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Wireless
Bluetooth. Wi-Fi. AirPlay. The world has gone wireless, and we audiophiles are understandably curious—and skeptical. Most wireless speakers we've all encountered—portable Bluetooth boxes, smart home devices, Sonos—sound nothing like high-fidelity...
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Heavy Lifting
Speakers are heavy, Sometimes really heavy. Why? Most of the weight in a well-built speaker comes from the cabinet itself—thick panels of MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard), HDF (High density same...
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Too revealing?
A doctor from Padua, Italy, reached out to ask whether our Aspen loudspeakers might be too revealing for his collection of vintage opera recordings from the 1950s and 60s. He...
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Too small?
One of the most common concerns I hear is, "My room is too small for real hi-fi." I understand the worry. We've all seen photos of dedicated listening rooms like...
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Dressing it up
There's a wonderful paradox at the heart of audio. Distortion is supposed to be the enemy—the thing we spend decades engineering out of our circuits—and yet some of the most...
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End goals
High-end audio has always been a long pursuit of a single idea: recreate the experience of live music in the home. Even from the earliest days where RCA's mascot canine,...
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The magnifying glass
People sometimes assume better equipment will automatically make every recording sound spectacular. I wish that were true, but it’s not how audio works. A playback system is ultimately a translator—it...
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A trip to the clinic
As long as we're reminiscing about the past.... How many of you remember the McIntosh Laboratories amplifier clinics? Owners were invited to bring their equipment—McIntosh or otherwise—and have it tested...
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Blown away
Yesterday I wrote about the old live-versus-recorded demonstrations where audiences struggled to tell which was which. Those shows captured the spirit of what the audio industry has always been chasing—the...
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Live?
There was a time when the biggest brag in high-end audio was proving that a recording could be indistinguishable from the real thing. Back in the early days of stereo,...
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Seaparates
The industry is steadily moving toward doing more in fewer boxes. Is that a good or bad thing? I am always watchful of trends and their sonic impacts. You? Integrated...
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Sweet spots
Widening the sweet spot always costs something. I understand the desire. No one wants the magic to disappear the moment they shift in their chair. The physics are straightforward. A...
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2 or 12?
Combining two-channel purity with home theater ambition is always a compromise, but not necessarily a bad one. Purists sometimes recoil at the idea, fearing sonic dilution. Yet for many music...
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I don't like beets
Active loudspeakers promise simplicity, but they also make choices for you. I love the elegance of an active system. One cord to the speaker, a signal cable from your source,...
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Narrowing the gap
Streaming has become the mainstay of modern listening, yet the humble CD (and the elegant vinyl) both still hold a quiet edge. I’m often asked if physical discs are dead,...
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A matter of taste?
In yesterday's Post I shared with you a great question about high-end audio trade shows: "While at the Florida Expo...I was honestly amazed at how many very high-dollar systems —...
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A pointed question
I received this question as an Ask Paul one but I thought it so on target and observant that it really needed to be more than just a video. Today,...
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Can't measure everything
Measurements tell us a great deal—they are essential to our design process—but they don’t tell us everything. As a designer, I rely on data. We all do. Frequency response, distortion...
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Luxury
A dedicated listening room is one of the greatest luxuries we audiophiles can have. Most of us share our systems with daily life. Living rooms double as family spaces. Furniture...
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A hard truth
There is no full-range system without a subwoofer. And it’s not because full-range speakers can’t produce bass. They absolutely can. Our Aspen series, for example, delivers deep, articulate low frequencies...
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