I’m a thirty-year-old puppy doing what I’m told And I’m told there’s no more coal for the older engines,”
—ANDY PARTRIDGE,
“Train Running Low on Sould Coal”
“[We] know the truth of this: We would likely live happily ever after with a system from nearly 60 years ago. An idler-drive turntable, some Marantz electronics, and Quad ESL-57s can be very satisfying. The main improvements to be made are not necessarily in the area of musical enjoyment, but rather boring old reliability.”
Charley Hansen of Ayre Acoustics, who made these observations in an e-conversation two years ago, gives himself too little credit: He and many of his colleagues have not only made playback gear that’s more durable than average, they’ve also succeeded in making playback gear that’s safer to use and more portable, and that excels in performance areas where the gear of 60 years ago was often weak: noiselessness, timbral neutrality, the re-creation of 3D space, and realistically wide bandwidth.
Yet much of today’s gear suffers by comparison in reparability—what else can we conclude from junkyards filled with portable music players, midpriced electronics stuffed with now-obsolete solid-state devices, and saddest of all, five-figure CD players. Today’s gear has also taken similarly backward steps in some performance areas where the gear of 60 years ago continues to excel: impact, color, body, drive.
This story is from the September 2017 edition of Stereophile.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2017 edition of Stereophile.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
AURAL ROBERT
Another \"outlaw\" country artist
Nina Simone: Wild Is the Wind
By all accounts, Eunice Kathleen Waymon, aka Nina Simone, who passed in 2003, was a troubled person and a brilliant artist. Why she was not more acclaimed during her lifetime is a question several recent film projects have tried to answer. Did her fierce stand on civil rights lose her fans?
Vintage hi-fi, old and new
Many audiophiles and serious music lovers are passionate about vintage. Vintage has become a popular \"way in\" to the hobby, especially popular among younger folks.
Tekton Moab Be
LOUDSPEAKER
ARCAM Radia A25
INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
Wharfedale Heritage Series 90th Anniversary Dovedale
LOUDSPEAKER
Technics Grand Class SL-1200/1210GR2
RECORD PLAYER
Thrax Audio Siren
Based in Bulgaria, European audio company Thrax has been active since 2009.
EMM Labs MTRS
STEREO POWER AMPLIFIER
SPIN DOCTOR
Alternative phono cartridge technologies and the DS Audio DS-W3 optical cartridge system