Recommended Components

2013 Recommended Components Powerline Accessories

Powerline Accessories

APC AV S15BLK: $730 w/battery backup ✩
The S15BLK is a comprehensive power source, conditioner, and controller that features extensible external power and isolated EMI/RFI filtration for each of its outlet banks. Voltage regulation is accomplished electronically and without the hysteresis or rebound problems of slower, motor-driven compensation. Protected even the heaviest of KR's loads while also eliminating gray colorations and intermittent chassis vibration. "The S15 made the bridged eVo6 into an even better power amplifier—a super amp." (Vol.28 No.9 Read Review Online)
Audience Adept Response aR12-TS AC power conditioner: $8995 ✩
The Adept Response provides power-factor correction, RF noise filtering, transient suppression, and 12 Hubbell high-conductivity power outlets. Each outlet is isolated from its input by one filter, and further isolated from the other outlets by a combination of two additional filters, allowing an entire audio system to be plugged into a single AR. BD noted a profound overall improvement in his system's performance, characterized by enhanced clarity, precision, low-level detail, image definition, soundstage size and depth, and tonal density. "A thoroughly thought out, well-designed, nicely executed manifestation of all that's currently known about power conditioning," said BD. "TS" changes from the earlier aR12 include: a new, larger ground with connections welded rather than bolted; Teflon capacitors throughout; and the use of monocrystal copper wire on the Teflon caps. With the aR12-TS in BD's system, dynamic transients expanded, resolution of low-level detail significantly improved, soundstages opened up, images became more dimensional, and voices took on additional harmonic richness. "The Audience aR12-TS is the best power conditioner I've heard," said BD. (Vol.30 No.4; Vol.34 No.10; Vol.35 No.1 Read Review Online)
Audience powerChord: $539/6ft ✩
"The wonderfully flexible powerChord, too, was a winner, significantly cleaning up the sound by lowering the noise floor, opening up the space between instruments, and significantly improving the system's resolution of low-level and inner detail." Though BD's reference, Synergistic Research's AC Master Coupler, offered better senses of space and ambience, the Audience was very nearly as good and much easier to use. (Vol.25 No.8 Read Review Online)
AudioQuest 3 US AC power strip: $35
AudioQuest's sturdy little 3 US has three standard three-pronged power outlets and accepts a standard IEC power cord of any length and girth. "Plug in a good cable and you have a serious extension cord that will distribute AC where you need it," said KR. "Like having a power strip in your back pocket. You never know when you will need it," he sums up. (Vol.35 No.12 Read Review Online)
AudioQuest NRG-X3 AC cord: $99/6ft
The NRG-X3 three-pole AC cord uses strands of long-grain copper for its semisolid, concentric-packed conductors. SM connected the NRG-X3 to the Emotiva ERC-2 CD player and heard a cleaner, brighter top end; faster, more assertive attacks; and longer, lovelier decays. "The AudioQuest NRG-X3 delivered more music, made more sense of the music, managed to more fully convey the artists" intentions, and made me a happy guy," he said. (Vol.35 No.1 Read Review Online)
Ayre Acoustics L-5xe power line filter: $1500 ✩
In an attempt to dissipate unwanted high-frequency energy riding on the AC line as heat, the L-5xe uses a coil of wire wrapped around a nonferrous core for each of its four AC jacks. "Its slight softening effect seemed to improve image palpability, three-dimensionality, and midband texture," said MF. However, the Ayre's "pleasing romanticism" lacked the believability of the faster and more detailed Shunyata Hydra 2, he felt. (Vol.30 No.7)
Brick Wall PW8R15AUD surge protector: $259 ✩
This small, solid, black block is a series-mode surge protector rated for 15A loads and comes equipped with eight outlets in four filtered banks and a captive 14-gauge AC cord. Gave KR the sense that his equipment was safe from catastrophic insult without changing his system's performance whatsoever. (Vol.28 No.5 Read Review Online)
CablePro Noisetrapper NANA power strip: $350 ✩
Manufactured by Wavelength Audio Video and available at most Naim Audio dealers, the Noisetrapper NANA is an eight-outlet power strip featuring 12-gauge silver-plated OFC internal wiring, silver-soldered connections, and a hardwired, shielded power cord, all built into a nonmagnetic enclosure, and devoid of LEDs, MOVs, and filters which might corrupt performance. Plugging his entire system into this one strip, Art found "unambiguously good" performance: "My system was simply easier to listen to, and required less nervous energy on my part in order to convince myself I was hearing music." (Vol.29 No.3 Read Review Online)
Environmental Potentials EP-2450 Home Theater Power Supply: $1025.21
Environmental Potentials EP-2050 Waveform Correction Absorber: $728.99 ✩
The EP-2450, a lightweight, full-size chassis, has eight unisolated AC outlets that can pass 20 amperes of HF-filtered, ground-filtered, surge-protected AC, and comes equipped with a filtered and surge-protected coaxial line. KR used the EP-2450 to rid his system of noise generated from digital amps. "Reduced amp noise to effective inaudibility!" The E-2050 provides protection from AC-borne noise by means of a tracking filter, and uses a metal-oxide varistor to clamp and absorb surges. KR: "Examination of my house's line voltage on an oscilloscope revealed a smoother, cleaner 60Hz signal than before." (Vol.28 No.9 Read Review Online)
Fono Acustica Sinfo power distributor: $9,995
Made in Germany, the Sinfo is an attractive six-outlet power strip made of solid Panzerholz, a natural wood material said to protect against vibrations and electromagnetic-wave contamination. It uses Oyaide's top-of-the-line outlets and power inlet; the IEC blades are trimmed down from a phosphor-bronze slab, hand-polished, and plated with a combination of platinum and palladium. The outlets are connected with exotic, thermo-treated wire, and the Sinfo contains no capacitors, inductive filters, or transformers. With his gear plugged into the Sinfo, the sound of MF's system was consistently lusher, richer, and sweeter. Expensive. (Vol.35 No.12)
