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Any piece of gear with a price tag under $2000.
We'll get to your least favorite next week, but this week, we want to know what your all-time favorite equipment review in <I>Stereophile</I> has been
This one is simple for me. Your review of the LP12 Vahalla 'table in Volume 7, No. 2 launched my sheer love of vinyl and its associated equipment by enticing me to go out and audition the 'table. Once I listened to that fabulous setup, I couldn't walk out of Audio Den without purchasing the LP12 Vahalla. It was my first foray into high end vinyl playback. I still have that magazine issue AND the LP12 Vahalla. Both the 'zine and the 'table are still in stone mint condition. Thanks, Stereophile!
Mikey Fremer's Rockport Antares. Don't think I'll ever own a pair of those nor have I got the chance to hear them. However, Mikey Fremer was able to communicate in a very special way that remarkable product, up to a point that I wished I had the money to get a pair of those.
The $350K Wavac SET Monoblocks. I was so impressed by the review, I ran out and plunked down the cash for a pair! Seriously, I did enjoy the review. Even though it served as nothing more than audio-porn, it was indeed interesting to read about the "cost no object" gear/technology that perhaps 1% of 1% of the world population *may* actually purchase.
There have been so many great reviews over the years that it is hard for me to pick just one. However, the one that comes to mind as the most enjoyable is the Wavac Audio Lab SH-833 in the July 2004 issue. That was over the top. A friend and I had a great time with that one. It was handled so well starting with comments in
Corey Greenberg's review of the NHT Super Zero speakers and subwoofer, and Aunt Corey's Uneducated White Trash High-Pass Filter and Speaker Stands (January 1994). If Corey was still at Stereophile, the average age of audiophiles would be cut in half by now. Runner Up: Gordon Holt's prehistoric review of the Bose 901 speakers, from back in "the day" when he was young too.
I think my favorite is the Wilson WAMM's. Having Dave Wilson come to your home to set up speakers was amazing. Then when he chose to sit in a spot where some of the room nodes were excited was unreal. Quoting Dave as admitting to being a bass freak was priceless.
Sam Tellig, in October 2003, wrote about a Conrad-Johnson tube preamp/power amp combination reproducing "...female vocals that were so lush, so sensous, that I could almost bite the vocalist's ass." That did it for me; I'm a Conrad-Johnson customer for life.