Celebrating 40 years in business, Conrad-Johnson released their special edition flagship amplifiers, the ART150, which is a single chassis stereo version and the monoblock ART300s. According to C-J, the amp represents the culmination of all their design expertise to date, and they will produce only 250 of them. For those needing more power, C-J also offers the new ART300 monoblocks. Like their smaller stereo sibling, production is limited 250 pairs.

C-J’s entry-level tube amplifier, the Classic Sixty-Two SE (reviewed here in issue 84) offers marvelous sound and represents an amplifier I could live with happily. That said, the ART150 defies expectations, delivering an extraordinary musical experience that few components in my personal experience have.

Creating a classic

Like all recent C-J gear, the new ARTs are available in gold anodized finish only. All the components reside within a 16.3”D x 19”W x 8.75”H metal chassis, resulting in an overall weight of  80 lbs. The ART’s aesthetics adhere to the style brief set by current Conrad-Johnson designs. As with all C-J products, the ART is a collaborative effort of Lew Johnson, Bill Conrad the rest of the C-J team.

The hefty base serves as the amplifier’s foundation, with custom power and output transformers shielded in a black metal enclosure jetting upward from the rear. A rounded Lucite frame with tube-sized holes in it protects the semicircle of three 6922 tubes up at the front face. Between these two functional structures rests a protective metal cage, with a front panel also made from clear Lucite. The resulting “window” makes it easy to admire the row of four KT150 driver tubes from a distance. The most recent offering from Tung-Sol, the elongated egg shape of the KT150 gives the ART amplifier more of a space age flair.

The front of the ART is a model of simplicity. A single, quarter-sized power button resides toward the right side, illuminated by a subtle amber LED when activated. When depressed the amp warms the tubes slowly, helping extend tube life. You might hear a few pings and pops through the speakers while the tubes warm up, but once the ART achieves optimal voltage and temperature one’s ear must be very close to the woofer or tweeter to detect audible hiss.

Mining for the best parts

As old wisdom suggests, “It is what’s inside that counts.” In the case of the ART150, careful component choices result in staggering performance. C-J sought the best possible parts for the new ART, right down to the type of internal wiring, with the wide-bandwidth output transformers and Teflon capacitors being custom-made solutions. Also under the hood are laser-trimmed metal foil resistors chosen for their high levels of performance in the sensitive signal path. As a single ended design, the ART accepts only RCA interconnects from a preamplifier. The high quality gold-plated input terminals offer both excellent electrical transmission and a secure grip on cables.

A set of metal five-way binding posts on the back of the unit facilitate connection of spade, banana, or bare-wire cable terminations with ease. Spades used in my case secure quickly and very firmly under the posts. For those without muscular fingers, a 7/16-inch plastic binding post wrench fits over the nut correctly, allowing extra leverage. If you elect this route, consider an approach of gentle assertiveness, remembering you are not bolting together a skyscraper’s support beams.

The Conrad Johnson design philosophy has always centered around meticulously executing simple circuit designs – a big part of why they don’t produce balanced circuit designs. Taking the simplification mantra further in this amplifiers, a single pair of KT150 output tubes per channel replaces four KT120 tubes per channel in the original ART amplifier, with the new design producing 150 watts per channel, up from the 140 per channel available in the original.

Swift set up

The tubes are carefully packed inside the tube cage, so this will need to be removed to fit power and driver tubes. Each tube box is wrapped in black tissue paper giving the unpacking process an extra touch of class.

Like every other C-J power amplifier, the user must manually bias the power tubes after installing them. The process is surprisingly easy, using a simple plastic screwdriver included in the ART150 package. After a new set of tubes are socketed, twist the biasing screw just enough to extinguish the small yellow LED next to each tube. C-J suggests doing this again after an hour or so of use, and again every six months to extend the life of the tube set. When re-tubed, the biasing process should be repeated.

The ART requires significant break in due to the custom Teflon capacitors and other electronics within. C-J completes a 5-day burn-in before ART amplifiers leave the factory. During that time, the C-J team can ensure no component inside the amp fails before shipping, and do a listening test. I gave the ART150 another 200 hours of play time to ensure it reached its full sonic potential, and the sound did gain improvement during that period.

It is best to shut down the amp when not using it. Doing so will help maximize valuable tube life. ART warm-up time from a cold start is a scant 15 minutes, so the wait for optimal sound is never a long one. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

Jewelry for the eardrums

C-J’s tagline “It Just Sounds Right” is not just marketing hype. In this case, those four words may comprise the shortest product review ever written. However, quantifying “Right” requires quite a few more words because a lot is right with this amp.

With the ART150, C-J did not just jump over the high bar set by the Classic 62. Instead, it seems they used a ten-foot pole to vault over it. The Classic 62 is a fantastic amp by any measure. However, the ART exceeds the Classic 62’s capability in every way.

With the ART150, my entire listening room becomes part of its huge projected soundstage. Music extends well beyond the left and right speaker boundaries, wrapping around the edges of the space. When music dictates it, spatial cues place instruments and vocals above, below, behind, or well out in front of the speakers. Imaging presented by the ART remains not only precise and defined, but almost tangible. Instruments and vocals layered over one another retain independent space rather than collapsing into one another. The three-dimensional nature of the music experience proves immersive, and time evaporates while listening to song after song. Even with familiar tracks, subtle sound effects are much easier to discern, offering details few components retrieve so exceptionally. Occasionally, music freed by the ART will surprise me, as if sneaking up next to my listening seat before revealing itself. Even older recordings reveal a few surprises. For example, engineered vocal effects in “By My Side” by INXS extend the background voices, well… right by my side. Alternately, the bar chime sounds in Depeche Mode’s “Everything Counts” seem to leap forward to a point a few inches from my ears. To have an audio component capable of detailed projection that catches me off guard like this is equally rare, eerie, and thrilling.

The ART will reveal every nuance of a song for better or worse. Great recordings sound quite realistic. However, on less-than-stellar tracks, the ART exposes any shortcoming too. For instance, listening to Santana’s Supernatural, the level of compression is evident. Cymbals lack both the splash of impact and a lingering decay. In contrast, extremely well-recorded albums like Johnny Cash’s American IV: The Man Comes Around provide the honest illusion of Cash sitting in the room. Few amplifiers I have experienced offer this degree of revelation. The ART represents quite an achievement indeed.

Despite the level of detail, this C-J’s purposeful voicing choices offer organic, natural, and forgiving sound. Even with some strident or sibilant recordings, ear-twitching spikes lose their sting and seem much more refined through the ART. C-J manages to capture every detail within a song but accomplishes the trick of making edgy sonics more enjoyable.

Forget any pre-conceived notion that this tube amplifier might generate watered-down or mushy bass. The ART150 rides the perfect balance between bass depth, punch, and naturalness. Similarly, high notes offer a welcome sparkle. Both male and female vocals glide through this amp’s circuitry, providing the listener a lush and luxurious musical experience as they emerge. Regardless of music genre, the ART never failed to deliver fantastic music, exceeding my expectations for an audio component.

Go for the gold!

Reaching audio heaven comes with a cost. Retailing at $19,500 for the limited edition ART150 and double that for the ART300 monos, either choice represents a significant investment. However, considering the extensive research and design process, no-compromise electronics, and the stellar sound this amplifier produces, one should expect a component of this magnitude to have a price commensurate with its performance level.

Those familiar with any piece of tube gear know they need replacement over time, so unlike solid-state amps, an ART owner should budget for planned maintenance. C-J suggests the ART’s tubes have a longevity of two or three years depending on usage. KT150s cost around $90 each and prices for 6922s can range widely depending if they are modern production or new old stock. Budget at least $500 every few years for a complete re-tube. The ART300 monos, each of which is essentially an ART150 optimized for a single channel, would double that tube cost.

Yes, I am utterly stunned by the ART150’s sonic prowess. Among amplifiers I have had the pleasure of evaluating at home for an extended period, the ART deserves a place on a tiny list of amps I would enjoy for the long haul. We will have to wait and see what C-J creates for their appropriately-golden, 50^th anniversary! For now, the ART earns a place among those scarce components that offer such an outstanding level of performance it could halt one’s long journey in pursuit of better gear. Kick off those worn-down trekking shoes, relax, and just enjoy the music.

I am giving the ART150 amplifier my highest praise: I purchased the demo unit as a reference component. If you are seeking a flagship amplifier to enjoy for many years to come, do yourself a big favor and head to your local Conrad-Johnson dealer for a demo. Like me, you may find you cannot walk away from the ART150. Grab one before these limited-edition units are gone!

Further Listening: Jeff Dorgay

Even though Conrad-Johnson has been refining their designs for decades now, they’ve made some pretty incredible tube amplifiers over the years. Audiophiles the world over still discuss many of their Premier designs in hushed conversations, with reverence.

Not only is the ART 150 one of the most musical revealing amplifiers I’ve heard, the combination with C-Js flagship GAT 2 Preamplifier has me squeezing my adjective gland for some new superlatives. I can not find them. If you already have one of CJ’s top preamps, the ART 150 will take you somewhere rare and special. If you don’t, you’ll be shopping. I won’t taunt Rob with the GAT until he recovers from the ART 150 purchase.

Everything Rob points out about the ART 150, is heightened even further when paired with the GAT 2. It’s worth mentioning that the ART 150 is no slouch with an ACT 2 either, so even if you have one of these on your equipment rack, it is a worthy partner for an ART 150.

As a friend pointed out recently, we are really living in an exceptional period for audio, no matter what your budget might be. With so many of the industry’s top designers benefitting from decades of experience, creating their best work. It’s often said that it takes 10,000 hours to master something. 40 years of refining greatness results in the ART 150 power amplifier. More often than not, tube power amplifiers give you musicality/tonality, inner detail, or massive imaging prowess, but rarely all three. The ART 150 does that and more – adding major dynamic swing and bass control. This level of resolution, delicacy and freedom from fatigue is what makes the ART 150 so special. That is why it is our Amplifier of the Year for 2017.

The Conrad-Johnson ART 150 Stereo Power Amplifier

MSRP:  $19,500

PERIPHERALS

Analog Source: SME Model 10 with SME V and Model 10 tonearms. Dynavector 17D3 and Denon DL-103R cartridges

Digital Sources: Mac Mini, Roon Music Service, Simaudio MOON 780D DAC, Oppo BDP-103

Amplification: Conrad-Johnson Classic 62, Burmester 911 Mk3

Preamplification: Coffman Labs G1-B

Speakers: GamuT RS3i, JL Audio Dominion Subwoofers

Cables: Jena Labs

Power: Torus AVR 15 Plus, RSA Mongoose power cords

Accessories: ASC tube traps, Mapleshade Samson audio racks, Coffman Labs Equipment Footers, AudioQuest Jitterbug, Atomic Audio Labs Mac Mini stand

It only takes about 8 seconds of listening to the delicacy of the violins on the The Jung Trio’s self titled SACD to realize that the Sonoma Model One headphone system is one of the most incredible personal listening experiences going.

Maybe the most, but we’ll leave that argument for the internet pundits. The level of texture, detail and sheer tonal correctness is well above anything we have yet experienced.

The sheer clarity and lack of distortion presented by the Model One might have you looking for the volume control, (to turn them up) but proceed with caution, this newfound level of sonic purity will fool you. So, don’t take your first test drive with Metallica. Ease your way into the Sonoma Model Ones until you get used to the feel. But be warned, you can’t un-hear this once you have.

Instant attitude adjustment

We pulled out all the stops to revisit well-worn test tracks, with the best sources we could muster. The dCS Rossini Player was used as a transport, via the coaxial digital input and our Aurender server, via the USB input for digital files (standard and high resolution) along with streaming Tidal selections. The analog combination of the Brinkmann Bardo turntable, featuring a $10,000 Koetsu Jade Platinum cartridge and the Pass Labs XS Phono made a great conduit for the analog bits. And, because the jack was there, an iPhone 7+ was called into duty, just to see how that would work. Spoiler: while not as good as the dCS or Bardo, with uncompressed files, the iPhone never sounded better!

Regardless of music selected, the key words to describe the Model One are effortless and natural. Incredibly natural. Often headphones and speakers can pick up a sound, a coloration, based upon the materials used in cabinets, crossovers and drivers. Not here. While the Model One’s do a splendid job with dynamics, thanks to the lightening sharp rise time of the electrostatic driver, the amount of fine detail they reveal will almost frighten you, especially with familiar recordings you thought you knew intimately.

The epic spatial presentation in Sigur Ros’ Valtari slowly envelopes you with sound, and as the music swells, the phones seem to disappear into thin air. The grumbly bass lines present are well fleshed out and full of detail – the only thing missing is the sheer sock factor from listening to a pair of dynamic speakers in a room. Your favorite pop, rock, rock and electronic selections will be portrayed in a way you’ve never experienced, yet the ease by which acoustic instruments are reproduced is an outright luxury. A fair amount of time spent with the Model One might even have you rethinking your primary speaker choice.

Road trip

My journey with electrostatic speakers goes back to the early 70s. The first real hifi system I experienced was a friends McIntosh setup, paired to a pair of Jantzen Electrostatic speakers. I didn’t even know what “transparency” or “imaging” was, but grooving on Robin Trower’s Bridge of Sighs proved captivating via his Dad’s Thorens TD124. Senior year in high school, when nearly everyone had a pair of Koss Pro 4AA’s, I had already traded up to ESP 9s, so the audiophile virus had already taken hold.

In the years that followed, I always had the good fortune to have a large enough room to keep those ESP 9s on the shelf most of the time, along with a pair of Stax that have been handed down to a good friend, but I keep coming back to that sound, or better, lack of sound that an ESL driver in headphones or speakers offer. I still own Acoustat, MartinLogan and Quad speakers as references.

Like premium phono cartridges, premium headphones have brought a dimension to personal listening not thought possible even five years ago. Planar headphones from Audeze, HiFiMan, OPPO and a few others have joined the field and their offerings are very good, but there’s still something special about electrostatic headphones – enter the Sonoma Model One System.

One step beyond

Previous electrostatic phones have worked like tiny ESL speakers in an ear cup, in the sense that they use a very light weight diaphragm energized between two grids carrying high voltage that pushes and pulls the diaphragm in and out to move the air. Sonoma takes advantage of a new transducer that they call a high precision electrostatic laminate (HPEL) design. You can read the full story on the Sonoma website here (https://www.sonomaacoustics.com/technology/) but to make a long story short, the Sonoma driver eliminates the grid, replacing it with an extremely thin membrane. Then, the driver surface is divided up into seven separate areas, tuned to different frequencies to eliminate resonance, which you can see from the transparent back of the drivers, yet maintains full range performance for cohesiveness.

Though the headband and ear cushions look fairly bulky, the cups are made from magnesium and the hand sewn pads are produced from Cabretta sheepskin leather. Knowing precious little about leather, this type of leather is made from the skins of sheep that grow hair rather than wool. This results in a smoother, lighter and more resilient leather that is typically reserved for gloves. Long listening sessions prove effortless with the Model One and where other, bulkier phones beg to be put down after an hour or so, the Model Ones can be listened to, without drawing attention to themselves for the better part of a day.

The result is a fairly massive looking set of headphones that doesn’t feel it. Design geeks in the crowd will flip over the careful attention to fine detail, right down to the high level of fit and finish present thanks to high precision stainless fasteners. Finally, Sonoma collaborated with Straight Wire to design a custom cable from the ground up to transmit the maximum amount of audio information. The cable alone looks like something you’d buy in the aftermarket for $500 – $1,000. Who wants to buy a $5,000 pair of phones, only to have to upgrade the cable?

A complete system

There are more than a few mega headphones out there, crossing the $5k mark, but none of them come with an amplifier and a full function, high res DAC. In case you forgot or aren’t familiar, the team at Sonoma invented the DSD workstations, used to record many of today’s digital recordings, so to say they know great sound is an understatement. Either way, their passion for sound is such a great place to start when designing a complete playback system like the Model One.

The latest DAC chipset from ESS, the Sabre Reference is used here, along with the AKM premium ADC chips, capable of operating up to 32bit/384khz. The ADC is required to allow the use of a 64-bit digital signal processor to optimize the frequency response of the Sonoma Model One.

This extra step is what gives the Model One the advantage over its competition, your music is fully optimized to the output capabilities of the driver, eliminating any frequency response anomalies along the way.

Technology that serves the sound

Combining the best build quality, with the coolest technology doesn’t blow you away without results, and the Sonoma Model One delivers. After listening to hundreds of other headphone/amplifier combinations, the Model One is our top choice. Not only have we awarded it our Product of the Year in the personal listening category, we are purchasing a Model One system to use as the standard by which we judge all other phones, so you will be hearing a lot more about the Model One system in the future. Wrapping it up, the Model One is exquisitely packaged as well – certainly a nice touch when you’ve made an investment like this in your listening future.

Remember, you aren’t buying a $5,000 pair of headphones, your getting an amp, DAC, DSP processor and top line cable for the asking price.

The value proposition

You can get a pair of earbuds at Best Buy for $19 and plug them into your laptop to enjoy music, so by that definition, you don’t need a $5,000 pair of headphones. But, if you’d like to have a level of sound quality that would probably take six figures to achieve in a room with amplifiers, speakers and cables, The Model One might just be the best value in high end audio today. Even those with mega systems will be amazed at what this system can do, revealing nuance and detail that can often be masked by the best of rooms.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Once you hear them, you will find a way to make them yours. And you’ll be glad you did.

The Sonoma Acoustics Model One Headphone System

$4,995

www.sonomaacoustics.com

In case you missed our review of SVS SB-16 Subwoofer, we were pretty excited about this massive, gloss black, low frequency machine. You can read the full review here.

However, if the SB-16 series is just a little bit too big for your environment, or a touch too expensive for your holiday budget, their new 4000 series is the way to roll. We compared the SB-16 series to the ZO6 Corvette. Hey, there’s no shame in getting a Grand Sport. Applying everything they’ve learned with the SB-16s, the new 4000 series subs offer all the functionality that made the bigger brother get so much world wide acclaim.

Priced from $1,499 to $1,999, you have a choice of the SB, which is smaller and has a sealed cabinet, the PB, featuring a larger, ported cabinet (along with the ability to go a few hz lower to 13hz instead of 19 hz in the SB) and the PC, which has a footprint of only 16″. (and it still goes down to 16hz) With maximum output in the 126-134db range, any of the new 4000 series will handle the most demanding music, movies or gaming situation. You can read the complete specs here.

Finally, the SVS DSP smartphone app works with these new subwoofers. As with any device, it’s all about interface, and SVS wins the day here – giving you control over more parameters from the comfort of your listening chair than any other. Party on, Garth. Watch for a review as soon as we can get our hands on one.

www.svsound.com

High quality integrated amplifiers are a hotbed of audiophile activity these days.

Thanks to improved manufacturing techniques, and in the case of a company like Esoteric, their ability to call upon the same engineering team that builds $50k (each) digital audio components, the $7,500 F-07 integrated amplifier makes perfect sense. Before the first track is played, this easily looks like a $20,000 component on the rack. The exquisitely machined chassis, elegant controls, and gentle blue backlit front panel all declare quality, high quality. If that doesn’t convince you, pick it up, the F-07 weighs 60 pounds.

Too enthused to read the manual or pour over all the specs, the F-07 is quickly connected to the Quad 2812 speakers for a test drive. Even from cold, this 100-watt per channel integrated entices. (it does produce 170wpc into 4 ohms, nearly doubling it’s rated power) The recent vinyl release of Crowded House’s Woodface fills the space between and beyond the boundaries of the Quads, which can be notoriously tough to drive, because of their highly capacitive nature.

