CATEGORIES

GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

Stax, EAR, and Bob’s Devices

SINGING TO THE SOUL

THE MAGIC OF ART SONG ON RECORD

MayFly Audio Systems MF-201A LOUDSPEAKER

If you’ve ever read Homer’s Iliad, you probably remember the Cata-log of Ships at the beginning. It’s an exhaustive record of the contingents the Achean army deployed against Troy, naming the commanders, their hometowns, the number of ships in each contingent, and more. Not to put too fine a point on it, it’s a snoozefest. It makes you dread what’s next. But of course, if you come to this point only to abandon the Iliad in frustration, you’ll miss the fabulous war epic that follows, chockablock with action, drama, and romance.

Gold Note PH-1000 PHONO PREAMPLIFIER

Gold Note’s $11,999 PH-1000 is by a con-siderable margin the most sophisticated, most configurable phono preamplifier that any audio manufacturer has ever produced, at least that I know of. Remarkably, considering all that flexibility and sophistication, using and adjusting the PH-1000 is straightforward.

“Music Was Mine to Experience.”

For all its ghastliness and heartbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic has been good to Keb’ Mo’. When the virus hit the US, it forced the cancelation of a string of his concerts. “I was getting a little burned out on touring,” he confesses.

Book Review

The Secret History of Washington, DC, R&B

Forget about the sound of the recording.

MY BACK PAGES

Monitor Audio Silver 500 7G

LOUDSPEAKER

Iron OOR

GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

Topping Pre90

LINE PREAMPLIFIER

Turntable setup is a diagnostic exercise

ANALOG CORNER

Riviera Audio Laboratories Levante

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

Mingus

REVINYLIZATION

Joe Henderson: Blue Note and Beyond

REDISCOVERIES

Fyne Audio F500SP

LOUDSPEAKER

Bowers & Wilkins 804 D4

The boxes sit there in our storage units, opposite the 20 banker’s boxes that hold 33 years’ worth of product-measurement workbooks. The two large boxes are for the Bowers & Wilkins Matrix 801s my wife owned when we got married in 1987.1 The four smaller boxes are for the B&W John Bowers Silver Signatures and their stands, which I purchased after reviewing them in June 1994.2 Both pairs of speakers gave superb sound quality back in the day, but now they sit there in the storage unit, their boxes giving me recriminatory looks when I visit.

NOT TWISTED

TWISTED SISTER GUITARIST JAY JAY FRENCH HAS A NEW LIFE AFTER MUSIC.

The new ultra-fi

GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

Pro-Ject Debut PRO

I enjoy few things more than setting up a turntable. Whether it’s for myself or for a friend—whether it’s a budget model with a layered MDF plinth and nonadjustable tonearm, or a megabuck, state-of-the-art behemoth—I relish the ritual.

Acoustic Signature Montana NEO

You may be moving to Montana.Acoustic Signature is not an overnight sensation, nor are its turntables driven by dental floss. If you’re not a Frank Zappa fan, you probably have no idea what any of that means, so please Google it. I’ll wait till you get back.

REVINYLIZATION

What’s the point?

Accustic Arts AMP V STEREO AMPLIFIER

The $50,000, 176lb Accustic Arts AMP V (pronounced Amp Five) is the heaviest, tall-est, most powerful, most expensive stereo amp to enter my audio system. With rated power of 900Wpc into 8 ohms, 1360Wpc into 4 ohms, and 1500Wpc into 2 ohms, the AMP V, which stands proud at the top of the Accustic Arts amplifier line, surpasses my reference D’Agostino Progression M550’s rated power into 4 ohms by 260Wpc.1

Analog Corner

OMA’s K3 direct-drive turntable and custom Schröder tonearm

Iron and light

GRAMAPHONE DREAMS

MBL 120 Radialstrahler

LOUDSPEAKER

The electrical cure

ANALOG CORNER

Estelon Forza LOUDSPEAKER

EQUIPMENT REPORT

D'Agostino Progression M550

MONOBLOCK POWER AMPLIFIER

Air Force Zero – Analog Corner

Spring cleaning

Charles Mingus at Carnegie Hall

For the first time on vinyl, Mingu's whole Carnegie Hall concert–not just the second half.