Over dinner that evening he regaled Pear Audio's North American importer, Michael Vamos of Audio Skies, and me with turntable stories dating back to the late 1970s and the Linn Sondek LP12, which, until the early '80s, he distributed in Czechoslovakia. In the mid-'80s, Mezek was involved in the development and distribution of the Rational…
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Pear Audio Analogue's Peter Mezek can keep you up all night spinning fascinating turntable tales. Had my mind not been numbed by Sunday evening, October 12, the last day of the 2014 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, I might have insisted that he do just that.
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: 9"-long tonearm with carbon-fiber arm tube. Pivot-to-spindle distance: 212.2mm. Overhang: 22.8mm. Effective length: 235mm.
Price: $28,000.
Manufacturer: Swedish Analog Technologies, Gothenburg, Sweden. Tel: (46) 736 846 452. Web: www.swedishat.com
A heavy brass cylinder press-fitted inside a curved plastic collar is used to set the vertical tracking force (VTF). It's simple, but it makes setting a precise VTF somewhat difficult. Antiskating is set with a lever and sliding weight on one side of the armtube that exert a force on a second lever on the other side of the tube.
In short, while every parameter of the Cornet 2 is adjustable, a few are not easily set—the usual tradeoff in a moderately priced arm.
I found Pear Analogue's description of the Cornet 2 long on hyperbole and short on technical detail:…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Two-speed, belt-drive turntable with unipivot tonearm. Speeds: 331/3 & 45rpm. Tonearm: length, 10"; spindle to pivot, 222mm; effective length, 239mm; effective mass, 12.50gm.
Dimensions: 19.75" (505mm) W by 6" (155mm) H by 14" (360mm) D. Weight: Not noted.
Price: Kid Howard: $5995 without tonearm. Cornet 2: $2195. Add $1995 for an outboard power supply. Purchased as a package, the Kid Thomas, Cornet 2, and Bastin power supply cost $9995 (a $190 discount) or $7995 (a $195 discount) without the Bastin supply. Approximate number of…
Fifteen years ago, Kasey Chambers was quite a story: A 25-year old Australian backwoods girl who grew up in a hippie/vagabond family that hunted foxes, knew their Johnny Cash and Hank Williams and lived in the wild for most of the year. When she launched her solo career in 2000, and became an Americana star in the USA with the release of The Captain, her songwriting ability, her Dolly Parton-meets-Lucinda Williams voice and a sagely, at times sepia, worldview all seemed fresh and beyond her years.
Now 38, divorced, a mom of three and dating a 26-year old musician, Chambers is back with…
In a major plus for the accessibility of classical music on the web, Google Play Music recently launched its Classical Live initiative. Through an exclusive contract with five major symphony orchestras—Boston Symphony Orchestra and new Music Director Andris Nelsons, The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, London Symphony Orchestra and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, New York Philharmonic and Music Director Alan Gilbert, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and Music Director Mariss Jansons—the organizations will offer live recordings for download and streaming…
I ran across the poster above in Canada HiFi magazine: an announcement of the launch of a new audio store with an evening of vinyl playback. Located in the town of Orangeville, Ontario (population 30,000, about an hour's drive from Toronto), the store, with the intriguing name of Aardvark Boutique Audio, hadn't opened yet, but the event, taking place in the Orangeville Opera House, promised "Canadian Musicians On Vinyl—In Amazing Hi Fi Sound." I had to go and check it out.
When I got to Orangeville, I went to the address of Aardvark Boutique Audio, and saw that the construction of the…
Alma Music and Audio (5759 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla, CA 92037) will host a very special event on Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19 at their retail showroom just north of San Diego. A host of audio luminaries will be there to demonstrate their products and answer questions including Dan D'Agostino of D'Agostino Master Audio Systems, Yoav Geva of YG Acoustics, Joe Kubala of Kubala-Sosna cables, Vince Galbo of MSB Technology, and Harry Lee and Sally Jeung of Aurender.
In an informal setting, the high end audio's luminaries will showcase not only their newest products, but also their…
Ayre's 20th-Anniversary edition of its MX-R monoblock stands proud on this 132-page issue's cover. Inside, John Atkinson finds it to be one of the best-sounding amplifiers he's auditioned, while Fred Kaplan enthuses over the sound of Simaudio's Moon Evolution 860A amplifier and Jon Iverson finds much to enjoy with Rega's affordable DAC-R. Loudspeakers from Wilson Benesch, Falcon, and Magnepan are reviewed, with the littlest, cheapest Maggie earning the highest praise from Herb Reichert.
"What's an audiophile?" asks Jason Victor Serinus in this month’s "As We See It" essay; Art Dudley…
Elgar: Orchestral Works
Falstaff, The Sanguine Fan, Fantasia and Fugue in c (transcribed from J.S. Bach), excerpt from The Starlight Express
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab 2-501 (half-speed–mastered LP, pressed in Japan, 1981). Originally released as HMV ASD 2970 (LP, 1974). Reissued as EMI CDM 7 63133 2 (CD, 1989). Christopher Bishop, prod.; Christopher Parker, Stuart Eltham, engs.
Falstaff, The Sanguine Fan, Fantasia and Fugue in c (transcribed from J.S. Bach), excerpt from The Starlight Express
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab 2-501 (half-speed–mastered LP, pressed in Japan, 1981). Originally released as HMV ASD 2970 (LP, 1974). Reissued as EMI CDM 7 63133 2 (CD, 1989). Christopher Bishop, prod.; Christopher Parker, Stuart Eltham, engs.
It's finally happened. Until now, every symphonic recording that has come along has been compromised to some extent by an indifferent performance or an…