I have an impression that some phonophiles feel the same way about tonearms: They want them to pivot and to move up…
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Peter J. Walker (1916–2003), founder of Quad Electroacoustics and designer of some of the most well-regarded products in the history of domestic audio, famously believed that a properly designed audio-frequency amplifier should have no sound of its own. As for suggestions that his Quad II amplifier (1953–1971) sounded better than most, Walker was unmoved: "We designed our valve amplifier, manufactured it, put it on the market and never actually listened to it." (footnote 1)
Early on, I encountered a low hurdle that Phillip Holmes had predicted, and that I've encountered and written about before: As with so many other tonearms, it's difficult to make the height-adjustable ZA-12 sit low enough to fully accommodate the TD 124's platter, which is unusually low-slung relative to the armboard. Special emphasis on fully: the pairing proved ergonomically fine and sonically superb, but none of my cartridges was tall enough to allow lower-than-neutral vertical tracking angle (VTA)—ie, where the armtube is not parallel with the record, but slopes down from cartridge to…
Manufacturers' Comment
Editor: Thank you, Art Dudley, for your thought-provoking review of the Sorane ZA-12. It is a design that eschews complications, a product with quality materials and precision, at a fair price.
Complications in wristwatches are "cool" and add value. Complications in tonearms usually detract from the sound. The ZA-12 is simple for a reason. We didn't want to compromise the arm for compromised cartridges. If your cartridge needs azimuth adjustment, send it back for another, or to The Soundsmith for repair.
The leads are extra-long for retermination…
It's noon and a sunny 76º, and already people are setting up for the inaugural Florida Audio Expo at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore. No sooner do I walk into the Dynamic Sound Associates room than someone asks me if I can please hold three long and hefty Luminous Audio power cables. With those monsters hanging over one shoulder, I snap my first photo.
Next I encounter show promoter Bart Andeer in the lobby. Despite a few cancellations—one exhibitor has the flu, another is recovering from pneumonia, and a third, from Japan, encountered Visa issues—Bart believes we…
With our own Michael Fremer drafted to cut the ribbon, the first annual Florida Audio Expo got underway right on time on Friday morning. Alan Nastir, Board member of the local Suncoast Audiophile Society, began the short ceremony by welcoming everyone and thanking the show organizers. From left to right in the photo above: Alan Nastir; Bart Andeer, President of the Suncoast Audiophile Society and Resolution Acoustics; Ammar Jadusingh (aka AJ), owner of Soundfield Audio; Mike Bovaird, proprietor of Suncoast Audio; and John Chait, a longtime DIY audiophile who is a member of both the Suncoast…
As I soon discovered, I wasn't the only Florida Audio Expo attendee who decided to start at the top (Floor 8) and work their way down (Floor 2). My first room, sponsored by House of Stereo, showcased Bob Carver's attractive Crimson 350 monoblock amplifiers ($9500/pair), a Bel Canto Black EX preamplifier/DAC ($18,000), Wolf Audio Systems' Alpha 3 music server with Flux Capacitor Clock ($6750), the striking KEF Blade Two speakers ($25,000/pair), new Audience Front Row cabling, and Stillpoints Aperture room-treatment panels.
As I discovered soon after taking my photo, the sound was far…
Herb Reichert reviewed the Qutest in March 2019 (Vol.42 No.3):
I've met audiophiles who think all digital-to-analog converters sound the same. "If there's a difference," they declare, "it's in the filters or output stage." Some even believe that the whole "digital thing" was solved before we entered the 21st century. Not I.
By 2005, I'd begun to think the whole digital thing would never be solved. Worse yet, I'd stopped caring. "Mechanical Sound Forever" was the song I sang. Then an old friend gave me an inexpensive D/A converter, a Halide Design DAC HD ($495, discontinued). I…
Art Dudley reviewed the Mohican in March 2019 (Vol.42 No.3):
Having spent much of my life near Cooperstown, New York, I'm skilled at smiling placidly in response to outsiders who express enthusiasm for two things: the Baseball Hall of Fame and the collected works of James Fenimore Cooper. One of those is a dull, puffy monument to one of America's most trivial obsessions; the other is a building filled with sports memorabilia.
The Hall of Fame is okay. I spent a few lunch hours there as a teenager—I had a summer job at the A&P that used to be across the street and down the…
I spent the entire first day at the Florida Audio Expo trying to get a sense of the acoustics in the basic listening rooms of the Embassy Suites by Hilton at Tampa Airport. At times, just when I'd begun to think that the faults with one system had more to do with room acoustics than anything else, I'd walk into another, totally untreated suite and discover that the sound was superb.
So it was with more than a bit of lingering confusion that I continued my discoveries on the first morning and afternoon. Next up, on the 8th floor, was the room jointly sponsored by Merrill Audio and…
"48 pages of Audio Component Reviews" proudly proclaims the skyline on the cover of the March Stereophile, hitting newsstands, mailboxes, and tablets this week. DeVore Fidelity's Gibbon X graces the cover and is reviewed in depth inside by Jim Austin. DeVore's flagship speaker heads an impressive list of gear evaluated inside, from Shure, Spendor, Q Acoustics, KEF, Musical Fidelity, Rogue, Chord, Hegel, EMM Labs, Grandinote, Grado, Ortofon, Miyajima, Mutech, and Roon.
To kick things off, Jason Victor Serinus examines the state of audio shows in North America and Ken Micallef wraps the…