It Seems So Obvious When You Think About It
Given its ubiquity, strength, and lightness, why don't they build bikes out of bamboo?
LATEST ADDITIONS
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Girls Gone Wild Founder Apparently A Huge Tool
Yeah, that's a shock to anybody who has ever seen any of those commercials on late-night TV. But here's the thing, this Claire Hoffman article from <I>The Los Angeles Times</I> is a wonderful piece of participatory journalism.
An Eight-Lane Highway For Processing Emotion
It's Monday, I have a Jon Carroll column that discusses a new book on the differences between men and women, and it reveals the secret to stimulating a "major dopamine and oxytocin rush, which is the biggest, fattest neurological reward you can get outside of an orgasm." So how could I not link to it?
Wilson Benesch Full Circle turntable, ACT 0.5 tonearm, & Ply MC cartridge
"Hello, I'd like to apply for a Federal Grant? For what? Oh, to design and build a new, high-tech, very expensive turntable. What's that? It plays records. Yes, that kind of turntable. Of course they still make records. Why? How much time do you have? Oh, I forgot—you're a federal employee, you have all day! Well, I didn't mean to insult you. It was a joke....No, I'm serious about the turntable. You do? What kind of music? When are they from? RCA Record Club? Classical Music? 1950s and '60s? Yes. I'll give you $5 each. I know it's generous, but... How much money do I want for the grant? Coupla hundred thousand dollars. No, our turntables will never be used to play Marilyn Manson records—Marilyn doesn't do vinyl. It's in the mail? Thank you. I'll come get the LPs tonight."
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Epos ES12 loudspeaker
Blind loudspeaker listening tests are hard work, not least because usually, most of the models being auditioned fail to light any musical sparks. But back in the spring of 1991, when a small group of <I>Stereophile</I> writers were doing blind tests for a group speaker review, one speaker did light up smiles on the listeners' faces, including my own. (We don't talk during our blind tests, but it's more difficult to keep body language in check.) Once the results were in, we learned that the speaker that got the music right in that test was the diminutive ES11 from Epos in England (footnote 1).
Spotheim La Luce turntable and SpJ tonearm
The La Luce turntable's elegant form usually stops audiophiles dead in their tracks. Then comes a long, low "Wow." I'm hardly immune myself. And that's not even considering the sound, which has always been wonderful, as it was in the Joseph Audio/Cardas room at CES '98.
Have you been moving toward bigger or smaller speakers in recent years?
The conventional wisdom that "bigger is better" doesn't always hold true in audio. High-end speaker systems, for example, have evolved in both directions—some designs have grown enormous while others have almost disappeared entirely. Which trend do you favor?
Dean Roumanis
Dean Roumanis, chief operating officer and part owner of Krell Industries, died Sunday, July 30, of a heart attack, one day after being taken to the hospital following chest pains he experienced after a long bicycle ride. He was 52.
Industry Update
<B>No CDs for you, Tower:</B> <I>The Los Angeles Times</I> <A HREF="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tower4aug04,0,736949.story?coll=l…; August 4 that Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and EMI have cut off CD shipments to Tower Records because the record chain has stopped paying its bills. Sony BMG may have also stopped shipping to Tower, but the <I>Times</I> was not able to confirm those reports.
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
One of the great sopranos of the 20th century, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, died in her sleep at her home in Schruns, Austria, on August 3, at the age of 90. The myriad ways in which she employed her remarkably expressive, silvery soprano gave rise to as much admiration and respect as her penchant for incessant nuance, along with her Nazi past, generated controversy.