Putting Curtains in the Man-Cave

Rondo +  Arché  Headshell We recently pressed into service in the middle of our Koru phonostage listening tests, an Ortofon Rondo Bronze and the Acoustic Science  Arché  Headshell.  This poses a couple of problems - the most significant is that we changed far too many variables to keep the "listening impressions" review intact, and the improvement is so large, we're not undoing them.   Scientific method be d***ed ... we are going to re-do the listening impressions and redo the review ... First up, and the crack in the foundation of our carefully constructed "one variable at a time" discipline, was when we took out the Denon and pout in the Ortofon Rondo Bronze in a standard headshell.  It was a solid improvement in every important way- especially a sense of refinement we hadn't had with the Denon.  Having experience with this cartridge before, we decided to continue with the tests, and we were on our merry way reviewing albums for the r...

Record Store Day ("RSD") started as a small promotion done to boost sales at local record stores that were getting slammed by big box stores in 2007.  The the ensuing 7 years, and a growing vinyl revival, it evolved into a bit of a retail/audio/cultural phenomenon.  RSD have added a few smaller "RSD's" throughout the year ("Back Friday" in November for instance) but the biggie is in April.  Record labels have responded to the growing number of sales, by making rare releases, B-sides, live recordings and covers of well known artists, picture disks, remix albums, special singles, and early releases of remastered albums available and only available at the stores themselves.  But also, record stores that sell used vinyl will sometimes haul out some special collections and their best stuff for that day, so it isn't a bad time for used record shopping either.  Nothing says Record Store Day like Poutine - parked outside of "Record Archive...

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing.  It is a way of looking at our past, and cherry picking the things we liked about it, and minimizing the bad things.  We do it all the time, and I truly think that it leads to a better life as long as we recognize it for the benign fantasy for what it is. What does that have to do with stereo?  From about the late 1940's until the 1980's every home had a stereo system capable of playing LP's and sometimes a form of tape.  It was a central element in entertainment for a family, competing first with Radio, and then with TV in the 1960's.  It was one of the first things a new household would buy, and when friends came over, it was a central point of them enjoying each other's company.  TV did take a big chunk out of the stereo's use, but it still was a major choice until the VCR hit the scenes in the late 1970's and early 1980's.  It truly was a "golden age" for the home stereo that many openly admit were sadde...

We're trying on the Plinius Koru phono stage in our system.  And with our limited experience, we can say each phono we have tried brough a very strong character to the sound.  So much so, that my inner electrical engineer was having a bit of a caniption fit since something that is an amplifier, and EQ circuit built to a specification shouldn't change the character of the sound so much ... yet each did.  We'll try to give you guys a feel of what we experienced when we tried out this wonder from New Zealand. Enter the Koru Our friendly local audiphile dealer came by to pick up his box of crack tweaks, and with a wink and a smile dropped off this phono stage for us to "have a listen."  There was a gleam in his eye when he did this, and took off at a high rate of speed.  I think we see tire marks in the street in front of our house and we heard maniacal laughter as he pealed out, though that could be my imagination. Looks, and Yes, they DO matter ... Look...