Bryston A1: $4990 Per Pair

{47.5h, 9.25w, 17d, 71 lbs, 88 dB SPL, 4 ohms}

They’re baaaaack! My fave sub $5k speakers are at long last back in the house.

Covid 19 put Bryston behind the 8 ball as much as any company out there. After three long years of being at least 6 months behind on product delivery, Bryston is catching up. As they’re catching up, they’re finally producing some of their A Series speakers that were virtually extinct for three years. Tops among them is the Bryston A1. What a treat it is to have this smooth, powerful

Canadian built speaker with a 20 year warranty- back.

A1 is a prodigiously powerful (!!) tower with a gorgeously smooth top end. Please note that it is only 9.25” wide and doesn’t present a massive footprint in your room. It is also reasonably efficient at 88dB. There are many affordable integrateds that will drive them, like the NAD C399 and Hegel H190.

Its main competition at this price point is from China and the differences are dramatic. The imports are skinny in the bass and more scratchy up high. Finally, for the first time in 3+ years, you can visit to hear A1 in person. And yes, the warranty is still 20 years!

Bryston Tiny A: $990 Per Pair

{13.5h, 8.5w, 8.25d, 90dB, 8 ohms}

Bryston has introduced its first 2-way stand mount monitor speaker. Tiny A is small, though not exactly tiny. It features Bryston’s 6.5” woofer and Titanium tweeter. Literally all of its similarly priced competition is from China. Bryston’s TLC (please read the Bryston Speakers yellow tab at the bottom of our home page) provides bass and warmth that the mass market cannot achieve.

Bryston has precision driver construction to assure your music is “in focus.” When a mass production house blasts speakers out like popcorn, driver variation produces music in a less clear, noticeably more foggy presentation.

You guessed it, the warranty is 20 years! We welcome this little guy for use on its own or pairing with a fine sub- like the JL Audio lineup from FLA. How nice, to have full N American speaker/sub (JL D110, $1300) combo for only $2300?!

Rogue Dragon MonoBlock Power Amps: $6000 Per Pair

{5.5h, 12.5w, 19d, 33 lbs, 300 watts per chassis}

Rogue’s Dragon STEREO power amp has been one of my faves since the day it came out. It has 300×2, $4000. It uses 12 AU7 tubes in its design.

The tubes are used in more than just the input stage. Rogue has its own TubeD circuit that allows the tubes to also be used in driving the amplification section. The Dragon has been a stereo star. Mark O’Brien of Rogue has seen fit to build the Dragon in MonoBlock form AND soup it up a bit in the process!

The Dragon MonoBlock amps are more than just mono versions of the stereo Dragon. The MonoBlocks are also rated at 300w. Each has its own power supply which provides a higher level of dynamics. The monos use higher level components in critical locations. There are improvements in other aspects of the circuitry as well. The monos have more weight, attack, better dynamics and a higher level of transparency- with improvements in the soundstage.

And of course… the MonoBlocks allow you to put one amp behind each speaker and run short speaker cables of the highest quality if you’d like to. Kimber Carbons anyone?

Rogue RP-7 Preamp $5000

{4.5h, 18.5w, 17d, 35 lbs}

You’ll need a great preamp to run with your Dragon MonoBlocks. Please consider the RP-7.

RP-7 is Rogue’s mid level preamp and has balanced circuitry- to play ball with the Dragons, of course. RP-7 has two sets of XLR inputs, and two sets of XLR outputs (both variable). Additionally, RP-7 has 3 RCA line ins, No Phono, 2 RCA variable outs, a processing loop and HT bypass.

RP-7 runs four 12 AU7 tubes and sounds smooth as silk- an ideal mate for the Dragons. Its volume control has 157 steps in .5dB increments, so you can be sure to land exactly where you want. RP7 runs 17 regulated power supplies. Premium parts include oil based Mundorf caps, Vishay resistors and Vishay Hexfred diodes.

RP-7 sounds distinctly more tubey than its little brothers, RP-1 and RP-5.

Hit Songs Second Time Around

Some songs were not a hit the first time they were recorded. Take 2- a smash!

“Respect”

By Aretha Franklin in 1967, was written and recorded by Otis Redding a couple years earlier.

“Girls Just Want To Have Fun”

By Cyndi Lauper in 1984, was written and performed by Robert Hazard in 1979.

“Twist & Shout”

By the Beatles in1964, was written by Phil Medley and Bert Russell in 1961, recorded by Top Notes.

“I Will Always Love You”

By Whitney Houston in 1992, was written and performed by Dolly Parton in 1973.

“Time Is On My Side”

By the Stones in 1964, was written by Jerry Ragovoy in 1963, recorded by Kai Winding.

“Hound Dog”

By Elvis in 1956, was recorded by Big Mama Thornton in 1952.

“Turn Turn Turn”
By the Byrds in 1965 was written and performed by Pete Seeger in 1959.

“Nothing Compares 2 U”

By Sinead O’Connor in 1990, was written and recorded by Prince in 1985.

