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Melos SHA-1 headphone amplifier ($995; reviewed by Corey Greenberg & John Atkinson, Vol.15 No.10, October 1992 Review)

When I tallied the close voting in the amplification category and realized that this strange little beast was the 1992 winner, I smiled. It might be expected that in awards schemes like this, the contenders whose designers have been allowed effectively unlimited design budgets have an overwhelming advantage. Yes, there are some very expensive components carrying away kudos from the Stereophile scribes, but this line/headphone…

We have instruments for measuring sound pressure levels in the air, for measuring electrical power, and for analyzing distortion content to the third decimal place, and the literature is full of learned dissertations on the structure of musical sounds, their behavior in concert halls and living rooms, and the relationships…

Mark Levinson No.30 D/A processor ($13,950; reviewed by Robert Harley, Vol.15 No.2, February 1992; Jack English, Vol.15 No.7, July 1992 Review)

It's ironic that, ten years after the launch of the CD medium, we are still witnessing a furious and passionate improvement in the standard of digital replay. Yet, when I first heard the Mark Levinson No.30 processor, I thought that at last there would be a bit of a breathing space. For, coupled with a resolution of detail that seemed to belie the limited CD encoding standard, the No.30 offers a freedom from…

Anyone who has perused an amplifier's power-vs-distortion curve will have noticed that distortion rises gradually with output until just below the overload point, beyond which the distortion skyrockets. This is one reason why a high-powered amplifier is likely to sound…

VPI HW19 Mk.IV turntable ($1800; reviewed by Guy Lemcoe, Vol.15 No.8, August 1992 Review)

Now, I'm a Linnie—my turntable loyalties lie toward Scotland. Yet if the LP12 hadn't sprung fully formed from the forehead of the sainted Ivor Tiefenbrun, it would be a VPI that would probably be spinning my LPs. In its Mk.IV version, VPI's HW19 features the bearing and 11/2"-thick, 20-lb, lead-impregnated, four-layer, precision-machined acrylic platter of their TNT flagship model—changes over the ealier '19 that bring the sound, thinks Guy Lemcoe, into competition…

Audio Power Industries Power Wedge 1 AC line conditioner ($499; reviewed by Corey Greenberg, Vol.14 No.11, November 1991)

Again I smiled when I counted up the votes in this category. The winner was a product, the kind of which didn't even exist just a few years ago. The conventional wisdom, at least in domestic systems, used to be that a component's power supply offered an insuperable barrier to the slings and arrows of outrageous AC line glitches and garbage. In these more pragmatic days, we accept the fact that AC power is as grundge-ridden as our industrial…

Quad ESL-63 USA Monitor loudspeaker ($4995/pair plus $265/pair Arcici stands; reviewed by J. Gordon Holt, Vol.6 Nos.4 & 5, April & May 1983; Anthony H. Cordesman, Vol.7 Nos.2 & 7, Spring & Fall 1984; Sam Tellig, Vol.8 No.3, July 1985; Martin Colloms, Vol.10 No.1, January 1987; Larry Greenhill, Vol.12 No.2, February 1989; John Atkinson & Sam Tellig, Vol.12 No.6, June 1989 Review)

When we conceived our annual awards, the "Editor's Choice" idea surfaced as a way of recognizing products that have stood the test of time. An aspect of this industry…

Spica SC-30 loudspeaker ($399/pair plus stands; reviewed in Vol.15 No.5, May 1992)

Look at the Spica, and you see nothing out of the ordinary for a cheap loudspeaker. A paper-cone woofer—why, it even uses a cone tweeter, like some junk speaker from a radio hut. But used on a pair of good stands—which admittedly will add at least half as much to the price—the SC-30's sound is richly balanced, with good bass and treble extension, excellent clarity, and pretty good soundstaging. Sure, there's a "woody" quality to the lower midrange, and the mid-treble is a…

Mark Levinson No.30 D/A processor

There were five deserving contenders for the crown, but the result was never in doubt. Expensive it may be, but the Mark Levinson No.30 typifies what Stereophile's "Product of the Year" is all about: superb sound quality coupled with inspired engineering, resulting in a component that will be regarded as a true Reference. If I could afford a No.30, I'd buy one tomorrow (footnote 2). But even though I can't afford one, it makes me feel good to know that something this well-engineered exists, raising digital…

"'Happy' is our primary product," Elliot Fishkin, the proprietor of Innovative Audio, which is entering its 45th year of business, told visitors early Thursday evening, January 21. "We want you to be able to be connected to the music in profound ways." A small crowd was gathered in the lobby outside Innovative's newly renovated showrooms, in an expansive underground space on the east side of Manhattan, to hear amplifiers by VTL, cables by Transparent, and loudspeakers by Wilson Audio.

The evening's guests included Luke and Bea Manley of VTL, Transparent's Josh…