All of our customers want to be sure they’re getting the most performance for their money. What is the point of diminishing returns for my budget?
And that’s our goal at Audio Emporium. No matter how much you decide to spend, whether on a component, cables or a full system, we’ll help you get the best bang for your buck.
For this hypothetical, let’s use $7k as our shopping number.
No Thanks To China
For openers, I’m not buying anything substantial from China. Even if you ignore their politics and 996 labor practices (manufacturing employees typically work 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week at $1.82 per hour), they screwed the market during Covid. Production of N American and Euro companies fell to a trickle and the Chinese production houses flooded the market with loads of mediocre gear. Since our N American and Euro companies are back at full strength, the Chinese can kiss off. The N American and Euro gear is better, and sometimes not much more expensive as is the case here.
Speakers
Bryston A3s, $3300 Per Pair
While every component is a vital link in the chain, nothing is more important than speakers. The difference between two integrated amps at a given price is much less than the difference between a couple of pairs of speakers.
Bryston has made among the toughest speakers in our industry, in Canada, with a 20 year warranty, for over a decade. The drivers are consistent and built to a stronger standard than what you can get from China for the same money.
For example, the Bryston mid and woofer cones are made of a contiguous Pure Aluminum material. They’re not sandwiches of Styrofoam and paper, or woven fabrics. Virtually all tweeters are comprised of hair thin wires that surround the circular dome. Plus and minus conductors are soldered
to posts. That’s not good enough for Bryston. They take the time to have a live human TIN these wires so they’re over 50 times stronger, to accommodate more heat and physical exertion. Hence the 20 year warranty.
Bryston’s A3 is kinda/sorta like the Axiom M60 on steroids. The drivers have heavier magnets. The cones are stronger. The cabinet is heavier and more sturdily reinforced with struts and braces, forming a matrix construction. A3 can play to very high volume levels safely, while delivering prodigious bass in a small footprint.
Virtually every competing speaker at this price is coming from China. Whether the name on the face is B&W, Kef, Monitor Audio, Dynaudio, Martin Logan… they’re all made in China, and not to the standards of Bryston made speakers.
Integrated Amp
Atoll IN100 Signature, $2100 (100×2)
Built in France with a 3 year warranty, IN100 is a beast ready to roar. It uses a pair of 340VA transformers to make it the first Atoll integrated that’s a full fledged dual mono design. It uses big filter caps and matched MOSFET output transistors. Its competitors are virtually all amps from China with surface mounted components and flimsy current.
All Atolls are A/B amps that run a large chunk of power at Class A. IN100 will devastate its Chinese competition that has dominated the market for years. Atoll with its A/B topology out slugs the Chinese D amps with switching supplies quite noticeably. This includes brands like Yamaha, Denon, Sony, Marantz, Hegel, NAD, Parasound, Cambridge, Rotel and many more.
IN100 comes in line stage config at $2100. You can add DAC or phono modules if you want to expand its capabilities.
CD Player
Atoll CD80 Signature, $1750
Don’t forget your silver discs! CDs SOUND BETTER than streaming. Even if you want to add streaming for easy access, please considering sticking with your silver discs for the best sound- and still- ridiculously easy access…
Atoll’s CD80 is a battleship of a player yielding warm, muscular response. It has two transformers, 8 regulated power supplies and capacitance comparable to a 50w amplifier. Its Burr Brown DAC runs without feedback and delivers a smooth, weighty sound for great speakers like
Brystons. While you might think you’d like a cheap disc player, you pay for it in performance. Please make the SOURCE commensurate with the amp and speakers!
And yep, it’s made in France with a 3 year warranty.
Dotting The I’s And Crossing The T’s
While you can run your electronics into a Home Depot bar and use generic cables, you can’t reach your full potential by ignoring the use of a proper Mains Conditioner and running quality speaker cables.
Isotek makes its line conditioners in Europe, not China. Pricing runs $900 for the Isotek Polaris V5 which will give you a nice sonic improvement over the Chinese built options out there. Polaris takes line noise of approximately 1000 units and knocks it down to single digits. I recently got a sample of a $700 competitor to compare. It did NOT reduce line hash by one drop on its amplifier powered outlets!
Speaker cables matter. You don’t need to buy expensive jewelry. We carry Kimber Kable made in Utah. Great Kimber Kables run $224 for 10’ lengths with great banana plugs. Braided kables to eliminate RFI are a must to achieve top tier resolution.