LATEST ADDITIONS

It's 150 years since that quintessential French Romantic, Louis-Hector Berlioz (1803–1869), left the planet. A near-contemporary of the equally romantic Chopin, Gounod, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Liszt, Berlioz shared with Meyerbeer (1791–1864) and Wagner (1813–1883) a propensity to express his passions and fantasies in music that sometimes unfolded slowly as it extended drama to extraordinary lengths.

On Saturday, April 27, Join Wilson Audio's Peter McGrath for an evening of music at The Audio Salon, 2525 Michigan Ave (Gallery F1) Santa Monica, California, from 1-8 PM. McGrath will be presenting the WAMM Master Chronosonic loudspeakers with the WAMM Master Subsonic subwoofers.

Wilson Audio Specialties considers the Yvette ($25,500/pair) to be the replacement model for the Sophia Series 3. I would argue that the Yvette is an entirely different animal. There are obvious similarities between the Yvette and Sophia. Each is a floorstanding, three-driver, three-way design. Each comprises a single box with a separate internal chamber for each driver. The Sophia's woofer and midrange chambers are ported; the Yvette's are respectively ported and vented. The two models are about the same size and, from the back, look a lot alike.

Our latest issue features a spicy interview with recording musician and Blue Note Records head Don Was; reviews of several speakers including KEF's affordable, wireless LSX, Wilson's Yvette, and the ultra-affordable Emotiva Airmotiv T2; and McIntosh's superb-measuring, powerful MC462 power amplifier.

Visit any consumer audio show these days and you'll see rooms full of systems costing from six to seven figures. Manufacturers like to put their best foot forward, and demoing systems with loudspeakers designed to sell for $50,000/pair and up (often up) seems an obvious way to go.

It's also common for an audio company to launch its flagship models first, and only later release more affordable products, for a wider range of buyers. The hope is that the promotional shine of the dream products will be reflected onto the budget models.

Wednesday April 24 and Thursday, April 25, starting at 5pm, Denver high-end audio retailer ListenUp (685 South Pearl Street, Denver, CO 80209, (303) 778-0780) is presenting its Music Matters 2019. Titled "Mastering the Art of Sound," the event will celebrate what's next in sound and the keynote speaker will be Stereophile's erstwhile Editor and now Technical Editor John Atkinson.

It hit me not long ago: I need more Mac in my life! I promptly purchased the current production version of McIntosh Laboratory's time-honored MC275 tubed amplifier, to mate to the Mac C2300 tubed preamplifier I already owned. The recently reinvigorated debate in these pages comparing solid-state and single-ended tube designs got me to thinking. One thing led to another, and voilà! McIntosh's latest solid-state stereo amplifier, the MC462 Quad Balanced ($9000), arrived, bolted to a shipping pallet and encased in two big, heavy, nested boxes. All that packaging weighs 33 lb—the amp inside weighs 115 lb. If you want to lift it onto a rack, you'll need two people, a serious handcart, and a strong, deep shelf.