Sometimes all it takes to identify the essence of a loudspeaker—to glimpse its soul, if you will—is to hear the way it reproduces the relative simplicity of a single instrument. If you’re a guitar player, ...

It’s been nearly six years since a tall, dark, and handsomely slim pair of Coincident Total Eclipses first cast their spell on me at the 2000 Consumer Electronics Show. I couldn’t believe such fabulously fast, ...

Nothing puts a bigger smile on my face than reveling in great-sounding audio gear the average Joe—or Jolene—can actually afford. Priced at $1299 and $1599, respectively, the Audio by Van Alstine (AVA) Ultra SL preamp ...

I’ve recently been the beneficiary of an embarrassment of high-end riches. This happy bit of serendipity has allowed me to evaluate loudspeakers from ATC and DALI, and electronics from Plinius (most notably, the CD-101 CD ...

For many years I've recommended that music enthusiasts with less than $500 to spend on a source would be better served by purchasing a CD player rather than an inexpensive turntable. I have always assumed ...

Audio critics seem to forget that the people buying the stuff they write about are doing so for a pretty simple reason: to get musical pleasure. And while it is their job to convey how ...

In 1984, Mission introduced its Cyrus line of electronics. These components developed an enthusiastic following but were somewhat overshadowed by Mission's own loudspeakers, at least on these shores. Indeed, the last TAS review of any ...

For audio reviewers who labor each day over razor-honed amplifier heatsinks, hoist 125-pound speakers into position, and go cross-eyed adjusting the azimuth of a “nude” cartridge, moments of audio epiphany are depressingly rare. But for ...

My soap-box speech begins with a reminder that all designed (as opposed to formula) audio equipment is a dance of compromises, and any unit’s strengths and weaknesses are the product of the designer’s sonic priorities ...

Our age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchres of the fathers.” So wrote Emerson in his seminal essay “Nature,” perhaps the most famous complaint in American literature. (I wonder what he would have made of ...

Variable gain power amplifiers have always made a lot of sense to me from a sonic, if not always a practical, standpoint. Including a gain control to vary the voltage output of the amplifier approaches ...

In last issue’s CES report, I described the sound in the Hovland Company’s room at the Alexis Park Hotel as “consistently elegant, detailed, and natural.” That listening experience dovetailed almost precisely with the installation in ...

Okay, let’s say you’ve finally got a place of your own. Those iPod earbuds are great on long jogs but murder when you just want to kick back with the Arctic Monkeys and a glass ...

My search for a great sounding, affordably priced high-end system brought me to two very different companies, Cambridge Audio and Era Design. The former is a 30-year-old British firm that has recently transformed itself into ...

Once I had the opportunity to explore the Great Organ at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. This Aeolian- Skinner's 8000 or so pipes live in two huge "attics" above ...