September 8, 2009
Picked up my Beatles’ Mono box tonight as my local record shop was closing and as part of the deal, got one of the rare 7″ singles of their Seattle interview in 1964.
While poorly recorded, it’s a fun look back into the history of the Fab Four. The interview is typical Beatles, with the press asking stupid questions, “do you ever get tired of performing?”, “are you disappointed with the low concert turnout here in Seattle?”, etc, etc.
But the guys handle it with typical aplomb, and make fun of the interviewers in such great form, that they don’t even know they are being messed with. If you can find one of these, it’s definitely worth a spin.
August 28, 2009
Now that the dust has settled, the folks at the Montreux Jazz Festival are starting to release video highlights of the show. If you didn’t get a chance to partake, this is the next best thing. Every Friday, they are releasing another concert.
This week’s feature is Kool and the Gang, check it out and the others here:
August 27, 2009
It was fantastic to spend the last few days in Denmark with the folks at Bang & Olufsen. We will have a full story next issue, going over the plant and their history in detail.
Though the Danes are very warm hosts, we ended our journey at the ICEBAR in Copenhagen. The interior is kept at 25 degrees F, with drinks served in solid ice, this is the by far the “coolest” place to have a drink in Copenhagen.
Pictured with me is Bailey Barnard from The Robb Report and thanks to Geoffrey Morrison from Home Entertainment Magazine for taking the photo!
http://www.icehotel.com/Content/AbsolutIcebar/Copenhagen/
August 13, 2009
Wish I could take credit for finding this bit of humor, but I tip my hat to recording engineer Eliot Mazer. Here’s a funny bit from BBC Comedy on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pehHOqx7JXg&feature=player_embedded
Enjoy!
August 11, 2009
Well known to music and headphone lovers all over the world, Sennheiser is taking to the streets of North America, exposing their wares to the public at various music related events and retailers. They’ve enlisted a team of very attractive male and female spokesmodels to demonstrate their headphones and according to their Facebook page, seem to be making great progress spreading the word.
Heck, I’d rather buy headphones from pretty girls rather than the dorks at Best Buy any day of the week. And Sennheiser does make great stuff, so you can’t go wrong.
I certainly hope this is the beginning of the new wave of hifi marketing…
http://www.sennheisersoundtour.com
July 25, 2009
Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay in the UK a couple of extra days, but here’s what I missed out on at Tom Tom Audio’s latest event, held at the St. Michaels Manor Hotel in St. Albans. In addition to the great HiFi that was set up, including a sneak peak at the new Naim standalone DAC, they had quite a few new and vintage Bentley automobiles on hand for the crowd to enjoy.
And If you will notice, there were women attending this event…
I just spent some time interviewing James for a forthcoming article in TONEAudio about “Dealers that do it right”, so look forward to hearing more about this shop that offers tremendous service, combined with an equivalent amount of passion for the gear and the music. Watch issue 23 for the full story. I won’t miss this one next year!
And if you are anywhere near St. Albans, book an appointment to meet James, even if you don’t need new gear just yet.
Here’s some more pictures from the event:
http://forums.naim-audio.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/48019385/m/5542938227
And a link to TOMTOM Audio:
http://www.tomtomaudio.com
July 22, 2009
Had a fantastic time at the Meridian factory in Cambridgeshire yesterday with Bob Stuart and his crew.
The full factory tour included every aspect of the company, including their extensive R&D facility along with their anechoic chamber where everything is measured. Having just been at the BBC the day before, I probably won’t ever visit two anechoic chambers in the same week again!
I was blown away by the size and scope of the facility as well as the attention to every phase of the construction of Meridian products.
The day ended with a visit to their home theatre room, featuring the outstanding 10k Meridian projector that some of you may have seen at this year’s CES show. Thanks to new calibration techniques, they’ve taken this system to new heights of performance, and it is by far the most impressive video display system I’ve ever seen.
And, I got to see the Sooloos Music Servers being built and meet everyone involved with Sooloos design and programming. Watch for some exciting Sooloos news in our next issue.
July 21, 2009
Yesterday, Alan Shaw of Harbeth Speakers took me to the BBC research centre at Kingswood Warren. Just outside London, this quiet location is where many significant developments in the world of audio, TV and radio were produced, not the least of which, the legendary BBC monitors like the LS3/5a…
Here you see me in my best spokesmodel pose, holding a large pile of research and measurements that were done on the LS3/5a and other speakers in the range, complete with the engineers notes, photos and measurements. I even got to see the first LS3/5a prototype!
Very cool stuff and a lot of history here….
July 14, 2009
Couldn’t resist, but this is that famous place and it certainly has its charm. Off tonight to the Miles Davis hall (Below) to see John Scofield and the Piety Street band. Curious to see how the lineup has changed since the Portland Jazz Festival in March.
Switzerland is awesome and I bought electronics from a very nice French lady. Nerds always share a universal language! More pics to follow and tomorrow we are off to the Nagra factory to see their latest offerings!
July 13, 2009
Staff writer Todd Sageser took a trip to Indianapolis in early June to visit Indy Audio Labs for a few days.
Indy Principal Rick Santiago introduced Todd to his partner Ted Moore and the guys spent a good deal of time listening to many of the classic Aragon and Acurus products, including a 2 channel system with the Aragon 28K pre-amp driving 8008ST and 3002 amps. Source material included a variety of CDs and downloads from HDtracks, streamed through a Roku M1000 Soundbridge. Todd was impressed with the openness and sheer dynamic capability of the Aragon product with a variety of speakers.
In a 2.1 studio control room system, the Aragon SoundStage Pre-Amp/Processpr drove a 8008×5 amp for the studio monitors and an Aragon Palladium monoblock easily handled a pair of Shure subwoofers.
Finally, in a home theater system, the new Aragon Stage One Pre/Amp processor fed an Acurus 125×5 5-channel Home Theater Amp. Even with some modest Klipsch speakers, the image and sound quality blew away anything from the home theater receivers that were sitting on the shelf for comparison.
Ted and Rick in the control room with new Aragon processor.
What’s up next? Expect to see Aragon and Acurus return to separate branding. Also, there are some great new remote-control capabilities in development, where Rick and Ted will be getting to use their specialized engineering skills.
Todd plans to make regular visits to hear what develops and Indy Audio Labs will be sending Todd some beta product to listen to. The guys have promised that Tone will be the first to get their new products for review!
