2nd Edition
Recommended Components 2021 Edition
Every product listed here has been formally reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable.
Re-Tales #7: Clicks'n'mortar
In the words of Bob Dylan, "The times, they are a-changin'." It's a cliche, but sometimes cliches are cliches because they're true.
Recording of April 2021: Saudade
Might this recording be too "out there" for some? I spent hours mulling alternative recommendations, my favorites being accordionist Ksenija Sidorova's captivating Piazzolla Reflections and cellist Nicole Pena Comas and pianist Hugo Llanos Campos's beautiful new recording of Latin American music, El Canto del Cisne Negro.
A lifelong passion
This gig has many perks--but the best one without a doubt is the cool, interesting people I get to "meet."
1st Edition
Analog Corner #285: Top Wing Suzaku, HiFiction Thales, Analysis Plus
For a phono cartridge to generate current and voltage, something must move: a coil of wire (as in a moving-coil cartridge), or a magnet (as in a moving-magnet type), or a tiny piece of iron (a moving-iron type).
From the JGH Archives: Altec A-7 & Electro-Voice Patrician 800 loudspeakers
In the introduction to "Recommended Components" in the final issue in Volume One of what was then called The Stereophile, published in May 1966, founder J. Gordon Holt briefly described his Top-Rated Loudspeaker Systems.
Revinylization #15: More premium jazz vinyl from Craft Recordings and Blue Note
I shall always recall fondly the hours I spent shopping for used vinyl at my "local," my favorite Portland, Maine, used record store. If you wanted great-sounding records of great music in very good condition, for just a few bucks, this was the place.
Re-Tales #6: Online sales get personal
It's 2021, and the audio business marches ever onward. Accelerated by the pandemic, economic transformation continues apace; online sales are burgeoning across all industries.
Schiit Audio Sol turntable
Many established audio manufacturers owe their success, at least partly, to their components' signature sound. Consider the laidback "pipe and slippers" mien of my 1978 Spendor BC-1 loudspeakers, the rich tonal palette of my Shindo Laboratory amplifiers, or the celebrated drive and timing of late-'50s era Thorens TD-124 and Garrard 301 turntables.
Sony SA-Z1 nearfield active speaker system
On top of a desk, an audio system must be able to deliver satisfying sound in a nonoptimal environment: a flat, reflective plane (the desktop) cluttered with keyboard (or maybe a laptop computer); a mouse; assorted papers, books, and trash; and, perpendicular to that, another flat, reflective plane (the computer display), which, if it's not a tiny laptop screen, will block some of the soundwaves emanating from the speakers.
Source Stereophile
