A PS Audio Publication
Issue 226 • Free Online Magazine
Happy New Year from all of us at Copper! You’ll notice that Copper has a new look. There are many new features, the biggest one being that it’s now easy to post comments. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page of any article and you'll find a box where you can write your comment. We also have more navigation options, improved search functions, and more. Take some time and explore – we now have thousands of articles online! That said, we’re still working out the inevitable bugs, and ask for your patience while we iron out the kinks.
In this issue: Joe Caplan has a fascinating interview with professor Jonathan Zearfoss of the Culinary Institute of America on food, music, and how they can enhance each other. Guitarist JJ Murphy offers a genre-bending journey through jazz, fusion and more in Octave Records’ latest, Sleep Paralysis. We have a sneak preview of Studio Confidential, an upcoming show where some of the world’s top recording engineers share stories of working with some of the biggest artists in music. I interview CEO Barak Epstein about the rebirth of audio maker Pilot Radio. B. Jan Montana helps some unruly students. We conclude our coverage of Capital Audiofest 2025, and Harris Fogel has another look at headphone show CanJam SoCal 2025. Wayne Robins offers a vintage 1989 interview with Linda Ronstadt.
Touring in a rock band can make you crazy – but not if you know how to deal with it. Ray Chelstowski talks with My Morning Jacket’s Carl Broemel and musical partner Tyler Ramsey about their upcoming acoustic guitar album, Celestun. Paul McGowan’s The Audiophile’s Guide addresses active room correction and digital signal processing, and what the can – and can’t – fix. The Vinyl Beat begins a two-part series on the recordings of Herb Alpert, with the Tijuana Brass and solo. Guest publication The Listening Chair visits the German Physiks factory. PS Audio earns some Products of the Year awards. Ken Kessler revels in a reel-to-reel renaissance. We cap the first issue of 2026 with New Year’s wishes, loud speakers, and ghost riders.
Contributors to This Issue:
Joe Caplan, Ray Chelstowski, Frank Doris, Harris Fogel, Ken Kessler, Markus "Marsu" Manthey, Paul McGowan, B. Jan Montana, Rudy Radelic, Wayne Robins, James Schrimpf, Peter Xeni
Logo Design:
Susan Schwartz-Christian, from a concept by Bob D’Amico
Editor:
Frank Doris
Publisher:
Paul McGowan
Post-publication Nitpicker:
Rich Isaacs
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– FD
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Top row: Jimmy Douglass, George Massenburg, Frank Filipetti, Chuck Ainlay. Bottom row: Elliott Scheiner, Sylvia Massy, Niko Bolas. Courtesy of Jeff...
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Think for a minute. How many 90-year-old musicians are on the road and touring these days? Few, I’d imagine. One I can think of has been in the mus...
As I noted in Part One of this report (Issue 225), Capital Audiofest is one of the biggest shows in the US, with over 160 exhibit rooms and suites ...
Windham Hill Records was a unique and quietly defiant presence in the 1980s and early 1990s label landscape. While hair-metal excess was giving way...
Above: Mori, Adam, and Satoshi Yamamoto from Final Audio show off their in-ear, closed-back and open-back headphones. Harris Fogel spent a lot of...
(Title inspired by the Frank Zappa piece of the same name) If your band has gotten big enough, the next step will be to tour. It could be on a lo...
A 1989 interview for her album featuring Aaron Neville For many years I’ve thought of Linda Ronstadt’s 1989 album “Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Lik...
While passive room treatment remains the gold standard for addressing acoustic challenges, no modern book on audio would be complete without addre...
The Absolute Sound posted the text of their highly positive review of the Aspen FR5 loudspeakers in their “Best Speakers Under $10K” series. The re...
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