This is the next in an occasional series of recorded brief conversations between Howard and myself during snatched time between deadlines and other time issues. Neil: Howard? Howard: Yes! (faking irritability) N: it’s that time again! (faking sarcasm) H: Oh …… good (faking sarcasm) N: So, whatever happened to tone controls? You know, the bass […]
Neil McCauley
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Neil, As a listener, a civilian if you like and not an editor how important, in your view, is it for a speaker design to sound full bodied and detailed at low sound pressure levels? Well I think it’s rather important that, because so many people live in our overcrowded island in restrictive circumstances where […]
Neil McCauley asks Howard Popeck: What were the best reproduced sounds you ever heard in the early days? Not easy to answer. Depends on one’s definition of best. If you take just listenability i.e. the customer’s sound is so good right now that I’m not going to unpack my demo gear, then it would have […]
Michael Vronsky asks: Neil – at heart, are you a vinyl man, or a digital replay man? Well I’m afraid I am a digital replay man. I don’t deny the beauty that can be obtained from vinyl with enough bucks behind it. I suppose with classical music I have to say that a terrible mistake […]
Michael Vronsky asks: Neil; Do you think the market for audiophile quality is diminishing, or static or expanding? If I believe the reports I read it’s been diminishing under the onslaught of alternative ways of spending money on home entertainment like home cinema and video games etc. I think there is a very serious core […]
Michael Vronsky writes: Neil; if you were, say, a speaker designer then what would be more important to you when designing , the final subjective sound or the measurements? Oh, I’m afraid very much the sound. I don’t despise or ignore measurements which are essential in the course of designing the thing. They give you […]
Q: Hi Neil. Some makers are extolling the virtue of seemingly unlimited amplifier power as a requirement for un-restricted system dynamics. Logical or merely smart marketing? A: Well I suppose it must depend on a number of things. Let’s take the things that it depends on. Sound pressure level – that you hear in your […]
Neil … have you experienced your system sounding different, in the same room, at different times of the day and indeed at weekends and week days? Oh very much so, yes. One of the crushing things that you feel when you need to calm you and encourage you in life for music and you go […]
Neil, regarding digital room equalisation, is it a gimmick or does it have some application in domestic situations? I have heard these things in operation and I suppose that if you are prepared to spend any time experimenting and moving loudspeakers then it’s a good shortcut to a sort of middling performance. But by and […]
Is it possible that the lack of congruency between measurement and sound quality in speaker systems is merely because there are parameters that have yet to be measured? What? Ah, oh yes, I get it …. I think. Oh yes, I believe that absolutely. I mean there was a time when harmonic distortion in amplifiers […]
Neil, have you been surprised by the effects of different types of mains cable and IEC termination on the sound that comes from electronics driving speakers? I have been rather surprised because I don’t reckon I have anything like the acuity of some of my friends for acoustic things, I will usually arrive at conclusions; […]
Here’s my Sunday pick of the music group sites that you might find interesting. Just click on the title or titles of your choice. Neil Blues Music #1: Jazz #1 Opera #1 Music – new releases coming soon Intelligent, articulate musicians with interesting things to say I will be revising the list from time to […]
Neil McCauley / editor in chief – my point of view: Overview Yesterday I received an email reminding me that one of the best means of evaluating equipment is fatigue. Yes, I know that sounds counterintuitive but I guess we’ve all experienced our system’s sounding so good that we could listen for hours. And we […]
Q: So Howard, you’ve from time to time mentioned, in the context of receivers, the “good old days”. What does that mean? In the “good old days” the electronics for a hi fi system was all in one box that usually included a power amp, preamp and radio tuner. They were very convenient. Q: Convenient, […]
The CD from Joan Armatrading: “Into The Blues” Damn good it is too! Earlier today was Suzanne Vega’s “99.9F” CD. All of it. Twice! Terrific!
Hmm. Okay So anyway, a little while later were ushered into the listening room and were confronted by man-sized monoliths we later came to know as The Apogee, from Apogee. And a pair of the previously mechanically buzzing power amps, powered up with the preamp at max without a source playing and mechanically silent. Seeing […]
So no, we aren’t coming to the end. Not yet. (Long pause) Okay. I used to sell the Albarry monoblocs. Damn fine sound. Clever designer. Still sounds good today. Not a hero as such but worthy of an honourable mention. Then whoever designed the A&R A60. A truly great product. In its way a classic. […]
Editor McCauley in conversation with Howard Popeck: So there are more figureheads than gifted designers. Is that what you’re saying? Not quite like that. In my direct personal experience I’ve met more figureheads than gifted designers. But that’s not to say that my experiences are representative of the entire industry. One has to take into […]
The internet radio station calmradio.com Tchaikovsky 128 kbps Wonderful music via this free station.
Neil McCauley / editor in chief Why no images? Because the test review that follows here are of a pre-production pair in casework that doesn’t properly represent the finished product which, so we are told, should be available in early March 2017. Priced, including VAT @ £4.6k per pair. A bit of history Please note […]
Neil McCauley / editor in chief There’s an old saying that you can judge a person by the company they keep. It’s a truism and a cliché but that doesn’t mean it’s incorrect. Applied to the hi-fi industry, you can make a reasonable stab at the true nature (behind the carefully crafted façade) of the […]
Neil McCauley asks Howard Popeck Howard, Historically, what did you mean by ‘accidental magic’? Well …….. a combination of equipment that previously you’d not encountered and which sounds right immediately. Unusual combinations. Amps and speakers that just by chance sound magical together – even though the makers probably hadn’t used each other’s equipment. That kinda […]
Arguably CJ and AR are natural rivals in the valve/tube market. They’ve been around for many (in audiophile terms at least) years and so there are plenty of items available on the used market. The accepted places to look online are eBay and Audiogon. Sellers on eBay specify a minimum selling price. Sometimes they’ll be […]
It seems to us that small innovative British makers really don’t receive much editorial coverage in the paper magazines. It’s easy to speculate why this might be. Possibly those that are marginalised suffer because they don’t have a marketing / advertising budget. Our suspicions though are that: The interests of the ‘big boys’ i.e. those […]