Copper


A Chat About Audio Writing

Issue 191Frankly Speaking

The other week my friend Ed Burki contacted me and told me he’d caught some kind of bug and was bored sitting around the house, so he’d decided to try...

STOP PRESS: A Copper Sneak Preview! Back to My ...

Issue 191Natural Born Kessler

KK hears a new high-end speaker under beta testing, and it’s a stunner.   Those who have followed my scribbling over the years will know that I have no greater...

Thom LaFond Goes Into Musical Orbit With Lawles...

Issue 191Octave Pitch

Octave Records artist Thom LaFond’s latest album, Lawless, tells a remarkable tale: a wildly imaginative story about a romance between a human and an alien. The album blends synthesizers, acoustic...

PLAYBILL For an Imaginary Musical in One Act Wi...

Issue 191

Back in 1962, a musical opened on Broadway called Stop the World – I Want to Get Off – an intriguing title since we've all felt that way from time...

Barb Hendrickson and Allan Vest of Indie Duo do...

Issue 191Idle Chatter

The music of doubleVee is all about depth. Depth of music, depth of lyrics, depth of the artists who reside within the music…you get the idea. Still, given that doubleVee,...

Trixie the Ticket Taker

Issue 191Parting Shot

As a bookend to James Schrimpf's Parting Shot in Issue 171, “Silent Movie Fan,” this is “Trixie,” the mannequin ticket taker for the historic Sebastiani Theatre in the town of...

The Midnight Callers: A New York City Call to Rock

Issue 191Disciples of Sound

If Steve Van Zandt didn’t have his own record label you would swear that he was directly involved in curating Jem Records’ current roster of artists. All of them present...

Surrealistic Audio Zone

Issue 191Audio Anthropology

Here's a pair of classic JBL L100s, sadly without the iconic grid-like foam grilles, which perhaps have crumbled into the sands of audio time.    Now that is an old-school...

The Cable Doctor Calls On Miloš Forman

Issue 191True-Life Rock Tales

“You’re the doctor,” Miloš said, and I appreciated his deference. We were in his apartment on the 30th floor in the Essex House, situated on Manhattan’s Central Park South. I was...

Some Old Jazz Guy: Exploring Michael Franks, Pa...

Issue 191Featured

“A few years ago we were playing the House of Blues in New Orleans (a perennial stop for us). I left after the sound check to hunt down some vegan...

T.H.E. Show SoCal 2023: Bigger Demo Rooms, Bett...

Issue 191

For 2023, T.H.E. Show (officially, The Home Entertainment Show) was conducted at the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa hotel, just west of the John Wayne Airport in California. Being both close...

Living Colour: Rocking Past Stereotypes

Issue 191Something Old / Something New

Once Elvis Presley came along, followed by the British Invasion, rock and roll tended to be very…white. This tendency existed despite rock’s roots in the blues and gospel traditions, not...

The Munich High End Audio Show 2023, Part Two

Issue 191Show Report

Part One of this show report appeared in Issue 190.   Even though I had been meaning to attend HIGH END, the Munich high-end audio show for a number of...

Table of Contents – Issue 190

Issue 190Opening Salvo

Astrud Gilberto – the voice of an angel, the Girl From Ipanema. Sadly, she left us at 83, but the timeless gift of her music lives on. For sheer musical...

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Octave Records Releases Ancient Rhythms By Guit...

Issue 190Octave Pitch

Octave Records continues to expand its musical horizons with the release of Ancient Rhythms by guitarist Bill Kopper, a diverse album that blends Brazilian, African, jazz and other musical influences...

Original Vinyl Pressings or Re-pressings – How ...

Issue 190Revolutions Per Minute

Record collectors around the world will typically part with a much greater share of their hard-earned for a first pressing of an album, than for a subsequent re-pressing. But what...

Made to Measure

Issue 190Audio Anthropology

Here's a rarity for you: A McIntosh car stereo made for Subaru. As an online forum notes, these are difficult to identify, so we don't feel too bad about being...

Personality Crisis: The Story of David Johansen

Issue 190Deep Dive

How does one capture the life of David Johansen, front man for the New York Dolls and later a solo artist? It's a massive feat best left to master storyteller...

Technics EAH-A800 Wireless Noise-Cancelling Hea...

Issue 190The Listening Chair

There’s a lot of competition in the $300 to $400 price range when it comes to audiophile, noise-cancelling, wireless headphones. However, when I received Technics’ EAH-A800 ($349, now available on...

The 2023 NAMM Show: Craftsmanship and Artistry

Issue 190Show Report

The National Association of Music Merchants or NAMM Show takes place annually in Anaheim, California at the Anaheim Convention Center, and is one of the largest music trade shows in...

Another AXPONA 2023 Show Report

Issue 190Show Report

Editor’s Note: You might have noticed that some of our show reports happen some time after the shows occur. This is because of a variety of factors – it takes...

Pushing Jazz and Funk Frontiers: An Interview w...

Issue 190Idle Chatter

How many jazz fans have we got out there? I've always felt jazz is best served in the fall and winter. But in this instance, spring works, too. There's something...

A Visit to Jean Hiraga and the Munich High End ...

