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

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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

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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.

Q Acoustics 3050i Loudspeakers

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

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

Though Q Acoustics has long been on the fringes of my consciousness, their products had never found their way into my listening room. My introduction to this British manufacturer was in 2013, when I visited electronics manufacturer Arcam in Cambridge, England, and found that they were using Q’s Concept 20 bookshelf speakers in their listening room. I was taken with the little speakers’ dynamics and overall clarity, and said as much to some of my SoundStage! Network colleagues.

The Good, the Bad & the Queen: "Merrie Land"

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

Studio 13 Studio13CD0001
Format: CD

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It’s been 11 years since the Good, the Bad & the Queen released its eponymous debut, perhaps because every member of the band had other things to do. Frontman Damon Albarn continued his work with Blur and Gorillaz, with help from Simon Tong, who’d been in the Verve but joined Blur in 2002. Bassist Paul Simonon, formerly of the Clash, kept himself busy with music, painting, and environmental activism, and drummer Tony Allen played on a number of albums, including two jazz recordings he led for release on Blue Note Records.

CES Is Dead: An Obligatory Missive

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

To the surprise of no one, about 12 people -- including several derelicts, some tumblin’ tumbleweeds, and SoundStage!’s own Brent Butterworth -- attended the hi-fi segment of the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you haven’t visited Las Vegas, imagine a city codesigned by Louis XIV and a strip-mall developer, and fueled by a near-lethal combination of vodka, Red Bull, and poor decision-making, all tinged by the aroma of burnt tobacco. The high-end segment of CES has been on a slow decline for years, domestically usurped by the annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, and internationally by Munich’s annual High End. Despite this, this year’s CES was chock full of new and affordable audio gear.

Bowers & Wilkins 603 Loudspeakers

Details: Written by Philip Beaudette; Created: 01 February 2019

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

Bowers & Wilkins is a rarity in high-end audio. Founded in 1966 by John Bowers and Roy Wilkins, the British brand has in the five decades since built a loyal following of audiophiles. Other boutique audio companies have enjoyed this sort of staying power, but the list is relatively short, and few are known outside the high-end community. B&W’s roots go back to the year the Beach Boys released Pet Sounds, Syd Barrett was still the face of Pink Floyd’s psychedelic sound in the London underground, and the Beatles had yet to release Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, arguably the beginning of their most interesting period of work (with apologies to those who claim that this began with Revolver, an exceptional album in its own right).

Marianne Faithfull: "Negative Capability"

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

Panta Rei/BMG France 538421712
Format: CD

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Marianne Faithfull was discovered by Andrew Loog Oldham, manager and producer of the Rolling Stones, who helped her achieve chart success with a series of singles in the mid-1960s. She was the first singer to record the Jagger-Richards song “As Tears Go By,” in 1964, and was a big part of the history of the early Stones and of the ’60s overall. Faithfull became romantically involved with Mick Jagger, and it’s hard to know if her later slide into addiction and anorexia stemmed from her association with the band or her with own bad decisions -- perhaps both.