Focal Chora 826-D / Chora Center / Sub 1000 F Home-Theater Speaker System

Details: Written by Vince Hanada; Created: 15 October 2020

Though best known for such premium luxury speakers as the models populating its Utopia and Sopra lines, France’s Focal offers speakers in many price categories. In September 2019, Focal introduced the Chora line with the release of the 806 minimonitor and the 816 and 826 floorstanders. The Choras comprise Focal’s newest series of affordable speakers, slotting between the Aria 900 and Chorus 700 lines. The Choras’ main-speaker prices start at $990/pair (all prices USD), for the Chora 806.

The Psychedelic Furs: "Made of Rain"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 15 October 2020

Cooking Vinyl COOKCD762
Format: CD

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

I approached Made of Rain, the first album released by the Psychedelic Furs since 1991’s World Outside, with the expectation of reliving a time when I had a full head of hair and was enjoying the synth-heavy, processed-guitar pop of the late ’80s and early ’90s. In other words, when MTV still showed music videos. Expecting that kind of nostalgia from the Furs isn’t really fair, and the good news is that the album itself avoids being a faint echo of past glories.

How to Assemble a Quality Hi-Fi System for About $1500

Details: Written by Vince Hanada; Created: 01 October 2020

Putting together a quality audio system for $1500 (all prices USD) is easy. It’s also hard. For audiophiles on a budget -- people like me -- these days it’s easy to find high-quality audio components for not much money. But today there are so many high-quality components that it’s hard to narrow down the choices.

Sonus Faber Lumina III Loudspeakers

Details: Written by Diego Estan; Created: 01 October 2020

Note: Measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.

Italy’s Sonus Faber has a well-earned, decades-old reputation for producing speakers that not only sound great, but are some of the most beautiful and luxurious-looking in the world. Unfortunately, not every audiophile has pockets deep enough to experience the upper echelons of Sonus Faber’s model range.

Bill Frisell: "Valentine"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 October 2020

Blue Note Records B003216902
Format: CD

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

In July, during the fourth month of the pandemic, a video showed up in my Facebook feed. It was a live performance by guitarist Bill Frisell’s current trio, with Thomas Morgan on bass and Rudy Royston on drums. They were outside on the porch of a house in Brooklyn, wearing face masks and playing, appropriately, the great Bacharach and David tune “What the World Needs Now Is Love.” Folks from the neighborhood were sitting on lawn chairs, enjoying the chance, rare these days, to hear live music.

Sonus Faber Gravis III Subwoofer

Details: Written by Vince Hanada; Created: 15 September 2020

Sonus Faber describes itself as an “Artisan of Sound,” and a glance at their website reveals how much effort they put into physically crafting their loudspeakers -- from their least expensive speaker all the way up to the Aida ($130,000/pair, all prices USD). When, in June of 2019, I reviewed their Sonetto Wall speaker ($1199 each), the high-gloss black finish of my review samples was so seamless that each speaker looked as if carved from a block of solid ebony.

Pretenders: "Hate for Sale"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 15 September 2020

BMG 538603562
Format: CD

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

In 2016, producer Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys gave the Pretenders’ Alone a good dose of the original group’s energy, and it turned out to be the Pretenders’ strongest album in a long time. Hate for Sale, their newest, features their touring lineup of guitarist James Walbourne, bassist Nick Wilkinson, original drummer Martin Chambers, and original lead singer Chrissie Hynde on guitar and harmonica. The result is even stronger than Alone, with a cohesive group identity. Producer Stephen Street (Blur, Cranberrys, Smiths) lets loud guitars rule, but also points up other talents of this band.

The Music I Use to Evaluate Soundstaging and Imaging

Details: Written by Diego Estan; Created: 01 September 2020

In November 2019, I wrote a feature for SoundStage! Access in which I discussed a few recordings I use to evaluate loudspeakers and subwoofers. This month I write about the reference tracks with which I evaluate how well a pair of speakers can reproduce aural images of singers, instruments, and other sound-producing objects, and to create a three-dimensional soundstage on which to accurately position those images.

Triangle Borea BR08 Loudspeakers

Details: Written by Diego Estan; Created: 01 September 2020

Reviewers' Choice Recently wowed by French manufacturer Triangle Manufacture Electroacoustique’s Borea BR03 minimonitor, I wasn’t shy in expressing my admiration in a May 2020 review. Now in my listening room is the BR03’s floorstanding big brother, the three-way, four-driver Borea BR08 ($1399/pair, all prices USD). I looked forward to this review -- it had been a while since I’d heard a budget floorstander that impressed me, and I wondered if the Borea BR08 would deliver the BR03’s exciting sound and exceptional value.

Joe Jackson: "Body and Soul"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 September 2020

A&M/Intervention IR-SCD4
Format: SACD/CD

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

By March 1984, when Joe Jackson released his seventh album, Body and Soul, he’d already moved beyond punk and new wave. His fifth album, Night and Day (1982), and his score for the film Mike’s Murder (1983), had taken in other styles, indicating Jackson’s musical restlessness. Like those on Night and Day, the songs on Body and Soul defy easy categorization, but Jackson hinted at his jazz influences with the album’s cover art, which faithfully re-creates the cover of Sonny Rollins’s Vol. 2, photographed by Francis Wolff and designed by Harold Feinstein, and released on Blue Note in 1957.