This happened recently when a young father, Marius, asked me to set up his new Technics SL-1200G with a…
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When people ask me what I do for a living, I reply that I'm a turntable setter upper. That seems to me like it should be descriptive enough, but it typically results in follow-up questions that have me explaining a whole audiophile subculture that few nonaudiophiles even realize exists. Occasionally, however, I get a call from a newly minted audiophile, a younger person who is diving headfirst into the hobby for the first time and wants to have their new turntable rig set up properly.
Audiophilia nervosa. It's a running gag with a mean streak. As audiophiles, we know its effects intimately. We know how it can turn what was once a source of pleasure and pride—listening to good music over a good sound system—into an irritating itch that can't be scratched.
The UrbanDictionary.com defines audiophilia nervosa (AN) as "the anxiety resulting from the never-ending quest to obtain the ultimate performance from one's stereo system by means of employing state-of-the-art components, cables, and the use of certain 'tweaks.' Although the goal is supposedly to achieve maximum…
This year, Canadian retailer/distributor Wynn Audio’s room at Montreal Audiofest 2026 served as the gathering spot for the show's Prohibition Night event, where several dozen participants partook in a collective whisky tasting accompanied by music hi-fi demos. Ken Micallef and I had hoped to savor whisky while gauging the sound of the demos, our seats were so far off-axis—and there were so many people between us and the music—that it was impossible to make any sonic judgments. So the next day I stopped by the Wynn Audio room alone. There were few visitors, and I had the choice of a sweet…
George Ligerakis (CEO) and Vasilis Tounas (Chief Designer) proudly flanking their latest creation: The Axiom DAC.
Miguel Barrio reports: On Thursday April 2nd at Park Avenue Audio in NYC, Ideon Audio introduced their latest and greatest creation, the Axiom DAC. Walter Schofield, Co-Managing Director of the 2WA Group with Walter Swanbon, did the introductions.
George Ligerakis, Ideon's CEO, explained (with a characteristic Greek passion) that the Axiom DAC is a no-holds-barred product, every aspect of which has been taken to the extreme. The new DAC takes up three-chassis…
In the above video interview on our YouTube channel, Robert Schryer speaks with a rep from Winnipeg’s Altitudo Audio about the equipment shown in the two systems on active display in this room.
System 1: This system's presentation in the Altitudo Audio Room at Montreal Audiofest 2026 sounded huge, with gobs of energy, a holographic soundstage teeming with microdetail (even at low volume), and dynamic swings that could be startling. The system played loud without any hint of compression or distortion—just clean, unfatiguing, balanced sound all across the frequency range…
In the above video interview on our YouTube channel, Robert Schryer speaks with a rep from Atelier Audio about the equipment shown in this room.
I heard both digital and analog setups here in the Atelier Audio room at Montreal Audiofest 2026, and analog edged out digital in image palpability, tactility, texture, resolution, lifelike presence, and, most of all, tone. I'd go so far as to say it delivered the best tone I heard at the show. My goodness, that sax. Those vocals. The double bass. I couldn't remember hearing them depicted so deep, exposed, and lifelike—and that…
In the above video interview on our YouTube channel, Robert Schryer speaks with Simaudio Product Director Dominique Poupart about the equipment being demoed in this room.
To me, the class-A/B Moon 371 integrated amplifier is one of the most significant products of this past year, largely because it fulfills what we, as audiophiles, hope for in a full-featured, all-in-one (including streaming) product: a combination of new technology and functional convenience married to the kind of superlative sound we'd expect from separates. [Editor's note: I attended the launch event…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: EMT Pure Black, Kuzma CAR 30, and VPI Goldy MC phono cartridges.
Preamplifiers: Ampsandsound Yosemite, Rogue RP-7 (line); Tavish Audio Design Adagio, Manley Chinook, Allnic H-5500 (phono).
Power amplifiers: Air Tight ATM-1 2024 Edition, Rogue Audio Stereo 100.
Integrated amplifiers: Unison Research S6 Black Edition, AVM Evolution CS 5.2.
Loudspeakers: DeVore Fidelity Gibbon Super Nine.
Cables: Interconnects: AudioQuest Pegasus and Firebird, Triode Wire Labs Spirit II (RCA). Speaker: Auditorium 23, AudioQuest William Tell…
The two units' back panels are not simple. To attempt to detail every connector would induce a soporific state in most readers and certainly this writer, so we'll just publish a photo and focus on the basics. On the back panel are two sets of speaker cable binding posts to facilitate biwiring, single sets of RCA, BNC, and XLR inputs, balanced XLR analog outputs for amplifier chain connection, an earth-ground socket, a ground-lift switch (footnote 2), and a signal-ground socket. And more.
The power supply's rear panel is simpler and less crowded. It includes a main power switch,…
I was lying on the therapeutic couch.
"And how long have you felt this way about audio components?" my therapist asked. His pen scratched on his notepad.
"Gosh, it seems like forever. My mother told me I would nurse only if she sat down with me next to Dad's old Garrard record changer while it churned through a stack of LPs."
"Hmmmm." He paused, then resumed writing.
"Hey, Doc? Is there anything to drink around here?"
Sometimes I think audiophiles are crazy. If the point of it all is our love of music, we often forget that the brain is where it happens—not…