The Big PTA Buyer’s Guide For Audiophiles
This week’s episode of The Occasional Podcast is quite the holiday show. In addition to hosting PartTimeAudiophile’s Marc Phillips and Scot Hull for their big annual audiophile buyer’s guide reveal, the podcast also includes a surprise follow up show to the infamous Crazy Eddie’s Halloween special.
The guys from PTA offer up their best guidance for a whopping 12 diverse categories of audio geardom, including picks for floor standers, bookshelves, analog and accessories. On the show they run through how they came to their decisions and also offer up some interesting audio tidbits, tips and tricks during their opening segment.
You can check out the written coverage for PTA’s 2023 buyers guide here.
Also included is a very cool follow up from The Occasional Podcast’s S8E5 Halloween special (the show takes on a true crime podcast vibe for this year’s costume). That episode explores the unusual rise and fall of the East Coast’s Crazy Eddie’s Electronics retail chain. For S8E8, Bryan Beasley returns to catch up with Anthony Chiarella of Specialty Sound & Vision, who incidentally worked at Crazy Eddie’s as a salesmen from 1977-1981. Anthony shares some of his first-hand experience with the chaotic and high volume retailer who was dissolved shortly after they went public following a huge run in the greater tri-state area.
The Occasional Podcast is riding high into their 8th season. Previous episodes include coverage of Capital Audiofest 2022, interviews with Sean Casey of Zu Audio, how to’s and more from audio’s greatest talents, including Michael Fremer and Pacific Audio Fest 2022 Best of Show, another interesting conversation about the History Of The BBC’s LS3/5a Loudspeaker, A Beginner’s Guide To Tube Amplifiers and A View From The Booth: Reference Systems, Accuracy & Why Audiophiles Love Jazz So Much: including rare interview with the late audio legend engineer Al Schmitt. The finale from season 5 includes the yearly “best of awards” and you can also find episodes covering British HiFi, Subwoofers/Setup/Tips, and the how to: Budgeting From Entry Level To High End. Season 4 highlights include Joseph Audio, Pro-Ject Turntables, and Rob Watts. One can still download this season’s educational show with TOP’s Beginners Primer To High Fidelity Digital Audio alongside the latest on Two-Way Speaker Design. Fan favorite What Is Mastering? What Happens When An Album Is Remastered? is also still available as well. If you are interested in further exploring the analog realm, the Guide To Buying A Turntable (and records) might point you in the right direction.
Options to stream this week’s interview about Audiophile Buyer’s guide, direct from the embed below or subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform including iTunes, Android, Google, Deezer, Spotify, iHeartRadio and more.