Stereophile July 2016

THIS ISSUE: The annual Consumer Electronics Show has been a fixture on the audio scene for decades.Will that continue? Last January, in Las Vegas, a record 170,000 people attended the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show. Most of them neither saw nor heard a trace of high-end audio gear. Not only was all mention of what CES calls “high performance audio” absent from the show’s official Attendee Guide, but the hallways of the Venetian Tower, which in past CESes were filled with high-end manufacturers, dealers, and distributors, were anything but crowded.1 Given the steady decline, in recent years, in CES attendance by high-end audio distributors and dealers, many observers were not surprised by the decreased traffic in rooms, or by seeing fewer familiar faces, or by the relatively short waits for elevators.…

TAKE HEED! Unless marked otherwise, all letters to the magazine and its writers are assumed to be for possible publication. In the spirit of vigorous debate implied by the First Amendment, and unless we are requested not to, we publish correspondents’ e-mail addresses. The fallacy of accuracy Editor: Steve Guttenberg’s “As We See It” in May (p.3) was the best and most believable article I’ve ever read in Stereophile. Two thumbs up! —Dave Freeman dfree68@comcast.net Accuracy is neutrality Editor: Stereophile long ago wandered off the trail blazed by the late J. Gordon Holt. With “The Fallacy of Accuracy” in the May issue (p.3), it has finally fallen into a ditch. Steve Guttenberg and those who reject the concept of high-fidelity sound reproduction— the promotion of which was one of Stereophile’s…

SUBMISSIONS: Those promoting audio-related seminars, shows, and meetings should e-mail the when, where, and who to JAtkinson@enthusiastnetwork.com at least eight weeks before the month of the event. The deadline for the September 2016 issue is July 20, 2016. UK: YOUR LOCAL VINYL SHOP Paul Messenger The demand for vinyl not only continues, it continues to accelerate: UK year-on-year sales increased by about 60% in 2015, to a total of 2.1 million units. Those statistics are backed up by US figures for the same period, which show a 30% increase in sales, to 12 million units, in 2015. But a recent editorial in The Economist magazine1 highlighted a problem: The rapidly growing hunger for vinyl has caught the world’s few remaining pressing plants completely off guard. Not surprisingly, some of these…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website dedicated solely to you: www.stereophile.com/audiophilesocieties. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, e-mail Chris Vogel at info@XLinkAudio.com. Please note that it is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless this is associated with a seminar or similar event. ARIZONA ■ Wednesday, June 29, 7–9pm: The Arizona Audio Video Club holds a PS Audio night, during which we will sample the soon-to-be-released BHK Signature preamp, coupled with the well-reviewed BHK Signature stereo amplifier. The highly regarded line of Bascom H. King (BHK) amplifiers demonstrate Paul McGowan’s commitment to providing marketleading electronics at prices many people can afford. Come join us at Trinity Lutheran Church, 9424 N. Seventh Street,…

THIS ISSUE: ModWright Instruments’ PH 150 tubed phono stage and two new low-output Lyra cartridges. First, let’s talk about problems with grounding and hum. I regularly get e-mails from frustrated readers asking if I have a solution to a problem that seems impossible to solve: turntable-related ground hum. When the e-mail doesn’t include what its writer has done so far to eliminate hum, my job is easy. I just go through the usual checklist: 1) If your tonearm’s output leads include a separate ground wire, is it connected to the phono preamplifier’s ground lug? (This is more critical with moving-magnet cartridges.) 2) Does your turntable have a ground lug? (Read the instruction manual.) If so, have you run a wire from the lug to your phono preamp? 3) Do your…

THIS ISSUE: Constructing a plinth for the venerable Garrard 301 turntable: a craftsman at work. One Everything makes a difference. Everything. File that away. Two There are two kinds of good sound: good sound sound and good music sound. While I could describe the distinction in few words or many, it’s easier to point to two recordings of Elgar’s oratorio The Dream of Gerontius: by Sir Adrian Boult and the New Philharmonia Orchestra, with tenor Nicolai Gedda singing the title role (2 LPs, EMI SLS 987); and by Malcolm Sargent and the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, with Heddle Nash in the lead (2 LPs, EMI RLS 709). I imagine the Boult version, recorded in stereo in 1976, fits most listeners’ definitions of good sound sound. Although made somewhat after the golden…