Features Galore

Did I mention? The F-07 includes a built-in, dual mono MM/MC phonostage that is anything but an afterthought with a fixed loading of 100 ohms – perfect for my Zu Audio modded Denon DL-103r cartridge and the latest Technics SL-1200G table we reviewed last issue. The MM section is equally enticing, paired with the Gold Note Machiavelli cartridge. This on-board phonostage only features one input, with MM/MC selection on the front panel. Even moving up to the Ortofon Cadenza Black MC proves the F-07 up to the task, this amplifier will be at home with turntables costing as much or more! Nothing in the F-07 is an afterthought.

Digital lovers wanting an inclusive option can add the Op-DAC-1 DAC board in the accessory slot on the rear panel. This DSD capable DAC will only set you back $1,100, keeping the total package price of an F-07 with DAC under $9,500. Running through a long playlist of high-resolution tracks, the performance delivered by the F-07 is first class, and 16/44 performance equally involving. The delicate harmonies in Hall and Oates’ classic Abandoned Luncheonette are stunning, with all the elements of the recording having plenty of room to breathe. The harmonies in John Mayer’s latest, The Search For Everything prove equally enticing.

Today’s bargain DAC’s offer a level of resolution that would have commanded a five-figure sum a decade ago, but the F-07s onboard DAC has a smoothness that you won’t find with a budget DAC. No doubt, this is a result of trickle down technology from their world class Grandioso D1 DAC. Bottom line, unless you are going to drop major cash on an external DAC, I suggest just adding the card and be done.

Plenty of Power

The sonic signature of the F-07 is very natural. A well tempered, dual mono, class AB power amplifier, fed by a massive power supply makes for a dynamic presentation, that is free of coloration. The F-07 neither embellishes nor emphasizes what isn’t there. Sonically, this amplifier reminds me a lot of the Boulder amplifiers regarding “doing no harm,” but at a much more affordable price point. Bypassing the internal DAC and phono illustrates just how good the internal bits are, yet shows off what a fantastic amplifier the F-07 is.

Moving to more dynamic music and giving the volume control a major twist clearly illustrates how much sheer oomph it offers, especially now paired with the Focal Sopra no.3 speakers, with a 91.5db/1-watt sensitivity rating. Even tracking through major rock and EDM tracks, the F-07 never gets more than warm to the touch, at ear shattering volumes. An equally impressive performance is given with the current MartinLogan 13A ESLs as well as the Graham LS5/9s. 100 watts per channel should be more than enough for anyone in less than a cavernous room. And the F-07 does offer a set of preamp out jacks so you can use it strictly as a preamplifier, driving a larger power amplifier.

Regardless of the source, the F-07 is incredibly fatigue free. After many 8-12 hour listening sessions, I could always put one more record on, and that is the highest compliment I can pay this amplifier. While the majority of my test listening was done with the onboard DAC and phonostage, Esoteric’s Scott Sefton had to recall the DAC board, leaving the trusty Gryphon Kalliope ($32,000) DAC in its place. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the Gryphon offers better digital performance, but the bigger picture is how well the F-07 responds, revealing a proportionate increase in resolution. A large slice of high-end audio heaven is yours with the F-07s internal DAC, but should the urge to upgrade still beckon, it has more than enough performance to keep you happy. Maybe the Esoteric K-07 SACD player?

In the Eyes of the Beholder

Excellent as the audio performance of the F-07 is, the level of human engineering on this product is equally great; it’s an incredibly easy integrated to live with and use day to day. The controls are well distributed on the front panel, with input and volume controls larger than the rest to command attention and secondary controls at the ready. And yes, it has a pair of tone controls that work incredibly well, only giving a gentle nudge to the opposite ends of the frequency spectrum. (+/- 12db @ 63hz and 14khz, respectively) I found these very helpful with records featuring less than optimally mastered. Audiophile purists can grouse about tone controls all they like, I’m enjoying the ones on the F-07.

The rear panel has all the inputs and outputs equally distributed, with four single-ended RCA and one balanced XLR line level inputs. Considering that you already have an on board phono and the potential for a built-in DAC, the F-07 should be able to handle any compliment of ancillary component you might have. In the best tradition of Japanese integrateds past, there are even two speaker outputs.

Last but not least, a headphone amplifier is included for those desiring personal listening sessions. Auditioning a modest cache of phones’ from Oppo, Audeze, B&W and Grado shows that like the phonostage, the headphone section is not an afterthought, either. No matter what set was chosen, the F-07 delivers a large soundstage along with the ability to control the presentation. Bass generated was excellent, the deep bass line in Prince’s “Here on Earth,” indeed impressive, with force and control.

Is it the one for you?

Whether you are a seasoned audio enthusiast, that is perhaps downsizing and would like to have the sound and functionality of a big stack of components in a more reasonable sized enclosure, or the music lover moving from a basic system, wanting to achieve the same objective, the F-07 is a winner. Having the privilege of listening to the world’s finest components daily, I must admit to looking at the F-07 after a full day of listening, asking myself, “could I just take this, a turntable and one good pair of speakers and call it a day?” The answer to that question is yes.

Everyone wants something different from their hi-fi system. And yes, there is more performance to be had from Esoteric’s flagship components. But I am a human being valuing balance above everything else. I’d rather have a new Miata than a Maserati. If that balance is your preference as well, I can’t suggest the Esoteric F-07 highly enough. Much for all the same reasons I love the Simaudio ACE integrated at $3,400; the F-07 is a similar component in the balance it offers. All of the components compliment each other and offer an equal level of performance, but the F-07 offers more in every way. I’m buying the review sample myself.

The final note on the F-07 comes in the heritage behind the company. With TEAC being the parent company, the build quality is fantastic, and there is a world-wide dealer and service network in place to assure support. This is as good as it gets. I suspect those buying an F-07 of their own, will plug it in, turn it on, and just enjoy great music for years, if not decades. I am more than happy to award this amplifier one of our Exceptional Value Awards for 2017 – it embodies all the values we hold true at TONEAudio.

The Esoteric F-07 Integrated Amplifier

$7,500, Op-DAC-1 DAC board $1,100 additional

esoteric-usa.com

Turntable                     Soulines Kubrick HDX, Rega RB1000, Gold Note Macchiavelli

Speakers                      GamuT RS5i, Focal Sopra no.3, Quad 2812, Graham LS5/9
Cable                           Cardas Clear

Power                          Equi=Core 1200

Having spent a fair amount of time with the Magnepan MMG over the years, it’s a fun little speaker that can’t always rock. Change the program to jazz or vocal music, and you’d swear you are listening to much more expensive speakers. The spatial perspective of the MMG is incredible, feeling almost like you have a gigantic pair of headphones in the listening room. For $699 a pair, they are tough to beat.

The new Magnepan .7, at twice the price, is another high-end audio bargain of all time. Much more dynamic, with the ability to create a huge soundfield in a modest sized room, these speakers are so much more of what the MMGs offer, yet still reasonably priced. We’ll have more to talk about when our full review is finished, but after a few days of run in time, these little panels are nothing short of amazing.

Magnepans past are fairly power hungry, yet the .7s work with 60 watts per channel quite nicely. PrimaLuna’s HP Integrated and the Pass INT-60 offer excellent results, so whether you like tubes or transistors you can bask in the panel experience.

The holiday season is upon us. If you’re looking for a new pair of speakers, I highly suggest the Magnepan.7. My high-end journey started with a pair of MGIIs nearly 40 years ago. Even if you aren’t, zoom on over to your Magnepan dealer to see just what $1,395 buys. And for all of you complaining on internet forums about how high end sound is out of reach unless you have six figures to spend, here’s your solution.

www.magnepan.com

With phono preamplifier reaching the stratosphere, what is the performance minded analog lover to do? We’ve got a few good examples coming in the January issue of TONEAudio, but this new model from European Audio Team, the Glow S, is incredible. Here’s why:

Super styling. The sleek case, with soft blue LEDs, matte finish tube towers (hiding a pair of EAT ECC 83 tubes) and complimentary wooden end caps makes for a compact component that will look fantastic on any equipment rack.

Intelligent functionality. Everything is on the top panel, and you can adjust MC gain, (45, 50, 55, 65 and 70 db) loading (10, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 1000 ohms) and capacitance (50, 100, 150, 200, 270, 320 and 420pf) easily. There is also a very unobtrusive subsonic filter – great for those of you with subwoofers!

The sound. Bells and whistles sweeten the deal, but the Glow S sounds a lot more expensive than it’s $2,995 price tag would suggest. Click here to visit the VANA LTD site, if you’re in the US, or here to visit the EAT site, if you’re not.

Everyone has a favorite color; mine is red, and my husband (it’s no secret about Jeff Dorgay) loves lime green. When it comes to accessorizing these are the colors that attract us.

However,  our favorite colors sometimes may tend to be a bit too harsh indoors, or too big (in the case of lime green, no offense my love).  What man or woman hasn’t incorporated black into their wardrobe, or home? It’s understated and elegant and goes with everything.   There isn’t anything quite as beautiful as a pair of black lacquer speakers or black cars. In reality, black is only beautiful without smudges or dust, which is almost impossible to achieve.  The opposite of black is white, a non-color that reflects light rather than absorbing it.  Even the smallest black speaker will look more massive than a white one; all an illusion.

Bowers & Wilkins matte white speakers blend in with the room and don’t fight with the colors you are already using, still looking bright and best of all, they always look smart. Europeans have favored white for years as they have less available light than other places – especially the Scandinavian countries. Whether you live in the Northern part of the U.S. and have more rain, or in the lower Southern states with heat, white speakers reflect light. The new B&W705’s that I’ve placed in the bedroom blend with modern as well as traditional settings, so eclectic does well too. White looks crisp, clean and pure; just like the sound.

Raidho’s X-1 Speakers are compact, yet sit prestigiously on their custom stands. The white gives off the appearance of being ‘light and airy.’  Sound that is light travels, and psychologically we transfer this insight into our beliefs about what we see we also hear. The experience of listening is affected by our sight as well as hearing – such is the science of psychoacoustics. Some individuals have a neurological condition called “sound-to-color synesthesia,” or “chromesthesia,” in which they effortlessly experience their very own light show while hearing music and other sounds. Interestingly, many chromesthetes grow up assuming that everyone has the same visual responses to sounds as they do, and are shocked when they discover this is not so. (1 in 13,000).

Even smaller and more compact are the Dali Fazon Mikro speakers. Again, in white, with matching subwoofer and center channel, these make a potent, yet compact home theater choice. We’ve been using this in our small, bright white living room for a few years now with excellent result. You barely know they are there.

Your favorite color can be a big part of your personal life, but when it comes to choosing a speaker color, it’s best to think about what color works best for your living space. White doesn’t go out of style and it’s what many Europeans prefer. Practical because it hides dust and dirt, white is a big plus for a busy lifestyle. White represents perfection and is the purest most complete color. What more could you ask for? – Pamela Dorgay

There’s nothing more unfair to a pair of speakers than to pull them out of the box, throw them in a room with no care paid to fine tuning the setup and just playing music. But if you just got home from your favorite hifi store, that’s probably what you’d do, right? Especially if you’re not a terribly geeky audiophile.

Our back bedroom is the hang out room in our house. It’s about 11 x 12 feet, with a couple of big wardrobe closets, and a huge comfy chair and ottoman. It’s a great little room to get cozy in, put a pair of headphones on, and curl up with a glass of wine on a cold, rainy Pacific Northwest afternoon. But since we’ve added the Naim Atom to the mix, we’ve been on a quest for a great pair of small speakers that fill the room.

Having been to the introduction of the 705s in Boston a few months ago, we knew these were going to be pretty special, but you never know for sure until you get em in your room and your system. Ok, we are kind of geeky. However, in this room, it’s the rule that whatever is placed in it sounds great without major setup. We’re trying to keep it real in this environment.

The 705S2s pass this test with flying colors. Using the very reasonably priced Cardas Iridium speaker cables, and plopping the 705S2s on the filled Sound Anchors stands, they produce glorious sound right out of the box. Of course, as with any fine loudspeaker, careful attention to fine tuning makes for even better performance, we’ll explore that shortly in a full review.

www.bowersandwilkins.com

With 30 minutes on the power up clock, unable to resist the temptation any further, a new copy of Crowded House’s Together Alone is dropped on the current Technics SL-1200G with Hana SL cartridge, and magic begins pouring through the latest offering from Parasound.

If you’re new to the analog game, the JC3 Jr.s designer, John Curl is a legend, having a hand in some of the world’s finest preamplifiers and phono preamplifiers. We reviewed their $2,400 JC3 about five years ago, finding it an incredible performer and an incredible bargain. Since then, Parasound has gone on to build an improved JC3+ (at $2,995) and the Jr. you see here for $1,495.

Not a complete dual mono, dual shielded chassis design like the more expensive 3+, Jr. still gets the job done. It’s quiet, quiet, quiet; paints a big soundstage and is incredibly dynamic. Like the more expensive models, you have balanced and single ended output options and the choice of a fixed 47k loading or a variable 50-500 ohm MC setting, with three gain settings; 40, 50, and 60db. (6 db more if you use the balanced outputs).

Got your interest piqued? Watch for Eric Neff’s full report. I’m off to FedEx to blast it his way. Oh yeah, it comes in black too…

http://www.parasound.com/jc3jr.php

Time flies when you’re gorgeous and having fun!

Way back in 2012, we reviewed Sonus faber’s flagship speakers, the Aida and they were breathtaking to say the least. Now, they have just announced an updated version that is even better than the previous model. You can read our past review here:

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/sonus-faber-aida-loudspeaker/

But to sum it up, we called Aida “the new Italian word for perfection.” These speakers look as beautiful as they sound, and one friend wept when he heard Bob Dylan through them at our place. No kidding!

While the Aida looks the same from the outside, everything inside has been upgraded; crossovers and drivers all take advantage of everything SF has learned in the last six years.

Our North American readers will not be able to experience Aida until the end of 2017, but it will make it’s debut in the Warsaw hifi show this weekend. I envy any of you that will be there to experience it. I may be heading to Italy sooner than later!

www.sonusfaber.com

Having attended a dozen RMAF’s now, this year’s show had the best sound overall that I’ve ever encountered – at any show. While some manufacturers were not happy with the reconfigured hotel rooms, they did a damn good job at wringing good sound from them. The level of consistent great sound was definitely at an all-time high this year.

And while I think it’s unfair to draw a “best sound at the show,”line in the sand, here are my five favorites below. Speaking of unfair, I really liked the PS Audio room too, but this was a teachers pet favorite, because they were showing off a number of components I own! (The Focal Sopra no.3s along with REL 212SE subwoofers and a full compliment of PS Audio electronics, with their new Power Plant power conditioners that we should see for review sooner or later)

Nagra

Rene Laflamme and crew have been getting spectacular feedback all over the world this year, and it is well deserved. Basing a system around their new Classic DAC, Classic Preamplifier and HD Power Amplifier, with time tested speakers from Wilson and analog playback via their own reel to reel deck and the Kronos turntable, the Nagra components gave their best. Though this writer is not a Wilson fan, this was one of the most coherent and musical presentation I’ve ever heard them deliver. This room was a triumph of system synergy.

However, what made this system shine the brightest for me, was the high level of quality and consistency between sources. Great as the reel to reel playback was, digital and vinyl was so incredibly close, it didn’t matter what they were playing. This is what makes a truly high end system magical, when you can just get into the music and forget about the tech.

GamuT

Another group leaning heavily on the reel to reel, (While GamuT designer Benno Baun Meldgaard is a massive RTR enthusiast, they too provided equally stunning playback with all sources, from an all-GamuT system, anchored by their flagship Zodiac speakers. US Importer Michael Vamos had the tunes flowing from morning till night.

The Zodiacs have an amazing way of disappearing in the room, even more incredible considering how big they are. And the sound they produce is one of the most coherent, friendly sounds going. Having used GamuT speakers as reference components for years, they can be listened to forever without fatigue.

Featuring their latest XT-5 floorstanding speakers, the Raidho’s provide a vastly different presentation that GamuT or Wilson, yet on one level offer some of the strengths of each. Very dynamic, yet resolving, (without being fatiguing) the XT-5s paint an incredibly detailed and dimensional look at the music. Scary good.

We’ve just received their entry level X-1 and they are fantastic. Expect to hear a lot more about Raidho from us in the months to come – we have a factory visit scheduled for January, to get the story behind the speakers.

MartinLogan/Audio Research

Many long-term ESL lovers wax poetic about the marriage of an electrostatic speaker and tube amplifiers. ML went for broke this year, using the massive ARC REF 750SEs. Nothing beats the Audio Research REF 750SE monoblocks when it comes to sheer power delivery and control, yet these monstrous amplifiers have the same level of finesse that you’d expect out of a small tube amplifier.

Paired up with the equally gargantuan MartinLogan Neolith, the sound presented was big, bold, and stunning. If you ever thought panels couldn’t rock, this was the system to shatter your beliefs.

Pure Audio Project/Whammerdyne

Last year the $15k Whammerdyne “Truth” 2A3 amp re-defined what I thought a low power SET amp could do, but Pat Hickman has been hard at work, designing a killer low power amp for those not having that kind of budget. While the flagship Truth amp was in rotation and delivering amazing sound with the massive Pure Audio Project Quintet speakers, the real buzz for me was mating these speakers to his new DGA (Damn Good Amp 3) amp that barely tips the scales at $2,500.

Mated to the $3,500 Exogal Comet DAC, this whole system with your choice of reasonably priced cable is still only around $15k. This system was the bang for the buck king of the show. If you want six figure sound on a modest budget and have the room for the speakers, this is the way to roll.

Raidho

Featuring their $42,000/pair XT-5s, the Raidho room offered stunning resolution and the best implementation of a ribbon tweeter I’ve ever experienced. An in-depth, and lively presentation by Rune Skov, with a wide range of musical material had us all on the edge of our chairs. And, as you would expect from Danish craftspeople, the cabinets are just as gorgeous as the sound.

You will be hearing more about Raidho in the months to come in our pages!

Five Postcards from RMAF and Beyond:
A first visit to Denver’s audio show

By Gautam Raja, Photo: Brian Von Bork

#1. Wish You Were Hurting

There aren’t many Indian brands in high-end audio, which is why I’m sitting on an orange sofa at the Hotel Irvine, talking to Jacob George, a pony-tailed architect from Cochin, India. It’s 2015 at T.H.E. Show Newport, and Jacob is the founder and designer of Rethm, a company whose single-driver loudspeakers received good reviews in the international audio press. Jacob is in Orange County to show a pair of his elegant Rethm Maarga’s, and is also on the verge of setting up a US distribution network. He has run into an unexpected problem.

A dealer heard their room, and loved both sound and aesthetics of the speakers so much, that he walked the distributor into the corridor to talk business. The dealer had a bevy of high-profile clients with holiday homes at an upscale location in the US, and knew they’d love Jacob’s product.

But the distributor soon returned: no deal. The sound was right. The looks were right. The price was a problem. Too expensive? No, at $10,500, they were too cheap. His clients were expecting to pay about $80,000 for a pair of loudspeakers.

Long dissolve to 2017. The scene is the Davone room at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver. I walk in and look with suspicion at these pretty teardrop-shaped speakers with a beautiful wood finish. And when they play like a proper high-end product, I’m surprised. I make this admission to the soft-spoken Davone designer and founder Paul Schenkel, and while I don’t expect to be the first, I also don’t expect Paul to have no defensiveness or resignation about this, but a simple acceptance: this is how it is.

