Stereophile Staff

Kalman Rubinson looks past the odd knobs to discover what's at the heart of the Blue Circle BC21 preamplifier & BC22 power amplifier. KR reveals, "In the past, I've found components with small drawbacks that made them unacceptable, but the Blue Circle BC21 and BC22 triumphed over their flaws."

For Deep River, his third recording of Minnesotan male-voice choir Cantus, Stereophile editor John Atkinson traveled to Sioux Falls, SD, where the city has spent millions of dollars to transform the downtown high school into a gloriously warm-sounding, state-of-the-art performing arts center.

We kick off three speaker reviews from the September issue with Brian Damkroger's assessment of the Audio Physic Virgo III loudspeaker. A perfect meld of minimonitor and full-range bass extension? BD reveals all.

Anthony H. Cordesman and John Atkinson tackle the classic Vandersteen 2C loudspeaker in a review from 1986. "Whenever I think of cone speaker systems, I think of three brand names: Snell, Thiel, and Vandersteen," says Cordesman, prompting JA to add, "I must say that I just don't understand how Richard Vandersteen can sell the 2Ci at a hair under $1200/pair and expect to make any money."