For some, it takes the likes of Scheherazade to seduce; for me, simple sound will suffice. But not just any sound. If I'm going to enter into a relationship with an audio component, I want it to last.
I don't know anyone who, having heard the JMF Audio system at AXPONA 2023-the HQS¹ 6002 dual-mono power amplifier ($40,000) and PRS 1.5 dual-mono line stage preamplifier ($36,000) with Harbeth M40.3 XD speakers-did not rave about the sound. In my show report, I credited the system, assembled by Fidelis Distribution and Audio Skies, with delivering "some of the finestsounding music" I heard at the show. "This is the perfect sound for mellow music," I proclaimed. "Bliss."
Only the need to write umpteen show reports in a short span prevented me from saying more. Completely won over and hoping that JMF Audio's amplifiers would sound as good with my Wilson Audio Alexia V loudspeakers as they did with Harbeth 40.3 XDs, this serial reviewer of mono amps immediately asked Michael Vamos of Audio Skies, the US distributor of JMF Audio, if he (I) could review a pair of JMF monoblocks. The $77,000/pair JMF HQS 7001, which, according to their specifications, output 300W into 8 ohms, 500W into 4 ohms, and 850W into 2 ohms, were the best JMF Audio amps Michael could offer at the time.² Given their power and price, they promised a near-ideal comparison with my reference D'Agostino Momentum M400 MXV monoblocks, which cost $79,500/pair and are specified to output 400W into 8 ohms, 800W into 4 ohms, and 1600W into 2 ohms.³
Background and technology
Denne historien er fra February 2024-utgaven av Stereophile.
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Denne historien er fra February 2024-utgaven av Stereophile.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Louis in London
No jazz-centric visit to New York City is complete without a trek out to Queens. At 46th Street in Sunnyside stands the apartment building where famed cornetist Leon Bismark \"Bix\" Beiderbecke's alcoholism finally killed him in 1931.
Believing in bricks and mortar
North Carolina hi-fi dealer Audio Advice has been busy lately.
Musical Fidelity AI
In 1989, I bought my second pair of Rogers LS3/5a's from a guy on Staten Island who had them hooked up to a Musical Fidelity AI integrated amplifier.
Burmester 218
As much as I tinkered with a little crystal radio as a child and started reading stereo magazines in high school, it wasn't until my early 30s that I half-stumbled into the higher end of the hi-fi sphere.
Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature
The \"Bowers\" in the name of British manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) refers to founder John Bowers, whom I got to know fairly well before he passed in 1987.
Hegel H400
STREAMING INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle
How many times have you been told by parents and teachers that everything successful must be built on a strong foundation?
RECOMMENDED RC2024 COMPONENTS
Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable.
Paging Dr. Löfgren
It started one evening when I was killing time watching YouTube videos and stumbled across a 2017 talk given by Jonathan Carr, Lyra's brilliant cartridge designer.'
Music among the Fairchildren
Pull down the shades, find a comfortable seat, and come with me on an imaginary journey to the year 1956. The Eisenhower-Nixon ticket wins reelection, the United Methodist Church begins to ordain women, and a can of Campbell's tomato soup costs 10 cents.
