Harold Tichenor continues his series of articles on reel-to-reel tape in this article on restoration copies. Dr. David W. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief Harold Tichenor at work on a RTR setup... Restoration copies are made from tapes that are deteriorating through wear, age, or inherent flaws. They are the means of assuring that the content is not... Read More »
Roger Skoff doesn't write about sour grapes In a previous article, I wrote about how one manufacturer of exceptionally fine High-End audio electronics had had to raise the price of his products in order to be able to sell them. It was all a vicious cycle that worked like this: In order to get the... Read More »
Lou Hinkley of Pacific Audio Fest Lou Hinkley is the owner of Daedalus Audio and a partner with Gary Gill in PAF and the new Southwest Audio Fest in the Dallas, TX area of the USA. In this essay he shares his thoughts about high-end audio and audio shows. "It was the best of times... Read More »
Harold Tichenor is a Real-to-Reel (RTR) tape archivist with over 40 years of experience as a professional. His prior article for Positive Feedback was an important summary of RTR provenance and tape generations, which I highly recommend to our readers. In this article, Harold outlines the history and elementals of RTR tape reproduction. It is... Read More »
Greetings friends, and welcome to Chapter 15 of the Acoustic Revive Chronicles! You can see a list of the previous chapters of the Acoustic Revive Chronicles in the archives HERE. In Chapter 15 of the Acoustic Revive Chronicles I'll be telling you about the new RTS-30 turntable mat, RHS-1 headshell, RHR-21 Helmholtz resonator, and the... Read More »
Ye Olde Editor delivering the goods, Corvallis, Oregon, 1972. (Photograph by John Hull.) Yes, I've always been this way. Munich has come and gone...so has my serious bout with pneumonia...and I'd like to get my AXPONA 2024 Audio Oasis! Awards published before any more time goes by. (These are two big shows that are too... Read More »
Roger Skoff writes about audiophilia No matter how busy we are with home, family, making or spending money, or any of our other more mundane concerns, all of us have time and resources that are not demanded for something else, and things that we do or enjoy for no reason other than simply that we... Read More »
Ron Resnick shows off his pride and joy, The Clarisys Studio Plus Speakers. As I was snaking my car up the ribbon of road leading high up in the Beverly Hills, I thought about my history with ribbon speakers. I had been invited by Ron Resnick to experience the listening room which comprises his new... Read More »
While AXPONA represents the largest hi-fi show in the US, High End Munich, held each May at Munich's monstrous Order Center, is the largest, most well-attended audio show on planet Earth! With the first of my episodes from this year's event, episode 175, I've included a virtual walk from the stairway in front of the... Read More »
David W. Robinson and Greg Weaver: Audio buds from way-back! Long Valley, NJ, 2023. (photograph by Bill Parish) I make no excuses for being able to listen to my music daily on a synergistic two-channel audio system that I've assembled over the decades, one that costs more than three times what I paid for my... Read More »
New from the audio analyst© for re-publication in Positive Feedback – Virtual AXPONA 2024 If you've never been to an audio show, especially one as large and comprehensive as the foremost, most successful show in the continental US, AXPONA, which is an acronym made from Audio eXPO NOrth America, held annually at the Renaissance Schaumburg... Read More »
I've been pondering how best to write up this article about my listening experiences with the Audio Note (UK) Tomei 211 single-ended-triode (SET) integrated amplifier, and M3 RIAA phono preamplifier, for a while now. I'll start by saying the Tomei 211 integrated amplifier (left) and M3 RIAA phono preamplifier (right) are easily the highest performing... Read More »
For a change, Roger Skoff wants to ask your opinion instead of just telling you his… I'm old, and quite possibly out of it, so what I see going on in our hobby may very well be completely wrong. I hope it is. I became a HiFi Crazy (as we kids used to call ourselves),... Read More »
The world is full of false information. At the same time, we are frequently to be blamed for not doing our due diligence to verify information. As audiophiles, we are in constant pursuit of improving the performance, and therefore the enjoyment of our playback systems. It seems however, that many audiophiles pursue this goal while... Read More »
Ye Olde Editor, AXPONA 2024 (photograph by Bill Parish; image processing by David W. Robinson) Another year, another trip around the Sun, another AXPONA. Apart from the COVID years, I have been attending AXPONA since Mark Freed first invited me personally to do so in late 2014. 2015 was my first show. So, I've been... Read More »
Roger Skoff answers a question that many audiophiles have, but never ask... On one of the audiophile groups on Facebook a few days ago, I saw a question from one of the group's members that I had wrestled with, myself, many years ago, when I first got into our hobby. Here it is: I'm very... Read More »
I'm pleased to introduce this article by my audio friend, Ferenc Koscsó, founder of My Reel Club™ and eminent recording engineer. As so often in today's world, Ferenc (who lives in Budapest) and I have never met in person, but over the past five years we've shared many online communications about things audio. His goal... Read More »
Welcome to the first installment of Hit Play!, a bimonthly column (at least in the beginning) dedicated to the ultimate in music and sound on 15-ips reel-to-reel tape. Why devote space to a column about an obsolete analog format? Easy. Tape is far from obsolete! To start, three companies (Analog Audio Design (France)/Metaxas (Holland)/Ballfinger (Germany)... Read More »
Roger Skoff of RSX Technologies at the LAOC Gala, 2023 (portrait and image processing by David W. Robinson) Roger Skoff writes about doing the right things the wrong way You wouldn't do that, would you—eat soup with a fork? Or paint your house with a Q-tip cotton swab? Or run a cement mixer in a... Read More »