Copper
Sounds Good to Me
What attributes should an item of equipment in a sound reproduction chain possess in order to meet the objectives of high-end audio playback? One attribute we tend to think of...
Paper
It’s everywhere. We take it for granted, blow our noses on it, wipe…. and yet, paper has been a vital part of sound reproduction from the earliest days. Despite the...
So You Think You Love The White Album?
Probably not as much as Rutherford Chang. This is how I first heard about a collection of the Beatles’ White Album: “Hey Jay Jay, there is a store somewhere that sells...
The Long Goodbye
Over the last few years of writing this column, I’ve had to write “RIP” in titles several times as friends and colleagues have passed away. Being a typical male, I’ve...
The Mystery of The Making, Redux
I never think about how mysterious the process of contemporary record making is, or was, to the people who buy those records. Which, when you think about it, is really...
The Sound of Recorded Music
Different time periods in history are associated with particular architectural trends, building techniques and construction materials, different stages of technological development, as well as different styles and forms of musical...
Five New Releases, No Losers
Tom Gibbs' record reviews to Copper. Tom has reviewed records for years, but may be better known to most readers for his gear reviews. We're happy to have him stick...
Billy Taylor: Eight Great Tracks
Pianist and composer Billy Taylor (1921-2010) grew up in Washington, DC, where he took classical piano lessons with a man named Henry Grant. Grant’s other claim to fame in jazz...
A Turntable of my Own, Part 2
Copper #90---Ed.> Here we see the finished laminated fiberglass plinth sitting atop the 1 ½” thick machined aluminum sub-plate. You will notice the ¾” thick grey MDF pieces sitting between...
Django, Act 5
On January 29, 1947, Django Reinhardt landed in New York. Because of poor communications, Django was a late add to the new tour and Ellington didn’t have the arrangements for...
Hall Sounds
Late this May I fulfilled a longstanding wish—to attend Choral Evensong at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. Director Stephen Cleobury retired at the end of June; this was one of the last...
Steve Winwood & the Spencer Davis Group
It was 1963 in Birmingham, UK, when guitarist/songwriter Spencer Davis convinced Muff Winwood and his little brother Steve, only 14 years old, to join him in a band. With the...
Budapest
I was sitting on a bidet in Budapest, thinking of Sam Tellig. Sam had told me about the Gellert baths many years ago. It’s a massive building decorated in Art...