A little later, I talk to an experienced dealer about Davone, and he says, “Oh yeah, great speakers, but I can’t sell them. Too pretty.”

Please write back and tell me, why does it have to hurt?

#2. Wish You Were Younger. No, Older. No, Younger

In my recent past, I worked as a salesperson at a high-end audio dealership, a brief career unbesmirched by the ugliness of commerce (i.e. actual sales). But hey, I made lots of friends. Many industry reps visited the dealership, and I would ask them the same wide-eyed question: “Who is the new audiophile?”

They’d say, “You. Young people like you, with your USB turntables.”

And I would respond, “Holy crap, how old do you think I am?”

I’m 43, but I’m told I look much younger. (What they don’t tell me, but I know is true, is that I act much younger too.) But, apparently even 43 is young in audio world, and my callow USB-turntable-toting youthfulness was borne out at RMAF at the seminar “Young Guns of Hi-Fi”. It was part-joke that the venerable Steve Guttenberg sat in on the panel, but I don’t think anyone missed the irony of not having enough young guns to go around. Ebullient, ubiquitous Danny Kaey of Positive Feedback and SonicFlare led the seminar, and also on the panel were Rafe Arnott of Part-Time Audiophile, and Sean Casey of Zu Audio. They were all chronically young rather than chronologically—and I mean that in a good way. I guess that was the point.

Perhaps the only truly young people were self-described “older millennial” Jessa Zapor-Gray, vice president of marketing, Intervention Records, and someone I’ll describe as a likely older millennial, Jordon Gerber, manufacturing manager and chief engineer, Bob Carver Corporation.

The main question posed to the panel was the all-important: “How do we bring young people into audio?” The ball was thrown around a bit, but the game didn’t really take off. It wasn’t poor Danny’s fault, but more that these discussions are like lowering cartridge to your favorite record, and expecting the stylus to follow some other path—any other path—than the inevitable downward spiral through a bunch of well-worn tunes, to finish up “and but”-ting into eternity in the run-off groove.

“That was like stabbing myself in the eye,” said one of the panelists afterwards.

The industry seems to universally claim that young people must step in to save it, and yet one of the revelations at the seminar, something everyone on the panel and much of the audience agreed with, was that young people are ignored in rooms by manufacturers, dealers, and distributors. “These are young people with money, ready to buy,” said Rafe.

Again. Why does it have to hurt?

Also, I have never owned, and do not plan to own, a USB turntable.

#3. Wish You Were Hearing

Danny Kaey and I both live in LA, and he has promised to invite me to the next of his famous listening parties. (Hopefully it’ll stand even after he reads this article.) I phoned him for a post-RMAF chat about his seminars and, of course, “the industry”. Those aren’t my scare quotes; Danny had used them in the title of his Sunday seminar ‘Why We in “The Industry” Are All Arguing Over MQA and So Much More’. Again, Danny tried valiantly to kick it off, but the stylus descended, caught the groove, and a familiar album played out, including the famous “Bits is Bits” song. We all know the lyrics to that one, especially when sung by a computer engineer.

Though Danny is a certified gearhead, the three rooms he liked the most at the show were ones that were about music over equipment: Zu Audio, Classic Album Sundays, and Devore Fidelity.

“Shows need to be much less about listening to equipment and much more about a music party,” he said. “They need to make it comfortable, play non-audiophile music, and much less that quasi-controlled environment… it should be a lounge set-up where you can be social.”

Once again, we’re talking about self-induced pain. Stern chairs set up facing an audio system that’s a small skyscrapered city, playing beautiful inoffensiveness in a sea of variables that make it almost impossible to judge the merits of the object of your desires.

“This isn’t an inherently fun experience,” said one of the (truly) young observers at the Young Guns seminar, and most of us laughed. Jessa Zapor-Gray however, didn’t.

“But it is an industry event,” she pointed out.

I pivoted once more, starting to feel like a member of the fickle rabble in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Are shows such as the Los Angeles Audio Show, T.H.E Show, and RMAF marketed as consumer events, but treated and set-up like industry events?

And is this a problem?

#4. Wish You Were Here

Here’s what I felt on my final walkabout at 3.45pm on Sunday afternoon, catching the last of the rooms on my list before the sources started disappearing, and power amps mysteriously powered down in anticipation of the huge pack-up job at 5.30pm. There’s something deeply lonely about truly high-end audio. It’s polished into the liquid finish of speaker enclosures, brushed into the sides of solid metal casework, made manifest in the fanatical detail that bridges the chasm between 98% and 99%. I believe it’s a necessity not a symptom.

But it’s not a necessity to bake this sterility into the marketing. Looking at the advertisements, you’d think a home with $200,000 loudspeakers is a mausoleum with great light and stunning views. Floor-to-ceiling windows, floor-to-ceiling loudspeakers, and no humans to mar the gloss with their fingerprints, nachos, hairy pets, and cables. In these pristine mansions, no children clap their hands and giggle in front of turntables, no couples do an impromptu dance while dinner warms up. There’s not even the stereotypical target-demographic model: an old, white audiophile grinning at the veils being lifted by his new power conditioner.

These are products, the ads tell you, to be locked up in golden-ratioed towers. They celebrate loneliness, and loneliness sells when we’re largely not lonely. Today, we’re too lonely to be seen apex buying—just look at those extroverted little Bluetooth speakers that sing of backyard barbecues, dinner parties, and spontaneous picnics… in France.

So what happens if we start throwing people—you know, like actual human beings: happy families, beautiful friends—into those product advertisements?

I await your response.

#5. Back To the Home Fires

I should state that I’m no young gun, or gently middle-aged gun, or in fact, any kind of cis-weaponised member of the audio industry. I’m the upstart; the arriviste recently crossed over from consumer to industry, who presumes to comment upon the field. I wrote recently (and perhaps optimistically) that I had the tools to be the ideal observer: “I know the language but not the water-cooler gossip. I have the framework, but carry little baggage.”

In the days following RMAF, I reflected that though audiophilia was a huge, rewarding part of my life, I had an ambivalent relationship to it. You can’t come away from loving a $73,000 pair of loudspeakers without the moral fiber fraying a little. Something changes when you talk high-end all weekend with your audio-show buddy (hey, I have audio-show buddies now!), and he goes home to a small Northern California town that few people around the world had heard of; until the evening of October 8, when the firestorms put Santa Rosa on a global tragedy map. I went directly from discussing my friend’s upcoming loudspeaker purchase, to asking if his home was still standing.

I know it’s futile, even unfair, to bring life tragedy or world poverty to a luxury event. As I wrote in the long caption on an Instagram post (@gautamraja): “At shows such as Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, you meet passionate people whose surnames on their name tags match the badging on their highly engineered, beautifully finished products. Depending on the energy you bring to the show, it could be a study in glittering, exclusionary excess, or a moving view of a human yearning for perfection.”

My energy rattled between the two all weekend, but when things went well, as they often did, it was possible to walk through darkened hotel corridors on a clear, crisp Colorado day, and feel proud to be human.

If it’s going to be beautiful, sometimes it has to hurt.

#6. A Post-it Note From the Old Guy – Jeff Dorgay

Like our new guy Gautam, I too am usually confused for someone younger, but it’s because I’ve remained pretty immature, and the fact that I can still clear out a demo room in under ten seconds. With all this gray hair, I usually get mistaken for Einstein, the Doc in Back to the Future, or Nelson Pass. I’m comfortable with either of these. I asked Gautam to walk around, soak it up and give me his opinion on the vibe. I’d say he pretty much nailed it. I’ve been attending the RMAF now for 12 of the 13 years it’s been going on. I’ll always have a soft spot for it, because it’s where the first, 55 page issue of TONEwas launched 12 years ago.

One thing I did notice this year, was a lot higher percentage of rooms with good sound. That’s a big start. If you want people of any age to get excited about what this industry has to offer, the sound has to be compelling, and not just from a single, head in a vice position. This year, the chance with someone random stumbling in the door and hearing great sound was much higher than in years past, and I think that’s necessary to bring more people to our world. And unlike the Barrett-Jackson car auction in Scottsdale, which I’ve been attending even longer, I did see a lot of unfamiliar faces, and that’s a good start.

All that being said, it was a pleasant show. Saw my buds, met some readers and made a few new friends, so life is good.

In closing, I don’t think anyone realizes what a crushing amount of work, show promoter Marjorie Baumert goes through, so I’d like to ask my fellow audio enthusiasts for a minute of silence and praise. I know how tough it is just to coordinate Thanksgiving dinner. I can’t imagine how tough it is to get all the wacky folks in our industry in one place and keep em all happy. Well done, Marjorie. See you next year.

For their 40^th anniversary, Conrad-Johnson started shipping their new limited-edition, tube-based flagships, the ART150 stereo amp and ART300 monoblocks.

Over time we have had the opportunity to review C-J’s current lineup of amplifiers including MF2550 and MS2275 solid-state designs, and the Classic 62 tube amp. Each one has its strengths, but there is not a slacker among the bunch. The ART150, however, takes things to another level of detail and soundstaging with a very natural, and organic sound. It indeed won our team over, earning the TONEAudio 2017 Product of the Year in the amplifier category.

Using a tube compliment of four new-production Tung-Sol KT150 tubes and three 6922s, the ART150 produces 150 watts per channel, plenty of power to let most speakers sing. The ART150 shares a visual lineage with C-J designs past, what’s under the hood is all new. Every detail in this design was scrutinized by the C-J team, including proprietary transformers and CJD Teflon capacitors alongside carefully-chosen foil resistors and wire for the delicate signal path.

With such attention to detail and a legacy of stellar products, Conrad-Johnson has another big winner with the latest ART amplifiers. Our full review is coming soon, so you will be able to get all the details.

www.conradjohnson.com

With a plethora of fairly cool powered speakers on the market these days, it can be tough to choose.

Triangle makes it easy with the LN-01As because in addition to being a great pair of powered speakers, priced right at $799/pair, they include an on-board DAC, subwoofer output, and an MM phonostage. The phono input makes the deal for me, because what’s the point of a “compact” system, if you have to add a bunch of other boxes, right?

Spinning records with a recently restored Dual 1229 and Grado Black cartridge is a lot of fun with these little speakers, the built-in phonostage performs well, with decent frequency response and dynamic range. Triangle offers a turntable, produced by Pro-Ject, but any basic table/cartridge combination will work well here. We tried a couple of budget Grado, Shure and Ortofon cartridges with excellent result.

Though it defeats the above mentioned compact ethos, plugging in a recently restored TEAC reel to reel deck makes for a cool new and old combination. Watching the VU meters bounce when playing a few mix tapes is indeed romantic with the Triangles.

Sly and the Family Stone’s classic “If You Want Me to Stay” is rendered faithfully, and that bass control on the remote comes in handy; whether you’re in the party mode wanting more sock, or just need to compensate for room placement, these modest tone controls are highly effective. Take off the audiophile hat and enjoy, I say.

Switching the program material for something more raucous (like Slayer) proves the French pair can rock. “Reigning Blood” had to be turned up to painful levels to get the onboard amplifiers to clip, making the LN-01As capable party guests. Even more so if you add a small subwoofer. Our trusty REL T5 rounded out the lowest notes, giving our favorite hip-hop and EDM tracks more body, especially at party levels. A little sniffing around on eBay can get you something you can live with for a few hundred bucks and keep the total system cost around a thousand. That’s tough to beat.

Very Versatile

Setting up the LN-01As is a simple task. Everything you need to get started, including a 20-foot length of speaker cable to connect the passive left speaker to the right speaker, where the amplifier and related electronics, is included in the box. A small yet capable remote is accompanied by an excellent instruction manual, to guide you through the process.

Coax and optical digital inputs are provided along with a line level analog input and the phono. Music can also be streamed via Bluetooth. A USB is not offered with the LN-01As, but everything included performs at a high level. I’d rather see more performance and less connectivity, but your tastes may differ. A quick comparison, running TIDAL from a MacBook Pro via line level, streamed from an iPhone 8 via Bluetooth and an older Sony CD player’s optical output reveals the digital input a winner in ultimate fidelity by a slight margin over the line level, with the Bluetooth third, though still very good. The key here is flexibility. The LN01As work great on a desktop, bookshelf, or on dedicated stands all the same. They use a rear-firing port, so take care not to place them right up against a wall, or the lowest frequencies will roll off slightly.

Passing judgement

The Triangle Esprit floorstanders we just finished auditioning were incredibly good overall and an incredible value. The same level of sonic excellence and workmanship is here with the LN01A, though both speakers are intended for entirely different audiences. Admirably, the LN01A shares all the audible virtues that the more substantial speakers offer, and share a similar voice. The highest highs and lowest lows are slightly rolled off in comparison to the larger speakers (as expected) but the lovely, natural midrange that we experienced with the Esprit is in full effect with the much smaller LN01A.

The LN01As are comfortably at the top of the class, providing you don’t need to have a USB input. However, we feel that the functionality offered by the on-board MM phono stage and subwoofer output far outweigh the lack of a USB input. The only mystery is the sampling rate of the DAC, but again, what it accomplishes with TIDAL files is outstanding. I can’t imagine that many music lovers with an $800 system going to the expense of downloading high-resolution files.

If there is one suggestion to be made with these speakers, considering how tiny the remote control is, a full function smartphone app might be a useful upgrade to the LN01A. But seriously, I’m thinking of buying the review pair and a Pelican case to have these at the ready for when we take a road trip. Exellent as these speakers are in the house or office, they would make great traveling companions!

The Triangle LN01A powered loudspeakers

$799/pair (white or black)

http://www.triangle-fr.com/en/activeseries/ln01a

Today McIntosh announced the release of their new MC252 integrated amplifier, to a wide range of polarizing comments around the world.

With an MSRP of $3,500, this is a pretty kick ass little package. The approximately 12 x 18 inch footprint makes it about the size of a PrimaLuna amplifier, so it’s not going to take up a ton of space wherever you end up placing it, and at only 28 pounds, nearly anyone can lift it into place – pretty cool for McIntosh.

A hybrid design, the MA252 uses four tubes in the input/driver segments and a solid state output stage, delivering 100 watts per channel into 8 ohms and 160 per channel into 4 ohms, so you’ll have enough juice to drive most any speakers. A headphone amplifier is included and an MM phono section as well.

You can see by the rear view, that there is one balanced XLR input, two unbalanced RCA inputs and the phono, along with a single, mono output for a powered subwoofer. This should make it easy to make the MA252 the anchor for a great compact system.

Visually, the 252 pays homage to past classic McIntosh tube amplifiers, adding the current aesthetic of LED’s underneath the tubes and a digital display to indicate function and volume level. You’ll love it or hate it, but it’s pure Mac, and built on the same assembly line in Binghamton, New York with all current day McIntosh components.

We look forward to a full review as soon as samples start shipping!

Please click here for more tech bits!

Maybe it’s the concert halls, but so many European speakers have a thing for tonal accuracy, and Triangle is no exception. After spending a lot of time listening to the Triangle Antal Ez speakers from their Esprit line, I’ve come away highly impressed. The high gloss piano black (white and walnut veneer also available) towers stand approximately 44” tall by 12” wide and 15.75” deep.

The unique and very stable glass bases and rubber or spiked feet take about five minutes each to attach. Out of the box the Antal Ez’s were slightly tight and flat sounding, but they came alive after a few days of constant play. Initial listening took place in my 9’ x 12’ dedicated listening room, but these speakers begged to be heard in my larger 15’ x 19’ living room – and they are an excellent match.

Part One: Initial Impressions

Old school auto mechanics have a saying, “If you want ‘em to run hard, break ‘em in hard.” With no connecting rods to send through an engine block, I can’t resist the urge to turn the volume up loud, the minute the photos for this review are finished. A quick playlist of Alice Cooper is queued up and a heavy hand on the volume control has “Hey Stoopid” filling the listening room with authority, my reference orange Focal Sopra no.3s in the shadows and the REL 212SE subwoofers turned off.

Where the Sopras were slightly stiff right out of the shipping cartons, the new Kanta no.2 is smoother and more relaxed, so we’ll see where this goes over the next few hundred hours. Out of the box, these are one of the most pleasing speakers I’ve spent time with – in this case a stunning first impression.

Expecting a pair of yellow Kantas (we love bright colors here at TONEAudio) the glossy Galouise Blue pair that arrived are just as stylish. Pamela gave them an instant thumbs up, mentioning that they nearly match the color of my bright blue Fiat 500e and current iPhone case. Who says guys can’t coordinate colors? Having seen nearly all the color combinations at the recent Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, they are all fun, and I applaud Focal delivering a few color combinations more daring than the standard white, black and wood.

The Kanta driver compliment consists of a 6.5” midrange, pair of 6.5” woofers and a new Beryllium dome IAL tweeter. Focal has updated their cone material again, this time using a Flax sandwich cone. They claim that this offers a “warmer, richer tone,” and a quick switch back to the Sopras confirms this. Which will you prefer? Both are excellent, but a trip to your Focal dealer for a listening session will help you decide. A sensitivity rating of 91db/1 watt means they won’t need a ton of power to get the job done.

Doing the audiophile thing, bouncing back and forth with 45 seconds of a wide range of musical material not only wins me over on the $9,995/pair Kantas, it brings two questions to mind: how can Focal keep making better and better speakers for way less than their $200k + pair of Grande Utopia Ems and what will the next Grande Utopias be?

The Kantas combination of technical excellence, sonic purity and sheer beauty, even after a few hours of listening is incredible. In the weeks to come, we will cover a lot more ground, mating the Kantas to a wide range of amplification from SET all the way up to our massive Pass Labs monoblocks.

For now, consider the Focal Kanta no.2 speakers one of the best first dates ever.

More info here:

https://www.focal.com/en/home-audio/high-fidelity-speakers/kanta/kanta-no2

Triangle has just sent us their new, powered ELARA LN-01 speakers and they are a nice twist on the powered monitor thing. We just finished with their floor standing Antal EZ’s over at TONEAudio and were very impressed with the sound, style, and finish.

The $799/pair LN-01s are two-way powered speakers, but much more. With a pair of 50 watt, Class-D amplifier modules in each speaker, they feature wireless, optical and RCA connections for digital music, but wait, there’s more. In addition to a line level AUX input, there’s a built-in MM phono stage too. This makes em a step above the competition. A variable level output for a powered subwoofer also increases the versatility of these little satellites.

Our review is in the works, but these are very exciting. Triangle heats up the powered mini-monitor race!

http://www.triangle-fr.com/en/activeseries/ln01a

Those of you in the Bay Area need only stop by our friends at AudioVision SanFrancisco to get a test drive. Tell em we sent you!

In this fickle world of hifi, from the consumer and the reviewer perspective, who keeps a component for TEN YEARS?

Long term readers of TONE know I’ve always had an affectation for AVID turntables, produced by Conrad Mas and company. Mr. Mas has been slowly, carefully refining his tables for over two decades now and they have earned unanimous praise from owners and critics.

My AVID journey began with the original Volvere, purchased after our review in Issue 7. That’s a long time ago. (Fall of 2007, to be exact) A few years later, I upgraded to a Volvere SP and this table has been a reference staple ever since. These days, my Volvere SP sports a Rega RB-2000 tonearm, but it’s hosted many different arms from SME, Rega, Clearaudio, Jelco and Tri-Planar; all with excellent results.

