SPEAKERS: Active or passive speakers; it’s a no-brainer – right?

So Neil … at heart, are you an active speaker man or a passive speaker man? Well, in my career I have been responsible for the manufacture of active loudspeakers of varying quality. One model I particularly admired and two rather less and lately I have started to be very interested in active loudspeakers again, […]

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FOSTEX: Why use good headphones?

Aggravating a dealer or two! Whether dealers like it or not, there are certain things that headphones can achieve which even the world’s finest stand-alone hifi systems can’t. There’s no magic to this. It’s purely the fact that the driver mechanism of the headphone is within an inch or two of the receptive areas of […]

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JEREMY SPENCER: In conversation

 Asking the questions: editor Fran Leslie. You have been invited to play at the Chicago Blues Festival and I see that you are doing a workshop entitled The Art of Slide. How did that come about? In July of last year (2008), I was playing with the Norwegian band at Fitzgerald’s, a blues club in […]

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CONVERSATIONS WITH COLIN: Marketing as an influence on audiophile design?

Hi Colin. To what extent – if any – does marketing influence your designs? It has ….. for a few things. I’ve not really taken much notice of marketing and to be honest, if an audio business is run by money grabbing twits like those I’ve met in the past then … no thanks. I […]

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ARCAM: The A29 integrated amplifier

They say ….. Arcam’s A29 integrated amplifier represents another major step forward for Arcam’s stereo audio engineering. We set out to incorporate everything we have learnt in almost 40 years to deliver an amplifier that will set new standards and provide class leading sound quality for the best possible reproduction of your music. Drawing on […]

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Quill

AIR AUDIO DESIGNS LIMITED: What happened?

Cyril Thornton writes … UK based business originally founded in 2008 by Alex Fletcher (ex-Dixons buyer) and was based in the London Docklands. The company started selling iPod docking systems in late 2009 that were specified by Mr Fletcher and reflected his experience in the CE retail industry since the company only sold their products […]

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The Single-Ended Amplifier: Cary’s Dennis Had

Robert Harley (Stereophile magazine) writes:  Cary Audio Design founder Dennis Had is largely responsible for popularizing single-ended amplifiers in America. Since appearing on the scene in 1989, Cary Audio Design has forged its own niche in the high-end audio industry. I spoke with Dennis Had about how he got started building amplifiers, and why he’s […]

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JOHN CIPOLLINA: News

New 3 hour, 3CD series of releases chronicling live and unreleased performances by the late & great John Cipollina.  Rarities will include his unique virtuoso playing in Quicksilver Messenger Service, Copperhead, Zero, Terry and the Pirates and Dinosaurs. “I like the rapid punch of solid state for the bottom, and the rodent gnawing distortion of […]

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PHILLIP GLASS: The Complete Sony Recordings (24CD+Book Box Set) Full track list included.

To celebrate the 80th birthday of the legendary American composer, The Complete Sony Recordings is the first ever release of Philip Glass Sony Classical recordings together in a limited-edition box set. The 24-CD set includes the first ever release of Glassworks specially mixed for your personal cassette player on CD, a 44 minute interview with […]

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STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN: News

We are told: The entire original King Biscuit Flower Hour, WXRT, WLIR, WMMR, Washington DC and KBCO FM Broadcasts Covering performances from Nine Incredible shows; Ripley’s Music Hall 1983, The Spectrum 1984 & 1988, Chicago Blues Festival 1985, Fox Theatre 1986, Mann Music Center 1987, Red Rocks Amphitheatre 1989 and include five bonus tracks performed […]

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ANDRAS SCIFF: News

One of the world’s greatest pianists, Andras Schiff, played his 60th birthday concert on Saturday – a hugely demanding programme of the Goldberg Variations by Bach and Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. Earlier he told the BBC’s Tim Franks why he gave the performance in London – and not in his homeland, Hungary. Andras Schiff takes me […]

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GRATEFUL DEAD: 30 Trips Around The Sun: The Definitive Live Story (1965-1995) (4CD)

30 Trips Around The Sun: The Definitive Live Story features one unreleased live song from each year of the band’s career plus one special re-released track from the band’s earliest recordings, under the name The Emergency Crew. Every year from 1965 1995 is represented. Also featured is an essay by Dead aficionado Jesse Jarnow dissecting […]

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