KLIPSCH: Which amplifiers for ultra-sensitive horn speakers (Klipsch La Scala)?

Some ginormous La Scalas have arrived in my small to medium sized rooms. It is a shock. The Harbeths have gone upstairs, where they have more space to breathe. BBC Monitors in a big room; Huge horns in a small room. It’s an upside down world. The trouble is that all my amps are pretty […]

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ROBERT CRAY: With special guest Stevie Ray Vaughan – The Redux Club, Dallas Tx.Jan 21st 1987 (CD)

Smokin’ set from Club Redux, Dallas, Texas, Broadcast live by Q-102 FM. Riding high on the success of this Grammy Award winning 4th album ‘Strong Persuader’ Cray is joined by Stevie Ray Vaughan for a stunning Strat duel finale. 01 I Guess I Showed Her 02 Still Around 03 T-Bone Shuffle 04 Right Next Door […]

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JOHNNY CASH: A Lone Star State Of Mind (CD)

We are told: CLASSIC 1994 BROADCAST, LIVE FROM MUSIC CITY USA In April of 1994, Johnny Cash released American Recordings, his first collaboration with Rick Rubin, who would serve as Cash’s producer until his 2005 death. Under Rubin’s stewardship, Cash would reinvent himself for the final time, and later cover, among others, Soundgarden’s ‘Rusty Cage’, […]

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SPEAKERS: Anchor or isolate?

PAUL MCGOWAN … Audiophile wisdom is rife with both good and bad advice. It’s a good idea to pay attention to the electronic chain’s component quality while it’s a bad idea to spend so much on tweaks you ignore the fundamentals. Sometimes this common wisdom finds itself in the middle of a great philosophical divide. […]

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BLUES: Our office playlist 14/10/22

Dustin Arbuckle & The Damnations – Across The DesertSmokin Joe Kubek and Bnois King – Have Blues Will TravelBacktrack Blues Band – Your Baby Has LeftWill Wilde – I’m Your WitchdoctorAki Kumar – Don’t Hold BackSam Morrow – Wicked WomanThe Achievers – MovementKeith Secola and Wild Band Of Indians – Wailing BluesBen Harper – I […]

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RAY DAVIES: How a lonely Londoner created one of the great Sixties songs – by Nick Halstead

“When I was researching my new biography of The Kinks, there were several special moments: sitting in the slightly shabby remnants of their legendary north London studio Konk, for instance, listening to drummer Mick Avory’s reminiscences, while Ray Davies flitted around spectrally in the background, scarf trailing behind him like Rupert the Bear. Most magical, […]

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AUDIO INSIDER

BECOMING A SHREWDER HI-FI BUYER: Part 6

Previously …   Welcome back. Here are the three topics identified from yesterday that I’ll be – time permitting – hoping to cover today: How to understand how you arrived in such a situation and thus how to avoid a repetition, How to firmly and unaggressively regain control Tactics that turn the demonstration toward your objectives. […]

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GIGS: Those I really wished I had been to and … for whatever reason … didn’t. Part #1. Led Zep and The Who

Probably top of the list is Led Zeppelin appearing at UMIST for the princely sum of 7s 6d, or in today’s money about 33p. I have to say, with some acute embarrassment, that I didn’t go simply because I didn’t like the spelling of the name. I thought it pretentious. Turns out that it wasn’t […]

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MERIDIAN: Their gimmick-free golden years of 2-channel music

Howard Popeck: Emerging phoenix-like or perhaps Cinderella-like out of the turmoil of Lecson via the short-lived Orpheus designs, Bob Stuart and Allen Boothroyd announced the arrival of BS Meridian in Hi-fi News 35 years ago. The series 1 system comprised initially the 101 preamp, the 103 power amp and the astonishing M1 active speakers with […]

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ART BLAKEY AND THE JAZZ MESSENGERS: Rutgers University, N.J, April 15th 1969 (2CD)

Recorded live for FM broadcast in the spring of 1969, this superb set captures the legendary jazz drummer putting his band through their paces on a series of incendiary extended tracks. Featuring the young Woody Shaw on trumpet, as well as Carlos Garnett (tenor saxophone), George Cables (piano) and Scotty Holt (bass), it’s presented here […]

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