The Continuing Adventures of IKEA Expedit...

"All ways lead to rome. I agree, the expedit is shit. But that's for aesthetic reasons. The problem with your self-destroying setup wasn't the expedit quality - you did it wrong. The long boards are supposed to run horizontally, not vertically as your picture suggests. So your expedit did not stand on its supposed bottom, but on its side. I'm sorry anyway!"

I get at least a half-dozen of these kind of comments per week, all in response to this blog entry: http://thevinylanachronist.blogspot.com/2011/03/for-all-you-using-ikea-expedit-shelving.html. It's amusing to me that I still have to moderate--and delete--these comments since I've repeatedly explained the following:

1. That's not my IKEA Expedit. It's a common image you can find in Google Images. I made an explicit reference to this in the original blog and provided the proper credit. People seem to ignore this and comment on my poor IKEA-building skills anyway.

2. I know the right way to assemble the Expedit. I had two--a 1X5 and a 4X4. They still started coming apart after just a few years. Others have written me saying they had the same exact problem even when assembled correctly. (I do have another one, the 2X2 version, which I use for my record cleaning machine and accessories.)

3. I explain all of this in a follow-up blog entry here. Now I've had to go back and edit the previous two blogs so that readers will be able to see the entire story, and not just comment on the photo. It's not quite working.

That said, the original blog entry has taken on a life of its own. It is currently my most read entry in this blog--by far. Apparently it's being linked to by a variety of websites, blogs and discussion forums. Hundreds and hundreds of Expedit fans keep telling me that the Expedit in the pic was assembled incorrectly (albeit per the manufacturer's instructions). My favorite response came in an article in an audio e-zine--one I used to work for, by the way--where the publisher says I'm wrong to diss the Expedit. He then goes on to tell his readers to add brackets and screws and fasteners and more glue and it should work just fine.

In other words, I'm not wrong about the Expedit.

Needless to say, I have been ignoring all comments regarding the Expedit. They do not get approved and published on my blog. So don't bother to write a 2000 word essay on the subject (something that has occurred). Sorry if this sounds so abrupt...but please pay attention before making the effort to respond. Besides, the Expedit has been discontinued--maybe IKEA has decided to make its replacement more suitable for LPs. ALL MY ORIGINAL COMMENTS STAND.

[EDIT: The author of the comment at the top of this blog article wrote a lengthy and angry response after reading this--exactly what I asked people not to do. He also wants me to credit him for the quote, which is obviously why he signed all his correspondence as "Anonymous." So there, Mr. Anonymous, you've been credited. A few minutes later I received yet another comment from someone telling me the rack isn't assembled correctly for LPs.]

Last Day for Free Shipping at Vinyl Nirvana

I just spoke with Dave Archambault of Vinyl Nirvana, and he told me that for the first time in a long time he actually has quite a bit of stock on hand. (It's the slow time of the year for everyone.) In order to clear out room for future products, Dave has been offering free shipping--but it ends tonight, February 17, at midnight. If you've been thinking of buying one of Dave's beautifully restored vintage turntables from Thorens, AR and more, today is the day.

You might think that free shipping isn't a big deal, but as someone who ships high-end audio for a living I can tell you that Dave's offering a significant discount. No one is better than Vinyl Nirvana when it comes to safely shipping these somewhat delicate machines, so this is a very valuable service Dave is giving away.

Dave has plenty of amazing turntables on hand for sale. First, he has another one of his Thorens TD-125 long base turntables with 12" SME arm, which you can see at the top of this page. Dave builds a handful of these amazing TTs each year, and this one is still available at $2995. Dave even offers this turntable in a variety of exotic wood plinths, so you can customize it to your heart's content. If you're looking for a great, classic turntable that none of your audiophile buddies also have, this is the one.

The second photo is of an old-fashioned AR XA turntable--one of the best-selling turntables of all time--it was the king throughout the '60s and '70s. I owned one for a while in the late '90s, but it was terribly beat up and I never got it working perfectly. I should have sent it to Dave! If you're looking for a solid, beautiful vintage 'table that doesn't cost a lot of money, you should look into the AR XA. This one is just $695, and that includes a Rega RB-250 arm. This is an AR that was modded by Steve Frosten, and it even has a Linn power supply.

