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Editor: We'd like to thank Wes Phillips and Stereophile for the extensive and thoroughly enjoyable review of our latest incarnation of the Paradigm Atom, the Atom Monitor v.5. Reading Wes's comments as he auditioned the Atom serves as a great reminder of why we're all in this business. The joy that comes from listening to a great performance reproduced in our homes by a high-fidelity system was clearly evident in Wes's enthusiasm during the product review.

But it was his comment that the sound of the Atom "was what the High End is all about" that really…

After reading Wes Phillips' positive review of the fifth generation of Paradigm's Atom loudspeaker in the September 2007 Stereophile, I thought it would be interesting to compare it with the Atom v.3, which I reviewed in September 2002 (Vol.25 No.9), and which ever since has been one of my benchmarks for entry-level speakers.

The Atom v.3 floored me when I first heard it at a Stereophile show. I hadn't believed that a speaker costing $190/pair could provide such a realistic musical experience…

Likewise, I haven't been able to procure a Schröder tonearm or an Allaerts…

BRAHMS: Clarinet Quintet in b, Op.115
WEBER: Clarinet Quintet in B-Flat, Op.34
Eddie Daniels, clarinet; The Composers String Quartet
Reference Recordings RR-40 (LP), RR-40CD (CD). Keith O. Johnson, eng.; J. Tamblyn Henderson, Jr., prod. AAA/DDD. TT: 62:31

Equally adroit performing jazz or classical music, heralded as a…

"What's in here, anyway?"

"It's an audio amplifier."

"You're kidding! I didn't know they made them that heavy."

"Well, this model is only second from the bottom in a line of four. The top model weighs 185 lbs."

"I sure hope you're not getting one of those, too!"

Mr. Fed-Ex need not have worried. With a shipping weight approaching 100 lbs, the KSA-100S is about as heavy an amplifier as I can manage. Given the rave the KSA-300S…

The CAT SL-1 Signature preamp was Stereophile's 1993 "Product of the Year," and I had no reason to believe that combining it with the KSA-100S would be in any way problematic, but I wanted to check out how the…

Digital Sources: Sony XA-9000ES SACD/CD player, Bel Canto PL-1A universal player.
Preamplifier: Bel Canto Pre6.
Power Amplifiers: Bel Canto e.One REF1000 monoblock, Bel Canto e.One S300, Simaudio Moon Evolution W-8.
Loudspeakers: B&W 802D, B&W 804S, Pioneer S-1EX, JL Audio Fathom f113 subwoofer.
Cables: Digital: Stereovox HDVX. Interconnect: Crystal Cable Cinemax multichannel, AudioQuest Cheetah/DBS balanced. Speaker: AudioQuest Mont Blanc/DBS biwire. AC: JPS Aluminata.
Accessories: APC S-15, Environmental Potentials EP-2450 power…

Before performing any measurements, I preconditioned the Classé CA-3200 by running it for 60 minutes at one-third power with all three channels driven into 8 ohms. At the end of that time, the THD+noise had dropped from 0.0024% to 0.00195%, but the top panel and the heatsinks were way too hot to touch, the curved front panel was around 50°C, and a noticeable draft of hot air rose from the top-panel vents over the center channel's internal heatsink. If this amplifier is to be used in a custom installation, it should be well ventilated.

The voltage gain into…

So, like every other reviewer, I cannot claim to have surveyed all of the vast assortment of speakers in a given price category. I rely on word-of-mouth to select speakers that really merit reviewing on a high-end basis. This may not be fair, but it reduces an otherwise unmanageable list of manufacturers to about 40—even allowing for the…

Thiel Audio, headed up by Jim Thiel (President and chief designer) and Kathy Gornik (Marketing Director), sets itself apart from other speaker manufacturers not only by making what I feel to be almost uniformly excellent products, but also by serving as a kind of hallmark for the good dealer: Although not all good dealers sell Thiel, just about every Thiel dealer is a good one. This comes about because, in spite of just about uniformly positive reviews and excellent customer relations, Thiel (primarily in the person…