Formats Gone but Not Forgotten
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 January 2021 01 January 2021
You have to laugh: there’s an ad on TV in the UK plugging some financial app for people who want to invest in shares but are clearly too stupid to seek out a legitimate, accountable broker. Whatever. Anyway, the gist of the ad is that you wouldn’t ask your brother-in-law or bartender for stock market tips, and it shows some grubby-looking, beardy, unkempt schmuck suggesting one should invest in LaserDiscs to the far cooler-looking target of the advertisement. Chuckle? I almost fell off the sofa.
Munich's High End Returns . . . Maybe
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 December 2020 01 December 2020
As I write this, in late November, my diary is empty for the foreseeable future. Lockdown in the UK has been reintroduced to a draconian level, e.g., restaurants are closed except for take-out, the only open retail operations are pharmacies and supermarkets, etc. Thus, less-essential matters such as hi-fi retail, let alone shows or press events, are non-starters. Indeed, I haven’t attended anything hi-fi-related since the Tonbridge Audiojumble in February.
Listening More . . . and Enjoying It More
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 November 2020 01 November 2020
At first, I thought that reports of a slight upswing in hi-fi sales might be wishful thinking. If there was any discernible upward blip, it could only be attributed to people rediscovering their sound systems, due entirely to being stuck at home. Along with all manner of neglected pursuits, all those hobbies savaged by iPads and Kindles and Xboxes and PlayStations, interest in hi-fi has increased along with board games, jigsaw puzzles, model aircraft and car building, Lego, home-baking, and the like.
Don't Forget the CD
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 October 2020 01 October 2020
Some years ago, in an interview I gave to a magazine in Hungary (I think), I said that the Vinyl Revolution would never grow beyond that of a cult, albeit a fair-sized one. I am pleased to stand corrected, as mid-September 2020 saw an announcement that must have had my colleague Michael Fremer punching the air and shouting, “I told you so!” Apparently, LPs outsold CDs in the USA for the first time in more than a quarter-century.
Ken Kessler: "Audio Research: Making the Music Glow"
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 September 2020 01 September 2020
Indulge me this month, please: the culmination of my 52 years in hi-fi, 37 in audio journalism, and two years of intense work are about to come to fruition. My fourth brand history is published this month, and if I can’t plug it, who can? It’s the story of the company responsible for the electronics in my reference system for a few decades, so there’s a personal element to Audio Research: Making the Music Glow.
What Is Your Current Reference System?
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 August 2020 01 August 2020
After “Which component should I buy?” the most oft-asked question of reviewers is: “What is your current reference system?” Both are loaded requests because of myriad implications. Most obvious is the suspicious thought related to the first demand: Why did he/she recommend Product X and not Y or Z? As for the second query, your nagging doubt is, How can a schmuck like you afford Product X, Y, or Z?
Hi-Fi Shops: The Death Rate Continues
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 July 2020 01 July 2020
While I can only speak for the UK -- every country is reacting differently to the relaxing of the lockdown -- I must admit to a newfound pessimism about the future of all retail, but especially hi-fi. Stores in the UK deemed “non-essential,” which includes anything other than pharmacies or supermarkets, reopened on June 15th, but shopping in 2020 is (1) hellish due to limited numbers allowed in-store so one has to queue, the 6' distancing, and wearing masks, and (2) unsustainable for something like hi-fi, where you don’t just enter a shop, pick up what you need, pay, and depart.
Victor Goldstein and Gianni Nasta
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 June 2020 01 June 2020
Of all the types of writing I hate, as a full-time hack, it’s preparing news items I loathe the most. The boredom factor is overwhelming because all that’s required is rewording the press releases. Some scribblers—the cut-and-paste-from-Wikipedia generation of semi-literates which now rules the world—don’t even bother doing that. On the other hand, most hi-fi press releases are so poorly written that preparing them for publication as news is more of an editing job.
Old Times Good Times
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 May 2020 01 May 2020
So sang Stephen Stills, and that is what most of us long for because the current situation is straight out of another Stephen’s canon: Stephen King. Things are bad, whatever spin anyone cares to put on it, so we are forced to endure a challenging reality check. In the context of this passion of ours, music is proving its worth as a restorative, for countless reasons ranging from nostalgia to diversion, along with all of the intrinsic joy music exudes.
Will COVID-19 Take Out High-End Audio?
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- Written by Ken Kessler Ken Kessler
- Category: SoundStage! UK SoundStage! UK
- Created: 01 April 2020 01 April 2020
Aware that I am of the date this goes live, let me assure you that, no, this isn’t meant to be humorous, satirical, or anything other than a straight-from-the-heart reaction to COVID-19. This accursed plague, arriving seemingly out of nowhere, has upset the day-to-day existence of every person on the planet, save for those idiots who don’t accept the gravity of the situation. Even if this pandemic doesn’t slaughter 1/1000th of the number the Spanish Flu of 1918 took, believed to be around 50 million, the havoc wreaked will have repercussions for decades, not least in terms of the global economy.
