Paul McCartney: The Boys of Dungeon Lane
MPL/Capitol Records 578853 (LP). 2026. McCartney, Andrew Watt, prods. and engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
When it was announced that Sir Paul McCartney was about to release a nostalgic, autobiographical new album, named after a Liverpool street, outsize hopes sprang anew. The surviving half of the most influential songwriting duo in popular music ever was releasing his 18th solo album. What would The Boys of Dungeon Lane add to that rich story? At the very least, it was hoped, listeners might gain some insight into one of the world…
MonAcoustic, based in Daegu, Republic of Korea, is relatively new to the high-quality loudspeaker market. The company was established in 2020 by chief designer Jun Hyeog Seo and made its debut at the 2022 AXPONA. The company is taking a distinctively modular approach to its product lineup: The PlatiMon VC One MK2 is a two-way standmount ($9500/pair). It can be used independently or coupled with the PlatiMon VC Two ($12,100/pair), which adds two more "ways"—not just in the lows but also the highs (read on). Retailed as a four-way floorstanding stereo loudspeaker, the combination is priced at $…
I can't remember which audio show it was at, but I do recall the circumstances and impression. Shortly after Dynaudio USA introduced the Octave Audio brand to US audiophiles, I caught my first brief listen to Octave equipment in an acoustically handicapped exhibit room. The sound was so flat and uninvolving that I summarily assumed that Octave manufactured mediocre solid state equipment. With that gross error—Octave's founder/ designer/president Andreas Hofmann, 68, greatly favors the sound of tubes over transistors and has, since 1977 (footnote 1), embraced the design philosophy of tubes for…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
MonAcoustic's combination of the PlatiMon VC One MK2 and VC Two is the most complicated loudspeaker system that I have encountered in 37 years of measuring loudspeakers. As well as the VC One MK2, which can be used as a standalone two-way standmount, when it is used with the VC Two subwoofer/supertweeter module, the combinations can be used as a "3.5-way" system or a "four-way" system. The latter has four settings for what MonAcoustic calls the "Harmonic Tweeter" control.
I first performed a complete set of tests on one of the VC Ones, which was labeled "…
Dave Mason, the British guitarist/vocalist who passed away at 79 on April 19, conceded that some of his best-known songs fared better with other people's voices. "I may not be the best interpreter of certain songs of mine," he told me during a phone interview in 2018, during a break from his tour with Steve Cropper (footnote 1). "For example, I feel like Cocker's got the definitive version of 'Feelin' Alright?'"
"Cocker," of course, is Joe Cocker, and "Feelin' Alright?" is the Mason-penned classic first heard on Traffic's self-titled second LP on Island Records (ILPS 9081T), released in…
Lately, hi-fi's technical emphasis has shifted toward time, away from its longtime main focus on the frequency domain. I'm thinking the trend, which I consider a good thing, started years ago with growing awareness it might be better to accept some aliasing in order to avoid the phase distortion resulting from a "brick-wall" reconstruction filter. More recent examples include the approach to D/A conversion taken by CH Precision (footnote 1) and—dare I mention it?—the theory behind MQA (footnote 2). I also encountered the trend once on the analog side; I'm thinking of Haniwa, which makes phono…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Four-way, bass-reflex, two-cabinet floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive units: 1" (2.54cm) beryllium dome supertweeter (VC Two), 3.5" (89mm) AMT tweeter (VC One MK2), two 5.25" (133mm) midwoofers (VC One MK2), one 8" (203mm) woofer (VC Two), in bass-ported aluminum enclosures. Frequency response: 20Hz–40kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 3.5-way, 91dB/2.83V/1m; 4-way, 90dB/2.83V/1m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum impedance: VC One, 4 ohms at 50Hz; VC Two, 3.2 ohms at 40Hz. Min. amplifier power: 40Wpc.
Dimensions: 44.76" (114mm) H (w/footers) × 12.99" (330mm…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: VPI HMW-40 turntable; VPI 12" Fatboy tonearm with Lyra Etna λ Lambda cartridge, Ortofon Bronze Cadenza cartridge. Pro-Ject Classic EVO turntable with Sumiko Amethyst cartridge.
Digital sources: MacBook Air running Tidal, Roon, Qobuz. Bricasti M21 DAC, Musical Fidelity M1 CDT transport, Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 T.
Preamplifiers: McIntosh C12000.
Power amplifiers: McIntosh MC462 Quad Balanced Stereo Amplifier, Linn Klimax Solo 500 (2), McIntosh MA252 integrated amplifier.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties The WATT/Puppy,…
Ola Björling speaks with Benjamin Großjohann, the inventor of the Coturn portable turntable, at High End Vienna 2026 about the next-gen CT-02, in a video interview that's now posted on our official YouTube channel.. It's the German company's latest diminutive table—built in conjunction with Thorens—and it sports a battery life of up to 20 hours, in addition to offering Bluetooth, line-out, and headphone playback options.
For more about Coturn by Thorens, see their official website.
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Ola Björling speaks with Aaron Leung of Skyanalog at High End Vienna 2026 about the company's two new cartridges: the triple-diamond 3D REF, and the P-1GC with its bespoke stylus profile, in a video interview that's now posted on our official YouTube channel.
For more about Skyanalog, see their official website.
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