Articles
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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 -
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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 -
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 -
Cambridge Audio Azur 540A v2 integrated amp & 540C v2 CD player
|In this new feature in The Perfect Vision, we’ll seek out those “special” components that bring music into your home with an intensity, depth, and emotional connection you may not have thought possible. This class ...read more -
Krell Evolution Preamp and Amplifier
|There is a level of excellence at which conventional words about quality and cost-effectiveness become meaningless. Like the very best cars, watches, and wines, and every other assault on the consumer state of the art ...read more -
Spectron Musician III Amplifier
|John Ulrick, the founder and designer of Spectron, has a wealth of switching amplifier experience that few in the industry can match. In the late 1960s he was a co-founder of Infinity (with Arnie Nudell), ...read more -
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Cary Audio Design A 306 amplifier
|Cary’s A 306 Class D amplifier, part of the new Designer Series that includes the superb CD 306 CD/SACD player I reviewed in Issue 164, is big and heavy enough to be mistaken for a ...read more -
Jeff Rowland Design Group 201 amplifier
|Beautifully made (it is certainly the best-looking Class D amp of the lot, with a body carved from a billet of 6061 aluminum and a wavy faceplate straight out of Rowland’s Classic line), the 250Wpc ...read more -
Kharma MP150 amplifier
|The Kharma MP150 has been my reference amplifier since I received a pair in March to go with the company’s gorgeous-sounding Mini Exquisite speakers (a review of which will appear in our next issue). Before ...read more -
Spectron Musician III Signature Class D Power Amplifier
|In our Class D amplifier survey in Issue 166, some of my colleagues were unconvinced that the current crop of Class D was ready to take on the Class AB Old Guard in a head-tohead. ...read more -
Luxman L-550A II Class A Integrated Amplifier and DU-50 Universal Music Player
|Founded in 1925, Luxman is one of the most respected of all Japanese audio manufacturers and was a name to be reckoned with in the seventies and eighties owing to a series of very highly ...read more -
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Plinius SB-301 stereo power Amplifier
|I spend a lot of time cheerleading for integrated amplifiers. I like their spacesaving footprint. I like eliminating the interconnect and with it the ancillary circuitry required for preamp and amp to shake hands electrically. ...read more -
The ASR Emitter II Exclusive
|No component since this magazine’s inception in 1973 has troubled me as much as the ASR Emitter II Exclusive, a Germanmade- and-designed solid-state amplifier. Not because it is a flawed product— quite the opposite. This ...read more -
Classé Audio Delta Series CP-500 linestage, CA-2200 power amp, & CDP-100 CD player
|Classé Audio’s new Delta Series might have been just another exceptionally pretty face if it weren’t so seriously good. Bringing much of Classe’s flagship Omega Series technology and topology to the table, these new Delta ...read more -
PrimaLuna ProLogue Three Preamplifier & ProLogue Five Power Amplifier
|The PrimaLuna Prologue Three preamp and Five power amp are at the top of my list: good sound, good value, simplicity. They are also good fun, if you like playing with tubes (the power amp ...read more