As a product category integrated amplifiers make a lot of sense. Digital components such as CD players and stand-alone DACs already output a nominal 2V while power amp sensitivity is typically 1V or better. Given ...

Z-Infinity Audio was founded in 2001 by Zsolt Mathe with the goal of offering perfectionist tube gear that is designed, tested, and hand-assembled in the U.S. Zsolt, who is of Hungarian descent, has designed audio ...

When A. R. Bailey unveiled his novel “non-resonant loudspeaker enclosure” in 1965, commonly referred to today as a classic transmission line (TL), he took direct aim at the popular bass-reflex speaker design. Bailey’s measurements and ...

I was saddened to learn prior to the CES that David Manley, the progenitor of both VTL and Manley Labs, had passed away in late December after a long illness. A memorial gathering of friends ...

To confess, when RH suggested this review I felt a pang of hesitation. As I’ve spent much of my audio life in the company of tube preamps, the prospect of auditioning a solid- state design ...

You might be wondering what is so heretical about the $1700 Heresy III, the most affordable model in Klipsch’s Heritage line. The original design was introduced circa 1957 as a center channel for a pair ...

Triode Corporation, a successful high-end player in its Japanese home market, has been steadily garnering a positive international reputation. As its name suggests, it specializes in tube electronics with an affinity for triodes. Designer Junichi ...

Masataka Tsuda, founder and chief designer of Silicon Arts Design and Concert Fidelity, is quietly gaining a reputation as an important voice in high-end audio. Born in 1959, in the midst of Japan’s post-war economic ...

Transmission line (TL) loudspeakers are a rare bird today in a speaker universe dominated by bass reflex designs. There are two main reasons for this, aside from cost. First, there is no complete electro-acoustical model ...

History has been kind to Audion since Erik Andersson and David Chessel started the company in the late 1980s. It survived two decades in an age when the average lifetime of a startup high-end-audio company ...

CES is no place for someone looking for audio certainty in an uncertain world. The clash of competing designs is most evident in the loudspeaker arena, which resembles a dog show with its bewildering range ...

It’s safe to say that the BBC invented the mini-monitor speaker in the 1970s with its design of the LS3/5A, which was intended for monitoring television broadcasts in mobile control rooms. It was the little ...

In my book, a new product introduction from the creative mind of David Berning is an event, a happening if you will. His designs are far from being yet another twist on a 1950s circuit, ...

For MartinLogan X marks the spot. Promoted as the world’s best hybrid electrostatic, the Summit X does in fact redefine sonic expectations in this particular loudspeaker genre. Updated from the original Summit, the X features ...

Invoking yet again the mystery of Stonehenge and its ineffable inner circle, Mystère has recently launched a pair of flagship products aimed squarely at sharing tube magic with a wide audience. Both models use similar ...