Stereophile Staff

Friday, November 30, 4–7pm, Music Lovers San Francisco (2295 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 9411) and Saturday, December 1, 2–6pm, Music Lovers Berkeley (2116 Blake Street, Berkeley, CA 94704) will hold events to celebrate the debut of Wilson Audio Specialties' Sasha DAW loudspeaker. Featured guests will include Peter McGrath of Wilson Audio, Bob McConnell of Transparent Audio, and Jeff Sigmund of Luxman. Attendees will have two listening opportunities to choose from: one each at Music Lovers' San Francisco and Berkeley locations.

Saturday, November 17, all day, Alma Music and Audio (7847 Convoy Court, #101, San Diego, CA 92111) is holding an open house to introduce what they call Dan D'Agostino's masterpiece, the Relentless Monoblock, to the Southern California public. The Relentless power amplifiers will be used to power YG Acoustics' Sonja XV loudspeakers, which are also making their debut in Southern California. The Sonja XV is an extreme, four-tower version of the Sonja. It incorporates everything YG knows about speaker design and was created to celebrate YG's 15th anniversary.

We know, we know, it's only November 12. But it's one heck of an issue, featuring our Products of 2018, and it's hitting newsstands, tablets, and mailbox now! The versatile Ovation PA 8.2 preamplifier from German company AVM is featured on the December cover and this issue's line-up of reviews has a European flavor: as well as the AVM, we audition Elac's Adante AF-61 speaker and EMT's HSD 006 phono cartridge (Germany); the ATC CDA2 CD player, Harbeth P3ESR minimonitor, and Wharfedale Diamond 11.2 bookshelf speaker (UK); Ortofon SPU Wood pickup head (Denmark); and Aqua Formula xHD DAC (Italy).

Friday November 9, starting at 6pm, AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer will appear at Ovation A/V (6609 East 82nd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46250) as part of the retailer's two-day 31st Anniversary event. Mikey will be playing vinyl and files from vinyl, telling stories, and answering questions. Ovation promises big 31st Anniversary savings, free T-shirts, and a drawing for a pair of Klipsch Heritage powered loudspeakers.