Episode 66

It’s beginning to look a lot like winter (finally), the chestnuts- er, questions are piling up, and the guys thought it would be fun to try to answer them all. In this episode, questions about capacitor burn-in, DIY projects, tube noise, outriggers and more are answered, and the album of the week is not one, but TWO lovely albums which share a lot in common. They come by different origin — from Great Britain and France — each with their own unique vibe, and somehow they sound great together. Don’t miss it.

Episode 67

Welcome back! In this episode, Darren, designer of an amplifier that TAS just named “2021 Product of the Year (huzzah!),” takes us patiently and steadily through a basic concept involving operational amplifiers, or amps-on-a-chip, explaining how feedback is heavily used in many modern op-amps to broaden what, in some cases, is a staggeringly low bandwidth to begin with. Don’t worry – if Duncan can understand this by the end of the show, so can you. Don’t miss more questions and a surprising yet completely amazing album recommendation to round out the show.

Episode 68

As audiophiles, we listen in many different styles and sizes of rooms. Our spaces to setup well-tuned systems are, more often than not, the only ones we’re given to work with. On the other side of the coin, sometimes it’s the gear we already have which tells us what kind of space it should be in, and more specifically, how close we should listen. In this episode, Darren and Duncan talk about the pros and cons of nearfield, midfield and farfield listening as it relates to speaker type and sonic presentation. And this being the thick of the holiday season, not one, but two album recommendations round out the show in the annual music genre we know and love so well.

Episode 69

Just about a year ago, a listener in Brooklyn, NY reached out with some ideas about building an all-Klipsch-Heritage-based dancehall and party space in the basement of his new house. In the year since, he got right to it, wasting no time and creating a space that his producer friends and he believe puts on some of the best-sounding dance parties in the whole region. In this episode, he checks back in with a few more questions and a ton of information about the year of parties that has Darren and Duncan wishing they were New Yorkers, if just to catch one of these events. Replete with a 1000-watt fog machine, a police beacon light and an upstairs Hifi system area for folks to take a “break from the basement beating,” this place sounds absolutely incredible. Later in the episode, this week’s album recommendation is a recent release, it’s a bit more well known, it features incredible music and is a real test piece for any hifi system.

Episode 70

It’s been a hell of a week here in Colorado, and after the fires and the fallout, the idea of how to protect your hifi system from danger and disaster seemed like an appropriate topic for this week’s podcast. In this episode, Darren and Duncan discuss inrush currents and voltage spikes associated with some of the problems Mother Nature can throw at you, as well as flooding and more, and they offer ways to protect your beloved gear in the event that the worst comes to reality. The album of the week is an exciting one for Duncan, featuring a new album he mastered by a band he’s truly fond of.