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.
In the September issue of Stereophile,1 in this space, I proposed a way to attract more young people to hi-fi. To reach younger people with your products, I argued, speaking mainly to manufacturers, create products that have integrity about them and that also tell a story. Products with a message, products endowed with meaning. Use good materials, classic designs, historically important circuits. To improve value and performance, keep the parts count low and assembly simple. These products need to be reasonably affordable, but it’s okay to ask young people to stretch for something fine. I used the analogy of my favorite kind of restaurant, all too rare here in New York City, the kind that acquires the freshest ingredients and prepares them very simply, freshly caught fish on the grill…
Attracting young people to hi-fi Jim, your hi-fi restaurant for the young audiophile already exists. Not everywhere, but it does exist. It’s how we got started decades ago. Hawthorne Stereo in Seattle offers quality used stereo components, a mix of used A, B, and C-grade components from your equipment review issue. For the price of one new A component, you can leave with an excellent complete system. That’s what we did with our first real system: a new Creek 5350SE integrated amplifier, pair of used NHT 2.9 tower speakers, and the entry-level Naim CD player, add in a mix of used and new interconnect and speaker cables, and we had music to live for. Their philosophy is the same today as then, they let you listen until you find the…
HIGH END MUNICH TO BECOME HIGH END VIENNA Jason Victor Serinus High End Munich, the world’s biggest hi-fi show, will become High End Vienna. The surprise move, from Munich’s MOC to Vienna’s ACV (Austria Center Vienna), follows what is now understood as a trial run that drew 66 companies and approximately 4000 visitors to the ACV November 18–19, 2023. High End Vienna is scheduled for May 28–31, 2026. The High End Society shared the news in a press release that reached the United States on September 11 at 8:27am EDT. “The first-class event venue in the heart of Austria’s capital has undergone extensive remodeling in recent years and was equipped with the latest digital technology,” it said. “The venue offers a variety of modern rooms in different sizes for exhibitors…
ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website devoted to you: stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, email Chris Vogel at vgl@cfl.rr.com. (Please note the new email address.) It is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless it is associated with a seminar or similar event. CALIFORNIA ❚ Friday evenings, 5–7pm PST: The San Francisco Audiophile Society hosts a virtual happy hour via Zoom. This is open to anyone who’d like to join us to talk about hi-fi and whatever else is on your mind. For more information and registration, visit bit. ly/3RyaqX9. FLORIDA ❚ February 21–23, 2025: The Florida International Audio Expo will take place at its new venue, the Sheraton Tampa…
It’s important for readers to remember that I’ve spent my adult life as an artist and mechanic. Making things. Working as a tradesperson during the day then at an easel or workbench at night. When I finished high school, all I wanted to do was work in a fancy, well-equipped shop building drag race engines. Engine building was something I had already shown a talent for, but my parents insisted I go to college. Unfortunately, my high school grade point average was so low I was turned down by every college I applied to. Consequently, my parents forced me to attend Wright Junior College in Chicago, a place where teachers rolled joints for their students. And I got straight A’s. Those easy A’s got me into Western Illinois University, a…
I have a day job at a museum. One of my favorite things about working there is taking the elevator from my office down to one of the floors open to the public; I walk into the galleries through a discreet panel in the wall. This makes me feel like I’m in one of those horror-movie manors with a tunnel concealed behind a bookshelf. Sometimes I startle people, which I kind of enjoy. Mostly I like spending time looking at art, especially in the early mornings when the galleries are empty. Lately, I’ve been watching art handlers hanging a roughly 100'-long tapestry depicting some manner of planetary jetsam—or maybe they are aquatic plants—by Nigerian artist Otobong Nkanga. And I make regular trips to a small theater to watch mesmerizing footage of…
