Originally published in 2009 Question: Hi. I have à pair of Stax da 100 with ca-x after having the da80 vwith sra12s I had some problems with the ça-x but none up to now with the da100 and i had them for almost 30 years I like them how ever vu the age and the […]
Howard Popeck
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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, […]
Editor McCauley in conversation with Howard Popeck: More? More! Well, I never met Julian Verreker. Because of my public loathing for the Linn ‘culture’ in the 1980’s; he and I would never have seen eye to eye. It wasn’t to be. However he was a self-taught designer. That’s gotta mean something, right? I took a […]
Hi Howard. I own a pair of Tangent RS4 speakers. While searching the web for an approximate price I came across your review. I love these speakers and have owned them since I was in high school ( I graduated in 1980). I am 51 now and I am moving- downsizing. I recently sold my […]
William – how did your interest in music reproduction start? Since I was young I’ve always been in the world of music. My uncles were jazz guitarist and bassist. For my part I’ve played Fender bass. I have no preferred style of music. I can listen from Mozart all the way to Deep Purple and […]
Howard Popeck writes: Quite so. Went to EVERY gig within the M25. Loud? I’ll say. Had to start to learn to lip-read as a consequence. Hard-faced birds, broken glass on the floor, broken teeth and broken noses in the loo – but not on me! ‘ Trrific’ – as the great man would say. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsMO6kQ96XM […]
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 […]
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 […]
I have a Stax 20/20 basic system which I have acquired from a friend recently. My problem is when directly connected from my Naim CD5X CD player (RCA output) I get some distortion in sound as I crank up the volume to higher level on the energiser. My interconnects are QED approx £20 according to […]
Hello. Some time next year I intend (God willing) to buy a Stax earspeaker system. I will probably go for a solid state energiser package, and as funds permit go for the best option available. I used to have a Stax system years ago which I bought second hand from a friend, this was sold […]
Those of you who know me personally probably know that I’m fascinated by the psychologies (or in simpler terms the brain processes) which guide people to make decisions in general and buying decisions in particular. Having made many seriously flawed commercial decisions (the demise of Subjective Audio being a case in point) I strive to […]
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 Popeck: The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark is a country rock album by Dillard & Clark. The album was recorded in 1968, shortly after Gene Clark departed the Byrds for the second time, and Doug Dillard left the Dillards. The album is hailed by critics and musicians as a unique masterpiece at the […]
Howard Popeck writes: First things first, try and get hold of the biography of this tragic man, called “The Mighty Shadow” ISBN 0851125832. It is invaluable if you are a novice about this man and/or that era’s R&B. Yes, unappreciated seems to be appropriate here. I had a CD of “Live at Klooks Kleek”. This […]
Geoffrey ….. why is there such diversity between audiophile values and the audio engineering establishment’s values? I’m not sure there is – indeed, I would argue that, more often than not, audio engineers are just audiophiles who have taken their interest to the next level and gone pro. Perhaps I should start by suggesting that […]
Lacking the grace and calm agility of a latter-day Fred Astaire, it was beyond my ability to rise to my feet while foot-tapping, finger clicking and ……. head nodding – all at the same time! I just didn’t have the necessary co-ordination. Clearly some did though. Last night I received an amusing phone call from […]
From our archives ….. I’m thinking here of the engineering design and execution rather than anything else. The arm that gave the most musical enjoyment was the Breuer-8 Dynamic. After that the SME IV. The Ittok with any Dynavector was magnificent. Sonically the most disappointing were the cheap and shoddy uni-pivots of the 1980s. But […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Howard Popeck: Steve Marriot. As you probably recall he was the joint founder of the Small Faces and because of the fully justified popularity of the band I haven’t chosen to play any of the Hits. You can get them elsewhere! Now then subsequent to Small Faces he formed a band with Pete Frampton, he […]
Taken from my diary for 17/7/2008: Bit of an up ‘n down day yesterday. Slightly disturbed to discover that my ‘must buy’ list of CDs now runs to 59! It’s not so much the money; but how am I going to find the tine to listen? Ho hum. Hooked up my wonderful old and massive […]
So, following on from the previous part of this series, why 1976? Quite simply, it was my first foray into buying an audio system. I discovered first hand the need for proper research prior to visiting a retailer or more accurately, a certain type of retailer – and the realisation that in so doing I […]
Howard Popeck writes: On the face of it, subjective (ears, not machines) group testing of audio equipment, by which I mean ‘n’ items are compared to each other, are a great idea for the potential buyer. Through this lack of insight by the magazine reader and, unfortunately the failure of the magazines to recognize let […]