At the beginning of the 2022 novel Checkout 19, by Claire-Louise Bennett, I encountered some ideas that resonate in interesting ways with my recent experience of recorded music. The first idea is expressed in the quote above: You take out many books from the library—as many as they'll allow—and you don't read any of them all the way through. There's too much temptation to move from one to the other, "tossing one…
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And to begin with we took out as many [books] as we could. ... We'll take this one and this one, this one, and that one too. ... And we read not one of them all the way through.
There's a good case to be made that the world's greatest—and strangest—audiophile culture resides in Japan. Probably the most important notion the Japanese have introduced to our hobby is that home audio isn't merely a way of heightening the musical art of others but can be an art in itself. This idea's most flamboyant embodiment was the poet, journalist, chef, and amplifier builder Susumu Sakuma, better known as Sakuma-san.
After having built many amplifiers as a young man, Sakuma-san experienced an epiphany: Amplifiers that measured well often failed to make him feel deeply. He soon…
The La Scalas' sound varies remarkably depending on amplification, and they demand and reward high quality; the prospect of them being driven by a big-box-store receiver fills me with sadness. Choosing the right amplifier to use with them wasn't entirely straightforward and required a fair amount of trial and error. The Klipsches' sky-high sensitivity may suggest otherwise, but a single measurement never tells the whole story. I listened to them with five amplifiers controlled by the superbly transparent and tuneful PrimaLuna EVO 400 line stage; here's what I heard.
Ayre AX-5…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way horn-loaded loudspeaker. High frequencies: Klipsch K-771 compression driver with a 1" polyimide diaphragm loaded with a polymer Tractrix horn. Midrange: Klipsch K-55-X compression driver with a 2" phenolic diaphragm loaded with a polymer exponential horn. Bass: Klipsch 15" K-33-E woofer with fiber-composite cone loaded with an 8' bidirectional folded horn. Crossover frequencies: 450Hz, 4.5kHz. Frequency response: 51Hz–20kHz ±4dB. Sensitivity: 105dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: "8 ohms compatible."
Dimensions: 40" (1016mm) H × 24.25" (…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Garrard 301 turntable in a Box Furniture Co. plinth; Thomas Schick 12" tonearm and headshell. Dynavector Te Kaitora Rua, Hana Umami Red, Ortofon Cadenza Bronze, Ortofon SPU Classic G, and Zu/Denon 103 cartridges.
Digital sources: Lejonklou Källa, Sonnet Morpheus, and Denafrips Iris DACs; Sonore ultraRendu; Small Green Computer sonicTransporter i5 server running Roon Core.
Preamplification: Shindo Aurieges and PrimaLuna EVO 400 preamplifiers; Manley Steelhead RC, Sutherland Little Loco, and Parasound Halo JC 3+ phono preamplifiers.…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Because of the Klipsch La Scala's bulk—it weighs 201lb—I measured the speaker in AH's apartment. I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the La Scala's behavior in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield and in-room responses. The loudspeakers were driven by the Manley Mahi Mahi amplifiers AH used for his auditioning. For the measurements, I left off the grille that covers the high-frequency and midrange horns, as AH preferred the sound without them.
The La Scala's sensitivity is specified as an…
Herb at the HiFi Loft. (Photo: Jason Tavares)
I remember a Saturday morning around 30 years ago, when I just happened to be at Sound by Singer, the New York City audio salon, watching this wizardy German fella named Joachim Gerhard unbox the newest speaker in his line, Audio Physic. I remember how bright the sun was as it streamed in through the windows, forming a wall of light behind him and silhouetting two implausibly thin box speakers. Their silhouetted forms displayed proportions similar to the World Trade Center.
I was taken aback by how Gerhard set up these thin twin towers…
Setup
In my room, Heretic importer and Fidelis Audio principal Walter Swanbon set the AD614s on custom 12" Fidelis stands about 20" from the wall. In that position, they played big soundstage-wise but were a little lean through the midrange. After he left, I experimented by moving them first forward some, which made them leaner and brighter. So then I tried moving them backward, ending up with the two boxes no more than 6" from the wall behind.
Sitting on the Fidelis stands, the 614's tweeters were 27" from the floor. My normal listening position places my ears 33" to 36"…
Probably the biggest group of audiophiles right now are still "Boomers": members of the "Baby Boom" generation, which by most definitions puts their minimum age at close to 60. Boomers are aging and won't be around forever. So bringing new blood into the hobby is more important than ever.
Younger people (post-Boomer generations) listen to a ton of music—but are they really listening? Are they paying close attention, or, as the cliché goes, is it, for them, all background music? Generational clichés are rarely accurate. Of course they actually listen. Enough of them are, anyway. And they…
Over the past decade-plus, alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin, 40, has been one of the key figures reinvigorating jazz from the inside. Born and raised in New York and educated at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (the famed Fame school) and the New School, Benjamin has worked with artists as diverse as David Murray and Stevie Wonder. Her last album, Pursuance, was a starry tribute to the legacy of John and Alice Coltrane. Phoenix (Whirlwind Recordings), her latest—to belabor an already labored metaphor—has Benjamin rising from the pandemic's ashes.
The police…