Amphion Helium 520 Towers $3200 Per Pair White or Black ($3500 in Walnut)

(42 1/4h, 6 1/4w, 8 1/2d, 90 dB SPL, 35 lbs)

Amphion has introduced a remarkably clean, stylish, super skinny tower. It is barely over 6” wide! Helium 520 is first and foremost, a delightful open/airy sounding speaker. It creates a broad and deep soundstage.

While its bass isn’t as robust as Amphion’s Argon 7LS ($6K per pair), you’ll be amazed at how large the soundstage is from this slender profile.

We have plenty of customers that want major league clarity with a spacious image, yet don’t want massive volume or floor shaking thunder. Attention condo and apartment dwellers- H520 is for you! At just over six inches wide, H520 is easy to place in any room. H520 is a sleek, stylish speaker that will appeal to the ardent audiophile that doesn’t need to blast away.

H520 has the same transparent Titanium tweeter as the rest of the Amphion lineup. H520 runs a pair of pulp fiber 5.25’s in D’Appolito configuration to produce Amphion’s renowned cardiod dispersion pattern. As with all Amphion speakers, the tweeter crosses over at 1600Hz to prevent it from sounding brash or harsh. While Helium models are less expensive than Argons due to the use of pulp fiber bass mid drivers instead of aluminum, they adhere to Amphion principles of design and sound beautiful.

With Wave Guide technology like its bigger brothers, you’ll hear the vast majority of the sound directly, instead of AFTER it has echoed off all the hard surfaces of your room. Ideally, you would hear all speakers without room reflections. Since none of us have perfect listening rooms, Amphion’s cardiod panorama gives it a leg up on everyone else for great sound in a real living room environment.

Stylin’

Helium 520 comes in three different (white/black/walnut) colors with 10 grid accent options (White, Black, Stone Gray, Traffic Red, Sky Blue, Turquoise Blue, Heather Violet, Heather Green, Sulfer Yellow, Beige Brown). Visit Amphion’s site. Pull up the model of your choice and check out the VARIATIONS options. Our best sellers are walnut and white with black grids.

Customers ask why Amphion uses grids instead of cloth grills like everyone else. The answer is, the grid system allows cleaner and more dynamic sonic details to emerge. Any cloth will create some diminution to the experience.

Amphion Helium 520C Center $1000 White or Black ($1150 Walnut)

(6.5h, 20w, 10.5d, 90 dB SPL, 22 lbs)

H520C is the articulate matching center. With Wave Guide Titanium tweeter (of course!) and two 5.25 pulp fiber bass mid drivers, H520C has the same clear and non fatiguing sound of all Amphion speakers.

H520C is a sage choice to run with any number of R&L front speakers as it offers top level voicing without introducing any bite or sizzle. H520 offers Amphion’s full palette of aesthetic colors.

Stephen Paulello Pianos

Just as we audiophiles are looking for a better, or more interesting mouse trap in stereo gear,

Stephen Paulello (France) is evolving piano technology.

He uses:

*102 Keys (9 more in lower register, 5 more in upper)

*Straight string design to avoid “mistakes” in the transition between registers

*Cords are made of five different types of metal, each chosen for its performance within a specific frequency range.

*Soft iron strings are coated in nickel to produce a warmer tone.

*Monoblock belly composed of four different wood panels glued together (oak/ash/maple/beech)

*Clamping agraffes vs pins

*Soundboard is made of two thin boards glued together for more delicate tuning

Stephen… is just like us crazy audiophiles! You can buy his new 9’ concert grand for $175K.

Isotek Syncro Active $2200

Isotek has created a sine wave rebalancer to rid your system of transformer hum and electronic backwash. Syncro Active is ideal for the customer who is also getting an Aquarius or Sigmas line conditioner. Dave’s Fave’s Syncro

Peachtree Separates

Peachtree’s range of electronics is made in North Carolina. How nice to have very well built and price competitive American gear! These models support balanced and single ended operation. While each product is strong on its own, the package pricing when adding preDAC is especially enticing!

GaN400 Power Amp $3000 (400×2)

(4.33h, 14.17w, 13.77d, 16 lbs, Mocha or Black Gloss)

Peachtree has introduced a brand new power amp with a cutting edge output transistor design. The GaN400 amplifier uses GALLIUM NITRIDE FET technology, which they prefer to the tried and true MOS FET designs that have become popular. GaN transistors switch faster and require less feedback than MOS FETs.

PT brings more to the party with a regulated power supply of just under a thousand watts and truly balanced circuit design. GaN400 is comfortable with virtually any impedance.

