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A Day at VPI Industries: Don't Call It a Comeback

Details: Written by: Howard Kneller; Category: Howard Kneller; Created: 06 March 2019

As I wrote before on Soundstage! Global, my past visits to New Jersey’s VPI Industries, a maker of turntables, phono stages, and record-cleaning machines, have been to the company’s showroom, VPI House. During this latest visit, I also toured the company’s factory, located less than five minutes from that location.

Sonus Faber's Livio Cucuzza Talks About Palladio at ISE 2019

Details: Written by: Dean Hartley; Category: Dean Hartley; Created: 22 February 2019

Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) is an annual event that is focused primarily on custom-installation (CI) audio/video systems (i.e., in-wall, on-wall, and in-ceiling speakers, as well as home-automation electronics and video displays, etc.), with this year’s show held from February 5 to 8 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was there on the second day of ISE 2019 that I met and interviewed Livio Cucuzza, who holds the title of chief design officer at Sonus Faber, the Italy-based manufacturer well known for creating speakers that look every bit as good as they sound. We talked about the launch of the new Palladio custom-installation speakers -- Sonus Faber’s first major foray into this market.

A Day at Rogue Audio

Details: Written by: S. Andrea Sundaram; Category: S. Andrea Sundaram; Created: 18 February 2019

Located in Eastern Pennsylvania, Rogue Audio has designed and manufactured quality vacuum-tube-based electronics for 20 years. In January 2018, Rogue moved from its home of 17 years to a brand new facility it had constructed from the ground up. Shortly before Christmas, I visited the new premises, bringing along my brother, Sathyan Sundaram, who also writes for the SoundStage! Network. He also took the photos for this piece. Befitting the season, we stayed nearby in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where there was, as it happened, room at the inn -- the Holiday Inn, that is.

Florida Audio Expo 2019: New and/or Interesting Products, Part 4

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2019; Created: 10 February 2019

I expected to pack all my coverage of the 2019 Florida Audio Expo into three articles, but I found enough to fill a fourth! For a brand new show, that’s impressive. What’s more, these final components proved to be some of the most interesting. Here’s the final batch, with all prices in US dollars.

Florida Audio Expo 2019: New and/or Interesting Products, Part 3

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2019; Created: 09 February 2019

After the first day at the Florida Audio Expo, I had been through all of the rooms and was fully acquainted with the show’s layout. For the second day, I revisited all of the rooms, but spent more time asking questions and hunting for products I might’ve missed, which was a good thing to do -- I came up with a few surprises. Here’s what I found, with all prices in US dollars.

Florida Audio Expo 2019: New and/or Interesting Products, Part 2

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2019; Created: 09 February 2019

As I continued on my trek for new and/or interesting products at the Florida Audio Expo, I became increasingly convinced that the show has a good future, for a few reasons. One is the time of year -- Florida in February creates a nice winter break for us in the colder climates. As well, since CES for high-end hi-fi is pretty much dead, we need a beginning-of-the-year show to get things rolling. February isn’t quite the beginning, but it’s close enough. I also thought the venue, the . . .

Florida Audio Expo 2019: New and/or Interesting Products, Part 1

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2019; Created: 08 February 2019

Florida Audio Expo, held February 8 to 10 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore hotel, is a brand new show. It takes time for any new show to build and find its place in the hi-fi world, so when I arrived for this inaugural event, I wasn’t sure how to approach the coverage, because I didn’t know what I’d see when I got there. Thus, I spent the first two hours on February 8 combing through the seven exhibit floors to determine my best course of action. By the time I got to the final floor, I knew that if I focused only on new products, which is what we usually do, there wouldn’t be enough to write about. But I did see some products that, while not necessarily new, were interesting to me and likely to our readers. As a result, I decided to focus on new and/or interesting products, with the first part of that coverage reflected below. All prices are in US dollars.

Q Acoustics' Concept 300 Speakers at Flux Studios

Details: Written by: Howard Kneller; Category: Howard Kneller; Created: 06 February 2019

January 31, 2019 -- it was on the coldest of winter mornings that I arrived at Flux Studios on New York City’s trendy Lower East Side to audition Q Acoustics’ Concept 300 speaker ($4499.99 USD per pair with stands). This British audio company made a bit of a splash with its entry-level 3000i-series speakers, which had the reputation for providing great sound and high value. The prospect of seeing what the company could do further up the price chain was intriguing enough to get me out of bed early.

A Visit to Devialet's New York City Flagship Store

Details: Written by: Howard Kneller; Category: Howard Kneller; Created: 30 January 2019

Tony West of Adirondack Audio and Video joined me on my latest audio excursion, this time to visit Devialet’s flagship store in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood. Our goal was to audition the company’s main product lines -- the Phantom Reactor and Phantom Premier series of wireless speakers, as well as the Expert Pro all-in-one amplifiers. Now one of four Devialet stores in the city, the flagship is only steps from the company’s New York office space, but a long distance from its headquarters, located in Paris, France.

CES 2019: Headphones, Part 3

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2019; Created: 11 January 2019

Here’s the last batch of the most interesting headphones and headphone-related products I saw at CES 2019. Also check out my first and second headphone reports from CES, and watch SoundStage! Solo over the next few months for reviews of some of CES’s most promising new models. All prices in USD.

