Recommended Components

How To Use The Listings
The classes each cover a wide range of performance. Carefully read our descriptions here, the original reviews, and (heaven forbid) reviews in other magazines to put together a short list of components to choose from. Evaluate your room, your source material and front-end(s), your speakers, and your tastes. With luck, you may come up with a selection to audition at your favorite dealer(s). "Recommended Components" will not tell you what to buy any more than Consumer Reports would tell you whom to marry. Heaven forbid.

Class A
Capable of producing the best attainable sound almost without practical considerations. A Class A system is one for which, with the best recordings, you don't have to make a leap of faith to believe you're hearing the music live. When hi-rez formats first became available, we created a new class, A+, for the best-performing products in those categories; Class A continued to represent the best that could be obtained from the then-ubiquitous compact disc. Later, we also created an A+ class for turntables, phono preamps, and headphones. With hi-rez formats now ubiquitous, expect class A+ to go away soon.

Class B
The next best thing to the very best sound reproduction; Class B components usually cost substantially less than those in Class A, but most Class B components are still quite expensive.

Class C
Somewhat lower-fi sound but far more musically natural than average home-component high fidelity; products in this class are of high quality but affordable.

Class D
Satisfying musical sound, but these components are either of significantly lower fidelity than the best available or exhibit major compromises in performance; limited dynamic range, for example. Appearance in Class D still means that we recommend this product. It's possible to put together a musically satisfying system exclusively from Class D components.

Class E
Applying to "Loudspeakers," these are entry-level products.