Stereophile March 2018

The 2018 audio show season is about to start and it’s not just Stereophile’s coverage of high-end audio shows—which has taken a leap forward with the inclusion of Jana Dagdagan’s binaural videos—that’s changing. The shows themselves are on the move. Take the free Montréal Audio Fest (March 23–25, Hotel Bonaventure Montréal, Quebec). Exhibitors are invited to present systems for under $5000 in addition to their preferred systems, and, in an attempt to attract visitors aged 18–35, are encouraged to play music from video-game soundtracks. In addition, musicians will perform live some of the most popular of these soundtracks. A major change comes to the Audio Expo North America (April 13–15), whose Chicago location shifts from the Westin O’Hare in Rosemont to the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel. While this may seem like…

Off-topic flotsam and jetsam Editor: Since you allow comments on the Stereophile website, could you possibly apply some editorial edicts and jurisdiction over the forum and article postings? I really appreciate the on-topic, relevant opinions and narratives, but the trolls and off-topic flotsam and jetsam ruin what could be a valuable resource and platform. When I see these discussions descend into the abyss, as they so often do, I am left depressed, disgusted, and disillusioned when I could/should feel informed, enlightened, and enriched.—Jim Lipsey desmo@bellsouth.net My experience in the 1990s on Usenet and other online forums convinced me that a light hand works best in my role as moderator of our website. But I do delete postings that are abusive, or nothing more than flames or trolls. —John Atkinson Show me the product Editor: After subscribing to…

US: STONY BROOK, NEW YORK John Marks Loudspeaker designer Richard P. Shahinian died on November 26, 2017, in Stony Brook, New York. Born in 1931, he was 86. Dick Shahinian was perhaps the last truly self-taught designer of audio equipment. When he finished high school and enlisted in the US Marine Corps, he was already a fervent devotee of symphonic orchestral music. His formative experiences as a listener had included a trip to Carnegie Hall in 1946, when he was 15, to hear Bruno Walter conduct the New York Philharmonic in Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen and Bruckner’s Symphony 8. Years later, Dick wrote, “I have never quite recovered from the shattering impact of that experience.” Dick served in the Marine Corps during the Korean conflict, and was honorably discharged. Back in civilian life in…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website dedicated solely 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@XLinkAudio.com. 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, February 18, 2–5pm: The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society will hold its monthly meeting at Scott Walker Audio, in Anaheim (1215 Tustin Avenue). Scott Walker and his team will host “The Best in High End Audio—from Affordable to Outrageous,” showcasing a wide range of speakers from MartinLogan; electronics from Constellation, Devialet, McIntosh, Rogue Audio, and VAC; MQA from Aurender, Berkeley Audio Design, and Mytek HiFi; turntables from…

In 1964, Shure Brothers shook up the cartridge market by introducing the original V-15 moving-magnet cartridge, which then cost $67, equivalent to about $530 today. It came packaged in a deluxe, wooden, jewelry-style box—common practice for today’s cartridges, but back then unheard of. By 1968 I’d saved up for a V-15 Type II, and installed it in a Dual 1009SK record player. Wow! But, committed to the principle of using a low vertical tracking force (VTF) to minimize damage to my record grooves, I set the tonearm for the V-15 II’s minimum recommended VTF of 0.75gm—and, as the Shure’s stylus ricocheted down the grooves, proceeded to ruin quite a few LPs. After not that many plays, the result was a low-level crackle. Today, a VTF of 2gm or even 3gm is considered…

Five years ago, I reviewed the Alumine loudspeaker from Stenheim, a Swiss company founded by four former employees of Goldmund SA. I noted the Alumine’s surprisingly “high sensitivity and easy drivability,” praised its performance for being “clean but neither sterile nor colorless,” and admired, in my geeky way, the coated cellulose-fiber cone of its 5" midbass driver, which is made in Chartrettes, France—just southeast of Paris—by a company called PHL. One year later, almost to the week, I bought my first vintage Altec loudspeakers: a pair of 1967 Valencias, in which a multicell-horn–loaded compression driver is mated to a pulp woofer, the latter a low-compliance thing with a surround of impregnated fabric. The Altecs were revelatory, owing mostly to their even higher sensitivity and even easier drivability, and consequently—or so I…