Copper
My Experience With Commercial Four-track Tapes,...
In a previous article (published in Issue 209), I talked about my investigations into commercial four-track tapes. These tapes were released from the late 1950s through to the early 1980s,...
Life’s Biggest Problem
A good friend of mine recently lamented the degradation of his hearing. He’d been tested and the results were devastating to him. Theo really loves his music, especially now that...
Dandelion Therapy
The kids in the area called our neighbor’s boy “40 watt” because he wasn’t very bright. Like the rest of us, Danny lived in poverty, but he didn’t realize it because...
Lou Reed, Joey Ramone, and Growing Up Jewish
Recently, Copper contributor Larry Jaffee, the co-founder of record industry conference Making Vinyl, gave a talk at Long Island University called “The Ambivalent Jewish Lives of Two Rock Gods.” Jaffee...
Titanic’s Musicians Knew
Imagine your ship is sinking, your fate is sealed, your life is doomed, and yet you remain calm and of service to others – not over the course of seconds like...
50 Years of PS Audio, Part Three: Getting the D...
In our continuing story of the creation of the Digital Lens we're finally at the point where we have a roadmap of what we want to build. Now it is...
Thoughts on Quality, Style, and Class, in Audio...
Seeing all the brand-new, but distressed-looking Relic instruments at Fender and on the show floor at NAMM 2024 (see my articles in Issues 210, 209 and 208) reminded me of the perhaps touchy...
Seated in Sonic Perfection: the Ultimate Hi-Fi ...
Copper has an exchange program with PMA magazine of Canada (and other publications), where we share articles, including this one. Let’s get one thing straight: audio quality starts with the chair. Sure,...
Subduing Satan
Imagine, if you will, a person living alone in a claustrophobic flat with an audio system which never stops playing, a volume control which doesn’t attenuate sound, and a “pause”...
FIDELITY Visits Eavesdrop, the Brooklyn Jazz Kissa
Copper has an exchange program with FIDELITY magazine of Germany (and other publications), where we share articles, including this one. The Kissa craze has reached New York – even though in the Big...
The Other Folk Singers, Part Three
I belong to a listening group that gets together to socialize and listen to music. We meet in each of our homes on a rotating basis. The host provides the...
Leveraging Karma for Fun and Profit
My mother was disgusted. “How can he exploit a young girl like that?" she exclaimed as she passed the newspaper. The headline read: "82-Year-Old Millionaire to Wed 22-Year-Old Model." It was accompanied...
My Experience With Commercial Four-Track Reel-t...
Just as I was running out of things to write about for Copper, a mysterious gift landed on my doorstep. One day, someone left a large bag at the reception...
Two Mendelssohn Symphonies: the "Italian" and t...
Copper has an exchange program with AAA (Analogue Audio Association) magazine of Switzerland (and other publications), where we share articles, including this one. The Swiss author Ernst Müller is a...
Why Does Music Move Us?
Copper has an exchange program with FIDELITY magazine (and others), where we share articles, including this one, between publications. Five Answers to an Eternal Question We’re all familiar with this: music...
70 Years of the Fender Stratocaster: A Guitar W...
As conservative as Eric Clapton's playing might be for some, the electric guitar he preferred is timelessly versatile. That’s because the Fender Stratocaster was full of innovations when it was...
David Sanborn: Remembering a Unique Voice on th...
There are a handful of musicians in the music industry you’d swear have played on everything. Saxophonist David Sanborn was one of those musicians. His distinctive tone and style on...
Sviatoslav Richter: Legendary Classical Pianist
Copper has an exchange program with AAA (Analogue Audio Association) magazine of Switzerland (and other publications), where we share articles, including this one. The Swiss author Ernst Müller is a...
The 2024 La Jolla Concours d’Elegance: A Stunni...
It was a dark and stormy night, the kind of night that tests men’s souls, the mettle of their courage, and the strength of their convictions. Well, maybe that’s an...
Is Class D Amplification Now Better Than Class ...
Copper has an exchange program with PMA Magazine (and others), where we share articles, including this one, between publications. A couple of years ago, a designer of high-end tube equipment...
Musings About the 45-RPM Single
Delving into the psyche of one collector’s reflection of amassing such an assemblage of records that rarely get played It takes a special crate-digging mood to go through a haphazard...
The Other Folk Singers, Part Two
I belong to a listening group that gets together to socialize and listen to music. We meet in each of our homes on a rotating basis. The host provides the...
The Other Folk Singers, Part One
I belong to a listening group that gets together to socialize and listen to music. We meet in each of our homes on a rotating basis. The host provides the...
Treasures from the Vinyl Vault, Part Four
Copper has an exchange program with selected magazines, where we share articles, including this one, between publications. This one's from PMA Magazine: the Power of Music and Audio. Welcome to my series Treasures from the Vinyl...
A Visit to Italy's Gold Note Factory
Copper has an exchange program with FIDELITY magazine (and others), where we share articles, including this one, between publications. Based in the Florence area, Gold Note is generally perceived as a young company....
A Visit to Loudspeaker Maker Pure Emotion Audio...
