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Triangle Art Selene horns and M100 monoblocks make US debut

Tom Vu brought a complete Triangle Art system to CAF, with his trademark gold-encrusted turntables at the center of the room—not one, not two, but three! Vu sold the most expensive turntable while I was away fetching coffee.

The cheapest analog front-end on display was the Hathor turntable with the Horus tonearm, offered as a package for $8400. Further up the line were the Maestro ($9900) and Anubis ($18,000) 'tables, the former bearing a Horus 12" tonearm ($4400), the latter with the Osiris Diamond Mk2 12" tonearm ($9000). All three 'tables bore Zeus MC cartridges ($4800 each…

October 2025 Classical Record Reviews

Mahler: Symphony 9
Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, David Bernard (cond.)
Recursive Classics RC3691873 (CD). 2025. James Bernard, prod.; Thom Beemer, eng.
Performance ***½
Sonics *****

I was unprepared for the easy, peaceful opening of the Park Avenue's Ninth, with its blended, coolly lyrical violins and focused lead horn. Within clear textures, Bernard shapes and tapers the short motifs to fine effect, and the clarinet makes a point of phrasing its countertheme "across the bars." The brief transitional passage unexpectedly injects an off-kilter dance lilt.

In the…

HiFi Logic, Hapa Audio, and Charney Audio introduce Lumaca IV horns with Voxativ AC-2.6

I strolled into this room not knowing what to expect but seriously intrigued by the pair of large, folded-horn speakers that looked like something from a Grimm's fairy tale.

This was the room of Charney Audio, in conjunction with HiFi Logic and Hapa Audio. The digital source was from two less well-known companies: a Lucas Audio Labs MiniMax server ($12,000) and a Charney Audio 4.1X SE DAC ($24,000)Amplification was also by Charney Audio, the L-3 SE preamplifier ($19,000), followed by the Charney Audio Kit-1 300B amplifier ($10,000). Those speakers? Charney Audio Lumaca IVs, in their US…

From Grimm MU2 to Harbeth M40.5 XD2: Harmonia Distribution packs two rooms with heavy hitters

Jeff Coates of Harmonia Distribution presented several systems in its two-room suite in Rockville.

Room one featured a Grimm Audio MU2 media player/streamer/preamplifier ($17,500), a PrimaLuna EVO 400 Tube Preamplifier ($5995), a PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid Power Amplifier ($7195), Fyne Audio Vintage Ten floorstanding loudspeakers ($24,499/pair), Fyne Audio SuperTrax supertweeters ($4499/pair), and a Fyne Audio SC1 Premium Cable Kit for the SuperTrax tweeter ($449/pair). A second pair of speakers, Harbeth M40.5 XD2s ($20,990/pair), was also periodically connected..

In room 2, the…

VPI Industries, Audio Research, VAC, and Acora

Harry and Mat Weisfeld were up to their old tricks at CAF, wowing the audience with a reference rig containing a pair of vintage JBL Everest loudspeakers in the Jefferson suite and dropping a lower-cost system in the Adams room.

The Jefferson room featured the VPI Vanquish Turntable ($80,000) and its custom stand stand ($60,000) equipped with two tonearms: a VPI Fatboy ($6000) and a Bird of Prey ($15,950) from Thai Scandinavian Engineering. Several cartridges were in rotation: a VPI Shyla ($2200), Grado Statement 3 ($3500), Audio-Technica AT-ART20 ($3200), and Tzar DST ($10,000). Amps…

Gramophone Dreams #103: Ortofon MC X40 phono cartridge, Robyatt & Lundahl step-up transformers

My mother Lily Mae was a Lutheran from Norway. She sent me to Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran School so that I'd become a well-mannered, tea-with-her-friends choirboy, with starched white shirts and a secret penchant for wildness that was nurtured by those free-thinking Catholic girls at the elementary school next to ours. I always think of Mom when I install an Ortofon cartridge because their sound character strikes me as so Scandinavian—like my mother: smart, tall, well-tailored, well-mannered, neat, understated.

Everyone knows I think audio components tend to sound like how they look,…

Re-Tales #60: Matt Alterman's Crescendo Audio Returns to Boulder

Stereophile December 2025, Vol.58 No.12 Re-Tales #60: Matt Alterman's Crescendo Audio Returns to Boulder Julie Mullins A hi-fi dealer's son, Matt Alterman has been in or near the business almost all his life. His dealership, Crescendo Audio, is coming full circle as he opens a new location in Boulder, Colorado, the town where he launched his first store 13 years ago.

Matt's father, Henry Alterman, was the proprietor of Alterman Audio in their hometown of New Orleans. Henry got his start selling gear from his dorm room at Tulane University in the mid-1970s (footnote 1), before "going…

J.Sikora, Aidas, Berkeley, and Gryphon star in Command Performance AV's Democracy Room

Anthony Chiarella, director of sales and marketing for Gryphon NA, was joined by Command Performance AV CEO Jeff Fox and sales manager Jessie Bentley to present two debuts.

The US debuts of the Aurender N50 music server ($38,500) and the Gryphon Audio Designs Antileon Revelation stereo power amplifier ($49,800) were joined by an equally celebratory system.

A J.Sikora KV Max 12" tonearm ($15,680) was mounted on a J.Sikora Max Supreme turntable ($40,785) and held an Aidas Violet Gold LE cartridge ($7535). That cartridge's tiny output ran into a Doshi Audio EVO phono preamplifier…

Audio Note (UK) TT Three Reference & Izvor DAC debut

Following a video interview for Stereophile's video channel (watch it below and subscribe here), Audio Note UK's Adrian Ford-Crush played tunes from a Level 4/5 system that included the brand's TT Three Reference turntable ($63,000), which debuted at T.H.E. New York International Audio Show. The TT Three was equipped with its obligatory AN-1S Sogon tonearm ($16,730; Sogon refers to a certain high grade of silver litz wire; footnote 1), fitted with an IO I moving coil cartridge ($5586), into an AN-S8 step-up transformer ($18,130).

Digital music was handled with a CDT Four CD…

Command Performance AV debuts the J.Sikora Aspire and Innuos Stream3 with Doshi and Joseph Audio

In addition to their showing in the Democracy room, Command Performance AV brought two US debut products to room 305: the J.Sikora Aspire turntable with the CF9 tonearm ($10,595) and the Innuos Stream3 music streamer with optional PhoenixDAC board ($12,600), which turns it into a fully fledged streaming music player.

Allied with the J.Sikora and Innuos products were an Aidas Malachite Silver MC cartridge ($7295), a Doshi Audio Evo linestage ($23,995), and a Doshi Audio Evo phono preamp ($23,995). The amplifier was also Doshi Audio, the Evo Stereo Amp ($25,995; see my…