Stereophile Jul-13

In the wrap-up of his coverage of the 2013 Salon Son & Image show in Montreal, which took place at the end of March, Robert Deutsch asked if there were too many audio shows (see www.stereophile.com/content/too-many-shows). The Chicago AXPONA show was held two weeks before SSI, the New York Audio Show followed less than three weeks later. In May, there was the humongous High End 2013, in Munich, followed two weeks later by the third T.H.E. Show Newport Beach, followed by: the Capital AudioFest, in Washington, DC (July 26–28); the fourth California Audio Show, in the Bay Area (August 8–11); the ninth Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (October 8–11); and TAVES in Toronto (November 1–3). While this is no more shows than took place in 2011 or 2012, many exhibitors, manufacturers…

Rek-o-Pun Editor: Is Art Dudley going to write more about upgrading the motor on the Rek-o-Kut (“Listening,” January 2013), or was that just torque? —Ron Madigan ron.madigan@me.com Art needs help? Editor: I’m a 78-year-old audiophile who’s been involved with hi-fi over 50 years. Reading Art Dudley’s ecstatic review of 1966 Altec speakers (“Listening,” May, p.37) makes me think he is in serious need of medical help, or should ease up on the hallucinogens. —Harvey Fleischman Sf5823@aol.com Damned good, Art Editor: I hope [John Atkinson] will encourage Art Dudley to continue his fascinating ferreting-out of ancient audio arcana to renovate and review. For one who developed the fever in the 1950s, and who decades ago abandoned or traded out of my old gear, Art helps answer the question: just how does…

THE NETHERLANDS: EINDHOVEN Paul Messenger The Marantz Corporation was established 60 years ago in the US. The fact that today it is still a major, multinational audio specialist is remarkable in view of the dramatic changes that have occurred throughout its history: its purchase by Superscope (1965), the resignation of Saul Marantz (1967), the establishment of Marantz Japan (1975), and its acquisitions by Philips (1980) and then D&M Holdings Inc. (2002; since renamed D&M Group) One crucial event in this history was the arrival at Marantz Europe, in 1978, of Ken Ishiwata, whose single-minded drive as director of the development of Marantz products has done much to create and maintain the consistency and integrity of the Marantz brand. Though I’m sure he sometimes found himself at odds with the hierarchy…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website devoted to you: www.stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, e-mail Chris Vogel at info@vcable.us. 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, July 21, 1–4pm: The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society will hold its monthly meeting in the Penthouse Ballroom of the Buena Park Holiday Inn (7000 Beach Boulevard). Dan Meinwald, US distributor for Marten and E.A.R., will present Marten Django XL and L loudspeakers powered by E.A.R. electronics. The system will also include a Townshend Audio Rock 7 turntable and Jorma Design cables. Eastwind Import will be…

This year, 2013, marks the 30th anniversary of the Compact Disc in North America. Three decades ago, Sony and Philips launched the format that promised, as Sony’s slogan put it, “Perfect Sound Forever.” Who will join me in celebration? Mikey? Artie? John Marks? John Atkinson, who wants his music “liberated . . . from the tyranny of a physical medium”? In 1983, when I first started writing for this rag, I hailed the Compact Disc because a) I would no longer have to deal with clicks, pops, thumps, and surface noise; and b) I wouldn’t have to turn over the damned record. “All else is gaslight,” declared conductor Herbert von Karajan. Fast forward to High End ’99, the one and only Stereophile show held in Chicago, where Sony and Telarc…

I was in Seattle last February to take part in one of the popular “Music Matters” events promoted by retailer Definitive Audio. Definitive’s Mark Ormiston and Craig Abplanalp and their crew really know how to produce a memorable evening for both their customers and the manufacturers who fly in to demonstrate their gear. I was there to talk about . . . guess what? Rather than fly home the next morning, I stuck around for a few days to do some serious record shopping. My friend Shane Buettner, former editor of Home Theater magazine and currently AudioQuest’s VP of communications, had invited me to stay at his house for the weekend, and to drive me around Seattle to visit the city’s vinyl hot spots—not that I needed to twist his…