Furman IT-Reference 20i power conditioner: $3699 ✩
Furman Sound's top-of-the-line power conditioner provides four duplex outlets offering balanced and power-factor–corrected AC, as well as two duplex outlets offering unbalanced power for high-current-draw power amplifiers. JM: "The IT-Reference 20i is built like a tank, and worked flawlessly. It brought a slight lowering of the noise floor without any reduction in dynamics." (Vol.30 No.10 Read Review Online)
GutWire B-16: $99/5.5 feet $$$ ✩
Uses Schurter and Leviton connectors on multistranded, oxygen-free copper wire. With the B-16 in place, JM noted improved image focus and clarity. "A great value," he said. (Vol.31 No.10 Read Review Online)
HiFi-Tuning Silverstar/Gold fuses: $39.95–$59.95 each ✩
These German fuses, distributed in the US by Ultra Systems, have silver filaments, ceramic bodies, and gold-over-silver terminations. Mikey replaced the cheap fuses in his Musical Fidelity kWP preamplifier and was rewarded with a subtle but noticeable improvement in smoothness and coherence. The HiFi-Tuning fuses worked well with both the Onkyo A-9555 and PS Audio GCC-100, imparting a clearer, more dynamic sound, with crisper transients, said RD. The element of the HiFi-Tuning Supreme fuse ($59.95, small; $89.95, large) is 99% silver impregnated with 1% gold. Its case is of ceramic rather than glass, for better resonance characteristics, and is cryogenically treated. Installed in the PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium integrated amplifier, the Supreme fuse created "a marked increase in clarity," said RD. Go figure! Available in various sizes. (Vol.30 Nos.2 & 9, Vol.35 No.5 Read Review Online)
JPS Labs Aluminata AC Cable: $3999 ✩
The Aluminata AC has three 8-gauge Kapton-insulated conductors and uses a Wattgate plug and IEC connector, both with gold-plated contacts. Along with the matching interconnects and speaker cables, the Aluminatas "brought a new measure of spaciousness, scale, smoothness, heretofore unimagined detail, and overall musical ease and naturalness to my music system," AD enthused. KR agrees with AD that the expensive Aluminata lowers his system's noise floor. (Vol.30 No.4 Read Review Online; also see CS's VTL review in Vol.25 No.11)
JPS Labs The Digital AC-X Cable: $399 ✩
Uses "very-high-purity" stranded copper conductors, insulated to a 300V rating and said to contain a special compound that absorbs and dissipates high-frequency energy. AD: "The Digital AC endowed the music with a better sense of flow and a smoother, more 'liquid' presentation....The sound was more open...with an easier, more natural sense of movement from note to note....The performance as a whole also seemed more dramatic and, in some spots, downright louder." He purchased The Digital AC to use with his Sony SACD player. Current "X" version has updated capacitors. (Vol.26 No.4 Read Review Online)
Kimber PowerKord 10: $280/6 ft, other le ngths are available at $25.00/ft. ✩
ST uses Kimber Kords throughout his system, and noted tremendous differences with a Jadis Defy-7. But try before you buy, he warns. (NR)
Kubala-Sosna Emotion AC cable: $1100/m; $300/additional meter
A KR favorite. See "Loudspeaker Cables." Add $300 for each additional meter. (Vol.29 No.7 Read Review Online)
Pangea Audio P-100 power supply: $69.99
Designed by Peter Madnick, the P-100 choke-regulated power supply can be used with Cambridge Audio's DacMagic, Wadia's 170iTransport, or Musical Fidelity's V-Series components. When ST used the P-100 with Musical Fidelity's V-DAC Mk.II, he heard more low-level detail, cleaner attacks and decays, and less electronic edge. "The Pangea P-100 is for those who want to wrest the very best from their budget gear," concluded Sam. Available from Audio Advisor with a money-back guarantee. (Vol.35 No.2)
Quantum Resonant Technology Qbase QB8: $1399.99
Of this AC strip's eight outlet sockets, only the one at the center of the strip goes straight to ground. For the remaining seven, resistors are inserted between the sockets and the ground in an attempt to reduce the noisy currents that can come from having multiple ground points of differing potentials within the system. (Vol.32 No.12 Read Review Online)
Shunyata Research Hydra Triton power conditioner: $4995
The Hydra Triton power conditioner is the first Shunyata Research product created using the company's new Dynamic Transient Current Analyzer, a low-impedance power source that simulates the power grid and measures the effects of powerline accessories on a hi-fi system. The Triton offers four pairs of AC outlets, each using brass with a high copper content for the conductors, and employs Shunyata's new Multi-Phase Differential Array, a system of 30 microfilters, each aimed at specific noise components. With the Triton in MF's system, music sounded louder and cleaner and was more transparent, spacious, and detailed. "There's no trade-off," said MF. (Vol.35 No.1)
Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One 5.0 isolation transformer: $5500
Though expensive, the Pure Power One 5.0 includes a 65-lb, 5kVA, custom-built isolation transformer, a proprietary EMI/RF filter, four double-ganged, gold-plated Furutech AC jacks, and a Vesuvius power cord. The PP1 5.0 eliminated noise and increased dynamic range, allowing music to emerge from the soundstage with far greater three-dimensionality. "There was no downside to using the PP1 5.0, only a big upside," said Mikey. (Vol.33 No.8)
Torus Power RM20 AC power isolation unit: $3295 ✩
Torus Power's Power Isolation Units (PIUs) combine surge suppression with massive toroidal transformers to provide AC power conditioning and protection from voltage surges. The RM20 uses a single 2400VA toroidal transformer to supply 120V and 20 amperes to the 10 AC outlets on its rear panel. It has a 20A circuit breaker for its On/Off switch and uses a 14AWG detachable AC cord rated at 15A/125V. "The PIU greatly enhanced subtle details of tone, timbre, and imaging when dynamics were extreme or volume was loud," said LG. CS20 version has 17" faceplate (silver or black); also costs $3000. (Vol.31 No.1 Read Review Online)

