Industry News
New Vinyl from Reference Recordings
San Francisco, August 26th, 2011
It's been a long time since Reference Recordings have made their wares available on vinyl, but that will soon change. On September 2nd, Reference Recordings are releasing two new records in their Reference Mastercuts Series.
The first of these is Dick Hyman's From the Age of Swing (RM-2501, $49.98 list price), a two LP set pressed at 45 RPM. The second record is Stravinsky's Firebird Suite and The Song of the Nightingale (RM-1502, $34.98 list price), performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, conducted by Eiji Oue. This record will be a single 33 RPM LP.
Both records were recorded by "Prof." Johnson, and are half-speed mastered to ensure maximum accuracy. Plating and pressing is courtesy of Chad Kassem's Quality Record Pressings.
The number of discs and speed of each release in the new Reference Mastercuts series depends on the program length. All will feature 200g discs, and will be housed in deluxe gatefold jackets made by Stoughton Printing.
An unusual feature of these new records is one which Reference Recordings calls the "FDS finish". The end of each side has a 30-second band of silence before the pull away, which enables the listener to raise the tone arm before the always-somewhat-noisy tie-off.
Future releases in the Reference Mastercuts Series include recordings by The Hot Club of San Francisco, Minoru Nojima, the Dallas Wind Symphony, and the Kansas City Symphony.
It'll be very interesting to hear what these new releases sound like. Until then, here's a link to the full press release.
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2010
Denver, October 15-17, 2010
For the seventh successive year, numerous audiophiles and music
lovers converged on Denver, Colorado for the Rocky Mountain Audio
Fest (RMAF). Unlike CES, which is open to trade members only, RMAF
is open to all. This was my first RMAF outing, so I was very much
looking forward to it. It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the neat
stuff on show, so I decided to concentrate my attention on
vinyl-related stuff.
I met lots of people, both within the industry and not. I like putting faces to names, so I was pleased to meet a few members of some of the audio forums I hang out in. I also met a few people I met earlier this year at CES; it was great catching up with them too.
But enough reminiscing. What about the gear?! Judging by the number of turntables being used by various exhibitors, and the sheer number of records for sale in the marketplace, vinyl's renaissance is still going on strong! Here's a roughly alphabetical summary of some of the stuff I saw, with my apologies to manufacturers I've neglected to mention. Bear in mind that most vendors were demonstrating their wares in hotel room with questionable acoustics, so my comments about sound quality should be taken with a pinch or two of salt. Don't worry about the briefness of this article: we'll be publishing an article with more details and lots of photos in a forthcoming issue of the magazine.
Artemis Labs demonstrated their SA-1 and SA-1S turntables with the Schröder Reference TA-1 tonearm and their own cartridge.
Danish turntable designer, Johnnie Bergmann of Bergmann Audio, was in the Aaudio Imports room playing his new $54,400 Sleipner Reference air bearing turntable and arm. With a Lyra Titan i cartridge, Ypsilon amplification, Lansche plasma tweeter speakers, and Stage III cables, I thought the sound was very good. Johnnie was kind enough to indulge me by playing Dire Straits' Telegraph Road and Private Investigations in their entirety.
The main attraction for me in the Burmester room was their new 100 phono stage, which starts at $16,995. The 100 supports multiple MM and MC inputs, and an optional internal ADC.
In the Xact Audio room, Steve Dobbins was playing his new Kodo The Beat magnetic drive turntable ($24,000), coupling it with the Reed 3Q Laser Guided tonearm ($6,500) and the Allnic Puritas cartridge ($4,950), playing through a pair of MBL 111F speakers ($39,500) driven by an all-Allnic amplification chain (including their new H-3000V phono stage).
Galibier Design had turntables in three rooms, from their entry-level Gavia-I ($8,750) to their top-of-the-line Stelvio-II ($27,500). Tonearms were by Durand and Schröder, cartridges by Benz, Dynavector, and Ortofon. Meanwhile, Kubotek were demonstrating their Haniwa HCTR01 MC cartridge and its matching HEQA01 phono stage.
Odyssey had their new $2,500 tube/bipolar Kismet phono stage on static display. Talking of new phono stages, Ron Sutherland was proudly showing off his latest phono stage, the $2,200 20/20.
