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Pass Labs XA60.5 monoblock power amplifier
A highlight of my reviewing life in the 1990s was the time I spent driving my then-reference B&W John Bowers Silver Signature loudspeakers with the Pass Labs Aleph 3 amplifier. As I wrote in an...
View ArticleJeff Rowland Design Group Model 7/II power amplifier
Very few products exude opulence as do the Rowland amplifiers: the massive chassis, the gold finish, those sculpted handles on the front plate. For some strange reason the amp reminds me of Brutus...
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MBL Corona C15 monoblock power amplifier
A year or so ago, in my review of the Pass Labs XP-30 preamplifier, I wrote that the heart of an audio system is the preamplifier, in that it sets the overall quality of the system's sound. But it is...
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Music in the Round #68
Power amplifiers are unglamorous but essential. In theory, they have only one task. But, according to audio sage Yogi Berra, "in theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not."...
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Boulder 1060 power amplifier
Can an $18,000 power amplifier be a bargain? Can an $18,000 wristwatch?Wed, 11/01/2000
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Theta Digital Prometheus monoblock power amplifier
Several seconds after I began listening to it, I knew that Theta Digital's Prometheus monoblock amplifier ($12,000/pair) was different from other amplifiers. The violins and brass were more dynamic,...
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Bricasti Design M28 monoblock power amplifier
Google Bricasti and all that comes up are sites relating to Bricasti Design products. The name must be fanciful—it sounds Italian, but cofounders Brian Zolner and Casey Dowdell most likely are not, and...
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Audio Research D-100 power amplifier
We cannot recall when any new products have generated as much of a stir among perfectionists as the new solid-state equipment from Audio Research. Preceded by rumors of "a new kind of amplifying...
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Bel Canto Design Black amplification system
Stereophile normally doesn't review audio systems. We review individual components. We've made an exception for the Bel Canto Black system because it deserves to be evaluated as such. It consists of...
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Ayre Acoustics MX-R Twenty monoblock power amplifier
Of the hundreds of product reviews I have written over the years, it is perhaps those of power amplifiers that present the hardest task in defining their worth. This is not because power amps are...
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Simaudio Moon Evolution 860A power amplifier
In the May 2015 issue, I fairly raved about Simaudio's Moon Evolution 740P line-stage preamplifier, and now here I am confronting its Moon Evolution 860A power amp. The two are companion models of...
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Infinity HCA power amplifier
Imagine if you can a power amplifier with the bass richness, midrange liquidity, and high-end accuracy of the best tube amplifiers, and the inner detail, transient attack, and bass solidity and range...
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Krell Solo 575 monoblock power amplifier
Class-A amplifiers have a well-deserved reputation for being power guzzlers that run hot enough to burn fingers. They're inherently inefficient because their output devices conduct full current at all...
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Arcam FMJ P49 power amplifier
I first met electronics engineer John Dawson in 1979, at a British audio show. The company he'd co-founded, A&R Cambridge, had just launched the A60, a slim, elegant-looking, 40Wpc integrated...
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Benchmark Media Systems AHB2 power amplifier
I first saw Benchmark's AHB2 stereo power amplifier at the 2013 Convention of the Audio Engineering Society, in New York City. On silent display in Benchmark's booth on the convention floor, its...
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Spec RPA-W7EX Real-Sound power amplifier
I'm a jazz lover. To be specific: I'm a lover of jazz on vinyl. I'm referring not to my sexual proclivities but to 331/3rpm LPs from such venerable labels as Blue Note, BYG Actuel, Contemporary, ECM,...
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NAD Masters Series M22 power amplifier
In the January 2015 edition of "Music in the Round," I reviewed NAD's latest Masters Series preamplifier-processor and multichannel power amplifier, respectively the M17 ($5499) and M27 ($3999). I was...
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Jeff Rowland Design Group Model 1 power amplifier
Michael, who might be termed our typical audiophile (if anything in Santa Fe can be termed "typical"), may have found his digital processor, but he's still in a quandary about choosing the right power...
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Naim NAC 62 preamplifier & NAP 140 power amplifier
Back in 1970, one Julian Vereker decided to record some musician friends in his house in Salisbury, England. Using standard, off-the-shelf electronics and tape machines, he was startled at how...
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SAE Mark II Power Amplifier
It takes a lot of courage for a new company to launch an amplifier like this at time when most manufacturers are courting the mass market with budget-priced receivers, and Marantz is pretty firmly...
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