On a fine new Analogue Productions 200gm stereo LP reissue of Gil Evans and Ten, (Prestige 7120) ($35), his first recording as a leader, the man's many strengths combined to create a tour de force. This is first time these recordings have been released in stereo on LP. For starters,…
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With all the momentous passings in music this past year—Prince, Bowie, Merle Haggard, Glenn Frey, Leonard Cohen—it has become harder to remember all those who have gone before. In my estimation one death the jazz universe has never quite gotten over is the passing of pianist/arranger/orchestrator Gil Evans.
If there's one thing that brings me more joy than seeing a lot of happy people at the Montreal Audio Festival, it's getting a seat in an exhibitor's room. Unfortunately, I often can't have it both ways. Those same happy people, if there are enough of them, will make it so there's no chair left for me to sit in.
One way to improve one's sitting chances is to go on Sunday, generally the day with the least amount of show goers. I call it the Sunday rule.
Except that some rooms stubbornly refuse to abide by the Sunday rule. They're always packed. It doesn't matter that they're located…
Before I get to all the pretty words, let me just say: I'd probably rave about a Montreal show if it amounted to nothing more than a big room with a few portable record players and a stack of 45s, with maybe a few beers thrown in. In the past 17 years—since my daughter was in a stroller—I've missed only a few of these shows, and throughout that time I've learned something important: The Montreal Audio Fest, formerly Salon Son et Image, isn't so much about hardware. If it were, there'd be no sense attending, because the High End show in Munich does hardware better than this or any other show,…
This past weekend, John Atkinson, Herb Reichert, and I drove down to Philadelphia to visit audio retailer Doug White of The Voice That Is. In this video, Doug and JA discuss the challenges of a rapidly changing internet based market, the differences between buying online versus buying from your local dealer, and much more.
We also filmed a conversation with Doug, JA, and Herb discussing Tidal loudspeakers, which we will post later this week.
For more on the subject of audio retailing, see Barry Willis's 1996 article "Invaded by the Grays," a retailer's response to a 1985…
Forty years ago, when I first had money enough to buy serious [ahem] consumer audio, there were a few good turntables available, from Thorens, Garrard, Ariston, some others. Today is the golden age of turntables: ask Mikey, if not antiquarian Artie. And loudspeakers! In 1970, models were few, and most were mediocre. Today, you can have a great loudspeaker for a song.
It wouldn't be a speaker from DeVore Fidelity, though. They're priced above budget level, but they offer quality that would have been inconceivable four decades ago: style, fit, finish, sound.
A former retail hi-fi…
Set Up 2 has the speakers no more than a third of the way into the room from the front wall, and the listening chair . . . well, wherever. Furniture placement and room size may dictate what works best. I guess most DeVore Fidelity owners listen alone; the diagrams show a single chair, not a couch or love seat.
The Gibbon 3XLs worked exceptionally well in my room, in both the nearfield and at greater distance—a tribute to that 19mm tweeter. That doesn't mean you shouldn't audition, and maybe buy, a pair of Gibbon 3XLs.
John DeVore set up the speakers in my listening room using…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Two-way, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 0.75" (19mm) tweeter, 5.5" (140mm) doped–paper-cone midrange/woofer. Frequency range: 45Hz–40kHz. Sensitivity: 90dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms.
Dimensions: 15.25" (387mm) H by 7.3" (186mm) W by 10.88" (276mm) D. Weight: 18 lbs (8.2kg).
Price: $3700/pair; matching 26"-high stands cost $695/pair.
Manufacturer: DeVore Fidelity, Brooklyn Navy Yard, 63 Flushing Ave., Unit 259, Building 280, Suite 510, Brooklyn, NY 11205. Tel: (718) 855-9999. Fax: (718) 855-9998. Web: www.devorefidelity.…
Before I revert to form and leave the subject for another nine or ten months, I'll pick up where I left off in last month's column to focus once again on step-up transformers (SUTs) for moving-coil cartridges. There's yet another choice you should know about—in this case, a thoroughly brilliant, handmade SUT that sells for well under $1000.
Music First Audio MC Step Up 632
Introduced in 2015, the MC Step Up 632 ($715, sold direct) is the most affordable phono transformer offered by Music First Audio, of Hastings, UK (footnote 1). Music First is run by Jonathan Billington, a member of…
My system just wasn't having it—which was made particularly clear during those moments in "ME 262" when, following two bars in which the rhythm section stops playing, Joe Bouchard comes back in with a particularly mighty chord on his electric bass. Through the MFA trannie, it wasn't anywhere near as mighty as through the megabuck Hommage T2 transformer ($4995). That said, the MFA pulled the voices farther forward from the mix, and made them more intelligible—a mixed blessing in a song that name-checks Goering and Hitler, but there it is. Similarly, in "Well Well Well," the MFA 632 didn't…
Saturday April 1, 2–5pm, Take 5 Audio (105 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06510) is hosting an event featuring products from Bryston and Zanden Audio.
Gary Dayton from Bryston Ltd. will be demonstrating a full Bryston system, including the BDA-3 DAC that impressed Larry Greenhill when he reviewed it for Stereophile and the BCD-3 CD player. Zanden Audio's North American distributor, Eric Pheils, will be demonstrating the Modern Series of electronics, including the model 8120 stereo amplifier (below), the 3100 preamplifier, and the 120 phonostage.
Guests are encouraged to bring their…