Opinion

: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 October 2013

JL Audio I wasn’t unhappy with the sound of the stock audio system in my SUV, a 2012 Toyota FJ Cruiser, but then I never listened to it with anything like the reviewer’s ear I use in my Music Vault listening room. I don’t typically listen to music critically in the car; instead, I tune in to news, occasional music on the few radio stations in my area that play something worth listening to, and music piped through my iPod.

I was in the midst of reviewing JL Audio’s E-Sub e112 subwoofer for sister site SoundStage! Hi-Fi when JLA’s Carl Kennedy pitched an idea to me: “Let’s put some gear in your Toyota and see what you think.” A week later, I had a mess of boxes in my garage and an appointment to get the system installed. I really didn’t know what to expect.

The local dealer for JL Audio’s car-audio products is Sound Decisions, of Wilmington, North Carolina. I’ve known these guys for years -- we have a close mutual friend, fellow SoundStage! Network reviewer Randall Smith -- and they have a great reputation in the area for honesty and professionalism. The owner, Keith Register, is an audiophile; his home and store systems include Paradigm loudspeakers, and he sells Revel and MartinLogan products in his shop. His right-hand man at the store, Eric Robertson, counts Revel’s new F208 as his reference loudspeaker. I felt we all had in common an appreciation for fine home audio -- these guys are not all boom and sizzle, like some of the car-audio shops I’ve seen.

: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 September 2013

JL Audio E series JL Audio and Magico have several things in common. Both are US-based companies that design and manufacture various loudspeaker models. Both have highly technical research-and-development departments that have track records of creating unique and cutting-edge audio products, including their own from-the-ground-up driver designs. And in 2013, each is launching new subwoofers that are intended to dominate the market its maker has targeted.

Still, you could easily make the case that these companies are more different than alike. JL Audio’s core business is in mobile audio, while Magico exclusively makes very high-end loudspeakers for the home. Whereas JLA has produced subwoofers for the home for a number of years now, this is Magico’s first foray into the category. And last, these new subs vastly differ in price: JLA’s E110 and E112 subwoofers respectively retail for $1499 USD and $1999, while Magico’s QSub-15 and QSub-18 cost $22,000 and $36,000.

What’s special about these new subs? On paper, at least, almost everything.

: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 August 2013

Jeff Fritz Usually, we at the SoundStage! Network try to appeal to as broad an audience as possible: If we put up a big enough tent, we figure, then more readers can enter and find something useful -- information that will support them in buying high-end audio gear.

The “What I’d Buy” series is not that. In its conception and execution, it’s actually quite selfish. Here, I don’t list and describe what I’d buy if I were you, but what I’d buy. Therefore, the products listed in the various categories I’ve written about -- Digital Source Components, Integrated Amplifiers, Power Amplifiers, Loudspeakers Under $15,000, Loudspeakers Over $15,000, and this final article -- will appeal to readers who think at least somewhat as I do -- or to those who are simply curious about my opinions. Many types of products -- tubes, turntables, planar speakers, component footers -- are not represented in these articles, simply because I wouldn’t personally buy such things. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t buy them, but they haven’t made it into this series because they’re not on my shopping list. It’s been refreshing to not have to consider what anyone else thinks of the content -- for once!

Something else I don’t buy is a marketing ploy that’s been going around for years -- basically, that you should spend 25% of a system’s total cost on cables and interconnects. I think that’s nonsense. I’m no cable skeptic -- I know that cables can make a real difference in the sound of an audio system. But I also know that higher cost doesn’t necessarily mean better sound, and that that rule applies more to cables than to any other type of audio component. My recommendations of cables are very basic. I believe in buying from solid companies whose cables I’ve heard, and that I know won’t present me with quality-control problems. Basically, there are four such companies that I hold in high regard: Nordost, Crystal Cable/Siltech, Dynamique Audio, and AudioQuest. Here’s why:

: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 July 2013

Jeff Fritz Although some will debate the accuracy of this statement, I can say with confidence that, of all the types of products needed to complete a stereo system, loudspeakers are the largest determinant of overall sound quality. They are easily the least perfect of components, and therefore account for the widest variances in sound output. This is why those assembling a new system often first choose their speakers, then build the electronics around that very personal choice. I endorse that way of building a sound system.

Translating an electrical signal into sound with no losses or nonlinearities from the original source signal -- in short, designing a loudspeaker -- is supremely complex, and arguably the greatest challenge in high-end audio engineering. But for the average designer, speakers are also the simplest components to get working. You can easily buy good, off-the-shelf drivers, and use commercially available software to guide your crossover design, enclosure volume, and port size. Couple this with contracting out for some good woodworking skills, and you can end up with a competent-sounding, good-looking speaker that you can market to audiophiles.