Class K

Ocellia Reference AC cable, Shunyata Research Triton AC conditioner, Sain Line Systems Pure Current Reference AC Cord.

COMMENTS
guitarist9273's picture
Submitted by guitarist9273 on July 19, 2013 - 5:30pm

The Beats Solo HD is now a Stereophile reccomended component... That sounds like a (funny) joke. They're certainly attractive looking & very stylish, but they sound very...well, bad. They're Class D...but I'm genuinely curious as to why they'd be included at all.

There are a lot of decent choices when it comes to headphones in the portable/sealed-on-ear-headphones-under-$300 category, now, that it's hard to see the B&W P3 and the Beats Solo HD making it onto the list. (Anyone interested in heaphones should check out Stereophile' sister online publication on personal-audio/headphones---InnerFidelity.)

Thanks for this awesome compilation, by the way! I sincerely enjoyed reading through such a wide sampling of great loudspeakers, amps & such. The balanced objectivity is always refreshing, considering other publication's purely subjective approach.

RobertSlavin's picture
Submitted by RobertSlavin on July 20, 2013 - 6:19am

Being able to see the photos of the components next to their descriptions, as found in this online version of recommended components, is nice.

However, Stereophile used to charge for this section online. Why is it giving it away for free now?

There's not a tremendous amount of money in magazine publishing. I'd prefer that the magazine make a reasonable amount of money from this section.

John Atkinson's picture
Submitted by John Atkinson on July 20, 2013 - 9:55am

RobertSlavin wrote:
Stereophile used to charge for this section online. Why is it giving it away for free now?

