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Prices for speakers are listed in USD per pair. In a recent column, I spoke of how I stumbled into what would become a lifelong obsession with flat panel Magneplanar loudspeakers. The reason I became so smitten with them is simple: they present music with a greater degree of realism than I’ve heard with any…
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One of the leading music business stories of the 21st century is the continued discovery, sonic restoration, and release of previously unknown recordings—either from the studio or the stage. As the constant advance in digital technology has reclaimed live tapes once thought to be sonically inferior, and refreshed forgotten or leftover studio recordings, record labels,…
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Barely in my teens, I listened to the very first albums I ever owned on a wide, floor-model stereo console placed prominently in the living room of my home on Chicago’s South Side. My oldest sister gave it to my mother as a birthday gift in September, 1971. It cost five hundred bucks and was…
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How did music become science? Or an ugly and personal battle royale over what speaker measurements mean? Or a mud-slinging political brawl over whether some gear writers are on the take? These are questions that I’ve pondered many times over during my years as a music editor in the sometimes blood sport universe of high-end…
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It all started with… the Beat. That rhythm inside us that keeps us alive, that reminds us… We Are Alive! It races when we’re excited to meet someone new. Its pounding pulse is primal.
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First impressions All prices listed in USD My wife is not an audiophile. But as a classically trained pianist and a professional musician, she has ears for sound quality. It’s why I sometimes seek her opinion after changing something in my audio system. This year’s T.H.E. Show, held in Long Beach, was her first audio…
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A recent article by PMA Magazine editor Robert Schryer got me wondering about when I began to think of music and audio — and, specifically, of myself as an audio hobbyist. The answer to “when” can’t be clearly defined by a single moment; it’s scattered across a handful of events that took place over a…
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As music lovers, we strive for the best possible sound quality. They say all roads lead to Rome, but we still need to contend with our needs, our path, our budget, and the time available to us to get there. Across my next columns, like a travel guide, I will try to recommend memorable places for…
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I’ve been pursuing good sound quality for decades. Along the journey, I learned about various elements that make up a good audio system. And one important lesson I learned is this: Sometimes, those small, seemingly less important elements turn out to be game changers. In an audio system, we pay most of our attention to…
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I have a friend who listened only to classical music. One day I had him listen to the music of John Coltrane, a jazz giant. And in honor of the saxophonist’s Giant status, the track I had my friend listen to was “Giant Steps”. As he was listening, I was trying to decide what I…
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The High-Fidelity Scene Recording technology revolutionized how music is produced, played, and experienced. From the perspective of experiencing it, to the old model of attending a live concert was added the option of listening to a recorded performance. In this new model, the listener’s role and situation were profoundly transformed; with recordings, listening has been…
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More than 30 years ago, the tabling of the Brundtland report introduced the concept of sustainable development, of which there are three pillars: economic, social, and environmental. This begat fair trade, at the time considered avant-garde, which instituted a set of policies that spanned the world and forever altered the standards we use to buy…
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The human voice is an amazing thing. I can think of no other instrument that moves our emotions and soul as powerfully. The examples are endless: Freddie Mercury, Beyoncé, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby McFerrin, Luciano Pavarotti, Ariana Grande… Just take your pick. And it’s not just singers’ voices that we respond strongly to. How about the…
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As a youngster in the late sixties, I was keenly interested in music. Virtually every day, I came home from school, and after doing my homework, spent my afternoons hanging out at the family’s Philco stereo console spinning LPs. My family’s relatively meager collection of albums consisted mainly of Mom’s selection of easy listening…
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I am not an audiophile, or an expert on music. I don’t like being labelled. But I do love most musical genres. I fell in love with music when I was nine. “That’s a young age to fall in love for the first time!” I hear some of you saying. It is. But by nine…