Copper


The Evolution of the Loudspeaker: From Horns to...

Issue 208Paul's Placeweb-2517

Loudspeakers have come a long way since their inception. From the early days of horn speakers (and yes, there are still horn speakers in use today, but this is a...

T.H.E. Show 2024: 28 Years of High-End Audio…an...

Issue 208Show Report

When I first attended a T.H.E. Show in Las Vegas, it was the 5th anniversary of this event. Their June 2024 show in Costa Mesa was their 28th. Time flies....

Octave Records Releases The Art of Hi-Fi, Volum...

Issue 208Octave Pitch

Woodwinds are among the most beautiful and expressive musical instruments, and The Art of Hi-Fi Volume 05: Woodwinds from PS Audio’s Octave Records features a variety of woodwinds and musical...

How To Play in a Rock Band, Part One: Introduction

Issue 208Frankly Speaking

Along with being a writer, editor, and audio person, I’ve been a musician for 56 years. I’ve been playing in bands for almost all that time, beginning with a backyard...

Dare to be Different: The Story of WLIR-FM and ...

Issue 208Frankly Speaking

WLIR-FM (the LIR stands for Long Island Radio) made a revolutionary move when it switched from rock to a new wave format in 1982. By the late 1970s, radio rock...

Lou Reed, Covered and Recovered

Issue 208Wayne's Words

Keith, Mary Gauthier, Rosanne Cash, and Joan Jett Lead the Pack The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed, had me with its opening track: Keith Richards' version...

Copper’s Alón Sagee: In Memoriam

Issue 208Frankly Speaking

I was stunned to learn of the passing of Alón Sagee on June 9, 2024 after a long illness. Alón was a Copper contributor, president of the San Francisco Audiophile...

The Vinyl Beat

Issue 208The Vinyl Beat

The Vinyl Beat is a new column that will dig up notable vinyl nuggets, past and present. It will be mostly new arrivals that I buy throughout my travels –...

Table of Contents – Issue 208

Issue 208Opening Salvo

We are saddened to learn of the passing of Alón Sagee, Copper contributor and president of the San Francisco Audiophile Society. While I never had the opportunity to meet him...

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The Many Faces of NAMM 2024

Issue 208Show Report

The NAMM Show is one of those events that is so much fun, educational, hip, and cool, that it’s hard to argue that attending it is work. Back from COVID...

Sonus faber’s Omnia Wireless Speaker is More El...

Issue 208From The Listening Chair

There are quite a number of manufacturers that produce gorgeous speaker cabinets. That said, I personally believe that there are at least two manufacturers, France’s Triangle Hi-Fi and Italy’s Sonus...

Test Records and Demo Discs, Part Four

Issue 208Audio Anthropology

In the days before digital music, the primary medium for sound reproduction was vinyl records. Sure, there were some who preferred reel-to-reel tapes, but they were in the minority. The...

Indie Power Pop Group the dB’s Return!

Issue 208Disciples of Sound

In the press run-up to the band’s induction into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in June 2024, R.E.M. made regular mention of the impact that the eclectic indie power pop...

Why Does Music Move Us?

Issue 208Featured

  Copper has an exchange program with FIDELITY magazine (and others), where we share articles, including this one, between publications.   Five Answers to an Eternal Question We’re all familiar with this: music...

PS Audio in the News

Issue 208PS Audio in the News

Audiophilia has a highly positive review of the AirLens streamer. In the review, Juan C. Ayllon notes, “As with every audio component I’ve received from PS Audio, the shipping, and...

70 Years of the Fender Stratocaster: A Guitar W...

Issue 208Featured

As conservative as Eric Clapton's playing might be for some, the electric guitar he preferred is timelessly versatile. That’s because the Fender Stratocaster was full of innovations when it was...

Tasty Tweak

Issue 208Audio Static

    This cartoon originally appeared in Issue 150.

Back to My Reel-to-Reel Roots, Part Seven: Tape...

Issue 208Copper Classics / Natural Born Kessler

If you’re a studio denizen or a seasoned open-reel tape user, please skip this interlude before I resume discussions about the current state of acquiring pre-recorded tapes. You will find...

Console Magic

Issue 208Audio Anthropology

  "Calling occupants of interplanetary craft!" Actually, we have no idea what these guys are doing, but it looks intense. From Audio Engineering, July 1950.      This is why...

I Was There

Issue 208Parting Shot

"I look into the pastI want to make it lastI was thereI was there" Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day rocking the CES 2024 Harman event, Las Vegas, Nevada, January...

Table of Contents – Issue 206

Issue 206Opening Salvo

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” – Albert Einstein In this issue: We have two AXPONA 2024 show reports, from Rudy Radelic and AXPONA coverage from myself, and...

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Chickens, Eggs, Sources, and Outputs

Issue 207Paul's Place

In our world of high-end audio, there's a perennial debate that rivals the age-old question of the chicken and the egg: what's more important, the source or the loudspeaker? This...

AXPONA 2024, Part Two: Audio in Abundance

Issue 207Show Report

As I noted in Part One of my show report (Issue 206), AXPONA 2024 has grown to be a comprehensive, well-attended, sprawling audio gear fest featuring a who’s who of...

One Bob Dylan Song: He's 83; Can You Choose Jus...

Issue 207Wayne's Words

It's Bob Dylan's 83rd birthday [as of May 24]. I'm sure someone on social media is posting 83 favorite Bob Dylan songs in honor of the occasion. It's not hard...

David Sanborn: Remembering a Unique Voice on th...

Issue 207Featured

There are a handful of musicians in the music industry you’d swear have played on everything. Saxophonist David Sanborn was one of those musicians. His distinctive tone and style on...

Octave Records Has Great Music and Sound Covere...

