PBN doing vintage tables - who knew?

Certainly not me, but I've always liked PBN's products and the prime man Peter Noerbaek's straight talk on audio  so I drop by their site occasionally just to see what's going on. Their Groovemaster tables always caught my eye, being a mix of great looks, practical use of existing technology and innovative design. So today I find another table option there, the Vintage Direct line -- a mix of the beautiful PBN wooden plinths, old Denon direct drive tables, and a choice of arm. Find out more here  I'm usually not one for vintage tables, give me a contemporary product with today's best engineering anytime but I have to admit, this table hits so many hot buttons for me. Price on request, guess it's tied to various options, but how come this design is not better known? 

Some sad goings on at Stereophile

There's been lots of internet fallout from the announcement that Sam Tellig and Wes Phillips are leaving Stereophile. In the case of ST, that's after 32 years of contributions. Hard to make too much sense of the various commentaries on this but it does appear ST was aggrieved at not receiving payments for columns in a timely fashion, a result of corporate reorganization it would appear. You can read some of the direct complaints and responses here: 

None of this makes for particularly pleasant reading but beyond the name calling from a few, it's probably worth reading  in order to learn that some regular contributors are not salaried employees but contractors, and yes, they are likely justified in being annoyed at their payments being delayed. It's hard to reconcile the allegedly short-lived delays with the departure of writers after decades, so one wonders if there is more to this, but for me S'phile remains a worthy read -- it's beautifully produced, has measurements, covers music, and costs little on subscription. And hey, it arrives on time every month, no mean feat. As usual, John Atkinson handles the flak with grace despite some provocation. Personally, I'm not going to miss one writer too much (it would be a different story for me if Mikey F or Art D were to leave) but I would miss Stereophile if it disappeared.  Still, with HP dying, and now another couple of long-term contributors going away, it's easy to see why some are wondering if the end of audio journalism as we know it is nigh.

Diggin' the TTW tables

Am running some fun gear at the moment (new integrated  tube amp from Raven Audio doing duties now, plus some great tweaks to review, stay tuned). Am on such a major vinyl kick at the moment that it's causing all sorts of renewed interest in tables. Cue then the amazing number of new videos from Canadian manufacturer TTW, whose new line of Precision tables and Avro arms offers precise VTA setting with a gauge for measurement (though quite how a dial is going to tell you anything other than where the arm is in relation to parallel, I'm not clear). Still, these are lustworthy, about the best looking tables this company has produced. I used to think the other models looked kind of industrial but the Precision line starts to look really sweet.  Main man there Larry D just seems to be on a roll. I'd love to give one a run through my system, especially with the 12" arm...check this out:

Hitler finds out the results from cable ABX testing

OK, there have been better written parodies on this famous scene but this one might be the first to delve into the fanaticism of audio -- Enjoy:

Changing those headshell leads

Dexterity was tested, patience pushed to the limit, but I did manage to insert a set of the Furutech La Source replacement headshell leads in my SME V over the holidays. In fact, I did it several times as I swapped back and forth between these and the stock (probably VdH) wires across several cartridges. Yes, I had an accident on the way but that's life. What I can say is those little wires are critical to the sound of the vinyl rig. I got so involved in this I wrote up the review for HiFi'Zine, see the results here. Thanks to Scot Markwell of Elite AV and The Gear Shop for making this review possible.

Better alignment through technology: the SMARTractor

The commentary is in German but the visuals are excellent enough that they should be self-explanatory. The secret sauce is the proprietary Uni-Din alignment on offered which from what I can tell, is an original calculation designed to reflect the type of stylus and grooves found in modern stereo LP reproduction.  Not too sure I see what he sees at 1:28 but that might just be the camera. You know you want one, only $750 -- start saving :)



I requested a review sample but it seems this won't work out any time soon but I am assured these will be on display at RMAF in Denver. 

The greatest record collection in the world?

Well, there is competition for the title (see earlier post on the Mr Freitas who wants a copy of every LP ever made) but this guy is surely up there with the top candidates. Great personal story of one man's obsession (slightly dated now):

The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

The state of the music industry is not the state of the musicians

For once, a relatively positive voice (unless you believe the future rests on you and me buying the same albums again and again in a new package, in which case, you are welcome to spend your money and to contemplate just what Ringo really was thinking or if we need that 93rd reissue of Kind of Blue)-- welcome Steve Albini. This takes some time but it’s worth it.

