My name is Maurice Jung and I am the interim President for T.H.E. Show Newport. It is with heartfelt sorrow that I must inform you of the passing of Mr. Richard Beers. He fought a good fight against lung cancer and because of…
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We received the following email this afternoon. Sad, sad news. I shall remember the Richard Beers of unlimited energy and enthusiasm, pictured above at the 2013 T.H.E. Show in Newport Beach, CA. Richard made audio shows fun for all—exhibitors, press, and most all audiophiles of every persuasion. We’ll miss you, Richard.—John Atkinson
Dear Industry Friends,
While we were preparing our list of specifications for our perfectionist's tape recorder discussed elsewhere in this issue, we suddenly came to a screeching halt at the spec which started "Scrape flutter less than . . ."
What, we wondered, was the scrape flutter percentage in a recorder in which scrape flutter is audible? Would it be 0.5%? Or 1%? Or even 5%? We perused the readily available literature, and were informed that "scrape flutter is caused by the tape's tendency to move past the heads in a series of tiny jerks in stead of in a smooth gliding motion." We were also told that…
This is by no means a new product. It was available in a stereo version as far back as 1961, and apart from a couple of minor refinements—the addition of a bias compensator and a new, lightweight shell—it is still the same arm, and it still has the reputation of being the perfectionist's tonearm.
There are two models available, differing only in pivot-to-stylus distance and in total mass. The Model 3012 is 12” from pivot to stylus, to accommodate old broadcast-type 16” transcriptions, but its mass is too high for the majority of to day's high-compliance pickups. The 3009 (with 9” pivot-to…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Universal-type fully adjustable pickup arm. Stylus force range: 0.25–5gm, adjustable w/out external force gauge; will counterbalance pickups weighing from2–20 grams. Height range (motor board to top of arm base): 3.25–2.375". Nominal arm length: 9". Stylus-to-pivot-center distance: 8.43" adjustable ±0.5". Depth below top of motor board: 2.75". Rear overhang (max): 3.25". Pivot friction: 0.02 gram, measured at stylus. Head: Four-circuit plug-in, with screw collar.
Price: $92.50 (1965); no longer available (2016).
Manufacturer: SME Ltd., Steyning…
South By Southwest 2016. Digital Natives, Millennials. VR! VR!! VR!!!
What was once a music festival has now, wisely I have to admit, become a technology conference, all of which loosely fits under the umbrella heading of the term, interactive. What does all this technology actually do? And is any of it practical? Does any of it apply to life right now? I have to admit that watching real estate being sold live in real time over a computer (to buyers who never actually saw the house?) was fairly odd. As someone who remembers when music was the focus of South By Southwest, I tend to cast a…
Turning a corner at the fairly massive South By Southwest Trade Show, I was confronted by the happy puppy of marketing which seems highly appropriate.
And if it’s marketing you seek, SXSW has become a paradise for anyone hungry for eyeballs. To advertise their new horror show, Preacher, which involves entities inhabiting religious figures in West Texas, AMC set up this heretical display which was clearly not inexpensive and was fun to marvel over but what exactly is the message here? Hmmmm?
Until Zenith, the first release on his own label, Inner Voice Jazz, pianist Marc Copland had never played with trumpeter Ralph Alessi, but they prove an ideal match. Joined by bassist Drew Gress (who has long played with both musicians) and drummer Joey Baron (who can play anything with anybody), this might turn out to be a "classic quartet."
Alessi, 53, has a lean tone and a penchant for minor chords that seems to owe much to Miles Davis' In a Silent Way mode, but he adds to it a classicist's harmonic stretch and an expansive puzzle-master's sense of space. His albums as a composer-…
Because my train from Albany, NY arrived ahead of schedule, there was just enough daylight for me to photograph Montreal's Bonaventure Hotel—formerly the Hilton Bonaventure—which, from Friday March 18 through Sunday March 20, is the site of the brand new Montreal Salon Audio. As some of you will recall (see our recent story), Montreal's heretofore long-running Salon Son et Image was "deferred" by its organizers, on account of too few manufacturers and dealers willing to sign up as exhibitors at the once-iconic show. But then the show's previous organizers, Michel Plante and Sarah Tremblay,…
Universities were well represented at the SXSW 2016 interactive trade show and Virginia Tech University had this impressive beast, named Seymour, a super computer made up of many smaller computers, that was a collaboration between a sculptor and a computer scientist. It was also described to me as an “art piece.” If my wife would let me have one, I’d probably give it a whirl. Something about all that lime green plexiglass. Now if it only had a turntable!