T.H.E. Show Newport 2012

I still remember the chills that ran down my spine when I saw the band Rufus, with a young, slim Chaka Khan, performing "Tell Me Something Good" at a small English club more years ago than I care to recall. So when I went into the smaller MBL room at the Irvine Hilton and Jeremy Bryan started playing a live version of the same song, I got a similar thrill.

Speakers were the omnidirectional MBL 120 stand-mounted Radialstrahlers ($21,400/pair), driven by the Corona-series C31 CD player ($9200), which has a 24/96-capable USB input, Corona C11 preamplifier ($8800), and the Corona C21 300Wpc stereo amplifier ($9200). The total system cost was $48,600, not including the Wireworld Platinum Eclipse cable, which sounds expensive, but not when you compare that with the cost of the MBL system described by Jason in the previous story and consider that the Corona system gets you a long way toward that system's sound.