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!

Hegel H-590 Integrated Amp $11,000 (301×2)

(6.75h, 17w, 17.6d, 50 lbs)

Good gravy, is this integrated a STAR or what?! Rated at 301×2 into 8 ohms, double into 4, and double that into 2, H-590 has a frighteningly fine & powerful amplifier section. 300/600/1200!

You also get a state of the art DAC and preamp in the same box. It has Ethernet in for streaming options.

H-590 started as a power amp project. Designer Bent Holter went innovative as he dove in and decided he could put these 3 components on one chassis- and save a bundle compared to doing
it in 3 separated boxes. He decided to make a KILLER integrated, to deliver a knockout punch. In short, I would rather own H-590 than a stack of any 3 boxes to try to accomplish the same thing.

H-590 has Hegel’s SoundEngine 2 design. You can read about the technology at the Hegel
tab near the bottom of our home page. When you watch Bent’s 2:30 discussion on SE2, you’ll learn how he accomplishes the magnificently open sound- without being bright or zingy.

H-590 goes to great depths to sound unparalleled in dynamic performance. It’s a dual mono design. Hegel spends copious time hand matching transistors in the preamp section to achieve superlative resolution. H-590 excels in subtlety, dynamic range, sonic texture and transient attack.

In comparison with $30k integrateds, H-590 won the face off! H-590 delivered a stronger left hook and never sounded harsh- thanks to SE2. Piano keystrokes were cleaner, tighter and there was more air around them. H-590 won in soundstage and depth perspective. The $30k Danish guy sounded “crispier, brighter and less natural.” And these comments in a nutshell, describe Hegel’s sound compared to much more costly competitors.

Double Lintons! $2700 Including Stands

(62h, 11.8w, 14.17d)

Everybody knows the Wharfedale Lintons are among the very best speakers in our biz for $1500 per pair including stands. Available in Walnut or Mahogany. We have a tough time keeping them in stock!

Everybody also knows that once you get the hi-fi bug, it continues to come back and bite again- HARD.

The typical scenario is, you buy speakers you like for about $1500 per pair. When the bug bites to upgrade, you trade them in and take a big hit in the process. Why not avoid that?

Might we tempt you with DOUBLE LINTONS?!

Yup, buy a second pair, turn them upside down and place them on top of the first pair. Now you have a good sized TOWER OF POWER and didn’t lose a dime on a trade in. You did it as you could afford it, not all in one gulp, although that would be OK too.

Lintons are book matched in their real, wood grain. When you put one atop the other, the grain pattern is close.

A single pair of Lintons runs as a 6 ohm load. The lowest impedance Linton ever hits is 3.5 ohms. Since it only touches 3.5 ohms for a NY minute in its frequency band, any amp worth its salt
can drive Lintons with ease. When you run any speakers in parallel the impedance halves. If your amp can drive down to two ohms, you’re good to go. Hegel anyone?

Another alternative is to run a PAIR of amps, one amp on each pair of speakers. How about running two NADs? Or… perhaps consider a Marantz 5ch amp where two of the channels run the top Lintons and two other channels run the bottom Lintons! The options are endless.

The musical advantage of Double Lintons? You get more efficiency, dynamics, power and scale. The image is HUGE and palpable. Yep, the image is taller, broader and yet more focused. The bass easily doubles. Double Lintons are ABSOLUTELY double the fun! You don’t believe me? Visit to hear it for yourself! Yep, we have them on display.

Another characteristic of Double Lintons is… with the tall image of the driver alignment the stage is massive. You’ll have four of the fast/powerful Kevlar 8s working for you. There’s a unique benefit because the Lintons are on stands and do NOT couple with the floor. It’s great fun to hear bass that is powerful yet not rumbly. Decoupling the speakers from the floor, employing the stands, works to achieve this.

I’m Seeing Red!

No, I’m not angry. I’m seeing RED as beautiful! The Rega Planar 2 is now available in red which makes it uber cool on your stand. It comes with a generic white cartridge called the Carbon.
Sorry boys, that won’t do! We’re spiffing up the Planar 2 in red with the Ortofon Red MM cartridge.
Now HERE is something to lust for, a lovely looking and high performing table/cart combo for a mere $775. Escape your house and come see it!

Dolly Puts Her Wallet Where Her Mouth Is

Many musicians have donated to the cause of beating C-19. The inimitable Dolly Parton sent a million buxx to Vanderbilt U’s Medical Care Center in Nashville. That’s what I call putting your money where your mouth is.