vinylphile-002.pdf

VINY LP

VINY

August 2010 Issue 2

HILE

The digizine for discerning music lovers

VINY LP

VINY

HILE

Cast of Characters

Publisher,

Editor-in-Chief Rich Teer

Graphical design Jenny Teer

Reviewers and

contributing

writers

Annie St. Jean,

John Adrian Spijkers

Advertising Rich Teer

Website rite-online.net

www.vinylphilemag.com

Got questions or comments?

Please send them to:

rich@vinylphilemag.com

(250) 317-2210

VINY LP HILE August 2010 2

Contents

Features

Editorial

Dealer Spotlight

This issue we visit Vancouver’s Hii Centre.

By Rich Teer

Reader’s System

Kelowna business owner, Steve, is our host this

issue.

By Rich Teer

Annie’s Audio Adventures

Annie takes a trip to Audioland and auditions some

speakers.

By Annie St. Jean

Sneak Peak

Allnic Audio’s H-3000 phono stage gives us a taste

of audio nirvana!

By Rich Teer

Final Words

Advertisers Index

VINY LP HILE August 2010 3

Equipment Reviews

Record Reviews

Sumiko Pearl

Is this a gem of a cartridge? We ind out!

By Rich Teer

Record Reviews

Our record reviews of something old, something

new, something borrowed, but nothing blue.

By Vinylphile staff

PrimaLuna DiaLogue One

We take a look at this not so little integrated tube

amp, and like what we hear.

By Rich Teer

Audio Video Unleashed Pura Vida

This mid-priced offering from a Canadian newcomer

is musically satisfying.

By Rich Teer

VINY LP HILE August 2010 4

Editorial

of equipment where the sound quality

is one of the most important—if not the

most important—design criteria.

know what a good system can do—and

who knows? Maybe buying your irst

high-end audio system will go up your

priority list a place or two...

Of course, there are limits to what even

the most talented designer can do

given certain budget restrictions, but I

contend that an inexpensive high-end

piece of audio gear will outperform

similarly priced mass market gear

that most people settle for. One of the

reasons for this is the feature set of the

given item: most people would expect a

$3,000 receiver to have a billion different

features (most of which will probably

never be used), but the similarly priced

PrimaLuna DiaLogue One reviewed in

this issue will out perform it from a sonic

point of view.

Errata

In Issue 1 I stated that Harry Pearson

pioneered observational reviewing; that

honour actually belongs to J. Gordon

Holt, although Pearson arguably did

much to further the observational

reviewing cause. Mea culpa.

I s high-end audio a rip off? Judging

by some of the comments I read in

some AV forums, the answer to that

question would seem to be a resounding

“yes”. I, of course, disagree, but I think

it’s a matter of perspective.

Most people who are raised on mass

market gear scoff at multi kilobuck

speakers and ampliiers, pointing out

that they cost anywhere between 10 and

100 times more than the stuff sold by big

box stores, yet they’ll drool over esoteric

sports cars that cost the same kind of

money more than an average family car.

Yet the high-end audio equipment is as

much better than the mass market stuff

as the exotic sports car is better than a

cheap car.

If music is only something that you play

while doing other things, or you think

that sound quality doesn’t matter to you,

then I agree that spending large sums of

money on an audio system might not be

the best use of your disposable income.

On the other hand, if you love listening

to music as an activity itself, then high-

end audio is most certainly not a rip off.

So is high-end audio a rip off? No. While

it isn’t for every one, if you like listening

to music you owe it to yourself to at least

listen to a well set up high-end audio

system. Seek out your nearest specialist

audio dealer, take some of your favourite

records, and have a listen to what’s

available. Even if you could never afford

some of the bigger ticket items, you’ll

I guess we should start by deining

what we mean by “high-end audio”. To

many, high-end is a fancy way of saying

“expensive”, and it is true that most

high-end items are more expensive

(sometimes much more expensive) than

their non-high-end equivalents. To me,

high-end audio refers to to those pieces

VINY LP HILE August 2010 5

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