NJAS Wall Posting

NJAS Member Wall Postings and Comments

presented by Dr. Robert Butts, the conductor of the Baroque Orchestra of NJ
I received the following invitation from Stephanie.Kip@parsippanylibrary.org

Hello,

I am a Reference Librarian at Parsippany Public Library and found your name on the internet. ". Our library is sponsoring a "Live Well, Age Smart" series (for retirees and other folks available in the afternoon), that features a four part program on "Four Decades of American Music: 1920-1960". You may be familiar with the acclaimed presenter, Dr. Robert Butts, the conductor of the Baroque Orchestra of NJ and college professor.

Because this program is geared to music lovers, I am hoping you can disseminate the information below to members of the NJ Audio Society.

Thank you so much and I hope to see you at this event!

Best regards,
Stephanie Kip, Reference Librarian
Parsippany Public Library
#973-271-5549

This is your opportunity to learn about the history and sounds of music in both new and familiar eras.
The presenter is the highly acclaimed Dr. Robert Butts , a professor, composer, and conductor of the Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey.

The programs are held at the Parsippany Public Library, 449 Halsey Road, Parsippany on Fridays, from 1-2:30 PM.
April 17, 2015 The 1920's (Kern, Copland, Weil, Armstrong, and Jolson)
April 24, 2015 The 1930's (Rogers, Hart, Porter, Fitzgerald, Holiday, Big Swing)
May 1, 2015 The 1940's (Berlin, Bernstein, Sinatra, Rogers & Hammerstein)
May 8, 2015 The 1950's (Martin, Cline, Cash, Lerner and Loewe, Berry, Presley)

Please preregister by April 15, 2015 (or call #973-887-5150 ext. 109 for a registration form) at the reference desk at any library location. There is a $25 inclusive tuition fee for all four programs. Please make your check payable to "Parsippany Public Library Foundation".

$1000 for an LP?
Comments:
§ In Wired could mean audio is returning to the cool zone.
⤷ posted Mar 6, 2015

The NY chapter is worth a look.
ARSC New York

...before I send an email to everyone...
One of the 6.5" coaxial speakers in my car sounded like the foam surround was disintegrating, as they are known to do. I ordered a NOS replacement (this is a McIntosh branded OEM Clarion speaker in my Subaru Outback VDC with McIntosh audio), figuring I would send in the old one for repair and keep it as a spare.

Upon examining the faulty speaker, the foam surround appears completely in tact. What has happened, though, is that the foam surround has partially separated from the speaker cone itself, with the resulting distortions and noises I was hearing.

I was going to send it in for repair, but then it occured to me that even I, who has no aptitude for DIY'ing or repairs, might be able to apply some adhesive and repair this speaker.

So, I am appealing to all the NJAS DIY'ers for suggestions. Should I do this myself? If so, what sort of adhesive should I use, and where can I purchase such a thing? Also, any tips to make this repair idiot-proof would also be appreciated.

On the other hand, if you think I should still send it in for professional repair (~$35 plus round trip shipping), let me know.

I will monitor this post for comments.

Thanks in advance!
Comments:
§ Phil, this is usually a sign the surround needs replacing, so gluing it back on probably will only work for a short while.
⤷ posted Feb 25, 2015 by JimOfAllTrades
§ I have used emblem cement successfully in the past on speakers. It's a clear aromatic goop available at most auto parts supplies. Similar to what used to be available at hobby stores.(good sniffin' stuff)
⤷ posted Feb 27, 2015
§ Phil,
This got some pretty good reviews and is fairly close to you.
http://www.soundexchangeinc.com/electronics-services-repairs-somerville-nj.html
⤷ posted Feb 28, 2015
§ Thanks, all. In the absence of any reply to my email to Sound Exchange in Somerville, I have shipped the speaker to Simply Speakers in Florida for refoaming.
⤷ posted Mar 11, 2015
§ Phil, Just noticed this now. If ever need a speaker refoamed again you should use:
Miller Sound
Bill LeGall
1422 Taylor Rd, Lansdale, PA 19446
(215) 412-7700
millerspkr@aol.com

I have used them many times for my self and friends. Bill LeGall always does a great job and for a reasonable price.
In fact recently a friend of mine had a Kef 104 that needed repair.
The surround was ok but the voice coil was scrapping. The coil was out of round and Bill took the speaker apart and some how fixed there coil.

Alan
⤷ posted Mar 11, 2015

Founder of Grado Labs
A true American audio pioneer who never sold out. Rest in Peace Mr. Grado.
Comments:
§ He was one of a kind. RIP
⤷ posted Feb 12, 2015

Link to Consumerist Magazine
Continuing in this month's theme of price versus performance in audio we have an article from Consumerist. With a name like that you might think they are familiar with the concept of "retail markup", but apparently not. You see, when you buy retail you are essentially paying off a lot of middlemen. The service you get is not from the manufacturing but from the ability to buy in small quantities. Otherwise, you'd have to buy from the manufacturer, and they usually will only contract to sell in large quantities. Boutique brands, which fortunately for the audio market there exist a lot of, can sell directly, but they usually can't themselves obtain huge discounts on the parts they use, which tends to wipe out the cost advantages. In fact, boutique brands often have to sell directly because they are at such a price disadvantage to start with.

