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Mobile Fidelity featuring Andrew Jones A couple of weeks prior to FLAX, I got an email press release from Mobile Fidelity alerting me that speaker designer extraordinaire Andrew Jones would be present in Tampa, giving talks about his new MoFi SourcePoint 10 loudspeaker. "Great!" I thought, "I'll definitely need to check that out!" Yeah, me... Read More »

Classic Audio Loudspeakers with Atma-Sphere in the Cypress ballroom John Wolff's Classic Audio Loudspeakers has been exhibiting in the cavernous Cypress ballroom for several years running now, and it's definitely a must-hear at every FLAX show. The amplifiers and preamps were from Atma-Sphere, and cables were provided by Purist Audio Designs. John always brings his... Read More »

2023 marked my third consecutive trip to the Florida Audio Expo (or FLAX as it seems to have been shortened to), and the experience was hands down the best yet! In terms of vendors, the show was completely sold out, which is great, but also a mixed blessing of sorts. There was so much more... Read More »

The TAD Reference One Experience lets US audiophiles hear TAD's lineup together for the first time. TAD Labs (TAD stands for Technical Audio Devices) is a Japanese high-end audio company that's working to establish higher product visibility in the US audiophile market through the efforts of PAD HiFi (Pro Audio Design), their exclusive US distributor.... Read More »

Patricia Barber, Clique!. HQ180 33.3 LP: $39.99 MSRP. Patricia Barber patriciabarber.com. Impex Records impexrecords.com Patricia Barber's Clique! was released to great fanfare by Impex Records in August, 2021. I had the good fortune to review the DXD (Digital eXtreme Definition) 32-bit/352.8kHz digital download files of the album at that time, and you can read my review... Read More »

In the mid-seventies, Al Di Meola was a young, hotshot jazz fusion guitarist with Chick Corea and Return to Forever. But he'd also developed a deep understanding of Latin music, and had a special love for flamenco guitar. During a European tour with RTF, Di Meola heard of a legendary Spanish flamenco guitarist, Paco De... Read More »

Most of you probably recall that I attended the 2022 Florida Audio Expo (FAE) in February in Tampa; I've covered the last two consecutive shows there for Positive Feedback. And you may also recall that I raved about The Audio Company's room this year, which once again occupied the largest space at the entire show,... Read More »

I know that I've already talked about The Audio Company room at FAE 2022 that hosted the Von Schweikert Audio loudspeakers in my first installment of show coverage, and on day one, I proclaimed the new Ultra 7 to be my best of show. But that proclamation was probably a tad hasty; I'll explain in just... Read More »

On Day 3 (Sunday) of FAE, I got a text from Sue Toscano with a special request: could I possibly get to the Alex Sound Tech room before the show was over? "Alex Sound Tech" didn't really ring a bell for me, but Sue said they'd been specifically asking for someone from Positive Feedback to... Read More »

Here are more of the rooms that really impressed me at FAE 2022. Even though there were marginally fewer exhibitors than in 2020, I was definitely dragging a bit by the time I finally got home on the Monday following the show. The elevators at the hotel were always overcrowded and somewhat slow, so mid-day... Read More »

The Q Acoustics Concept 50 floorstanding loudspeakers made quite an impression! Tenacious Sound featuring Q Acoustics, Perlisten Audio, Cyrus, and Unison Research Audio dealer Tenacious Sound operates multiple locations; one in Augusta, Georgia, a second in Syracuse, New York, and a third in Nashville, Tennessee. They represent a wide range of audio manufacturers, and at... Read More »

This year marks my second trip to the Florida Audio Expo (FAE), and the first visit since 2020—last year's show was canceled because of the pandemic. The possibility that FAE 2022 would go on seemed tenuous at best, especially with the unexpected rise of the highly contagious Omicron Covid19 variant. But things began to get... Read More »

The Euphony Summus Server and Endpoint, alongside the PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell DAC and the Gustard X16 DAC. From late 2019 into 2020, my personal life was an absolute shambles, mostly due to a seemingly never-ending series of health crises that quite nearly took me down with them. The only really positive thing (besides... Read More »

Prologue I've had the Magneplanar LRS loudspeakers in my daily-listening system for over two years now; every time I swap them out for something else, they invariably seem to find their way back in. And that's despite being devilishly difficult loudspeakers to drive; their 2.8 ohm impedance (almost constant across the entire audio spectrum) presents... Read More »

Roger Kynard "Roky" Erickson was, if nothing else, a Texas original. As founder of Austin's Thirteenth Floor Elevators, he was on the cutting edge of the first wave of psychedelia when the band's most noteworthy song, "You're Gonna Miss Me" ascended from a regional hit to crack the national charts in early 1966. One month... Read More »

I wasn't raised from birth to be a jazz-hound; that came about as a happy accident of Reaganomics, where I suddenly found myself out of a job, and ended up working again in 1990 in the commercial print industry. Where I spent the next seven years in a 1940's era bunker of a building that... Read More »

Arlester "Dyke" Christian—along with James Brown—was almost singularly responsible for the infusion of Sixties funk and soul into rap music in the late 1980s. Yet ask the average man on the street about Dyke & the Blazers, and you'll generally be greeted with a blank stare in response. One of Dyke's biggest hits, "Let a... Read More »

Record Store Day 2021 has two summer dates this year, June 12 and July 17, and Craft Recordings has no fewer than twelve RSD exclusive releases to offer this go around. Last year's RSD was the craziest ever, what with the pandemic and everything, but 2021 seems to be bringing new hope for some kind... Read More »

Violent Femmes: Add It Up (1981-1993). Two 120 gram, black vinyl LPs: $29.99 MSRP. Also available as two 120 gram, blister-marbled red vinyl LPs: $32.99 MSRP. Available from Craft Recordings. My first experience with the Violent Femmes came not too long after their eponymous debut album had been released in 1983. I'd just gone to... Read More »