Putting Curtains in the Man-Cave

As we mentioned earlier, we bought several sets of tickets to the local Philharmonic (we're going to some but not all of the performances).  It was a great experience, and we absolutely loved it.  I had lots of plans on evaluating the sonics to help with evaluation of gear, but upon the first note, that all got thrown out the window, and I can say we both got lost in the performance. Jennifer Koh , whom I didn't know at all, played the violin so beautifully and expressively it was as if she was having a conversation with the orchestra - and the beauty of it nearly brought us to tears. The performance following that, Mahler's Symphony No. 1, was one of the few I knew already, and it was really nice to hear it performed live.  Not being an expert on Classical music all I can say with any authority is that both of us loved it, and we're very much looking forward to future performances this season. And we highly recommend everyone to pick up tickets to a performance...

Istanbul, Not Constantinople Who knew?  They Might Be Giants' biggest hit "Istanbul, Not Constantinople" was a cover of one originally done by The Four Lads in 1953. You could have knocked us both over with a feather.  Seriously.   The song seemed so much like a They Might Be Giants song, we didn't even look and just ... assumed the hit peppered Flood album was all theirs. Then we found a small reference on the internet and our reality took a total warp. Who are these "Four Lads" and why do I keep thinking about my Grandmother when I hear the band name?  1953 ...  before Rock and Roll hit the big time, before Elvis and Bill Haley and the Comets had recorded anything popular , 4 guys - ahem- LADS - perhaps a barbershop quartet threw this song down.  A year later in 1954 it wouldn't have been possible given the explosion of Rock and Roll, or it would have been different for this pre-Rock hit. The Two Lads ... They Might be Lads? So ....

We talk about our stuff We tend to be "music first" so we don't usually think of the equipment we use, but once in awhile the question comes up, so we'll talk about what we have.  When we evaluate, be it a component, cable, music it will use one or another combination of these.  We generally do not churn gear, so with the odd additions and subtractions we'd expect things to remain fairly stable over time.  While we are on the hunt for new speakers, and may want to tinker with our sources some (and you can see below we have a "DAC" problem collection), this list is "it" for the time being a long, long time. Speakers: Thiel CS2.4 Thiel CS3.7* REL T-5 Subwoofers (2 used in a stereo pair) Amplifiers: Ayre V-5xe* Parasound A23 Preamplifiers: Ayre K-5xeMP* NAD M51 (DAC/Preamp) DAC: Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC series 2* NAD M51 Schiit Bifrost (with USB input) Rega DAC Disc players: Ayre C-5xeMP* Oppo BDP-103 Ethernet...

Where Peter Qvortrup weighs in on cost, value and sound It is no secret that with our stated mission of bringing musical enjoyment to the family, while operating under realistic budgets - we have been openly skeptical of the value of high priced audio, and have tried to find relative values in the audio world for ourselves as well as for our readers. I was on a forum that I absolutely love, and joined in on a discussion that had turned to a typical complaint (high prices), but this time Peter Qvortrup of Audio Note UK joined in. We had a healthy and vigorous exchange surrounding price, value and the responsibility of engineers with regard to these highly specialized products. Unlike a lot of talk on forums, his was a well reasoned point of view that provided a valuable counterpoint to our usual assertions - and as such we felt it provided something our readers could use to help form an opinion beyond the usual "it costs a lot therefore it can't be worthwhile." I...

Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night ... When a band takes on someone else's song as a cover, it is a risky thing.  Usually the author, if they are a singer songwriter, knocked it out of the park, and the rest are pale shadows of the greatness.  We think about 90% of the time this is the case.  But this comparison isn't one of those.  It is one where the cover of the song was so brilliant as far as being a hit, it isn't generally known (except by trivia buffs or true fans) that the band that made the song famous wasn't the one that wrote and performed it first.  Our white hot spotlight is highlighting one of these in what we hope to be a regular feature.   The classic rock anthem, "Blinded by the Light," was written and first performed by Bruce Springsteen early in his career.  The Manfred Mann's Earth Band picked the song up in the mid 1970's and turned it from an interesting if lesser known Bruce Springstee...

We are saddened to hear that Ray Dolby died this week.  His work brought good sound to millions of people through his movies sounds and noise reduction techniques - we salute his and Dolby Labs innovative work. We lost a great man this week.   Dolby Labs Obituary

This is a quick hit to weigh in on the Sony annoucement that they would start selling downloads of their Columbia Records in DSD format.  Link to a good news story is here .  Sony's site dedicated to the products and downloads is here. Why should you care? The only way to get closer to the performance would be to steal the master tape as these were ripped right from the tapes in a format to preserves the sound of it.  Also many (but not all) studios record using the DSD format.  So in a lot of cases DSD is the master.  And unlike CD, it is easy to get realistic sounding playback with DSD due to the nature of the decoding. The First SACD player c1999 ...for a brief period of time it looked like it might take off, but never became more than an audiophile format as the public raced over to MP3's ... Given how good the medium sounds on modest equipment, we were sad to see if fizzle in the mass market, but glad you can still get them. DSD is the downlo...

The projector I am going to make a wild assumption, Dear Reader. My guess is that you are of an age with us. Growing up, "Classic Rock" was just Rock. You remember vinyl, 8-track, cassette (yay, mix tapes) and the introduction of both the Walkman and CDs. And for a really important date, you scored tickets to either Pink Floyd or Led Zepplin at the planetarium for a Laser Light Show. That was one AWESOME way to spend a weekend night. Great music, LASERs (!), and reclining chairs in the dark. If you were a nerdy goody-two-shoes (sorry, Adam Ant), that was cool enough. If your shoes weren't so "goody" you may have had some awareness-altering substance before entering the Planetarium. As a teen, my shoes were plenty "goody" enough, thanks. Those were the days, though. As cool as fireworks, good music, no mosquitoes. Can it get any better? My first and only Planetarium show was in 5th grade or thereabouts.  I don't remember the music, but I do re...

AKA How Mr and Mrs Mancave shop for speakers ...

Vivid Audio Giya ... Horton hears a Who ... or just some fantastic sounding speakers? We both are suckers for unusual design, and organic shapes.  As we continue our tortuous path towards new speakers, this desire keeps cropping up again and again.  We find in recent years, while manufacturing improvements have allowed more curving shapes, most speaker designs are still quite conservative, sometimes even a bit phallic - and it does not have to be so!  In fact, we think audio manufacturers have become less adventurous as volumes sank and prices rose - making solid looking speakers, but perhaps a shade or two more boring looking than they would have to be... but of course, not all of them! Shahinian Acoustics founded in the 1970s' - still made today, but a different more adventurous approach to sound dispersion than a regular box - using the walls and ceiling to recreate the feel of a concert hall - the midrange and tweeters are all angled towards the ceiling!...

Most of my co-workers know that I have a "good stereo" or call me an "audiophile" or what have you.  In any event, I was in the office of a colleague and he had a disc labeled "Jazz 101" and I flipped it over and saw a whole host of B-listers and not that good songs. "What's this?" I asked "Oh, I want to learn about Jazz - and this was on sale" "Huh.  Hmm" In the next couple of minutes I promised to make him a "mixtape" of Jazz (Well, CD, but you get my drift).  The following Monday I handed it off to him, with a "If you don't like this, you won't like Jazz." Swagger.  I have it when it comes to music. "Wow, that was good" he told me a couple of days later. I could have been ten feet tall.  Yes, validation works on me.  I am a sucker for compliments. I used that list with a few other curious people, and made converts or at least got a "Wow, I guess Jazz doesn't sti...