Raising the performance bar that additional centimeter can be difficult in the case of a speaker that had already set a high standard. After all, the original Helicon 400, released some seven years ago, had ...

I recently completed an article on the controversial “natural’ wine movement for Edible San Francisco magazine. For you non-oenophiles in our audience, this growing movement practices organic or biodynamic viticulture, a relatively non-interventionist style of ...

Up until about three weeks ago, if someone had asked me who in the States makes the best dynamic speakers I would without hesitation have answered: “Alon Wolf of Magico and Andy Payor of Rockport.” ...

Meet the new boss in tube preamplifiers chez Valin. No, it’s not the same as the same as the old boss of the Valin household, the Audio Research Reference 3, my reference tube linestage for ...

Not too long ago I proposed an article to our Editor in Chief, Mr. Harley, to be called “What Would You Really Buy?” By this I did not mean what would our reviewers buy if ...

Boxing fans may remember that when former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson entered the ring, there was no satin robe. He wore only black trunks, and black high-tops, no socks. No frills. He was just sending ...

This review began with my search for a speaker system to help turn my office into a new listening room. It gradually transformed, however, into a search for a system that was more musical or ...

This is Part 2 of Anthony H. Cordesman's Review of the Quad system. You can read Part 1 here. Quad 99 Stereo Preamplifier If you are a true high-end puritan, you are going to be ...

There is always a danger in talking about a “revolution” in high-end audio. I’m sitting near my turntable as I write this, and listening to an LP dating back to the 1960s. I’m also listening ...

The KEF 203/2 is a medium-proportioned floorstander that occupies the sweetspot in KEF’s prestigious Reference line—a range of seven models—the majestic, four-way, 145-pound Reference 207/2 holding court at the summit. Standing roughly 40” tall the ...

Clearaudio’s Innovation Wood turntable combines some stunning new innovations along with others that have been applied to much of the Clearaudio line during the past four to five years, like ceramic magnetic bearing (CMB) technology ...

Few products I’ve encountered have struck me the way Wilson Audio’s Sasha loudspeaker has. This isn’t because Sasha delivers the best sound I’ve ever heard, but because it seems fully realized in every aspect of ...

When it comes to tube electronics few high-end companies speak as authoritatively and have been as honored as the Audio Research Corporation. On a far more personal note is the memory of a system I ...

When Benchmark Media’s DAC1 digital to analog converter was introduced a few years ago, it not only garnered rave reviews, but those reviewers who performed rigorous laboratory tests only wound up confirming Benchmark’s claims that ...

If you have a speaker with an excellent top end, you will likely hear that excellence in almost any listening room. As long as the speaker is kept reasonably far from hard reflective surfaces and ...