CES 2009

Why So Expensive?

Wes Phillips  |  Jan 12, 2009

It belonged to a tenor! (ba-dum-dum) Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here all week.

Ahem. Tenor's 350W monoblock Reference 350 ($90,000) are big and bold. They're hybrid OTLs using two ECC803/12AX7 s for the first gain stage and a JJ EC99 and six 7044 buffers in the second. Output is by MOSFETs. They're drop dead gorgeous and, driving a pair of Hansen Audio Emperors ($60,000/pair),they sounded ravishing. Effortless? Check. Detailed? Doubled check. Best of all, the music had me melting in my chair—at shows, that's high praise.

COMMENTS
Jeffrey's picture
Submitted by Jeffrey (not verified) on January 21, 2009 - 2:19am

By contrast, the Continuum Caliburn room with these Tenors and Magico V3's didn't sound that special ... to my ears.

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