Listening #17
<I>"As I was saying before I was interrupted..."</I>—Jack Paar, 1918-2004
Art Dudley
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EAR 890 power amplifier
Most of us have at least some taste for gear that <I>jumps out</I>—for audio components whose sonic and musical distinctions are easy to hear from the start. In audio, unlike in the art of music itself, there's nothing wrong with being obvious.
Listening #16
Consider the fate of Giordano Bruno, a 16th-century astronomer who challenged Ptolemy's notion of Earth being the center of a finite universe—and in doing so went head to head with the church of Rome. Bruno's scholarly diligence and fearlessness were rewarded not with fame, riches, or accolades from his colleagues, but with a hot-lead enema, after which he was burned at the stake. Next heretic in line, step right up, please.
Academy? What Academy?!
It was the subhead that caught my eye: "Today's super-rich just don't seem interested in $300,000 stereos." Clunky writing, sure. But at least it gave some idea of what the next 2000 words were about, and spared the pain of having to read further.
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Listening #15
One of the nicest things about communicating online is the potential for immediacy. One person can offer up a statement, another can respond within seconds, and voilà: instant town hall.
Antique Sound Lab Explorer 805 DT monoblock power amplifier
Anyone over 40 who's worked in a hi-fi or record store will remember the Pfanstiehl catalog, a pulpy thing that most shopkeepers chained to their counters, like a phone book. Pfanstiehl made replacement styli for virtually every record-playing device of the day, and their catalog contained page after page of tiny line drawings of nothing but phonograph needles, all lovingly rendered in three-quarter view. You couldn't browse it without being brought up short: My God, how many different needles <I>are</I> there? And how is it possible that a single company could tool up for so many products and still make a profit?
Cary SLP-98P tube preamplifier
I had it all wrong. I assumed that the "SLP" in SLP-98P stood for <I>stereo line preamplifier</I>. But <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/399">Dennis Had</A>, Cary Audio's founder and chief designer, told me that it actually stands for <I>sweet little preamplifier</I>. In a day and age when <I>acme</I> is a word without meaning and the fighting Irish are neither, this strikes me as a risky marketing gambit—but one that may be effective if the name proves true.
Listening #14
<I>Five years: My brain hurts a lot.</I>—David Bowie
Listening #13
When some people record music, they make an effort to record the ambient sound of the hall or other performing space along with it. On the other side of the coin, some engineers work to capture only the sounds of the performers, so the recordings they make sound comparatively dry. And, of course, there are engineers who don't make an effort one way or the other, and whose work contains whatever hall sound does or does not come their way by accident.
Moth Audio Cicada loudspeaker
Like most people, I'm not interested in long, windy essays about audio reviewing, having barely enough time and interest for audio itself. But I do perk up when the debate turns to the audio reviewer's purpose in life: Should I write about everything that crosses my path, or should I limit my attention to those products that interest me, and that stand a chance of being good?