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The AFI FLAT.DUO Record Flattener And Vinyl Relaxer
Even if it's not severe enough to make your needle skip, a warped record creates all kinds of havoc for your cartridge and system. As the cartridge rises and falls like a roller coaster, the inertia of the arm causes the tracking force to rise and fall dramatically. This gives the cartridge's suspension a workout, crushing the stylus and cantilever upwards as it goes up the warp, stretching it out as it goes down the other side. In addition, this flexing of the cartridge's suspension creates big changes in the stylus rake angle, and…

Fast-forward a few years. I bought my first BBC LS3/5a in 1980. It was a Falcon Acoustics kit I saw advertised in the back of Speaker Builder magazine. Fingers crossed, I sent a postal…

Listening: I began my Lyra Delos trials by mounting it on a DS Audio HS-001 headshell attached to my Sorane SA-1.2 tonearm and connected with AudioQuest's 1.2m, 60pF Yosemite tonearm cable to a PrimaLuna EVO 100 phono preamplifier. I set VTF to precisely 1.75gm, as recommended. During break-in, which took no fewer than 40 sides, I experimented with shunt MC preamp loading of 100, 200, and 500 ohms. They all sounded similarly dryish, with extraordinary bass resolution and pristine focus. I settled on a 100 ohm load because that was the quietest and most relaxed. Two hundred ohms was more…

“It’s Luxman’s 100th Anniversary,” Stereophile Editor Jim Austin told me in passing. “You’ve got to hear how good the sound is in the Rhythm Distribution room that Luxman shares with Marten and Jorma.”

In the Prosperity room—a nice aspirational name—I found beautiful timbres and open, spacious sound. A DSD file of the Shelly Manne Trio’s “The Sicks of Us” excelled in smoothness and refinement. On a 24-bit/96kHz recording of pianist Alice Sara Ott performing Chopin, the system conveyed the piano’s radiance and its beguiling delicacy. Air and space were again excellent; dynamics,…

No fewer than five Stereophilers visited Fidelity Imports’ Utopia-D room during AXPONA 2025. I focused on the Audia Flight Strumento No.8 monoblocks ($34,999/each) that had joined forces with Audia Flight’s Strumento No.1 EVO preamplifier ($29,995), an FLS 20 SACD player/streamer ($21,999), and a Flight Phono ($6999).

Ken Micallef no doubt ogled the Wilson Benesch GMT One turntable system ($370,000), which shared the room with Wilson Benesch Omnium floorstanders ($149,999/pair) and the company’s $34,999 IGx Infrasonic Generator, a cylindrical subwoofer that plays frequencies as low…

As fine as I know Audio Research equipment to sound, I never expected to hear, in a drapery-lined exhibit space that's potentially anathema to quality sound, as thrilling and involving a demonstration as I heard in Quintessence Audio's “Connection” room. Especially not from an overly familiar recording.

That listening session almost never came to be. The first time I entered the Connection room, on the busiest day of the show, sound levels so exceeded the limits of what the room could sustain that music was reduced to clatter. In less time than it would have taken for me to sit…

In front of a passive hallway display in the lobby of the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center, Mark Henninger and I caught up with TJ Goldsby, AXISS Audio's vice president of sales and dealer relations, and Takaya Inokuma, senior management director, Accuphase Laboratory. Together, we chatted about the first showing of the brand-new, entry-level Accuphase E-3000 integrated amplifier ($8975). Accuphase's new class-AB integrated outputs 100Wpc into 8 ohms.

Days after AXPONA 2025 wrapped, organizers announced a record 10,910 attendees—a 5% increase over 2024. Trade passes grew by 20%, which either points to a surge in legitimate press coverage or an uptick in blog-based glamor shots (aka audio porn) aimed at securing free entry.

With 213 listening rooms across 12 floors, featuring products from more than 700 manufacturers and brands, there had been plenty to photograph, ogle, and—better yet—audition. The Ear Gear Experience also grew, complemented by a Record Fair and a new Car Audio Showcase. Thanks to the draw of Patricia Barber,…

The Only Ones formed in 1976, at the dawn of the punk era. The South London quartet never quite fit in, being more Dylan and Velvet Underground than Damned or Pistols. After three good albums and a masterpiece of a single ("Another Girl, Another Planet"), the group split in 1982.

Happily, we hadn't heard the last of lead singer Peter Perrett, although it took a few decades. After two albums with The One, Perrett released the solo albums…

What is this? That question is reasonable to ask after hearing Alpha's new concept album, Electric Fields. The plans for this recording began with the Labèque sisters. They teamed up with the ever-adventurous soprano Barbara Hannigan and composer/performer David Chalmin, who combined spiritual texts by…