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B&W DM302 loudspeaker ($250/pair; reviewed by Wes Phillips, Vol.20 No.10, October 1997 Review)

When we speak of all that technology can accomplish, we frequently find ourselves talking about chasing the ever-disappearing cutting edge. What a pleasure, instead, to simply redefine what is possible at an affordable price—and when the price is as low as $250 for a pair of B&W DM302 loudspeakers, then we're no longer speaking of pleasure, we're talking sheerest ecstasy.

The DM302 is what the High End is all about: It sounds superb, measures almost…

I watched the TV with horror. George Floyd, an African-American man in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was being killed in front of the camera. I retreated to the listening room. In what couldn't have been a coincidence, the Roon app's "Discover" function had recommended I play What's Going On, Marvin Gaye's groundbreaking album, released in 1971 by Motown subsidiary Tamla.

I first heard this album when, at the start of my professional career as a bass guitarist, I was…

The 5T's horizontally positioned pivot points, which control vertical movement, can each be adjusted to set azimuth to ±8°. And the entire arm mechanism rides up and down on a threaded post, allowing precise ±0.2mm vertical tracking angle and stylus rake angle adjustment. In addition, the wooden arm tube is user-replaceable, which allows you to change the tonearm's effective mass or swap out cartridges premounted on…

Not that there's such a thing as a perfect listening room. Every domestic listening room shares the same basic problem: Its most fundamental nature—its size and shape, the amount of space it carves out—results in resonances that can profoundly alter the sound of reproduced music, especially in the bass (footnote 2). Favorable dimensions, sound-absorbing furnishings, room treatments, signal processing—many things can mitigate the problem, but it can never be…

It has been almost two decades since Norah Jones emerged shyly from obscurity into astonishing pop/jazz stardom, first with 2001's First Sessions EP, her Blue Note launchpad, then with 2002's Come Away With Me, which wowed the world. It has been…

Nothing about this turntable's mechanical design—or the tonearm's—can be described as "off the shelf" or "standard fare." That's been true since 2009, when the company, which was founded by the late Werner…

Description: Forte: Nonsuspended, mass-loaded, belt-driven turntable. Speeds: 33.3rpm, 45rpm, 78rpm. Motor: 24V DC. Speed adjustment: 0.1% with each button push. Wow and Flutter: not specified.
Description: 12JT: Dual-bearing aluminum tube pivoted tonearm. Effective length: 304.8mm; P2S distance: 291.4mm; overhang: 13.4mm; offset angle: 17.89°.
Dimensions: Turntable: 20 5/8" (508mm) × 9" (228.6mm) × 12 7/16" (317.5mm). Weight: 106lb (48kg).
Finish: black (engraved or nonengraved surface).
Serial numbers of units reviewed: V327 (turntable), T177 (…

Analog sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable with Castellon stand; SAT CF1-09 tonearm; Ortofon Anna Diamond cartridge.
Preamplification: darTZeel NHB-18S line preamplifier; Ypsilon MC-10L, MC-16L step-up transformers; Ypsilon VPS-100, CH Precision P1 phono preamps, the latter with CH Precision X1 PSU.
Power amplifiers: VAC Statement 452 iQ Musicbloc and darTZeel NHB 468 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties Alexx.
Cables: Interconnect: TARA Labs Zero and Air Evolution, Analysis Plus Silver Apex, Stealth Sakra, and…