Ron’s rig included Wadax’s new Studio Player ($39,800), CH Precision M1.1 amplifier ($57,000), and Stenheim Alumine 2.5 loudspeakers ($23,500). Prices include personal delivery and setup.
Accessories, if indeed we can refer to these important component aids as “accessories,” comprised Arya Audio RevOPods ($1495/set of four), Nordost Valhalla 2 power, speaker cables, and interconnects (from $6599), Reiki Audio Super Switch Pro ($3495), Aardvark Ethernet isolators ($4999…
Victor’s front end included a Hana Umami Blue MC cartridge mounted on a VPI Industries Forever One turntable ($5500, my next Stereophile review), a VK Music Step-Up Transformer, a Sparkler Audio Model S-1511u CD player, and Stenheim Alumine 2.5 loudspeakers.
Victor’s Japanese-made…
Beautifully crafted in Haltern am See, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the three-way, 95dB Sempers are made of a mix of plywood and MDF, employing a 1" compression driver with ring radiator for the tweeter firing into a birch horn. A 13cm midrange driver uses a hyperbolic membrane, firing into a 50cm birch spherical wave horn. Finally, a 13" paper…
Though someone told me they had planned on five rooms, only four systems were up and running, and what a show it was.
System 1: A VPI Avenger Direct Statement turntable ($36,000), which includes a VPI FatBoy Gimbal 12" 3D tonearm…
Within each category, products are listed by class; within each class, they're in alphabetical order, followed by their price, a review synopsis, and a note indicating the issues in which the review, and any subsequent follow-up reports, appeared. "Vol.48 No.3" indicates our March 2025 issue,…
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J.Sikora Reference: $48,000 w/o tonearm
This Polish company's top-of-the-line turntable is a nonsuspended, high-mass design, weighing 253lb. The dynamically and statically balanced platter alone weighs 40lb! Drive is with four square belts spun by four Papst DC motors. MF found that the plinth was immune to knuckle raps and motor start-up noises and wrote that the Reference was very quiet. He decided that this J.Sikora 'table had been superbly tuned to extract deep, well-controlled bass free of overhang or excess. The measured speed accuracy was impressive, as…
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Acoustic Signature TA-7000 NEO: $18,995 for 12" Silver, $16,995 for 9" Silver
The TA-7000 uses 4N silver internal wiring, a gimbaled ball/race bearing system, and a carbon-fiber armtube with an internal lattice structure that adds stiffness and damping. It is available with SME or Rega-type mounts and in 9" and 12" versions. The model reviewed was the 9", which conforms to the standard Rega geometry. It pays to be cautious when adjusting arm height, MF advised, as the pillar goes, in a hair-turn of the grub screw, "from rock-solid secure to dropping like…
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Aidas AG-CU series Malachite Silver: $5995
Aidas CU-series Durawood: $4975
These hand-built, low-output moving coil cartridges from Lithuania use the same basic generator, boron cantilever, AlNiCo5 magnet, and nude MicroLine stylus, but differ in the wire used to wind the coils and the material used for the cartridge body. The Durawood uses copper wire and a body made from multilayered wood; the Malachite uses silver-plated copper wire and a heavier, green, Tru-Stone body. The first thing that struck MT about the Durawood was how quietly this…
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CH Precision P1 Phono Stage: from $31,000. As reviewed, $48,500 ★
Built with a sleek aluminum-alloy case with no screws visible on any of its surfaces, the Swiss-made CH Precision P1 is no less sophisticated inside. This solid state phono preamplifier offers multiple inputs, two of which address current-amplification circuits—an approach that, according to MF, produces "the best signal/noise ratios" and does not require cartridge loading to achieve flat response. For use with its voltage-amplification inputs, the P1 offers a menu-…
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Antipodes K50: $19,000 ★
The made-in-New Zealand K50 works with Roon as both server and player, Roon as a server with Squeezelite or HQ Player as the player, or Squeeze as a server and Squeezelite as the player. It offers Ethernet, USB, I2S, AES3, and S/PDIF outputs, though the manufacturer doesn't recommend using USB. JVS found that the Squeeze server and Squeezelite apps were not as user-friendly as Roon, but using them to transmit the audio data via single AES3 to the dCS Rossini DAC "delivered the most transparent, detailed, color-saturated,…