Crosley C6 Turntable

Details: Written by Thom Moon; Created: 15 April 2019

In my city, the Crosley name carries a lot of weight. It was here in Cincinnati, in 1920, that successful auto-parts manufacturer Powel Crosley Jr. found himself appalled at the price of radios: a simple crystal set cost $100 -- the equivalent of $2262.20 in 2018 dollars -- but that didn’t include the necessary headphones and long outdoor antenna. His son really wanted a radio, but Crosley was frugal. Instead, he bought a $9 book on how to build a radio. He built it, then hired a couple of engineering students from the local university to build replicas, which he sold for $20 apiece ($452.44 in 2018). He sold a ton of them. By the mid-1920s, Crosley was the largest radio manufacturer in the US, mostly because he made radios affordable for so many; he was often called “the Henry Ford of radio.”

Joe Jackson: "Fool"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 15 April 2019

Ear Music 0213592EMU (CD), 0213593EMU (LP)
Format: CD & LP

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

Fool is Joe Jackson’s 21st studio album, and at first it seems somewhat unassuming, with a clever cover image that looks like something an independent artist would use for a self-released disc. Even the way Jackson recorded Fool was modest. His last album, Fast Forward (2015), was recorded in four cities with four different bands. This time, Jackson and his touring band went “Straight into the studio at the end of a tour, still on the road,” he said in a press release. “Wherever we played the last show, we would record.” Wherever turned out to be Boise, Idaho.

ACCESSible Hi-Fi at Montréal Audio Fest 2019

Details: Written by Diego Estan; Created: 01 April 2019

My mission was to scour the halls of the Hotel Bonaventure Montréal, the venue for the 2019 Montréal Audio Fest, looking for affordable products to report on. That turned out to be fun but not all that easy -- most exhibitors were showing off their five- and even six-figure systems. But among all the audio bling, a few manufacturers and distributors displayed some gear that was indeed affordably priced. (All prices in Canadian dollars.)

Paradigm Monitor SE 3000F Loudspeakers

Details: Written by Diego Estan; Created: 01 April 2019

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

Paradigm has been around since 1982, and still designs and engineers all its loudspeakers in its headquarters just outside Toronto, Canada. The company can always be counted on to deliver high-quality products with good sound, at a variety of prices.

Guided by Voices: "Zeppelin Over China"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 April 2019

Guided by Voices, Inc. GBVi87
Format: CD

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

Robert Pollard has such a formidable recorded output, as both a solo artist and as leader of Guided by Voices, that it’s easy to take him for granted. If you’ve drifted away from the band, their last four albums are reason to return. The current lineup is the strongest since the band’s peak in the mid-2000s, and this new album, Zeppelin Over China, is one of their best. The descending riff that opens the first song, “Good Morning Sir,” is familiar -- Pollard’s used it before -- but this band sounds fresh and excited to be playing it.

PSB Alpha P5 Loudspeakers

Details: Written by Hans Wetzel; Created: 15 March 2019

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

Reviewers' Choice The pursuit of perfection is a lonely endeavor, and talent, on its own, doesn’t guarantee success. That talent must be nurtured and honed through years of practice and adversity, to fortify the constitution and single-mindedness required to create something of true excellence. Paul Barton founded PSB Speakers in 1972, and by 1974 had set to work in the anechoic chamber of Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) with Dr. Floyd E. Toole, one of the early pioneers of measurement-based loudspeaker design. Barton has worked vigilantly in the NRC ever since, having reviewed, by his own estimate, hundreds of thousands of measurements, all in the quest of slowly but surely improving his designs. He is, for me, firmly fixed in the pantheon of great loudspeaker designers.

Bob Mould: "Sunshine Rock"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 15 March 2019

Merge MRG650
Format: CD

Musical Performance

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Sunshine Rock is Bob Mould’s 13th solo album, and the fourth since 2012 that he’s made with bassist Jason Narducy and drummer Jon Wurster. Mould’s last two releases, Beauty & Ruin (2014) and Patch the Sky (2016), were emotionally powerful albums that documented his reactions to his parents’ deaths. Sunshine Rock is as personal, but it embraces life’s occasional joys as well as its complexities, and the slashing guitars that run through most of it make it exhilarating.

A Brand Reborn: KLH Audio

Details: Written by Hans Wetzel; Created: 01 March 2019

Henry Kloss (1929-2002) was one of the pioneers of North American hi-fi. He studied physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) before dropping out to embark on a career in which he founded several storied audio brands, including Acoustic Research, Advent Corporation, Cambridge Soundworks, and Tivoli Audio. Along with patent-holder Edgar Villchur, Kloss helped design the first commercially available sealed-box loudspeaker, the Acoustic Research AR-1. Kloss is probably best remembered for KLH Research and Development Corporation, which he cofounded, with Malcolm Low and J. Anton Hofmann, in 1957 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. KLH -- the name was formed from the initial letters of the founders’ last names -- produced several innovative electrostatic loudspeaker designs and electronic components, but by 1967 Kloss had moved on. KLH thereafter changed hands several times, and quickly fell off the hi-fi map.

Technics SU-G700 Integrated Amplifier-DAC

Details: Written by Hans Wetzel; Created: 01 March 2019

Reviewers' Choice Mea culpa

I’ve been at this reviewing gig for a while now, and save for the odd wrinkle with a couple of products, I’ve never committed a faux pas, such as returning a product damaged or missing any of its accessories -- until now.

Andrew Cyrille: "Lebroba"

Details: Written by Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 March 2019

ECM 2589 6775528 (CD)
ECM 2589 (LP)
Format: CD and LP

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

Drummer Andrew Cyrille’s first release as a leader for ECM, The Declaration of Musical Independence, was a powerful, challenging quartet session with guitarist Bill Frisell, keyboardist Richard Teitelbaum, and bassist Ben Street. Frisell returns for Cyrille’s newest album, Lebroba, but this time in a trio with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. The result is an album of grace and beauty that uses space and time to let the music unfold and expand.