home entertainment 2007

CALENDAR
Those promoting audio-related seminars,
shows, and meetings should fax
(do not call) the when, where, and
who to (212) 915-4164 at least eight
weeks before the month of the event.
The deadline for the July 2007 issue is
May 1, 2007. Mark the fax “Attention
Stephen Mejias, Dealer Bulletin Board.”
We will fax back a confirmation. If you
do not receive confirmation within 24
hours, please fax us again.
Attention All Audio Societies: We
now have a page on the Stereophile
website dedicated entirely to you:
www.stereophile.com/audiophilesocieties.
Check it out and get involved! If
you’d like to have your audio-society
information posted on the site, e-mail
Chris Vogel at vgl@atlantic.net and
request an info-pack.
Please note that it is inappropriate
for a retailer to promote a new product
line in “Calendar” unless this is
associated with a seminar or similar
event.
ARIZONA
❚ Saturday, June 2, 12pm: Esoteric
Audio (Scottsdale) will host a seminar
with Richard Vandersteen to demonstrate
and discuss the new 2Ce Signature
Mk.II and Quattro loudspeakers.
For more info, call (480) 946-8128.
CALIFORNIA
❚ Sunday, April 29, 2–5pm: The Los
Angeles & Orange County Audio
Society will hold its monthly meeting
at Evolution Audio & Video (Agoura
Hills). Bob Carver of Sunfire will discuss
his new Cinema Ribbon speakers;
VAC’s Standard Musicbloc 160 amplifier
will also be featured. Lunch will be
served, and guests and new members
are invited. For more info, visit
www.laocaudiosociety.net or call Bob
Levi at (714) 281-5850.
❚ Saturday, May 5, 11am–4pm: Marihart
Audio (Colfax) will host its second
annual Open House. Several
industry designers and representatives
will be present, and gear from Cary
Audio Designs, Final Sound, LSA
Group, Exemplar Audio, Soaring
Audio, Creek, Epos, Music Hall, MIT,
Magnan, Nitty Gritty, Whest, and
others will be featured. For more info,
INDUSTRY UPDATE
US: New York
John Atkinson
Showtime! Home Entertainment
Show 2007, sponsored by Stereophile,
along with Home Theater, UltimateAVmag.com,
and Shutterbug takes place at
Manhattan’s Grand Hyatt Hotel, next
to Grand Central Station, May 11-13.
High-end audio systems at all price
levels will be demonstrated in more
than 100 rooms and there will be a full
program of seminars, workshops, and
music events, admission to all of which
is included in the Show’s ticket price.
The latter includes classical pianist
Robert Silverman, performing Mozart
and Beethoven, and Attention Screen,
Robert J. Reina’s collective jazz ensemble,
who will be performing to support
the release at the Show of their new
Stereophile CD, recorded live at Manhattan’s
Merkin Hall in February (see
www.stereophile.com/news/021207m
erkin). On Sunday, Michael Fremer
will be demonstrating how to get the
best from LP playback. And don’t miss
the annual “Editor Roast” Saturday
afternoon, where Showgoers will be
able to put this magazine’s writers’
audio knowledge to the test.
HE2007, celebrating 20 years of this
magazine’s involvement in audio shows,
will be open to the public 2pm–8pm,
Friday May 11, 10am–6pm, Saturday
May 12, and 10am–5pm, Sunday May
13. You can find full details and the
schedule for the seminars and concerts
at www.homeentertainment-expo.com.
US: Binghamton
Sam Tellig
Larry Fish died on Friday, February 9,
at the age of 74.
Not many audiophiles knew him,
but Larry worked for McIntosh Laboratory
for nearly 30 years, from 1972 to
2003. For about a decade, in the 1990s,
he was McIntosh’s Vice President of
Engineering. He then became Vice
President for Product Planning.
That’s when I first met him. Larry
had a tube amp for me to review: the
McIntosh MC275 Gordon Gow Commemorative
Edition, designed by Sidney
Corderman, Larry’s predecessor.
For a while, he also held the title of
McIntosh’s Chief Engineer.
Larry was not so keen on tubes.
Hence the fun.
“Sam, we are not getting back into
tube amp production,” Larry assured
me at the time. “This is a one-time,
limited edition.”
I laughed my evil laugh. (This was
over dinner.)
“What’s that laugh about?” Larry
wanted to know.
“I think you’ll find that there is a
tremendous demand for new McIntosh
tube gear.”
Sure enough, McIntosh followed
the MC275 with the MC2000 Commemorative
Edition, also designed by
Sidney Corderman and intended to be
the ultimate McIntosh tube amp. The
MC275, too, remained in production—
minus the Gordon Gow limited-edition
faceplate. (Gordon was president
of McIntosh from 1977 to 1989.)
Larry assured me that the MC2000,
too, would be a one-time, limited edition,
and that McIntosh was not going
to return to making tube amps. Once
again, the amplifier sold briskly.
The next thing I knew, Larry visited
with the McIntosh MC2105, a somewhat
scaled-down version of the
MC2000 that’s still in production. I
have one, along with the Gordon
Gow-vintage MC275 and the currentproduction
MC275. Along the way,
Larry also brought me the C2200
tubed preamplifier. For someone who
kept saying he didn’t much care for
tubes, Larry was the great bearer of
tube gear. We joked about it.
That’s how Larry was: kind, gentle,
humorous, always up for a good discussion,
and always one to disagree
without the slightest rancor. It’s a talent
that’s becoming rare.
I did, finally, get Larry to concede,
over dinner, that tubes had a special
quality. Larry admitted that tubes were
“mellow”—a description that would
apply to himself. He hastened to add
that a good tube amp and a good solidstate
amp should sound more or less
the same, though he left no doubt
which he would prefer.
What got McIntosh back into tubes?
Strong sales of tube gear, of course.
Also, as Larry told me, the availability
of high-quality, reliable tubes from
Russia. That’s one of the things that
had convinced McIntosh to stop producing
tubed products: the question
mark about reliable sources of tubes in
commercial quantities.
I once quizzed Larry about negative
www.Stereophile.com, May 2007 11