While it’s always fashionable to get a new toy, I appreciate the green approach that AVID takes, offering motor and power supply upgrades, so you don’t have to take as much of a hit when you’d like a bit more performance.

Ten years later, this is still one of the best values in turntables I’ve ever experienced. It still competes handily with tables costing twice as much and is as much of a breeze to set up as it is to use. Highly recommended.

The AVID Volvere SP

Approximately $6,500 (without arm, pre drilled for SME arms)

http://www.avidhifi.com/turntable_volvere.htm

If you’ve been living with LS3/5as, ProAc Tablettes, or a pair of similar sized Harbeths and love the form factor, yet long for more resolution, look slightly to the North and the East. Yes, I’m talking about Denmark – the land of beautiful speakers.

Priced at $6,000/pair, the X-1s are available in the white shown here (a personal favorite) or black. They feature Raidho’s ribbon tweeter, utilized in many of their other designs, combined with a 4″ ceramic coned woofer. More specs are available at:

http://raidho.dk/product-detail/x-1/

The X-1 shares the same sonic purity and transparency that is the hallmark of all Raidho speakers, just in a smaller package. Like your favorite Brit minis, there’s no low bass to speak of, and thanks to the front port, you can place them fairly close to the wall without it effecting the delicate midrange balance.

Make no mistake, to get the best out of the X-1, they need to be nearfield speakers, or coupled to a fantastic sub, if you want to fully enjoy them in a larger room. Or just get a bigger pair of Raidhos!  We’ve just started listening in earnest, but the X-1 makes a hell of a first impression. Stay tuned.

McIntosh made a big splash a while back with its six-box, 2,000-watt MC2KW power amplifiers. They are very cool, play incredibly loud (if you have enough juice in your power line to let them wind out all the way) and command an impressive presence.

Many lovers of the McIntosh brand see them as the Holy Grail. For those who don’t have the space or the budget but ­still dig those gigantic level meters, there’s a more reasonable alternative: the MC1.2KW. The more manageable MC1.2KW monoblocks tip the scale at only 147 pounds each. They’re still not budget components, but the $25k price tag will leave you with enough money left over from not buying the $70,000 MC2KW’s to assemble a formidable system.

Sporting metered faceplates the same size as the MC 2KW, the MC1.2KWs are attention getters. While many audiophiles love “deep-listening” sessions, nothing says “party on” like the gigantic blue meters, and this is a big part of their charm. Their blue glow floods your listening room like a couple of gigantic lava lamps. You can turn them off. But why?

A direct descendent of the MC1201’s, the MC1.2KW’s have significant electrical and cosmetic upgrades. According to Ron Cornelius, McIntosh product manager, the MC1.2KW “Actually produces closer to 1,600 watts per channel on a test bench, so you have to be careful with this much power on tap!”

Setup

Unless you are a super hero, getting at least one person to help you unpack the MC1.2KWs is a good idea. And be certain that your equipment rack can support at least 150 pounds per shelf.

Thanks to the large lip on the back, they are surprisingly easy to grasp and move around. I wish more manufacturers would provide rear panel handles on amplifiers this heavy.

While not the latest word in aesthetics, a pair of piano dollies come in handy shuttling the MC1.2KW’s between my reference amplifiers, along with the other gigantic amplifiers we had in for review this issue. They’ve since taken up permanent residence on a pair of Finite Elemente amplifier platforms and look very stylish; they beg to be displayed prominently.

Your next concern will be power. These big beasts need a lot of juice to do their thing. You can run a pair on a single 15-amp circuit, but they won’t reach full power. A dedicated 20-amp line

is better, but if you want an effortless 1,200-watt-per-channel experience, you’ll need a pair of 15-amp dedicated lines. McIntosh tech-support head Chuck Hinton recommends, “Each amp needs its own 15-amp line for maximum performance.” While McIntosh lists the maximum current draw at 13 amps, there’s no point in scrimping if you’re getting dedicated power lines run. Go for 20 amp lines and make sure to have it done by a qualified electrician. Ron Cornelius adds a few more tips, stressing the idea of having your wiring in top shape. Double check your power panel’s grounding and make sure all the connections to the panel and outlets are tight. It’s the nature of solid-core copper wire to wiggle loose with time. “If you don’t have solid power going to your system, your line level components will suffer as well.”

Extended listening with a dedicated 15-amp circuit, a dedicated 20-amp circuit, and dedicated 20-amp circuits for each monoblock reveals that power is your friend. While the amps worked with the single 15-amp line, the circuit breaker blew repeatedly at high volume.

The rest is easy. MC1.2KWs have balanced XLR inputs on the back panel along with RCA inputs and a 12-volt trigger, so it will integrate into any system handily. Due to the use of the legendary McIntosh Autoformers in the output stage, featuring 2-ohm, 4-ohm and 8-ohm taps to connect your speakers. Mc suggests starting with the nominal impedance of your speakers, but a bit of experimentation will yield the best results – sometimes the best match that transfers the most music might be a different tap. My only complaint with the MC1.2KWs, and for that matter all of the McIntosh solid state amplifiers are the dreadful speaker binding posts – they are too small and too close together.

The Sound

The MC1.2KWs immediately take charge. After a few hours warm up with nondescript background music, dropping Joe Harley’s recording of Mighty Sam McClain’s Give it up to Love threw a massive soundstage between my speakers. This record was recorded live to two-track analog tape and when you crank this one up and dim the lights, it sounds like mighty Sam is right there in your listening room (singing in front of a pair of gigantic McIntosh amplifiers in this case…).

With this kind of power at your disposal, big dynamic range helps to create a live feel on recordings with a big dynamic swing and the big Macs never disappointed, whether listening to a full symphony orchestra or Rammstein. You don’t realize just how wimpy your 100-watt per channel amplifier is until you have 1,200 per channel at your disposal. Trust me, you might never want to go back.

Friends listening to my system with the MC1.2KW’s always made the same comment: “Wow, I can’t believe how often those meters jump up around 300-600 watts and we’re not listening that loud.” All the arguments about “tube watts” vs. “transistor watts” vs. “whatever other watts you got” go away, and quickly. It’s big power vs. little power, baby, and if there was ever an argument for size mattering, the MC 1.2KWs settle the score handily.

People often forget that the need for power goes up exponentially as sound pressure level doubles; so that 100-watt-per-channel amp sounds great when you are listening in the one-to-10 watt range because you still have 100 watts or so in reserve, but when you get fast and furious with the volume control, compression sets in quickly and, if you’re not careful, clipping. Still, proceed with care when rocking out because even though it’s tougher to burn out a tweeter with all that clean power, you can run the risk of toasting a crossover when you are pushing the MC1.2KW’s near their limits. That’s when bad things happen to good people.

Power and Control

Next up, some Prince from the Diamonds and Pearls album. The beginning of the track, “Insatiable,” features deep synth bass lines with grunt that usually come across loose and sloppy. The extra power and control of the MC1.2KWs grabs those notes, holds the sustain and stops cleanly. I usually need the help of the JL Audio Gotham in my system to achieve that experience. No longer.

The other aspect of a high-powered amplifier that becomes instantly apparent is the ability to play complex music at relatively high volume levels without the soundstage collapsing. Try this with your favorite piece of densely packed music, whether it is a full symphony or driving rock. This is where the difference between 100 watts per channel and 1,200 per channel is instantly apparent. Though both play fairly loud, when you start to crank the 100-watt amp, everything gets muddy and you lose focus.

If you become the happy owner of a pair of MC1.2KWs, this will be a thing of the past and you might even discover that some of those discs that you thought were compressed just had their peaks rounded off.

During the course of this review, I had the opportunity to use the MC1.2KW’s with about a dozen different loudspeakers, from the Martin-Logan CLX electrostatics to the YG Acoustics Anat II Studios, both of which have low impedance dips and can be problematic to drive. Nothing in my speaker arsenal requires more power than my Magnepan 1.6’s Should you be a Magnepan owner looking for the Holy Grail, nothing lights up a pair of Maggies like the MC1.2KWs. Where the 1.6’s always feel somewhat bass shy in my 16 x 24 foot room, with the Mac amps they sounded like I had added a subwoofer to the system.

The dynamics were amazing and again, all who listened were surprised how easy it was to use up 1,000 watts per channel. It’s worth mentioning that no matter how hard I pushed these amplifiers, even when driving the Magnepans very loud, the MC1.2KW’s never got more than slightly warm to the touch.

Having just spent time with the MC252 amplifier that we reviewed very favorably, the MC1.2KW’s are in a completely different league. The MC252 is an excellent amplifier and a great value, but it does not have the delicacy and clarity that the MC1.2KW has. No matter what the listening level, these are some pretty special amplifiers with the slightest bit of warmth and body to the overall presentation. I doubt that anyone will ever refer to these amplifiers as “sterile solid-state.”

Big Power, Big Meters, Big Fun

At $25,000 a pair, this is not an idle purchase, even for the well-heeled. But if you want a pair of amplifiers that will never run out of juice or require you to buy a futures contract on output tubes, the MC1.2KW could be your Holy Grail. So dim the lights, put your favorite disc on and let em’ rip.

The McIntosh MC1.2KW Monoblocks

$24,995/pair

www.mcintoshlabs.com

We’ve just received the new flagship PS2000e headphones from GradoLabs.

These beautiful new phones, have not abandoned the familiar wood that makes
Grado’s famous, but now it is clad with a metal alloy, offering a more modern,
sleek look.

Until our review is live, you can read more here:

http://www.gradolabs.com/headphones/professional-series/item/69-ps2000e

Actually, two of them.

As REL’s John Hunter will tell you, you need a pair of 212SEs to disappear in your room, and that is the ultimate goal of a sub-bass system, to prove a transparent extension to your main speakers, never drawing attention to themselves. While the uninitiated might opt for small cubes that can be placed a bit more out of the way, Hunter explains it succinctly: “When you hear low-frequency information out in the real world, it doesn’t just come at you from off in the corner, it envelops you from all directions.” Thus, the height factor of the 212SE is equally important to disappear audibly.

After Hunter spends a bit of time optimizing my Focal Sopra no.3s for perfect positioning, blending the 212SEs into the rest of the system takes place quickly. When complete, the subs are impossible to localize, and in addition to the lower register improving dramatically, the entire presentation takes on greater depth, width, and height. The Sopra no.3s and the 212SEs work together as one. Perfectly.

As the music is playing, Hunter says, “Ok, now we’re listening to about $300k worth of gear, right?” Then with a quick flick of two switches and a wry smile, he turns the 212SE’s off and says, “Now we’re listening to $292,000 worth of gear.” The difference is staggering; the soundstage completely collapses. Considering the $8,000 that a pair of 212SEs will set you back, won’t even buy a power cord from some manufacturers, this is amazing. The delta achieved by including the pair of 212SEs in my reference system is more than just a 100% jump, I no longer can listen to the system without them in. Adding a pair of these subwoofers to get this improvement for less than 3% of the total system cost is unbelievable.

It’s not the bass; it’s everywhere

The level of depth that the pair of 212SEs adds to the mix is just as exciting as the low-frequency extension. The delicacy of the opening Fender Rhodes licks in the Springsteen classic “Kitty’s Back,” waft through space between my Focal Sopra no.3s so gently, it sounds better than when I’ve sat ten feet away from one in a club. This stunning realism is the key to the 212s presentation. As it says on the REL website, their goal is to restore midrange warmth and harmonic structure. This deceptively simple goal, nearly impossible to achieve, is a promise that has never been delivered in my listening room until now.

Tracking through myriad cuts deliberately lacking substantial LF content reinforces the initial experience. Whether listening to Ella Fitzgerald or Eddie Mercury, my system has more bloom, more dimensionality. The music comes alive in all dimensions more clearly, with more low-level information present at all volume levels. Enticing as giving the volume control a hearty spin is, it’s still good at low volume.

These subwoofers have been a serious threat to productivity. The experience they’ve added to my primary reference system keeps me glued to the listening chair, at times for hours, at times for the entire day. With so much more musical information available, listening becomes sheer joy again.

It’s almost better than real

Because of the power required, lower frequency extension and detail is usually the first thing to give up the ghost when pushed, followed closely by overall system imaging. Depending on your room, system, and available power, it happens gradually or in a brick wall fashion. For the first time in nearly 40 years, this didn’t happen, no matter how loud the music was. The REL 212SEs offer no trace of distortion, compression or fatigue. Even when hitting nearly 120db peaks in my 16 x 25-foot listening room.

Fun as this is, be careful should you attempt this at home, OSHA says you should not be exposed to music at this high volume level for more than about 10 minutes. Just enough to listen to Pink Floyd’s “Breathe” in a way I’ve never experienced it – not even live. Whether you jump off the cliff for a pair of 212SEs or even one of REL’s smallest offerings, the musical force that comes with having a great sub-bass system will make it tough, if not impossible to go back. You can’t unhear it.

Inside the black box

We can go on and on about the tech inside the 212SE, but from the listening chair, it’s all about execution and level to detail. That’s why the 1.6-liter engine in a Kia makes 150 horsepower on a good day, and the 1.6-liter engine in a contemporary F1 car makes almost 900. Make no mistake, REL is the Ferrari F1 of low-frequency reproduction. Full specs are available on the REL site here:  https://rel.net/shop/subwoofers/serie-s/212se/

The 212SE looks conventional from a distance, a big black box with woofers in the front. A closer look reveals that the two front-firing 12” continuous cast active drivers are paired to an additional 12” passive cone on both the rear and bottom. The passive cones use the same material as the active drivers, providing sonic consistency. REL claims that the two passive drivers not only add dimension to the bass produced giving the 212SE the equivalent of a pair of 17-inch drivers. Driving each of these woofer arrays is a 1,000-watt amplifier, optimized for its job.

Closer inspection reveals numerous fine details; the finish is exquisite. Not only is it the equivalent of anything I’ve seen on a six-figure pair of Wilson or Magico speakers, but it’s also the equivalent of anything I’ve seen on a Bentley. The gloss black on the review 212s is liquid in appearance, and this reflective quality helps it to physically disappear in the room. Even the complexity of the machined shape in the side handles reveals a level of attention that tells you this is indeed a special product.

For those not familiar with REL, they use a speaker level connection, requiring your main speaker’s run full range, so the signal going to the subs has the same sonic signature of what is going to the mains via your power amplifier. They can be used via line level inputs as well, but whenever I’ve tried this with a REL subwoofer, the results were never quite as good as doing it their way.

Should running a cable be inconvenient, REL subwoofers can also be connected via their Longbow wireless transceiver. The Longbow is a compression-free wireless system, utilizing the same speaker or line level outputs, transmitting wireless information effortlessly. While this option was not taken here, it has been used with other REL products with excellent result.

And the winner is

The combination of dynamics and musicality that a pair of REL 212SEs add to the mix is of such high quality, I had made up my mind after about 10 hours of listening (I was up until about 4 a.m. after Hunter left, the day he installed them) that this would be our product of the year. For my money, this could be TONE’s product of all time.

I’ve had the privilege to own and evaluate thousands of components in the last two decades. Nothing has ever come close to achieving so much at such a modest cost. $8,000 is by no means chump change, but when other companies are asking ten times this for wire, that they claim is a “component level” upgrade, I call shenanigans. If your system doesn’t go to 11 right now, a pair of these will get you there. And if it already does, hang on; you’re still in for a ride you aren’t expecting.

In the end, I’m not sure what freaks me out more, that a pair of REL 212SEs are this good, or knowing that there are two more models above the 212SE.

The REL 212SE Subwoofer

$4,000 each, two used in this review

www.rel.net

Peripherals

Analog Source                        Grand Prix Audio Monaco 2.0w/triplanar arm, Lyra Etna

Digital Source                         dCS Rossini DAC and clock

Main Speakers                        Focal Sopra no.3

Preamplifier                             Pass Labs XSPre

Phono                                      Pass Labs XSPhono

Amplifiers                               Pass Labs XS 300 monos, XA200.8 monos

Cable                                       Cardas Clear, Tellurium Q Black Diamond

Racks                                      Grand Prix Audio Monaco

In many ways the Brits are the kings and queens of getting great sound out of small speakers.

A typical British listening room is usually in the neighborhood of about 12 x 15 feet (3 x 5 meters), so this suits apartment living well. ProAc calls this diminutive speaker the Tablette and commemorating 30 years of production, calls this model the Tablette Anniversary. Typical British understatement. The Tablettes need about 30 watts per channel to really sing, but should you be a more crazed audiophile, the better your source components are, more giddyup the Tablettes will have. The Simaudio NEO Ace that we currently use as a reference in the Audiophile Apartment, makes for an amazing combination. Music lovers on a budget will do well to consider a Rega Brio  amplifier at $899 (review link here), another favorite around here. If you’re on a really tight budget, spend all your money on the speakers and grab a Harmon Kardon 730 vintage receiver. You can find one on Ebay for $150, get rocking now and find a better amplifier later.

The minute you fire up these tiny (10 5/8” H x 6” W x 9 ¾” D) marvels, you’ll be knocked back like the dude in the Maxell chair. These little speakers rock the house with full range sound that is incredibly disproportionate to their size. And yes darling, they produce real bass. Ok, you won’t be able to blast Skrillex or Deadmau5, but on all other program material they have enough reach in the lower register to enjoy everything else. Auditioning Stereolab’s Dots and Loops proves very palatable indeed, with sounds bouncing all over the room! The next track, “Lift Off” from Mars & Mystre keeps the energy high and we’re all striking poses around the living room like we’re at Fashion Week.

Streaming the title track from the Afghan Whigs Gentleman album via Tidal at high volume, Greg Dulli’s voice reaches right out of the speakers pulling me to attention. These little boxes can play loud, really loud if you need them to. Slowing it down for Elvis Costello’s rendition of “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” from The Spy Who Shagged Me brings the vibe back to a more relaxed mode, revealing the character that defines his voice. Just letting my laptop swim through my music library, served up by ROON made this review a ton of fun; there was nothing these little speakers can’t handle.

You can place the Tablettes anywhere in your room. If you place them up on a shelf, try to get them out from the wall as far as possible as their rear port will do wonky things to that glorious bass if you place them right up against the wall. For more critical listening, we suggest some 28” speaker stands so that the tweeter is pretty level with your ears. This will give the most expansive sound, but if you must compromise as many of us apartment dwellers do, you still won’t be disappointed.

$2,200 is a lot of money to spend on speakers, but the ProAc Tablettes are so good, they could be the last pair you buy. And should you ever move out to that big McMansion, you can always add a subwoofer, but that’s another story!

The ProAc Tablette Anniversary

MSRP: $2,200

www.soundorg.com (US importer)

www.proac-loudspeakers.com (factory)

If you’ve been reading TONE this year, you know we’ve made an amazing discovery in Italy’s Gold Note line of phono cartridges. They achieve a wonderful balance of tone, dynamics, and resolution, and at a reasonable price.

Their PH-10 phonostage offers more of the same sensibilities. $1,600 gets you a solid-state phonostage with two inputs, each configureable as MM or MC, with a pair of single ended and balanced outputs, assuring compatibility with any system compliment. Those wanting to take their analog journey even further can upgrade the PH-10 to a class-A tube output stage, along with a higher capacity power supply. We think that’s green thinking at its finest, allowing you the ability to grow with your PH-10 as your love for analog increases.

