Stereophile Aug-13

THIS ISSUE: A lifetime of sharing great music—from radio station to record shop to listening room. For over three decades, I have felt compelled to turn people on to music. Throughout my career as a DJ, all of my endeavors have been linked by the desire to spread the joy of listening to records, in the hope that people would feel something like the emotional resonance I feel. My Classic Album Sundays adventure—see www.classicalbumsundays.com/about and www.stereophile.com/content/classic-album-sundays-bellwether—was born from this lifelong dedication to musical curating, and propelled by a eureka hi-fi moment. My musical history began in the 1980s at a 10W radio station attached to the library of my high school in Holliston, Massachusetts. From my freshman through my senior year, I had a radio show on WHHB where I proudly swam…

FEEDBACK TO THE EDITOR TAKE HEED! Unless marked otherwise, all letters to the magazine and its writers are assumed to be for possible publication. In the spirit of vigorous debate implied by the First Amendment, and unless we are requested not to, we publish correspondents’ e-mail addresses. Godwin’s Law in action Editor: In his June “Entry Level” (p.45), Stephen Mejias goes tooth and claw after “old and joyless” men who are sick of reading about his adventures in domesticity. Personally, I find it quite entertaining and strangely relevant when he relates various of his setups to the difficulties of life in an apartment, and his other issues are charming. But perhaps Stephen can let them—the “old and joyless,” as he imagines—have their say and quietly let such letters fall off the desk, where they…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website devoted to you: www.stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, e-mail Chris Vogel at info@vcable.us. Please note that it is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless this is associated with a seminar or similar event. CALIFORNIA Sunday, July 21, 1–4pm: The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society will hold its monthly meeting in the Penthouse Ballroom of the Buena Park Holiday Inn (7000 Beach Boulevard). Dan Meinwald, US distributor for Marten and E.A.R., will present Marten Django XL and L loudspeakers powered by E.A.R. electronics. The system will also include a Townshend Audio Rock 7 turntable and Jorma Design cables. Eastwind Import will be on hand to…

AUDIO NEWS & VIEWS SUBMISSIONS: Those promoting audio-related seminars, shows, and meetings should e-mail the when, where, and who to stephen.mejias@sorc.com at least eight weeks before the month of the event. The deadline for the October 2013 issue is July 26, 2013. GERMANY: MUNICH Paul Messenger As the High End Society’s statistics confirm, the 2013 edition of the organization’s annual High End Show, in Munich, was bigger and busier than ever. Indeed, while the numbers of exhibitors and journalists were much the same as last year’s, both consumer and trade visitor numbers were well up, the latter by an impressive 18%. It was impossible to comprehensively cover so large a show in the two days I had available, especially in view of the many unfamiliar German and other European brands on display. I therefore focused…

THIS ISSUE: Can a $16,500 turntable and tonearm be an “incredible” value? There are incredible values in audio, and then there are incredible values. The ones that deserve italics are those like Pioneer’s SP-FS52 floorstanding speaker, designed by TAD’s Andrew Jones and recently reviewed on analogplanet.com. I covered them there because I’ve received so many e-mails from freshly minted (sorry) young vinyl enthusiasts looking to trade up from their computer speakers. Vinyl has that effect on the soul. Only $360—and often much less—will buy you a pair of SP-FS52s, which deliver more than a whiff of what high-end sound is all about. The online blowback I received for having dared to review a budget product has been exceeded only by the blowback I regularly get for reviewing superexpensive stuff. AMG Viella 12 turntable…

THIS ISSUE: Art Dudley installs the Ikeda IT-407 tonearm on his Thorens turntable. Writing is easy. See? I just did it. Three whole sentences, written between breakfast and lunch. (I had to pause and think about one of them.) Payday, here I come. What isn’t easy is performing some of the tasks that make writing worth reading. My least favorite of those is receiving equipment samples that are too large or too heavy for UPS and FedEx: Few things strike greater fear in my heart than having a tractor-trailer driver call me from his cell phone, saying he’s blocking traffic at the bottom of my driveway and wants to know how to reach my house—and, by the way, his liftgate is broken and he’s not responsible for getting this 300-lb crate out…