Klipsch RF-7 III $3600 Per Pair (49h, 13 7/8w, 17 7/8d, 97lbs, 100dB SPL)

Klipsch’s RF-7 is now here. Made in Hope, Arkansas, RF-7 is a big tower. SO WHAT?!

If you want your music to hit big and hard, you need major league muscle. RF-7 doesn’t apologize for being a sizable tower.

RF-7 uses a new 1.75” Titanium Horn Tweeter. It hands the ball off to two, 10” cast frame Cerametallic cone woofers. This very simple, highly efficient speaker system can deliver music to you in life sized doses, without owning Herculean power. Of course, if you HAVE big time power the RF-7 will have even more to offer you. Available in black, cherry & walnut real wood finishes.

Please notice RF-7 runs 100dB SPL! That means you can drive it with a modest amp!

NAD C-556 Turntable $450 With Cartridge

Almost all of you have heard of Rega of England. Rega makes the vaunted Planar One turntable with Carbon cartridge for $475.
It’s a great combo at just under five bills. Well surprise, surprise! NAD’s brand new C-556 is built by Rega. It has a slightly different power supply and arm. But it is barely different and lands at $450 with the same cartridge.

The state of the art for an entry level table has just dropped. If you are interested in pursuing vinyl, don’t buy a plastic table at big box for $200. You can now buy a serious table from a serious manufacturer for not a lot more. Your LPs will thank you.

C-556 is a fully manual, belt drive table. 33/45. Comes with precision main bearing and low vibration motor. The platter is phenolic resin. The tonearm is low mass and energy absorbing. It sounds good with the accompanying cartridge, but is ready to accept something quite a bit better.
How about Ortofon’s MM Red for $100?

My point is, while C-556 is a fine budget table to run with its included MM cart, the table/arm are certainly able to accommodate you moving NORTH. We have found a lot of Rega One buyers move up much sooner than they thought they would. Once the vinyl bug bites- look out!

NAD C-558 Turntable $550 With Cartridge

For only ONE bill more than C-556, you can get a platter akin to Rega’s famous glass platter, upgraded record playing deck & tone arm. Spend the buxx.

For many years the glass platter has been the indicator that you’re now in higher-fi territory. Hence we welcome C-558 which has the superior platter, along with a more refined arm than C-556.

C-588 also comes with the entry level cartridge. On this model we really want you to spend a C-Note more to get the Orto Red. For only $650 with Orto (made in Denmark) you have a wonderful, CUT ABOVE, record playing value. Or, by the way, the Orto Blue is even better and runs $236. With the ever affordable C-558 in the plan, it would only run $786 for the C-558 with Orto MM Blue!

McIntosh MC-152 Power Amp $5000 (150×2: 6h, 17.5w, 21.5d, 75 lbs)

Mac has made battle ship power amps for many years. Most weigh 100lbs or more and run about $7k. Yep, they still do.

But fairly new to the market is the MC-152. With Mac’s full bore design, including autoformers and protection circuits, and expressive blue meters (of course), you can now land a ferocious Mac
amp for only $5k. You get the same quality as the Mac brontosaurus amps, including balanced and RCA operation, sans a touch of octane. Most people won’t need more than MC-152!

Further, MC-152 is significantly smaller than its bigger brothers. You just might be able to
fit this guy into your size and budget confines. Consider a full blown Mac power amp for $5k.

Emotiva ERC-4 Red Book CD Player $600 (4h, 17w, 14d, 21 lbs)

Emo has a new version of its venerable BALANCED CD Player. ERC-4 supports RCA and XLR analog outs. ERC-4 has a new, quieter laser reader. Its OLED readout is much bigger and more
readable from across the room. ERC-4 offers true balanced operation at a very reasonable price tag-and has a five year warranty!

ERC-4 has transport OUTPUTS of OPT, Coax & XLR. Weighing in at 21 pounds, ERC-4 can make a great transport.
ERC-4 has INPUTS of OPT & Coax to use its new on board AD 1955 DAC.

