RORY GALLAHER / JACK BRUCE: Politician (Live version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXk–eL5-kQ rock Guitar playing get’s no better than this; what a great Combination Rory Gallagher& Jack Bruce True talent – I reckon he hadn’t heard it before as Jack was humming it to him before going on. Great stuff. Well well well, this is more funky than the original. Clapton in cream was more rough […]

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AUDIO INSIDER

The phono cartridge controversy continues

When I wrote about my memories of the strain gauge cartridge it was presented as mere ramblings. Since that post, there’s been a swirl of controversy and questions. Who knew? One question, in particular, revolved around the cartridge’s supposed disregard for the need of the RIAA curve. Several among you, including my friend Richard Murrison, questioned the […]

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Why some home demonstrations don’t end up in a purchase

Why do some home demos fail? I can of course only legitimately explain the reasons from the perspective based on my direct personal experiences rather than supposition. The reasons for a sale not occurring at the conclusion of a home demo usually fall into the following relatively broad categories: My intervention has been successful in […]

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REGA: Apollo-R … inherent glitch?

This is my second Rega Apollo-R….Lovely CD Player! This example was built around early (ish) 2017. So probably, one of the last batches made. It’s replacement is now the curved looking Apollo (non R). Like the first Apollo-R I had prior, this one also sometimes freezes. Switching the unit off/back on etc the oddity disappears. […]

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DYNAVECTOR: The DV series of tone arms. What happened?

“All the arms from this company are high mass arms (at or over 1kg) that can be tricky to set up on a suspended turntable or a very light one, but very nice once you get it right. The earliest model was the DV-505 introduced in 1976 to much acclaim at the time, and discontinued […]

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HELIUS: Howard Popeck speaks at length to people with interesting things to say: Geoffrey Owen, main-man at Helius Designs

Hello Geoff, and thank you agreeing to be interviewed about social media in our shrinking audiophile world. So …. my first question; what’s your perception of the importance or irrelevance of Facebook in reaching out to potential audiophile buyers? Ah. Hmm. Howard, I suspect that you’re interviewing the wrong person. When I started writing novels […]

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From the archives: The amplifier designer hall of fame / Tim de Paravachini / Bill Beard.

Editor McCauley in conversation with Howard Popeck: So EARs were the best valve amps in the world and by implication their designer was a designer-hero, right? Possibly. That’s a bit of an inference; I didn’t say that. However ….. ARC was touted as being the finest tube gear that money could buy, in the UK […]

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Howard’s CD warning

    Dreadful is too good a word. Good grief. What sort of mood was she in when she flung this lot together? Was it some sort of ironic joke? Borrow it just to hear her mangling of the already nauseous Everyone’s Gone To The Moon. Then laugh, or weep, or both. Definitely borrow first […]

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BEATLES / WHITE ALBUM: Did they make a strategic, musical decision that they wouldn’t harmonize together on any of the songs, or did that just sort of happen?

BILL MORRISON … Actually, they collaborated on over half of the album. They were also working extremely long days without break for months to get the album on the market against industry deadlines. It is no wonder that many songs seem to be solo efforts, but that was not their plan. I strongly recommend that […]

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From the archives: The amplifier designer hall of fame / Eva-Anne Manley, Bob Stuart / Meridian 107 power amp.

Editor McCauley in conversation with Howard Popeck: Can we stick with potential valve amp hero-designers for a moment? Certainly. If only I could think of any. (Long pause). Well ….. Hmm. I very much love the sound of Manley amps. Their preamps and their power amps and the magnificent Stingray. Their idiosyncratic site alludes to […]

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LINN: The sound is all there from top to bottom, and everything was very neat and tidy – nothing untoward, but somehow lacking realism and life

Have just been listening to a Linn-amped system in someone’s house and it reinforces my thoughts about the Linn sound. It was digitally based system and not cheap. The sound is all there from top to bottom, and everything was very neat and tidy – nothing untoward, but somehow lacking realism and life.  To my […]

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Ask Mr. H: SACD, DVD-A and CD. Howard Popeck answers a reader’s question

Howard. were the public remiss in not giving more support to SACD and DVD-A – or is CD sufficient? SACD was flawed; there’s no question about that! It wasn’t a good medium. It never sounded right to me. None of the players that were available gave the comprehensive performance that the advanced CD players gave. […]

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STEELY DAN / MOJO: The Last Gaucho CD

MOJO: “Writing was hard, recording was hard, everything about it was like pulling teeth…” So said Donald Fagen of Gaucho, finally released in November 1980 after a litany of problems that included label spats, endless re-takes and a $150,000 bespoke-built drum machine called Wendel. There was tragedy, too: Walter Becker’s girlfriend died of an overdose […]

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