Every month Stereophile magazine offers authoritative reviews, informed recommendations, helpful advice, and controversial opinions, all stemming from the revolutionary idea that audio components should be judged on how they reproduce music.
THERE ARE AS MANY OPINIONS AS THERE ARE EXPERTS THIS ISSUE: Choosing the microphone is the first step away from the absolute sound. A recording engineer’s choices of microphones to record singers, guitars, horns, bass, drums—or an entire orchestra—are absolutely crucial. Those very subjective choices are, in large part, what separate the best recordings from the also-rans. When I contacted some of the best engineers in the business to talk about mikes, I got an earful. I was told that mikes have a more profound impact on reproduced sound than does any other link in the recording chain. Yes, the acoustic of the recording venue also plays a huge role, and post-session mixing and mastering can of course improve or ruin the sound—but the choice of mikes is absolutely crucial.…
FEEDBACK TO THE EDITOR 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. Richard Gerberg Editor: As a former ProAc dealer for over 20 years, I was disappointed to see no mention in your magazine of the passing of Richard Gerberg, on March 1, 2016. Richard was the US importer for ProAc loudspeakers for 30 years. In the 1990s, before I retired from Audio Excellence, in Liverpool, New York, I spent a lot of time at the Consumer Electronics Show helping Richard set up his demo room. Richard and I talked many times over the years,…
AUDIO NEWS & VIEWS 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 October 2016 issue is August 20, 2016. US: HOLLYWOOD Michael Fremer At the Digital Entertainment Group’s Hi-Res Symposium, presented June 1 in Capitol Records’ legendary Studio A, in Hollywood, the future of highresolution digital audio was discussed by representatives of Universal Music Group (which owns Capitol), Sony Electronics, Capitol Studios, and the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing. The DEG’s senior director, Marc Finer, opened the proceedings with a short welcome and an outline of the morning’s agenda. The president of Blue Note Records, Don Was, then gave a short, heartfelt speech, “The Importance of…
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. CALIFORNIA ❚ Sunday, August 21, 2–5pm: The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society will hold its monthly meeting at The Audio Salon, in Santa Monica (2525 Michigan Avenue, Gallery F1). Maier Shadi will demonstrate top-of-the-line equipment in a space custom-designed to maximize your musical (and visual) enjoyment. Peter McGrath ofWilson Audio Specialties will discuss the full range ofWilson speakers, from the Sabrina to the all-new Alexx. Nagra’s recently…
INSIDER VIEWS ON EVERYTHING VINYL THIS ISSUE: Two new variations on Ortofon’s half century-old SPU moving-coil pickup head. Last spring, at the High End show in Munich, I met with Leif Johannsen, R&D manager and chief designer of Ortofon, who walked me through the company’s exhibition (https://youtu.be/ylUgpf-5B5xI). Among the new products he showed me were two low-cost, low-output SPU (stereo pickup) moving-coil cartridges. In SPU cartridges, which have been around since the late 1950s, the cartridge is integrated with a plug-in headshell, usually with an output-pin arrangement in the SME or “international” (as opposed to EMT) pattern. There are many variants of the basic, iconic SPU design, but most are highmass, low-output, heavy trackers known for their old-school warmth and musicality. But in all the years I’ve been doing this…
IN SEARCH OF THE EXCEPTIONAL THIS ISSUE: Art Dudley sees the error of his ways. Fifteen years ago, when I was the Editor of Listener, I wrote a response to a reader’s letter in which I repaid unpleasantness with unpleasantness: something I justified by flattering myself that my brand of unpleasantness had the advantage of being clever. Not satisfied with making his point sound foolish, I made certain that the writer of that letter would himself be made to look ridiculous. I made fun of his name, too. Prior to publication, I showed my handiwork to my wife, Janet, as per my usual practice. I expected her to laugh at the funny bits and praise my superior logic, also as per usual. Instead, she took longer than usual to reply.…
