Is bigger better? Michael Fremer sets out to determine just that as he reviews the Pass Labs XA160 monoblock power amplifier. As Fremer explains, "While the industry-feminizing tiny triode set has made a great deal of noise in the past few years (I can hear them hissing now), soft-walking, big-stick-carrying, mega-power amplifiers still circle the globe."

Next, Michael Fremer decides to take on the legendary Linn Products LP Playing System. "A legend can be intimidating, especially when it's also a classic, a revolutionary, an iconoclast, a survivor," remarks MF as he gets to work.

As a companion to our Linn review this week, we have David Lander interviewing the man behind the products in Ikonoklast: Linn's Ivor Tiefenbrun. DL notes that "Ivor Tiefenbrun is known for his sharp tongue, and an afternoon with him proves that the intellect behind that tongue is every bit as keen."

Finally, the latest installment in our "Recording of the Month" series for the online archives, Recording of May 1993: Tous les matins du monde (soundtrack). Les Berkley comments, "This soundtrack CD is the best introduction I can imagine to 17th-century viol music, wonderfully listenable without ever condescending to its audience."