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HEADLINE: Rubinstein Bested by 24-Year-Old Russian Prodigy "Where are the great artists of contemporary classical music?" The question is not infrequently raised in the listening room, usually by the same dudes who don't go to many live performances. That's not a good basis for an opinion. I attend concerts often and, let me assure you,... Read More »

Jeez, this thing is heavy. Schlepping the box upstairs, I stopped to catch my breath and wondered what they're made from. Thus I embarked on my latest audio adventure. Medusa Speaker Cable from Stage III Concepts, along with a set of Medusa jumper cables, replaced a double run of Kubala•Sosna Elation! speaker wire. That pits... Read More »

We are creatures of habit. For ten consecutive years Lynn and I have taken our summer vacation at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival in Canada, which bills itself as the largest of its kind in the world. It is huge in terms of programming and number of days, if not in audience size. A... Read More »

"It disturbs me that footers make such a difference." Ain't that the truth, Abe. But then you shouldn't have been so surprised. Remember when you gave me an assist installing the Finite Elemente Pagode APS Amp Stands? Talk about a grand disturbance! Such are the pitfalls of the empiricist grappling with the logic of the... Read More »

The Truth Serum We just arrived at Alice Tully Hall here in New York City on Saturday night, but I wasn't looking forward to the program. Yet another Dvořák's New World Symphony? C'mon, give it a rest, maybe trot it out every two years or so. Such was my gloomy mood as we settled into... Read More »

"I don't recall the name. It's a new product distributed by Merrill Audio of New Jersey." We were just starting a session when Jonathan, one of my regulars, mentioned a phono stage he heard at a meeting of The Audiophile Society in NYC. "It's certainly high-res. It seemed to retrieve a lot more back-of-orchestra instrumental... Read More »

Spatial Holography Last I checked the principles of Newtonian physics still apply. That's why I see my role as communicating the real-life observations that go down in Nack Labs: that's the key—observation and communication. But occasionally stuff happens that falls into a grey zone outside the paradigms we've developed. The problem then is what to... Read More »

I like the idea of resonators as a prescription: Take one a day to keep the shakes away. Ha! Not quite, just me being silly. Seriously though, they are a sonic purgative. The actual prescription is to put them at strategic points on your components to prevent vibrations or mechanical energy from doing mischief. As... Read More »

At a Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance in Carnegie Hall one night I struck up a casual chat with the greybeard seated next to me. I learned he was a retired professional violinist and now, beyond being an enthusiast, he had a severe addiction. Classical music was his consuming passion. For each instrument we cared to... Read More »

I'm no longer responsible. I've relinquished control—the system has taken over. I'm only along for the joyride, afforded aural thrills on a regular basis that are beyond what I could have imagined only yesterday, as the system spirals ever upward in its willful pursuit. Ah, yes, there's no doubt about it. We're in a Golden... Read More »

Classical music subscriptions gobble up the lion’s share of our entertainment dollars. On average, we attend one or two concerts a week at Carnegie Hall (both Stern Auditorium and the smaller venue, Zankel), Alice Tully at Lincoln Center, or Town Hall. Every hall sounds different—all of those mentioned above have one thing in common: they’ve... Read More »

Music servers… audio streaming. Every club needs the next New Thing to survive and grow. At this juncture in the second decade of the new millennium High End audio has already got theirs. But it sure feels like we've been here before. This is déjà vu; I'm seeing 1983, when SONY's “perfect sound forever” ad... Read More »

(Including an interview with Thomas Gessler, CEO of Audionet) What's that? Things formerly unheard are stirring down below... Some time ago I purchased the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 2 (Channel Classics CCS SA 25308, SACD). Less well-known, the second concerto is not programmed or recorded as often as his first, perhaps because the opening Largo contains long sections of... Read More »

Somehow it doesn't seem reasonable, let alone rational, to harbor hopes of re-creating at home the powerful wave-fronts set in motion by a large ensemble. To compare the quantity of air a group of musicians can activate to what two, four, six, even eight speaker drivers activate seems a pitiful mismatch. Personally, I accept that... Read More »

The Jazz Mecca At one time, you could club hop along 52nd street in New York City and hear the likes of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, et al., jamming until the wee hours of the morning. More than thirty clubs ranged along the street known as Jazz Alley, at a time when NYC... Read More »

Some products are disarmingly ingratiating. It's possible that attraction can be subversive, so pleasing that you let your guard drop, and thus allow potential issues to slip by undetected. That's certainly an apt description of the product at hand, for the K&K Audio Premium Maxxed-Out Phono Preamp is nothing if not a sweet talker.  ... Read More »

Watching the Kronos Audio Products Sparta Turntable being assembled on my rack, it's clear that this is not your father's turntable. Visually, the Sparta is unlike any vinyl spinner I've encountered—the same goes for the accompanying Helena tonearm.   Without a doubt, it's that second, counter-rotating platter that catches your eye and wants explaining. Why... Read More »

Talking About Power Distributors (With a response by Jim Merod) Every time I'd get in a new power product, Joe Kubala would come over to check it out. And always, after assessing it, the same question lingered in the air: when—not if—would we see a Kubala-Sosna Power Distributor? During the five years it took to... Read More »

Before I slip on the green eyeshade, I want to compliment the Ypsilon PST 100 Preamp on the sheer creature comfort of its musical presentation. I had almost forgotten such a thing existed in the land of Hi-Fi.  Wow! This preamp is pushing a lot of buttons. But it didn't start out that way. Before... Read More »