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This article, by Victor Chavira, Larry Cox, and Dave Clark, originally ran when audioMUSINGS was in print - Issue 15, 2001 McIntosh Audio Labs is a classic American company. Since 1949, McIntosh has remained true to its design aesthetic: bullet proof build, black glass, chrome, and big blue meters. The MC352 is their 350 watt stereo power... Read More »

The Venus is the third Duevel speaker I have reviewed and sits directly in the middle of their lineup. Since I have heard at one time or another all of Duevel's models, the Venus just might offer the biggest bang for the asking price. Let's find out. As with all Duevel speakers, the Venus is... Read More »

Our audio compadre John Marks herein rightly brings to our attention Abraham Lincoln's deep affection for opera and the stage. He was assassinated, after all, at Ford's Theater in April of 1865, much to the grief and anger of the narrow-minded pietists and pharisees of his generation. Lincoln considered the theater and opera to be... Read More »

"Man, it was easy! Five acres of solar panels, and I killed it!!"

John Marks' final installment about his recommended Steinway and Sons office system is below. He focuses on the Grace Design m920 DAC as the digital heart of the system. Read on for his summary. And remember that John's blog site, The Tannhauser Gate (http://www.thetannhausergate.com) is a fine place for audio commentary and music/video reviews! Recommended. Dr. David... Read More »

Music Interface Technologies (MIT) products have had a place in my system on and off over the last twenty years. From the MI-850 Tri-wire designed for my long lost and loved Avalon Radian speakers to the subject of this review, the ACC169 Speaker Interface and the Oracle MA-X SHD XLR Interconnects. In that time I... Read More »

Wilson Audio Alexx Loudspeakers Every once in awhile (though frankly, more frequently than I care for), I chuckle, nay, swing my arms and hands in protest at the uninformed nonsense I hear on otherwise fine and decent radio shows like Leo Laporte and his part time sidekick Scott Wilkinson of AVSforums, a highly respected audio... Read More »

In part three of this series, John Marks introduces cables to his small office audio system recommendations. While John has his own Esperanto Audio line of reference audio cables, he concentrates on Audioquest's very good price-t0-performance cables. This is shaping up to be a very pleasant office/desktop system; I appreciate the useful advice contained in... Read More »

Parasound's Zamp v.3 stereo amplifier One of my favorite lines from the original Star Trek TV series (and please, nobody forget that Alexander Courage's theme music borrowed heavily from Mahler's symphonies 1 and 7) was something like: I bet five Quatloos on the feisty newcomer! Well, Parasound's Zamp v.3 is hardly a newcomer, but, it's... Read More »

The Gryphon Audio Kalliope DSD DAC upon arrival here… (Photograph and image processing by Robinson) The world of DSD DACs has certainly exploded over the past four years, going from a relative "we happy few" to over 400 models to choose from. The price points vary wildly…from $189 all the way out to multiple tens... Read More »

Flemming Rasmussen of Gryphon Audio Gryphon was never the adopter of technology for the sake of technology on its own, we always found it intriguing and followed it closely, but our experiments remained in the lab for the right timing. Right timing? Gryphon made it first appearance 30 years ago with a revolutionary HEADAMP, taking... Read More »

John Marks gives us a recommendation for a stereo system that offers a great deal of musical satisfaction with a small footprint and at a more reasonable price point. This four-part series will explore his thoughts on this package. May it serve you well! Dr. David W. Robinson, Ye Olde Editor Photo of Eric Feidner... Read More »

Maria Schneider (photograph courtesy of Soka University) Maria Schneider is an unrivaled American composer in the grand tradition of Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Chopin and Ellington, a transcendent lineage that defines western musical maturity. A once undiscovered orchid, Maria's risen to a plateau of melodic delight and aesthetic delicacy without equal, an achievement accrued in... Read More »

Back in the '80s, when I was in college, I tried very hard to get into jazz. Many of my music-loving friends had already discovered it, and they constantly told me that if I found the right entry point I would totally dig it. I tried and I tried but I just couldn't find the... Read More »

Finishing graduate study at Stanford, 1970-72, I was Director of Admissions at the The Athenian School, a small and innovative prep school on Mt. Diablo in the Bay Area. It was funded by the Ford Foundation as a tribute to Dyke Brown, its longtime Vice President, a going away present supporting educational objectives he'd championed... Read More »

Acoustical Systems' tonearm Aquilar, as well as the top-of-the-range model Axiom, are characterized by the UNI-DIN geometry newly developed by Dietrich Brakemeier. The analogue specialists from Bavaria have not yet invented a new generator principle, but with The Palladian Cartridge they thoroughly demonstrate how far one can get sonically with the ingenious combination of already... Read More »

Cables, cables, cables. What are we supposed to do? Yeah, there are those who feel that regardless of what one hears, they can't be hearing what they are hearing, because, well you can't hear that as cables done correctly do nothing... to the sound. That is, cables cannot make a difference as long as they... Read More »

Empiricism vs. Theory What was my biggest discovery last year? Bass traps. I installed them in the left and right front corners behind the speakers, as recommended. Having done my homework, I knew what to expect: low-end response would be smoother and tighter, clarity would increase, and some dampening would occur. The treble also would... Read More »

When I first requested an opportunity to write about the next new First Watt amplifier, I was candid with Nelson Pass that it was possible my Von Schweikert Audio VR-35 Deluxe loudspeakers and passive Bent Audio AVC-1 linestage might not be a good match for any First Watt amplifier. Several months later, I received a note... Read More »