Stereophile August 2015

THIS ISSUE: What’s makes readers of this magazine different from “normal” human beings? Most of us have experienced the proverbial curveball that comes out of nowhere to smack us right in the head. My most recent such encounter was pitched by Stereophile contributor Steve Guttenberg. Steve’s whammy arrived amid an e-mail exchange among Stereophile writers concerning a rather clueless column in another publication on the dearth of women audiophiles. After asking how many female audiophiles each of us knew, Steve G. defined what he meant by audiophile: “a person who frets over their system, agonizes over choices, loves gear, and sometimes music. You know, the kind of person who reads Stereophile or The Abso!ute Sound. Merely owning a nice stereo doesn’t make you an audiophile. Owning a Leica doesn’t make…

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. Equestrian audiophiles Editor: Two of your advertisers, Naim and the resurrected SAE brand, are now touting their superamplifers’ capabilities in the unit of horsepower. While those of us who have a hazy recollection of high-school physics recall the interchangeability of units of power (as with those of length), does this mean a new trend in high-end audio is emerging, and if so, why? I am sure the late Mr. James Watt’s [1736–1819] feelings would not be hurt. However, given that he lived in the era of the…

US: YOUR LOCAL NEWSSTAND John Atkinson Just a note that with this issue, LP maven Michael Fremer starts his 21st year of contributing his “Analog Corner” column to Stereophile (p.21) Thanks Mikey. Here’s to the next 20 years! GERMANY: MUNICH Paul Messenger The annual High End show in Munich, held this year on May 14–17, may now be the biggest, most important event on the planet dedicated to highend stereo audio equipment. For more years than I care to remember, it’s been organized—and very well, too—by the High End Society of a major Western economy. No brief report can possibly do justice to a show as large as High End. This one mainly focuses on UK and international brands.1 High End has survived a transplant of some 250 miles, from…

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, July 29, 7–9 pm: The Arizona Audio Video Club will hold its monthly meeting at a new location: Esoteric Audio, in downtown Phoenix (111 W. Monroe Avenue at First Avenue). We will be listening to Esoteric’s frontline audio components, such as Aesthetix, Boulder, Devialet, Focal, Magico, Rockport, and VTL. Guests are welcome and refreshments will be served. For more information, contact our president, Adam Goldfine, at…

THIS ISSUE: Sperling-Audio’s L-1 turntable and TA-1 tonearm get thoroughly Mikey’d. With its swept-wing shape and platterforward design, Sperling-Audio’s L-1 turntable ($35,950, without tonearm) stands out in a crowd. This high-mass design from Germany is the result of a collaboration between Ansgar Sperling and Michael Bonninghoff, two fiftysomething engineers who began working together in recording studio construction. Both also bring to the L-1’s design and construction years of experience in signal processing. For years, Bonninghoff was the chief developer at Brauner microphones, and today is the technical director of the German pro-audio company S.E.A. Sperling worked in radio and signal processing, and has a strong interest in tubed electronics. The Sperling’s Design The L-1’s massive aluminum-alloy platter alone weighs 60 lbs; the entire turntable assembly weighs about 110 lbs. The…

THIS ISSUE: A visit with phono cartridge maven Peter Ledermann. During our second trip to the UK, my wife and I drove from Heathrow Airport to Swindon, to visit an older couple we’d met on our first trip. We arrived around noon, and Vera and Ross made us a nice lunch, which we enjoyed while looking at scrapbooks filled with family photos and well-worn newspaper clippings. Vera asked where we intended to spend the night, and I said that our next stop was York. Our friends were horrified. “That’s hours from here: You can’t do it in just one afternoon!” (Our UK road atlas suggested we could make the drive in about four hours; it took slightly longer, only because I felt compelled to stop along the way to photograph…