Rogue RP-1 Stereo Tube Preamp $1800 (3.2h, 15.25w, 14.5d, 17 lbs, Black or Silver) Rogue Audio of Pennsylvania has made warm sounding tube electronics since 1996. Founder Mark O’Brien has especially been known for offering affordable gear- to go along with some big guns too. Imagine that- cost effective, fine sounding gear made in the USA. This could be the “secret” to…

About four months ago customer Jim called me about distortion in his system. He has a nice array of gear based a Bryston Mini A speakers. His are about six years old. He still has 14 years of warranty left on them. There’s no rush to bring them in. Yet virtually any other speakers would be out of warranty by now. Yep,…

Atoll Electronique Just in, straight from France, is Atoll Electronique. Yes, Atoll is made in France, not China, and comes with a THREE year warranty. Atoll was founded in 1997 by brothers Stephane and Emmanuel Dubreuil. You’ll see that Atoll is barely more money than the Chinese imports- yet the performance is astonishingly more dynamic, rich and smooth sounding. The line is…

Atoll CD80 CD Player $1750 (3.75h, 17.32w, 12d, 14 lbs) Made in France With 3 Year Warranty! I’m a big fan of CDs and CD players. As a classical piano fan first and foremost, I don’t care to listen through mechanical noise and PRETEND is isn’t there. IT IS. Further, I want the pitch to be right with ZERO wow & flutter….

Atoll IN200 Integrated Amp $2900 (120×2) (3.75h, 17.32w, 12d, 25 lbs) Made in France! Priced as Line Stage With Remote, 3 Year Warranty Optional Boards Available: Phono MM $130, DAC $320, DAC/Bluetooth $500 Atoll’s IN200 is simply an astonishingly fine accomplishment! It does so much, so well, at such a fair price, built with TLC in France, that it deserves a ROSETTE….

Atoll IN100 Integrated Amp $2100 (100×2) (3.75h, 17.32w, 12d, 25 lbs) Made in France! Priced as Line Stage With Remote, 3 Year Warranty Optional Boards Available: Phono MM $130, MM/MC $190, DAC $300, DAC/Bluetooth $500 Atoll’s IN100 is the first integrated in the family to use a PAIR of the outstanding Spain built 340VA transformers. While IN50 and IN80 are dual mono,…

Atoll IN80 Integrated Amp $1700 (80×2) (3.75h, 17.32w, 12d, 18 lbs) Made in France! Priced as Line Stage With Remote, 3 Year Warranty Optional Boards Available: Phono MM/MC $190, DAC $300, DAC/Bluetooth $500 Atoll’s IN80 is a notch stronger than it’s formidable little brother, IN50. The transformer and filter cap sizes roughly double. IN80 is the first integrated in the line to…

Bryston has an anechoic chamber it uses for test purposes in loudspeaker design. However one of the limitations of an anechoic chamber comes from measuring very low frequencies. The anechoic chamber has limited accuracy below 85Hz. In order to obtain completely accurate measurements of the very long sound waves that come from low notes, Bryston has a 100 foot tower upon which…

Bi-amping is running two amps into one loudspeaker. Does it make sense to consider this? Bryston speakers, among many, are set up to allow bi-amping. The top set of binding posts connects to the mid/tweets. The lower set goes to the woofs. There are jumpers connecting the top/bottom posts so you can run a stereo amp straight in and call it a…

Atoll IN50 Integrated Amp $1200 (50×2) (3.75h, 17.32w, 12d, 16 lbs) Made in France! Priced as Line Stage With Remote, 3 Year Warranty Optional Boards Available: Phono MM $130, DAC $300, DAC/Bluetooth $500 Atoll’s IN50 is by far my fave, inexpensive integrated amp on the market. It has surpassed various NAD and Marantz pieces by a significant margin. And yup, it’s made…

Rogue of Pennsylvania makes among the best preamp values on the market. The gorgeous sounding RP-1 is clean, quiet and OPEN sounding with no harsh edges. Many of our customers bought receivers or integrated amps to begin their hi-fi journey. It makes sense. Along the way they KNEW more power would make help, so they added a power amp. Many customers knew…

RIP Anita Pointer (1948-2022) I was going through my posts and realized, somehow, unforgivably, I missed recognizing the death of one of my favorite pop singers, the ever energetic and joyful Anita Pointer. She died on the last day of 2022. I thought I had mentioned her in the Jan 2023 newsletter, but now see, that I didn’t. It’s never too late…

Captivating tube-like sweetness and rhythmic musicality for fatigue free listening; revealing; excellent grip on big-scale recordings, lining the sound stage with spatial detail and textured layering. Holds itself well partnering modest and high-end front end equipment; ability to handle a wide range of cartridges across the price spectrum; plus the 20-year Bryston warranty.

The T-10s envelope the listener with imaging & clarity that leaves the listener wondering if they are in the room with the artist. From the nuance of the singers breath to the bass impact of the drums they effortlessly reproduce what is put to
them.

At least several times a week I get calls from customers that hate their TV service. It’s too expensive and the prices keep getting jacked up. “Should I switch to A,B or C?” Whether you have satellite or cable, its the same dilemma. One of my daughters has some streaming service and the sports action buffers, so it’s strobe like, even with…

Bryston BHA-1
Headphone Amplifier:
Editor’s Choice 2023