We no longer have open retail hours to audition equipment. I opened Audio Emporium in February of 1977. My ethos has always been to sell the best gear at a given price- with a special focus on the law of diminishing returns. I don’t care that a company offers fancy speakers or electronics (or now cables!) for $50-100k on up. People that…

Hi-Fi Mags The hi-fi mags of the 70s were written from the point of view of consumer advocacy. That’s long gone. I’m really sad about that. I still remember an early TAS where Harry Pearson was saying he had to go through a handful of ADC XLM cartridges, to find one where the cantilever didn’t collapse. He also pointed out that they…

Herb Reichert of Stereophile has been an anti CD guy for 40 years. That has disappointed me because he should have known better. Often his writing on music and other gear is in line with my perceptions. Why has he been so OFF on CDs? I almost fell off my chair a few months ago when he said CDs have now come…

The entire tariff situation remains a confusing mess. DT threatens tariffs of a wide range of percentages – on varying countries per his whim. What’s real? What isn’t? What is posturing? What actually is assessed? How can an importer PLAN AND PRICE? Europe This missive is specifically about the situation with Europe. The tariff is 15% now. To be clear, the American…

Review on Bryston Trim T10 speaker: I was absolutely ‘BLOWN AWAY’ by so many things. The ability to hear each instrument and actually have the system place it in a rock solid non wavering place on the stage was absolutely incredible James.

Behind the Scenes at BRYSTON. Even bass testing gets taken to new heights. Our design team uses a 90-foot outdoor tower to measure subwoofers. Since ultra-low frequencies have wavelengths too long for even our large factory anechoic chamber to capture accurately.
TAKING BASS TESTING TO NEW HEIGHTS By hoisting prototypes into the open air, we can measure bass response without reflections or interference. It’s a unique part of our research process that helps us understand exactly how those deep notes behave in the real world.

Atoll CD50 CD Player, $1650 Atoll’s magnificent CD50 is a Red Book CD player. It has been designed SPECIFICALLY to play CDs. It doesn’t play SACDs, Blu-rays, DVDs or BetaMax tapes. It was built specifically to play CDs and incorporates many choices that make it IDEAL for that task. I want to put CD50 on your radar because you’re probably hearing a…

Atoll IN200 Integrated Amp, $2900, 120×2 {Made in France, 3 year warranty} Atoll’s fabulous IN200 often hits the SWEET SPOT for our shoppers. Let’s take a look. First of all, IN200 is a Class AB, heavy hitting, REFINED integrated. It is rated at 120×2 but that doesn’t begin to tell the story about how great a piece it is. IN200 has a…

Atohm Sirocco 1.24 Speakers, $2400 Per Pair {13.6h, 7.09w, 10.25d, 88 dB, 6 ohms, 25-200w/ch, Walnut, Black, Light Oak, White} Atohm’s new Sirocco 1.24 is a marvelous, intimate TOOL- that will allow you to appreciate exquisite nuances within your recordings. Further, Athom’s aesthetic panache is a pleasure to add to your room. Not all of us care to blast our brains out…

Atoll IN300, $4000, 120×2, Built in France! Musical Fidelity Nuvista 600.2 $10,000, 160×2, Built in China (ugh!) A shopper called to ask which integrated amps we carry. I happily told him we absolutely love the Atoll line for sound quality, reliability and value. Oh, and by the way, they’re made in their own house in France, not a job house in China…

Atohm Sirocco 2.24 Speakers, $3800 Per Pair {39h, 8.66w, 10.25d, 88dB, 6 ohms, 25-250w/ch, Walnut, Black, Light Oak, White} Atohm’s new Sirocco line of speakers is blowing us away. How so? To cut to the chase, the definition and imaging of the Siroccos is just about as good as it gets- at any price. That’s right. The Siroccos, even at their modest…

RYSTON CUBED SERIES BRYSTON AMPLIFIERS ENJOY UNIVERSAL ACCLAIM FROM BOTH AUDIO PROFESSIONALS AND MUSIC ENTHUSIASTS UNLIKE ANY OTHER BRAND IN THE WORLD. AS A RESULT OF RELENTLESS PASSION FOR SUPERB PERFORMANCE AND UNPARALLELED BUILD QUALITY, BRYSTON ENGINEERS HAVE CONTINUED TO INNOVATE SINCE OUR GROUNDBREAKING PREMIER IN 1973. THE CUBED SERIES AMPLIFIERS CONTINUE THIS TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE HIGHLIGHTED BY LOWER DISTORTION, INCREASED BANDWIDTH AND REDUCED NOISE, PRESENTING LISTENERS WITH A CRYSTAL CLEAR WINDOW INTO THEIR MOST CHERISHED RECORDINGS. BRYSTON CUBED SERIES AMPLIFIERS, FEATURING PATENT CIRCUITRY DEVELOPED IN CONJUNCTION WITH DR. SALOMIE, PH.D., MOVE THE LISTENER EVER CLOSER TO THE MUSIC WITH SUCH VISCERAL REALISM, THE EXPERIENCE IS MOST COMPARABLE TO LIVE PERFORMANCE.THIS IS THE BRYSTON CUBED SERIES.

The last TAS I discussed on our pages was full of overpriced madness. Let’s see if they’ve come down to earth this summer. *The letters section has sad sack audiophiles worried that TAS is written by AI instead of humans. Really boys? Don’t you have more important things to obsess about? While I often chide the magazines for writing too much about…

Let’s see what the boys are writing about this month. But first… Tariffs P3 addresses the topic of the tariffs and how they are affecting our biz. Kudos to Jim Austin who hits the nail right on the head. Tariffs have damaged our business. I’ll repeat, DAMAGED. We ordered Bryston from Canada regularly. They have been our friends and outstanding biz partners…

RIP Brian Wilson (1942-2025) Most of us grew up appreciating Brian’s musical creativity. Given his tortured personality it’s amazing that his musical genius could shine through. Fortunately for us… it did. I won’t list a pile of Beach Boys hits. If you love music, you know them. I DO want to point out that the most fascinating musical bio movie I’ve ever…

Al visited from out of town recently. He looked around the store and saw a lot of Bryston speakers. He asked with a confused look, “With all the speakers on the market, why do you sell Bryston? I know they make great amps with a 20 year warranty. But why do you sell their speakers? I didn’t even know they made speakers.”…