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The professional way in which the function and resulting sound improvement of our Stromtank were demonstrated in this test fills us with great joy and respect. The grid power is the foundation, the cornerstone of each audio system. Clean power makes it possible to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of an audio system. As high-end enthusiasts, we often try to improve sound by changing the setup or component, but we often fail due to fluctuating, dirty grid power; it's just like building a house. A hi-fi system needs a solid, stable foundation to build on.—Wolfgang…

To my eye, the ELF12 sub resembles a large cajon—a box-shaped Peruvian percussion instrument played by slapping…

"That's pretty odious," Andy Summers says to me. "An odious comparison." His blueish eyes darken. Roughly an hour into our 90-minute face-to-face interview, I'd asked if it bothers him that in terms of reach and staying power, his solo oeuvre will never match his work with The Police.

To me, the observation seemed factual and uncontroversial, like saying that the sun rises in the east. The Police sold more than 75 million records and played some of the largest venues in the world. The night before our interview, I'd watched Summers perform a show…

The previous evening, as part of an East Coast tour of small to medium-sized theaters, Summers had put on more of a multimedia show than a straight-on concert. Aside from solo instrumentals, including versions of "Roxanne" and "Message in a Bottle," the performance was augmented with some of the excellent photographs he's been taking since he bought his first film camera in New York in 1979. He'd also told stories from his life during and after the Police. A rock raconteur who combines depth and humor, Summers is the author of One Train Later, one of the best music-industry memoirs I've…

1. "Soma, Pt. 1 & 2," (from Chariot Rising, 1967)
Unreleased for decades, Chariot Rising is the only album by Dantalian's Chariot, a psychedelic band from the UK that included Summers and keyboard player Zoot Money. On "Soma, Pt. 1 & 2," Summers proves his versatility via both strummed and picked guitar work, plus a languid sitar part—plus a jazz-inflected guitar solo that's beautifully crystalline, forgoing the fuzztone fashion of the era. It all still sounds adventurous and fresh 58 years later.

2…

PBN Olympia-PXi: $22,000
"Yeah, she's ugly, but she sure can cook, baby!"—Jimmy Soul on the fade-out of his single "If You Wanna Be Happy (Get an Ugly Girl to Marry You)."

Yes, PBN's two-chassis Olympia-PXi is the butt-ugly phono preamp I mentioned at the beginning. If you don't think it's butt ugly, you have to admit that it's pretty damn homely—but it sure can cook!

Or, as the instruction manual proudly states, "We put the BLING inside the box as we feel that is where it belongs." Of course, you can have the bling inside and out, though that would probably raise the…

It would be an understatement to call Out Of/Into an all-star band. It contains the best alto saxophonist and vibraphonist to enter jazz in the 21st century, a top-five pianist, and an A-list bassist and drummer. (Read their names above.)

All-star bands are often three-ring circuses, high on individual…

The Cure aren't a band most people turn to when the party needs to get swinging. With an opening track called "Alone" with the refrain "This is the end of every song that we sing," their latest, Songs of the Lost World, isn't likely to change that. The theme of ending appears on many tracks, lending the album a fatalistic tone. On "A Fragile Thing," Smith sings, "this love is a fragile thing, this love is my everything, but…

I was rather hoping, given the Berlin Philharmonic, that this might improve on Barenboim's earlier Franck recording with the erratic Orchestre de Paris, which was afflicted by his faux-Furtwängler mannerisms. This one has a few ensemble problems characteristic of Barenboim's conducting, but the textures are consistently clear. Still, as Bernstein's Cunegonde sings, "Ah, 'twas not…