Building Community

(With a tip of the hat to the Hank Stone Band’s song of the same name.) The world of audio is diverse – we can choose from analog, digital, tubes, transistors, a vast array of loudspeakers and many more ways to enjoy music. The people behind the products are just as diverse, which is a big reason why the choice of audio products is so varied today. One look at Facebook, online audio forums and our own Comments sections makes it apparent that enthusiasts have a variety of opinions too (to say the least). It’s all a community, as PS Audio founder Paul has noted to me, and Copper was created in part to foster that sense of community and dialog. It’s the shared passion that makes all of this so much fun. In this issue: Copper is honored to welcome Ivan Berger to our pages. He’s contributed to Stereo Review, High Fidelity, The New York Times, Popular Science and more than 100 other publications. He was co-technical editor at Video, (which got him into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame), technical editor at Audio and is the author of The New Sound of Stereo. Wendell Diller, one of the guiding lights behind speaker company Magnepan, gives us a thought-provoking guest piece asking: are audio dealers in trouble? Anne E. Johnson covers country and bluegrass star Alison Krauss, and jazz drumming legend Gene Krupa. Jay Jay French turns the Tice Clock back to look at the evolution of his audio systems. WL Woodward drops Part Three of his series on Grateful Dead sonic mastermind Owsley “Bear” Stanley. Ivan Berger remembers the groundbreaking AR XA turntable. Professor Larry Schenbeck does the Happy Dance over Joshua Redman's Sun on Sand. J.I. Agnew delves further into the Secrets of the Phono Cartridge. Rich Isaacs gives a comprehensive look into American progressive rock bands. Radioman Bob Wood has WBEN there and ROCK 102’d that. Roy Hall's Key West vacation doesn’t go as planned. In “Confessions of a Setup Man Part Two” I encounter more audio system mayhem. Dan Schwartz discovers the musical ecstasy of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda. Rounding out the issue, James Whitworth sees double, while Audio Anthropology has its moment and our Parting Shot gives us the lowdown.