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I measured the performance of the Miyajima Wo-1 with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system. When I connected the preamplifier's output to the analyzer and switched it on, the Audio Precision's gain-ranging kept changing. Ken Micallef had told me that he had heard "pops" when he turned the preamplifier on, likely the result of a DC voltage somewhere in the audio circuit. An obvious place to look would be on the wiper of a conventional volume control potentiometer; however, I would not have thought the Wo-1's unusual "shunt" switched-resistor volume control would suffer…

Marantz, the iconic company started by audio pioneer Saul Marantz in 1953, is inviting the public to visit a 7000-square-foot immersive, interactive exhibit in New York City to celebrate its 70th anniversary.

The House of Marantz at Spring Studios, in the city’s trendy TriBeCa section, will open its doors to the public on Wednesday, July 12, between 11am and 7pm. Admission is free. The exhibit will include:

Feedback issues
I am glad I listened for five straight months without disconnecting the TU-8900's feedback. During that time, I never forgot the feedback was connected, but everything sounded so alive and energized that I never felt motivated to remove it—never, that is, until I began to write this report. When I finally took the feedback out, I was surprised how much rawer the sound became. Without feedback, a deep-and-silent, wet-look transparency appeared. The amp actually got quieter into my 97dB/2.83V/m– sensitive Heretic AD614s.

I found these new, raw, uncorrected…

Jazz emerged from the African-American experience in the United States, so it is not surprising that it has been socially relevant since its earliest manifestations. Sonny Rollins put the matter succinctly: "jazz is protest music."

In 1923, Bessie Smith sang songs based on her experience of racism and sexism. In 1939, Billie Holiday recorded "Strange Fruit," a chilling song about a lynching. Charles Mingus's 1959 classic "Fables of Faubus" secured a permanent place in music history for the…

Igor Osypov; Jason Lindner; Brandon Farmer
Those who had heard Igor Osypov in the Tabard with the high school band and John Hollenbeck's George needed to hear more. That opportunity came in a presentation in a club called Mama Kin. The band was Osypov on guitar and electric bass, Jason Lindner on keyboards, and Brandon Farmer on drums. They met for the first time at their only rehearsal on the day of the concert.

Osypov is one of the most creative under-40 guitarists in Europe. He is one of the few Ukrainian jazz musicians who is…

George: Letters to George (Out Of Your Head)

Vân-Ánh Võ featuring Kronos Quartet: Three-Mountain Pass (Innova)

Igor Osypov Quintet featuring Logan Richardson: I (Unit)

Orrin Evans: The Magic of Now (Smoke Sessions)

Kassa Overall: I Think I'm Good (Brownswood)

Mark Guiliana: The Sound of Listening (Edition)

Ambrose Akinmusire: A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note)

On Keep Your Courage, Natalie Merchant sounds like a 59-year-old woman who has been through some rough health. But that reflection of reality is what makes Keep Your Courage so good: Merchant refuses to hide her humanity and openly celebrates her distinctive, poetic mind while pondering the mysteries of love and the innate strength of women.

It's been almost 30 years since Merchant fronted the band 10,000 Maniacs. She has…

Almost five years after they released the first recording in their Prism series, the Danish String Quartet gives us Prism V. As in previous installments, the DSQ has paired a late Beethoven string quartet—here the extraordinary, final String Quartet No.16 in F major, Op.135—with a related fugue by J.S. Bach and a quartet by a later master.

What has changed is maturity.…

Sasha Matson is a unique thinker. Among the things he thinks about are jazz, rock, classical music, blues, film scores, and opera, to name just six of the genres he frequents. Sometimes he visits several genres in the same composition. His pivots can be jarring.…

The Prime was fitted with a Lyra Helikon SL cartridge (ca $2500, discontinued), driving a reasonably priced phono preamplifier: the…