Copper has an exchange program with FIDELITY magazine (and others), where we share articles, including this one, between publications. Curiously enough, SPL is rarely considered a criterion when defining what characterizes an exquisite,...
Vampire Hunting, Part Two: What Is Running Up O...
In Issue 203, I provided an introduction to the “vampires” that live in our home, electronic devices that are consuming power while plugged in and idle or on standby. Today,...
In Praise of Live Music
Perhaps that’s an odd title for a magazine that caters primarily to an audience of audiophiles and music collectors. So let me offer a bit of background. I fell in...
Capturing Jazz Lightning In a Bottle: Recording...
As one of the first musical art forms created in the US to attain worldwide acclaim and acceptance, jazz straddles the line between the challengingly cerebral harmonic complexity found in...
Vampire Hunting: What Is Running Up Our Energy ...
The cost of energy is something we consider at least once a month when the utility bill arrives. Like most anyone else reading this, I have seen our household electricity...
2023: My Year in Music
Looking back at 2023, I realized it was a fairly good year for me musically. I don’t buy many new recordings, but I caught up on some reissues from the...
The waVox Museum – A Monument to Willi Studer a...
Copper has an exchange program with AAA (Analogue Audio Association) magazine of Switzerland (and other publications), where we share articles, including this one. Willi Studer. Willi Studer's life's work...
Treasures from the Vinyl Vault, Part Two
Copper has an exchange program with selected magazines, where we share articles, including this one, between publications. This one's from PMA Magazine: the Power of Music and Audio. Welcome to my series, Treasures from the Vinyl...
Long Island’s Audio Den Opens a New Listening Room
The Audio Den has been one of the New York Metro area’s top dealers since 1976. Like so many other retailers, they expanded into home theater and custom installation in...
Tokyo Jazz Joints: Immersion in a Parallel Univ...
Copper has an exchange program with FIDELITY magazine (and others), where we share articles, including this one, between publications. That smell! Nothing compares! Old record sleeves, the dust of decades past. ...
Treasures from the Vinyl Vault, Part One
Copper has an exchange program with selected magazines, where we share articles, including this one, between publications. This one's from PMA Magazine: the Power of Music and Audio. Welcome to the first installment of Treasures from...
Sound Waves and the Roaring Twenties: The Legac...
Copper has an exchange program with selected magazines, where we share articles, including this one, between publications. This one's from PMA Magazine: the Power of Music and Audio. In the early 20th century, particularly the...
A Classic Turntable's Forgotten Roots: the AR XA
When the AR XA turntable came out in 1961, it was an instant classic – almost immune to external shocks and vibrations, low in rumble, and priced at a shockingly...
The Audio Butterfly Effect
The best-fitting suit is a well-tailored one. You likely would never expect to try on a garment in a store and have it fit perfectly, if taken randomly from just...
The Next Voice You Hear
So you had better do as you are told/you better listen to the radio.” (Elvis Costello, “Radio Radio”) Sanyo catalogued the MR2810 2-Band Radio Cassette Recorder in 1982. I received...
A Visit to Piega Loudspeakers
Copper has an exchange program with FIDELITY magazine (and others), where we share articles, including this one, between publications. Every reason to be in a good mood: The two managing directors, Manuel...
Two Hands Clapping
It was a lot of money, even with the student discount. He had never been to the symphony, let alone invested in an eighth row center orchestra seat. He wasn’t...
More Scenes From the Los Angeles and Orange Cou...
In Issue 196, Harris Fogel attended meetings of the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society (LAOCAS), which included visits to AudioQuest in Irvine, California, and area dealers The Source...
Some Old Jazz Guy: Exploring Michael Franks, Pa...
Part One of our Michael Franks series (Issue 191) covered his first four albums. With this installment, we’ll continue with the next batch of albums. Released in 1979, Tiger in...
How to Improve Your Sound System With Your Mind...
Copper has an exchange program with selected magazines, where we share articles, including this one, between publications. This one's from PMA Magazine: the Power of Music and Audio. In Part One (Issue 196), I mentioned the phenomenon...
In Praise of Domestic Venues
Some of the lads looked disappointed, others seemed disgusted. You’d think I had just recommended Jack Daniels over Woodford Reserve. The ambience in the room went flat like Sunday morning champagne. Maybe...
The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society...
The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society (LAOCAS) is one of the largest audio clubs in the country. Its membership spans the greater Los Angeles and Orange County areas,...
Thorens' 140-Year Anniversary: Navigating Vinyl...
Copper has an exchange program with FIDELITY magazine (and others), where we share articles, including this one, between publications. It’s hard to imagine the record player world without Thorens – and yet...
How to Improve Your Sound With Your Mind, Part One
Copper has an exchange program with selected magazines, where we share articles, including this one, between publications. This one's from PMA Magazine: the Power of Music and Audio. Your audio system was supposed to...
Zen and the Art of Sound Reproduction
Most of us squander far too much of our time engaged in “self-talk.” Our minds are continually preoccupied with “what if” scenarios and how to resolve them, even though these...