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Falcon "Gold Badge" LS3/5a loudspeaker
The BBC-designed LS3/5a monitor loudspeaker has been in continuous BBC-licensed production in various forms since 1975. During those 45 years, its popularity has never abated. I bought my first pair...
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Two Recent FollowUp Reviews
Stereophile has reviewed two somewhat controversial products in recent issues. The Italian Grandinote Shinai integrated amplifier, which Robert Schryer wrote about in November 2020 is a solid-state...
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Totem Acoustic Skylight loudspeaker
Reviewing a new loudspeaker from Totem feels like destiny—as if a formative moment 30 years ago has come full circle. That's because the first genuine audiophile speaker I ever owned was Totem's...
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Tannoy Revolution XT 6 loudspeaker
I've been wrestling with my elders about new ways to measure loudspeakers, lobbying for methods that might correlate more directly with a listener's experience. And wouldn't you know? Right in the...
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GoldenEar BRX (Bookshelf Reference X) loudspeaker
Loudspeaker manufacturer GoldenEar Technology was founded in 2010 by a team led by Sandy Gross, who over the decades was responsible for a succession of affordable high-performance loudspeakers from...
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Polk Legend L100 loudspeaker
Summer! COVID-19 notwithstanding, summer—warmth, flowers, leaves on trees—has descended on Greenwich Village, my New York City home for the past 30 years. What hasn't descended are tourists, belching...
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Marten Oscar Duo loudspeaker
At High End Mässan 2015—Stockholm, Sweden's big audio show—Marten planned to show off its finest loudspeaker to the hometown crowd. Marten took the hotel's largest demo room, located at the prime...
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Alta Audio Alyssa loudspeaker
It was a "Wow!" audio moment I'll never forget. It happened just after Ladies Who Lunch, our regular Friday afternoon lunch-n-chat for audio poobahs at the Grand Sichuan restaurant in Chelsea. It was...
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Celestion SL6S loudspeaker
Let me tell you how I spent the month of May 1987: I had been musing about a comment made by J. Gordon Holt following the 1986 Summer CES that it seemed that the loudspeaker High End was populated...
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Three December 2020 FollowUps
Three products are the subjects of lengthy followup reviews in the December issue of Stereophile: MBL's Noble Line N31 CD player-D/A processor, the GoldenEar BRX loudspeaker, and Alta Audio's Alyssa...
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Bowers & Wilkins 705 Signature loudspeaker
Back in June 1994, I reviewed the Bowers & Wilkins John Bowers Silver Signature standmounted loudspeaker. This speaker cost a breathtaking $8000/pair at that time, and I subsequently bought the...
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KEF LS50 Meta loudspeaker
KEF's LS50 loudspeaker was introduced in 2012 to celebrate the English manufacturer's 50th anniversary. Usually, anniversary models are large, floorstanding "statement" designs with a price to match,...
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Acora SRB loudspeaker
I'm a sucker for materials, whether it's finishes for loudspeakers and other audio equipment, a shoe's fine, supple leather, a crisp cotton shirt, or a cozy cashmere scarf. Apart from their inherent...
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Acoustic Energy AE2 loudspeaker
In the September 1988 issue of Stereophile, I wrote a rave review about the first speaker, the AE1, from what was to me a totally unknown English company, Acoustic Energy. Though tiny, and possessing...
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Sony SA-Z1 nearfield active speaker system
On top of a desk, an audio system must be able to deliver satisfying sound in a nonoptimal environment: a flat, reflective plane (the desktop) cluttered with keyboard (or maybe a laptop computer); a...
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Falcon "Gold Badge" LS3/5a loudspeaker
The BBC-designed LS3/5a monitor loudspeaker has been in continuous BBC-licensed production in various forms since 1975. During those 45 years, its popularity has never abated. I bought my first pair...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Two Recent FollowUp Reviews
Stereophile has reviewed two somewhat controversial products in recent issues. The Italian Grandinote Shinai integrated amplifier, which Robert Schryer wrote about in November 2020 is a solid-state...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Spica SC-50i loudspeaker
This is a speaker we've been fairly intimate with over quite a period of time. Designed by John Bau, the SC-50i started out three years ago as an inexpensive speaker system ($330/pair) not sold through...
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KLH Model Five loudspeaker
In May of 2019, I heard about a promising jazz vinyl and hi-fi estate sale happening on New York's Upper East Side. Little did I know then what treasures the dig would yield. Jazz Record Center's Fred...
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MBL Radialstrahler 120 loudspeaker
You never know when an idea might hit you, maybe when brushing your teeth, standing in the shower, or stirring the stew. Have you ever flexed a playing card (or a few) back and forth close to your ear?...
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