Sound Practices: A Journal Of Audio Technology, which is hands-down the hippest and most controversial hi-fi 'zine, reverses the common belief that the hi-fi gear of the '30s, '40s, and '50s sucked and that modern components sound superior. This mag argues just the reverse: that ever since the gritty transistor replaced the smooth-sounding tube, the sound of hi-fi systems has steadily gotten worse instead of better.
While the public has been trained to think that modern plastic speakers and $200 transistor receivers sound better than the old tube-and- horn stuff, audiophiles have been grabbing vintage American gear for their own hardcore jollies - at prices hundreds of times what the stuff originally sold for.
Lest you think that a bunch of guys into '30s retro-tech are old freaks, the Sound Practices mob is made up of swashbuckling techno-anarchists who range from members of the avant-garde NY art scene to many of the most well-respected minds in international hi-fi. And the articles range from the highly technical to wildly imaginative think pieces.
If you're into music and pushing the envelope, Sound Practices is what you need to read.
Sound Practices: US$20/4 issues. Sound Practices: +1 (512) 339 6229, e-mail sp@tpoint.com.
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