Herb Reichert

PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium power amplifier

Herb Reichert Nov 02, 2016

Let us pretend . . . you have a pair of loudspeakers that have proven themselves to sound articulate and musically responsive in your room, without excess boom, bloom, or frail leanness. They mate with your décor and impress your friends. But maybe you're bored, and feel certain that your speakers would sound better with a better amplifier than the one you have now. Maybe you feel an urge to spend money? Perhaps a new amp will make your records sound the way you imagine they should sound?

I have had these thoughts many times.

RMAF 2016

RMAF 2016: Wrapping Up with Herbo

Herb Reichert Oct 14, 2016

In the room with the most beautiful speakers, they played Norah Jones

RMAF 2016

RMAF 2016: Sunday at the Show with Herb

Herb Reichert Oct 14, 2016

On the day before RMAF 2016 began, German audio manufacturer Elac announced that they have entered an agreement to acquire Peter Madnick's American company, Audio Alchemy

RMAF 2016

RMAF 2016: Saturday, Part 2, with Herb

Herb Reichert Oct 13, 2016

I used to be a DIY guy, but now that I work for Stereophile, I'm living like Jay Z &#151and there's no time for sawing wood or screwing raw drivers into boxes

RMAF 2016

RMAF 2016: Saturday Morning with Herb

Herb Reichert Oct 13, 2016

In the room shared by NAD and PSB, I got to meet the latter's Paul Barton and listen intimately to Francis Albert Sinatra

RMAF 2016

RMAF 2016: Friday Afternoon with Herb

Herb Reichert Oct 12, 2016

The inside of the Brinkmann Nyquist is beautiful, like a jet fighter

RMAF 2016

RMAF 2016: Herb's Friday Morning

Herb Reichert Oct 11, 2016

My brain began to spin, wondering how the thing actually works. What keeps the record on the platter? What keeps the tonearm on the record?

RMAF 2016

RMAF 2016: Herb's Wild West Preview

Herb Reichert Oct 07, 2016

I flew to Denver in a tin can

Gramophone Dreams

Gramophone Dreams #12

Herb Reichert Oct 06, 2016

When you get old and gray and all them shoot-'em-up dudes doe wanna ride wit you no mo, don't fretyou can still have fun. Once you're a geezer, you'll have more time to work in the garden, drink tea, buy LPs, and fiddle with your unipivot.

When I was José Cuervo young, I mocked belt-drive turntables, unipivot tonearms, and teetotalers. "You can't drink, dance, shoot up the bar, and play hot records wit no persnickety belt-drive or wobbly unipivot. You need a masculine, pro-fessional-quality direct-drive or rim-drive turntable with a sturdy a gimbal-bearing tonearm!"

Solid State Power Amp Reviews

First Watt J2 power amplifier

Herb Reichert Sep 20, 2016

Every time a new audio technology enters the marketplace, a debate begins about its relative merit. That debate never ceases, even decades after the technology first came (and sometimes went). Turntable platters driven by belts vs rims vs idlers vs directly by their motors. Analog vs digital. Tubes vs solid-state. Triodes vs pentodes, Single-ended vs push-pull. Objectivism vs subjectivism. The power and seriousness of each of these debates has splintered our global hobby into diverse tribes, cults, and subcultsand therein lies one of the chief joys of being an audiophile: participating in cult rivalries.