Finally we have a beautiful Thorens TD-160 Super with a custom zebrawood plinth and a new SME M2-9 arm for just $1995. Dave is also a dealer for Ortofon, Dynavector and Grado cartridges, which means you have great plenty of great choices for any AR, Merrill or Thorens 'table Dave restores. Plus, Dave will mount the cartridge for free when you buy one of his turntables!

Once again, the free shipping deal ends today, so visit the Vinyl Nirvana website for more information!

In Support of Equipment Supports

"I am Pichet!"

Pichet is a distributor and importer from Thailand who always comes to visit Colleen and me in our room at CES. The quote above is how he always announces his arrival. I'm not going to ask why his business card says Chen Paul with PICHET scrawled along the top in block letters--it just reminds me too much of that scene in Barton Fink where Chet the hotel clerk hands his business card to the titular guest, and it just says CHET in, mysteriously, the same handwriting as Pichet.

That's not to say Pichet isn't legitimate in any way. He's very well known in the audio industry. Colleen's known him forever. He represents such brands as Wilson Benesch, Usher, LAMM, Hansen Audio, Playback Designs and more. He's the real deal. But he is truly a salesman in the best sense of the word, and he's usually visiting us to see if we're interested in any of his products. I'm not talking about Wilson Benesch or LAMM, brands I'd normally jump at, but the stuff coming from the other direction--the Far East--and I'm still a little skittish on that subject. But he's insistent, and he likes to tell me to keep things and get back to him later. I once bought a new car I didn't need in the same exact way.

To his credit he brought a small two-way bookshelf speaker that was actually made in Denmark. It was well-made and attractive...for a two-way bookshelf. (You know I keeeed. I love two-way monitors and think they're beautiful.) We didn't have a chance to listen to it, mostly because there was only the one, but I'd welcome an audition some day. But then he gave me a little acrylic box packed with these four little equipment supports.

You know, equipment supports. Footers. Thingies you stick underneath your components. Whatever you want to call them. I haven't really used them in years. Back in the '90s I used the Black Diamond Racing cones under all my gear, but I got out of the habit of sticking them under all those heavy boxes when I became an audio reviewer because I was always swapping things in and out, something that continues to this day--albeit for a different reason. Most of the electronic components I represent already have substantial support feet that were designed specifically for the product. So I don't think about it much these days. Just ensure you're using a decent equipment rack and you'll probably be fine, according to me.

Probably. But then there's these things, Pichet's little footers. They're nicely machined and shiny, but as Pichet says, they're not insanely expensive for what they are. In fact, they're downright cheap. I think he said "Something like $80 for a set of four, that's all!" Then he mentioned another equipment support manufacturer who "charges $1000 for basically the same thing!" Now I'm not going to say that these little metal pucks, which retail for a mere $20 each (same as a single Black Diamond Racing cone back in the '90s) outperform something that costs $250 per puck. But I will say that for $80, these look really nice.

So I placed them under my Unison Research Unico CDE CD player, where I thought it would do the most good--I've always heard the biggest differences when placing footers or vibration control devices under source components like CD players and turntables. And while I'm far from the tweakiest audiophile on the planet, I did hear a rather subtle difference almost immediately. The sound was slightly more relaxed and organized, and the soundstage expanded in the rear. (That's what she said.)

You've probably noticed that I haven't mentioned the manufacturer or even the brand name of these footers. That's because I'm supposed to call Pichet if I "like what I hear." Then I can get "more information." For now, I do have a few clues. First of all, it says Tombo Audio Products on the acrylic case. I also have Pichet's website address, which is www.audiocomgroup.com. His company's name is ACG, for the record.

But I do like these. So for now, I'm going to leave these in place under the CDE.