Peachtree designers feel GaN technology will take over the world and they’re among the first to employ it. GaN400 is a cut above the few competitors that do exist. GaN400 has a unique and superior input board which features very short, shielded cables. The other guys use long unshielded cables inviting noise into the signal. The other guys run internal speaker cabling to the rear jacks right over large inductors and GaN modules- again, inviting noise. Peachtree has full CE & FCC safety approvals due to proper AC mains grounding techniques. Peachtree vents GaN400 to dissipate heat- while the other guys don’t vent their amps. Peachtree builds for long life. Heat is an electronics killer! Peachtree has an on/off switch and trigger operation. Most of the other guys run trigger only. GaN 400 is a partner for any preamp. PT has a 3 year warranty- the longest of the category.

PT promises an airy presentation with superior transient attack. We expect our shipment to arrive any day and await it with avidity!

Amp 500 Power Amp $1500 (500×2)

(4.33h, 14.17w, 13.77d, 15 lbs, Mocha or Black Gloss)

Amp 500 has a touch more power than GaN400. It runs MOS FETs instead of Gallium Nitirde FET output devices. At this price point, if you need oodles of power, please consider Amp 500. We’ve sold a load of Amp 500s for customers replacing older, hotter, heavier amplifiers. Amp 500 sounds better than the old boy, runs cooler and is more reliable. It takes a lot of power to fight through those ancient complex crossovers. Consider one of these progressive new designs to replace your old boat anchor. Time marches on.

preDAC $2500 {or $1500 if purchased with either power amp}

(4.33h, 14.17w, 13.77d)

preDac is an outstanding matching preamp/dac for any power amp. It is a truly balanced preamp with a nice array of additional features.

PT is so enamored with the package of preDac with its amps that they’re running a super duper promo to kick them off. Get preDAC for only $1500 if purchased with either Peachtree power amp above. Limited time promo!

preDac uses the latest SABRE 8ch DAC in a stereo configuration to improve dynamic range and S/N ratio. The background is dead silent. There is a line level in/out LOOP for a myriad of uses.

Inputs:

*MM phono

*2 Aux (one can be phono or line in)

*2 OPT

*1 Coax

*USB-B

*USB-A

Outputs:

*One set RCA analog out

*One set XLR analog out

NAD C538 Single Play CD Player $380

Don’t believe that nonsense you may be hearing that CDs are “over.” That’s what many dopes said in the 80s about LPs. How did that turn out?!

There are many ways to enjoy our great hobby of music and the silver disc is indispensable! In fact, two of the highest end manufacturers in the world, Gryphon and CH Precision, have just introduced new CD players- for a mere $40k each. I’m thinking the NAD might fit your wallet better.

NAD’s C538 has been on back order most of the year due to C19. We just received a shipment.

C538 is a clean sounding, well built CD player. You can use it as a CD player or as a CD transport into your fancy dancy DAC. It has Coax and OPT and analog outputs.

First of all, C538 tracks like a champ! The drawer runs in/out smoothly and quickly. You can tell this boy is built well when you operate it.

C538 is built on a steel chassis vs a plastic toy like the other guys in this price range. It uses a Toroidal transformer and high quality, low noise op amps. It uses a Wolfson 24 bit DAC- which you will see in fine players like Regas for $1200.

We have sold this model for a couple of years and it has proven to be a home run in terms of sound and reliability.

My guess is that most of you have an old CD player of some sort now- that hiccups when it plays some discs. What you’re hearing is the mistracking of your laser. Further, we have found a number of expensive CD players from esoteric companies that can’t track their way out of a wet paper bag. Why? It’s because the transport mechanism they buy from their vendor is el cheapo. Even though they can include fancy electronics around a chip to make it sound good, they’re limited to the generic tracking mechanism.

Visualize a basketball hoop with a ball going through it. If aligned DEAD CENTER when new, the ball goes swishes through easily. Precision alignment allows the machine to go mechanically eschew a bit over the years and STILL allow the ball to go through the hoop. THIS… is NAD.

What you’ll find with most inexpensive players is that the ball barely makes it through the hoop when it’s brand new, due to sloppy laser alignment. As soon as the flimsy construction allows the laser reader to shift, the ball hits the rim and bounces/skips off. That… is what is happening with your skipping CD player.

Of course I’m nuts for CDs and SACDs. I’d love for you to buy the Marantz SACD-30n. But I get it. You might be a streamaholic and use your silver discs more sparingly than I do. Please… make C538 your player of choice for the next dozen or more years!

Stephen Hough: A Double Threat!

Hough is one of the wonderfully talented pianists on the magnificent Hyperion label. He’s a serious painter as well. As if ONE talent wouldn’t have been enough!