Listening begins with a well-used record I’ve heard thousands of times; Steely Dan’s Can’t Buy a Thrill. Of course, I’m using the high output (1.2mv) Gold Note Machiavelli, mounted on a TriPlanar U2 carbon fiber tonearm and the excellent Soulines Kubrick turntable. Gold Note’s own table is being photographed, and we like to swap only one component at a time to fully evaluate something new, so we’ll talk about an all Gold Note combination in the upcoming turntable review. Suffice to say they all work together incredibly well.

It’s tough to believe that this is such a reasonably priced phonostage; it reveals a level of musical information I would expect from a much more expensive component. If I didn’t know better, I’d believe the folks at Gold Note if they told me the price of the PH-10 was double the current asking price. Because they produce such a diverse range of products, there is a scale of engineering and manufacturing that makes it easier to offer such high value.

A familiar sound

In the context of other phonostages, all three of the Gold Note cartridges we’ve reviewed all have a distinct sonic signature that is a drop or two on the warm, romantic, involving side of neutral. Yet as you go up the range, each cartridge reveals more low level detail and paints a larger soundstage, offering greater dynamics, without sacrificing that delectable midrange.

The PH-10 offers the same presentation. Though this is a solid-state design, it has a level of tonal saturation that I would expect from Pass Labs, and that’s a good thing in my book. So many of the $1,000 – $2,000 solid state phonostages available today have a sterile, flat sound, while equally priced phonostages sporting vacuum tubes paint a more sonically interesting, or perhaps engaging palette, yet suffer a high noise floor. The PH-10 is a perfect balance. It’s drop dead quiet, and sonically gorgeous. And you can get it in red. (black and silver are also available)

Annie Lennox’ layered vocals in the Eurythmics 80s classic, Revenge, shine clearly front and center on this densely mixed record. The ability to unravel dense musical tracks helps to distinguish the PH-10 from its competitors. It helps get away from what you might assume a solid state phonostage would sound like, and to dig further into your music collection.

An incredibly versatile performer

The ability to use two turntables is a major bonus in any phonostage, but again, mostly unheard of in this price range, and usually only one input can be used in MC (moving coil/high gain) mode. Configuring the PH-10’s two inputs is only a click away, via the front panel switch and display, revealing which equalization is at your disposal. The PH-10 offers RIAA, Columbia, Decca and a “custom” setting. There is 45db of gain in the MM mode and 62db in the MC mode with four “trim” settings for fine adjustment. Gold Note even includes separate grounding terminals for each of the two inputs. My Audio Research REF Phono 3 ($14,000) does not. Once you set things to taste, it’s easy to keep track of via the easily read front panel display. Nice touch.

We’ve used $60,000 phonostages that didn’t have this level of adjustment. Having spent a lot of time in the music server world, this old fashioned audiophile really appreciates that all adjustments can be made from the front panel, without a remote or an app. Ultimate simplicity!

9 selectable loading options (10, 22, 47, 100, 220, 470, 1k, 22k, and 47K) mean no cartridge is off limits. The lower loading options are great for cartridges like the Rega Apheta/Apheta 2, which really need a 20-50 ohm setting to tame. A number of older MM cartridges perform a little better at 22k, so again, the level of versatility offered here is spectacular. Auditioning the PH-10 with the Gold Note cartridges at our disposal as well as cartridges from Rega, Grado, Lyra, Ortofon and Denon prove it’s versatility.

Gold Note mentions an upgrade to optimize the equalization curve, allowing you the option of fine tuning it even further to your taste. We hope to sample this at some point, along with the class-A tube output stage. This is connected via a 5 pin neutrik connector on the rear panel of both units, so this should take the PH-10 to even higher performance.

The PH-10s compact, half-chassis size allows it to integrate anywhere, and the balanced outputs allow you the luxury of having a turntable where it’s convenient to place it. The PH-10 easily drives a 30 foot pair of Cardas Clear balanced interconnects with no signal degradation whatsoever. Balanced outputs have a fixed level of 4 volts and the single ended outputs 2 volts, more than enough to drive any modern or vintage preamplifier or integrated amplifier to full output.

Back to the sound

Features and functionality are great, but without excellent sound to back it up, useless. The more time spent listening to the PH-10, the more we love this phonostage. Regardless of the program material chosen, its sonic character comes through. Bass is solid, powerful and well defined. Thanks to the on board subsonic filter, the extreme low to subsonic frequencies are gently rolled off to avoid potential sources of turntable rumble from reaching your speakers. The midrange is glorious and the highs are extended and detailed but never harsh.

The cymbals throughout Hank Mobley’s Roll Call, are always smooth and silky with just the right amount of bite, yet bass and kick drums are renedered with the necessary amount of dynamics and force to be convincing. In addition, the PH-10 reveals plenty of midrange detail and textural/spatial information to have you wondering if there isn’t a tube or two inside the red box. I assure you there isn’t.

Here’s to your analog path

Gold Note’s PH-10 phonostage comes right out of the box with top in class performance, yet it offers the ability to expand it considerably further. What else could you ask for? The price puts it within reach of a wide range of analog lovers, and the performance (along with a clear, concise upgrade path) make it easy to grow with.

I am happy to give the PH-10 one of our last exceptional value awards for 2017. It is well deserving.

The Gold Note PH-10 phonostage

$1,600

www.goldnote.it

Peripherals

Preamplifier                             Pass Labs XS Pre

Power Amplifier                     Pass Labs XA200.8s  (Pair)

Turntable                                 Soulines Kubrick HDX w/triplanar arm, Gold Note Machiavelli MC (other carts mentioned in review)

Speakers                                  Focal Sopra no. 3 w/2- REL 212SE subwoofers

Cable                                       Cardas Clear and Tellurium Q Black Diamond

After listening to the SVS SB16-Ultra for some time now, it’s still been tough to put into context, yet a recent test drive of the latest 650 horsepower Z06 Corvette brings the point home clearly.

Sometimes nothing floats your boat like sheer, pavement melting horsepower. Maybe the Z06 lacks some of the finesse of the current offerings from Porsche or Ferrari, but when you put the pedal to the floor and light up the tires, you can’t help but smile. There are a few things the Vette does that it’s more refined European cousins don’t and that’s it’s magic.

For $1,995 you just can’t beat the SB16-Ultra, though if a 3db down point of 16hz still isn’t enough LF extension for you, the even larger PB16-Ultra ($2,499) will take you down to 13hz. I remember hearing a 10hz tone once, and it felt like someone was pounding a nail through my head, so proceed with caution. Cranking up a long playlist of Aphex Twin has me convinced that the SB16-Ultra delivers the goods in a big way. Tracking through my favorite bass heavy cuts from Fink, Infected Mushroom, Snoop Dogg and even Pink Floyd prove tons of fun. 40 years later that heartbeat at the beginning of Dark Side of the Moon just rules. The SB16-Ultra pumps it out so hard, you feel it in your stomach, you feel it in your soul.

It’s easy to get used to the SB16-Ultra until you shut it off. Then, the opiate center of your brain that is excited by major bass experiences immediate withdrawals. Much as I enjoyed my time with the SB16-Ultra (and contributor Ken Mercereau bought one as well) I really love it in the context of a theater/gaming system. While many subwoofer experts agree that you should have a pair of subs, a sole SB-16 gets you rocking in a big way, in a hurry. Barely bigger than a dorm fridge, it’s easy to find a spot.

Easy to love

One of the toughest parts of owning a subwoofer is integrating it with your main speakers as seamlessly as possible. SB16-Ultra makes this a breeze, thanks to the best app I’ve ever had the chance to experience. But first, take a bit of time getting the best sound you can from your SB16-Ultra the old-fashioned way; move it around. Don’t let the compact 20-inch cube fool you, unless you are super buff, keep in mind it tips the scale just over 120 pounds, so here’s a suggestion: grab a piano dolly. I like the “Milwaukee” ones from Home Depot.

You’ll have to decide on corner or mid room placement, and this will probably be determined somewhat by what you have to work around and how much flexibility you have in room placement. All things being equal, corner placement offers the most reinforcement from the floors and corner. I’d suggest the corner if you’re SB16-Ultra is being used for movies and games, where you want those cannons to embed you in the couch.  Should your listening be weighted more toward music, you might consider placing a sole SB16-Ultra just off center from your speakers and starting there. We’ll get back to this in a minute. You’ll also need a pair of interconnects to go from your amp or receiver, if you connect the SB16-Ultra via the line level ouputs. RCA or XLRs will work just fine. The SB16-Ultra has right and left inputs, or if you are doing a strictly theater setup, it has a single LFE input as well.

The coolest app ever

Fine tuning a subwoofer is tough, constantly getting up from your listening position, making adjustments and then sitting back down to listen and evaluate. First world problems, I know, but you want it to be awesome, right? SVS makes it easy with the absolute best app I’ve ever seen for this kind of thing. Better yet, the app explains and walks you through all the adjustments, and they do such a great job, even if you’ve never done anything like this, you’ll be rocking in no time.

Should you want to skip the “tune it by hand” part of the setup, the room gain feature of the app utilizes the digital signal processor (DSP) inside the SB16-Ultra, to compensate for being too close or too far away from room walls or corners. This eliminates that boominess that gives subwoofers a bad name. Once all parameters are set to taste, merely save your results as a custom preset. Done.

Getting into it

After spending about 30 minutes making small movements out and back from the wall in room two, with a pair of MartinLogan ESP9 speakers, the app makes it easy and fun to fine tune the system. Starting with the “music” preset, the first adjustment on the list after setting the level is the low pass filter frequency, and as the ESP9s go down past 40hz with ease, setting the sub to 35 hz, selecting a 24db/octave slope to get it out of the way quickly. Working with the Graham Audio LS5/9s, a gentler curve works better. The wide range of adjustment offered makes this easy with a little practice and patience.

Once you get used to going this far, move on to the room gain and parametric EQ settings. Again, SVS lets you vary frequency and “Q.” The Q setting varies how wide the frequency you select has an effect and the app lets you see this in real time. If you want a gentle bump to the bass, you can adjust the Q thusly. If you want a very narrow bump or cut, this can also be accommodated. If new to EQ settings, go at this with broad strokes at first to really get a feel for how the filters and EQ affect the sound.

This is why the SVS app really rocks; whether you are new or experienced, it’s so easy to experiment with all the settings, just to see how they affect your system’s tonal balance. And it’s so easy to back in and recalibrate, the more seat time you have. It makes hifi fun. It’s also worth mentioning that for the MartinLogan owners out there, the curved front metal grill matches the ML aesthetic perfectly.

Off to the movies

Moving the SB16-Ultra into my home theater system, with a set of Dali Fazon speakers (enlisting that dolly again) and an Anthem MRX-520, it is even easier to dial in the sub, letting Anthem’s built in ARC room correction do the heavy lifting. Still, I did a bit of fine tuning and depending on the program material, it was nice to have the app to use more as a tone control. Just like with musical selections, not all movies are mixed equally, and it’s nice to have the option of easily goosing, or cutting back the bottom end a bit to taste.

Even though my Dali’s have fairly small woofers all the way around, the SB16-Ultra does a great job integrating that big 16-inch driver with all these small 4-inch woofers, a testament to its design. Streaming London Has Fallen, I got more than my share of shooting, the minute I tuned into Netflix. Cranking up the volume to nearly movie theater levels and watching a barrage of car chase scenes from the Fast and Furious franchise, everyone came away convinced that the SB16-Ultra adds a sense of realism that you just can’t get without a moving serious air.

On top of that, service

In the event you can’t get your SB16-Ultra performing to what you feel it’s potential is, the SVS staff is there via phone or chat to help you back on the path. I tried the chat feature with excellent result and had my wife give them a call too. Both times, we were rolling in no time and this speaks volumes about the SVS staff. They really go out of their way to lend a hand, and in a day of customer service being nearly non-existent, I give SVS major kudos here.

All SVS products have a 45-day trial period, so if you just don’t like the damn thing, or the roommate you thought you could sneak that subwoofer past gets snarky with you, you can return it at no risk – SVS even covers the shipping. But I doubt you’ll want to part with it.

After living with the SB16-Ultra for some time now and using it in a variety of different hifi systems, I happily report excellent results in all circumstances. Whether you are working with a pair of minimonitors, your favorite panels, or massive floorstanders, the SB16-Ultra delivers stunning bass performance. With 1500 watts of power on tap, you’ll most likely bottom out your main speakers way before you push the sub too far. We certainly couldn’t no matter how loud the cannons blasted, the buildings blew up or the beats dropped.

All this, with major support and a no-risk return policy adds up to an Exceptional Value Award in our book. And, should you jump off the cliff and get a pair, SVS gives you a $200 discount. The holiday season is on the way, treat yourself! Highly recommended.

The SVS SB16-Ultra subwoofer

$1,999

www.svsound.com

I just heard the sad news that Focal’s Gérard Chrétien passed away on Sunday, October 1.

I had the pleasure of meeting him the first time about five years ago when I toured the Focal factory, with my friend John Bevier. Gérard was a wonderful host, giving me quite the tour, making sure I knew everything there was to know about Focal, making sure I fully understood the unique blend of technology, craftsmanship and passion that makes them tick. After business hours, he was. even more gracious, taking us around the city and availing us to some great meals while we were there.

Every time I saw him at a hifi show, no matter how busy, he always took the time to come over my way and give me a big hug. Even though I am a relative newcomer to this industry, he always inquired to how I was doing. With that big smile of his, without fail he would say, “How is that beautiful wife of yours?”

Always a kind man, always a professional, and always a perfect gentleman. That’s how I’ll remember Gérard Chrétien.

With record clamps fetching upwards of $3,000 these days, it’s nice to see that someone has some common sense.

The PT-100 preamplifier and A-150 power amplifier from Emotiva offer great performance at a price everyone can enjoy.
Both barely tipping the scales at $299 each, the PT-100 preamplifier also includes a 24/192 DAC, headphone amplifier and a tuner,
all in one box. Oh yeah, it even has a MM/MC phono stage too.

The A-150 amplifier is substantial, with a class AB output stage and a real power supply to match.

Both offer uniform, yet tastefully understated cosmetics, as part of Emotiva’s BAS-X series.

Our review is almost finished, but the short story is you can’t go wrong with these two. Whether you make this pair
the anchor for your first, last, or additional system, the level of sound quality and functionality can’t be beat.

Click here to see the rest of the lineup. (they have some pretty cool sub/sat speakers too!)

We’ve lived with every generation of B&Ws Zeppelin desktop audio system, and each one is better than the last.

Stay tuned for a full report on the current, wireless model…

Gold Note is introducing IS-1000, an innovative all-in-one source designed to deliver high quality audio combining analogue and digital technology, available at a MSRP of 4200,00€ (5000,00$) worldwide through Gold Note retailers in October 2017.

IS-1000 is an advanced fully integrated amplifier that redefines the way music playback is experienced, seamlessly merging a Preamplifier, a Power Amplifier, a Phono Stage, a DAC and a Streamer in a unique and complete source.

Gold Note IS-1000 is a Roon Ready device, fully compatible with multi-room systems and with a quick plug & play installation: simply connect IS-1000 to the network (Wi-Fi or Ethernet) and to the speakers, then explore the endless possibilities of music, streaming from Tidal & MQA via Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify & Spotify Connect and Deezer with Roon or the Gold Note dedicated App [available for iOS and Android] or browsing your collection of digital music stored on NAS, HDD and USB sticks – including DSD64 format.

The new Class A/B amplifier with 125W @ 8Ω per channel (and 250W @ 4Ω) per channel developed exclusively for IS-1000 guarantees vivid dynamics, the pure sound and finest detail while also offering a wide range of digital and analogue inputs (including A/V and Phono MM/MC) to assure total control and the freedom to upgrade, expand or connect more devices to the IS-1000.

With the knowledge and the experience developed in over 20 years of research across the whole spectrum of audio reproduction and recording, Gold Note is finally able to offer an all-in-one solution powered by technology and audio grade components to achieve audiophile sound.

“Imagine a complete High-End stereo system enclosed in a beautiful aluminum chassis carved in bold Italian style: this is the best way to describe IS-1000.” explained Maurizio Aterini, founder of Gold Note.

Maurizio also stated: “The refined innovations made for IS-1000 come directly from the experience made with our flagship models, like the preamplifier P-1000 and the power amplifier PA-1175, which inspired us to create a new all-in-one source that would integrate the analogue components of a high quality amplifier and phono stage with the digital technologies of a streamer and a DAC in order to deliver outstanding performances while minimizing the effort and the gear needed: we have designed IS-1000 to achieve the best audio quality and to offer a huge number of features in. And if you are in love with vinyl (like me) connect your turntable directly to IS-1000 and spin the record, you’ll find that we have put great care into the phono stage.”
IS-1000 features 6 digital inputs (PCM up to 24/192):

– 3 optical (TOS)

– 1 Coaxial (COAX)

– 1 USB type A (DSD 64 native and via DoP)

– 1 LAN & Wi-Fi (DSD 64 native and via DoP)

3 analogue inputs:

– 1 XLR balanced

– 2 RCA (Line or A/V processor or Phono MM/MC)

Featuring also 1 RCA variable and 1 RCA fixed outputs to use IS-1000 as a Streamer/DAC or as a Preamp or with active speakers.

MORE INFORMATION ON:
www.goldnote.it/is-1000

IS-1000 FEATURES:

– Full connectivity: Roon Ready, Tidal & MQA via Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify & Spotify Connect, Deezer, Airplay and V-Tuner for internet radio

– Controlled via iOS and Android App

– Gold Note Class A/B Integrated amplifier with 125W @ 8Ω per channel (and 250W @ 4Ω), 100% designed and manufactured in Italy

– 3 analogue inputs: 1 balanced XLR, 2 RCA both convertible (1 Line or Phono MM/MC & 1 Line or AV-In)

– 6 digital inputs (PCM up to 24/192): 3 Optical-TOS, 1 Coax, 1 USB A (DSD 64 native and via DoP), 1 LAN & Wi-Fi (DSD 64 native and via DoP)

– 2 Analogue RCA outputs: 1 Fixed, 1 Variable to use IS-1000 as a source, as a preamp or with active speakers

– DSD 64 native files and via DoP

– Display & SKF for easy access and control

– Improved chassis in solid brushed aluminium designed by Arch. Stefano Bonifazi

About Gold Note: Gold Note (www.goldnote.it) has become one of the leading Italian manufacturers in the Hi-End audio, now with more than 20 years of experience in engineering and designing a complete line of electronics, analog equipment and loudspeakers. Founded in Firenze, Italy, where every product is still hand-built from scratch with high quality materials, its creations are a statement of Italian craftsmanship and innovation appreciated in more than 25 countries worldwide.

Address: Via della Gora, 6 Montespertoli (Firenze) Italy 50025
Phone/Fax number: +39 0571 675005 / +39 0571 675013

E-mail: [email protected]

Cleaning the closets a bit today, I ran across the first issue of The Absolute Sound.

From Sping of 1973. Damn, I’m getting old. I remember reading it at my neighbor, longtime friend, and sometime TONEAudio contributor Todd Sageser’s house. I used to look at the mighty Phase Linear 700 amplifier on the shelf, with its gigantic, glowing, power output meters in the mall at Schaak Electronics and wonder what it would be like to have that much power.

44 years later, HP is no longer with us, and neither is Schaak Electronics. But I was fortunate enough to work for both of them, and I learned something from each. I even owned a couple of Phase Linear amplifiers over the years. And no, they never burst into flames.

Harry Pearson influenced me, with his obsessive quest for great sound, and his methodology influenced my approach at TONE, especially that of having a reference system where one and only one component was swapped at a time.

