LATEST ADDITIONS

Rega’s <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/708rega/">outstanding P3-24 turntable</a> is available in lots of fun colors, and even though I do love my white P3, I still suffer from color envy. I want a green one, a blue one, an orange one, <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/ssi2010/regas_p3-24_is_pretty_in_pink/">a pink one</a>. I would like a different P3 for every day of the week, a P3 for my every mood. I wonder if the different colors have different sonic properties. For instance, does my white P3 sound <i>purer</i> than a black P3? Are certain colors better suited to certain types of music? Blue for the blues?

I've been enthusiastically tracking the development of Bel Canto's class-D amplifiers, from their original <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/442">TriPath-based models</A> to their <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicintheround/1106mitr">more recent designs</A> based on Bang &amp; Olufsen's ICEpower modules. With each step, Bel Canto has improved their amps' sound quality and reliability.

Why bother with three phono preamps most of us can't afford? For the same reason the enthusiast automobile magazines cover the newest Ferraris and Lamborghinis: just <I>reading</I> about them is fun.

A perpetual problem for audiophiles has been finding that disc that not only satisfies the soul, but also placates the analytic brain as well. Of course your collection is filled with great music, but how much of it actually sounds <I>great</I>?

<i>So easy to look at, so hard to define.</i>

<B>LAURA NYRO: <I>Live at the Bottom Line</I></B><BR>
Cypress YL6430 (2 LPs), YD6430 (CD). Mark Linett, eng.; Laura Nyro, prod. AAA/AAD. TT: 62:00

This is the Ion TW1S tweeter module found in the Acapella High Violoncello II loudspeaker ($80,000/pair). As you can see from this picture, taken in JA’s listening room, the tweeter module rests beneath the Acapella’s midrange enclosure. (That big, purple bell&#151the color is actually Porsche Amethyst&#151has a diameter of 18.5”.) Housed in a perforated metal box and powered with its own AC cord, the tweeter module is a completely self-contained unit; it accepts a line-level input from an RCA jack and amplifies the signal with a class-A amplifier.