Herb Reichert

News

Blackie Pagano's Perfect Storm Bass Guitar Preamp

Herb Reichert Aug 26, 2015

My friend and renowned tube polymath J.C Morrison says, "Blackie Pagano is sweet, smart, and has a devious sense of humor . . ." And now Blackie has just posted an original hand-built "bass guitar preamp" project called the "The Perfect Storm" on Kickstarter.

Budget Component Reviews Gramophone Dreams

Gramophone Dreams #5

Herb Reichert Aug 06, 2015

I believe in historical consensus. I believe in hi-fi gear that reveals its quality slowly and holds it value over time, irrespective of technology. I have never bought into the superiority of one technology over another. The art of audio engineering lies in the wisdom and vital energy of the designer's viewpoint within whatever technology he or she has chosen to work with. I call this the designer's qi or chi. Every audio product's most important specification is who created it, followed by the spirit in which it was fosteredand, of course, how it was made and what it is made of. These are the determining factors for long-term audio relevance.

Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a loudspeaker

Herb Reichert Jul 23, 2015

When all you've ever heard are wooden boxes that shout, it's difficult to recognize their highly accented "voice." Few of us actually notice how miserably distorted all loudspeakers are. Don't believe me? Try listening to a recording of your child's voice, the sounds of rattling keys, or an audience applauding.

Integrated Amp Reviews

Creek Evolution 100A integrated amplifier

Herb Reichert Jul 02, 2015

As an audio scribe, the fiercest demons I wrestle are beliefsyours and mine; those of my friends, my editors, my fellow reviewers; and those of the engineers and promoters of the products I write about. Sometimes the force of these rabidly held and (mostly) conflicting beliefs paralyzes me with self-doubt: What do I know? What makes me qualified to listen and judge?

News

Vinyl Resurrection at the 2015 New Music Seminar

Herb Reichert Jun 28, 2015

Left to right at the "Vinyl Resurrection" seminar: Nina Palmer (Ross Ellis Printing), Steve Sheldon (Rainbo Records), Michael Kurtz (Record Store Day), Bryan Burkert (The Sound Garden), Matthew Johnson (Fat Possum Records), and Mark Piro (Spark/Razor & Tie).

The New Music Seminar 2015 was a three-day (June 21,22, and 23) conference held in New York that invited music industry insiders to dialog on the current state and potential future of the music delivery business. Right away I knew I wasn't at CES...

Integrated Amp Reviews

Hegel Music Systems H160 integrated amplifier

Herb Reichert Jun 05, 2015

For decades, I read all the British and American audio magazines, and I pretty much believed everything written thereinwith one exception. The equipment reviews published in Stereo Review had an off-puttingly disingenuous quality. I learned a lot from the magazine's reviews of recordings and loudspeakers, but every time senior editor Julian Hirsch wrote that any amp with sufficiently high power, low measured distortion, and high damping factor would sound the same as any other with similar qualifications, I felt estranged from my favorite hobby. Stereo Review's arrogance came off as duplicitous and self-serving. The magazine seemed committed to stamping out all forms of individualized audio connoisseurship.

T.H.E. Show Newport 2015

THE Show Day 3: the Reichert Report

Herb Reichert Jun 03, 2015

Photo: Jason Victor Serinus

During THE Show, the Woo Audio/MA Recordings room became my restful oasis. I am an extreme fan of MA Recordings and its most worldly proprietor, Todd Garfinkle (right above in Jason's photo). Todd makes perfect-sounding recordings of real in-the-world music. Not audiophile recordings of some faux chanteuse in clown makeup singing songs she doesn't understand for an audience that cares more about sonics than poetic expression. In contrast, Todd Garfinkle picks up gypsies in the Paris Metro and brings them home. He shares his best food and wine with themand finally, when they are properly "prepared," he turns on his recorder and gets them to chant, shout and play wedding songswith tubas, clarinets, trumpets, trombones, accordions, drums and fierce stomping boots!

T.H.E. Show Newport 2015

Herb Reichert's Day Two at THE Show

Herb Reichert Jun 01, 2015

I am having my second morning coffee in the LAOCAS hospitality lounge and a man walks in and announces loudly, "I am officially blown away!" Everyone looks. Ok? So what did you hear? He stands there grinning. "Have you been to the Elac room?"

T.H.E. Show Newport 2015

Herb Reichert on THE Show's First Day

Herb Reichert May 30, 2015

First morning of the first day, jet-lagged, don't recognize anybody, forgot every name and, worse still: I broke every rule I made for myself on the way to Newport Beach. Mostly, I have attended these shows as a distributor-exhibitor so I never forget how much it costs in money and psychic energy to do any showlet alone the whole US-World circuit. Many of these exhibitors just finished a big, wallet-crushing, jet-lagging show in Munich, and now they are here in California (how many miles and time zones is that?), still staggering and punch drunk from dancing on that big stagetrying to smile and impress everybody. So my kind and gentle spirit tells me to understand and try to comfort them...

T.H.E. Show Newport 2015

THE Show Newport: Day Zero Musings

Herb Reichert May 29, 2015

High-end audio is mostly about songs blaring from boxes. Occasionally, you can be sitting near some of these wailing boxes and think: Wow, these songs are sounding pretty darn good! If you’re an audiophile that means you’ve found a home. Today, on my first day in Newport Beach, California I am sitting in the lobby of the Irvine Hotel (home of The Home Entertainment Show Newport) getting myself psyched for room after room of blaring boxes and stacks of brochures, sproutin’ like cotton from every horizontal surface...