AXPONA 2025

Tone Imports and Pitch Perfect Audio: Beyond Muskrat Love

Ken Micallef  |  Apr 27, 2025

At AXPONA 2025, Jonathan Halpern of Tone Imports and Matt Rotunda of Pitch Perfect Audio teamed up in room 2025. Very au courant. I first met Halpern and speaker designer John DeVore years ago, when both worked at Steve Mishoe’s In Living Stereo, a high-end store in New York. Their careers have long intersected—and so has their gear.

The duo’s analog front end featured a MusiKraft moving-coil cartridge—misread by my editor as “Muskrat”; happily, its performance was anything but furry. The cart ($2950–$3650) was mounted to the tonearm of a JC Verdier La Platine magnetic-bearing turntable ($14,000), with a Fonolab QVATTVOR Classic step-up transformer ($3995) feeding a Shindo Monbrison tube preamplifier ($12,900). Amplification came courtesy of a Leben CS600X integrated amplifier ($8995), driving Revival Audio Atalante 5 loudspeakers ($5395/pair, stands $495). A Box Furniture HD3S Heritage rack ($5000) supported the system’s electronics, while a Shindo Mr. T power distributor ($2990) handled AC duties.

Not playing, but very much present: a Sugden IA-4 Class-A integrated ($6995), a Shindo Cortese 300B SET amplifier ($15,000), and a Leben RS-28CX tube preamp ($7995).

The sound in room 2025 lived up to my high expectations: rich in tone, generous in weight and scale, with the unforced musicality that has become a Shindo–Revival–Leben signature.

COMMENTS
JohnnyThunder2.0's picture
Submitted by JohnnyThunder2.0 on April 27, 2025 - 8:17am

between equipment that looks artisanal and made from beautiful things and how they sound. Everything in that room should be coveted by music lovers. The Verdier has not changed in decades. it is a classic. I just may have to trade up to a Leben CS600x eventually. It just plays music beautifully and elevates everything else in the system. I opted for something that required less of a wait - I think the wait time for a 600 was close to 9 mos. when I last inquired - perhaps that has changed - but every time I hear one I want one. What music was being played in that room?

Anton's picture
Submitted by Anton on April 27, 2025 - 5:08pm

If Rectilinear were still around, that’s what I’d be expecting from them.

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