Copper


In Memory of Tony Cordesman

Issue 204Frankly Speaking

Tony Cordesman was a friend to me, and to so many in the industry. He wasn’t just one of the finest audio reviewers ever; I think he’s one of the...

Table of Contents – Issue 204

Issue 204Opening Salvo

“Just because I wrote the song doesn’t mean I know what it means.” – Lou Reed In this issue: I talk with Steve Morris of Streamline HiFi, who hand builds...

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Erik Deutsch, Theo Bleckmann and Sly5thAve Delv...

Issue 204Octave Pitch

Reason by Erik Deutsch, Theo Bleckmann and Sly5thAve makes jazz, pop and avant-garde flavors into a compelling musical adventure. Recorded live at Dazzle, one of Boulder, Colorado’s premier performance venues,...

A Visit to the Warsaw Audio Video Show

Issue 204Natural Born Kessler

While Munich’s High-End Show still dominates the European hi-fi show circuit, the Audio Video Show in Warsaw, which took place from October 27th to 29th, 2023, is a serious rival....

Revisiting The Youngbloods' Elephant Mountain

Issue 204Twisted Systems

The Youngbloods – Elephant Mountain (RCA IMP6051) Released April 1969 by RCA RecordsRe-mastered 2023 by Kevin Gray at Cohearent AudioSourced from original master tapesPressed on 180-gram vinyl at Record Technology,...

Steve Conte and The Concrete Jangle: The Sound ...

Issue 204Disciples of Sound

There are certain artists who just define what a New York City rock song should sound like. These songs have attitude and grit, but find a way to sparkle and...

Making Time for Music

Issue 204Paul's Posts

In our fast-paced world, the simple act of taking some quality time to immerse oneself in music has increasingly become a rare luxury. Yet, it is within this very act...

Hitchhiking With Alice Cooper

Issue 204Copper Classics: True-Life Rock Tales

It was late 1968 when my friend, the late Barry Byrens, said to me, “Linc,” (he loved calling me that, because I looked like Linc in the TV show The Mod...

Behind the Scenes at Music’s Biggest Night: The...

Issue 204Show Report

The Crypto.com Arena (or the Staples Center, if you’re old school in downtown Los Angeles), is an imposing structure, appearing even more starkly colossal when devoid of Lakers, Clippers, or...

From Raffi to Dylan With My Grandson

Issue 204Wayne's Words

Steely Dan is Served with Mushed Yams For the last seven months I've been scheming how to shape my grandson Ezra's musical tastes. First, I'd like to say, when people...

The 2024 NAMM Show: A Very Big Event for Music ...

Issue 204Show Report

Last January 25-28, the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) gathered all types of music makers together for the 2024 NAMM Show at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. It featured all...

Streamline HiFi’s Steve Morris: Bringing Audio ...

Issue 204Frankly Speaking

For many of us, our first exposure to hi-fi was via our parents’ music systems, more often than not one of those big consoles that had a tuner, turntable, speakers...

Start Soon, Earn More!

Issue 204Audio Anthropology

    Fisher made 500 Series receivers, but who knew they made 500 Series tube radios also? This gorgeous specimen is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Gregory F. Maxwell.     What...

Winds of Change

Issue 204Parting Shot

This photo was taken on the way back to San Diego from the January 2024 NAMM show. These clouds were the first signs of the tempest soon to follow.

PS Audio in the News

Issue 204News and Reviews

A number of PS Audio products won 2024 Editors’ Choice Awards from The Absolute Sound. The products that received this accolade include the Stellar S300 stereo power amplifier, Stellar M1200 mono power...

How I Fell In Love With Korean TV Soundtracks

Issue 204Frankly Speaking

I’d been in something of a musical rut. I’d listen to friends’ musical recommendations and halfheartedly poke around for new music on streaming services, but nothing was really doing it...

Octave Records Releases Audiophile Masters Volu...

Issue 204Octave Pitch

Octave Records has released Audiophile Masters Volume IX, the latest in its series of reference-quality music-sampler recordings. This collection is focused on acoustic-based performances, ranging from the solo acoustic guitar...

In Praise of Live Music

Issue 204Featured

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...

Issue 203Featured

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...

The Unmeasurable Aspects of High-End Audio

Issue 203Paul's Place

In our world of high-end audio, we often find ourselves tangled in the web of specifications, measurements, and tangible data. As a self-admitted crazy audiophile and a 50-year veteran in...

Top Dog

Issue 203Copper Classics

Man has always competed to be Top Dog. In the days when caves were homes, the guy with the biggest club was Top Dog. As we became more civilized, the man...

PS Audio in the News

Issue 203News and Reviews

The DirectStream DAC MK2 received a 2023 Brutus Award from Dave and Carol Clark at Positive Feedback. In the review Dave noted: “The DirectStream DAC MK2 is a major improvement...

All Dolled Up

Issue 203Audio Anthropology

  What the...? This is a homemade "Sleepy Time Bed Radio" found at a meet sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Antique Radio Club (MAARC) about 20 years ago. He dreams of vacuum...