CES 2019: PSB Revamps 20-Year-Old Alpha Series

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2019; Created: 11 January 2019

Manufacturers knew well in advance that CES 2019 wouldn’t be a big show for audio, so most seem to have saved their big product launches for other venues. However, one company, PSB Speakers, used CES for one of its most important launches in years: the first revamp of the company’s budget Alpha speaker line since 1999. In its suite at the Venetian hotel, PSB founder and chief engineer Paul Barton showed four new Alpha-series models. They retain the general look and form factor of the previous models, but according to Barton, they’re all “clean sheet” designs, with completely new cabinet designs, drivers, and crossovers. All models are available now, in either black ash or walnut woodgrain finish.

CES 2019: Hi-Fi, Part 2

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2019; Created: 11 January 2019

The CES 2019 show in Las Vegas was just wrapping up as I wrote this report. It wasn’t a big show for new audio products -- especially high-end audio products -- but I did find a few that are well worthy of attention. We’ve already posted the first batch of them. Here are the rest, with all prices in USD.

CES 2019: Headphones, Part 2

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2019; Created: 11 January 2019

With high-end audio scaled back at CES 2019 to just a couple of dozen companies, headphones dominated the audio scene at the show. Here’s the second part of my headphone coverage from CES 2019. In addition to the models I’ve featured here and in my previous report, there were many other new headphones launched at CES 2019 -- including a couple that are under embargo for another month or so, but for which I’ve already received review samples for SoundStage! Solo. These are just the ones I found most interesting. All prices in USD.

CES 2019: Hi-Fi, Part 1

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2019; Created: 11 January 2019

If you read practically any high-end audio publication, you probably know by now that the high-end audio industry has largely abandoned the Las Vegas CES show -- or did the show abandon high-end audio? I’m not sure, but either way, there were only a couple of dozen audio companies at the Venetian hotel, a venue that only three years ago hosted a couple hundred audio companies. But between the exhibits at the Venetian and a smattering of audio companies over at the Las Vegas Convention Center, I did find a few interesting new audio products worth checking out. Here’s the first bunch, with all prices in USD.

CES 2019: Headphones, Part 1

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2019; Created: 08 January 2019

The colossal tech tradeshow CES kicked off in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday, January 6, 2019, with several preliminary press events and presentations. Although I’m writing this before the show floor opens on January 8, I and the rest of the press have already been privy to some of the most interesting new product introductions, many of which debuted at Monday night’s Pepcom Digital Experience event at the Mirage hotel.

A Day at DeVore Fidelity

Details: Written by: Howard Kneller; Category: Howard Kneller; Created: 05 January 2019

I recently wrote about a listening party that I attended at DeVore Fidelity’s “Monkeyhaus” factory and listening room, located in New York’s Brooklyn Navy Yard, for two independent, audiophile-approved jazz record labels: Newvelle Records and Greenleaf Music. When I headed back to that haus for a more in-depth investigation of DeVore and its self-described “top banana,” John DeVore, I was determined to uncover any monkey business that had gone undetected during the first go-round.

Newvelle Records and Greenleaf Music Attend Listening Party at DeVore Fidelity's Monkeyhaus

Details: Written by: Howard Kneller; Category: Howard Kneller; Created: 17 December 2018

On December 7, 2018, I traveled to DeVore Fidelity’s “Monkeyhaus” factory and listening room, located in New York’s Brooklyn Navy Yard, to attend a party hosted by DeVore for two independent audiophile-approved jazz record labels: Newvelle Records and Greenleaf Music. According to the invite, the party offered “high-end pizza, wine and spirits, and a special selection of vinyl on some very beautiful speakers.” Present were John DeVore, the company’s chief designer and owner, and many of his employees, distributors, and other partners, as well as the founders of these two labels and many of their recording artists.

Gershman Acoustics and Michael Arthur -- Speakers and Art at Adirondack Audio & Video

Details: Written by: Howard Kneller; Category: Howard Kneller; Created: 11 December 2018

On December 6, 2018, audiophiles and hipsters gathered to attend a 1970s-themed audition of Gershman Acoustics’ Posh flagship speaker ($129,000 USD per pair) combined with an exhibition of the work of renowned artist Michael Arthur at Adirondack Audio & Video’s HiFi Loft, owned in part by Jason Tavares and located in the fashionable Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York. The evening featured the playback of two iconic ’70s LPs: Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and Sly & The Family Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On.

Audio Video Show 2018: Speakers, Part 3

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Audio Video Show 2018; Created: 18 November 2018

From our vantage point, the 2018 Audio Video Show in Warsaw hosted more product premieres in the loudspeaker category than in all the others combined. And of those new introductions, by far most were presented at the Radisson Blu Sobieski hotel. This place was a goldmine. Here’s the third and final batch of loudspeakers Jason and I saw, with all prices in Polish zlotys (zł), euros (€), US dollars ($), or British pounds (£). All the speakers were at the Sobieski except one, the FinkTeam Borg, which was just down the street at the Golden Tulip hotel.

Audio Video Show 2018: Electronics, Part 2

Details: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Audio Video Show 2018; Created: 18 November 2018

Here’s how crazy our pace became: As we were leaving the PGE Narodowy stadium on the first day of the show, we saw the shuttle bus about to depart. At Doug Schneider’s urging, I ran to flag it down. Unfortunately, there were four floodlights placed around the exit, pointing up at the building. One wasn’t working, and the other three faced in my direction, essentially blinding me. At full speed, I ran directly into the one that was switched off, and it took me out at the knees. I thought I’d fallen into a hole, as I flew forward and landed stunningly hard on the cement. The result was a nasty gash on my leg and bruises on both knees. Although Doug thought I’d broken both legs, I was merely hurt, not injured. I take the risks for you, readers. It’s dangerous out here. Don’t try this at home.

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