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Brooklyn Rider plays Philip Glass; String Quartets Nos. 1-5. 2 CDs. Orange Mountain 0074. I didn't get the string quartets of Philip Glass at all until I began to hear them as informed by dance—all kinds of dance. The opening work on the album, Suite from Bent (1997), adapted for string quartet by the Brooklyn... Read More »

Prokofiev: Lt. Kije (recorded in 1957); Stravinsky: Song of the Nightingale (recorded in 1956), Fritz Reiner (conductor), Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Producer: Richard Mohr; Engineer: Lewis Layton. Acoustic Sounds/RCA Living Stereo Ultra Tape, 15-ips, 2-track, reel-to-reel tape, LSC 2150. Price: $450. Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's performance of Prokofiev's Lt. Kije paired with Stravinsky's The Song... Read More »

We were on our way to Las Vegas, to the CES show. The desert night was chilly and the road was dark with no movement outside except the occasional fencepost whipping by. My attorney held up a huge orange pill. "You should try this," he said, "It's the same pill that killed Elvis." It must... Read More »

Denny Zeitlin & George Marsh's Expedition. (Sunnyside Communication SSC1487. CD $12.98. http://sunnysidezone.com/album/expedition) The first time I listened to Expedition from pianist Denny Zeitlin and percussionist George Marsh, I didn't think of it as a collection of improvisations between two longtime collaborators. I imagined a more traditional jazz ensemble, one with a traditional rhythm section, even though their... Read More »

Goin' Back to Indiana A few weeks ago, I boarded from Orlando a packed United Airlines flight bound for Chicago's O'Hare Airport, the first leg in a trip that would take me to Goshen, Indiana, the home of my good friend Greg Weaver. Many of you will know Greg through his work here at PF,... Read More »

One of the better rooms I heard at the 2017 Los Angeles Audio Show featured the Silverline Audio Minuet Grand speakers. These relatively small, two-way stand-mount speakers were putting out a big, big sound that was dynamic and engaging when I came by. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to spend in this room, but... Read More »

$42,790 worth of preamp sound for $4695? Part Un – Genesis: "Horn-type speakers almost ruined my hearing," said Audible Illusions' head honcho, Arthur Ferris, of his bygone love affair with JBLs and Altecs. "One night I was playing a record of Frederick Fennell's Band Marches," said Ferris. "On one of the cuts there was a... Read More »

Greensleeves TBM5011 Recorded 1978. Three Blind Mice Records Inc. a subsidiary of Sony Direct Japan Inc. Manufactured and distributed by Impex Records Inc. Featuring Shoji Yokouchi Trio plus Yuri Tashiro on Hammond B3 Organ. 3000 numbered copies produced worldwide. Reissue is 180 Gram LP pressed at RTI, in California. Impex cutting engineer: Chris Bellman, Bernie... Read More »

Audio MusiKraft was founded by Guy Pelletier in 2016 in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada, and consists of "a small core of experienced craftsmen and devoted music lovers" whose mission is to help their customers get the maximum musical satisfaction from their vinyl collections. Audio MusiKraft's first product—the subject of this review—is the "tunable" Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103... Read More »

This review started out an examination of the popular EAT C Sharp Turntable, but ended up a phono playback review. Only focusing on the turntable meant I was ignoring the cartridge and phono cable. A poor cable or cartridge meant I was only reviewing the weakest link in the chain! With that oversight fixed, the... Read More »

Picking the best audio component of the year is kind of like pondering your ultimate list of girls to ask to the high school prom. There are many very attractive choices, but probably a much smaller number actually in your league. That doesn’t stop you from dreaming, though.

Further to the outrage that my list of CD players caused, and building on the outright hatred that my list of turntables elicited from a number of readers, I’m back with this month’s The List whereupon I jump into the spiral grooves which are the domain of that highly-fetishized Objet D’art: The pickup cartridge.

You’ll note that we’re not calling this the Best Albums of 2017. There are plenty of those lists out there, and they are pretty much dominated by this year’s critical darlings with some heavily promoted mainstream names thrown in. Instead of repeating that, Part-Time Audiophile asked its writers to share their favorite releases.

"Whattya got in these things—gold bars?" chortled the mover; he and his partner grappling the last of the heavy crates around the turn in my staircase. "Nah, better than gold," I replied, electric drill in hand. "These are stereo speakers." His eyes went wide. The Wilson Audio Alexia Series 2 had arrived, and in the... Read More »

Antonio Meneses Cello Concertos. Schumann: Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129; Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33; Tchaikovsky variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33. Antonio Meneses, cello; Royal Northern Sinfonia/Claudio Cruz. AVIE AV 2373.  TT: 60.29 Downloads: Amazon.com (mp3); hdtracks.com (AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, WAV); prestoclassical.co.uk (FLAC, HD FLAC, 320 Kbps mp3)'... Read More »

Thöress - A Tribute to Professional Equipment from the Golden Age of Electronic Tubes Among the audio equipment we awarded during Audio Show 2012 with the Best Sound there was a small, unusually looking phonostage from the German company Thöress. I met its owner, Mr. Reinhard Thöress, in May of the same year at the High... Read More »

Wooing the Parents with the Focal Sopra No. 1 Loudspeakers I encountered Focal's exceedingly fine Focal Sopra No. 1 compact loudspeakers for the first time at the 2017 AXPONA audio show in the Audio Plus Services suite. Their beautiful sound and stunning good looks literally took my breath away. Paired with affordable Naim electronics (if memory... Read More »

This article, as reviewed by Sherman Hong, Victor Chavira, Francisco Duran, and Larry Cox, originally ran when audioMusings was in print. Issue 2, 1998 I awaited the California Audio Labs CL-15 player-processor with great anticipation. Eons ago, I was so enthralled with the CAL Genesis CD player that I almost bought it, but my lust was more powerful... Read More »

For the music lover who never really graduated from just plugging in whatever crap he could get his hands on so he could rock out... a guest article by Lance Morris of Lance Morris Walks Let me preface this review by saying that, where high-end audio is concerned, I am a novice. That's not to say... Read More »