News

Brian Damkroger ponders the Classé Omega monoblock power amplifier. "The Classé Omega is expensive, costing $25,000/pair," notes BD. But he also finds the amp a "drop-dead-gorgeous, massive, industrial-art chunk of aluminum and steel set off with a subtle mix of curves, contours, finishes, and textures." And then there is that Classé sound.

Has Art Dudley gone mad? In his review of the Spendor S3/5se loudspeaker, AD suggests, "Transistors can be made to sound like tubes, digital can be made to sound like analog, and cables can be made to sound like no cables. You'd almost think we live in an age of miracles." Dudley also reports on what miracles the Spendors hath wrought.

In his review of the $22,400, two-box, remote-controllable, top-of-the-line Naim NAC 552 preamplifier, Michael Fremer remarks, "Naim has always made a big issue of the quality of the power supplied to their electronics, and this preamplifier is no exception."

In his "As We See It" from the July issue, John Atkinson explains why some recordings are Nude, Not Naked. JA writes, "The recording engineers of the 1950s were craftsmen using the limited tools at their disposal, yet they still managed to produce recordings that put to shame much of what's being churned out by modern production mills."

Finally, the latest installment in our "Recording of the Month" series for the online archives: Recording of July 2003: Vivaldi: La Stravaganza. Robert Levine intones, "The two CDs are offered at a bargain price. It's easy to take Vivaldi for granted; here, it's impossible."