Stereophile Dec-12

Every music-loving audiophile has a unique story—a story of the first time he or she was grabbed, body and soul, by a first, usually low-budget listen to a 78, LP, CD, open-reel, cassette, or MP3—a story that continues today in that audiophile’s quest for high-end bliss. For me, it was my desire to move closer to the voices of the singers I most loved. It all began with operatic tenor Enrico Caruso (1873–1921). When I was 11, my father brought home a fancy three-LP set of Caruso reissues on RCA, complete with lavishly printed liner notes adorned with sepia-tone illustrations. When he put on the sextet from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Caruso’s voice rang out through our new, custom-enclosed, but ultimately so-so stereo, I exclaimed, “Daddy, I’ve heard that before!” “Yeah,…

FEEDBACK TO THE EDITOR Staying Alive Editor: It is all about music! There is a time (don’t know how long it lasts) when you have your LPs spinning and your files singing (CDs stay in a closet), and all that matters is music. There is a time when you realize you have enough music to live happily: J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, A. Vivaldi, G.B. Pergolesi, and a few more from A to Z in two or three editions/prints/resolutions. One year is not enough for the whole cycle. The real issue is now the quality of the recording, of the pressing, and of the available files. Low-quality records/files may trigger emotions in your brain, but high-quality ones are a totally different, sometimes overwhelming experience. The difference between poor-and high-quality pressings/files is much larger than the…

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, December 2, 11am–3:30pm: The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society will hold its 19th annual Society Gala and Awards Banquet in the Grand Ballroom of the Buena Park Holiday Inn (7000 Beach Boulevard). The prenote address will be given by Kubala-Sosna’s Joe Kubala; Stereophile and AnalogPlanet.com’s Michael Fremer will give a state-of-the-audio-industry presentation; and E.A.R.’s Tim de Paravicini will receive the Society’s Founders Award. A raffle is planned and dinner…

AUDIO NEWS & VIEWS 10 YEARS OF “RECOMMENDED COMPONENTS” John Atkinson Stereophile celebrated 50 years of continuous publication in November, and to note that anniversary, a special issue hits newsstands this month: Stereophile Recommended Components 2003–2012. The magazine’s “Recommended Components” feature has become an institution since it first appeared in Issue No.5, in 1963. While the regular listings in our April and October issues concentrate on products that have been reviewed in the previous three years, this special issue features capsule reviews of every audio component that has been reviewed and recommended by Stereophile’s team of writers and editors since 2003: 400 amplifiers and preamplifiers; 240 digital disc players and digital processors; 380 loudspeakers and subwoofers; 370 turntables, tonearms, and phono cartridges; along with all kinds of headphones, cables, room acoustic treatments, and…

Bah, Humbug “WARNING!!! No Inspirational Life Lessons Will Be Found in These Pages.” So reads the cover blurb of Half Empty, by humorist David Rakoff, the blurb written by Rakoff himself (Doubleday, 2010). You might remember Rakoff as a guest host of NPR’s This American Life. He also twice appeared as a guest on Fresh Air with Terry Gross. The podcast of August 10, 2012, combines the two interviews in a memorial tribute (http://tinyurl.com/9hyq5wf). In 1986, at the age of 22, Rakoff was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease and picked his poison: radiation over chemo. (He ended up receiving both.) In 2008, the cure came back to kill him by way of a tumor in his left shoulder. He died earlier this year, age 47. For four years, the humorist had one foot in…

Evolution & the Moon Simaudio entered the phono-preamplifier market in 2007, with the moderately priced Moon LP5.3 ($1400); went down-market with the Moon LP3 ($549); then stepped up its game with the Moon 310LP ($1900), which could be upgraded by adding the 320S outboard power supply ($1400). The company then built on the 310LP’s success to develop the Moon 110LP ($650). These climbings up and down the price ladder represent smart marketing, and have yielded benefits trickled down to the patient and budget-conscious audiophile. Their proven success with phono preamps has encouraged Simaudio to now go way upscale: The Moon Evolution 810LP ($12,000) is the company’s no-holds-barred entrant in the premium end of the market, and the first phono preamp in its Evolution line of high-end models. Occupying the same slim, curving case…