2nd Edition
2015 Recommended Components
Components listed here have been formally reviewed in Stereophile and have been found to be among the best available in each of four or five quality classes. Whether a component is listed in Class A or Class E, we highly recommend its purchase.
SSI Starts Friday in Montreal
Now that spring has sprung, the moon has gone super, the sun has eclipsed, and more polar ice has melted, it's time to welcome the 28th edition of the Montreal Audio Show. Known to French Canadians as Le Salon Son et Image, the show occupies the consciousness of audiophiles worldwide on March 27-29 from its customary location, the Hilton Bonaventure.
Emotiva Audio Pro Airmotiv 4s powered loudspeaker
"I'm intrigued how Emotiva can offer an active speaker for so little." This was John Atkinson's response to my request to review Emotiva's Pro Airmotiv 4s ($299/pair).
Tekton Design Enzo XL loudspeaker
The CD era was well underway. Rudy Giuliani was about to sweep the crack hoes and squeegee humans off New York's garbage-filled streets. Disney was conquering Times Square.
Listening #148
"Too much Stokowski."--Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1940, reacting to a demonstration of a stereo recording of Leopold Stokowski conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra
Pono PonoPlayer portable music player
In the 1960s, musical giants walked the earth. I vividly remember the first time I heard a song called "Expecting to Fly," in a UK record store. The vast, reverberation-drenched sound was extraordinary; the frail, shaky alto voice of the singer riveting.
Us and Them
I've known a lot of folks with impressive LP and CD collections who were perfectly content with the sound of the crappiest of hi-fis. This diverse group has included recording engineers, musicians, and owners of record stores.
Recording of April 2015: Matson: Cooperstown
A jazz opera about baseball? Uh-huh. Sung in colloquial English? A recording produced by the editor of this magazine? Sounds like the kind of situation where I should have nodded politely and just said No.
It's a String Thing
While King Records will always be most famous as the longtime home of James Brown’s recordings, and also it’s irascible, dictatorial owner Syd Nathan (who famously recorded, pressed and packaged his records under one roof!), it’s the King R&B catalog (including Brown) that is the label’s greatest contribution to music history
1st Edition
Music in the Round #71
It seems that the rising popularity of downloading of music files is going to affect not only the distribution of high-resolution recordings but also the availability of multichannel recordings.
Gramophone Dreams #4
Before I moved to the boat, I lived in a big old firehouse with a shiny brass pole and a red door. The fire engines were gone but it was still a boy-toy pilgrimage site.
From the JGH Archives: Thoughts from the 1980 Winter CES
Editor's Note: We are republishing this report from the 1980 CES both because many of the themes strike resonances 35 years later, and because it emphasizes the hard time high-end audio was having at the end of the 1970s.
11 Years of US CD Sales
MBW/Nielsen Soundscan statistics. Presented without comment!
Wilson Audio Specialties Duette Series 2 loudspeaker
I've seen how most manufacturers work. They start out by making products they believe in--products consumers are likely to love.
Boulder Amplifiers 2110 line preamplifier
Founded in 1984, Boulder Amplifiers is a conservative audio company that goes quietly about its business, choosing not to call attention to itself with marketing flash or acronym-laden features.
Audio Streams #5
Hi-fi is serious business--at least, for the people whose business is hi-fi. For listeners, among whom I count myself at least some of the time, I'd say that the serious-business aspect of hi-fi is less so.
Listening #147
I'm old enough to remember Fizzies: tablets that were promised to transform mere water into an effervescent soft drink.
DALI Rubicon 8 loudspeaker
Looking back at our September 2014 issue, I think my review of the Triangle Signature Delta loudspeaker marked something of a watershed in the evolution of my taste in loudspeaker sound quality.
Theta Digital Prometheus monoblock power amplifier
Several seconds after I began listening to it, I knew that Theta Digital's Prometheus monoblock amplifier ($12,000/pair) was different from other amplifiers.
Source Stereophile
