News

It's been reported on the Strata-gee consumer electronics news website that Björn Erik Edvardsen (known as BEE), who was the creator of the historic NAD 3020 integrated amplifier, passed away on December 16 from Myeloma/bone cancer. BEE had worked continuously with the company from 1976 until just a few months ago, when he left his position as NAD's Director of Advanced Research to focus on his battle with cancer.

Friday December 14, at 3pm and 6pm, Fidelis (460 Amherst Street, Nashua, NH 03063) are presenting "An Afternoon with Michael Fremer" (above). Saturday, December 15, 11am–3pm, House of Stereo (8780 Perimeter Park Ct #100, Jacksonville, FL 32216) are hosting their 2019 KEF Product Launch event.

Yes, the January 2019 issue of Stereophile is hitting newsstands, mailboxes, and tablets this week. And to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our going from a digest-sized publication to a full-sized one, we have recreated the cover of the January 1994 issue, the "musicality vs accuracy" debate as strong today as it was a quarter-century ago. The 25th anniversary edition of the same Cary tube amplifier is featured on the cover and in this issue's review section, but instead of the solid-state Krell we had on the 1994 cover, we have the solid-state Cambridge Edge A integrated amplifier which is also reviewed in this issue.

On Saturday, December 8, from 2:00pm to 4:00pm, Gryphon Audio Designs' new Zena preamplifier will be demonstrated at Kyomi Audio, 4454 West Berteau Avenue, Chicago, IL 60641. The demonstrations will be conducted by Philip O'Hanlon of Gryphon's US Distributor, On A Higher Note, and by Kyomi Audio's George Vatchnadze, a noted concert pianist and recording artist.

Friday, November 30, 4–7pm, Music Lovers San Francisco (2295 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 9411) and Saturday, December 1, 2–6pm, Music Lovers Berkeley (2116 Blake Street, Berkeley, CA 94704) will hold events to celebrate the debut of Wilson Audio Specialties' Sasha DAW loudspeaker. Featured guests will include Peter McGrath of Wilson Audio, Bob McConnell of Transparent Audio, and Jeff Sigmund of Luxman. Attendees will have two listening opportunities to choose from: one each at Music Lovers' San Francisco and Berkeley locations.

Saturday, November 17, all day, Alma Music and Audio (7847 Convoy Court, #101, San Diego, CA 92111) is holding an open house to introduce what they call Dan D'Agostino's masterpiece, the Relentless Monoblock, to the Southern California public. The Relentless power amplifiers will be used to power YG Acoustics' Sonja XV loudspeakers, which are also making their debut in Southern California. The Sonja XV is an extreme, four-tower version of the Sonja. It incorporates everything YG knows about speaker design and was created to celebrate YG's 15th anniversary.

Thursday November 15, 7:30–10pm, Audio Vision S.F. (1628 California Street—at the end of the historic cable car line—San Francisco, CA 94109) is holding what they call a "BIG FREE HOME AUDIO EVENT!!" Featured will be D/A processors from Chord Electronics, a SME Reference turntable system, loudspeakers from Raidho, and Nordost power and cabling systems.