Equipment Reports
- review-
Revel Performa F52 Loudspeaker
|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, ...read more -
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Coincident Technology Super Eclipse III Loudspeaker
|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, ...read more -
Audio by Van Alstine Ultra Fet Valve 550 Amplifier, Ultra Hybrid SL Preamplifier, and Ultra DAC
|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 ...read more -
Accuphase DP-57 CD Player
|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 ...read more -
Music Hall MMF 2.1LE Turntable System
|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 ...read more -
Exposure 3010S CD Player and 3010S Integrated Amplifier
|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 ...read more -
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Cyrus 8vs Integrated Amplifier, CD 8x Player, and PSX-R Power Supply
|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 ...read more -
Virtual Dynamics Master Series Power Cord
|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 ...read more -
Acoustic Zen Technologies Adagio Loudspeaker
|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 ...read more -
McIntosh MC275 Series IV Stereo Amp and Quad II Classic Monoblock Amp
|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 ...read more -
PS Audio GCC-100 Control Amplifier
|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 ...read more -
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Hovland HP-200 Vacuum Tube Preamplifier
|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 ...read more -
Outlaw Audio Model 990 Controller and Model 7125 Multichannel Amplifier
|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 ...read more -
Cambridge Audio Azur 540A v2 Integrated Amplifier, Azur 540C CD v2 Player & Era Design 4 Loudspeakers
|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 ...read more -
Spendor S8e Loudspeakers
|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 ...read more