Stereophile

Recently, I found myself in an email correspondence with David Chesky, the musician/composer/entrepreneur behind Chesky Records and HDtracks, which was the world’s first hi-rez music-download service. With his brother Norman, David has long run those businesses while engaging with his art. At the time of our correspondence, he was on tour with his jazz trio and busy “writing operas and children’s works to keep me out of trouble,” as he wrote in an email. Brother Norman, surely, has had much to do with the success of the Chesky ventures—I do not mean to give him short shrift—but it was David I was communicating with, so he is the focus here. Here’s some news I’d missed: Chesky Records was sold last year, to “a Chinese company,” David told me. “My brother…

Defending power pop I must take umbrage at the comment of Brian Damkroger in Records to Live For 2025 (February issue, p.102) that ’70s and ’80s power pop albums were all two great tracks surrounded by filler. While many fit that description—which describes a lot of rock and pop albums of any era—the best power pop albums were vital first note to last. The 1970s saw Shoes’ Present Tense, 20/20 & The Beat’s self-titled releases, and Flamin’ Groovies’ Shake Some Action, while the 1980s saw Marshall Crenshaw and the Plimsouls’ self-titled releases plus The Spongetones’ Beat Music, Tommy Keene’s Songs from the Film, and The Smithereens’ Especially for You. If you think these albums have only two good tracks, take another listen. You’ll thank me. Rich Horton River Falls, Wisconsin…

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH KRELL? Jason Victor Serinus and Jim Austin In the February issue, Stereophile tentatively predicted the immenent reopening of Krell Industries, the legendary high-end amplifier manufacturer. It didn’t happen, and it still hadn’t happened as this issue went to press. It now appears that two parties are competing to reopen Krell. To recap: On June 18, 2024, Krell Industries closed following the unexpected death of owner and CEO Rondi D’Agostino. An early announcement indicated that the closing would be brief, but Krell has been in limbo ever since. In an interview in late January, Wil Buhler of self-described “family holdings company” JF Bicking & Co. told Stereophile that the long-awaited reopening was within reach. Others disputed his claim, though not publicly. What is JF Bicking’s relevance to…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: We have a page on the Stereophile website devoted to you: stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, email Chris Vogel at vgl@cfl.rr.com. CALIFORNIA ◼ Saturday, April 19, 2–5pm: The Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society will hold its monthly meeting at Sunny’s Audio Video in Covina, California (1370 E. Cypress St., Suite D). Our host, Sunil Merchant, his staff, and industry representatives will audition the CH Precision 1 Series and 10 Series components. Speakers will include the Rockport Technologies Atria II and new Lynx speakers as well as the Stenheim Reference Ultime Two. Source components will include the Acoustical Systems A*STELLAR turntable with Archon MC cartridge, and the Wadax Atlantis Reference DAC and Reference Server. A raffle is…

I think I just found the perfect Herb speaker. It uses a hand-crafted 5" wide-range driver with a cone made from Japanese calligraphy paper. It rolls off around 50Hz at the bottom and 30kHz at the top. It has no crossover. Its cabinet is made of MDF that responds loudly when I tap it with my fingernails. Inside is what its designer calls a “short horn,” which appears to harmlessly disperse back-cone energy while adding energy below the driver’s cutoff frequency. Mainly, though, it’s a perfect Herb speaker because it is naturally phase coherent. And sparkplug fast. And completely unmuffled. This speaker I’m describing is Voxativ’s new Hagen2 Monitor. To say it is a “Herb speaker” is to distinguish it from a John, Jason, or Kal speaker, or even a Ken…

“Paul Klipsch was a genius,” Roy Delgado told me recently, with the sound of genuine amazement in his voice. “Me, I’m just a tinkerer.” I’ve spoken to Delgado, Klipsch’s chief audio engineer, a handful of times over the past few years and find him affable, plainspoken, and almost absurdly humble. His LinkedIn page describes him simply as “engineer at Klipsch.” His bio on the Klipsch Museum website lists his interests as “a closer relationship with God [and] the pursuit of the ever-elusive largemouth bass.” To be sure, Delgado holds several patents, has an intimidating grasp of loudspeaker design, and is anything but a tinkerer. But it was still weird to see him—dressed in the T-shirt, light jeans, and work boots of an Arkansas fishing enthusiast—at the Nine Orchard Hotel during…