Stereophile November 2019

Every month Stereophile magazine offers authoritative reviews, informed recommendations, helpful advice, and controversial opinions, all stemming from the revolutionary idea that audio components should be judged on how they reproduce music.

$7.99

in this issue

AS WE SEE IT

THERE ARE AS MANY OPINIONS AS THERE ARE EXPERTS THIS ISSUE: Kal’s column culminates. One of my biggest surprises since I became the editor of Stereophile—and so started focusing more on all things audiophile—is how often I find myself thinking about the ethics of this hobby. This is unusual for me: I dislike moralism and prefer aesthetics to ethics. A small example: Recently, while I was writing an audio review, I started to type the phrase “pride of ownership.” I don’t know who coined it, but I know I’ve read it more than a few times, and I’ve probably written it myself. It’s so common that it’s practically a cliché. But that’s not why I didn’t type it. Rather, as I lifted my fingers from the keyboard, I was thinking that “pride” isn’t quite…

5 min

LETTERS

TAKE HEED! Unless marked otherwise, all letters to the magazine and its writers are assumed to be for possible publication. Please include your name and physical address. We reserve the right to edit for length and content. Ut-terly brilliant Editor, Ut, motherf#$%ing Ut! Thanks for “spreading it about a bit” (Record Reviews, Vol.42 No.9). We don’t all want to listen to the 15th reissue of DSOTM or a Diana Krall album on our rigs. I reviewed Ut’s first album back in the mid ‘80s for a fanzine I put out. Loved ‘em ever since. —Mark Turrell El Cerrito, CA The Maestro’s missing magic music Editor, Your thoughtful response to Eric Groves’s letter in the September issue brought back a memory from very long ago. In the 1960s, a journalist for a hi-fi magazine was interviewing famous conductor and…

10 min

Introducing the New Triton One.R from GoldenEar Technology®

Triton One.R $3299 each “Everything that earned Triton Reference Stereophile’s highest Class A Rating in a gorgeous, super sounding, more compact and even more affordable package!” “The powerful sense of atmosphere that the One.R speakers conveyed conjure up memories of my time with the Triton Reference. –Al Griffin, Sound & Vision GoldenEar Technology is pleased to announce the introduction of the new Triton One.R. This extraordinary new reference quality loudspeaker is a smaller, less expensive follow up to the Triton Reference. The T Ref has been compared with speakers selling for over ten times its surprisingly affordable cost. It has had a remarkable response from both music and hifi enthusiasts as well as press and reviewers from around the world, who have bestowed upon it innumerable Speaker-of-the-Year and Product-of-the-Year awards. Now the T One.R…

3 min

INDUSTRY UPDATE

SUBMISSIONS: Those promoting audio-related seminars, shows, and meetings should email the when, where, and who to stletters@stereophile.com at least eight weeks before the month of the event. The deadline for the January 2019 issue is October 20, 2019. US: DENVER, CO John Atkinson 99% True: Almost a National Bestseller, by Paul McGowan. Lioncrest Publishing, 2019. 364pp. $25.00, hard cover; $15.99, paperback; $9.99, Kindle e-book. To many audiophiles, high-end audio manufacturers must seem like monolithic entities, enduring for what seems like forever, like cliffs beside a familiar path. But as Paul McGowan explains in this unputdownable autobiography,1 behind the facade of stability things can be in financial turmoil, with success equally as risky as failure. Paul writes on his website that he’s “the CEO of PS Audio, a multimillion-dollar corporation that makes stereo equipment: a proud…

14 min

CALENDAR OF INDUSTRY EVENTS

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website devoted to you: stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, email Chris Vogel at vgl@cfl.rr.com. (Please note the new email address.). Please note that it is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless it is associated with a seminar or similar event. CALIFORNIA ▪ Sunday, October 13, 2–5pm: The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society will hold its monthly meeting at Excel Audio: excelaudio.us; 4678 Campus Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660. Our host Mike Rose will feature analog products from Clearaudio and AMG, Luxman electronics, Nordost cables, Impex vinyl, and Aurender streamers. His new shop features a wide variety of vinyl from Impex, Analog Productions, MoFi, and many…

6 min

ANALOG CORNER

THIS ISSUE: Mikey auditions SME’s almost plug’n’play record player and Boulder’s almost budget phono preamp. Since acquiring SME in late 2016, Ajay Shirke’s Cadence Group has moved cautiously. First, it revamped and cleaned up the company’s somewhat chaotic worldwide distribution. More recently, the new owners eliminated from the bottom of the line the SME Model 10 turntable, introduced in 2000. The Model 10 was the first SME turntable to not use the company’s familiar O-ring suspension, as well as the first to use the company’s M10 tonearm, which was not available separately. The M10 was said to be a derivative of the tapered armtube 309 and, according to SME, a superior performer—though it certainly didn’t look better (or even as good). That combo, which I reviewed 19 years ago,1 then cost $5500…

15 min