Brian Tucker, the US Quad importer, introduced me to the Woodside MA50 tube amplifiers and their manufacturer, John Widgery, during the 1992 Summer CES. Tucker's combination of Woodside MA50 tube amplifiers and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/416">Quad ESL-63 USA Monitor</A>s sounded unusually neutral, dynamic, and detailed. This was good news; back in 1987, Dick Olsher (Vol.10 No.6, pp.104&ndash;5) was unable to recommend an earlier Woodside-manufactured amplifier, the Radford STA 25 Renaissance. Brian mentioned that the MA50's design is a much-improved version of that earlier Radford model. Time for another review.

<I>"A high-quality amplifier must be capable of passing rigid laboratory measurements, meet all listening requirements, and be simple and straightforward in design in the interest of minimizing performance degradation..."</I>&mdash;Cdr. Charles W. Harrison Jr., <I>Audio</I>, January 1956 (footnote 1)

<I>"A high-quality amplifier must be capable of passing rigid laboratory measurements, meet all listening requirements, and be simple and straightforward in design in the interest of minimizing performance degradation..."</I>&mdash;Cdr. Charles W. Harrison Jr., <I>Audio</I>, January 1956 (footnote 1)

<I>"A high-quality amplifier must be capable of passing rigid laboratory measurements, meet all listening requirements, and be simple and straightforward in design in the interest of minimizing performance degradation..."</I>&mdash;Cdr. Charles W. Harrison Jr., <I>Audio</I>, January 1956 (footnote 1)

<I>"A high-quality amplifier must be capable of passing rigid laboratory measurements, meet all listening requirements, and be simple and straightforward in design in the interest of minimizing performance degradation..."</I>&mdash;Cdr. Charles W. Harrison Jr., <I>Audio</I>, January 1956 (footnote 1)

<I>"A high-quality amplifier must be capable of passing rigid laboratory measurements, meet all listening requirements, and be simple and straightforward in design in the interest of minimizing performance degradation..."</I>&mdash;Cdr. Charles W. Harrison Jr., <I>Audio</I>, January 1956 (footnote 1)

<I>"A high-quality amplifier must be capable of passing rigid laboratory measurements, meet all listening requirements, and be simple and straightforward in design in the interest of minimizing performance degradation..."</I>&mdash;Cdr. Charles W. Harrison Jr., <I>Audio</I>, January 1956 (footnote 1)