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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Perfection is only a point of view. Moreover it’s only valid at the instant it happens and only if we accept the challenges of being ‘right there’ in the moment. By this I mean the listener being intimately (inextricably?) involved in that perfection. In other words, a perfect musical performance doesn’t mean the performer made […]
Hi Howard. I know you are into this type of 60’s music and so what can you tell me about The Blues Magoos please? What should I avoid of theirs? Thanks Laurence Rode. Hmm, well ….. the short answer is ‘not much’. But yes, I am into this genre and many similar ones too. I […]
Howard Popeck: Douglas Adams was one of our most gracious, humorous, gentle and fun customers at Subjective Audio. Coincidental with him getting a “serious” advance from his publishers for Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, he commissioned me to put together “almost” the best system money could buy. It was, apart from the turntable, a full […]
Being a bit too young at the time though, I dearly, dearly would have loved to have seen the Small Faces live. I’ve seen a number of live performance videotapes of them and they were certainly not a studio-bound band. Whilst it’s true that certain effects in the studio such as phasing and backwards guitars […]
Background: At Subjective Audio, we were the most successful Meridian retailers for six years commencing in 1977 and thus arguably have sold more pairs of Meridian 105 power amps and 101 pre amps than anyone else. We have very happy memories of that era, the reliability of the equipment, the value and indeed the outstanding […]
Howard Popeck: As part of my continual effort to broaden my classical music horizons I have applied lateral thinking which has turned out to be rather effective and pleasurable. I’ll share it with you although I recognise that it probably won’t be of use to you if you are already where I want to be […]
What is a good sound in your opinion? The facetious answer is ‘probably not the same as yours.’ Not much help though I guess. The truth is though that I tend to listen for different aspects of a sound which a comparative novice might not. By novice I mean someone not having 33 years of […]
Previously So hopefully you’ve agreed that logically the two amplifiers must at all times be compared at identical SPLs? Good. Now then I’m not suggesting that you are exposed to a fixed spl throughout demo – unless you want to. Before revealing a simple strategy to bypass this all too common problem let’s consider how […]
A user review of this classic yet marginalised UK preamp.
Is this topic relevant to you? This series will focus on how to help a buyer or potential buyer of audio /hifi equipment / stereos make better quality decisions. I’ll come on to ‘quality’ decisions shortly. However I need to clarify who might find this series irrelevant. Easy – anyone who is a stereo equipment […]
Howard, did you sell the Breuer 8? Yes. After 19 years of use I got £1,750 for it. I bought a Brinkmann 10.5. Never looked back! Which cartridges did you find worked well with the Breuer? Loved the Van Den Hul MC-1. Denon DL-103 was great. Koetsu Black, Supex 901 too. Is it, in your […]
I have read your reviews and find them to be far more fair minded and useful as a guide than virtually any other reviewer that I have come across. I am looking for a high quality one box CD player. I currently have, amongst other things, a Reimyo DAP 777 Dac and a Cairn Fog […]
Welcome back. Starting work on part #2 I now face a decision. Should I outline some of the inconvenient and self-administered psychological problems involved in making decisions about anything in general and stereo in particular? Or should I address one per day with a strategy of how to address each – or should I discuss […]
Just to be clear by overload (on my Meridian 101B preamp) I mean you don’t have to push the volume control very far on either CD or LP to get a decent volume. I do not want to use an attenuator if I do not need to. I thought you meant by overload that you […]
Howard, Many thanks for replying to my email. Would you perchance be the renowned Howard Popeck? Well, yes. It’s me – but far from renowned though. I have a PT Anniversary/SME V/Ortofon Rohmann which I’m shortly upgrading with the aid of the Funk Firm. I may change tonearms and cartridge – I’ve read somewhere once(the […]
Gentlemen! I have read that you and many others say that new blood is needed. Agreed, But how do you / we talk to them?” A powerfully relevant question and one I’ve pondered for some years. The fallacy I believe is in hoping that there is indeed ‘new blood’ out there. If so, then how […]
I recently received a private email asking me “what exactly is a good recording?” Great question and here’s what’s interesting: we all know a great or poor recording the moment we hear one. At one of my recent demonstrations I was demonstrating a decent transport and DAC through the customer’s much loved and really rather […]
Hello Howard. Memory test! I remember a couple of years ago you recommended a speaker that mated particularly well with the Lecson AP1 power amplifier. Hope all is well, John Hello John. Oh wow. At my age, trying to remember? You are kidding, right? On a more serious note though, here are the ones that […]
Howard – help please! WHICH vintage Krell? Certainly. I sold many pairs of these magnificent but tricky-to-drive speakers when I ran Subjective Audio. I was, so I’m told Apogee’s most successful UK retailer. i mention this because I have a lot of direct, personal hands-on experience. The simple part of my 2-part answer is re […]
I was fortunate enough in the sixties to see the Kinks live at Manchester University where I was a student at UMIST. They were indeed outstanding and it wasn’t just because of their strange and unusual stage presence, but they really could play their instruments and sing and of course wrote some truly wonderful tunes. […]
I am a magazine addict. Yes, I’ve said it. It’s relief – and I’m unashamed. Will you read on after this revelation? I very much hope so. Details; well not just hifi mags but ones on both analogue and digital photography, rock music, cars, blues music, classical music and, err, that’s about it. So what’s […]
First published in June 2008 Interesting day, yesterday. Got my first (of many I hope) Benchmark DAC-1 preamp. Looked good straight out of the box., Can it be as good as Ken Kessler said in Hi-Fi News recently? Err, yes, and then some! Hooked it up to my North Star 192 Transport (Philips PRO2 […]
Howard Popeck: An insight into how many makers define the retail price of a product might be of interest. Generally, the manufacturing cost per item (sometimes with the R&D cost amortized, or not as the case maybe) is multiplied by say 10, 15 or 21 – or any other number that springs to mind, albeit […]