Wes Phillips

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Luxman B-1000F monoblock power amplifier
Solid State Power Amp ReviewsAudacious Audio
Wes Phillips  |  Feb 18, 2011
When Philip O'Hanlon of On a Higher Note, Luxman's US distributor, delivered the B-1000F monoblocks, it took three of us to wrestle their shipping crates into my house and then into the listening room. Once they were unpacked, it still took two of us to maneuver each of them into position—at 141 lbs and 16.9" wide by 11.6" high by 23.3" deep, the B-1000F is far from easy to shift. Fortunately, O'Hanlon had also brought along a pair of Stillpoint stands specifically made for the Luxmans; the B-1000Fs certainly wouldn't have fit into my equipment racks. (The Stillpoints are lovely things. I recommend 'em if you go for the B-1000Fs.)

When O'Hanlon told me the price of the stands—$2500/pair—I asked what the amps cost.

"Fifty-five," he said.

"You mean the stands are 45% of the price of the amps?"

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NuForce CDP-8 CD player
CD Player/Transport Reviews
Wes Phillips  |  Nov 21, 2010
"So, what are you reviewing these days?" my friend Mark e-mailed me recently.

"A CD player," I said.

"They're still making those?"

Yes—and better than ever, for the most part. But I understood Mark's confusion. When a "Vote!" question on the Stereophile website asked readers what digital source components they used, a surprising number responded that they did not, or hadn't bought a dedicated player in years. Topping the list were computers and universal players.

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Etymotic Research hf2 & hf5 in-ear headphones
Budget Component ReviewsHeadphone Reviews
Wes Phillips  |  Aug 15, 2010  |  First Published: Aug 16, 2010
Ah, how the times change. When I reviewed Etymotic Research's ER-4S in-ear headphones in the July 1995 Stereophile, they seemed expensive to me at $330, but well worth that seemingly high price: at the time, they were the best headphones I'd heard. Nowadays, with reference headphones costing well north of a kilobuck, the price of the ER-4S seems relatively reasonable.
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Vivid Audio G1Giya loudspeaker
Floor Loudspeaker ReviewsAudacious Audio
Wes Phillips  |  Jul 12, 2010
Over the years that I've been reviewing hi-fi, I've had my share of loudspeakers that drew comments from everyone who visited during the audition period. Some of those comments were about the speakers' appearance—most often about their size—and some were about how good they sounded. Vivid's G1Giya loudspeaker ($65,000/pair), its narrow-baffled, swirling cochlear shape molded from fiber-reinforced composite, elicited more comments of both types than has any other speaker I've reviewed.
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Balanced Audio Technology VK-55SE power amplifier
Tube Power Amp Reviews
Wes Phillips  |  Apr 23, 2010
I hate audio shows. All those manufacturers and retailers desperately demonstrating their products, knowing how impossible it is to do them justice in a hotel room. They might be saying, "It has gold-plated circuit boards and unobtainium binding posts," but all I hear is Please love it, please love it, oh puhleeze . . .
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RealTraps room treatments
Budget Component ReviewsRoom Treatment Reviews
Wes Phillips  |  Feb 23, 2010
In the beginning, I had a room adjacent to my office—a room filled with bicycles, hi-fi gear, and assorted crap I'd never gotten around unpacking since our last move. Feeling ambitious, I thought I might turn it into a guest room, and emptied it.
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Vienna Acoustics Klimt The Kiss loudspeaker
Floor Loudspeaker Reviews
Wes Phillips  |  Feb 16, 2010
Almost every assumption you might make about Vienna Acoustics' Klimt The Kiss loudspeaker by looking at it would be wrong. It is not a stand-mounted two-way loudspeaker. It's a three-way, with a coincident tweeter-midrange. And that ain't no stand—it's an integral part of the speaker. It does not have a conventional cabinet—there are two separate enclosures, complete with micrometer control of both vertical and horizontal axes. And those sure aren't plain-vanilla drive-units—they're about as unique as they come.
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Aesthetix Atlas power amplifier
Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Wes Phillips  |  Jan 15, 2010
In Greek mythology, Atlas was the Titan who supported the heavens—although he's more commonly shown supporting Earth itself. (Funny thing, that: the globe he was always shown supporting actually did once represent the cosmos, but at some point became the Earth.) According to Hygenus, Atlas was the son of Aether, the personification of the sky and heaven, and Gaia, the personification of the Earth. Atlas was brother to Prometheus (foresight), Epithemius (hindsight), and Menoetius (a warrior whose insolence got him smitten by a lightning bolt from Zeus, resulting in a name synonymous with "ruined strength").
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Happy New Year!
Wes Phillips
Wes Phillips  |  Dec 31, 2007  |  First Published: Jan 15, 2010
When I picked up the mail on Saturday, I had an unexpected package. It contained Vance Dickason's Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, 7th Edition. Oh boy!
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Classic Arturo Delmoni Gold CD Available Again
Music and Recording FeaturesNews
Wes Phillips  |  Dec 27, 2009
Back when there was still something called the "classical music industry," one of Stereophile's favorite small labels was John Marks Records, masterminded by the magazine's "The Fifth Element" columnist, John Marks. In fact, it was his recordings that first brought John to the magazine's attention. JMR had a phenomenal run of releases, among them Arturo Delmoni and Meg Bachman Vas's Songs My Mother Taught Me, Nathaniel Rosen's cycle of J.S. Bach's Suites for Solo Cello, Delmoni and Rosen's Music for a Glass Bead Game, and the three Rejoice recordings of Christmas music for string quartet (also featuring Delmoni and Rosen). That's a pretty solid run for a label that released fewer than 20 recordings.
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