Jim Austin

Four years ago last August, I went to Port Washington, New York, on Long Island, to visit the North Shore Animal League America's (NSALA's) adoption shelter. It was a memorable day: We brought home our beautiful and beloved Ella, aka Ella Wren. But this column is not about puppies. It's about tequila and blind testing.

R.E.M.: Reckoning
I.R.S. Records SP70044/Interscope-Capitol Records Definitive Sound Series DSS 16 (LP; auditioned as a test pressing). 1984/2026. Don Dixon, Mitch Easter, prods.; Dixon, Easter, engs.; Bill Inglot, Chris Bellman, remastering.

Earlier this year, I wrote two articles on record cleaning, in particular the ultrasonic kind. Some of the ideas I expressed were good and correct, like the choice of surfactant (Tergitol 15-S-9). Others, like the amount of Tergitol to use, were less well-considered.

In this space in the September 2025 Stereophile—exactly a year ago—I wrote about bicycles. I was researching a bicycle purchase, and the more I read about bikes, the more parallels I saw between bikes and hi-fi, especially economic parallels between that industry and this one.

Jim Snidero: Best of the Trio Recordings; Nils Petter Molvær: Be Quiet; Adam O'Farrill: Elephant; The Oscar Peterson Trio: At Baker's Keyboard Lounge; Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet: A Blue Time;

The July issue is a milestone in Stereophile's history: It's the last issue in which John Atkinson will be performing the measurements for our equipment reviews. As a start toward digesting this momentous event, I asked JA1 some questions.

I wrote in the April 2026 issue of Stereophile that when you clean records in an ultrasonic bath, you need to make some decisions. The first is whether it's necessary to use distilled water or whether tap water is good enough . . . The next decision is, should I use a surfactant?