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
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
At Munich’s High End 2024, I spent an inordinate amount of time browsing the European Audio Team display. Their booth was encircled with turntables and tube electronics, two 20th-century technologies with which I’ve had a long-standing love affair. My relationship with EAT goes back eight years, to 2016, when I reviewed the company’s C-Major turntable. I got a real charge out of that ’table, out of its combination of visual low-slung elegance and excellent sound quality.
Bury Me with These Analog Accessories
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: For the Record
In the world of analog accessories, there are entire catalogs of stuff you didn’t know you needed. Of course, I know there’s a distinction between want and need. We humans really only need food, water, shelter, and companionship. A turntable is a want. Heck, any form of hi-fi is a want.
Goodbye to an Old Friend
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Opinion
I’ve lived in the same house for 25 years. I’ve owned my motorcycle from new in 2007, and I bought the one before that new in 1990. Once I find something I like, I keep it longer than I should. Perhaps it’s inertia, or maybe it’s because I make shrewd buying decisions. Either way, I don’t let go easily.
- 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
- Charisma Audio Signature Two Moving-Coil Phono Cartridge
- What Happens When the Magic Smoke Escapes?
- Vertere Acoustics MG-1 Turntable
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