Hans Wetzel's Hi-Fi System
- Written by: Hans Wetzel
- Category: Hans Wetzel
I have to imagine that, as an elder Millennial, I’m on the young end of the audiophile spectrum. So my system is more a “work in progress” than an “endgame.” It wasn’t until late 2021, when I moved with my pregnant wife and our dog to the Philadelphia suburbs, that I even had a dedicated listening room to call my own. Such is life. And anyway, hi-fi should complement our lives, not the other way around. While my system gives up a fair bit on the aesthetic front compared to what I could own, it works exactly the way I want it to and scores highly in the transparency and neutrality columns. These aspects are what matter most to me, and frankly, I’m pretty pleased with my setup—even if it’s not as “Ultra” as those of some of my SoundStage! colleagues. Click the links below to read about each component in my system to find out why I selected it.
Grant Green: "Feelin' the Spirit"
- Written by: Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Blue Note Records BST-84132/B0033488-01
Format: LP
Musical Performance: ****½
Sound Quality: ****½
Overall Enjoyment: ***½
I became a fan of jazz guitarist Grant Green in the early 1990s, but copies of his recordings on vinyl were hard to find at that time. I tracked down nearly all his Blue Note sessions on CD, including his outings as a sideman, but for a long time I only had a handful on LP. Over the last several years, Blue Note has done a fine job of bringing Green’s recordings back into circulation on vinyl through its 75th Anniversary, Tone Poet, and Classic Vinyl series.
Jeff Visits Audio Advice, Part Two
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
In “Jeff Visits Audio Advice, Part One,” you were introduced to the Raleigh-based, high-end-audio superstore: their floor and physical space, some of their product groups—accessories and portable audio, home theaters, high-end lifestyle all-in-ones—and a few of their vast loudspeaker offerings. In many establishments, that impressive lineup would be all. Audio Advice is that and more.
Jeff Visits Audio Advice, Part One
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
What’s more fun than shopping for high-end audio equipment? If you’re someone who enjoys SoundStage! Ultra, walking through a high-end audio store can be a revelatory—and exhilarating!—experience. Although you’re unlikely to find dealers of speakers, amps, cables, and sources on just any corner these days, there are still many good purveyors of fine audio gear out there. But what about great audio dealers? I visited just such an establishment recently—Audio Advice in Raleigh, North Carolina—and man, was it impressive.
Esoteric E-02 Phono Preamplifier
- Written by: Garrett Hongo
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Art thou troubled? Music will calm thee . . .
—G.F. Handel, Rodelinda
My Vinyl Life: Decaffeinated Soy Mochaccinos and the DS Audio ION-001 Ionizer
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: For the Record
“You need to harden up,” SoundStage! editor-in-chief Jeff Fritz told me a few years back. At the time I was complaining about the rigors of reviewing. My complaint at the time possibly centered on having to move a heavy amp. Or maybe it was because I had to actually visit the post office to mail a component. I forget the exact scenario.
The Comet Is Coming: "Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam"
- Written by: Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Impulse! Records B0036068-01
Format: LP
Musical Performance: ****
Sound Quality: ***½
Overall Enjoyment: ****
The saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings has played with a number of bands and musicians, including the Sun Ra Arkestra, Polar Bear, and The Heliocentrics. Those bands are genre-bending—Sun Ra, after all, stretched the definition of jazz—so it’s not surprising that Hutchings is currently part of a musical trio that has hints of jazz but defies categorization. The Comet Is Coming was formed in London, England, in 2015, and the members of the band appear under pseudonyms. Hutchings is King Shabaka, keyboardist Dan Leavers is Danalogue, and drummer Max Hallett is Betamax.
Europe Tour 2022: Sonus Faber Speaker Production and Design Lab
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
In my first article describing my visit to Sonus Faber, located in Vicenza, Italy, this past July, I left off in the leatherwork area of the factory. This article picks up on Europe Tour 2022 in a room where a small group of experienced SF technicians creates the crossover networks for the various Sonus Faber loudspeaker models.
Europe Tour 2022: Arriving in Vicenza and Visiting Sonus Faber
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
The city of Vicenza, Italy, is situated just west of the popular tourist destination of Venice and about 200km east of the bustling city of Milan. It’s famous for its historic buildings and architecture, including works from 16th-century architect Andrea Palladio. We—my wife, Andrea; our son and daughter, Ian and Abigail; and I—arrived on a Sunday evening after a four-and-a-half-hour train ride from Lake Como, in Italy’s north. After sitting on a train for almost half a day, we were ready to explore—on foot.
ATC SCM50 Passive/Active Loudspeaker
- Written by: Jonathan Gorse
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
I’ve been in this game long enough to know that something special is arriving when it comes in flight cases the size of telephone booths. I half expected to see “Pink Floyd, Wembley Stadium, London” stamped on the side. Ben Lilly, ATC’s cheerful sales director, read my mind as he flung open the rear doors of the firm’s smart blue van. He smiled and said, “Don’t worry, it’s not too bad, they’re on casters.” When I was younger I thought it would be great fun being a roadie, traveling the world, getting drunk with rock stars, getting laid by groupies, and sharing the camaraderie of the tour bus at 4 a.m. as the sun rose over the Nevada desert. Nowadays, my aspirations are more limited—managing to haul these ATC speakers into the house without my feeble spine crumbling into a mixture of dust and broken sinews would do. I reckon I could still manage the getting-drunk-with-rock-stars thing quite well, but I’m not sure I could keep up with the groupies anymore.
- Larry Young: "Unity"
- European Tour 2022: AVA Group—Quality From the Inside Out
- European Tour 2022: AVA Group—AVM-TEC, Vitus Audio, and Alluxity
- Yamaha GT-5000 Turntable
- It's Field-Trip Time: Corby's Audio and the Kuzma Stabi R
- Gerald Wilson: "Moment of Truth"
- Europe Tour 2022: Gryphon Listening Room and Rune Skov
- Perlisten Audio R7t Loudspeaker
- Europe Tour 2022: Arriving in Denmark and Gryphon Audio Designs
- Linn Klimax DSM AV DAC-Preamplifier
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