Torbjorn Dyrud's Out of Darkness on 2L Recordings' Blu-ray Audio and CD/SACD Hybrid

I didn't know what to think about the latest 2L Recordings release, Torbjorn Dyrud's Out of Darkness, when I first listened to it. Dyrud's take on the passion and the resurrection of Jesus is odd and haunting with its English readings, spare and mostly percussive arrangements and its penchant for the more macabre aspects of this two-thousand year old story. Add a liberal dose of heavy breathing--Christ dragging the cross up the hill--along with the sound of whipping and flogging, and you have the antithesis of a soothing evening at home while listening to your hi-fi.

On the other hand, this recording is from 2L. That generally means that in addition to novel thematic elements, Morten Lindberg is going to challenge you along the way with the sheer beauty of the performance. The strength of this recording is in the judicious use of sound effects as punctuation for the story--the patient slap of the bass drum, ethereal whistling from the choir and that disconcerting crack of the whip. Morten has really been spending a lot of time with new surround-sound technologies in the last few 2L recordings, and his strategy of this recording was to place the performers in as big of a space as possible--in this case the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim--to isolate them from reflections and room boundaries. This is certainly a change of pace from past 2L recordings where the venue, usually a Norwegian church that offers unusually warm and open acoustics, acts as one of the performers. The Nidaros Cathedral is evidently so big, and Morten's microphone placement so precise, that the room reflections aren't reinforced in the usual ways.

As I've learned from the wealth of 2L recordings I've reviewed, this amazing sound quality is often paired with challenging, unusual and atonal music in a manner that forces the listener to re-evaluate the relationship between performer and musical instruments. Here the most stunning work is done with the human voice, as the Nidaros Cathedral Choir (as conducted by Vivianne Sydnes) steps far outside of where moat church choirs operate. Along with the aforementioned heavy breathing, there's also plenty of whispering (the crowd around Jesus) and an utterly strange drone whistle that bends in space as if it's a reluctant, plaintive siren. This re-imagines the church choir in the same way Kevin Volans' White Man Sleeps re-imagines the string quartet. Could you imagine what would happen if this had been performed back in the Baroque Era? Madness! Blasphemy!

This versatility in the choir also adds so many textures to the music that you might think there are more musicians on the stage than there are. For the record, there's only two trumpeters (Geir Morten Oien and Erlend Aagaard Nilsen) and one very busy percussionist (Lars Sitter) and that's it. The rest of the sound you hear is from the Nidaros Cathedral Choir, with Sarah Head performing the English readings. But even with all the physical space Out of Darkness defines, it's still unusually intimate. It pulls you in, and then it places you at the edge of the abyss.

Finally, I am happy that 2L has once again included both the CD/SACD hybrid disc with the Blu-ray Audio disc--even though Out of Darkness comes in a standard double CD jewel case instead of the larger blue clamshell cases as with other Blu-ray audio releases. In this case, however, the Blu-ray disc does a slightly better job of recreating the quite yet very spacious Nidaros Cathedral.

New Vinyl Anachronist Column Now Available on Perfect Sound Forever

My latest Vinyl Anachronist column is now online at Perfect Sound Forever. This one's about the "$500 rule" concerning analog. Enjoy!

Tsuyoshi Yamamoto's Autumn in Seattle on FIM UltraHD

One day last week, I suddenly had a hankering for a new CD from First Impression Music (FIM). I've purchased three or four of Winston Ma's discs over the last year or so--usually while I'm exhibiting at trade shows and I need something cool and different to play for the show attendees--and the sound quality is always phenomenal. I look at some of these audiophile discs I've been listening to lately--Blu-ray audio from 2L Recordings, CD/SACD hybrids from Analogue Productions and these hi-rez redbook CDs from FIM--and I realize I've been listening to these more than I've been listening to vinyl. So I wanted more.

I went straight to the First Impression Music website and found that nearly everything was available online, including a few titles I thought were no longer available. I placed an order for Tsuyushi Yamamoto's Autumn in Seattle on UltraHD and within four days the disc was in my mailbox! Not bad. I could easily make a habit of ordering, I don't know, one per month this way. These discs just sound so wonderful--I've never heard the upper frequencies of a digitally-reproduced recording sound so pleasing and effortless.

