Here is a riddle: What has sixteen separate, current-bearing, actively shielded “air strings” of copper-silver alloy, pure silver, pure gold, or (if you choose) a combination of gold and silver, twenty separate LEMO connectors and ...

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, ...

I’ve long admired the approach Simaudio takes toward building integrated amplifiers. Rather than treat the integrated amplifier as a budget-oriented product unworthy of its best technology, the Canadian firm has instead strived to create truly ...

Time was that a pair of electrostatics speakers was almost the shibboleth of the high end. When TAS began, of course, there were fine box speakers, the Spendors, the IMFs, and the Harbeths (rare in ...

Bower & Wilkins introduced the Matrix 801 speaker in 1979 followed by a line of speakers based on the 801 in 1986. B&W has continued to update the 800 range every few years ever since. ...

Is it really over when Morel’s brand-new $32k flagship speakers, The Fat Ladies, sing? That’s the bold promise of this wittily named arabesque of a three-way, four-driver floorstander from Israel and Great Britain (by way ...

In 2003, Bentley Motors shocked the automotive world by introducing the Continental GT. Until then, acquiring one of Bentley’s bespoke motorcars would set the purchaser back several hundred thousand dollars. But the Continental GT cut ...

The field of AC power conditioning for audio systems has undergone a radical transformation since the first AC conditioners appeared about 20 years ago. Those early products were developed largely through trial and error, and ...

Improving the breed is the imperative that drives high-end design. But few meld high concept and superior sonics into one as organically as Anthony Gallo of Gallo Acoustics. Defying box-speaker clichés, Gallo is known for ...

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 ...

Since the early 1980s the Norwegian manufacturer Electrocompaniet has been well respected—if not always well represented—in the North American marketplace. Importers came and went, and the brand went through stretches when it was entirely absent ...

“Compact monitors are for people who can't have large floorstanders.” Not enough room, can't turn the volume up, need expensive amplifiers to match, other members of the household won't tolerate them, and on and on. ...

It is fair, I think, to say that there wouldn’t be a “high end” as we now know it if it weren’t for the Audio Research Corporation, whose founder and chief designer, William Zane Johnson, ...

The original Townshend Rock Reference turntable is one of the legends of audio. Unusual and inventive in design, fabulous in sound, but never widely available, the Rock Reference is now a rare collector’s item. Its ...

Modesty is not an approach that earns high marks in the high end. Pleasing hobbyists with limited room to spare is not usually on the to-do list. Take the once-conservative integrated amplifier. In many instances, ...