, John Atkinson's measurements and my empirical observations have one important equivalency: Both are meaningless abstractions until confirmed by your listening experience.
Both are contingent on factors that are necessarily obtuse and not especially controllable.
Fortunately, the only loudspeaker assessment that really matters depends entirely on consensus: you and your buddies, and your buddies' buddies, and their children, and their children's friends, listening, analyzing, debating, then listening some more—then buying and selling over…
As my "Mystery Train" obsession lifted, editor Jim Austin posted a YouTube link on Facebook that immediately rekindled my love for the most colorful and iconic band of New Orleans in general and Mardi Gras in specific: the Wild Tchoupitoulas. I went immediately to their eponymous album, featuring the Meters and the Neville Brothers, which I bought when it blasted onto the downtown art scene in 1976 (LP, Island ILPS 9360). I have played this well-recorded vinyl disc 100 times, but now I was enjoying it in streaming digital (44.1/16 FLAC, Island Records/Tidal).
Halfway through "Meet de…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: 2.5-way, floorstanding, reflex-loaded loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" aluminum-dome tweeter, two 5.25" polycellulose-cone midwoofers. Crossover frequencies: 1.8kHz, 2.8kHz. Frequency range: 44Hz–40kHz. Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 6 ohms. Recommended amplifier power: 20–200W.
Dimensions: 7.5" (190mm) W by 36.7" (930mm) H by 10" (255mm) D. Weight: 31.6lb (14.3kg).
Finish: Pantone black or two-tone wood.
Serial numbers of units tested: TR0050-G30002167 & '2130. ("Designed and Manufactured in the USA. Made in China").
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Dr. Feickert Analogue Blackbird turntable with Jelco KT-850L tonearm, Etsuro Urushi Cobalt Blue cartridge or (alternatively) My Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent Ex MC cartridge; AMG Giro G9 turntable & 9W Turbo tonearm and Hana ML MC cartridge.
Digital sources: Mac mini computer running Audirvana Plus 3.2; Integra DPS-72 CD player (transport only); Schiit Bifrost Multibit, Chord Qutest DACs.
Preamplification: Excel Sound ET-U50, EMIA Phono step-up transformers; Tavish Design Adagio phono preamplifier; Rogue RP-7 line preamplifier.
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