Stephen Mejias

The 2007 Stereophile Buyer's Guide is now available. Visit our eCommerce page for details.

I tried, so many times, to write a little something about the Stereophile pepper and golf-coins, but could never get the ideas to grow, could never get them to drop in the hole. See here how Kristina handles it, while kindly declining our CD case (and CDs, in general).
—SM

Okay, now that we've sent the March issue off to become beautiful and real, it's time to move on to the April issue.

Though it seemed to have been fairly well-scavenged by the time we arrived on Saturday afternoon, the ARChive of Contemporary Music's Winter Record and CD Sale held many great treasures.

In a sense, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist are music historians and preservationists. In "The Hard Sell," they take us on a scratching, mixing, looping journey through musical genres and fads, from the wildly obscure to the completely commercial, while employing not one, not two, but eight turntables and a collection of original 45rpm seven-inch singles that would make Mikey Fremer's hair go straight.

On the corner of Sherman and Sanford in the quiet, residential neighborhood of Jersey City known as The Heights, just a block from Leonard Gordon Park and two blocks from Pershing Field, there is a beautiful, old Victorian house. Standing a little taller than the other houses in the neighborhood, 112 Sherman Place, with its turreted rooms, stained glass windows, and distinct green and ochre exterior, has a proud, stately, almost royal, appearance. This is the home of Dave and Paula Lalin, their three children, their three pets, and more high-end audio components than you would ever expect. This is the Audio Doctor.

On a perfect, late autumn morning, Uncle Omar and I made the short drive from Downtown Jersey City to meet with the Lalin family for a little tour and a lot of hi-fi.

My great friends, Omar and Mikey, striking The Audiophile Pose, at Audio Connection in Verona, New Jersey.