Reissues of classic performances conducted by Leonard Bernstein, new recordings of music composed by him—they keep coming. I have never been a Lenny worshipper; his personality always rubbed me the wrong way, at least a little bit; but all this discographic pressure is getting to me....

Blu-ray Disc Player & DLP High-Definition TV OPPO BDP-83 & Mitsubishi WD-73835   OPPO  Digital, Inc., 2629 Terminal Boulevard, Suite B, Mountain View, CA 94043. Voice: (650) 961-1118. Fax: (650) 961-1119. E-mail: service@oppodigital.com . Web:...

Powered Micro Loudspeaker Soundmatters “foxL” Soundmatters International, Inc., Reno, NV, USA. Voice: (775) 981-1460. Fax: (775) 981-1465. E-mail: support@soundmatters.com . Web: www.soundmatters.com . “foxL” powered stereo loudspeaker,...

Stereo Front End with Preamp, DAC, Remote Control & More Benchmark DAC1 HDR Benchmark Media Systems, Inc., 203 East Hampton Place, Suite 2, Syracuse, NY 13206-1633. Voice: (315) 437-6300. Fax: (315) 437-8119. E-mail: sales@benchmarkmedia.com . Web:...

I am an unregenerate and unrepentant Wagnerian, so I try to keep abreast of all new Wagner releases on CD. When I requested the 2-CD Profil (Günter Hänssler) DCD PH07048 set from Naxos, the distributor, I expected nothing more than some scratchy old archival tracks from Germany,...

Most classical recordings released over the past twenty years are of decent quality in both performance and sound. The standards have been raised to a fairly high and uniform level. For that very reason the critic tends to get bored, even a lightweight critic like me. It takes an unusually...

Powered 2-Way Floor-Standing Loudspeaker System Linkwitz Lab “Pluto-2” Designer: Linkwitz Lab, 15 Prospect Lane, Corte Madera, CA 94925. E-mail: sl@linkwitzlab.com . Web: www.linkwitzlab.com . Constructor: Wood Artistry, L.L.C., 408 Moore Lane,...

Catching Up with CDs and SACDs The following is merely a random sampling of what I’ve been listening to since the last group of reviews in November 2007. Software problems have been the main reason for the long hiatus from reviewing, but stagnation due my advancing...

HD Radio FM/AM Digital Tuner Sony XDR-F1HD This is a $100 (that’s no typo) tuner that blows away the classic “super tuners” of McIntosh, Marantz, Sequerra, Accuphase, etc., according to FM experts who know more than I do.     ...

Powered 4-Way Dipole Loudspeaker System Linkwitz Lab “Orion++” Designer: Linkwitz Lab, 15 Prospect Lane, Corte Madera, CA 94925. E-mail: sl@linkwitzlab.com . Web: www.linkwitzlab.com . Constructor: Wood Artistry, L.L.C., 408 Moore Lane, Healdsburg, CA...

New CD and SACD Reviews   Here’s what I’ve found noteworthy, from my admittedly un-musicological and often audio-biased point of view, among the recent and not so recent releases that have come my way. Please note that I no longer comment separately on...

Proven: Good Old Redbook CD Sounds the Same as the Hi-Rez Formats   Incontrovertible double-blind listening tests prove that the original 16-bit/44.1-kHz CD standard yields exactly the same two-channel sound quality as the SACD and DVD-A technologies. In the...

12-Channel 6-Zone Power Amplifier Amplifier Technologies AT6012 Amplifier Technologies, Inc., 19528 Ventura Boulevard, #318, Tarzana, CA 91356. Voice: (818) 343-4777. Fax: (818) 343-7444. E-mail: amptech@ix.netcom.com . Web: www.ati-amp.com . AT6012 twelve-channel...

Obsession with Amplifiers   Letters to the Editor are not a feature of this website because in nearly all cases they are trivial and replying to them is a waste of time. The following exchange of messages is an exception. Hi. I’ve been...

Integrated 5.1 Surround Sound System Spherex Xbox 5.1 Spherex Inc., 3641 McNicoll Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M1X 1G5, Canada. Voice: (416) 321-6211. Fax: (416) 321-1500. Web: www.spherexinc.com. Xbox 5.1 Surround Sound System, $180 to $210 (lowest Internet prices). Tested...

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