Esoteric Grandioso M1X, MONO AMPLIFIER

That in itself is not necessarily bad; the darker presentations of some concert venues and hi-fi systems often enhance detail. But I prefer my music more illumined, with all the color and brilliance that instruments and voices can offer. And over the last three years or so, Esoteric's sound has become better lit, as though a 40W bulb was replaced by a 75W bulb.
At AXPONA 2022, I eagerly headed to the company's exhibit, where I spoke with Keith Haas, national sales manager of 11 Trading Company, Esoteric's US distributor. When I learned of the forthcoming Grandioso MIX monoblock ($35,500 each), the culmination of a complete revision of the company’s top-selling M1 monoblock (now discontinued), I worked with Haas and Editor Jim Austin and set up a review.
As excited as I was, though, I grew concerned when I noticed that the M1X’s specified compatible loudspeaker impedance is 4–16 ohms, and that specified maximum output power is rated only down to 4 ohms. Could the M1X handle my Alexia V’s impedance dip, to approximately 2.5 ohms at 85Hz?1 In a Zoom session with Haas; Esoteric’s marketing and internationalsales managers, Hiroyuki Machida and Tsuyoshi Sugiura; and the company’s digital marketing, website design, and social media guru, Shota Terai, Terai told me that it could. “Our manual has to conform to Japanese safety standards,” Terai explained. “This is why we limit our recommendation to 4–8 ohms. But the amplifier’s performance [extends farther] than what’s on the spec sheet; its linearity extends to 2.4kW into 1 ohm.”
Sizable simplicity
Bu hikaye Stereophile dergisinin April 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Stereophile dergisinin April 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap

Two things that don't suck
There are things that make me feel so unpleasantly lightheaded that some days I worry my cranium might float away like a helium balloon. Like baby animals generated by AI that I can no longer distinguish from real ones. Skin care for tweens. Headlines about American politics that read like headlines about Turkmenistan. The music of Charli XCX.
Pathos InPoL Legacy - INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
Back when gasoline had lead in it and amplifiers came with circuit diagrams in the back of the manual, there was an unspoken understanding that power meant weight.

A Sorane TA-1 tonearm, the evolving tonearm marketplace, and the Ortofon MC 90X
A friend who sells high-end audio gear once pointed out that people who shop for separate tonearms are very different from those interested in phono cartridges or turntables in general.

RECORD REVIEWS
Ryan Truesdell launched his Gil Evans Project in 2012 with Centennial.

The iron-and-tube ethos
Woo Audio's 20th Anniversary WA24 headphone amplifier comes ina distinctive, low-slung chassis that welcomes the eye with gentle angular volumes and bright, frosty-surfaced, copper-toned controls.
A solo Gryphon showroom in L.A.
Often in these pages (and in Industry Update), we have reported ways various brands have experimented with the traditional hi-fi-retail formula. An example: the single-company dealership, adopted most recently by the Vervent Audio Group, parent company to Focal and Naim.¹

Canor Hyperion P1
PREAMPLIFIER

Quad 33/303
PREAMPLIFIER/POWER AMPLIFIER COMBO

MANUFACTURERS' COMMENTS
ANY CLOD CAN HAVE THE FACTS; HAVING OPINIONS IS AN ART

Staying true to the passion
Steve Jain, cofounder and managing director of Fidelity Imports, has been busy since launching the company six years ago in the Philadelphia area.