Stereophile's Products of 2022 Budget Component of the Year

Budget Component of the Year

722gen.promo_

Genelec G Three loudspeaker ($1590/pair; reviewed by Herb Reichert in August 2022, Vol.45 No.8 review)

Finalists (in alphabetical order)
Bluesound PowerNode integrated amplifier ($899; reviewed by Ken Micallef in August 2022, Vol.45 No.8 review)
LSA VT-70 integrated amplifier ($1399; reviewed by Rogier van Bakel in October 2022, Vol.45 No.10 review)
Music Hall Stealth turntable ($1649; reviewed by Herb Reichert in October 2022, Vol.45 No.10 review)
Pro-Ject Debut Pro turntable ($999 w/tonearm & cartridge; reviewed by Ken Micallef in January 2022, Vol.45 No.1 review)
Topping PRE90 preamplifier ($599 including EXT90 extension module; reviewed by Kal Rubinson in February 2022, Vol.45 No.2 review)

"Budget" at Stereophile doesn't mean box-store or bubble-gum–dispenser prices—although at $599 (footnote 1) the Topping Pre90 preamp, a Budget-category finalist, comes close. In Stereophile, "Budget" means approachable in price and good enough to facilitate serious listening. I can't think of a better recent example than this year's Budget-category winner, the Genelec G Three loudspeaker.

"My first impressions of Genelec's G Three remained true throughout my audition: pure and precise with a surprising amount of well-articulated bass for such a small speaker," Herb Reichert wrote in his review. Herb proceeded to compare aspects of the G Three's performance to those of several affordable reference loudspeakers, finding at least one way the G Three was superior to each of them. "I needed only a few tracks to realize that the G Threes play more clearly and more open than any speaker I had on hand to compare them to," he concluded.

"Genelec's G Three transduces more unpolluted truth than any other small speaker I've auditioned. Its unique purity is mesmerizing, a pleasure to hear. In my room, with my sources and preamp and wires, the G Three performs like an authentic studio monitor, providing copious detail without losing any of music's beauty or poetic content. My highest recommendation."

About the Vote
The Budget category is always fun and often competitive. This year, though, a product ran away with the prize. The $1590/pair Genelec G Three earned almost twice as many votes as its nearest rival, the similarly priced ($1649) Music Hall Stealth record player. The Music Hall was followed two votes back by another record player, the $999 Pro-Ject Debut PRO, and the $599 Topping Pre90 preamplifier—a tie for third place.


Footnote 1: After Kal's review was published, amazon.com started selling a bundle including the Pre90 and the Ext90 for the same $599 that the Pre90 alone originally sold for.

COMMENTS
Jack L's picture

......seven categories: Amplification Component of the Year,.."qtd Jim Austin

My question is: did "each reviewer" already auditioned "EACH of the 3 items in the seven categories" in order to give valid & impartial nominations ????

Otherwise, how could it be a valid nomination in case the reviewer(s) concerned never auditioned those particular candidate components out of the seven categories he/she nominated ????

IMO, actual personal in-depth audition of a candidate components is crucial of valid & fair nomination given by the reviewers concerned.

Listening with own ears is believing

Jack L

ChrisS's picture

Jack L, do some reading.

Did you even read this article?

A priori?

Jack L's picture

Hi

I have read it. That's why I asked.

YOU think you read it but you don't seem to know what you are talking about !

Jack L

ChrisS's picture

A priori!

Jack L's picture

Hi

If I were a priori, you are a big mouthing posteriori !

Hahahahahaaha....

Jack L

ChrisS's picture

...everything in your head?

Jack L's picture

Hi

Sure, better than a huge posteriori like you "listen to your great stereo with your head so far up your ASS all the time" as per your pal: johnnythunder!

Johnnythunder1: get your kissing cousin johnnythunder2 talk to me as yr mouth stinks like your ASS !

Hehehehehe

Jack L

johnnythunder1's picture

with your head so far up your own ass all the time.

David Harper's picture

ignore this guy. everything he thinks is wrong.

ChrisS's picture

...between Jack L and David Harper.

Hehe...!

Anton's picture

I don’t think it would be a conversation so much as simultaneous monologues.

Jack L's picture

Hi

Since when Stereophile Components of the Years becomes a stage for you bunch of polylogue-jokers ???

Jack L

ChrisS's picture

...believing, Jack L!

Jack L's picture

Hi

If here were a library, reading books there is believing.

Here is Audiophile, so LISTENING is believing, right?

Besides, who wants to read any nonsense from "you bunch of polylogue-jokers" here ?

Hahahaha..

Listening to music is believing

Jack L

ChrisS's picture

...Stereophile.

I can also read Herman Melville's Moby Dick on my computer.

Are we believing yet?

Jack L's picture

Hi

First off, what's Stereophile magazine in your "libray" to do with "Mody Dick" read from yr computer ??

Stereophile is about audio/music - we listen with our ears.
"Mody Dick" = The Whale, is an 1851 novel read by the eyes.

Apple to orange comparison ! Former is for real vs latter is a fiction. So you believe in fiction, be my guest ! I don't.

This is an audio/music venue, not for novels reading. Thanks but no thanks.

Listening to music is believing

Jack L

PS: I am never a novels reader since day one. Too busy with my music listening already ! What dragged me in to start my first novel reading was the billion-dollar top seller: "Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown in 2003. The thriller was sooo popular I got to wait a while for it from my neighbourhood public library !

ChrisS's picture

...go round and round.

Jack L's picture

Hi

Come on. You should be "WATCHING yr eyeballs go round & round in your mirror to look for yr ears - gone with the wind !

For no-ear YOU, reading is believing, pal. HEhehehe...

Jack L

Indydan's picture

Hey Jack L, why does everyone pick on you? Maybe it's because the L in Jack L is for LOSER.

For Jack L, SUCKING is believing.

Jack L's picture

Hi

Who cares, SOURgrapes !

What "everyone"?? The editor here is not a "LOSER" like YOU here as he does not "pick on" me.

YOU "sucking" "loser" is my believing !

Jack L

Indydan's picture

Hey JackOFF the Loser, keep sucking!

Jack L's picture

.

Indydan's picture

Hey Jack L, I am hearing from reliable sources that you pick your nose and eat it...

rschryer's picture

Btw, I'm eating dude. Gross.

MikeP's picture

Clarisys Audio Minuet Loudspeakers ? Speakers of the Year 2023 ?...

RustyGates's picture

Not sure why the Rossini Apex got the top spot; the Tambaqui is by far the more technically competent DAC and has far more universal & consistent praise across the board than any of the dCS systems.

X