Copper


U2: Dublin Rockers

Issue 155Off the Charts

Four teens at a Dublin high school, fans of the Sex Pistols and the Clash, wanted to play music themselves. In 1976, these boys – Paul Hewson, David Evans, Adam...

Never to be Forgotten

Issue 155Opening Salvo

It is with great sadness that we report the loss of two of the industry’s most knowledgeable and most well-loved people. Robert Heiblim (69) was an expert in product development...

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What Music Do You Play to Show Off Your System?...

Issue 155To Be Determined

Courtesy of Tom Gibbs. In the last issue of Copper, I highlighted some of the many tunes I listen to for both pleasure and for equipment evaluation (see my article in Issue...

On Our Radar

Issue 154Audio Anthropology

Quad ESL-57 electrostatic loudspeaker. it's missing its stands, but otherwise intact. One of the all-time greatest loudspeakers ever created; some would say, the greatest. ESL-57, rear view. From The Audio...

Issue 154

Issue 154Opening Salvo

The audio world has lost another legend with the passing of Max Townshend at 78. Born in Perth, Australia, he was the head of UK-based Townshend Audio and designer of a wide...

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CES 2022 Show Report, Part One

Issue 154Show Report

Returning as a live show after being held as an all-virtual event in 2021, the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) took place from January 5th through 8th, 2022 in Las...

Trawling Through the Neil Young Archives

Issue 154Wayne's Words

The Neil Young Archives (NYA) has a URL, https://neilyoungarchives.com/, but to call it a website is a severe understatement. It is a museum of audio, video, film, and more, that amounts...

Audio Plans for the New Year

Issue 154Featured

A new year always brings New Year’s resolutions, and it’s no different for audiophiles. Here are the 10 I’m going to try to stick to: Have Pass Labs install a...

Octave Records Releases Audiophile Masters, Vol...

Issue 154Octave Pitch

Octave Records has released Audiophile Masters, Volume III, the third in its series of reference-quality music sampler albums. Available as a stereo SACD in a limited edition of 1,000, and as a download...

Choosing New Speakers: How Loud Will They Go?

Issue 154Speaker Stories

In our previous installment (Part Three, Issue 153) we determined that a truly adequate amount of clean power is advantageous in handling peak volume levels in our music, because this...

Ohm’s Law

Issue 154Featured

In Issue 151 (“Shop Class”), I made a note to remember Ohm’s law and that we would come back to it later. There’s been so much national press coverage on this issue...

Eddie Berman: Broken English Puts it All Together

Issue 154Disciples of Sound

When Van Morrison released Veedon Fleece in 1974 he introduced the world to something quite new. Fresh off his divorce from first wife Janet Rigsbee and onto a new relationship with fiancé...

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

Issue 154Natural 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...

What Music Do You Play to Show Off Your System?

Issue 154To Be Determined

On NewYear’s Day, my daughter and her family came over to help ring in the new year. A couple of days earlier, my son-in-law had called and asked me if...

Green Transportation

Issue 154Parting Shot

Owned by B. Jan Montana, this 1992 BMW R100R motorcycle sports a custom "John Deere Green" paint job. As he puts it, "In its stock black and grey livery, the...

Tour Happenings

Issue 154True-Life Rock Tales

Landing in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was a curious relief. It had been a weird, stressful day of flying. Our initial flight to St. Louis had been delayed, and subsequently, it...

The Spreckels Organ: A Historic Musical Treasur...

Issue 154Frankly Speaking

The Spreckels Organ is a remarkable musical instrument: it is the world’s largest pipe organ in an outdoor venue. It was built in 1914 in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, commissioned by...

Around the World in 80 Lathes, Part Four

Issue 154Revolutions Per Minute

In previous installments (Issue 151, Issue 152 and Issue 153), J.I. Agnew presented a historical overview of record-cutting lathes, and looked at some models from Neumann.)   The Neumann VMS-80 lathe at Townsend Mastering, Orange...

AES Show Fall 2021, Part Four

Issue 154Show Report

In the fourth quarter of 2021, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) held its annual fall show online. The show’s seminars and interviews were recorded for on-demand viewing, so once again...

The Goldilocks Chronicles

Issue 154The Mindful Melophile

Streaming has become the most popular audio format. It’s convenient. It’s easy. You can move immediately from one recording to another. But Gilad Edelman, in a recent article for Wired magazine, makes...

Deep Cleaning: The SweetVinyl SugarCube SC-1 Plus

Issue 154FROM THE SWEET SPOT

Ever since there have been records, there have been pops and clicks. There are plenty of clean, high-quality records out there, both new and used, that play cleanly – while...

Carl Maria von Weber: 200 Years of Der Freischütz

Issue 154Something Old / Something New

The year 2021 marked the 200th anniversary of Carl Maria von Weber’s opera Der Freischütz. Several recordings acknowledged the benchmark, while others focused on Weber’s significant output of instrumental music. Weber, born...

Pilgrimage to Sturgis, Part 12

Issue 154New Vistas

Judging by the row of trees, I knew we were getting near the river. We turned left into a dusty parking lot. A tired Airstream trailer was parked near the...