In truth, Monster Cable has long moved out of the high end niche they helped to start back in the day, and have become a high margin mass production company selling out of places like Best Buy. As such, you are paying a lot for what's a much cheaper product to make than similarly priced cables from boutique brands. The quality is bound to suffer and there are many reports of quality control issues. It got so bad that they resorted to suing reviewers and consumers that posted bad comments online. Monster is hardly alone though. And they've long since stopped caring about the opinions of audiophiles--most of their revenue comes from big box store sales. Since the first indicator of "quality" in a product for consumers is price, the fact that Monster is selling $100 cables at retail in Best Buy that would go for $30 from a boutique brand means that a consumer must always factor in how a product is being sold before determining the base cost and therefore the overall parts quality.

There's a huge temptation in any luxury market for the producer to make inferior products to capture a huge markup and therefore profits. As a consumer you need to educate yourself to look for the warning signs of bad price to performance/quality. In the high-end, it's quality and not price that you should be looking for. Warning signs include: an emphasis on retail sales with a lot of branding and marketing; very similar products in the same "line" that cost a lot less; products that look indistinguishable from mid-fi stuff or have many of the same generic characteristics; for cabling, anything that indicates the insides simply came off the spool pre-fabbed; for speakers the box is the most expensive part--so thin boxes made of particle board and veneer; almost all CD transports use a stock mechanism for the tray/laser combo, so good luck trying to improve on those post hoc. And, of course, anything that indicates that the brand is attempting to go mainstream.

As can be seen in the links in the Consumerist article, online tech magazines like Gizmodo have seen fit to go to war against the high-end marketplace, claiming it's all snake-oil. This is a nice antidote to an overly fawning audiophile press, but goes too far in the other direction. They are not seeking out products of actual quality, but rather products that have poor price to quality ratios for the purposes of furthering the snake-oil mantra. They are not attacking guitars that cost $10k, even though few who play them could really make their performance better as a result, they are attacking "things that don't make sense at first glance". If you think about it, few drive so well that they're actually ready for the performance of a Porsche, but you have to think about that for it to make sense. A $10k HDMI cable, on the other hand, doesn't make any sense at all at first glance. This makes high-end audio a very juicy target. A lot of it is expensive and little of it makes sense. There probably isn't much defense that could be made on behalf of a $10K HDMI cable, but you could argue on behalf of $10K loudspeakers, etc. that an educated consumer could appreciate the quality of. This does, however, require that the audiophile consumer understand more than just the price of the component.

Hysterical!
Amazon Reviews of AudioQuest Diamond HDMI cable
Spend some time reading through the roughly two-dozen reviews of a $14K HDMI cable. LOL funny!
Comments:
§ The weird thing is that last year when I went searching for HDMI cables on Amazon I could not get anything to show up in the search results that was more than about $15. I was hoping to find some reviews of more expensive cables but it was next to impossible.
⤷ posted Feb 9, 2015 by JimOfAllTrades

Cable Challenge Details
Hot on the heels of the Pono Review below, I found this link to a write-up about the $1M prize from magician James Randi on "proving" audiophile cables are worth the money, or in any way superior to "normal" cables.

The problem with cabling as the price goes sky-high, as you can easily discern for yourself, is that they would no longer be the proverbial weak link in the chain. You'd need advancements in all the wiring and parts in all components to match in quality. At some point you might as well mount the output terminals of an amp to the input terminals of the speakers and eliminate the wire altogether.

However the frustration is that normally not measurable electrical differences between cables might be audible and measurable differences might not be audible. We would need to find a measurable difference that's also audible. While audiophiles call what they do "subjective" testing, that's a bit of a misnomer. We are attempting to discover objective (real or external) traits in the performance of cables. It's very much like how car reviewers attempt to describe what it's like to drive different cars. These differences are real, subtle and very difficult to measure--and many of the same objections can be made.

Ars Technica Review of Pono Player
Neil Young (of CSN and sometimes Y fame) has been promoting Hi-Res audio for a while and decrying the poor performance of most MP3 players. To that end, he's spearheaded the Pono Kickstarter project. They are now being delivered.

If you are wondering what the computer world thinks of Hi-End audio then check out the review of the Pono player above. Of course we don't expect great things from such a compact device, but there's no break-in or careful selection of headphones here, nor much knowledge of how to play hi-res off of other computer gear for comparison. So, it's a very sloppy review. Otherwise, if anyone has a Pono player, it might be interesting to see how it compares to other discount devices.
Comments:
§ There is a nice rebuttle to a negative Pono review on Mike Fremer's Analog Planet web site.
⤷ posted Feb 3, 2015
§ There is more negative rhetoric regarding what Young is peddling. http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/music/267931-dont-buy-what-neil-young-selling-gizmodo-article.html
⤷ posted Feb 5, 2015

Ticket to "Rachmaninoff & Tchaikovsky" NJSO
Three dates and locations, starting at $22 / ticket.

Tour The Tesla Tube Factory - Analog Planet
Michael Fremer toured the Tesla Tube factory in 1999, but only recently put the video up on youtube via Stereophile:

Lacombe Conducts Romeo and Juliet
Discount NJSO Tickets
Tickets from $19.00 each.