Copper


Waiting for the Black Cadillac

Issue 21MUSIC AUDIO AND OTHER ILLNESSES

Who knows what’s behind our taste? A record that I think persists in its genius (My Life In the Bush of Ghosts) you may find abstract and boring. And that’s...

Issue 23

Issue 23Opening Salvo

Happy New Year, and welcome to Copper #23, and 2017! As I look back at 2016...well, Popeye put it best: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h97kbv4mbsc   Really, what more is there to say? Right up to...

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Why Do We Do ...

Issue 22THE AUDIO CYNIC

Aside from the fact that it sounds like the chorus of an unreleased Sinatra flop,I think the title presents an interesting question. Why bother? What is it that drives people...

Where Did the Year Go?

Issue 21Opening Salvo

Welcome to Copper # 21! It's hard to believe that 2016 is almost over, and that we've been putting Copper together for nine months now. I'm not a Supremes fan by any stretch of...

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Roamin' in the Gloamin': John Hammond

Issue 21MUSIC TO MY EARS

John Hammond was born into wealth in 1910 to John Henry Hammond and Emily Vanderbilt Sloane.   Yeah.  Despite growing up in a five story mansion in New York, early on he...

Objective? Subjective? Who Cares? Part 2

Issue 22FEATURED

Part 2: Testing 1, 2, 3. Forget the stories and debates about “objective testing,” or its failings, that you read about in consumer magazines or hear about on audio internet...

Japanese Garden

Issue 22PARTING SHOT

While visiting HiFi shops in Japan we took a day off to enjoy the magnificent gardens high in the misty mountains. iPhone 6

Nashville Boots

Issue 21PARTING SHOT

Nashville's known for its music and colorful country attire too. iPhone 7

Subwoofery: The Finale

Issue 20FEATURED

Electronic Adjustments  Ok, now that we’ve accomplished the bassic (pun intended, sorry!) steps, we are on the home stretch.  These final steps require personal choice/taste as well as some technical adjustments. In...

Leon

AND OTHER ILLNESSESAUDIOIssue 20MUSIC

2016 has been a helluva year. You know: the list of musicians and music-related people who have passed, in any one year, would be too much; David Bowie, Paul Kantner, George Martin, Prince, all of...

Understanding the Analog Obsession

Issue 21FEATURED

“I don’t need no bike that don’t need me!” Harley Mike proclaimed. He was responding to a question asking why anyone would choose to ride a motorcycle that was so...

Do You Even DIY, Bro?

Issue 20FEATURED

Darren Myers’ Make It Yourself articles, run in Copper issues 15, 16, and 17, are among the most popular articles we’ve ever run. Unfortunately, projects take time to develop: plotting, postulating, obtaining parts, documenting the project, building...

Sacred Ground

Issue 20IN MY ROOM

This room is our masterpiece. A two-channel haven for playback of what we record at Sacred Grounds Studios in North Hollywood, California. Resolution was the main design parameter in our...

"Snakebit"

Issue 21THE AUDIO CYNIC

A few decades ago I went through the rough patch to top all rough patches. Injury? Chronic illness? Death in the family? Economic stress? Check, check, check, and check. They...

Growin' Up Together: Stevie Wonder

Issue 20MUSIC TO MY EARS

I remember vividly the first time I heard ‘Sir Duke’ from Songs in the Key of Life.  It was the fall of 1976 and I was driving across the bridge between...

Starter Kit

Issue 21TOO MUCH TCHAIKOVSKY

This column began as a Gift Guide kind of thing. You know: “here’s what to buy your classically oriented audiophile friend.” That got me thinking about my Aunt Frances. Beginning...

Weathers, Part 2

Issue 21VINTAGE WHINE

In the last issue , we discussed the initial appearance of the Weathers FM phono pickup. In an era of record-chewing cartridges that tracked at 6 grams or more, the...

Bad Manners

Issue 20TOO MUCH TCHAIKOVSKY

We were just sitting there, listening to music. My friend Bernard the Cellist had come to town and I couldn’t help showing off my system. Someone suggested we hear some...

Weathers

Issue 20VINTAGE WHINE

There are some brands whose influence extends far beyond their ownership base. When it comes to cars, I think of Alfa Romeo: nearly everyone has some sort of emotional connection...

Black Friday

Issue 20THE AUDIO CYNIC

I wondered when the term “Black Friday” came to mean the launch of the Christmas/Hanukkah selling season on the day after Thanksgiving. In my mind, “Black Friday” referred to the...

That Listening Thing

Issue 19FEATURED

I’ve been thinking lately about close listening, and the way it tends to be categorized as an “audiophile thing.” It conjures up images of someone in a darkened room, sitting...

Fretting About Fretboards

AND OTHER ILLNESSESAUDIOIssue 19MUSIC

CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, has made a large impact on a lot of industries, and it’s meant to. For one...

DeVore Fidelity

Issue 19MY TURN

Like many other audio companies, DeVore Fidelity began as a hobby. Designer/owner John DeVore graduated from RISD (the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence—alumni include Seth McFarlane, Marin Mull, Dale Chihuly, Nicole Miller...

