Timely if nothing else, that email came just after I had serendipitously acquired a new-to-my-collection, first-pressing LP copy of the first Guy Clark album, Old No. 1. Killing time before a doctor's appointment near…
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Recently, a letter to the editor from Len Eggert arrived in Stereophile's digital mailbox that closed with a question: "How about coverage of other notable 'outlaw' singer-songwriters who shunned Nashville and put Austin on the musical map: Guy Clark? Kris Kristofferson? Jerry Jeff Walker? Waylon Jennings? Billie Joe Shaver? David Allan Coe? Are you listening, Robert Baird?"
Pictured above is show co-organizer Sarah Tremblay (third from left, holding scissors) performing the ribbon-cutting ceremony to begin the 35th anniversary of the Montreal Audiofest. Photo by Séisme Média/Anik Lemieux.
By noon Friday, the 2024 35th edition of the Montreal Audiofest had sold more admission tickets than it had the entire weekend last year, which is great news for the organizers and industry. For the audio reporter seeking a listening seat, never mind in the sweet spot or a good angle to take a photo, it required I do more strategizing than usual—including negotiating…
Many audiophiles and serious music lovers are passionate about vintage. Vintage has become a popular "way in" to the hobby, especially popular among younger folks. Reasons vary. Many—perhaps most—are seeking more bang for the buck than you can get buying new. Others prefer classic sound and aesthetics: that special vintage vibe. At least a few inherit or receive vintage pieces from audiophile parents; others come across a beautiful bargain they can't resist. An important niche in our hobby thinks vintage equipment simply sounds better than the new stuff.
Not every vintage piece sounds…
All photos by Rogier van Bakel. Compositing by David Evett.
For Christmas in 2020, a friend sent me a gift: a coffee mug decorated with a one-out-of-five-stars rating for the annus horribilis the world had just been through. The caption on the ceramic read, "VERY BAD WOULD NOT RECOMMEND."
True, the pandemic year and the lockdowns had been no fun, to put it mildly, but that doesn't mean there were no positives. Every day, rain or shine, my 10-year-old daughter and I played soccer on the field behind our house. We—pointlessly, I concede—trained our shepherd to walk backward on…
Alexander didn't outright second-guess my slight preference, but I don't think it made him happy either. "You and Herb Reichert are the only ones I'm aware of who like my models with the vents blocked," he emailed me. He was referring to Herb's two-thumbs-up review of Tekton's Impact Monitor, in which Herb mentioned blocking the Impacts' ports with "Wigwam Outlast Weather Shield socks." For all I know, Herb's socks may well sound better than my pool noodles. Maybe we should have a shootout, with burlap sacks, 600-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets, or comically oversized ball gags.
But…
Sidebar 1: 250 Models and Counting: an Interview with Tekton Design's Eric Alexander
One measure of Eric Alexander's drive and versatility is that, by his own count, 19-year-old Tekton Design has engineered and built roughly 250 different models of loudspeakers, one at a time, made to order, with a team that currently numbers eight people.
Rogier van Bakel: Your speaker designs vary quite a bit. Sometimes the ports are in the front, sometimes in the back. You make speakers that are intended to be coupled with SET amps, and others that do well when driven with considerable…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: 3-way bass-reflex floorstanding loudspeaker with dual rear ports, two 12" woofers, patented dual polycell all-beryllium midrange arrays, and a single beryllium tweeter for high-frequency reproduction. Crossover frequencies: 772Hz and 3.41kHz. Frequency response 27Hz–40kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity 93.0dB/2.83V/m. Recommended power 8–900W.
Dimensions: 69.2" (1758mm) H × 14" (356mm) W × 17" (432mm) D. Weight: 157lb.
Finishes: piano lacquer black, white, obsidian schwarz, bianco Italia, rosso folgore, grigio lynx, grigio titanio, infrared, rosso corsa,…
Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: 16" MacBook Pro M1 Max running Roon 2.0. Lenovo ThinkCentre running Roon ROCK. Aurender A20. HiFi Rose RS520.
Preamplifiers: Audio Research LS16 MkII, Balanced Audio Technology VK-90, Benchmark HPA4 line stage.
Power amplifiers: Krell FPB 200c, two Margules U280sc (used as monoblocks), PrimaLuna Evo 400 integrated with Tung-Sol KT150 and Gold Lion platinum-grade 12AU7 tubes, Balanced Audio Technology REX 500.
Loudspeakers: Focal Utopia Scala Evo, Tekton Moab (original version).
Cables: Clarus Crimson pure copper OCC…
Sidebar 4: Measurements
I measured one of the Tekton Moab Be loudspeaker, serial number 0001L, in RvB's listening room, driving it with his Krell FPB 200c amplifier. I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system with a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to examine the speaker's behavior in the farfield and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. It wasn't possible to raise the 157lb loudspeaker off the floor for the measurements, so the first reflection from the ground occurs earlier than is usually the case with my testing. I therefore measured the response and dispersion with the microphone…
It was almost Christmas, a perfect, chilly, blue-sky day to visit the Met Museum and see the Manet/Degas show before it ended. On my way, walking north on Madison Avenue, I passed the uptown branch of Gagosian Gallery and noticed a brightly lit poster behind thick glass announcing their exhibition of American artist Brice Marden's last paintings. The title of the show was "Let the painting make you," which sounded like an invite and a challenge, so of course I had to go in. I was in the perfect mood to ride in Gagosian's swanky private elevator and see how a famously serious painter with a…