The Audiophiliac

Kevin Nelson may be homeless, but his story isn't so different from countless other speaker designers I've met. Aspiring speaker designers never had it easy, but nowadays it's a lot tougher to break into the business.

Nelson says he first started building speakers when he was a kid in high school, tinkering with drivers and building cabinets. With a few investors lined up, and prospects looking good, he was planning on exhibiting his inventiveness at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last year.

The U.S. Navy veteran's personal life, however, took a turn for … Read more

I love in-ear headphones--the ones that fit inside your ear canals, as opposed to ear buds that rest on the outer ear. I'm a big fan because in-ear headphones' ultraclose proximity to eardrums offers the potential for the highest-resolution sound quality.

The better in-ear headphones also do a great job of sealing out external environmental noise so you can listen at a lower (safer) volume and still hear all of that amazing detail. The problem is, unless both earpieces are sealed tight, you're not going to get the sound you paid for.

Everybody's ears are different, so achieving a perfect fit can be a tricky exercise. Most in-ear headphones come with a selection of differently sized and shaped eartips. Try them all; the goal is to produce a the best possible "seal," which reduces the amount of outside noise you hear and delivers the headphone's fullest-possible bass response.

The difference in sound quality between a good seal and an iffy one isn't subtle. It's definitely worth a little extra effort to maximize each tip's seal. Remember, too, that poor sealing makes for a less secure fit, so the earpiece is more likely to fall out of your ear.

Tip: Your left and right ear canals may not be exactly the same size; you might need, for example, the smallest eartip for your right ear and a medium tip for the left ear.

I've included a gallery of images to help perfect your in-ear insertion techniques. First, try rotating/twisting the tip slightly as you push the headphone inside the canal. … Read more

If you're under 40, you might think TVs always had remotes. The early ones were called "clickers," "channel changers," or "selectors."

Sure, there were TV remotes as early as 1956, notably the Zenith Space Command, but remote-controlled TVs didn't really enter the mainstream until the 1970s.

It's true that there weren't many channels from which to choose at that time, but changing channels or volume without a remote was a matter of getting up from the sofa, walking over to the set, and turning big, clunky knobs on the TV.… Read more

Let's face it, iPod speakers are a cheap and cheerful group, but the market is about to get a boost of class, thanks to Parrot's Zikmu stereo iPod speakers ($1,500 a pair).

The striking design, created by Philippe Starck, stakes out a new approach to iPod speakers. Starck employs aerial curves and jet-black color, along with a generous helping of cutting edge technology to make the Zikmu an elegant lifestyle solution.

The Zikmu is iPhone- and iPod-dock compatible, and employs up-to-date Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies. The wireless stereo speakers need to be plugged into an AC power … Read more

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like most musicians I meet are more into making music than listening to it. They don't care about how music sounds at home; many are satisfied with the sound they get from boom boxes or chintzy computer speakers. Some tell me they're more focused on the way the players play than the sound.

Sure, I've met a few musicians with ears for sound. That happened just recently when I struck up a conversation with jazz drummer and audiophile Billy Drummond.

He readily conceded my point: "Getting a good hi-fi isn't high on their list of priorities. Like everybody else, musicians listen to music while they're on the computer or sending e-mails. That's what music is now, a backdrop, so fidelity isn't important anymore."

Sad, but true, so what is music for? Drummond had a ready answer. "It's for people to enjoy," he said. "It can take you somewhere, you can dance to it, music conjures emotions. For musicians it's an expression, a way to challenge ourselves, and it can be inspiring. If you're a saxophone player and you're listening to Sonny Rollins or John Coltrane, music can motivate you. It lets you see what's possible.

"I really enjoy playing (live) for myself and for an audience, I want people to feel something when I play. When I listen to Tony Williams or Elvin Jones (two great jazz drummers) and what they've accomplished it's mind boggling, that's what music means to me."

That's all great, but how did he become an audiophile? Drummond explained that he was always an avid music collector, and when he first heard his favorite music played on a really great system he was blown away: "Wow, I never heard my music sound so real, so vibrant, so great."

It turned you on, I asked. "Right, I was even more motivated because I could hear the nuances of Max Roach's drum set or Tony Williams ride cymbal. It helped me become a better player because I can get in touch with the thing I'm chasing after. Which is, how can I sound as good as these guys."… Read more

Granted, Steuben Glass' stunningly beautiful Presidential Commemorative Plate 2009 will be cherished for generations, but is it really worth $7,500?

Thing is, it's offered in a numbered, limited edition of 44. The 16-inch commemorative plate was created by the Steuben Design Team to mark the inauguration of America's 44th President. But other than its symbolic importance, wouldn't that money be put to better use buying American-made hi-fis? Seven thousand five hundred dollars for a hunk of glass might seem like an outrageous extravagance, but I have no doubt all 44 plates will sell out before long.… Read more

Alan Zweig's terrific YouTube video takes you deep inside the record collector's mind. The funny part is, even guys with 15,000 LPs don't think that they have a lot of records or consider themselves collectors.

Hey, some of us collect baseball cards or Corvettes. What's so wrong with filling your house with vinyl?

Sirius Satellite Radio has a lot on its plate. Shock jock Howard Stern is already making noises about leaving after his contract expires in a couple of years, the stock price is in the tank, and the company has huge debt.

All of that shouldn't matter to subscribers, of which I am one. But the frequent signal dropouts are really getting out of hand.

I had similar problems in the early days, but after a while, the dropouts became rare. Months would go by without signal interruptions, but about six months ago, the off-and-on signal problems returned.

Sometimes, the dropout lasts just a few seconds but occurs many times an hour. My Sirius home radio hasn't budged since I first got it many years ago, and my antenna is pretty much in the same place it has always been, but lately, the signal regularly disappears for minutes at a time before sputtering back to life. … Read more

Over at Dvice, my buddy Michael Trei was floored by the sounds at the Vandersteen room at the Consumer Electronics show last week in Las Vegas. The company debuted its new Model Seven speakers in a $300,000 system while spinning LPs.

Richard Vandersteen told me about these new speakers last year, when he was still perfecting his balsa wood/carbon fiber "sandwich" material for tweeters and woofer drivers. It's super lightweight, which enables the driver to keep up with the music's ever changing signals better than more conventional materials, yet it's so strong, you can actually stand on a balsa/carbon cone without damaging it.

Building each driver is, at least for now, a labor-intensive process, so the Model Seven is considerably more expensive than Vandersteen's bread-and-butter models (prices start around $785 a pair. The Model Seven will sell for $45,000 a pair. Vandersteen speakers are manufactured in Hanford, Calif. … Read more