Unless I am having a senior moment, we never used to charge for on-line access to Recommended Components. In fact, we have only been making it available in its entirety on-line since 2012, which is when we launched our free iPad app.

And regarding charging for it, my bottom-line policy is that the magazine's content should be available free on-line.

John Atkinson

Editor, Stereophile

Poor Audiophile's picture
Submitted by Poor Audiophile on July 20, 2013 - 6:04pm

Thanks for that JA!

EU-USA Stereophile Fan's picture
Submitted by EU-USA Stereoph... on July 24, 2013 - 1:11pm

Maybe some other EU makers could have been included such as Phonar (Germany) or PMC (UK)

John Atkinson's picture
Submitted by John Atkinson on July 25, 2013 - 5:55am

Quote:
Maybe some other EU makers could have been included such as Phonar (Germany) or PMC (UK)

"Recommended Components" exclusively concerns products that have been reviewed in the magazine. In turn, to be reviewed in Stereophile, a product needs to be available in the US; see  www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/307awsi/index.html.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

Glotz's picture
Submitted by Glotz on July 25, 2013 - 11:58pm

WOW, I love it!  

I think I have memorized the entire RC over the years, and seeing each component again (some for the first time) is wonderful!  

I wonder who went through the trouble of procuring all of those photos for RC online.  

I won't even pretend there will be photos (for the next RC) in the magazine.  I imagine it would be 500 pages long... 

Ariel Bitran's picture
Submitted by Ariel Bitran on July 30, 2013 - 6:40am

photos were gathered by myself and reformatted by Jon Iverson.

Downforce's picture
Submitted by Downforce on July 27, 2013 - 2:11am

Has the excellent Emotiva ERC-2 been discontinued?  And for JA, the link you posted isn't working.  Thanks for the lists.

John Atkinson's picture
Submitted by John Atkinson on July 27, 2013 - 6:21am

Downforce wrote:
Has the excellent Emotiva ERC-2 been discontinued?

Not according to Emotiva. It's there in Class C of Disc Players.

Downforce wrote:
And for JA, the link you posted isn't working.

Fixed. Thanks.

John Atkinson

Editor, Stereophile

stereomag's picture
Submitted by stereomag on July 27, 2013 - 12:52pm

Wow! Here they (Stereophile) go again. Still no review of any Accuphase preamps. Why is that, Stereophile?

weitn's picture
Submitted by weitn on August 6, 2013 - 5:33am

M30.1 got impressive reviews from Stereophile and Absolute Sound and recommended by both. I have auditioned it and ordered a pair the other day. Out of curiosity, what happened to the M40.1? It was listed in the 2012 recommended list.

destroysall76's picture
Submitted by destroysall76 on August 13, 2013 - 12:14pm

Great recommendations, but I'm curious in the LS50 from KEF. Is it really that much better of a speaker to be a part of the Class A (Restricted LF) over the Harbeth P3ESR and the Proac Tablette?

Also, is the Rega RP1 the better table buy this year over the Project Debut Carbon?

mkrzych's picture
Submitted by mkrzych on July 17, 2014 - 5:57am

Hello,
I've read here that Dali Zensor 1 are in class C (Exteme Restricted LF), so according to your judge those are considered not entry level speakers, am I right?
If so, do you have any suggestions for the speaker cable matching or positioning for these little babies to sound the best? Currently I have Marantz CD5004/PM6004 connected to them over the QED Strand 79 speaker cable. They are on Soundstage Z22 stands.
Is it anything I can do to improve this gear in your opinion?

Thanks for any suggestions.
Krzysztof

MykhailoM's picture
Submitted by MykhailoM on March 15, 2016 - 7:24pm

Good audio cables are surely essential part to any serous audiophile as they deliver a very sensitive signal between your audio gear as it has been said in this page. I have listened to quite a few well known brands such as Russ Andrews cables QED Signature etc. and more often than not the price reflects its qualities. As anything else in audio gear, cables need auditioning on your system. If possible grub 4 or 5 pares from your local dealer in a price range £300 to £600 from different brands and at your own comfort have them checked, I'm pretty sure you will get different results and the better components you have the more evident it will be. In my auditioning experience I prefer small exotic brands, to me they deliver a very good sonic result. I can change components etc. but cable will stay as they are so revealing. Keep your options open and DO audition on your system or at your local Hi-Fi dealer.

MykhailoM's picture
Submitted by MykhailoM on March 15, 2016 - 7:20pm

Everything must be auditioned either interconnects cables or audio components, your ears will be your best judge.

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