Oswalds Mill Audio were using their OMA Tourmaline turntable ($12,000) with tonearms from Thomas Schick and Schröder, and cartridges from Miyajima and Soundsmith. Talking of the latter, Soundsmith were demonstrating all sorts of neat stuff including their new Cartright, which is a $900 cartridge set up device designed to be used with the supplied test record. With one simple tool, the Cartright claims to make optimally setting one's VTF, SRA, overhang, azimuth, and anti-skating easy.
TT Weights were playing their new Gem rim drive turntable ($6,500) and showing their $15,900 Black Onyx turntable. The latter was only on static display because it had only recently been finished, and wasn't run in. One of the last rooms I visited was Walker Audio's, where the $57,000 Proscenium Black Diamond II was playing with an Air Tight PC-1 Supreme cartridge, electronics from Walker Audio and Technical Brain, and the TAD CR-1 speakers. I don't know if I had accidentally saved the best for last, but this room certainly was, in my opinion, one of the best I heard at the show (I didn't do much critical listening, but the Aaudio Imports room would also be on that list).
In addition to spinning vinyl, several exhibitors were using reel to reel tape decks as one of their sources. Digital streaming was very prevalent, but CD players were conspicuously almost absent. If RMAF is anything to go by, I'd say that CD's days are numbered but vinyl has nothing to fear. Adding weight to this assertion is the number of vinyl records for sale in the marketplace compared to the relatively few numbers of CDs. The software selection in recent years has never been so good; it's certainly a good time to be a vinylphile!
The Cable Company's 15th Annual Summer Against Hunger Campaign
August, 2010
Vinylphile is a proud sponsor of The Cable Compnay's
annual "Summer Against Hunger" campaign,
which raises funds in support of CARE. The following is
the text of this year's press release.
The Cable Company Announces the 15th Annual "Summer Against Hunger", an Audiophile fundraiser supporting CARE.
Once again for 2010, in our 15th year of organizing the Summer Against Hunger, 100% of purchases of sponsored products from The Cable Company in August will benefit CARE - guaranteed!
This dollar for dollar donation works due to leverage: The Cable Company donates a percentage of sales which are matched by sponsoring manufacturers. The 1:1 minimum donation is guaranteed by the generous participation of an anonymous audiophile donor, who is providing a funding match for total Cable Co. + vendor contributions, and who is also underwriting the collection of additional matching funds from other CARE donors.
In fact, in the last few years our customers' August purchases have not just generated a 1:1 donation to CARE. Rather due to the availability of match funding from third parties, as much as $4.20 was donated to CARE for each $1.00 in purchases from The Cable Company.
Aggregate donations during the 15 years of Summer Against Hunger including match funding are approaching $2 million, and have helped support CARE programs in some of the poorest parts of the world. In the last few years Summer Against Hunger donations have been earmarked for projects including the development of agricultural infrastructure in Madagascar, building schools in north central Nicaragua, and basic child survival nutrition and health programs in Sierra Leone.
We invite you to look through the details of this fundraiser by viewing our ad which is running in the issues of Stereophile, The Absolute Sound, and Vinylphile mailing in August at: http://www.thecableco.com/CCSAH2010hires.jpg. (You can click on the ad to enlarge it.)
The list of participating vendors appears in the ad.
Acoustic Sounds buys Classic Records
Salina, July 26th, 2010
Chad Kassem's Acoustic Sounds has purchased Mike Hobson's
Classic Records. Acoustic Sounds bought all of Classic's
inventory earlier this year, so this news doesn't come as
a huge shock. Mike Hobson will continue in an advisory
role to Acoustic Sounds to ensure a smooth transition.
This looks like it's good news: "Hobson always pushed the envelope to improve Classic's products instead of just accepting the current standards. It is an honor to now own Classic, and I intend to continue to use the innovations that Classic pioneered and the high standards they established," said Kassem.
I just hope that the acquisition means that the supply of Classic Records' titles is assured, and that the prices will fall back to their pre-acquisition levels...
Here's a link to the full press release.
Vinylphile Launch Party
Vernon, June 25th, 2010
To celebrate the launch of Vinylphile, we have teamed
up with one of our local audio dealers, The Hi Fi Attic,
to put on a launch party/open house. The party will be
held at the Hi Fi Attic's store on Friday June 25th from
4:30pm until about 9:00pm.
