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.
THIS ISSUE: Good sound is good for us. My friend was in dire straits. What had been rare occurrences of panic attacks—one every year or so—had turned into a full-blown panic disorder that made it impossible for him to enjoy peace of mind.. If you’ve never suffered a panic attack, the idea of one—of being, in the absence of any real threat, suddenly overwhelmed by fear—can seem inconceivably strange. Try to imagine fear flooding your mind with such fierce momentum that you struggle to catch your breath, so convincing is the sensation that everything is spinning horribly out of control. Once that happens and the fear has taken over, it doesn’t matter if the threat is real or not. In fact, my friend says, that’s the scariest thing about it—no…
Wes Phillips Editor: I am deeply saddened to read of Wes’s passing, at the end of August. He was a real gentleman, and a cool guy who understood why those of us in this “industry” are so passionate about what we do. It’s always been about the music for guys like us, and Wes was one of us. —Geoff Poor Balanced Audio Technology We noted Wes Phillips’s passing in the November issue (p.15) and at www.stereophile.com/content/wes-phillips-rip. PS Audio hosted a memorial for Wes at the recent Rocky Mountain Audio Fest.—John Atkinson Banjo? Editor: Just a note to point out that in Art Dudley’s October “Listening” column, the picture on p.33 shows a mandolin player and a guitar player . . . no banjo in sight. —Mike Nilan mnilan@syr.edu Thanks for…
UK: WHITTLEBURY HALL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Paul Messenger In some ways, the Chester Group’s 2016 National Audio Show, held September 17–18 in a resort hotel 70 miles north of London, was a curious show—because few of the bigger brands put in an appearance, some visitors complained about the ￡16 ($21) entry fee. As a member of the press, of course, I didn’t have to pay, but I did find plenty of interest from a number of startup operations from the UK and elsewhere. here—at least two new UK makers of turntables, Planalogue and Onkk, exhibited at the National, as well as numerous established UK and imported analog brands. And as more and more audio brands chase fewer retail outlets, individual dealers are taking on the distribution—sometimes the exclusive distribution—of audio marques. There…
ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website dedicated solely 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@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 ❚ Tuesday, November 29, 7–9pm: The Arizona Audio Video Club will hold its monthly meeting at Trinity Lutheran Church (9424 N. Seventh Street, Phoenix 85021). This meeting will highlight the highly regarded and very reasonably priced Elac loudspeakers designed by Andrew Jones, of which we will have both a bookshelf and a floorstander. The Elacs will be powered by a Peachtree Nova 150 v2 DACintegrated amplifier. The equipment…
THIS ISSUE: Acoustic Signatures Ascona Mk.2 turntable & TA-9000 tonearm I recently posted to AnalogPlanet.com’s YouTube channel a video1 that compares VPI’s Prime turntable and JMW 3D-printed tonearm ($3995)2 with Continuum Audio Labs’ Caliburn turntable (ca $150,000 with arm and stand, discontinued) fitted with the Swedish Analog Technologies arm ($28,000). Both played “Braziljah,” a snazzy track from the New Zion Trio’s latest album, Sunshine Seas (LP, RareNoise RNR065LP), featuring guest Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista. The Prime was fitted with a Lyra Helikon SL cartridge (ca $2500, discontinued), driving a reasonably priced phono preamplifier: the Audio Alchemy PPA-1 ($1795, currently under review for AnalogPlanet). Accompanying the Continuum Caliburn and SAT arm were Audio-Technica’s ATART1000 cartridge ($5000), and Ypsilon’s MC-16L step-up transformer ($6200) and VPS-100 Silver phono preamplifier ($65,000)—total cost, more than…
Acoustic Signature’s Ascona Mk.2 turntable ($32,995), which is exquisitely machined from aluminum, is massive yet surprisingly compact. Ingeniously designed by Gunther Frohnhöfer, its tasteful bling also makes it one of today’s more visually attractive platter spinners. The Ascona’s unique design features a main chassis in the shape of an equilateral triangle, near each apex of which is a European-made AC synchronous motor encased in its own aluminum pedestal, and driven by a digitally derived signal from Acoustic Signature’s new AlphaDIG motor-drive electronics, which the company describes as “State of the Art.” Three massive, circular receptacles attached to the top of the lower chassis accept the upper chassis’ three domed, cylindrical threaded brass feet, each having a crosspiece that fits into a slot machined into the lower-chassis receptacle. This locks the…
