LATEST ADDITIONS

When everything arrives intact and Jeffrey Catalano has the time to create a set-up as stunning visually as it was aurally, High Water Sound’s systems invariably earn accolades as a Best of Show. This one certainly won my vote, as well as my applause and heart.

The popular history of quadraphonics (4-channel sound from LP records, tapes, and radio broadcasts) chronicles a spectacular failure. The major record labels, led by CBS/Columbia and JVC/RCA, invested millions in ill-fated schemes to convince music lovers to ditch 2-channel stereo for 4-channel surround sound. The concept was killed, so the story goes, by competing and incompatible LP formats, high prices on the better-sounding discrete-channel reel tapes, and a collective shrug by the buying public.

That story is mostly true, though the format thrived for a while in Japan and Germany, and it never fully died. Now, modern tech has made possible rereleases of 1970s quad albums on relatively common formats: multichannel SACD and Blu-ray discs (BD). No more "meh" LP formats, no more fussy 1970s-tech decoders.

For reasons that have as much to do with why the creek does or doesn't rise as anything, almost all the UK-manufactured electronics I've reviewed over the years were from dCS of Cambridge. Through 2023, no electronics from Linn or a host of other UK-based companies have crossed the threshold of my music room.

That situation changed when, soon after New Year's, a pair of Linn's 60lb Klimax Solo 800 monoblock amplifiers ($90,000/pair) arrived from Scotland. Right away, they delighted me with their ease of maneuverability, handsome, uncluttered look, and relative compactness. Given their impressive power output—400W into 8 ohms, 800W into 4 ohms, and a whopping 1.2kW into 2 ohms—the Klimax Solo 800s set a record for highest price per watt and per pound among class-AB monoblocks I've reviewed.

High-flying Fidelity Imports occupied seven rooms at AXPONA 2024—probably a show record. Since starting the company in 2018, industry veteran Steve Jain has signed up a bevy of brands from Italy, France, England, Japan, and beyond.

It was great to finally meet Joe Rodger, a member of the young Linn team with whom I coordinated my review of Linn Klimax Solo 800 monoblocks ($90,000/pair) that appears in the May 2024 issue

Audio Skies and Fidelis AV teamed up to present some of my favorite emerging stars of the Audio Highlands. It was a joy to re-experience some of the special sound I heard in my music room when I reviewed JMF Audio monoblocks.

It was good to see Sam Laufer again after several years. It was equally good to hear how fine Mark Porzilli’s Porzilli Audio speakers plus subwoofers ($35,000/pair) sounded in the company of the fabulous darTZeel LHC-208 Mk II integrated amplifier with DAC/streamer ($27,585), a Laufer Teknik Mini Memory Player 64 ($7500), an SVS 3000 Micro subwoofer ($899), and Liquid Cables.