LATEST ADDITIONS

With its high-end heart and home-theater brain, Chord's powerful CPM 3300 integrated amplifier ($9500 with the aluminum-cylinder Integra leg option, $8950 without) is a uniquely fascinating audio product well worth considering. High-tech innards and magazine-cover good looks don't hurt either, but what originally got me interested was the superlative sound Chord products have consistently delivered at trade and consumer shows when paired with Wilson-Benesch loudspeakers.

The old advertising jingle "Who put eight great tomatoes in that itty-bitty can?" bubbled through my head as Musical Fidelity's Antony Michaelson proudly unboxed the new $4500 M3 Nu-Vista integrated amplifier. How did they cram it all in there?

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/cdcantus3.jpg" WIDTH=170 HEIGHT=152 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>When <A HREF="http://www.cantusonline.org">Cantus</A>'s artistic coordinator (and <I>Stereophile</I> reader) Erick Lichte phoned me in the summer of 2000 about my recording this Minnesotan male-voice choir, it didn't occur to me that I was entering a long-term relationship. But just as sure as 16-bit digital is not sufficient for long-term musical satisfaction, my first Cantus CD led to a second, and now a third. (All available from <A HREF="https://secure.stereophile.com/stereophile/recordings.shtml">this website</A>). For <I>Deep River</I>, I traveled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 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.

Audiophiles may bemoan the convergence of computers and high-fidelity equipment, but it's a trend apparently as unstoppable as the earth's progression around the sun.

Does the SLP in the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/204cary">Cary SLP-98P tube preamplifier</A>'s name stand for "sweet little preamplifier"? Art Dudley sets out to determine if Cary's latest version in the SLP preamp series lives up to the moniker.

Two new companies have formed in recent weeks to bring audiophile cable and connector products to market.

Back in January of 2002, we <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11252/index.html">reported</A&gt; that loudspeaker manufacturer <A HREF="http://www.nhthifi.com">NHT</A&gt; and <A HREF="http://www.deqx.com/">DEQX</A&gt; (then known as ClarityEQ) had begun to co-develop a new line of active loudspeakers using DEQX's custom digital <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10969/index.html">room correction technology</A>. It's two years later, and NHT says it is finally ready to unveil the first speaker system incorporating digital signal processing (DSP) developed during the alliance.