n the early 1990s, I decided to start an on-line magazine that reviewed audio and video components, SECRETS of Home Theater and High Fidelity. It was the first such publication on the internet.

We have now been around for nearly 30 years, and much has changed since those first days. The last number of months have brought tremendous changes to our audio/video community. One major and devastating change has been the absence of the A/V shows that mean so much to the manufacturers we cover as an important part of letting our community know what is new.

The SECRETS Showcase is a unique annual digital magazine, sponsored by SECRETS of Home Theater and High Fidelity, but separate from our main site. The platform technology driving the showcase presents a magazine-like format that we think you will really enjoy. The SECRETS Showcase is accessible online with any device and without subscription, just like the main SECRETS website.

The SECRETS Showcase will launch in Spring 2022. This is a unique project, and there will probably be some changes as we proceed. And as always, we welcome your suggestions.

Enjoy!

Olympica Nova is the second generation of the iconic family of 2013, improved in its form and substance, imbued with the timeless values that inspired us in creating the original line.

The result is a new Collection that embraces the most advanced technologies that already enhance our most prestigious creations.

Sonus faber has begun a complete update to their product assortment, focusing on the attributes which originally built the brand: technological innovation, long-term listenability and Italian craftsmanship. New launches have included Sonetto and Palladio Collections, a new line of Gravis subwoofers, the Electa Amator III and the Minima Amator II, all showcasing the brand’s dedication to innovation and its Italian heritage. The reinvention of the Olympica Nova collection is just the latest step in this evolution, and a new set of offerings that truly embody the brand’s stylistic manifesto.

Product Description

Product Description

Product Description

fter a year-and-half of dealing with the scourge that is COVD-19, this fall looked to have a semblance of a chance of audio shows returning and having some measure of safe attendance. Over this trying time for everyone, I’ve heard some people pontificate that the audio show, as a necessary form of getting attention and buzz, is dead.

hese are the days when anything goes (with apologies to Sheryl Crow)….

Every audio system can supposedly be enhanced with the newest electronic gadget. And the variety, price, and sheer abundance of gadgets just grows and grows and grows.

Not to be dismissed so easily, though, the stereo contingent fought back with the lovely high-end extension of the (now lower output) moving-coil stereo cartridge. And along with that came the entire pantheon of moving-coil step-up transformers, and electronic pre-preamplifiers. I remember fondly the Sony HA-T10 transformers and the Mark Levinson moving coil pre-preamp. These devices still needed the RIAA equalization and phono input of the typical receiver or integrated amp, though. And those were the SIMPLE old days.

n the 60s and 70s loudspeaker sound came to be characterized by geographic location.

JBL, out of Los Angeles, became known as offering the “West Coast” sound while a group of Boston speaker companies, principally Acoustic Research, offered the competing “East Coast” sound.

e whine and complain about all manner of periphery details, as they relate to the hobby we all profess to love. Things like Digital versus Analog, Tubes versus Solid-State, Double-Blind Testing versus Subjective Listening, blah, blah, blah! In this hysteria-fueled world that we live in today we can get ourselves wound into pretzels or foamed into a lather over these frankly trivial matters that, at the end of the day, mean bupkis! No dear readers, you are being led down the audio primrose path