Issue 207Octave Pitch

Octave Records has released Audiophile Masters, Volume X, the latest in its series of reference-quality demonstration recordings. This time the collection features cover versions of songs written by John Lennon,...

Sviatoslav Richter: Legendary Classical Pianist

Issue 207Featured

Copper has an exchange program with AAA (Analogue Audio Association) magazine of Switzerland (and other publications), where we share articles, including this one. The Swiss author Ernst Müller is a...

The 2024 La Jolla Concours d’Elegance: A Stunni...

Issue 207Featured

It was a dark and stormy night, the kind of night that tests men’s souls, the mettle of their courage, and the strength of their convictions. Well, maybe that’s an...

Table of Contents – Issue 207

Issue 207Opening Salvoweb-2517

“A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians.” – Frank Zappa In this issue: What if...

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Back to My Reel-to-Reel Roots, Part Six: Rock O...

Issue 207Copper Classics / Natural Born Kessler

The Beatles represent a key element of the rock-music-on-reel-to-reel saga, and not just because they’re the reason I’m now an open-reel fetishist. Bear with me. Repeatedly, I have noted and bemoaned...

Maybe the Last Copper CES 2024 Show Report?

Issue 207Show Report

So, you’re probably wondering, um, wasn’t CES back in January, and here it is five months later, so what’s with the delay with this article? It’s a reasonable question, but...

Audio Group Denmark Brings Some Lower-Priced Au...

Issue 207From The Listening Chair

It was 2020 when Audio Group Denmark hit the scene as the steward of three then-existing high-end brands. Børresen Acoustics featured speakers, Aavik Acoustics offered electronic components, and Ansuz Acoustics...

PS Audio in the News – Issue 207

Issue 207PS Audio in the Newsweb-2517

Positive Feedback published a highly positive, extensive, in-depth review of the Aspen FR10 loudspeaker, and interviewed designer Chris Brunhaver. Reviewer Juan C. Ayllon said: “Voices were rich and natural, acoustic...

Chris Berardo Lets it Rock With Wilder all the ...

Issue 207Disciples of Sound

Chances are that if you saw the Doobie Brothers, The Marshall Tucker Band, Dickey Betts & Great Southern, or America in the last 30 years, you saw Chris Berardo open...

Test Records and Demo Discs, Part Three

Issue 207Audio Anthropology

In the days before digital music, the primary medium for sound reproduction was vinyl records. Sure, there were some who preferred reel-to-reel tapes, but they were in the minority. The...

Is Class D Amplification Now Better Than Class ...

Issue 207Featured

  Copper has an exchange program with PMA Magazine (and others), where we share articles, including this one, between publications.   A couple of years ago, a designer of high-end tube equipment...

Catching Up With The Immediate Family (the Band...

Issue 207Disciples of Sound

Since we last Zoomed with them for an interview and article (in Issue 142, July 2021) , The Immediate Family has been busier than ever. A documentary on the band...

Musings About the 45-RPM Single

Issue 207Featured

Delving into the psyche of one collector’s reflection of amassing such an assemblage of records that rarely get played It takes a special crate-digging mood to go through a haphazard...

The Other Folk Singers, Part Two

Issue 207Featured

I belong to a listening group that gets together to socialize and listen to music. We meet in each of our homes on a rotating basis. The host provides the...

Getting to the Point-to-Point

Issue 207Audio Anthropology

  Glass behind glass: here's a guy testing kenotron rectifier tubes the old-fashioned way. From Radio Craft, May 1947.     Now that's what we call point-to-point wiring! Here's a...

Birdsong

Issue 207

    This cartoon originally appeared in Issue 147.

Delightful

Issue 207Parting Shot

Each winter, the Oakland (California) Zoo presents “Glowfari,” a large-scale installation of hundreds of lantern animals and plants that covers most of the grounds. Most of the lanterns are larger...

Octave Records Releases the Newest in The Art o...

Issue 206Octave Pitch

There’s something elemental and captivating about the sound of stringed instruments, and The Art of Hi-Fi Volume 04: Strings from PS Audio’s Octave Records showcases them to spellbinding effect, in...

AXPONA 2024: A Really Big (Audio) Show, Part One

Issue 206Show Report

AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) has become the biggest audio show in the United States. The 2024 show featured more than 200 exhibit rooms with over 600 exhibitors and brands....

One Size Doesn’t Fit All, Part Two: Microphones...

Issue 206Paul's Placeweb-2517

After our brief examination in Issue 205 of the recording chain front end – the microphone – it's good not to forget what follows the microphone. In the same way...

Making Speakers Smaller and Better With MEMS Te...

Issue 206Speaker Builder

Sonic Edge is a company that specializes in MEMS miniature speaker technology. MEMS (for micro-electromechanical systems) speakers employ drivers that are fabricated on silicon chips, which can be made to...

CanJam NYC 2024, Part Two: A Harvest of High-Pe...

Issue 206Show Report

In Part One of our CanJam NYC 2024 report (Issue 205), I noted that the show was vibrant and upbeat, and more diverse than ever both in terms of the...

Little Feat Keeps On Rolling With Their Upcomin...

Issue 206Disciples of Sound

Little Feat has always been a “musicians’ musicians” band. Across a more than 50-year history, they have mixed masterful musicianship with a blend of music that is impossible to define....

Another 2024 AXPONA Report: Shattered Goals and...

Issue 206Show Report

Let’s admit this right up front: AXPONA is a ginormous, mahoosive audio show. Some of us simultaneously look forward to the event as much as we dread it. My weary...

The Music of Multitudes: Some Favorite Performa...

Issue 206Wayne's Words

Part One of this two-part series, "Folk Music Really is International," appeared in Issue 205.   With 162 official showcase performances and 639 different private showcase artists at Folk Alliance Interational...