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So you want to travel back in time to the mid-1970s to buy a brand new (back then) 1975-era pair of Quad ESL-57 loudspeakers. Okay… I get it. The primary difficulty, of course, is that all of your efforts to build a time machine out of a Delorean have failed; completely and utterly failed. Is... Read More »

Backdrop loudspeaker drivers image courtesy of ATC Like a surgeon's scalpel, the ATC SCM40A loudspeaker is a serious instrument, deftly cutting through sinew, fat, and bone to the heart of music with surgical precision and clarity. A three-way floor-standing model at just under 40 inches tall, it is unobtrusive and remains at the top of... Read More »

A colleague once postulated that audio gear invariably sounds like the people who make it. The line of thinking goes that, if the person is big and bold, then their speakers look and sound the part. High-energy, constantly moving personalities turn out cables big on dynamics and tilted up tonal range. Quietly brilliant masterminds bring... Read More »

Re-published from Copper magazine; used with permission of the owner Paul McGowan, and the Editor, Frank Doris. Images used by permission. DALI EPIKORE 9 loudspeakers I'd known of DALI Loudspeakers for a while. The Danish company (DALI stands for Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries) has been exhibiting at AXPONA right by the Renaissance Schaumburg hotel's check-in area, a prime... Read More »

ONO Tone Labs is a new loudspeaker manufacturer based in Kahului, Maui, in Hawaii, and is the brainchild of Dustin (or if you prefer, "Dusty") Vawter. Dustin has been involved in audio design and production for over 35 years, and was most recently the owner and principal designer of Channel Islands Audio (CIA). For a... Read More »

Harbeth Audio Ltd. is a British company founded in 1977 by former BBC research chief Dudley Harwood. Its name is derived from 'HARwood' and his wife's first name 'elizaBETH'. In the early 1970s, when Dudley was employed by the BBC, he designed a near-field monitor that could be used in mobile broadcast studios. In 1986,... Read More »

Image backdrop by Aubrey "Po" Powell, courtesy of Reddit.com In the 1970s, engineer and entrepreneur Billy Woodman ran a tidy business designing loudspeaker drivers and building them in his factory in England, supplying drivers OEM to audio manufacturers like Proac in the consumer market and clients like Yamaha in the pro audio realm. So says... Read More »

This article by Marshall Nack originally ran in Issue 28, 2006, so while we call this section "New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print" you are also going to see some articles from our early days of going online.  True confessions. I've seen guys sidle up to the Kharma Exquisite-Midi speakers and... Read More »

It was at the 2023 Munich High End Show that I discovered some truly remarkable loudspeakers, the Lorenzo Audio Labs LM1 from Spain. They were music to my ears; the speakers rendered music effortlessly with detail, transparency, nuance, and realism, making it seem like I was listening to live music.  I was surprised and very... Read More »

Over the course of my audiophile journey, I've owned, reviewed, or auditioned many different types of loudspeakers, from electrostatic to planar, from dynamic to horn-loaded, in a myriad of configurations. The one transducer variant that I've not had the opportunity to experience in any meaningful sense is a point-source design. Curious to see what I... Read More »

This is not 1999 anymore. Flash forward 25 years and most loudspeakers from any reputable manufacturer are far more than a few speaker drivers in a cabinet with basic filtering. The finest loudspeaker companies are leveraging advancements in materials, complex software, precision manufacturing practices, Digital Signal Processing (DSP), finite element analysis (FEA), and a whole... Read More »

Dean Waters with Cigar:  a study. 2023 Pacific Audio Fest, Seatac, WA (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) Throughout our lives we encounter special moments that are so transformative that we know that we will always remember exactly where we were and what we were doing the moment they occur. If you're old enough,... Read More »

Perhaps the principal joy in attending audio shows is sitting and auditioning insanely expensive speakers, many with six-figure price tags. As long as I live, I will never tire of it. If nothing else, it puts everything in the audio world into some sort of perspective. At the most recent AXPONA, I heard plenty of... Read More »

This article by Steve Lefkowicz originally ran in Positive Feedback's ISSUE 60 March/April 2012, so while we call this section "New Old Stock - Articles from Our Days in Print" you are also going to see some articles from our early days of going online.  This might be a little longer than normal introduction. Those... Read More »

This review has had probably the longest gestation period of any review I've ever done. I've had the Tekton Perfect SET 15 loudspeakers in my possession for three years already. In fact, I already gave them a Writer's Choice award in 2021. Why the long wait? As explained in previous articles, much of the first... Read More »

The PS Audio Aspen FR10 Loudspeakers (photo courtesy of PS Audio) The "P" in PS Audio, a leading manufacturer of high-end stereo equipment, Paul McGowan is renowned for his informative and easy-going newsletters and YouTube videos with over 185,000 subscribers. As a self-taught analog electronics engineer, he co-founded the company with Stan Warren in 1973,... Read More »

Dean Waters at Pacific Audio Fest 2023: a portrait (photograph and image processing by David W. Robinson) The Qln Signature Series, Fifth Generation, front view with magnetically attached grill cover For the last several weeks I've been gleefully enjoying listening to and marveling at the 5th generation Signature series speakers from Qln. These are 2-way... Read More »

I've been reviewing a ton of LPs over the last few years, and to enhance my review process, I set up a dedicated, all-analog system in one of my audio rooms. That system features dual turntables from ProJect and Rega, a PS Audio Stellar phono preamp, a PrimaLuna tube integrated amp, and a pair of... Read More »

For the last few years I've been audio lucky. Fat and happy while discovering new music on Qobuz augmented by the convenience of Roon, or listening to CDs and LPs. My system was delivering the goods and communicating the music. All my compatriots who came over to listen agreed. I was consistently contented and not... Read More »