If you had the good fortune to encounter Mr. Pearson, you know he was a wild dog, in the best sense of the term. When I told him my dog’s name was Harry, he immediately thought I had named my Kerry Blue terrier after him. I confessed that my wife had named him after her screen heartthrob, Harrison Ford, Pearson retorted, “Well she hasn’t met me.”

And so it goes. It’s pretty amazing to see The Absolute Sound still thriving in 2017 and an entire industry and vocabulary sprout up from this 36 page leaflet, devoid of ads and photography. We’ve come a long way baby.

Egglestonworks, celebrated producer of State-of-the-Art Loudspeaker Systems, is proud to introduce “Artisan Series,” a collection of three new, attractively-priced models designed to make Eggleston performance accessible to the next generation of music lovers. Among the handful of manufacturers which occupy the pinnacle of speaker quality, only Egglestonworks offers a range of speakers at such reasonable prices.

Although Artisan Series loudspeakers are significantly less expensive than Eggleston’s other loudspeakers, they embody all of our most important design and manufacturing elements. Meticulously handcrafted in our Memphis factory, Artisan cabinets are lavishly painted with multiple coats of lacquer in our new, state-of-the-art spray booth for unsurpassed visual beauty. They receive the same CNC-machined aluminum baffle for the last word in both cabinet damping and aesthetic perfection. And of course, they share the same obsessive attention to parts quality, hand assembly and sonic excellence, as well as Egglestonworks’ Custom Color Program, which enables customers to choose virtually any color for their speakers.

Unique among Egglestonworks products, Artisan are our first loudspeakers to utilize drivers specifically designed for these models. Working with one of the world’s foremost driver manufacturers, Egglestonworks was able to combine the engineering expertise of both companies to produce woofers and tweeters that precisely fit our design criteria.  The result is a synergy between drivers, cabinet and crossover not achievable with “Off the shelf” parts.

-Now in its third iteration, the Emma SE ($3,995/pr, MSRP) offers a combination of attributes never before available at this price. This three-driver, 2 ½-way tower combines awesome dynamic- and frequency range with ease of drive and, thanks to its front-ported design,

ease of placement.

–Nico SE ($2,995/pr MSRP), Emma’s little brother, is equally suited to the most demanding home and studio applications. An “Apartment Dweller’s Dream,” this bookshelf monitor offers extreme versatility of placement in domestic applications. At the same time, Nico SE reflects Egglestonworks’ two decades of producing the world’s finest studio monitors and is therefore ideal for professional use.

-Our new Artisan Center ($1,995 MSRP) extends the Artisan Series to the finest cinema systems. Egglestonworks was among the first high-end companies to develop Studio Monitors for mastering surround soundtracks. Bob Ludwig, legendary engineer and owner of Gateway Mastering has, for many years, used five Eggleston Andras to master multichannel recordings. With the introduction of Artisan Center, a complete 5-channel Eggleston system can now be had for less than $9,000 MSRP!

Egglestonworks’ Artisan Series is now shipping. Please contact us for more information or to arrange an audition.

www.egglestonworks.com

After living with the Brinkmann Bardo turntable for about six months, the much awaited RoNt II vacuum tube power supply arrived, and as anticipated, it took the Bardo to a higher level of performance.

In the case of the Bardo, adding the RoNt II to the table adds just over $4,000 to the MSRP, making the total package about $14,000. Ironically, this is what it used to cost without the upgraded power supply before Brinkmann streamlined their US operations. This is a major win for analog enthusiasts.

Now, with a year of using the Bardo under my belt, the relationship keeps getting better. This table never ceases to amaze me on all levels. As a visual person, I love the clean, uncluttered look of the table – it is the essence of visual simplicity. Some of you might not think or care about it, but just like cars, some turntables look dated after they’ve been on the rack for a while, but the Bardo feels more like it should be in a museum or a mid-century modern furniture store between an Eames lounge and a Barcelona chair.

The RoNtII delivers an equal level of aesthetic ethos, with sleek good looks, easy tube access and a small piece of granite, precisely fitting the RoNt’s footprint. It looks too good not to display prominently on your rack, however, place it so you can easily access the rear panel, that’s where the power switch is.

Good looks are useless without the performance to back it up, and the Bardo delivers the goods in this department as well. It has been remarkably easy to use and set up, with the Koetsu Onyx Platinum cartridge I used for the bulk of the review still in place. The Bardo is a high performance daily driver that I’m always happy to use.

Adding the RoNt II

For a bit of history, click here to read my full review on the Bardo. It offers a great combination of dynamics and musicality along with the rock-solid speed accuracy that only a direct drive turntable can provide. This speed stability provides an additional benefit: tremendous low-level detail retrieval. For those that haven’t been following my analog path, it began in the mid-70s with the Technics direct drive SL-1200. Today, my rack is sporting the current SL-1200, the Bardo/RoNt combo and the Grand Prix Audio Monaco 2.0. All direct drive tables.

This doesn’t mean your belt drive table is irrelevant. (I still have a few of those that I love.) However, just as staff member Jerold O’Brien prefers driving an Audi and I prefer a BMW, after coming full circle I’m solidly in the DD camp these days.

Too much of this is never a bad thing and replacing the Bardo’s solid state supply with the RoNtII makes an instant difference. The best thing about this upgrade is that you can hear it immediately – there’s no waiting 400 hours for it to break in, all the while psyching yourself out, wondering if you truly hear it or not.

The minute the tubes warm up in the power supply, and you spin a record (I suggest listening to something you are very familiar with on the old supply, then doing the swap) you’ll grasp what the RoNtII adds to the presentation. I couldn’t resist spinning the recent remaster of the Led Zeppelin ZoSo (or Led Zep 4, or whatever you refer to it as) and playing “Stairway to Heaven.” Call me sentimental, or cheesy, but it just felt right. Adding the RoNtII, gives John Bonham’s legendary drumming more force, more oomph, more attack, while Jimmy Page’s notes hang in the air with a greater sense of purpose than when I listened to it just a minute before, sans upgraded power supply.

While I’m not a geeky measurements guy by any stretch of the imagination, a few more album sides of acoustic music and I could swear that the Bardo’s fantastic pitch accuracy was even better with the new, upgraded supply. Breaking out a test record and Feickert’s iPhone App instantly reveals the minuscule amount of speed variation with the stock supply is even lower with the RoNtII in place.

Those of you that listen to a lot of acoustic music, primarily selections with piano, violin and such will probably notice an even greater improvement in musicality, than someone like me that still listens to Kiss without regret. Admittedly, the Roland Space Echo effect in the drum solo of “100,000 Years” is even spacier with the upgraded supply.

So why tubes?

Herr Brinkmann takes an ingenious approach to everything he builds, and the RoNtII is no exception. With a pair of PL36 Pentodes as voltage regulators and a 5AR4 rectifier, the tubes isolate the AC mains from the turntable motor, essentially acting as a power conditioner in addition to providing the final 24 volts DC to power the turntable.

There is only one caveat that you need be aware of – the rectifier tube. Where the two NOS triodes used in the power supply are deemed bulletproof from a longevity standpoint, the 5AR4 rectifier is a weak link, as current Chinese models are not terribly robust. This is not a knock at  Brinkmann; it’s just what the tubes are today. You can do one of two things; keep a spare or two of the standard issue tubes on the shelf, because you know Murphy’s law, or call Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio and buy the best NOS replacement he suggests. This might set you back $100 or so, but one of those tubes might just outlive you. When the rectifier tube goes, it takes the power supply fuse with it, so ask your dealer for a couple of spares and file them where you’ll remember them.

Is it worth it?

I feel the increased level of resolution, and dynamic range that the RoNtII offers is worth the price asked. I’ve certainly spent more going up a grade or two in phono cartridge and received less improvement. It’s worth mentioning that this power supply also works with the Brinkmann belt drive models, and I’ll stick my neck out and guess that it offers just as much if not more performance gain. I suspect that we’ll be auditioning an Oasis in the future, so we’ll revisit this option at that time. Again, I think it is very thoughtful of Brinkmann to build one component like this that will upgrade multiple models, keeping proliferation to a minimum. Makes it easier for the end user.

The Bardo by itself is one of the best values going in the $10,000 table range, and the upgraded Bardo/RoNtII combo is certainly one of the best performing tables I’ve experienced in the $15,000 range. It’s like going from a 3-series BMW to an M3 or an Audi A4 to an S4; once you experience the higher level of performance, you might not be able to go back. I know I can’t. The RoNtII has proven an essential upgrade to my Bardo, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

www.brinkmannaudio.com

McIntosh is proud to announce the MAC7200 Receiver.

Earlier this summer, I had a chance to chat with Charlie Randall, CEO of the McIntosh Group and head of McIntosh Labs.

He’s a very busy guy, keeping track of everything that all of their brands are involved in, from manufacturing to trade shows and everything else in-between. We’re breaking this up into a few segments so you can tune in as you have time.

Here’s part one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h6RKRojcNA

Features

Old School:

The Adcom GFP-565 Preamp:
Last of the Breed

By Mark Marcantonio

995:

Pro-Ject Speaker Box 5
By Mark Marcantonio

Journeyman Audiophile:

IsoTek’s Aquarius Power Conditioner
By Jeff Dorgay

TONE Style

Mini Weinermobile

Twist + Charging Station

Target Record Crate

The 28″ Blackstone Grille

Phillips Hue Lighting System

Louis Vitton iPhone 7 Case

Nintendo NES Classic

Music

Playlists:  We share our readers choices from around the world

Audiophile Pressings: Elvis Costello, Jeff Beck and Iron Butterfly

Gear Previews

MartinLogan Classic ESL 9 Speakers

Rotel RAP-1580 Surround Sound Receiver

McIntosh MA9000 Integrated Amplifier

Reviews

COVER STORY: Paradigm’s Persona 9H Loudspeakers
By Jeff Dorgay

Coincident Dynamite Spakers
By Mark Marcantonio

Long Term: The Pass XS Preamplifier
By Jeff Dorgay

Analog Domain M75D Isis Integrated Amplifier
By  Greg Petan

Totem’s Signature One Speakers
By Jeff Dorgay

Benchmark DAC3 HGC
By Mark Marcantonio

The dictionary in my Macintosh defines Brio as “vivacity of style or performance,” but in the case of Rega’s Brio integrated amplifier, it has a vivacity of style and performance. With so many choices these days, it’s tough to sort through it all.

Though England’s Rega Research is best known for their turntables, they have been making a full line of high quality amplifiers (and speakers) for decades. The new Brio you see here is a perfect example of an integrated amplifier with an outstanding on-board phonostage, featuring more than enough power to drive any pair of speakers and a headphone input for personal listening.

This beautiful amplifier will only set you back $995, and it’s small, 8.5”W x 3”H x 13.5”D footprint will fit anywhere, making it a perfect choice for the space challenged music lover. We paired our review sample with the awesome Totem Signature One speakers ($2,650/pair) and Rega’s legendary Planar 3 turntable ($1,145 with Elys 2 cartridge).  While you don’t have to spend that much on a pair of speakers to build a great Brio-centric system, know that it is up to the task.

Around back, there are four analog inputs for any other components you might have, like a digital to audio converter (DAC), CD player, tuner, or even a tape deck. Considering the mighty cassette from the 80s is making a mega comeback, you never know. Taking this a step further, the Brio offers a “record output,” just begging you to make a mix tape, which I did, inspired by a recent screening of Guardians of the Galaxy. Firing up the Nakamichi cassette deck with a fresh tape and a pile of 80s favorites, all rendered by the Rega turntable, this proved to be a fun and engaging experience – something a streaming playlist just doesn’t provide.

If you aren’t going all-Rega, the Brio features a standard MM (moving magnet) phono input, so you can use it with any turntable sporting a moving magnet phono cartridge. We auditioned the super stylish, vertical Pro-Ject turntable as well as the newest offering from EAT, all with excellent results. Rega has always been known for making great phono sections and the Brio is highly capable.

Regardless of what medium you choose to use with your Brio, the sound quality is fantastic, and that’s what makes this little amplifier such a great value. Rega build quality is equally great; we’ve been using a number of their products without fail for decades now. Thanks to a broad dealer network worldwide, in the unfortunate event that your Brio ever needs a bit of help, it’s never far away.

The Brio’s 50 watts per channel is enough to drive most speakers to realistic levels, and more than enough to get most apartment dwellers evicted, so you can look forward to distortion, fatigue free music, regardless of how loud or how long you listen. After initial listening with the Totems, we auditioned the Brio with a number of different speakers, some considerably more expensive and came away highly impressed with the level of refinement that this amplifier delivers. TONEAudio Magazine gave their overall Product of the Year award, judging the $995 Brio-R against other components with six-figure pricetags. A side by side comparison with a friend’s last generation Brio-R proves the new model sonically better in every way.

A bare bones remote helps control the Brio from your listening position, but it is small, so keep it in view or you might lose it. The only other caveat with the Brio is that the speaker outputs on the rear panel are very close together, so if you haven’t bought speaker cables yet, make sure they have banana plugs. Anything with spade lugs will be tough if not impossible to use.

Finally, the headphone section of the Brio is dynamic and powerful as well. Running it through a number of playlists with a wide range of headphones again proves its versatility, making it a great headphone listening station, even if you don’t have speakers yet!

If you need high performance on a tight budget, with a slender form factor, Rega’s Brio integrated amplifiers is one of the best you can buy.

The Rega Brio Integrated Amplifier

$995

www.rega.co.uk (factory)

www.soundorg.com (US Distributor)

With all the horror surrounding last months article in The Wall Street Journal, on “the vinyl boom being over,” it appears that records are still being made and records are still being sold.

Certainly, tons of turntables, cartridges and phono preamplifiers are being produced as well. So is the sky falling or is it not?

But what a lot of enthusiasts, hipsters, and industry pundits (especially the ones that are old enough to have been around for the first go of the vinyl trip) seem to always forget is that just because something is imprinted on a slab of vinyl doesn’t mean it’s automatically awesome, it’s automatically better than a digital recording and that “digital sucks,” because it doesn’t.

This isn’t the start of a digital vs. analog debate. That’s a tired conversation as far as I’m concerned. VERY tired. But back in the 60s and 70s, until vinyl’s near demise in the mid 80s, a lot of what gets pressed sucks, sonically. As inconvenient as records and tapes were, the CD was really produced as a stopgap to all the piracy that was going on.  With digital recording and data storage such new mediums, I’m going to guess that the suits in charge probably never foresaw the 52x CD writers and 100 pc cake pans of blank CDs at Costco in the mid 90s. Oops.

After a major resurgence, vinyl is probably going to wind down a bit. It’s a matter of logistics, spare parts, and availability of raw materials. Most of all, it’s got a lot to do with what’s being pressed. While most of the audiophile remasters are still being done with great care, a lot of what the remaining major labels are kicking out is definitely sub par. And even the reissues are less than adventuresome in the choices being made. If not for Mobile Fidelity going off the beaten path now and then with a little Judas Priest here and a little KC & The Sunshine Band there, the reissue market would be incredibly boring.

It doesn’t help that used prices keep going up, up, up, either. The good news is now you can find whatever obscure record you couldn’t find in your local used vinyl shop. The bad news is that you are going to pay dearly for it. All of this supply and demand stuff is what it is. I love music and will always listen to it, no matter what the medium and I’ll probably always have at least a few turntables and some records. Will vinyl keep rolling merrily along? I hope so, but I hope that we can see a little bit more attention paid to quality, instead of just banging it out. This isn’t what killed vinyl the first time, it’s what killed the music industry.

Here’s to hoping for the future…

Steely Dan once said in a song, “you go back Jack, do it again…” Did you ever do something you knew was wrong, but you did it again anyway? You don’t have to fess up, but I’m guilty as charged, especially when it comes to vintage cars and vintage hi-fi.

Just like with Alfa Romeos, I’ve had dreadful luck resisting vintage Klipsch speakers. But when I walked into see my pal Kurt Doslu at Echo Audio, and those unfinished mid-70s Klipsch LaScalas were staring me down, I knew I had to have them in a Wayne’s World kind of way.

Oh yes, they were mine. The next question was how to get the damn things back to the TONE studio. At 24 x 24 x 38 inches and weighing around 100 pounds each, I could not fit both of them in my i3 at once, so on this day, it would be two trips to Echo Audio to bring the booty home. Decoding the production codes reveals that they were made in January of my senior year in high school, just about the time I was getting thrown out of the local hi-fi store for wanting to crank Pink Floyd on a new pair of LaScalas. Ironic.

With a sensitivity rating of 105db/1 watt, you don’t need a lot of power to make the LaScalas rock, but you do need high-quality power. I suspect this is why Klipsch horns got a bad rap at the beginning of the hard core audiophile movement. Garbage in – garbage out was never more relevant than it is with these speakers. I’ve never heard a more amplifier sensitive speaker. But when you get it right, you’ll be jumping around your listening room like Snoopy in A Charlie Brown Christmas. In this case, the perfect match proves to be the 20-watt per channel Nagra 300i amplifier we’ve been using as a reference for a long time.

What’s in the box, doc?

Inside the massive plywood cabinet, lurks three drivers: a 15-inch woofer, a horn midrange, and a horn tweeter – the same ones used in the full sized Klipschorns. In 2006, the LaScala was updated to LaScala II status, swapping the ¾” birch ply, utilitarian cabinet for a 1” MDF veneered cabinet. The new ones are prettier, but they weigh almost twice as much. Klipsch claims the new model to offer better sound, but vintage hi-fi forums will argue this point forever.

The smaller folded horn design combined with the 15-inch woofer does not go as deep as the full sized Klipschorn, and though they are only spec’d at 50 – 17,000hz, these specs are somewhat deceiving. And this is a speaker that you can pick up a lot of room gain moving them closer to the wall.

Around back lurks the crossover network, with oil filled capacitors and a few inductors. Again, this is another point of major contention, and as is the LaScalas in compared to a pair of current “audiophile” speakers can sound a bit veiled, but it’s not hateful. Weighing this against all the virtues they do offer and the effortless dynamics, it’s up to you whether to enjoy them as is, upgrade to current crossover components, or go for new crossovers entirely. Do you rebuild the LS7 in your Chevelle SS or do you buy a new, crate motor? Decisions like this make the hobby fun. We will probably update the crossovers somewhat and report back at a future date, so stay tuned.

If you really wanna rock

Hitting peaks over 105 dB reveal the Nagra’s power output meter is hanging around .2 watts per channel, occasionally bouncing up to 2 watts per channel. That’s not a typo. These speakers will pin you to the wall with ten watts per channel if you can even stand it that loud. The LaScalas deliver mega dynamic swings, even at low volume. The Ella Fitzgerald classic, “Miss Otis Regrets” pulls you in at the soft beginning of the track, but just might have you reaching for the volume control near the end, as does Shelby Lynne’s “Just a Little Loving.” The LaScalas kind of sneak up on you.

Trust me; you’ll never have nearly as much fun with a $200,000 pair of Wilson XLFs as you’ll have with a pair of $1,500 vintage LaScalas. Whether you’re an aging boomer trying to relive your youthful glory, a young newcomer to the audio world, or somewhere in between, a pair of these speakers are a must. I’d consider them a right of passage component. Or you could buy a new pair, they still make em. Who knows, maybe we can talk the friendly folks at Klipsch out of a new pair for a comparison?

www.klipsch.com

Believe it or not, I’m someone who always reads the instruction manual before digging into a new piece of technology. And for good reason(s). First, who knows more about said product than the folks that make it and second, you just never know when the way you are used to doing things might just not work on the piece of gear in front of you.