Subwoofery: The Basics

Issue 19FEATURED

In Copper #18, we addressed the critical importance of getting the smoothest bass from our main (full-range speakers).  This step is foundational for properly integrating our subs to the main speakers....

Bluegrass In the Dark: Doc Watson

Issue 19MUSIC TO MY EARS

I have to tell you, blind musicians fascinate me.  Not because they obviously can play without looking.  I have been doing scales up and down various necks as long as...

Mass, Massive, Massless

Issue 19VINTAGE WHINE

I’m fascinated by materials, which I ascribe to a childhood obsession with spider webs: how could something that’s barely there, be so strong? In college I focused on materials science...

Vøringsfossen

Issue 20PARTING SHOT

Vøringsfossen is located at the top of Mårbødalen on the western slopes of Norway's Hardangervidda National Park. A blend of two exposures. "After having shot the base exposure I lifted...

Where Will We Go?

Issue 19THE AUDIO CYNIC

Gentrification. Some view it as imperialism incarnate, a way for big companies to force out long-established, historically-important businesses and create yet another outlet for their overpriced, overhyped goods. Cynics and...

…and the Hits Just Keep On Comin’…

Issue 20Opening Salvo

Welcome to Copper #20! I think this is a particularly interesting issue, and I'm happy to tell you that we have some surprises and new contributors lined up in the next few issues. The title above...

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Too Mean To Die

Issue 19Opening Salvo

Welcome  to Copper #19! Believe me, no one is more amazed that we're still doing this every two weeks than I am. After all, I was the recipient of the "Shortest Attention Span"...

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Hi-Fi from Finland

Issue 21IN MY ROOM

I started my career at a radio & TV repair shop, and I like to every now and then do some upgrading and restoration jobs.  This is my #1 setup, and...

Objective? Subjective? Who Cares?

Issue 21FEATURED

Part 1: Human Nature. We just don’t get no respect, us audio engineering types.   After all, we were the kids who founded audio clubs, spent our free time at whatever...

“CNC” Moving Magnet Cartridge Phono Stage

Issue 21MAKE IT YOURSELF

My friend Bill and I wanted a simple phono pre-amp for shop use, one that was not expensive but would give high end performance. I like the KISS principle and...

A Case of the Jitters

Issue 21QUIBBLES AND BITS

Let’s take our good old standby, the Red Book standard of CD Audio, where we sample using 16-bit data at a 44.1kHz sample rate.  This sample rate implies a series...

To Be or Not To Be Lossless

Issue 19QUIBBLES AND BITS

What does “lossless” mean in audio terminology?  It seems like a straightforward question, and you will undoubtedly have an answer at the ready that says something along the lines of...

Fifty Years After

Issue 20QUIBBLES AND BITS

Back in 2000, Dr. Michael Unser of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, published an interesting technical paper entitled “Sampling – 50 years after Shannon”.  In this paper...

Three New Choral Passions

Issue 19TOO MUCH TCHAIKOVSKY

Steinberg: Passion Week There once were two young Russian composers, Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) and Maximilian Steinberg ((1883–1946). They both studied in St. Petersburg with Rimsky-Korsakov, although Steinberg was the one...

I Did It Myself

Issue 19IN MY ROOM

This is my first purpose – built computer based system and a few years of reading and learning of new terms and technology was required. And the technology kept changing....

In My Dreams

Issue 18MUSIC AUDIO AND OTHER ILLNESSES

Sometime in 1995, Bill Bottrell called and wanted me to be on stand-by. He was supposed to meet someone whom he had been putting off, but just in case, he...

Welcome Back, My Friends...

Issue 18Opening Salvo

Anyone who has been around rock music at all knows that the phrase concludes, "..to the show that never ends." In real life, shows end, and their aftermath prompts both...

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Tape Heaven

Issue 18IN MY ROOM

That big shiny aluminum turntable is a Triangle Art Signature, with two Triangle Art 12″ Osiris tonearms and ALL the extras!!!  Cartridges are a Triangle Art Zeus with mods,and a...

Talking Direct

Issue 18FEATURED

Back in my pre-teen youth, I had an undying love for the brand Technics. My uncle owned a Technics cassette deck , the local hi-fi store seemed to stock nothing...

Subwoofery: ...

Issue 18FEATURED

The Listening Position: This series was implemented to assist music-loving audiophiles in gaining much more musical involvement with their systems that feature “full-range” loudspeakers.  As such, it is not about...

A Walk Around RMAF

Issue 18MY TURN

I've already written plenty about this year's RMAF, and the challenges the show faced and overcame. Time now to just leave you with a few images from the show, and...

The Once and Future Tweeter

Issue 18VINTAGE WHINE

Back in the day, I had many an asthma attack induced by musty old magazines purchased at yard sales and flea markets. I loved car magazines, hi-fi mags, and especially...

Giraffes and Whipped Cream: Frank Zappa

Issue 18MUSIC TO MY EARS

Two of my kids have a cat with decidedly uncatlike characteristics.  Having known a few cats in my time, the strangest thing about Jeter is the kids can take him...