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Recommended Components Fall 2021 Edition How To Use The Listings
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.
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.