So, I was profoundly impressed and grateful for the note enclosed with the Calypso turntable that said, “Dear reviewer, please read the instruction manual fully before set-up, there are a few things that are counterintuitive with our turntable.” Even if you’ve never read the instructions in the past, thinking you are too clever for that, do it this time. I didn’t find the Calypso terribly counterintuitive, but they do want the bits assembled in a particular order and you’ll save yourself some frustration by doing it their way. You’ve been warned.

Most likely, many of you know British manufacturer Origin Live for their tonearms, and turntable upgrades (They make a particularly good set for the Linn LP-12), but they build some great turntables as well. The Calypso we have here will only set you back $2,400, and it has multiple options. There is an additional balanced power supply available ($450) and the option to use two tonearms ($400), or a single 12-inch arm is also available. ($350) Considering the level of performance and versatility offered, this is a very reasonable sum indeed.

Of course, you can get the Calypso configured for practically any arm, and a quick perusal of the web reveals these tables are used with a wide range indeed, I like the synergy offered by using the manufacturer’s arm with their table. I must believe that it was all designed that way in the first place, and I’m not one who likes to fiddle all that much – I like to listen to records. That being said, if you already have an arm in search of a table, don’t remove the Calypso from your short list. Being an unsuspended design, it’s not like an Oracle or LP-12 where fine-tuning the suspension to a specific arm might just make you mad.

I suggest blocking out an hour or two of time where you can hold the phone and achieve a certain level of clarity to assemble the Calypso. Leave the phone off the hook, lock the door and don’t even think of posting pictures of the table during assembly to Facebook. Focus, and get the job done, you will be rewarded. Once you’re playing records, then you can take a selfie with your Calypso.

A perfect mate

Origin Live’s US Importer, Jay Kaufman sent the Calypso by with Origin Live’s Encounter tonearm ($1,500) and the updated power supply for our trial. After the setup period a few cartridges were experimented with: the new Kiseki Purple Heart (review here) the Ortofon Cadenza Black, and the new Grado Statement 2 (review here), as well as a few budget cartridges in the sub – $500 category. I’m not sure if Mr. Kaufman will agree with me on this, but I’m a big fan of buying the best arm and table combination you can afford and get a better cartridge later if you must make a choice. Otherwise, you are throwing valuable resolution from a premium cartridge away, if you don’t have a stable base from which it can extract information from your record’s precious grooves.

The Encounter proves easy to mount and set up having built in VTA and even azimuth adjustment. It’s unique dual pivot design for vertical plane with gimble in horizontal plane gives it a steady feel, no unipivot wobble. Origin CNC’s everything in house and the arm comes with high quality internal/external wiring including choice of attached cable terminated with RCAs or DIN plug at the base of  the arm.

The sound

Dropping the first record on the infused cork mat, the Origin Live combo makes for an exciting encounter indeed, one repeated numerous times in the months to come. Having used quite a few turntables in the $2,500 – $10,000 range, they all seem to have different strengths and weaknesses and a “sound” of their own. My own set of criteria are as follows: easy to set up/tough to set up, highly resolving/forgiving, immune to environmental vibration/needs additional suspension or isolation to give its all.

I’ll put up with an extremely fussy table like an LP-12 or an Oracle because I like the end result. But the OL combo is only mid-scale regarding set up prowess required, so that’s a bonus. After careful listening with a wide range of cartridges (and using the Pass XS Phono as a source), I’ll call the sound a lovely combination of resolving, with a touch of forgiving thrown in. To try and put this in perspective, it’s not as “forgiving” as a mid-level LP-12, not quite as “just the facts” as a Rega RP-10, yet not quite as heavy handed as the VPI Classic Two that gets a lot of play around here. Make sense?

British tables are known for their sense of pace, and this is where the OL combo excels. It grabs the essence of the music, especially when listening to your favorite piece of complex or dense music. One of my favorite older test tracks is Brand X’s Livestock. With many layers of percussion, drums, bass, guitar and a handful of time changes thrown in, this will challenge any vinyl playback setup. You could easily substitute Frank Zappa, Rush or Tool, depending on your musical taste. The bottom line is that the OL deck not only creates an expansive sound field, but it also keeps everything in the mix distinct, instead of just blending the music together to the point where you can’t always distinguish clearly what’s going on. For me, this is a big part of the high-end magic and is essential.

Next up, low-level detail retrieval – another area the OL delivers the goods. Whether listening to classical music, solo vocals, or sparsely populated records, these subtle spatial and soft notes are what separates the top performers from the mediocre. Regardless of cartridge used, tracking through Bowie’s Aladdin Sane is a sublime experience, and the asymmetrical piano work on the title track is tough for any tonearm to handle, but again, this comes through masterfully.

Finally, the sheer dynamic range offered by the OL table and arm is near the best I’ve heard at this price point. Much of this can be attributed to the fine assembly of the tonearm, arm/table synergy and the choice of motor, along with its coupling to the table. If it all doesn’t work together as a system, musical detail and sheer slam are compromised. Simplistic as it sounds, the OL paints a large musical picture, offering plenty of might, yet does not sacrifice fine detail in the process. Adding the external power supply will magnify this a bit, and is well worth considering to add to your purchase. However, it is nice to know that you can add it later with ease. I like the inherent modularity of the Origin Live products. It’s a very green approach. (Remember, I live in the Pacific Northwest, I’m kind of a tree-hugger.)

Bass response is closely tied to this ability as well. When auditioning some of my favorite EDM and prog tracks, this deck never feels thin. Bass is solid and well controlled without any lack of detail. In my main system with two REL 212 subwoofers, the OL table and arm worked best on top of the Grand Prix Audio rack, or wall mounted. As part of the system in room two, with a pair of Quad 2812s, this was not an issue at all. This is no knock at the OL, any of the unsuspended tables I use (VPI, Technics, Soulines, and Rega) all need the benefit of this rack or wall mount in room one.

Balance is the key

After living with the Origin Live Calypso and Encounter for some time now, I can recommend it wholeheartedly. It offers a high level of performance for the price asked, but more importantly (at least to me) it offers a tremendous level of balance. One aspect of analog performance is not given a high priority at the sacrifice of others.

Good as this all is, there is a high level of “upgradability” as well, so this is a table that you can live with for a long time, perhaps forever. The ability to add a second arm is a huge bonus, whether you have two arms in mind now, or decide that as your record collection diversifies, it can be easily added.

Great sound, great price, great deck. The Origin Live Calypso/Encounter is highly deserving of an Exceptional Value Award for 2017. Highly recommended!

The Origin Live Calypso turntable and Encounter tonearm

$2,400 and $1,500 respectively.

www.originlive.com (factory)

www.audiorevelation.com (US Importer)

Peripherals

Phonostage                              Pass Labs XS Phono

Cartridges                                Ortofon Cadenza Black, Kiseki Purple Heart, Grado Statement 2

Preamplifier                             Pass Labs XS Pre

Power Amplifier                     Pass Labs XS 300 monos

Speakers                                  Focal Sopra no.3 w/(2) REL 212SE subwoofers

Cable                                       Cardas Clear

Power                                      IsoTek

Isolation                                  Grand Prix Audio Monaco Modular Rack

Read full length TONE Audio Review

Read full length TONE Audio Review

Read full length TONE Audio Review

Read full length TONE Audio Review

Read full length TONE Audio Review

It’s an exciting time to be an analog enthusiast. There have never been more great choices and just like in the world of racing, competition improves the breed. The EAT B-Sharp table you see here only costs $1,595 and brings a lot to the party.

Built to the same high standards of the rest of the line, this baby features a suspended chassis, an exquisite tonearm (with a carbon fiber wand) and a pre-installed Ortofon 2M Blue MM cartridge that is accurately set up.

Everything you need is in the box, and the EAT manual is not only precise but features some decent photos and illustrations to talk even a novice turntablist through the procedure. Install the belt, the anti-skate weight, affix the counterweight and you’re almost ready to rock. Ortofon specifies a tracking weight of 1.8 grams, which after a bit of experimentation, proves spot on, so don’t bother. A quick check of azimuth and VTA reveals correct setup from the factory, so I suggest just setting the counterweight and getting down to business. A spiffy pair of interconnects are also supplied along with a 16-volt wall wart – so don’t lose it! Radio Shack won’t be able to bail you out if you do.

The plinth on the B-Sharp is standard MDF, unlike the coolio carbon fiber item on the C-Major we reviewed here, along with a few other obvious corners cut, but for nearly $900 less, this is an amazingly good table for anyone bit by the vinyl bug looking for an upgrade from their starter turntable.

The Ortofon 2M Blue is an excellent cartridge choice, and a $236 value on its own. This cartridge has received fantastic reviews world-wide, and it checks all the bases. It’s a competent tracker, has smooth frequency response and will work with any phono input you can plug it into.

Let’s roll!

Plugging the B-Sharp into the main rig with the Pass Labs XS Phono is pretty much overkill, but an easy way to cut to the chase and determine what this table is capable of. Even in the context of a six-figure reference system, the core sound of the B-Sharp shines through. The B-Sharp is a solid table, offering sonic performance at the top of its class in all areas.

A quick check of platter speed reveals everything up to snuff. The anti-skate adjusts with a threaded weight (just like my SME 3009) and is easy to nail down, along with the other adjustments, making fine-tuning, should you choose to install your cartridge.

Gliding through some acoustic recordings reveals general tonality and musical pace to be solid through the B-Sharp. There is an overall “rightness” about this table in a higher dose than you get in a budget $300 – $500 table. Comparing the B-Sharp to a few budget models with the same Ortofon 2M Blue, it underlines my theory that money is always better spent on a better turntable/cartridge combination than putting a mega cartridge on a cheapie turntable. The drum track in Bowie’s “Fashion” is rock solid and well-defined in the middle of multiple vocal overdubs, synth riffs, and Robert Fripp’s screaming guitar. No small feat for a reasonably priced turntable, and no doubt a result of successful implementation of the suspended subplatter.

Listening to the recent remaster of Joe Jackson’s I’m The Man shows off the sheer spatial ability of the B-Sharp; painting a large soundstage in all three dimensions. This is what you want from analog, but don’t get from budget tables. Finally, the tonearm/cartridge interface is superb, with the 2M Blue turning in one of the best performances I’ve heard. Joni Mitchell’s “Jericho,” the last track on side one is notoriously tough to track through, yet the B-Sharp handles it easily.

Attention to details

While they might not all contribute to sonics, the build quality of the B-Sharp is excellent throughout, and this is a table you’ll love having on your equipment rack, or wherever you choose to place it. The plinth has a lovely gloss black finish, and the tonearm is a work of industrial art. I particularly like the small magnet in the middle of the tonearm wand that holds the arm solidly in place when not being used instead of the spindly clamp used on most turntables. (not just budget models)

For those that can’t leave well enough alone and love to upgrade, the B-Sharp offers standard RCA outputs rather than locking you into a budget tonearm cable, ultimately limiting the table’s performance. While the B-Sharp is supplied with a decent cable, swapping it out for a $200 Nordost White Lightening cable, extracts even more music from this combination, offering a boost in clarity and dynamic jump. It’s thoughtful of EAT to give you an upgrade option.

The 2M Blue is a great all-rounder, but swapping the 2M Blue for a 2M Black ($749) provides a significant upswing as well, underlining just how good this table/arm package is. Whether you just leave it stock or plan on upgrading your B-Sharp, this is a great little table that can take you a long way down the analog path, providing a clear upgrade path as your enthusiasm and available funds grow.

Sweet spot

Priced as it is, the B-Sharp offers a high level of performance at a level that is cost effective for music enthusiasts with even a modest record collection. If you’ve even bought 100 records, you’ve invested more than a B-Sharp, and your records deserve to be treated well. It proves to be an excellent performer with current and vintage gear and considering the cost of a great vintage receiver these days, not out of the budget. I had just as much fun with the B-Sharp, and the new Rega Brio integrated as I did a recently rebuilt Marantz 2245.

One of the toughest parts of participating in the wacky world of analog is agonizing over cartridge choice, and equally so, cartridge setup. That US Importer VANA handles this tough choice for you is not only welcome, but a great way to get you listening to records right now, rather than sweating the rest.

For some more pics of the B-Sharp, please click here…

The EAT B-Sharp

$1,595 with Ortofon 2M Blue (installed)

www.vanaltd.com

The only thing I love more than cassettes is schmaltzy sci-fi movies, and I think most of you would admit that Guardians of the Galaxy, parts one and two are pretty silly. They had me with the Carfox as badass thing. But this is not a movie review.

TONE contributor Paul DeMara (also a mega cassette enthusiast) and I seemed to have the same epiphany to get our hands on the movie soundtracks practically the same day. When I saw that an actual cassette of the “Awesome Mix vol.1” and “Awesome Mix vol.2” along with a special “Cosmix Mix” was available at Amazon and I could have all three the next day for $5 (thank you Amazon Prime!!!) there was no stopping me. My better half just rolled her eyes, but hey, it’s not like I spend money on golf.

Packaged to look like a mega mix tape you might have made for a friend in the late 70s, albeit with handwriting that’s a little too neat, (though they do give the label a mock soiled appearance, insinuating that it’s been in the main character’s pocket for years) the music contained is pretty darn good. Certainly reflective of what might have been on one of my mix tapes back in the day.

But that’s where the fun ends. The sound quality sucks on the cassette version. Considering how much trouble it was to get rights released on something like this, why not go the extra mile and make it sound good? Bernie Grundman is credited with the mastering job, so maybe the LP version sounds good. Hmmm.

Well, I’ll fix them. Breaking out the Nakamichi 600II right now and a pile of vinyl. I’ll just substitute my own.

Of the thousands of tracks auditioned during the Pass XS Preamplifier’s stay here, Lou Reed’s “Vanishing Act” sums it up perfectly. As he sings/speaks, “It must be nice to disappear…” the words to describe the XS Pre appear. It just disappears, calling no attention to itself, perhaps the toughest thing for an audio component to do.

Just like buying a car, test driving a premium audio component is usually a shorter first date than you’d like. In the end, it requires a certain leap of faith, and if you blow it, it’s going to cost you dearly. Much as I love Pass products, if you decide that the $38,000 XS Pre isn’t for you, there will be a stiff penalty, should you turn it over for something else. Like any other five figure hi-fi component, putting this two-chassis beauty back on the secondary market after a few months of use will be an expensive proposition unless you have an incredibly forgiving dealer, used to you doing this kind of thing on a regular.

The good news is that the above mentioned scenario probably won’t happen. I’d even go out on a limb to bet about 100 to 1 odds that it won’t. I’ve been using the XS Pre for over a year now, and I’ll do my best at describing it so that you won’t make a misstep.

First, and most importantly, where the Pass XS and XA series amplifiers have an ever so slight tip towards the warm side (which I happen to prefer) of what I’d call neutral tonality, the XS Pre is as close to having a straight up, 12 o’clock, right in the center neutral tonal rendition as I’ve ever experienced. The only other preamplifier I’d put in this category is the Boulder 3010, and to a slightly lesser extent my other reference, the Robert Koda K-10. Either of these preamplifiers cost as much as a gently owned BMW M3, and each is phenomenal performers.

Special and then some

Today there are a lot of incredibly competent preamplifiers, many costing less than the XS Pre and a few costing even more. Now and again, a component is so overwhelmingly good, that it’s an express elevator ride to audio heaven. My Conrad Johnson GAT2 is one of those preamplifiers too, but it’s got vacuum tubes, and only sports single ended RCA inputs and outputs so that it won’t be everyone’s idea of heaven.

The world’s finest preamplifiers that I enjoy impart little to no signature of their own to the music, yet they offer a bigger, broader, weightier presentation than a system is capable of without a preamplifier involved. This is a unique bit of magic that don’t completely understand because, in a perfect world, you would think that just going straight from your DAC or phonostage (provided it had a level control) would bring you closer to the music than running everything through another box and set of cables.

Good as the dCS Rossini DAC and Clock combination is on its own, running a pair of Cardas Clear interconnects directly from the dCS pair to the XS300 amplifiers sounds smaller, less focused and pale in comparison to putting the XS Pre in my reference system. How can this be? Especially considering Mr. Pass (the creator of the First Watt amplifiers – champions of the “less is more” approach to circuit design. Inserting the XS Pre in the signal path is not subtle. Again, this preamplifier does not change the tonal character or balance a molecule, yet everything enlarges. Dynamic range increases to the point where transients explode from the speakers where they merely had punch before, and the soundfield created by the system becomes much larger in all three dimensions. The sonic presentation goes from big and satisfying without the XS Pre to being engulfed in a tornado of sound. This effect was observed with every power amplifier connected, from a modest Conrad Johnson MV60SE up to the mighty XS300 monoblocks, so this can’t be a mere “impedance matching” kind of thing.

We’ve had the opportunity to use the XS Preamplifier together with the matching XS300 monoblock amplifiers to excellent result, paired with the XS Phono, making for an unbeatable combination of dynamics, tonality, and ease of use. There truly is nothing I can find fault with this trio. Ok, it’s all pretty heavy. That’s it. Fortunately, the XS Pre only weighs 80 pounds, and it is distributed between two chassis, the power supply, and the actual preamplifier circuitry. The two are connected by the same massive umbilical cords used in the XS Phono and the XS 150/300 power amplifiers. Terminated with Neutrik connectors, these are beefy cables indeed. 100,000µƒ of power supply capacitance per channel only hints at the power reserves available.

Nelson Pass and his crew have repeatedly said that they build components that they like, above all else. While many know the man with the name that adorns the faceplates as “the man” at Pass Labs, he is the power amp man. Wayne Colburn has designed all the Pass Labs preamplifiers and was given a clean slate (and pretty much a blank check) to design a companion preamplifier for the XS monoblock amplifiers. Rather than bore you with a long list of common audiophile clichés, he has succeeded on every level.

Incredibly versatile

Lovely as the XS Pre is with a full compliment of Pass components, it is equally engaging with every other power amplifier we’ve had here at TONE in the last year or so – single ended or balanced. The XS Pre circuitry is fully balanced, but it features balanced XLR and single ended RCA inputs and outputs.

As a review tool, the XS Pre is without peer. It is effortless in its delivery and consistent in sound quality, providing a similar sonic picture with balanced or single ended connections. Even if you don’t review hifi gear, this kind of flexibility offers a much wider range of options as your system and tastes change. With the XS Pre offering such a neutral rendition, it is a perfect system anchor, letting you mix, match and experiment elsewhere.

Because the XS Pre doesn’t manipulate or alter the tonal character of the music it delivers, the usual list of tracks to describe bass, treble, and imaging are almost irrelevant. Laurie Anderson once said, “Paradise is exactly like where you are right now, only much, much better.” That’s the XS Pre. It’s much, much better. Add the concept of never having to retube, along with the headache that a new set of tubes can cause, makes it a component you can just leave powered up and forget about it. Matter of fact, there is no power switch.

Setup is straightforward, provided you have two extra rack spaces and can separate the two boxes a bit, to keep every possible bit of noise at bay. Once powered up, the XS Pre took about four days to come all the way out of the fog from being fresh out of the box. As with any component, there is a slight bit of stiffness at initial turn on, but it dissipates quickly.

The front panel has a large volume control and a display friendly to read from across the room. Pass provides a simple, efficient aluminum remote that matches the casework of their other products, and this too is easy to use. The volume control has a wide range of operation, so even the most sensitive power amplifiers will have ample volume control range.

