Subtitled "Trixies Concoctions Menu," the insert conjures the theme of the 13-track song cycle that comprises Trixies, whose storyline traces several scenes set in and around a fictional nightclub. The most telling line on the lyrics sheet reads, simply, "Difford & Tilbrook: The Mixologists / Since 1973."
Difford &Tilbrook are, of course, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook…
We loved this analog-based setup in one of retailer Filtronique Son-or's rooms at Montreal Audiofest 2026—not too complicated setup-wise but packing a powerful sonic punch that defied analysis because it was so well-blended, coherent, and right-sounding.
The system's source consisted of a polished aluminum Transrotor MAX turntable (shown above, $5450 without tonearm, though it can accommodate two), fitted with a Sorane SA-1.2 tonearm ($2000) and Dynavector DV 20 XL cartridge ($1200). Downstream components included a Moonriver 404 Reference integrated amplifier ($6400) and…
At AXPONA 2026, ATC's Ben Lilly (shown above) and Brad Lundy of ATC importer/distributor Lone Mountain discuss ATC's EL50 Anniversary loudspeakers in an interview with Ken Micallef that's now posted on our YouTube channel.
Leland Leard, Chief Business Development Officer of ATC importer/distributor Lone Mountain, opened the company's demo of ATC's EL50 Anniversary loudspeakers at AXPONA 2026 with a smart selection of soul, funk, and pop. This wide swath of music quickly exposed the ATC EL50 speakers' microdynamic shading, natural scale, and impressively flat frequency…
At AXPONA 2026, Mads Buchardt, founder of Buchardt Audio (above left), discusses the Danish company's E50 speakers in an interview with Miguel Barrio that's now posted on our YouTube channel.
What Buchardt Audio did at Montreal Audiofest 2026 proved it. Their system at AXPONA 2026 proved it again.
What you get here is rare: eclectic components brilliantly matched and conceived with real imagination, all executed without apology. Call it Next-Fi if you want to label it, but this setup delivered everything old-school audiophiles demand: deep, authoritative bass…
Steven Mishoe talks about G.I.P. Laboratory 225 speakers and Tamba TS-1 standmounts—the latter being a prototype of his own design—at AXPONA 2026 in an interview with Ken Micallef that's now posted on our YouTube channel.
Though I was unable to put in an extended listening session with the G.I.P. Laboratory setup at AXPONA 2026, I know this system quite well, since I've heard it many times at In Living Stereo in New York. (That's some serious history.) That said, the G.I.P. system delivered one of the best rooms at the show, featuring exceptional speed and atmospheric…
In the above video interview on our YouTube channel, Robert Schryer speaks with Danny Labrecque, proprietor of mono/stéréo, about the gear shown in the Montreal-based company's room at Montreal Audiofest 2026.
Bonus coverage continues onward! Confession time: I'd never heard of brands like Jean Maurer (from Switzerland) or Riviera (from Italy), and I'd barely even been aware of Montreal Audiofest 2026 exhibitor mono/stéréo—but that's because it's a brand-new store in Montreal.
The owner, however, is a longtime acquaintance of mine: Danny Labrecque,…
In vinyl's heyday, Roy Matthews ran EMI's record-pressing plant in Hayes, Middlesex, in the UK. He even had a hand in designing and building new presses for the company. But when EMI, like most other record labels, shut down their plant and scrapped most of their presses, Matthews retired. In 2000, when Matthews was in his 80s, he was lured out of retirement and found himself once again, to his surprise and delight, running a pressing plant using refurbished presses, many of his own design. You can read my interview with him here, and see photos of the facility,…
Between the record grooves and the sound coming out of the speakers, everything is electrical, but music always ends—and usually…
In practice, the core design and performance metrics of the 600.2 integrated amplifier show closer parallels with Musical Fidelity's four-box Nu-Vista PRE/PAS pre/power combination, itself inspired by the legacy Titan amplifier, than it does with its larger sibling, the Nu-Vista 800.2 integrated.
The 600.2 may be the lower-powered model, but, with power ratings of 160W into 8 ohms and 300W into 4 ohms and in practice delivering 200Wpc and 325Wpc into those loads, respectively (ref. 1kHz at <1% THD), it could never be described correctly as low-powered…
In his introduction to this review, Martin Colloms describes nuvistors as "small, metal-clad vacuum tubes introduced in 1959 to compete with bipolar-junction transistors." Martin's description is perfectly accurate, but there is more to be said. The nuvistor was created to overcome the shortcomings inherent in run-of-the-mill vacuum tubes: size, reliability, microphony, and so on. If you've heard of vacuum tubes on fighter jets, they were probably nuvistors. The Russian MiG-25, which was famously flown to Japan by a defecting pilot in 1976, used…