Mary Wells: Motown Originator

Issue 154Off the Charts

It’s hard to imagine, but there was once a time when the Motown sound did not yet exist. Thanks to the expressive, blues- and gospel-influenced singing of people like Mary...

The Audiophile’s Cat

Issue 153Featured

A few days ago, Hobbes, our creamsicle-colored fur-ball of 12 years was eaten by a hungry coyote. I’m trying my best not to be angry at the coyote (bastard!) that...

Elvin Jones: Hall of Fame Drummer

Issue 153Trading Eights

There must have been some great music at home when drummer Elvin Jones was growing up in Pontiac, Michigan. He and his brothers, trumpeter Thad and pianist Hank, all turned...

A Tale of Two Different Systems

Issue 153Featured

I was recently asked by two friends (independently of one another) to help them build their new audio systems. Other than replacing my phono cartridge with another of the same...

Fun With YouTube

Issue 153Featured

YouTube is an amazing place. You can see stuff there that you never imagined. You can also spend the rest of your life chasing videos that come up as suggestions...

Bobbie Gentry: Enjoying Fame…and Solitude

Issue 153Off the Charts

Born in 1942 as Roberta Streeter, country singer Bobbie Gentry was raised by her father and grandparents in rural Mississippi. She wrote her first song, about the family dog, when...

Pilgrimage to Sturgis. Part 11

Issue 153New Vistas

Melody was at my cabin door at 7 am just like the morning before. We enjoyed another great breakfast with her parents and their guests at the trout fishing lodge....

Choosing New Speakers: Power-Handling Considera...

Issue 153Speaker Stories

In Part Two of this series (Issue 149), we examined the reality that accurate speaker sensitivity ratings have a direct bearing on how suitable the ratings may be when considering varying room...

Reeling 'Em In

Issue 153Audio Anthropology

Simple design, good sound: A Dynaco Mark III mono power amplifier, in Dynakit kit version. Introduced in 1957, Dynaco was known to some as the "poor man's Mcintosh." Rear and...

Vinyls

Issue 153Featured

To the tune of “Royals” by Lorde I’ve never seen a diamond except on a stylusI cut my teeth on Discwasher and ZerostatAnd I’m not proud of my streaming DACIn...

Octave Records Releases The Moon Leans In by S...

Issue 153Octave Pitch

Octave Records’ newest release is The Moon Leans In by singer/songwriter/guitarist Thom LaFond. The album offers a broad range of moods and styles, from stripped-down acoustic instrument-based songs to upbeat,...

Around the World in 80 Lathes, Part Three

Issue 153Revolutions Per Minute

In previous installments (Issue 151 and Issue 152), J.I. Agnew presented a historical overview of record-cutting lathes, and looked at some models from Neumann.)   The suspension unit of the...

AES Show Fall 2021 Highlights, Part Three

Issue 153Show Report

In the fourth quarter of 2021, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) held its annual fall show online in October, because of the pandemic still being in effect. The show seminars...

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

Issue 153Natural Born Kessler

After the last issue’s epic coverage of the Beatles’ Get Back film, and my diatribe about the British mono open-reel tapes, you may have overdosed on the Fab Four. Please allow me...

Welcome to the Pleasure Dome

Issue 153Parting Shot

This streamlined dome lounge car was built for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. They were known as "Pleasure Domes," named for the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem "Kubla Khan."...

Issue 153

Issue 153Opening Salvo

Happy New Year! I have a perhaps selfish New Year’s wish – that 2022 will be an easier year. The Grammy Awards are coming up on January 31, 2022. But if it wasn't for...

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Marshall Crenshaw: Songwriting Mastery Revisite...

Issue 153Disciples of Sound

Marshall Crenshaw’s career began in perhaps the most poetic of fashion – he played John Lennon in the Broadway musical Beatlemania. From there his career was propelled with a steady stream of...

Improving Digital Streaming with a Gigabit Ethe...

Issue 153To Be Determined

I’ve been involved in digital music streaming for around eight or nine years now, but have only truly taken a really deep dive in the last few years. Recently, I’ve...

Burt Bacharach: The Post-Hal David Years

Issue 153FROM THE SWEET SPOT

The Burt Bacharach and Hal David songwriting team was one for history! However, they had a falling out in the mid-1970s, and then Bacharach worked with other lyricists. While his...

Top Tracks of 2021

Issue 153Be Here Now

It’s been a wonderful year for new music, and my favorites of 2021 are listed below. You can find them all on my Spotify playlist Be Here Now, which I regularly update with...

The Dirty Weekend is Over

Issue 153Speaker Stories

I never considered it my place to push or review products. Any component I’ve ever talked about has been in the vein of, “Hey, it works for me; maybe you’ll...

Pilgrimage to Sturgis, Part 10

Issue 152New Vistas

The first installments of this series appeared in Issues 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149.150 and 151 – Ed.] Melody was on summer break from her nursing studies at the University of South Dakota. She wanted to be an operating...

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

Issue 152Natural Born Kessler

Previous installments in this series appeared in Issues 146, 148, 149 and 151. I feel like a rabbi talking a non-Jew out of converting to Judaism. It’s incumbent on him or her to try to...