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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…
I've known Peder Bäckman, international sales director for the German firm Audio Video Manufaktur GmbH (AVM), for many years, ever since he worked with Electrocompaniet. When I told him that I was looking for products to review in the reference system in my new 20' by 16' by 9' music room, he invited me to browse AVM's large catalog and see what tickled my fancy. In consultation with John Atkinson, it became clear that AVM's largest, most powerful monoblock amplifier, the Ovation MA8.2 ($29,990/pair), seemed a good fit.
I admit, I felt uneasy about my impending audio blind date: Not only…
Because taking action based on both men's observations could only improve the system's sound, I phoned our audiophile-friendly electrician, Hans Frederickson, as well as Kevin Street, the maximally responsive field supervisor of our Public Utility District No.1 here in Jefferson County. Switching around the breaker-panel wiring happened within the week, but it took three days for my audio-system components to completely settle back in.
If I then didn't hear much of a difference, that was because the main source of noise turned out to be the rusted-out mess of a 35-kilovolt-amp…