Designed by Sven Boenicke, who in addition to designing speakers has been a recording engineer for more than 20 years, the Boenicke speakers appear small in scale but contain unique,…
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Alma Music & Audio's Room 266 featured the Boenicke W8 SE speakers ($18,254/pair), from Switzerland—the smallest of the W lineup's three towers. Speakers in the W series—W is for wood—have cabinets made of that substance, American Walnut in this case. Each W8 SE rested on a patent-pending "SwingBase" suspension, which allows the speaker to move more freely within the horizontal plane, the company says.
On analogplanet.com you'll find coverage of my visit in November 2013 to the 10th annual Manila Hi-Fi Show, which took place the weekend of the devastating typhoon Haiyan (Filipinos call it Yolanda). Because the people I met there are such big Stereophile fans, I wanted to be sure to give them a shout-out in this column, too.
Despite the weather, which prevented audiophiles living on other islands of the archipelago from flying in for the event, at least 2000 managed to attend. These are passionate, enthusiastic audiophiles—and the high proportion of young people, particularly among the…
So . . . which alignment curve? If you look at a graph on which all of the various geometries are superimposed, you'll see that every one of them has higher distortion in the outer-groove area, which diminishes as the stylus reaches the first null point—ie, the first point at which there is zero tracking error.
The position of the first null point depends on the curve used. With Löfgren A, it's about 119mm;, with Stevenson (not included in the SMARTractor) and Löfgren B, about 117mm; and with SMARTractor designer Dietrich Brakemeier's UNI-DIN curve, 113mm.
From the first null…
To celebrate its 15th anniversary, Estelon unveiled its new non-tower A‑Series speakers: the Aurelia ($19,300/pair including stands), the Aurelia Centre ($8100 each), and the Aurus ($14,600 each).
What began as a request from space-conscious Asian buyers now suits a wave of American downsizers. The Aurelia is a two‑way passive speaker with a sealed box. It has two 5" paper-cone midrange drivers from SB Acoustics and a 1" textile-dome tweeter from Scan‑Speak. The cabinet is a “thermoformed mineral-filled composite,” says Estelon. The speaker comes with feet that are designed to minimize…
Valerio Cora (Acora Acoustics/Audio Research), Kevin Hayes (VAC), and Mat Weisfeld (VPI) worked the halls in Munich with the confidence of seasoned entrepreneurs, showcasing their US-made gear at the world's biggest high-end audio show.
The system featured a VPI Avenger Direct turntable fitted with a FatBoy Gimbal 12-3D tonearm ($36,000 for the combo), which I reviewed for Stereophile. The tonearm carried a Hana Umami Red low-output moving-coil (MC) cartridge ($3950). Digital sources included an Esoteric N-01XD SE network streamer ($25,000) and an Esoteric Grandioso K1X SE SACD/CD…
My Morning Jacket: Is
ATO 00688 (LP). 2025. Brendan O'Brien, prod.; Kyle Stevens, eng.; Tommy Turner, asst. eng.
Performance ****
Sonics ***½
ATO 00688 (LP). 2025. Brendan O'Brien, prod.; Kyle Stevens, eng.; Tommy Turner, asst. eng.
Performance ****
Sonics ***½
After self-producing most of their nine previous albums, My Morning Jacket decided to shake things up and bring in producer Brendan O'Brien. Best known for his work with Pearl Jam, O'Brien has helmed acclaimed albums by the Black Crowes (Shake Your Money Maker) and Bruce Springsteen (The Rising) as well; music fans also encountered him as a keyboardist on Neil Young's 1995 Mirror Ball tour, and on the album of the same name.
With…
György Ligeti: Violin, Piano & Românesc Concertos
Isabelle Faust, violin; Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, piano; Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth, cond.
Harmonia Mundi HMM905382 (CD; reviewed as 24/96 WAV). 2025. Jiri Heger, prod. and eng.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
Isabelle Faust, violin; Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, piano; Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth, cond.
Harmonia Mundi HMM905382 (CD; reviewed as 24/96 WAV). 2025. Jiri Heger, prod. and eng.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
Equally defiant of the Nazis and the Stalinists, Ligeti was a twice-burned iconoclast whose life and music defied convention. Ligeti fused the wild edges of Hungarian folk tradition with influences from Romania, the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, and his own unruly imagination. No other composer…
Kenny Dorham: Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco
Kenny Dorham, trumpet; Sonny Red, alto saxophone; Cedar Walton, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Denis Charles, drums
Resonance HCD 2072 (CD; also available as 2 LPs). 1967/2025. Zev Feldman, Bernard Drayton, Charley Drayton, prods.; Bernard Drayton, eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****
Kenny Dorham, trumpet; Sonny Red, alto saxophone; Cedar Walton, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Denis Charles, drums
Resonance HCD 2072 (CD; also available as 2 LPs). 1967/2025. Zev Feldman, Bernard Drayton, Charley Drayton, prods.; Bernard Drayton, eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****
Freddie Hubbard: On Fire: Live from the Blue Morocco
Freddie Hubbard, trumpet; Bennie Maupin, tenor saxophone; Kenny Barron, piano; Herbie Lewis, bass; Freddie Waits, drums
Resonance HCD 2073 (2 CDs; also available as 3 LPs…
Although most of the products shown at T.H.E. Show in Costa Mesa lean toward the higher end and specialty markets, some affordable products from next-gen designers were mixed in, too—Chesky Audio's LC1 bookshelf monitor, for one, which has been receiving plenty of buzz. Another noteworthy example of a different sort—an active speaker—is the all-in-one Brane Audio Brane X portable speaker ($499) with a built-in true subwoofer.
Based in Austin, Texas, Brane Audio is a self-described audio-tech company. Its Brane X speakers can be deployed as a single unit—each speaker can deliver…
Mastersound's Antonio Ferro showed four products, including the flagship Spazio preamplifier ($21,500; prices approximate and converted from euros). It's a multidrive‑stage preamplifier that uses six ECC82 and three ECC83 tubes, provides RCA and XLR inputs and outputs, and includes MM/MC phono inputs.
The new Mastersound single‑ended PF200 monoblocks ($100,000/pair) deliver 200W in class‑A via eight 845 tubes, feature automatically adjustable bias, and provide one XLR input.
Resembling the Mastersound 845 that I reviewed for Stereophile—now with updated…