Handel’s Messiah

Issue 203Music'al Notes

My wife and I have a subscription to the New York Philharmonic. I love the place where they play, now named the David Geffen Hall, because they have finally (after...

VAC’s Statement 452iQ Musicbloc Power Amplifier

Issue 203From The LIstening Chair

I don’t have a photography studio and it likely shows. Still, I don’t like taking what I consider to be serious photos of audio gear in the field. Instead, I...

Born to be Wild

Issue 203Parting Shot

A smiling member of the Leporidae family greets visitors to Gold Ridge Organic Farms in Sebastopol, California.

The girl genius of boygenius

Issue 203Wayne's Words

My interest in boygenius had already been piqued when one of my students came to class one morning with a T-shirt from a concert she had seen over the weekend....

Billy Joel Exhibit Debuts at the Long Island Mu...

Issue 203Frankly Speaking

Billy Joel is one of Long Island’s greatest musical heroes, along with the likes of Louis Armstrong, Barbra Streisand, Carole King, Clive Davis, Perry Como, EPMD, Tony Bennett, and Mariah...

Creating a Musical World With the Slambovian Ci...

Issue 203Frankly Speaking

I first heard about the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, aka the Slambovians, a few years ago, from the guys and gal in the band I’m in. They were raving about...

Table of Contents – Issue 203

Issue 203Opening Salvo

Tony Cordesman was a great friend to those of us at PS Audio and to so many in the industry, and we deeply mourn his passing on January 29 at...

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Magnepan’s Jim Winey: In Memoriam

Issue 203Frankly Speaking

I heard the news on January 16 – Jim Winey, the founder of Magnepan, maker of Magneplanar loudspeakers, had passed away at age 89. As I’m sure so many in...

Jean Sibelius: The Seven Symphonies

Issue 203Sitting In

Copper has an exchange program with AAA (Analogue Audio Association) magazine of Switzerland (and other publications), where we share articles, including this one.   The composer Sibelius (1865 – 1857) has given his...

Terry Adams of NRBQ Reissues Terrible: An Album...

Issue 203Disciples of Sound

It took NRBQ keyboardist and founding member Terry Adams over 30 years to release his first solo album. After completing work on the Robert Altman film Short Cuts, he was...

Folk and Soul Meet Bluegrass: Octave Records Re...

Issue 203Octave Pitch

Octave Records offers something refreshingly different with the release of Sturtz: Live at Roots Music Project, an acoustic quartet that blends folk, soul, bluegrass and Americana into a unique sound...

Octave Records Releases Live at Nocturne II by ...

Issue 203Octave Pitch

Octave Records has released Live at Nocturne II by the Tom Amend Trio, capturing the band in stunning DSD 256 high-resolution audio at the legendary Denver, Colorado jazz club. The...

Vampire Hunting: What Is Running Up Our Energy ...

Issue 203Featured

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...

Another Look at Capital Audiofest 2023

Issue 203Show Report

I was trying to think about the first audio show I attended. I couldn’t remember. Part of the reason for that was that because when I was young, there weren’t...

Table of Contents – Issue 202

Issue 202Opening Salvo

Happy New Year everyone, from all of us! Copper contributor Howard Kneller, founder of The Listening Chair, has launched a new Facebook group. As he notes, “This group is a...

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2023: My Year in Music

Issue 202Featured

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...

Rhino High Fidelity: A Vinyl Series to be Recko...

Issue 202Frankly Speaking

In 2023, record label Rhino launched its Rhino High Fidelity series, dedicated to releasing high-quality vinyl reissues of classic Warner Music album titles. As Rhino notes, all the album lacquers...

A Visit to the Paris Audio Video Show

Issue 202Natural Born Kessler

“We'll always have Paris...” Ken Kessler dons a trench coat and fedora to retrace Bogie’s footsteps with a visit to the Paris Audio Video Show. It’s been six years since...

The Rumble: Keeping the Funk Going, New Orleans...

Issue 202Disciples of Sound

In case you missed it, funk is back and may be poised to be even stronger than it was in the 1970s. Ignited by a connection to the jam band...

The Folk/Rock Artistry of Dan Fogelberg

Issue 202Copper Classics: Off the Charts

There was a time when Dan Fogelberg’s albums sold like crazy, but a lot of people made fun of his sappy sound. The fact is, he churned out a lot...

Sublime Moments

Issue 202Copper Classics: Featured

I was cutting into a mango last night – it was a small variety known as Champagne, one that I have been smitten by for years. Its curvy shape can...

Capital Audiofest 2023: A Show Grows in Maryland

Issue 202Show Report

The most recent Capital Audiofest took place where it has for the past few years, at the Hilton Rockville in Rockville, Maryland. It’s grown from a casual affair in 2010...

The waVox Museum – A Monument to Willi Studer a...

Issue 202Featured

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...

Stenheim Unveils a New Speaker at New York’s Fa...

Issue 202Frankly Speaking

I first became aware of Switzerland’s Stenheim loudspeakers at the 2019 New York Audio Show, where their Alumine Three loudspeakers impressed me, as much for their understated elegance and obvious...