March / April 2019
In This Issue...
Welcome To NOVO!
Editorial By Suave Kajko

  It's been a cold and snowy winter in Toronto but that's nothing that a couple of friends, a hipster pale ale in one hand and the volume controller in the other can't fix - at least for me. I don't get to see as many live music shows in the winter as I do during the warmer seasons, but I certainly more than make up for it by listening to tunes while I work and at home.

I do however have something to temporarily cure my winter chills: a couple of tickets – a Christmas gift from my family – to a show that I'm really stoked about, this March. It's called "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - In Concert', an experience that allows you to watch the epic film on the big screen while listening to John Williams' outstanding soundtrack played live by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. It's part of the "Star Wars Film Concert Series" that runs at the Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto. If you're a Star Wars fan and love live music, there can be no greater treat!

On a similar thread, at the end of 2018, I had a chance to visit my friend and long time NOVO contributor Phil Gold, at his new home in Toronto. Phil had recently finished building his dedicated dream listening room and was beaming with joy to show it off to me. I enjoyed our coffee get-together so much – we decided to tell a story about it via two articles. One of them, "Classical Music: A Guide For the Perplexed- Episode 1", you'll find inside this very issue. I have long had an interest in classical music but admittedly know very little about it. I always found it a bit of an intimidating music genre to explore. Aside from a dozen famous composers, I can't remember composer names for the life of me... or pronounce them properly, and I find the names of the music works completely impossible to register in my brain. Luckily, Phil is the most passionate and knowledgeable guy I know when it comes to classical music and he loves to share his knowledge. He's inspired me to explore classical music over the years and he's sure to inspire you to explore it too in this fantastic article series. The other article, entitled 'Building a Dedicated Sound Room", you can find on our sister site www.NovoHighEnd.com. The title of this article speaks for itself- it's a story about how Phil turned his vision on paper into a state of the art listening room.

But that's not all, of course. This issue also features a great integrated amplifier buyer guide, a phono preamp buyer guide, Stephanie's story about "long distance relationship tech" and my own story about a visit to the JVC headquarters in Mississauga. And we've got some amazing product reviews too – but I'm running out of space in this column, so go on and turn the page! Next stop on my musical journey tour? The Montreal Audio Fest, which runs from March 22-24 in Montreal. Hope that many of our Quebec and Ontario readers will be there as well!

– Suave Kajko
Publisher & Editor In Chief
NOVO

 

 

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