Magnificence on a Budget
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Opinion
Tastes differ, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, et cetera, et cetera—but there are some constants in every hobby and in every aspect of life. Take cars, for instance, since most of us can coalesce around this subject, and also because I’m too lazy to think of something more subtle.
DALI Epikore 9 Loudspeaker
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
This could be the easiest review I’ve ever written. Or the hardest. This here speaker in my room right now, the DALI Epikore 9, is so closely related to the Epikore 11, which I reviewed back in March 2024, that it’s essentially the same speaker with two fewer woofers.
Børresen X6 Loudspeaker
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
When was the last time a reviewer trotted out the dollars-per-pound trope? I haven’t used it for at least a decade. I’ve reviewed a lot of large speakers over the last two years—big, room-dominating, expensive, luxurious, endgame speakers. The Estelon XB Mk II. The DALI Epikore 11. The YG Acoustics Peaks Ascent. Most recently, the Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Signature.
Spooky Action at a Distance and Matt’s Headphone Amp
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Opinion
I think it’s fairly common to associate certain songs—albums even—with specific times in one’s life. Being a just-barely boomer, many of my musical associations involve classic rock from my youth. Things like Pink Floyd’s “Echoes” immediately bring back memories of the sun rising as the acid wears off.
AVID HiFi Acutus Dark Iron Turntable, Nexus Tonearm, and Ionic Cartridge
- Written by: Jonathan Gorse
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
For more than 25 years, the AVID Acutus has been regarded as one of the world’s finest turntables. A brainchild of Conrad Mas, who heads AVID HiFi to this day, the fundamental design of the Acutus has remained largely unchanged since its introduction in 1999: a heavy subchassis and 10kg platter hung from three sprung suspension turrets held in position by elastomeric bands and driven by an AC motor via twin rubber belts. Of course, the Acutus line of turntables and associated power supplies have undergone many refinements over the years.
Mitmat Foundation Premium and the Downside of Streaming
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: For the Record
Streaming is insidious
For years I kept my digital and analog systems completely separate. My big rig in the basement was analog and the smaller system on the main floor was digital only, running off a Squeezebox Touch. The main-floor system saw the most use in our house—it provided the music to our life for Marcia and me. For years she would get up earlier in the morning than I would, and she’d play John Zorn’s Alhambra Love Songs, Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, or The Plateaux of Mirror by Brian Eno and Harold Budd. I’d walk downstairs a half hour later and encounter an accidental renaissance scene. The lights dimmed way down, the gas fireplace casting a warm glow, and Marcia on the couch with the dog, writing in her journal.
King Crimson Across Two Continents
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Opinion
I don’t get out much these days. COVID did a bit of a number on me, forcing me inward, making me reclusive. Used to be I’d ride my motorcycle to work 25 miles each way, dicing with traffic, then go out for lunch, and out for beers afterward. I had a social life, a social circle. Working from home did away with all of that.
Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Signature Loudspeaker
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Close your eyes and picture a chair. This image in your mind is the ideal of a chair, of how a chair should look. The Platonic conception of a chair. That chair may not exist in the real world, but it’s what you think a chair should look like.
Keith Monks Prodigy Plus Record-Cleaning Machine
- Written by: Jonathan Gorse
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Origins
The vinyl era dates back to 1948, when Columbia Records issued the very first 33rpm LP, a recording of Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor, with soloist Nathan Milstein and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Bruno Walter. But it wasn’t until the mid-1960s that the challenge of keeping records clean was seriously addressed. That happened when Percy Wilson, then technical editor of the UK classical-music magazine Gramophone, wrote a series of papers on the subject for the Audio Engineering Society.
Speaker Scenarios and Preparing for Warsaw
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Opinion
It’s getting tense here at Thorpe Manor. As I begin writing this editorial on October 15, I’m getting set to cover Audio Video Show 2024, which starts on October 25, on location in Warsaw. It seems like just yesterday I was counting down three weeks until departure, which felt like plenty of time to get my editorial finished, wrap up a review, and pack at my leisure.
- European Audio Team Fortissimo S Turntable and F-Note Tonearm
- Bury Me with These Analog Accessories
- Goodbye to an Old Friend
- Simaudio Moon 891 Streaming Preamplifier
- Electrocompaniet AW 300 M Mono Power Amplifier
- Teaching Turntable Setup to an Analog Lightweight and the Next Generation
- Perlisten Audio R5t Loudspeaker
- Do What You Love! Setting Up a European Audio Team Turntable
- Hard Work or Humble Brag?
- Voodoo Labs Witchcraft Speaker Cable
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