Budget Component Reviews

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Stand Loudspeaker ReviewsBudget Component Reviews
B&W Compact Domestic Monitor 1 loudspeaker
John Atkinson  |  Jun 26, 1996  | 
While large, floorstanding speakers appear to offer the most material for the buck, I feel that small stand-mounted speakers both offer the best value in sound quality, as well as standing the best chance of sounding good in moderate-sized listening rooms. In recent months Stereophile has reviewed a varied group of such speakers. In order of descending price, these include the Acoustic Energy AE2 Signature ($5495/pair, November '95); Dzurko Acoustics Jaguar ($4500/pair, reviewed elsewhere in this issue); Totem Mani-2 ($3995/pair, February '96); Platinum Audio Solo ($2498/pair, November '95); Coincident Speaker Technology Troubador ($1495/pair, January and February '96); Joseph Audio RM7si ($1299-$1499/pair, February '96); Acarian Alón Petite ($995-$1195/pair, January '96); Phase Technology PC80 II ($699/pair, December '95); and Spectrum 108cd ($399/pair, December '95).
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Stand Loudspeaker ReviewsBudget Component Reviews
PSB New Stratus Mini
John Atkinson  |  Jun 26, 1996  | 
While large, floorstanding speakers appear to offer the most material for the buck, I feel that small stand-mounted speakers both offer the best value in sound quality, as well as standing the best chance of sounding good in moderate-sized listening rooms. In recent months Stereophile has reviewed a varied group of such speakers. In order of descending price, these include the Acoustic Energy AE2 Signature ($5495/pair, November '95); Dzurko Acoustics Jaguar ($4500/pair, reviewed elsewhere in this issue); Totem Mani-2 ($3995/pair, February '96); Platinum Audio Solo ($2498/pair, November '95); Coincident Speaker Technology Troubador ($1495/pair, January and February '96); Joseph Audio RM7si ($1299-$1499/pair, February '96); Acarian Alón Petite ($995-$1195/pair, January '96); Phase Technology PC80 II ($699/pair, December '95); and Spectrum 108cd ($399/pair, December '95).
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Budget Component ReviewsStand and Rack Reviews
Black Diamond Racing The Shelf
Wes Phillips  |  Feb 23, 1996  | 
At the 1994 Summer CES, I was sitting in ProAc's room listening to Vangelis's Blade Runner score, when a couple of guys walked in carrying a shiny black board. "This is pretty interesting stuff," one of them said. "Want to hear it?"
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Budget Component ReviewsMiscellaneous
HeadRoom Traveler Bag
Wes Phillips  |  Oct 08, 1995  | 
"Cool bag! Can I see it?"
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Stand Loudspeaker ReviewsBudget Component Reviews
JMlab Micron & Micron Carat loudspeaker
Dick Olsher  |  Sep 26, 1995  |  First Published: Sep 26, 1991  | 
Let me take you back some 40 years to the mono days of the early 1950s. It's unlikely that the minimonitor genus of loudspeakers, of which this French JMlab is a prime example, would have survived back then. There was the practical problem of available amplifier power. The average amp could squeeze out no more than 10 to 15W into an 8 ohm load—far less power than the typically insensitive minimonitor demands for adequate dynamic headroom. But that in itself would not have sufficed to displace the minimonitor from the marketplace. After all, "high-power" amps (50-watters) could be had at a price.
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Budget Component ReviewsIntegrated Amp ReviewsHistorical
Naim NAIT integrated amplifier
Robert Harley, Sam Tellig  |  Aug 08, 1995  |  First Published: Aug 08, 1985  | 
The $395 NAIT, rated at 20Wpc, is a good-sounding little amp. It's very open and spacious-sounding, but, like the $250 Rotel RA-820BX, sometimes sounds a little hard in the upper registers.
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Budget Component ReviewsHeadphone Reviews
Etymotic Research ER-4S Canal Phone earspeakers
Wes Phillips  |  Jul 30, 1995  | 
The cab's outside, the plane leaves in 50 minutes. Let's see...HeadRoom Supreme, HeadRoom Bag, portable CD player, CDs, Etymotic ER-4S Canal Phones....Oh, yeah—mustn't forget luggage or plane tickets. Guess I'm set to go.
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CD Player/Transport ReviewsBudget Component Reviews
Radio Shack Optimus CD-3400 portable CD player
Sam Tellig, Various  |  Jun 30, 1995  |  First Published: Jun 30, 1994  | 
"You are not going to believe this."
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Budget Component ReviewsHeadphone Reviews
Grado SR60 headphones
Corey Greenberg  |  Jun 08, 1995  |  First Published: Jun 08, 1994  | 
What the hell is going on with headphones these days?!
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Stand Loudspeaker ReviewsSubwoofer ReviewsBudget Component Reviews
NHT SuperZero loudspeaker & SW2 subwoofer
Corey Greenberg  |  Jan 30, 1995  |  First Published: Jan 30, 1994  | 
What makes someone a good hi-fi reviewer? A fine critical sensibility? A good technical background? Ears? Eyes? Nose? Throat? So many different people are reviewing audio gear these days that it's downright impossible to characterize a good reviewer. But I do know that Beavis and Butt-head would make killer hi-fi reviewers!
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Solid State Preamp ReviewsBudget Component ReviewsHeadphone Reviews
HeadRoom Supreme headphone amplifier
John Atkinson  |  Jan 08, 1995  |  First Published: Jan 08, 1994  | 
"Uhh! What is it?" I was being prodded on the arm. Admittedly it was gentle, almost polite prodding, but prodding it still was, a rude disturbance of the cocoon I had woven around myself in seat 31J of the American Airlines MD-11 winging its way across the North Atlantic. I pushed Pause on the Discman, insensitively not waiting for an opportune cadence in the Brahms Piano Quintet that had been my erstwhile virtual reality.
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Budget Component ReviewsHistoricalJ. Gordon HoltStand Loudspeaker Reviews
BBC LS3/5a loudspeaker
J. Gordon Holt, Various  |  Mar 17, 1977  |  First Published: Mar 01, 1977  | 
These diminutive little sleepers have been available in the US for quite some time but have attracted little attention because (1) they have never really been promoted and (2) they are just too small to look as if they could be worth $430 a pair.
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