: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 June 2013

Jeff Fritz My recommendations for loudspeakers costing less than $15,000 (all prices listed below are per pair in USD) are of models that can be used in spaces that range from the small to the very large. Some of them distinguish themselves in subtle ways, performing very specific tasks at the highest levels, while others are great all-around speakers that almost anyone can be happy with. Most will easily beat, or at least compete with, speakers costing much more than $15,000.

A few criteria helped shape this list. Obviously, sound quality is first -- experienced mostly firsthand by me, but also by other SoundStage! Network reviewers. Sound quality is, after all, the ultimate arbiter of a speaker’s worth.

But I’m also aware that people and their ears are fallible -- I’ve heard some speakers that I know are absolutely worthless that are still recommended by owners and even other reviewers. When I see an example of this phenomenon, I usually chalk it up to people just getting it wrong. So as a checks-and-balances safeguard, here I recommend only speakers that I know have been thoroughly engineered and measure as such. You’d be surprised how many loudspeakers -- mostly the ones costing above $15,000 -- have sub-par engineering. The ones I list here will hold no surprises -- no bad ones, anyway. They’re all very good products, even though their intended applications and prices vary quite a bit.

: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 May 2013

Jeff Fritz Along with loudspeakers, power amplifiers have always represented the largest financial investments I’ve made in my audio system. It’s been my experience that I shouldn’t skimp on amplification, and that once I find a great power amp, it’s easy to stick with it over the long term. (Though whether any audiophile, including myself, actually does so is another subject altogether.) A great amp today will still be a great amp ten years from now.

I believe this is so because so much of an amplifier’s cost has to do with hardware. Huge power supplies and massive heatsinks have always been relatively expensive, and unlike digital source components, the technologies involved in the design and manufacture of tubed or solid-state amps don’t change rapidly, the advent of class-D designs notwithstanding.

This series of articles is titled “What I’d Buy” -- these lists I compile are, by definition, limited to the types of products I like enough to pay for with my own money. Therefore, entire swaths of the marketplace will be left undiscussed simply because I have no knowledge of or interest in them. This month, that means you’ll find no tube amps here. Through the years, I’ve admired many tube amps at shows and dealers and while visiting manufacturers, but I’ve always been more drawn to really good solid-state gear; that’s where I’ve spent my money, and that’s the area in which I’ve built my expertise. We have other writers who can advise you about tubes.

: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 April 2013

Jeff Fritz Many, if not most, recent reviews of integrated amplifiers in the audiophile press begin by telling you two things: 1) that the integrated was once looked down on by multibox-craving audiophiles, but is now accepted as a real high-end component; and 2) the integrated’s single-chassis design has some advantages over separates -- e.g., at least one fewer pair of interconnects, and shorter internal signal paths.

The latest fact in the evolution of the integrated amplifier is that many models also include a digital section, typically a USB digital-to-analog converter, which either comes standard or as an option. These built-in DACs make for a greatly simplified system: add a pair of speakers and a computer-based source such a laptop or Mac Mini, wire it all up, and off you go.

: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 March 2013

Jeff Fritz Not a week goes by that I don’t hear an audiophile complain about the “audio dealer situation” in his or her area. The story is always the same: There’s nowhere to hear a particular model, or the ones that compete against it. More and more, audiophiles face an hours-long road trip -- or, more likely, two or three such trips -- or even air travel, for what amounts to a three-day investment of time. Who has time and money for all that? This is a hobby.

What I see more and more of are e-mails asking what I would buy if I were in the e-mailer’s shoes. I happily give my advice, often with the disclaimer “Go hear it for yourself” -- even though I know full well that if they could go hear it for themselves, they probably wouldn’t be contacting me!

: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 February 2013

Jeff Fritz This year’s Consumer Electronics Show seemed a tad subdued. Most people blamed the new Tuesday-through-Thursday schedule, which replaced the traditional long weekend -- after all, many industry professionals have retail jobs. Nonetheless, there were a hardy number of new products at CES 2013, and we covered them in detail in our SoundStage! Global show report.

CES 2013 revealed some things that transcend any single product introduction. Here are the eight you must know about -- not only if you plan to shop for a component any time soon, but even if you just enjoy keeping up with industry doings.

: Written by: Jeff Fritz; Category: Opinion; Created: 01 January 2013

Jeff Fritz January marks an exciting time for us at the SoundStage! Network. We like to look back at the year just past and highlight each component we’ve named a Product of the Year. I think you’ll agree that 2012 gave us a very strong crop indeed, and Doug Schneider has done a fine job of summarizing it over at SoundStage! Hi-Fi. We’re also just days away from the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, Nevada (January 8-11). That means a whole slew of new products will soon be finding their ways to dealers and customers, and hopefully some of them will be very good. Our coverage of CES will be available at www.SoundStageGlobal.com beginning January 7, so judge for yourself.