Marantz Model 30

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

KEF LS50 Meta LOUDSPEAKER

LOUDSPEAKER

Cambridge Audio CXA81

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

BOWIE, CURATED

FIVE YEARS AFTER THE ICON’S PASSING, A FAN REVIEWS THE POSTHUMOUS RELEASES

Acora Acoustics SRB

LOUDSPEAKER

Some truly affordable phono cartridges

Someone once asked me, “If I buy your $90,000, 25W amplifier, what will I get that I am not getting with my $2000, 200W amplifier?” My answer was simple: “Goosebumps, tears, and smirking.” Great, well-tuned audio systems, at all price levels, give their owners less of the annoying and distracting stuff and more of the exciting and engaging stuff. Great systems offer more opportunities for smirking pridefully while listening to great recordings.

Scrubbing bubbles

THIS ISSUE: A new ultrasonic record-cleaning machine and a very pretty cartridge with a body made from Blue River Agate.

Alta Audio Alyssa

At first look, our November 2020 review of the standmount loudspeaker ($5000/pair) from Alta Audio1 appeared to be a thorough vindication of the Stereophile method of reviewing, combining measurements with a subjective listening journal. John Atkinson’s measurements were generally fine, but he uncovered “strong discontinuities in the impedance traces at 174Hz and 291Hz [that] imply the presence of resonances.” They could only be internal airspace resonances, since he found the Alyssa’s cabinet to be admirably inert.

MBL NOBLE SERIES N31 CD PLAYER–D/A PROCESSOR

In Stereophile’s February 2018 issue,1 I reviewed the MBL Noble Line N31, a baroque-styled CD player and D/A processor from German manufacturer MBL.2

LOOKING BACK AT FLEETWOOD MAC

TWO REISSUES SHOW THAT THE BAND WAS GREAT BEFORE IT WAS FAMOUS.

Gryphon Essence Mono

POWER AMPLIFIER

SAT's remarkable XD1 record-player system

Let’s begin by discussing what SAT’s XD1 Record Player System is not: It is not a Technics SP-10R in a sci-fi–inspired plinth—although the XD1’s engine does begin life as the SP-10R’s basic drive system, which is stripped down to a handful of essential components, reimagined, reengineered, and rebuilt to much higher mechanical standards.

GOLDENEAR BRX

When I first started writing for Stereophile, John Atkinson brought me a speaker to review. The shipping box was really beat, and it had some other reviewer’s name on the UPS label. After a few days of trying to get it to sound good, I speculated that John and at least one other reviewer already knew this speaker did not sound good. Flummoxed, I wrote JA a simple email (he likes simple emails), “Is this a test?” He replied, “Everything is a test.”

Deja Lou

It’s déjà vu all over again in New York City. 1988: The bankrupt Fear City NYC of the 1970s had given way to the go-go ’80s, with many missing the fruits of the Wall Street boom. AIDS ravaged the city, unabated, and a rash of violence and crime fueled by the crack-cocaine epidemic made for a grim underbelly of urban blight and neglect.

CANADA: PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO

I was shocked and greatly saddened by the news of the passing, at age 68, of Brian W. Russell, president and co-founder (along with his brother Chris) of Bryston Ltd. Established in 1973, Bryston’s first product was a power amplifier for the professional market.

The First Watt F8

I spent my childhood summers on the Reichert family farm near Turtle Lake, Wisconsin, where, inside the red 1880s barn, my uncle Harold played 78rpm records for his cows.

Something's coming

So, what’s “this thing of ours”?

Rotel Michi P5

PREAMPLIFIER

THE WIND CRIES MARTY

Composer Sasha Matson talks to veteran reedist Marty Krystall about film music, studio work, recording, and working with musicians from Serkin to Zappa.

Marten Oscar Duo

LOUDSPEAKER

Grandinote Shinai

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

Valley of the Sun

Audio Research Reference 6SE - LINE PREAMPLIFIER

Line Preamplifier

Alta Audio Alyssa LOUDSPEAKER

It was a “Wow!” audio moment I’ll never forget.

A gift at war (for Veterans Day)

In March 2003, as news networks broadcast images of American tanks racing north toward Baghdad, my infantry platoon dug shallow foxholes in south-ern Iraq. We were part of a defensive perimeter guarding FARP Exxon, a helicopter refueling point for the Army’s 101st Airborne Division.

Musical Fidelity M8xi

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

Polk Audio Legend L100

LOUDSPEAKER

NAD Masters Series M33

STREAMING INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

Göbel High End Divin Marquis

LOUDSPEAKER

REVINYLIZATION

Bill Evans’s best late album