Issue 190Show Report

Even though I have been meaning to attend HIGH END, the Munich high-end audio show, for a number of years, this is the first year I have managed to make...

Back to My Reel-to-Reel Roots, Part 31

Issue 190Natural Born Kessler

The Cassette is Back – Or is It? – An Investigation, Part Two It’s taking all I can muster not to be smug about the absurdity of the return of...

Loudspeaker Phenomena – The Result: A Gap

Issue 190Featured

Copper has an exchange program with FIDELITY magazine (and others), where we share articles, including this one, between publications.   A good hi-fi system reproduces an incredible amount of detail: a...

Boogie With Canned Heat: Thank You Henry

Issue 190Twisted Systems

The first time I walked into the Fillmore East (located in the heart of the seemingly dangerous newly-named neighborhood the East Village on Second Ave. and Sixth street) was on...

Talking With Dr. Sean Olive of Harman Internati...

Issue 190The Copper Interview

Dr. Sean Olive is a Senior Fellow, Acoustic Research, at Harman International. He has extensive expertise in the areas of perception and measurement of sound quality, particularly in headphones. Part...

Walking in Bisbee

Issue 190 Parting Shot

Won't you look down over me? Street scene, Bisbee, Arizona.

Reconsidering Conductor James Levine

Issue 190Featured

Great artists and thinkers are no stranger to controversy. Richard Wagner, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and Roald Dahl were all rabid anti-Semites. Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Norman Mailer – among others...

Maurice Ravel’s Piano and Chamber Works

Issue 190Something Old/Something New

Maurice Ravel (1875 – 1937) may be best known and loved for his nuanced understanding of orchestration, as demonstrated in the slow and thrilling buildup to the climax of Bolero....

Kurt Elling: Vocalese Virtuoso

Issue 190Trading Eights

Instead of going to music school, singer Kurt Elling earned a history degree from a small liberal arts college and then went to the University of Chicago Divinity School. As...

Audio Shelving

Issue 189Audio Anthropology

There's a reason we're fixated on classic McIntosh gear: the aesthetic is timeless. Here's a superb C26 preamplifier, introduced around the late 1960s.   Just look at those connectivity options!...

Paul Simon’s Seven Psalms: Matters of Life and ...

Issue 189Wayne's Words

The good news is that Paul Simon is still writing and singing about troubled waters. The bad news is that the waters are rising, and there is no longer any...

Table of Contents – Issue 189

Issue 189Opening Salvo

Copper’s Dan Schwartz was a true friend – the kind who told you what you needed to hear, not what you wanted to hear. Sadly, he left us on May...

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Remembering Copper’s Dan Schwartz: A Friendship...

Issue 189Frankly Speaking

I and his friends knew the day would come, but when it did, it was no less of a shock. Copper contributor, bassist extraordinaire and audiophile Dan Schwartz passed away...

Engaging and Enthralling Music for All: Talking...

Issue 189Featured

Dr. Sean Olive is a Senior Fellow, Acoustic Research, at Harman International. He has extensive expertise related to perception and measurement of sound quality, and oversees Harman’s corporate R&D acoustics...

David Heatley: What If… an Album Really Grabs You?

Issue 189Idle Chatter

I listen to a lot of music, both new and old. I listen in the car. I listen at home. I listen on vinyl, CD, cassette and digital files. So,...

The Kinks Begin a Retrospective Journey

Issue 189Frankly Speaking

I’m going to say this right up front: I consider the Kinks’ Ray Davies to be the greatest pop/rock songwriter of all time. Yep, I know I’m putting him at...

A Road Rally for Lemons: the 2023 Rocky Mountai...

Issue 189Featured

“Don’t die.” “Lemons Rally is not a race!” “Obey all traffic laws.” The rules of a Lemons Rally, a spinoff of the 24 Hours of Lemons racing series, are fairly...

Singer/Songwriter Parker Millsap Explores the W...

Issue 189Disciples of Sound

With all the attention given to the legacy of Elvis Presley over the last few years, it’s no surprise that some of that has spilled over to artists who in...

From SACD Bust to Native DSD Boom With the Topp...

Issue 189To Be Determined

In Issue 186, I told you about a device I’d gotten that was reported to allow an SACD player’s HDMI output to send a native DSD signal to your DAC....

Back to My Reel-to-Reel Roots, Part 30

Issue 189Natural Born Kessler

The Cassette is Back! Or is It? – An Investigation, Part One As is the wont of half-informed mainstream newspaper and lifestyle journalists – primarily when dealing with specialist subjects...

Modifying a Presto 1-D Cutter Head for Better P...

Issue 189Revolutions Per Minute

Presto 1-D and 1-C cutter heads are frequently encountered on our lab bench for repair and restoration. Some are just regular repairs to bring them back to original spec, others...

Linn Makes Majik

Issue 189From The Listening Chair

It’s never easy to photograph something that’s black and shiny. Linn’s Majik DSM streaming integrated amplifier with built-in digital-to-analog converter (from $4,185) is no exception to that rule. It’s a...

Desert Island Discs? Pfft! Here’s a Real Challe...

Issue 189Featured

I have to think that most our readers are familiar with the concept of “Desert Island Discs.” The premise is to make a list of albums (usually 10) that one...