Has bad luck ever struck your audio system?
You forget to turn the power amp off while unplugging an input cable, or your neighbor walks over and taps your tonearm while a record is playing. Has bad luck ever struck your audio system?
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Blu-ray the Winner
Sony has triumphed once again. The company that has until now held control of the dominant audio format, "Red Book" CD, and the dominant high-resolution audio format, SACD, will now dominate high-resolution video as well with its Blu-ray technology.
Kolker's cork
Adam Kolker’s <I>Flag Day</I> (on the Sunnyside label) is a knotty pleasure. It may leave your head in a coil (take two tracks of hard bop to unwind), but ride with the twists while they’re winding; it’s a soft-toned heady trip. Adam Kolker, who plays tenor sax, soprano sax, and clarinet, is known mainly as a sideman, and he doesn’t try to get out in front of his bandmates on this session—John Abercrombie on guitar, John Hebert on drums, and the irrepressible Paul Motian on drums. I promised when I started writing this blog that I wouldn’t dwell excessively on any individual musician, but Motian is such a giant, I could write about him every day and not be rightly charged with excess.
The Swift Boating of Audiophiles
The "Want to make an easy $1,000,000?" e-mail wasn't a scam from Nigeria but an alert from Paul DiComo, late of Polk Audio and now of Definitive Technology, about a double-blind cable-identification challenge made by The Annoying Randi, a magician and debunker of paranormal events who goes by the name of "The Amazing Randi."
KEF Reference 207/2 loudspeaker
After reviewing a long series of minimonitors, I am now working on what may well be an equally varied selection of large floorstanding loudspeakers. This trend began with <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/1207sonus">my review</A> of the Sonus Faber Cremona Elipsa in the December 2007 issue, and continues this month with the Series 2 version of the KEF Reference 207, until recently the flagship model from this English manufacturer (footnote 1). I <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/775">reviewed</A> the original Reference 207 in February 2003, and was very impressed by what I heard.
Recording of February 2008: White Chalk
<B>PJ HARVEY: <I>White Chalk</I></B>
Island B0009972-02 (CD). 2007. PJ Harvey, John Parish, prods., mix; Flood, prod., eng., mix. ADD? TT: 33:34
Performance *****
Sonics ***1/2
George, by Chestnut Hill Sound
At some point during my time with George ($499), I lost a neighbor. The IT guy who sat in the cubicle immediately outside my office suddenly wasn't around anymore. Weeks later, I learned that the music had been bothering him. It had been too loud, I suppose. Or there had been too much of it. I'm not sure. I started apologizing to people: "Sorry about the music. It's just that I've got this new radio in my office. It's a lot of fun. His name is George."
George. Created By:
Beneath George's top panel, you'll find a list of his creators.
George's Tweeter/Woofer Unit
George uses a pair of three-inch woofers with coaxially mounted tweeters.
George's Subwoofer
In addition to its coaxial speakers, George has a four-inch down-firing sub.