Top Ten Guitarists As Voted By Louder Website

10-Ritchie Blackmore
9-Slash
8-Alex Lifeson
7-Brian May
6-Stevie Ray Vaughn
5-Eric Clapton
4-David Gilmour
3-Eddie Van Halen
2-Jimmy Page
1-Jimi Hendrix

Marantz AV-8805 Preamp Processor $4500

Every top flight surround system is “bottle necked” by the preamp/processor you choose. The task of a pre/pro is enormously complex. The truth is, you need a large Asian manufacturer that has the technology DOWN COLD to make a piece you want- both in terms of current features and high end sound quality.

All of the N American specialty audio companies struggle mightily to create a pre/pro that’s remotely up to date. Further, they are glitchy. Fact is, for 3-4 times the money, they’re still a day late and a dollar short compared to AV-8805.

There are a number of boxes your pre/pro needs to check. Let’s start with 4K video and cutting edge features like Dolby Vision, HDR & Dolby Atmos. OK, who’s left standing? And we’ve barely begun.

As you’re reading this, you might be wondering… are you really saying this $4500 pre/pro is
as good or better than a N American pre/pro for $15k? YES.

I have to tell you, there are many companies who are over their heads trying to make all this work- much less with the audio quality we hi-fi guys demand. Marantz does it better than anybody.

Marantz has made fine pre/pros for years. They had much of this nailed with the AV-8802, and later AV-8802A- YEARS ago. Today Marantz’s top dog is AV-8805 and it takes a back seat to NOBODY and lands at a less than a stratospheric price range.

AV-8805 is made in Marantz’s top factory in Japan. I won’t recite its features because they’re easily available on the Marantz site. But it has what you want. Of course this is very tough to do because technology changes quickly. What I want to brag up here is that AV-8805’s sonic prowess is indeed right up there with the $15k pre/pros that come from specialty vendors- which are short a myriad of important features.

AV-8805 even includes BALANCED ins/outs for those of us who insist running on at that level.
You CAN buy some very fine, affordable power amps from Emotiva. You can get a fanny kicking
5×260 amp for only $1700 with balanced inputs. I will happily tell you AV-8805 won’t bottle neck your audio performance, while it further provides all the video interfacing you need!

AV-8805 will provide the best AV preamp experience you can buy today. It will rival all but the top stereo only preamps- for music only.

Marantz AV-7705 Preamp Processor $2200

AV-7705 can’t provide the TOP ECHELON audio quality of AV-8805. However, AV-7705 is about half the price and a very good value. It offers the “stuff” we need including 4K, Dolby Vision, HDR & Atmos. It even has balanced outs- not ins.

When you consider it runs under $4000 with the Emo XPA5G3 power amp ($1700, 260×5) – it’s a killer combo in a price range where most companies are making big fat RECEIVERS.

Above about $2500 we recommend going to AV separates as opposed to a receiver. We all know technology is going to change. Some day you’ll want to update your pre/pro. The power amp is a brontosaurus and will run “forever.” Technology won’t replace it soon. You can always buy more channels of power. The pre/pro is the moving target and NOBODY does it better than Marantz. We have two terrific, affordable options.

Even The Greatest Have Nerves

Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) was unmatched as a composer for the piano. He was also a magnificent performing pianist.
Sir Charles Halle, a professional pianist and teacher, commented on first hearing Chopin. “The marvelous charm, the poetry and originality, the perfect freedom and absolute lucidity of Chopin’s playing cannot be described. I could have dropped on my knees to worship him!”
Chopin told the ever confident Franz Liszt, “I am not fitted to give concerts, the public frightens me. I feel suffocated by its panting breath, paralyzed by its curious glance, mute before those unknown faces.”
The next time your kid expresses fear about giving a recital…let them know they’re in good company.