MusicMatters announces new titles for 2015 Blue Note series

It was anticipated this would happen by regular purchasers of the wonderful 12 LP series but today MusicMatters confirm that a new series is coming in 2015. And 20 new titles are promised including Dolphy's Out to Lunch and other gems, which will be happy news for many. I bought the full set so far and love them. So, if you thought you spent a lot on vinyl last year, brace yourself for another $700 or so on these if you want the lot (and you know you do)

The crap side of being an LP lover

I've done it again -- in a moment of minor inattention I brushed the back of my middle finger against my cartridge as I changed sides on a recently cleaned and wonderful sounding used LP that I was pleased to have found (Duke Robillard's Swing on Rounder Records, as a matter of fact) and 'pop'..there goes the cantilever. "Oh" went my first reaction, "how did I touch that?"...assuming no real damage as the touch was so light. But my eyes soon revealed the full horror -- the cantilever was shorn completely off the body and was lying dead on the platform of my SME 20.

Now I could go on about how rare this is but I did it less than two years ago with a previous version of this same, rather extended-cantilever cartridge. At that time, I blamed my overzealous efforts at trying to position a magnifier close enough to see VTA but this time I had no excuse - not alcohol, not careless handling, not hurrying, just plain accidental hand positioning as I went through a routine, habitual physical act of changing a record.  I've played records for 40 years, I never damaged a cantilever until two years ago, I look after my gear.  I could scream since I have just completed a series of reviewing and adjustments that had the table sounding about as well as I have ever heard vinyl in my home. This $2800 cartridge had only 200 hours on it, carefully logged, carefully cleaned and usually, carefully handled. Right now, I am sitting in silence as I cannot bear to put a CD on and I am contemplating the decimation of all the plans I had for the upcoming holidays to binge clean and wallow in vinyl. I was even contemplating investing in an ultrasonic record cleaner. Not now. I don't know if I have the money or the inclination to do this all over again.

Sometimes being a vinyl lover just f^*k+n# sucks!

Wilson Benesch set up new distribution in the US

I've long been intrigued by the designs of Wilson Benesch. Their use of carbon composites and their rather elegant flowing lines always struck me as eye-catching. Have never managed to hear their products though and I am hoping this might change soon as the Sound Organization in Dallas has been named their new US distributor.Pictured to the right is their new Cardinal model from the Geometry series, described poetically as consisting of "a silk black baffle, spine, foot and carbon fiber cabinet is beautifully augmented with side cheeks that may be customized with a choice of 14 polymer or natural wood veneer side cheek finishes, expertly applied by Bentley trained craftsmen to compliment any décor."  Wow, it sounds good already right? No US prices that I can determine yet but start saving, a published German review listed it as well north of 'more than you can afford' at 55,000 pounds

New gear arriving

The upshot of my last 'Zine review on the Purist and Furutech phono cables was to push me further here to tweak every last bit of performance out of my tonearm. Scot, the rep who submitted the Furutech cable offered to send a set of their  La Source 101 headshell leads to complement the SME V arm and I accepted with some trepidation given the rather finicky nature of swapping such leads in and out -- this is no mere cable swap but a task that involves removing the cartridge, at least partly, if only to gain room for one’s fingers and tweezers. Still, enquiring minds want to know what, if any, benefits one can obtain from this so stay tuned.

Dave Thomson, the chief driver behind Raven Audio here in Texas followed up with me post-RMAF to offer his Nighthawk integrated tube amp for review. This was not what we’d originally discussed as he has some great new designs coming but it was available and who am I to refuse such a generous offer. It’s been a few years since I had a tube amp in for review and right now, the surprisingly portable Nighthawk is warming up in one of my secondary rigs (should I have a tertiary rig since I have three different set ups in various rooms?) and reminding me of just what so many people cannot give up on tubes. This is Raven’s lowest price amp (circa $1250 for 20w) but I am really keen to hear how it handles my upper end speakers.

Finally, I have a sample Essence of Sound CD treatment in house. This is a spray treatment that promises wonderful improvement in standard CD sonics -- am usually suspicious of such claims but Robert from Essence is pretty detailed on how his treatment works. Right now I have treated the one CD pair I have to hand (and I’ve another pair on order) so I can keep a couple of  direct A/B comparisons on hand for any visitors. From there, I’m going to give a few of my old favorites the treatment to see if this has the claimed effect. Not sure if my use of the PS Audio PWT memory transport hinders the effect so I’ll try this in a secondary rig too. Who knew that hoarding gear all these years would become such a benefit --- someone tell that to my wife!

