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Digital sources: Aurender A20, Grimm Audio MU1, 15" MacBook Air running Roon 2.0, Eversolo DMP-A10 streamer.
Preamplifier: Benchmark HPA4 line stage.
Power amplifier: Krell FPB 200c (recapped).
Integrated amplifier: Audia Flight FLS10.
Loudspeakers: Focal Utopia Scala Evo, Estelon X Diamond Mk II.
Cables: Speaker cables AudioQuest Thunderbird Zero. Power cables and interconnects RSX and Clarus Crimson power cables. AudioQuest Red River balanced interconnects.
Accessories: Townshend Seismic Podiums. Finite Elemente Pagode amplifier…

Despite the InPoL Legacy operating partly if not wholly in class-A—which means that increasing the current leaving those 4mm speaker outputs causes the amplifier to cool down rather than heat up—I preconditioned the unit by running it at 10% of the rated 100W/8 ohm output for one hour. Over that period, distortion (fig.1) increased slightly, from ~0.047% to a steady 0.06%; this uplift with temperature is a feature of most low-feedback designs. The distortion is second- and third-order in roughly equal measure.

Amplification by Naim powers these active towers. Each driver gets its own class-AB amplifier: 90W for the tweeter, 130W for the midrange, and 280W for…

The founder/owner of Analogue Productions and longtime blues true believer, Kassem's record label, mail-order warehouse, and vinyl plating and pressing plant—all headquartered in Salina, Kansas—were recently profiled in The New York Times ("The Wizard of Vinyl is in Kansas," March 5, 2025). Among his many business ventures, Kassem is part of the new Craft Recordings vinyl-reissue series…

A friend who sells high-end audio gear once pointed out that people who shop for separate tonearms are very different from those interested in phono cartridges or turntables in general. If you think about it, this makes sense. Almost everyone buying a new turntable needs a cartridge to go with it, and most turntables come equipped with a tonearm. Tonearm shoppers are more avid enthusiasts than general consumers.

It wasn't always that way. In earlier days of high fidelity, 60 or more years ago, people putting together a cutting-edge phono…

It's nice to have a tonearm like the TA-1 where all the adjustments are clear and intuitive and everything moves smoothly and precisely. Tracking force is adjusted using a static-balance counterweight and dial, and the VTA/SRA adjustment uses a basic sliding arm pillar with a locking screw in the arm collar—no fancy on-the-fly VTA adjustment tower here. The antiskate bias is controlled with a calibrated screw-in knob on the side of the bearing housing, so there's no fiddling with weights dangling on fishing line. The supplied tonearm cable plugs into a 5-pin DIN plug at the base of the…

If there was ever a sleeper album, this is it. This is John Lentz's recording debut, at 76. He has been involved with music his whole life but has never quite had a professional career until now. Harvey Diamond makes his recording debut as a leader, at 82. He was one of Lennie Tristano's last students and has been an underground figure on the Boston jazz scene for…

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