Atoll PR200 Stereo Preamp, $1600 Made in France! I can make a great case for the Atoll PR200 solid state preamp as being the least expensive, high quality preamp on the market. Let’s analyze. First of all, PR200 sounds clean and quiet. Its build quality is nothing short of exquisite. Have a look inside PR200 and you’ll see a work of art…

Atohm Speakers From France We started dealing with Atoll Electronique of France a few months back and have been BLOWN AWAY by how good the line is for such reasonable money! The same American importer, Emilios Mandalios, told me I HAD to audition an amazing line of French speakers- Atohm. I definitely wasn’t shopping for speakers, but Emilios earned his credibility with…

Atoll Power Amps:Made In France With 3 Year Warranty AM100, $1600 (100×2) Two 340VA transformers, 32,248 uF caps, Four MATCHED MOSFET output transistors AM100 is a FABULOUS affordable power amp! Its sonic character is smooth without bite or grain. You could listen and infer it is a tube power amp due to its lack of harshness. The bass is full yet not…

Atoll PR300 Stereo Preamp, $3100 Made in France! I read a lot of audio magazines. You learn a little here/there in most of them. A common question as you read, is- where are the good stereo preamps? I have always wondered why guys who write for Stereophile only seem to know about preamps that run $30-90k. Seriously?! Atoll has reset the bar…

JL Audio E-112 Subwoofer, $2500 (16.23h, 15.5w, 18.39d, 74 lbs, 1500w amp, Black Ash) JL Audio’s E-112 should be on the list of every subwoofer shopper. It is a full out, serious product, made in the USA that hits like a middle linebacker. JL is made near Ft. Lauderdale. Almost all similarly priced subs are made in China. Why does that matter?…

Bryston Middle T Speakers, $8600 Per Pair Walnut, Walnut Expresso, Black Ash or Boston Cherry (39.5h, 10.5w, 18.4d, 82 lbs, 88 dB SPL, 4 ohms) The Middles Bryston created quite a splash in the industry when it brought out its Model T over a decade ago. Model T is a great, large, powerful speaker. It’s a big boy to have in your…

McIntosh MA-352 Integrated Amp, $7000 (200×2) (9 7/8h, 17.5w, 20.5d, 66 lbs) Mac’s MA-352 integrated may be just the ticket as you refine your hi-fi experience. It checks a lot of boxes for the die hard audiophile- not just the loyal Mac lover. As always, Mac is built beautifully in Binghamton, NY with a 3 year warranty. First of all, MA-352 is…

Bryston A2 Speakers $3990 Per Pair In Expresso Walnut! Walnut, Black, Boston Cherry & Expresso Walnut (39.5h, 9.25w, 17d, 63 lbs, 87dB, 4 ohms) Bryston has just come up with a luscious new finish, EXPRESSO WALNUT, for one of its best valued speakers, the uber impressive A2. Did you know they’re made in Canada with a 20 year warranty? A2 has been…

Speakers have a rated impedance. Most are rated at 4, 6 or 8 ohms. There’s a catch word in the spec that says “nominal.” That means average. Speakers, in fact, can vary dramatically in their impedance, given different frequencies. This matters because all amplifiers are happy with 8 ohms. Most are OK with 4 ohms. However some amps have switches to throw…

There’s more than one amplifier brand on audio’s Mt Rushmore. There is no question that one of the brands that belongs there is Bryston of Canada. There’s also no question that Bryston is the most reliable AND has the best warranty, which is 20 years! Bryston’s Model 4B Cubed ($7500, 300×2) is more than enough amp for almost all of our customers….

Atohm GT-2 Tower Speakers $7500 Per Pair (42.7h, 7.87w, 10.43d, 58 lbs, 90dB SPL, 6 ohms) Two 6” Bass/Mid drivers run in a 2.5 way configuration, one Silk Dome tweeter Available in stunning Gloss Walnut, Gloss Piano Black, Gloss Piano White Made in France: 7 year warranty! Atohm speakers are indeed, actually MADE in France. Designer Thierry Comte has created a line…

Bryston integrated amplifiers give no ground to their separate counterparts. The new Bi-200 is literally constructed from the Bryston BP-19 Preamplifier and 3B Cubed power amplifier into a single chassis offering the best of both products without occupying extra space and costly interconnects.

Atoll SDA200 Streaming Integrated Amp $4300 (120×2) (3.75h, 17.32w, 12d, 25 lbs) Made in France! Priced as Line Stage With Remote, 3 Year Warranty Well here’s a fave I didn’t think I would be writing about. The first part of it is no surprise. The base platform of SDA200 is Atoll’s IN200 Signature integrated amp. Please look up IN200 in Dave’s Faves…

Atoll MD-100 CD Player, $900 (3 1/4h, 12 5/8w, 8 1/8d, Black or Silver) Made In France! 3 Year Warranty Atoll’s entry level CD player, MD-100, comes in a smaller case than the rest of their CD players. They call it their “MINI” size. They have a handful of products on this chassis size to, surprise, (!) save space. When we got…

Having received my Model T-10s over a week ago, I’m only now getting some time to listen. They are being used with the BAX-1, a pair of 7B3s for the woofers, and a pair of 4B3s for the mids and tweeters.

Yesterday I was able to run the first room measurements to see how the low frequencies in the room looked, and with an eye to whether any EQ adjustments in the low frequencies may be justified. The woofer placements, spread between top and bottom, do really seem to make for a smoother response.

Atohm GT-1 Stand Mount Speakers, $4500 per, pair (13h, 7.87w, 10.43d, 27 lbs, 89dB SPL, 6 ohms) 6” 2-way in Gloss Walnut, Gloss Piano Black, Gloss Piano White Made in France: 7 year warranty! Atohm speakers are indeed, actually MADE in France. Designer Thierry Comte has created a line of speakers that check some very special boxes. Let’s start here with GT-1,…