Magnepan MG 1.7i, $3000 Per Pair

Shock of all shocks, Magnepan is catching up with providing us inventory! We actually have MG 1.7i in stock (black cloth/dark cherry wood) for the first time in… 3 years.

C19 hit Magnepan as hard as any company. It was almost immediate in March of 2020, that Magnepan’s back orders became extreme. Orders of MG 1.7i, one of the best speaker values in the hi-fi hobby, ran 6 months or more. We always had orders in cue. We would get one pair here, then maybe a pair or two there. Still, we ran way behind on providing product to customers. It was even worse on the MG 3.7i and MG 20.7.

MG 1.7i is my favorite bang for the buck model in the Magnepan line. It runs a reasonable $3k per pair. What I love about 1.7i is, it has enough bass that I don’t require a subwoofer to enjoy it. The size of the image cast by 1.7i is mammoth. It will fill the ENTIRE wall in front of you. It will center a vocal with precision. Due to Magnepan’s hand built, low mass design, driver precision is virtually exact. For example, there are no worries about using mismatched tweeters (or mids or woofs) which can obfuscate detail- like multiple tuning forks playing at different pitches.

MG 1.7i runs 86dB SPL. That’s not very efficient. BUTTT, it is a 4 ohm purely resistive load. That means it always shows your amp a 4 ohm load, at all frequencies. Let’s contrast that with the well known KEF LS 50 Meta, which advertises that it’s an 8 ohm speaker. LS 50 drops below 2 ohms at some critical bass frequencies. Despite the fact that LS 50 has a higher SPL rating, it’s actually tougher for your amp to drive.

Now, make no mistake. MG 1.7i will reward you for having a great amplifier. My favorites are the Brystons. They are high current, fully complementary amp designs.

For significantly less money I recommend NADs or Hegels. The integrateds made by these companies are absolutely reasonable in price.

If someone tells you Maggies need zillions of watts to drive them, pay no attention. The guys that say that – are trying to drive them like Klipsch LaScalas. The simple fact is, if you’re trying to drive your living room system to club level volume levels, the Maggies aren’t for you. No amount of power will make them thump and pulse like Arkansas built Ks.

Maggies are made for reasonable music lovers who like their music at enjoyable, but not insane volume levels. For this kind of listener of largely acoustical music, Mags are very tough to beat and can be driven nicely by integrateds as inexpensive as Rogue’s Sphinx V3 or NAD C389 & C399, or more refined Marantz Model 30 or Hegels.

Bluesound Node X Streamer, $750

NAD has just introduced its tenth anniversary, limited edition streamer, the Bluesound Node X. Node X is basically a souped up Node. It has a superior DAC (Sabre 9028) and headphone amp- housed in a fancy schmancy silver box.

If you’re running your streamer analog out into your preamp or receiver, you can up your sound with Node X.

Keep in mind, NAD has been running Bluesound streamers since 2013. They WORK! We have plenty of stories of very expensive streamers that do NOT work as promised. Streaming without hiccups and sputters is very difficult. NAD does the upgrades to keep Bluesound flowing better than anyone else.

Isotek Polaris $500 Promo Price!

The Isotek Polaris has gone up to $700. But we still have a few we bought on a massive Christmas promo at $500. Why not save $200? Last call on the best mains conditioner value on the market!

NAD C3050 Integrated Amp $1400: 100×2

(5h, 17 5/8w, 13 3/16d, 22 lbs)

NAD has just introduced this NEW, vintage looking, integrated amp with very fun power meters. It has a modern build quality and features. It just LOOKS vintage. That’s exactly how we want it. It has to be modern under the hood. Do not waste your money trying to fix vintage gear.

While there is high interest in the vintage product market, such purchases are almost always a big MISTAKE. First of all, as a guy who has been in the biz since the early 70s, I can tell you those products weren’t built anywhere near as well as what we have today. Think of the car you drove then vs the car you drive now! Please don’t make the mistake of throwing money down the toilet by trying to fix something from yesteryear. It is the proverbial money pit and CAN’T sound as good as modern gear.

I GET that many people love the classic look. C3050 has that. It has a contemporary NAD UcD amplifier of 100×2. It is impedance invariant and sounds smoother than amps that run mismatched transistors.

It has inputs of:

1 OPT

1 Coax

1 eARC

1 MM Phono

1 Set analog RCA inputs

Outputs are:

1 Set RCA analog L&R out- looped to main input

1 Single Mono sub out

It has some nice features as well. They include Bluetooth, bass & treble controls, speakers A, B, A+B, or off. It has a 1/4” headphone jack. C3050 doesn’t have an on board Bluesound streamer. I always recommend you buy that as an outboard component anyway. Technology will change.

If you’re after the most pure, open, airy sound at this price point, look to Rogue Sphinx V3. NAD’s C389 is $1500 and more power and punch. But if you want all the features in one component, pleasant sound and vintage aesthetics, C3050 is for you.

RIP Gordon Lightfoot (1938-2023)

Every hi-fi store in the country was playing Gordon’s “Sundown” LP in the mid 70s. It was classic rock with a mellow vibe. It appealed to everyone and reached #1 on the charts in 1974. It was great demo material for us because it sounded good and how could you not like it?!