Wharfedale Elysian 4 Speakers $9995 Per Pair

Luscious Walnut, Piano Black, Piano White

(46.8h, 15.8w, 17d, 100 lbs ea, 92 dB SPL)

Wharfedale is about to ship its stunningly gorgeous flagship speaker- Elysian 4. Elysian means blissful. It’s gotta be great- right?!

E-4 is a beautiful BATTLESHIP that provides an enormously lifelike size & quality image. Built like a musical instrument instead of a speaker, E-4 is the whole package for your home. E-4’s veneer is comprised by a sandwich of different woods. The veneer is then finished by 6 layers of hand crafted piano lacquer. The front edges are radiused to deliver broad dispersion.

E-4 continues Wharfedale’s pattern of giving you a tremendous amount of hardware and performance for your money. E-4 is a tremendously beautiful work of art as well as a prodigiously fine musical performer.

» Wharfedale Ribbon Tweeter
This is a larger diaphragm of superior materials to W’s Evo line.
» 6” Proprietary Woven Glass Midrange Driver
A step up from Kevlar used in the Evos
» Two 8.5” Proprietary Woven Glass Woofers
Likewise a step up from the Evos
» Contoured cabinets for controlling resonance
» Slot loaded port which tunes more specifically than hole in the wall port
» 4 ohm load

Peter Comeau: Wharfedale’s designer:
“Elysian represents the pinnacle of our achievements. The cabinet design in combination with the drive units, allows the Elysian speakers to convey the whole body of instruments like cello and bass guitar, without constraining the dynamics of the musical recital. Whether you’re listening to solo piano or full orchestra, jazz trio or a rock band, these speakers bring the thrill and excitement of the performance to your listening room.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marantz Multi-Channel Power Amps

Marantz makes three outstanding multi-channel amps.

With this array out outstanding power amps, you can configure any music or home theater system you have in mind. These amps all use LINEAR POWER SUPPLIES and run class AB.

This provides more warmth and smoothness from the amps- compared to those using SMPS or D designs.

Stereo or Multi-Channel power amps can be made in a myriad of configurations. Marantz chooses to make its amps with no short cuts or tricks. They’re not trying to throw a curve ball past you with fallacious specs.

Do read the fine print out there. If you see a conspicuously high power rating for the money, you can infer compromises have been made and specs have been CHEATED. Marantz builds its amps without any gimmicks.

MM-8077 $2200 (150×7: 7.29h, 17.3w, 15.1d, 46 lbs)

You can use as few, or as many of the 7 channels as your system needs.

MM-7055 $1200 (140×5: 7.18h, 17.3w, 15.1d, 35 lbs)

We often sell this guy for a 5.1 system. Other customers have used it with MM-8077 for the Atmos channels.
Or, let’s say you want to bi-amp great speakers like Brystons or Wharfedales. You’ve got
all the channels right here on one cost effective chassis!

MM-7025 $800 (140×2: 4.9h, 17.3w, 13.8d, 24 lbs)

Yep, two channels qualify as “multi-channel” so I’ve accurately categorized it. MM-7025 can be run as a wonderful amp in a STEREO system, or parceled out for a couple channels in a surround system. With classic warm Marantz sound, it isn’t just a home theater amp for less discriminating tastes.

Best Sounding Concert Hall? Musikverein (Vienna)

If you ever get to Vienna, be sure to take in a concert at Musikverein. Most people, including me think it’s the best sounding concert venue on the planet.
Others on the short list are Boston’s Symphony Hall and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. I’ve heard concerts at them all and I can confidently proclaim that the Musikverein wins by a country mile.
Rafal Blechacz played LVB Piano Concerto #3, and the Vienna Phil played the Rite of Spring on the same program. Hearing this live in such an iconic venue is impossible to beat!

Wharfedale Diamond 11.4 Promo $1000 Per Pair, Black

Regular Price $1200 Per Pair
(39.4h, 8.84w, 12.8d, 54 lbs ea, 91 dB SPL)

Wharfedale has just shipped its fanny kicking, affordable tower. With promo price of $1000 per pair, Diamond 11.4 offers more than just thunder.

For openers, D 11.4 is a legit 3-way. There are sneaky guys out there who shove three drivers in a box, that are NOT full 3-ways. Some are 2, or 2.5 ways. Some drivers are passive and look like they’re active. There are no such shenanigans with Wharfedale. D 11.4 IS the real deal.

D 11.4 uses the gorgeous silk dome tweeter of its Diamond brethren. It has a 4” Kevlar midrange driver and two 6.5” Kevlar woofers. Weighing in at over 50 pounds, D 11.4 can bring it! We’re used to thousand dollar speakers NOT sounding very muscular. That’s not the case with D 11.4.

Note how D 11.4 is vented with its slot loaded design. This provides more precise tuning compared to traditional hole in the wall ports. Please also note the curved cabinet walls for sophisticated tuning. Valuable outrigger feet are INCLUDED in the price tag. That’s an afterthought and up market charge from the other guys.

If you’re open to a grand for a pair of muscular towers, snare the D 11.4 at this great limited time promo price.

Rogue Cronus Magnum 3 Tube Integrated Amp $3000

(100×2, 6.75h, 18w, 17.5d, 55 lbs: Built in the USA!)

Rogue has updated its classic tube integrated amp. CM3 is the best CM ever.

CM3 starts with four KT120 power tubes.
This big boy delivers a solid 100×2 of muscle.
CM3 uses two 12AX7s and three 12AU7s. CM3 is indeed, a full figured tube integrated, from preamp to power amp- all analog.

• The headphone amp is updated, derived from Rogue’s renowned RH5 headphone amp.
• CM3 has a new phono stage. It will support MM & MC and is adjustable.
• CM3 has an improved, quieter line stage with Line 1, 2 & 3 inputs.
• CM3 has buffered variable and fixed outs. Subwoofer? Biamping?
• CM3 uses slow start- turn on sequencing.
• CM3 allows you to switch between Ultralinear and Triode operation. I’ll take Ultralinear, thank you.

CM3 is basically Rogue’s Atlas Magnum 2 power amp ($2400, 100×2) with a tube preamp on the same chassis. In short, it’s a smokin’ deal cuz the closest preamp is Rogue’s RP-1 for $1800.

Rogue does not build amps with auto biasing. Owner Mark O’Brien feels auto biasing significantly reduces power, reliability and accuracy. It’s plenty easy to run manual bias on CM3 once a year.

If you want a large dose of tube flavor in your life please consider CM3. It is a full blown, American built (!!) tube integrated and is awash with horsepower. This is an unusual combination at only $3k. Most integrateds at this price offer half the power and aren’t built in the US.

Sandy Calls It A Day

Sandy Gross has decided to retire. He co-founded Polk in 1971. He later founded Def Tech and GoldenEar. I’ve dealt with Sandy since I opened my doors in 1977. Sandy’s speakers have always been innovative and high value products. Sandy loved creating speakers “everyone” could buy.
More importantly, Sandy and his wife Anne are great people that have made doing biz with them a pleasure. In a world where owner operators are more rare by the day, GE has been a pleasant exception. If there was ever a problem, I’d never worry. I knew a call to Sandy would take care of the dilemma. If not, I’d go over his head to Anne!
Audioquest has purchased GoldenEar. I only hope they can run it half as well and Sandy
and Anne have.
Oh… Sandy sold Def Tech in 2008 because he planned to retire. He missed the biz too much and Anne made him start GE cuz he was driving her crazy. Well Sandy, if you want to un-retire again, bring it on!