So I picked Autumn in Seattle because it's Tsuyushi Yamamoto, and my Three Blind Mice LP of his Midnight Sugar is the best-sounding jazz recording I own--maybe even the very best-sounding recording I own, period. (For the record, the Tsuyushi Yamamoto Trio's Misty is also pretty spectacular, and I own that on LP as well.) On the other hand, I checked out the tracks and this is a collection of standards--and not the type of standards I really enjoy. We're talking "The Way We Were," "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" and "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing," which all have the potential to sound incredibly cheesy in this day and age. Then again, the idea of Yamamoto-san doing an album of Bacharach sounds mighty cool as well.

Truth is, the results are better than I had imagined. I did have to grit my teeth a little during the more fanciful parts of "Raindrops," but the rest of this album's full of strong, solid jazz performances that just sound gorgeous. I do think Midnight Sugar is a much stronger recording, which is strange because Autumn in Seattle is a far more modern recording--originally recorded and released in 2001, it was remastered and reissued in FIM's UltraHD format in 2011. On the other hand, the fact that Midnight Sugar and Misty originally came out in the mid-'70s might also explain why it's the better recording, especially according to us analog troglodytes. But that certainly doesn't mean that Autumn in Seattle doesn't sound absolutely stupendous--because it does--those two older albums are just that special.

I'm kind of hooked now. It was so easy to order through the website, and I think shipping may have been free--or at least really cheap. The CD was $41, and a little over $43 was charged to my credit card. I think $41 may be the top of the line--there's plenty of selection in the $20 to $35 range.

By the way, I listed to this CD with a great pair of mini-monitors, the MAD 1920S. I've been listening to so many BIG speakers every since we moved to Colorado because we have such a big room now. We have so many quality mini-monitors such as the MADs, the Trenner & Friedl ARTs, even a pair of Rega RS1s that I've only used a couple of times. Over the next few weeks I'll be "getting back to my roots" and listening through mini-monitors.

Joseph Audio's New Speakers at the 2014 CES

It's no secret that Jeff Joseph has discovered how to get a small speaker to sound like a really big speaker. Have you heard the Joseph Audio Pulsar? Have you ever heard a two-way bookshelf speaker do this nice of an impression of a floorstanding three-way tower before? Neither have I. Back at the New York Audio Show last spring, CCI lent a Unison Research Unico 50 integrated amplifier to the Joseph Audio/Channel D room. I walked in toward the end of the show and listened to a few demo cuts from Jeff--who has an absolutely encyclopedic knowledge of good music--and it was simply a breathtaking system with an expansive sound that broke down the physical dimensions of the room.

The Pulsars are expensive--$7700 per pair--but after a minute of listening you'll understand why. There are only a couple of two-way stand-mounted monitors that I enjoy more than the Pulsars; one is from Magico and costs $27K/pair and the other is from TAD and costs $37K/pair. I like the Pulsars a lot.

That's why I made a couple of special trips to the Joseph Audio room during CES--because I wanted to hear the Pulsars in action. I was surprised, however, to learn that Jeff was debuting two new speakers at CES--the $3700 Prism and the $7000 Profile. These new models don't look quite as opulent as his premium line (Pulsar, Perspective and Pearl3), but they have clean yet subtle angles that are very attractive.

Just as I approached a system that featured the small, stand-mounted Prism, someone told me--either Jeff or dealer Shayne Tenace--that the deep bass and huge soundstage of the Prism was going to remind me of the Pulsar. It did. While it's become an audiophile cliche to talk about mini-monitors that "defy physics" by creating extraordinary amounts of bass, the Prism could be the next bellwether for this type of thinking--all for a price slightly less than half the cost of the Pulsar. And while I suspect the Pulsar outdoes its little brother in terms of sheer size, it was almost shocking to hear the Prism create deep, tuneful bass that could instantly put a big smile on my face.

Of course the main event was centered around the Joseph Audio flagship, the Pearl3. The system was quite extraordinary--big Bel Canto Black monoblocks and other electronics, a Brinkmann turntable and arm (thanks, Colleen, for telling Andrea Brinkmann that she reminds me of my first wife), the Soundsmith Hyperion cartridge and Cardas Audio Clear cables. I'm shaking my head slowly because I wish I had spent more time in that room, listening to LPs on a completely mind-blowing audio system.