Science in favor of analog?

Interesting piece on the merits of analog versus digital listening

As the original article notes: 

"Research shows that musical quality has a huge effect on emotional response. A recent study performed by audio researchers at DTS divided a group of listeners into two groups — one that watched a video accompanied by standard stereo 96-kbps sound (Spotify's default audio setting) and the other group listened in 256-kbps audio format. The responses in the brains of the group listening with the 256-kbps audio were 14% more powerful on metrics measuring memory creation and 66% higher on pleasure responses. And this was just 96 to 256 kbps. 

http://mic.com/articles/104250/what-the-internet-has-done-to-your-love-of-music

A king is dead: Harry Pearson passes

Though I never met the man, I was saddened to learn this week of Harry Pearson's death. Perhaps the last of a particularly iconoclastic breed, he is of course famous for founding The Absolute Sound and raising the critical evaluation of audio products to the level of serious journalism.  Over the years he gave a start to many budding reviewers and seemed quite happy to entertain and annoy in equal measure. I found his writing compelling if sometimes a bit too heavy on self-promotion (his superlist, his naming of his own 'Pearson's Rule of Thirds' to describe speaker positioning that many folks use, and his constant reminder that he invented words to describe sound, just so we would all know) but there's no doubting that his words mattered.

I expect TAS has some special commentary coming attached to their announcement, but I heard the news first from Albert Von Schweikert's posting on the Audio Circle site where he relates some of his early experiences with HP. Apparently the man had a tendency to rack up expensive dinners on manufacturers' tabs if invited to dinner, an aspect of HP's character confirmed by Michael Fremer in his account of life with the man. Micheal's entry is really the best I've read: personal, honest, and balancing appropriate respect with an acknowledgement of the man's flaws. The end of Harry's tenure with TAS seems to be a sore point and there is little doubt that HP's output over the last few years of his life seemed a tad below his usual standard but that is no crime. His expectations and treatment of some manufacturers might be a different story if we are to accept some accounts but that's for others who actually have to facts to determine.

For me, there are few audio writers who compel one to read on in the hope of some enlightenment, some insight into a new quality in reproduction or some special recording that I needed to hear. This is not a criticism, it is an observation that writing about audio is not high art, but Harry sometimes made it seem so. We who love music and the technologies of its reproduction are all worse off for his passing. Enjoy his legacy. 

Back to the review business

Wow, 4000+ readers for my RMAF comments? If I'd known, I'd have given more thought to organization and layout. But another year has come and gone....I forgot to mention a few things, such as the ubiquity of Vanessa Fernandez LP in analog rooms - sounded impressive on first and second listen but I soon yearned for something more. Does a new singer songwriter set out to be the darling of the audiophile crowd? One imagines not but good luck to her, it's a tough world for new voices who opt for music over shock.

Anyway, onward to the regular services here, I've had a couple of fine phono cables in for review (about the only new cables I can get interested in reviewing in my rig), a Purist Corvus and Furutech Silver Arrow, both offering some impressive sonics. Review in HiFi'Zine now live. After this I have the Essence of Music treatment to try, and a promise of a pair of Prana Fidelity's excellent-at-RMAF monitors. But there's many a slip between promise and ship, so we'll see. Hope I can snag some of the great Raven amps I heard too but it's hard on new companies to ship gear out for review, and I appreciate that. Getting any audience for a new specialized audio product or recording is a challenge for everyone. Let's keep trying.

Also bought the latest two releases in the MusicMatters Blue Note release series...the Cannonball and Sonny releases.

I think I just reached the full set point. More to come one hopes but what started out as a desire to fill in the blanks in my collection grew into a 'better get them all while I can' approach. No regrets but this pushes the average price of my LP purchases up, which was never part of any plan. Got to love them anyway - these are products of art, manufactured to standards of love. Can't really ask for more. Some time I'll try to report on all I hear but it's fair to say, I never regretted picking up any one of them, even if I have one or more copies of the same recording (and I mad or sad?). Ron at MusicMatters is really committed to sound and a quality product (and service too). Let us all be grateful.