News

Sunday, March 11, Time TBA: Classic Album Sundays, Colleen Murphy’s popular UK event, makes its US debut at the new Bellwether venue (594 Union Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn).

With Classic Album Sundays, Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy shares her passions for great music and high-quality sound, inviting guests to listen to an entire record, from beginning to end, on vinyl.

Saturday, March 3, 3–9pm: The Audio Doctor (112 Sherman Place, Jersey City, NJ) will host an evening of music featuring amplification and sources from Unison Research. Three systems will be utilized, and there will be three separate showings: 3pm, 6pm, and 8:30pm.

Gear will include Unison’s S6 integrated amplifier, Primo amplifier and CD player/DAC, and Unico 50 CDE CD player/DAC; loudspeakers will include models from KEF and Dali. Dave Lalin of the Audio Doctor and Colleen Cardas of Colleen Cardas Imports will be on hand to present the systems.

Space is limited; RSVP with the time slot that works best for you. For more info, e-mail sales@audiodoctor.com, call (877) 428-2873, or visit the Audio Doctor.

Friday, February 17, 5–9pm: David Michael Audio (4341 Delemere Court, Royal Oak, MI) will host an Evening of Turntables and Vinyl featuring outstanding new pressings from ORG. In addition, all ORG releases will be available for purchase. Space is limited. For more info, e-mail info@davidmichaelaudio.com, call (586) 244-8479, or visit David Michael Audio.

As one of the Top Five KEF dealers in the United States, AudioVision San Francisco was chosen as the site for the country's first in-store demo of KEF's Blade ($30,000/pair) on January 19. Given that the Blade's previous three quasi-public demos were either at shows—CEDIA 2011, where the environment was reportedly too noisy for anyone to get a good listen, and RMAF 2011, where the room was too small—or KEF's 50th Anniversary Party in the British Embassy in New York City, this was actually the first time that anyone on the West Coast, or any bloke who happened to wander in off the street, had a chance to hear KEF's long-awaited speaker in more supportive surroundings.

Doing the honors for KEF was April Sanders, the company's Western Regional Manager (top photo). Sanders' 30 years experience in the speaker industry makes her one of the longest-surviving women in the high-end—a feat that, IMHO, deserves at the least a medal of honor and epaulettes covered with brass stars and other emblems of bravery on the front lines.

Gibson Guitar Corp., makers of some of the world’s most iconic electric guitars&#151the Flying V, SG, and, of course, the Les Paul come to mind&#151yesterday announced a strategic partnership with Onkyo Corporation, perhaps best known for their versatile multichannel A/V receivers and 2-channel power amplifiers. If approved, Gibson will purchase a stake in Onkyo Japan and acquire a majority interest in Onkyo USA, becoming the second largest shareholder in Onkyo Corporation. The agreements are subject to Japanese regulatory clearance, further negotiations, and financial considerations.

We were saddened to hear of the passing, on December 10,of Audio Research founder William "Bill" Zane Johnson. Bill, who founded Audio Research in 1970 and became its Chairman Emeritus in 2008, is survived by his wife Nancy (left in photo) and family. We are preparing a tribute to Bill, to be published in the March 2012 issue of Stereophile, but meanwhile, we are reprinting here an interview Paul Messenger and I conducted with Bill that was originally published in the June 1983 issue of Hi-Fi News. (My thanks to HFN editor Paul Miller for permission. Stereophile's 1994 interview with Bill can be found here.)—John Atkinson

Photo: Andy Henriques, CAS

The same weekend John Atkinson was serenading the Los Angeles/Orange County Audio Society, John Marks was showing the flag in Southern New England at the annual Holiday Meeting of the Connecticut Audio Society. JM brought with him to Connecticut not only Sooloos' Control:15 music server, into which he had loaded the playlist for his presentation, but also a Bricasti M1 DAC and Nordost Silver Shadow S/PDIF cable and Bricasti's Brian Zolner to answer questions about his M1 DAC. (JA's full review of the Bricasti will appear in the February 2012 issue of Stereophile, with a Follow-Up by JM in the March issue.)

Sonus Faber is celebrating the launch of their Aida loudspeaker ($120,000/pair) with a series of dealer events beginning this weekend.

Sunday, January 15, 5–9pm and Monday, January 16, 6–9pm: As a way to recuperate from the madness of the Consumer Electronics Show and with a hat tip to Devore Fidelity's popular Monkeyhaus listening parties, Pitch Perfect Audio (300 Brannan Street, Suite 209, San Francisco) will host their first “Greenhaus” events.

On Thursday, November 17, Sound By Singer celebrated the grand opening of their new showroom with an evening of music and product demonstrations.