LATEST ADDITIONS

Anthony Chiarella, director of sales and marketing for Gryphon NA, was joined by Command Performance AV CEO Jeff Fox and sales manager Jessie Bentley to present two debuts.

Florida-based Innovo Audio Designs makes active loudspeakers. Their stylish and unique Luxe T1 speaker, shown at CAF, instantly grabbed my attention. The speaker's small footprint, slim design, and side-mounted bass drivers were something new.

From Maryland to Munich, I've been consistently impressed by the audio systems of Nashville, Tennessee's Gestalt Fine Audio. This year's CAF continued the streak.

Ofra Gershman debuted her new Symphoria loudspeakers ($70,000/pair) at CAF. Joining the loudspeakers were a LampizatOr Aphrodite DAC ($105,000) and a Gulfstream music server ($8500).

I was pleased to finally meet John Tarulli, Hi-Fi Sales Manager at Audio-Technica US. A mainstay in hi-fi, consumer, and pro electronics since 1962, Audio-Technica doesn't necessarily need audiophiles, but we sure do need Audio-Technica.

To be considered for our 2025 awards, only products subjected to a full review or considered in a column published from the November 2024 issue through the October 2025 issue would qualify. Each product was subjected by the reviewer to a thorough evaluation over a period of weeks or months—plus, for regular reviews (not columns), a session in my test lab.

This month, I am writing about what could be the ultimate analog topic circa 2025: A prominent vinyl-only record club is going totally offline. Is it a marketing gimmick? Sure it is, but read on.