A keeper

Ultra high performance has a price, and there are a lot of great preamplifiers in the $10,000 – $20,000 range; even Pass makes one. (The XP-30) After living with a number of them, the XS Pre delivers an experience that you can’t get for $20k. That’s its justification. If you are looking for the last step up and a final justification, it’s worth every penny asked. This may be tough to swallow for some of you in the audience, but you can’t have a Ferrari 458 for $50k either. Like the Ferrari, the XS Pre will take your breath away if you have the room, system, and software to support it. And I’m guessing if you have 38 large, you do.

The Pass XS Pre does its job so effortlessly and so well if it doesn’t hit you on the head with the first track you play, just take it out of your system for about 90 sec. It’s like someone put the valet key in your Dodge Challenger Hellcat and the horsepower is gone. This is one of the purest hifi experiences I’ve had in over 15 years of reviewing components. Long term, I have even more enthusiasm for the XS Pre – every day it convinces me how special it is.

The Pass XS Pre Preamplifier
For more sexy photos, click here….

$38,000

www.passlabs.com

Peripherals

Analog Source            AVID Acutus Ref SP/SME V/Lyra Atlas, Grand Prix Audio Monaco 2.0/Tri-planar/Lyra Etna, Brinkmann Bardo/10.1arm/Koetsu Jade Platinum

Digital Source             dCS Rossini DAC and Clock, Gryphon Kalliope

Phonostage                  Pass XS Phono

Power Amplifier         Pass XS 300 monos, Pass XA200.8

Speakers                      GamuT RS5i, Focal Sopra no.3 w/2-REL 212, MartinLogan Neolith

Cable                           Tellurium Q Silver Diamond, Cardas Clear

After reading hifi magazines for about 40 years now, and writing about hifi for the last 15 of those years, I’ve been a good Smurf and haven’t baited my loyal readers with the B word – hardly ever as a matter of fact.

This time I’m compelled to put my foot down, or perhaps the tonearm down is more like it. I’ve listened to the big shit, crazy money turntables like the Continuum, the Clearaudio Statement, Goldmund, Transrotor, Tech Das, blah, blah, blah. All six figure tables and not a single one of them worth the price asked. For the last five years, I’ve hung my hat on the AVID Acutus Reference SP, and it’s a fantastic table – one that I still love dearly. (So if you have one, don’t sell it, it’s not rubbish; read my article here.)

Now and then, something comes along that resets the paradigm, and the Grand Prix Audio Monaco 2.0 does just that. I think it’s the world’s best turntable and with a TriPlanar arm and Lyra Etna cartridge, the whole rig will only set you back about $55,000. I know many of you will freak out at the thought of combining “only” and “$55,000” in the same sentence. But imagine if you could get a car that outperformed a Ferrari 458 or a Porsche GT3 for $55,000? That’s what the Grand Prix Monaco 2.0 does. It eclipses everything I’ve ever heard, regardless of price.

So, for the average music lover, 55 grand is still crazy money. But for the music lover that was going to drop 2-4 times this on the ultimate turntable, on their final analog destination, 55 large is a deal and a half, baby. Not to mention all the money you’re going to lose going through a few 10-30 thousand dollar turntables to reach the grail.Here’s the analog paradox; you could go through about five or ten tables in the 10 – 40 thousand dollar range, lose at least five G on each one and then buy a Monaco 2.0. You might appreciate the Monaco more if you did that. Or you could go straight past GO, and just graduate to the Monaco from wherever you are now and save a lot of agony. It will depend on just how OCD you are. Take my advice; this is the table you want as your final analog destination.

Forget the rest.

At 58, my hearing is supposed to be getting worse, right? Careful as I’ve been going to concerts, mowing the lawn and such, I know my hearing can’t be as good as it was in my 20s. I can still hear the horizontal transformer in Mr. O Brien’s tube TV set, so I guess I still hear up to about 16khz. But I profess not to have canine ears.

The second Grand Prix Audio’s Jesse Luna dropped the tonearm down on my copy of the Superfly soundtrack (a major guilty pleasure, and a record I’ve been listening to since age 14) I heard stuff I never heard before on this record. A lot of stuff. Layering, texture, extra vocal overdubs and the bongos just sat there locked in space in a way they never have before. I’m not supposed to be hearing this kind of detail from this crappy record, and I’m probably not supposed to be hearing this kind of detail at my age. But I am.In nearly 700 audio reviews, a component has never grabbed me like this. Every time I put on a record with the thought of listening passively, the Monaco’s gravitational pull sucks me right to the couch. For hours. No escape. I could go on and on in detail about minutia about this track or that track, but chances are you don’t listen to the same music I do anyway.

The Monaco 2.0 reveals more music in every way. Bigger soundstage in all three dimensions, check. Deeper, more solid bass, check. More low-level resolution, check. More dynamic range and tonal contrast. Yep, that too. On every record, I managed to listen to, and in the same way that my dCS Rossini DAC and clock extracts more musical information out of even the worst digital recordings I have, making so many of them much more listenable, the Monaco 2.0 does the same with records. I’m guessing you probably have your own bin of moderately listenable records, which you put up with because you love the music contained in the grooves.

Because the Monaco 2.0 extracts so much more music, You will be surprised at how many marginal records in your collection reveal more than they ever did before. Even Kiss, Alive! sounds better than it ever has on the Monaco 2.0 and that has to be one of the worst sounding records ever made. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley’s layered vocals now have very distinct space between them. Firehouse, woo!

We’re about at the point in the review where I’m supposed to say, “The only thing that makes me grumpy about the Monaco 2.0 is…” but there isn’t. I love this turntable. It’s amazing. There are no downsides. It’s simple, elegant, reveals more music than anything I’ve ever heard and it’s carbon fiber. Mmmmm. Carbon fiber is catnip to me, but it must be functional. GPA founder and designer Alvin Lloyd is no stranger to carbon fiber bits, having been a principal at Swift Engineering. (for you non-racing fans the Swift 006 and 007 carbon fiber chassis was a revolution in the CART racing series) You can read all the white papers and tech briefs at the GPA site here.

Accuracy is the secret weapon

These articles will tell you more than you want to know about the why and how of the Monaco 2.0, but you only need to listen for about 60 seconds to get it. The real secret is its speed accuracy. The Monaco 2.0 holds such a tight grip on speed accuracy with its proprietary direct drive system (.0001% peak deviation, 20 parts per billion average) consisting of a 75,000 line encoder makes for a new definition of the term “gapless motor.” Combining this with a record clamp that tells you when you’ve achieved the perfect amount of clamping force with a little green LED in the middle, it makes for a better record to platter interface, or at least a more consistent platter to record interface than possible before.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I am not blessed with perfect pitch. Those I know that do find analog nearly unlistenable because they claim that even the best belt drive tables have speed inaccuracies that send them out of the room screaming for mercy and prefer digital because of the perfect speed accuracy.

While I don’t hear this group of anomalies, playing the same records simultaneously on the Monaco 2.0 and any of my other tables, there is moderate to severe smearing of imaging information and a lack of immediacy and impact by comparison. The Monaco 2.0 reveals that speed accuracy that you love from your favorite digital recordings, combined with the magic, palpability, tonal saturation, or whatever else you want to call it that the finest analog recordings bring to the party. In short – it’s the best of both worlds. Testing my hypothesis out on a couple of perfect pitch/canine hearing buddies, they were all impressed and commented on the perfect speed accuracy that the Monaco 2.0 offers.

Out of the pits in a hurry

Racing teaches you that races are often won and lost in the pits, all other things being equal. I’m not interested in turntables that take the manufacturer’s tech a whole day to set up (the Continuum). I’m an average turntable setup guy at best, and I have no bones telling you that. Every time I review another great table, I learn a little more about the intricacies of analog setup, but I am not a Jedi master by any means.

I can’t tell you how impressed I was that GPA’s Jesse Luna had the Monaco 2.0 up and rocking in about 15 minutes. When I swapped tonearms from the longer Tri-Planar arm to the standard length one of mine, it only took me about 20 minutes to get things dialed in. Being that this is such a high-performance table, I still suggest having your dealer do it or getting one of the Jedi’s to make sure you are getting all of the performance you are paying for. You don’t take your Ferarri to the corner tire store for an alignment, do you?

Many turntables later

I’ve owned a lot of turntables over the years. I love turntables, even if I’m at a point in my life with music that I’m just as happy listening to digital as analog. Rather than hang my hat on one mega turntable, which I couldn’t realistically compare to anything else, just as I couldn’t really compare other cars to a Ferrari 458 or Porsche GT3 objectively, I still own quite a few tables – about 14 at last count. Everything from a lowly Dual 1229 up to the AVID Acutus Reference SP. It makes the job a lot easier to compare a review table to a reference table or two that is comparably priced than to just brag about my mega table that nothing else compares to. So, I might just jump off the cliff for a Monaco. Stay tuned and keep an eye on the reference components section.

If you’re a new TONEAudio reader, you might be thinking this is just like other hifi magazines, where a new “best” is declared practically monthly, only to be superseded when the next bauble is unraveled. Not here. Let the record state that this is the finest turntable I’ve experienced, at any price. If you want to spend more money on another turntable for whatever reason, I won’t poke fun at you. But you won’t hear more music.

Even if you aren’t in the market for a $50,000 turntable, the GPA guys are at a lot of the shows, and they are offered in a number of good dealers. I highly suggest taking a test drive/listen if you can. And I hope that you enjoy listening to it as much as I do. That’s the ultimate test.

The Grand Prix Audio Monaco 2.0 Turntable

MSRP: $37,000 without tonearm

www.grandprixaudio.com

Peripherals

Cartridges                  Lyra Etna, Grado Statement 2

Phonostage                Pass XS Phono, Audio Research REF 3 Phono

Preamplifier              Pass XS Pre

Power Amplifier        Pass XS 300 Monoblocks

Speakers                    Focal Sopra no.3 w/(2) REL 212s

Cable                          Cardas Clear

Many people only know Pro-Ject for their line of high-value turntables, (and we’ve got one of those for you here…) but they produce an entire line of electronics and loudspeakers, along with some very stylish accessories.

Company principal Heinz Lichtenegger puts it perfectly when he says, “I like to make fun components that everyone can afford.” Add stylish to that list of boxes to tick – all Pro-Ject products share a very cool design aesthetic as well.

We’ve been living with an entire Pro-Ject system, consisting of their VT-E turntable ($349), the MaiA CD Player ($399), MaiA Integrated Amplifier ($499), along with the matching Speaker Box 5 mini monitors ($299). For this review, Rob and I concentrate on the components, with a review of the Speaker Box 5 speakers to be published online very soon.

Every Pro-Ject product we’ve used has always been high on performance and simplicity with a minimal footprint. It’s an understatement that Lichtnegger has outdone himself on this recent crop of products! If you are pinched for space, yet crave great sound, this trio is for you. We were all shocked at just how small the MaiA components are.

MaiA Integrated Amplifier: A Marvel of Compact Efficiency

Like the other products in Pro-Ject’s “Box” product like, the MaiA integrated amplifier is designed to pack much functionality into the smallest possible package. Wow did they succeed! Without its wall-wart power supply, the amplifier weighs in at a scant 4 lbs. (1850g). At 8.11 inches (206mm) wide by 1.4 inches (36mm) tall by 6.14 inches (156mm) deep, the MaiA is deceivingly minimalistic. Straightforward and effective controls on the front panel facilitate adjustment of the volume, plus your choice of source components. While nondescript on the outside, things get a lot more interesting when exploring MaiA’s capabilities.

The ins and outs

Any way you choose to connect a music source to this amplifier, there is an input to handle it. In addition to three stereo line inputs, options include USB, Bluetooth, digital optical, and RCA-type digital coaxial. As they say on infomercials, “but wait… there’s more.” An onboard MM phono stage as well as a headphone amplifier with a ¼” input is also included.

Five-way binding posts facilitate connection to loudspeakers using a variety of cable options. However, bananas are an ideal candidate, as these binding posts are relatively close together. With such a small chassis, there is little room for all the connections on the rear panel, so it is nearly impossible to connect spades in such a tiny space without touching each other inadvertently.

The only other connection required is the power cord, supplied by the included wall wart power supply. I suspect there was not enough room left in this small chassis to fit a full-sized 115v power cord socket, much less an internal power supply.

Lots inside

All those inputs lead to some remarkable circuitry within. The internal DAC does not decode DSD files, but it does a solid job with digital files up to a sample rate of 24bit/192kHz – plenty for CD and SACD input or streaming your favorite online music service.

The MaiAs Class D amplification circuitry delivers 25 watts into an eight-ohm speaker load, or 37 watts into four ohms. While featuring a much lower power rating than my usual reference amplifier, the MaiA had no problem driving GamuT RS3i speakers. Back at the TONE studio, we substituted a broad range of different speakers and found the power amplifier section both robust and conservatively rated.

Sonically satisfying

For our testing, we paired the MaiA integrated with the matching CD player in the same product line, as well as other sources on hand. No matter what musical genre you enjoy, the MaiA delivers excellent sound with ample detail. Sonically, the amp is very neutral, a touch to the forgiving side. It provides a high level of realism while avoiding uncomfortable and edgy stridency that emerges from some budget-conscious pieces of gear I have experienced over the years. Bass goes deep and punchy considering its modest power rating. Higher frequencies appear effortlessly, and retain the shimmer and glow desired from favorite recordings.

Soundstaging represents another important strength. The perceived performance expresses with large scale breadth and depth, extending forward of the speakers when a recording dictates it and filling the room with music without any apparent strain. Do not expect this amp to drive massive full range speakers with oomph given its power rating, but as long as you stick to speakers in the 90db/1watt range, it’s all good. Stand mounted speakers, though, are likely to find a very welcome ally. Simply put, it is a great amp. An audio fan cannot expect the world for the MaiA’s price point of about $500 USD, but you easily get a large continent or two!

The MaiA CD: Diminutive Digital

The MaiA CD player matches the integrated amplifier in size and performance, with its front-loading CD slot taking up three-quarters of the player’s width. Without its wall-wart power supply, the CD player weighs in at 2.77 lbs. (1260g). I have owned power cords which weigh more than this player!

Under the hood resides solid engineering and technology. Built around a Burr-Brown (Texas Instruments) DAC chip, this player is meant exclusively for CDs.The DAC handles all files at 24bit/96khz with 8x oversampling, bringing a lot of life to your CD collection. Those wanting to use the MaiA CD player as a transport only can do so via the Toslink output. Utilized in this mode via a 25 foot AudioQuest Toslink cable, we found the MaiA player to provide an interesting solution to those still wanting to play compact discs occasionally. The MaiA player is an excellent transport, via the Audio Research DAC 9, also reviewed in this issue. Even the fussiest audiophile can take advantage of a MaiA player, to play the redbook discs in their collection.

On the right side, the front panel offers a little digital display, the size of a postage stamp, noting track number and play time. On the left is the power button as well as a tiny IR receiver for the remote control. Beneath the disc slot is the expected buttons for track advance, reverse, pause/play and stop/eject. The small remote allows the owner to make these adjustments, plus others. The control allows track or album repeat, random play, and selection of a specific song by typing in the track number. The only remaining choice is black or silver casework. Both are very attractive.

The rear of the player is even more minimalistic. A single pair of RCA analog outs make connections to any amplifier straightforward. If you already have preferred interconnects at home with audiophile grade terminations, be aware there is little space between the terminals. Hose-like interconnects will not fit, so choose accordingly. We’ve had excellent result with the Audience or Cardas cables in this respect, and Pro-Ject even offers a line of their own.

In addition to the compact form factor, this player is a top musical performer. More expensive dedicated CD players can offer more refinement and a greater level of micro-detail retrieval. For the price asked, this mini-marvel will not leave its owner longing for more. Voiced slightly to the warmer side of neutral with robust detail, the MaiA player is very “anti-digital” in its rendition. Soundstaging is excellent with a soundfield that projects left and right beyond the speaker boundaries, and each musical element has a good degree of separation in the perceived distance behind the speakers.

Playing MoFi’s remaster of Beck’s Sea Change, proves immersive. Vocals lock in place up front with ambient cues layered across the soundstage. Bass notes have substantial heft, and highs offer gentle sparkle. Even loudspeakers many times the price of this CD player will find themselves complemented by this marvelous partner. Switching the program between acoustic, solo vocal and even densely packed rock recordings all satisfy.

Vertical Integration – The Pro-Ject VT-E

Up till now, the vertical record players we’ve seen have been little more than mere toys. Leave it to Pro-Ject to come up with a vertical that offers serious performance. As at home on a shelf or table, the VT-E combines Pro-Ject performance in a vertical format with a pre-installed Ortofon OM5 cartridge. You can even wall mount it, and they are available in red, white and black. At $349 each, I’d even consider buying six of them to make wall art! Should you not be integrating the VT-E with an amplifier containing a phono preamplifier, consider the VT-L, which has a built in phonostage and can be connected to a line input.

Everything is set up from the factory, so the only decision is whether to shelf or wall mount. Those that are challenged for space need only about 16 inches of wall space and a little bit of counter space underneath to put a complete Pro-Ject system! Though I admit I love the idea of a VT-L on a pedestal in the middle of the room with a pair of long interconnects to the rest of the system. Again, Pro-Ject is as much art as science. You can even order one in right or left-hand operation. Very diplomatic!

Skeptical as I was about the concept of a vertical table, the VT-E works perfectly. Most of my listening was done with the table wall mounted, so it proved immune to room induced vibrations. Sonically, it reminds me a lot of the Debut Carbon table. Tracking through some favorite current and classics, the Pro-Ject/Ortofon combination is more than capable. Of course, the synergy between it and the MaiA integrated is fantastic, and the aesthetic works well.

For the beginning vinyl enthusiast, the VT-E should prove a worthy companion, providing a musically rewarding experience and a real conversation piece to boot. And because it comes from the factory completely set up, it’s as no fuss as LP playback can be.

Summing up

Considering everything inside these tiny components, you might expect compromise, but none have been made regarding sonics. The Pro-Ject MaiA Integrated Amplifier and CD Player both combine excellent audio performance and functionality in a pair of very tiny boxes. We are pressed to think of anything offering this level of performance near this price.

Should you have more space, or just want bigger, more powerful components, the MaiA series will probably always have a place in a second room or desktop system. Our publisher is even thinking about a set for his garage system!

Both the Pro-Ject MaiA Integrated Amp and CD Player more than earns a much-deserved TONEAudio Exceptional Value Award. These would be outstanding components if they were in full sized boxes. Considering they offer it in such compact enclosures is certainly a bonus. Now you have no excuse not to have a great sound system anywhere.

Pro-Ject MaiA Integrated Amplifier. ($499)

Pro-Ject MaiA CD Player ($399)

Pro-Ject VT-E Turntable ($349)

www.box-designs.com (factory)

www.sumikoaudio.net (US importer)

www.pro-jectusa.com.  (for more details)

There seems to be a lot of options at the cheap and cheerful as well as the crazy money ends of the analog spectrum.

However, the analog lover that wants to make a solid step up from their budget deck often has to search a bit harder to find a solid performer without mortgaging their future too substantially. The Origin Live Calypso at $2,400, along with their Encounter Tonearm for $1,500 is one we can highly recommend. We are almost finished with a full review that will be in issue 85.

You can read a bit more about it here.

Those of you in the United States can purchase one from Audio Revelation. Please click here to contact them.