Audiophile Articles

Ask Steve - March: hear ye, hear me I’ve noticed that for a day or two after I attend loud concerts my ears “ring”...I don't want to permanently damage my ears...

Ask Steve - February: Hi-Fi-Die My hi-fi has the wintertime blahs. It sounds lifeless,...

Ask Steve - January: Defining Good Sound, and Phono Preamp Turntables ...how do you define

Ask Steve - December: Looming Format War & iPod + stereo I don’t know how long you’ve waited, but I’d wait a little longer...that soon-to-be launched format war will impact the audio side...

Ask Steve - November: Improve Your System - $0. Yes, $0. Steve, I read your column every month, but I don’t think you’ve covered inexpensive tweaks in a long time. What’s the cheapest way to improve the sound of my system?

Ask Steve - September

Ask Steve - July This might seem a little weird, but I think my stereo has the summertime blues.

Ask Steve - June I'm a little mixed up about surround sound...

Ask Steve - May ...the best of today’s components can sound amazing, but most of the mass market stuff cranked out by names I dare not mention is sold by features, not sound or build quality...

It's About the Sound! - David Chesky The Double Standard!

What’s an audiophile recording? We want to give you a clear picture of the event, not one that is colored by equipment or aesthetics.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? As the compact disc reaches its 10th birthday, I can look back and observe just how much progress has been made in the art of recording and playback.

Audio World - Tubes, MOSFETs, and more If you need a good deal of power (or watts, which is volts multiplied by amps, or current), in comparing MOSFET-based transistor designs with pentode tube amps in listening tests, do not be surprised

Audio World - Amplifier Guidance Last issue I took a look at the speaker segment of the home audio system equation. This time I'll try to point readers in the right direction in their search for an appropriate amplifier to drive part

Audio World - Trends It appears that the high-end of the audio industry is at yet another crossroads in its meandering path toward the ultimate in sound reproduction.

How to Get the Best Sound From Your Room A short excerpt from The Complete Guide to High-end Audio by Robert Harley

The Audio Files Lately there has been a lot of talk in the audiophile press about the re-issuing of the greatest classical recordings of the 1950's and 60's.

The Audio Files - Of The Marsh And The Moon Of The Marsh And The Moon presents a new direction for Chesky Records.

I Can Hear Clearly Now It seems like the audiophile press has spent the past twenty years defining what our hi-fis should sound like--pronouncements from on high as to what we should be striving for.

The High End How to Buy a Hi-fi System, or Part of One

The Chesky 24K Gold Series The Chesky Gold Series represents our commitment to bringing wonderful musical moments to the public with the best technology available.

Tweaks from Trei 1: On Speaker Placement Welcome to the first edition of Tweaks from Trei! While there are plenty of people who will sell you all manner of widgets designed to extract improved performance from your system, my intention here

Stereo/Multichannel System Basics What are the first three most important parts of a good stereo/multichannel system, in order of importance?

Ask Steve Dear Steve, What with all of the attention that’s given to SACD and DVD-A, does anybody care about high-end CD players?

Tweaks from Trei 2: Physics 101 for Audiophiles At its most basic level, getting an audio system to play music is no more than the practical application of simple physics, and I have always found that a basic knowledge of physics is handy when twea

Tweaks From Trei: Power Brokers At some point, almost every component we use in our audio system needs to be plugged into our home’s electrical power system. Using a cheap six-way outlet strip plugged into the nearest convenient out

What are the advantages and disadvantages of horn speakers? Dear Steve, What are the advantages and disadvantages of horn speakers? Are they better suited to home theater than audiophile pursuits? I’m asking because I own a 7 watt per channel Cary 300B integra

How do you define the term audiophile? Steve, every month you answer all sorts of questions, but I have an embarrassing direct question; how would you define the term audiophile? I like sound, can I call myself an audiophile?

Putting quadraphonic and its relationship to today’s 5.1 surround in perspective I need a little help with the audiophile lexicon. Yes, I understand mono & stereo, but can you put quadraphonic and its relationship to today’s 5.1 surround in perspective?

Tweaks from Trei: A Simple Cure for Bi-Polarity Disorder One simple tweak that many people tend to ignore, is to be sure that each piece of gear is plugged into the power outlet using the proper polarity. The power supply transformer in every piece of gear

Ask Steve: Getting the best possible sound - receivers, preamplifiers & power amps Dear Steve: I’m interested in getting the best possible sound, but I’m not quite sure I understand the performance-sound quality differences between receivers, integrated amplifiers and separates -- p

Why Are Speakers Always Square? Why are speakers always square? You know--square boxes, square panels, sometimes with curved faces--but the basic shape never deviates from square. Is square a great shape for sound?