Several turntables and other audio goodies will be on display
and being demonstrated. Also, light refreshments will be served,
a door prize or two will be given away, and everyone is invited!
The Hi Fi Attic's address is 1005 Kalamalka Lake Road and their phone number is (250) 260-3336. Or you can email them at thehifiattic@shaw.ca. Below is a map to help you find the store; we hope to see you there!
CES and THE Show 2010
Las Vegas, January 7-10, 2010
One of the most important—perhaps the
most important—events on the audio calender is the
Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which is trade-only
show held annually in Las Vegas. Manufacturers from all
over the world go to CES to show off their latest gadgets
and make product announcements. CES is so big that it takes
up several venues, but fortunately just about all of the high
performance audio exhibits are in one place: the Venitian.
Taking into account the limiting acoustics of a hotel room, quite a few of the rooms I visited had pretty good sound. But what really impressed me was the large number of exhibitors using vinyl as their (sometimes only) source. Forget about what the detractors would have you believe: vinyl's comeback is real!
As I said previously, my visit to CES was more about establishing relationships with people than it was about the gear per se, so I can't recall all the cool new products I saw, and I didn't take my camera with me. With those caveats in mind—and my apologies to any manufacturer I miss here—here are some of my recollections from the show (in roughly alphabetical order).Audio Research Corporation were playing tunes through the Reference Phono 2 phono stage, Reference 5 line stage, and their new DS650. The DS650 is a solid state Class D power amp, and is expected to retail at around $8,000. Continuum Audio Laboratories were playing their top-of-the-line Caliburn-Cobra-Castellon turntable and arm. Mated with an Air Tight PC-1 Supreme cartridge and Audio Research Reference electronics, the sound was sublime!
In the Convergent Audio Technology room, Ken Stevens was demonstrating his new SL-1 Legend tube preamp, a beefed up version of the SL-1 Renaissance featuring Black Gate capacitors in select locations, a Teflon PCB, a more sophisticated stepped-attenuator volume control, and a much heavier chassis. And down the corridor, J-Corder's bank of a dozen or so reel to reel tape decks were a reel (sic) treat for analogue lovers!In the Nordost room, Roy Gregory and Lars Kristensen were demonstrating their new Sort Kones, which will be available with a choice of three balls: aluminum, ceramic, and titanium. The sonic effects improve as one goes up the range, as Roy showed by playing a short passage of music, changing the cones, and then repeating the track. He also demonstrated the need for correct placement of isolation devices, by changing the configuration of the titanium-balled cones from two at the back and one at the front to two at the front and one at the back.
Oracle Audio were showing (and playing) the latest incarnation of their long-lived Delphi, the Delphi VI. Pass Labs were demonstrating the new two-chassis XP-25 phono stage and X260.5 monoblocks, and British turntable manufacturer from yesteryear, Revolver, hinted at a return to their turntable manufacturing roots... Simaudio were showing off their new Moon 300D DAC, and their retooled and renamed LP5.3 phono stage and its matching optional power supply, the PSX5.3, and finally Wadia Digital were playing music from their new "iPhone Ready" 171iTransport and previously-announced 151PowerDAC mini.Although they weren't an official CES exhibitor, MartinLogan did have a suite at the Mirage where Justin Bright showed me ML's recently introduced Motion Series of dynamic speakers (also on display was a new electrostatic hybrid, the specs and details of which have yet to be finalised). The Motion Series consists of six models: two bookshelf speakers, two centre channels, and two towers. Prices range from $200 each for the Motion 2 bookshelf speakers up to $1,500 for a pair of Motion 12 towers.
Over in the Flamingo, The Home Entertainment Show (THE Show) was taking place. A smaller and more intimate affair than CES, THE Show was also very busy. I only had time for a very brief tour: I spent far too long drooling over the vinyl on display at the various booths (Classic Records, Acoustic Sounds, Music Direct, The Elusive Disc, and Music Direct to name a few). I had the pleasure of having a quick chat with reviewer Myles Astor, and listened to Harry Pearson's talk on Saturday night.Well, that's about it for 2010's CES and THE Show; next year we'll have much better coverage of all the new goodies, especially those related to vinyl!
