LATEST ADDITIONS

News
More New Audio Products
Stereophile Staff  |  Feb 02, 2004  |  0 comments
FM fans alert: Tuner specialist Magnum Dynalab has introduced its "Triode Series," led by the $3995 MD-106T triode tube tuner. The MD-106T is said to combine great signal sensitivity and selectivity in channel reception with "exceptional build quality and musical realism." One design feature that's something of a throwback to tube electronics of the 1950s and early '60s is a glowing "Magic Eye" tube indicator for fast, precise tuning. The MD-106T also features "a precisely aligned tunable five-stage RF front end, and a double-thick, gold-plated circuit board to minimize vibration," according to a company announcement. Stereophile's Larry Greenhill is about to embark on a review of the MD-106—stay tuned!
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News
Financial Roundup
Barry Willis  |  Feb 02, 2004  |  0 comments
The rumored economic recovery may not be simply spin and hype, if recent reports from the consumer electronics industry are any indication.
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News
Added to the Archives This Week
Stereophile Staff  |  Feb 02, 2004  |  0 comments
From the January 2004 issue, Michael Fremer writes about the "SUV-like, limited-edition, 20th-anniversary" Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista kWP preamplifier & Tri-Vista kW Monobloc power amplifier. No doubt the "bank-vault-like" designs will get your attention, but as Fremer discovers, after you close your eyes, it's "sheer sonic pleasure."
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News
Peak Consult Enters the US
Jon Iverson  |  Feb 02, 2004  |  0 comments
Denmark's Peak Consult is well known in the European market as a loudspeaker brand, but the company has received scant notice elsewhere. To remedy its low profile Stateside, Peak Consult reports that it has signed with Stereovox to distribute its products in the US.
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The Fifth Element
The Fifth Element #21
John Marks  |  Feb 01, 2004  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2004  |  0 comments
To the great surprise of not that many people at all, at Home Entertainment 2003, as at the two immediately previous shows, the room featuring loudspeakers by Joseph Audio was voted by showgoer ballot "Best Sound of Show" (see September 2003, p.62). I'm not going to pick a fight over that. Not only was the sound very, very good; the entire vibe was confidently relaxed, while at the same time being purposeful in a manner businesslike yet friendly.
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Art Dudley Listening
Listening #13
Art Dudley  |  Feb 01, 2004  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2004  |  0 comments
When some people record music, they make an effort to record the ambient sound of the hall or other performing space along with it. On the other side of the coin, some engineers work to capture only the sounds of the performers, so the recordings they make sound comparatively dry. And, of course, there are engineers who don't make an effort one way or the other, and whose work contains whatever hall sound does or does not come their way by accident.
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Digital Processor Reviews
Mark Levinson No.390S CD Processor
John Atkinson  |  Feb 01, 2004  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2004  |  0 comments
It was 20 years ago that I appeared on one of the UK's equivalents of NBC's Today show to comment on the launch of CD. I wanted to talk about digital technology, but my host was more interested in the medium's lack of surface noise, which he demonstrated by showing that a disc smeared with butter and marmalade—this was breakfast television, remember—would play without skipping. (Actually, it wouldn't play; after the jammy CD was loaded, the program cut to a pretaped segment in which the player had a pristine disc inside it.)
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Solid State Power Amp ReviewsTube Preamp Reviews
Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista kWP preamplifier & Tri-Vista kW Monobloc power amplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 01, 2004  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2004  |  0 comments
Thoughts of power, domination, and audio road-rage enter one's mind when contemplating Musical Fidelity's SUV-like, limited-edition, 20th-anniversary offerings (footnote 1). (Only 75 sets of kWPs and kWs will be made.) The gleaming, brushed-aluminum, two-box, oversized, overweight Tri-Vista kWP preamp is fortress-like—the "kWP" looks as if chiseled into the faceplate by grimy, sweaty hands. Each of its boxes weighs almost 56 lbs. The unit's milled-aluminum remote control, the size of a Volkswagen Microbus and looking like something Fred Flintstone might wield, must weigh over 5 lbs. The kWP outputs more juice than many power amps: 55V, with 20 amps of peak-peak instantaneous current!
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Vote
Have you ever purchased audio components or systems for someone else as a gift? If so, what did you give?
Chad Tally  |  Feb 01, 2004  |  0 comments

The responses to last week's question revealed that a lot of you received your first audio system or component as a gift. Reader Chad Tally wants to know if you have ever purchased audio components or systems for someone else as a gift? If so, what did you give?

Have you ever purchased audio components or systems for someone else as a gift? If so, what did you give?
Yes, it was a . . .
70% (75 votes)
No
30% (32 votes)
Total votes: 107
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Budget Component ReviewsPhono Preamp Reviews
Graham Audio Era Gold Mk.V phono stage
Robert J. Reina, Michael Fremer  |  Jan 30, 2004  |  First Published: Jan 30, 2005  |  0 comments
I don't know Gram Slee from Gram Parsons, or which House he was in at Harry Potter's Hogwarts School, but let me tell you: If you'd just been listening to a bunch of budget phono preamps, as I had, then came upon the GSP Audio Era Gold Mk.V, you'd think someone had switched out not just the phono preamp but your entire system. You might think you were listening to a different pressing or a different cartridge. How can this be?
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