So They Still Make Stereo Receivers? This may seem like an odd question, but so they still make stereo receivers? The big chain stores and websites seem to have nothing but AV receivers, with 5, 6, or 7 channels, but stereo is all I need

Are We Not Audiophiles? By Steve Guttenberg The music comes first. The music comes first. The music comes first. Of course it does. Without it , our precious hardware would be literally useless. But why is it that so many au

Caruso on Stage I have lately been revisiting my small, but now growing, collection of very old (circa 1916) acoustic Victor Red Seal vocal 78's of Caruso, Galli-Curci, Melba, Schumann-Heink, and Tetrazzini. These pa

CD Reviews

Critic's Corner Chesky Records...the reviews are in...

Chesky In The Press Read what the critics have to say about our latest releases. . .

Read reviews of Three Guitars. JD248 Larry Coryell, Badi Assad & John Abercrombie.

DVD Reviews

Recent DVD Press "I hate to make a generalization based on a sample of only three discs, but these 24-bit/96 kHz DVDs sound incredible -- even better than the upsampled or converted discs I've heard to date

Ultra High Fidelity, January 1999 While the committees were talking, some manufacturers began lobbying for what they considered the best possible standard: 24 bits of data and a sampling rate of 96 kHz.

DVD Audio Version 1.0 After dozens of thorny issues slowed its progress (see previous report), last week the DVD Forum announced that its Steering Committee has approved Version 1.0 of the DVD-Audio Disc specifications, ma

DVD globetechnology The compact disc was introduced in 1982 and advertised as "perfect sound forever," but it's just been improved.

Introducing DVD Super Audio This sampler represents the state of the art in DVD audio recording technology...

Interviews

The Chesky Records Story Our philosophy is simple: to create the illusion of live musicians in a real three-dimensional space. Chesky Records tries to achieve the impression of reality with the most advanced technology availa

Audio Magazine Interviews Chesky Records Of all the prominent audiophile music labels putting out CDs and LPs, Chesky Records is considered to be one of the best at producing detailed, live-sounding digital recordings.

Positive Feedback During the last two years with the emergence of Classic Records and their ongoing RCA Living Stereo reissues series, the first audiophile produced reissues of this fabled catalog has been largely igno

David Chesky: Making Music in the Moment David Chesky has enjoyed success at the helm of Chesky Records, the fine audiophile record label he formed with his brother, Norman, in the mid 1980s. The brothers built the company from the ground up

Carla Lother and Richie Stotts on 100 Lovers in Billboard Magazine Yes, it is "a very odd pairing," Carla Lother says with a laugh. The Canadian-born adult contemporary singer-songwriter's current Chesky Records album, "100 Lovers," features four songs written with R

Interview with David Chesky David Chesky interviews Dr. Chesky about his new release, Dr. Chesky's 5.1 Surround Show.<

Hollywood Rio Ana Caram's new album, Hollywood Rio, s is a delightful collection of classic Hollywood tunes revived with a fresh bossa feel, an album full of elegant grooves and sweet delicacy. In a special Q and A

Interview with Marta Gomez Steve Guttenberg talks with Marta Gomez about her new Chesky Records release, Cantos de Agua Dulce (Songs Of Sweet Water.)

Whither Stereo in a Surround-Sound World? The Psychoacoustic Flaws in Stereo and 5.1 Music Reproduction and Why Multi-Channel Recording Cannot Correct For Them

Larry Coryell, Badi Assad & John Abercrombie - Three Guitars What happens when you combine three guitar masters, each with a lifetime of impressive musical experiences, and have them play together for the first time in the wonderful acoustic setting of New Y

Music Articles

A Recording Session With Charles Gerhardt In September of 1985 I went to London to observe recording sessions of Charles Gerhardt with the National Philharmonic Orchestra. I have known Chuck Gerhardt for many years but never before had w

Technical Papers

Whither Stereo in a Surround-Sound World? The Psychoacoustic Flaws in Stereo and 5.1 Music Reproduction and Why Multi-Channel Recording Cannot Correct For Them

Realism in Music Reproduction Ever since 1881 when Clément Ader ran signals from ten (likely randomly) spaced pairs of telephone carbon microphones clustered on the stage of the Paris Opera via phone lines to single telephone rece

Cables & Bi-Amping Is it better to use long interconnects and short speaker wires or vice-versa?

Demystifying the Audio Component Selection Process As a consultant to a number of audio equipment manufacturers and distributors, and as someone very active in the commerce of used and new equipment from receivers to hand-built, custom-made components

The Research and Design of a Commercial Product When someone purchases an item in a store, the first thing they usually notice is the packaging. Then their specific purchase is normally guided by price, the lower the better, and quality, the higher

Chesky Remasters As the remastering director, I thought you might be interested in a brief synopsis of the technicalities that went into the transfers of CD95 and CD96

Signal to Noise Noise is a big problem in audio. One of the criteria of good audio recording is to achieve the greatest signal with the minimum noise in it. Noise obscures the signal and it also combines with it to f

Tech Talk - The Mailbox George Kaye

Tech Talk - Power Problems George Kaye

Tech Talk - Pushing the Envelope George Kaye

Tech Talk - The Heat Wave George Kaye

Tech Talk - Feelings and Science George Kaye