Rogue Sphinx Magnum $2000 (100×2) My favorite integrated amp value just got better! An already classic integrated has been improved in crystalline detail and a more airy top end. Rogue has made the Sphinx v3 ($1700, 100×2 with Skeleton remote) for several years now. It’s a dynamite integrated amp, with MM/MC phono section, outstanding headphone amp and uses two 12AU7 tubes in the preamp stage. The tubes are JJs from the Slovak Republic. Rogue provides a matched pair- vs just grabbing any two out of boxes- to insure you have proper channel balance. Oh, and it’s built in the USA,
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Archives for Newsletters
03.2024
Bryston Model T-10 Speakers, $20,000 Per Pair {72h, 12w, 17d, 133 lbs, 92 dB SPL, 4 ohms} Black Ash, Walnut, Walnut Expresso, Boston Cherry, Natural Cherry Bryston has just shipped its LINE ARRAY big boy towers, Model T-10. The T-10 denotes that Bryston has been making speakers over a decade. All Brystons are made in Canada with a 20 year warranty! Model T-10 is a full assault on putting the musicians in your room. Most speakers are quite scaled down from reality in their presentation. We understand that and accept them for what they are. Your wife would prefer shorter/leaner
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02.2024
Magnepan MG 2.7i Speakers, $6350 Per Pair With Oval Bases (72h, 22w, 2d) Magnepan’s BRAND NEW, MG 2.7i has arrived! Magnepan rarely introduces new speakers. When they do, it’s a big deal. With MG 2.7i, it’s even a bigger deal because this is now the least expensive model in the family to use Maggie’s True Ribbon Tweeter design. MG 2.7i gives us STATE OF THE ART high frequency detail and shimmer due to its use of Magnepan’s True Ribbon tweeter design. If you haven’t heard Maggie’s True Ribbon for a while, you owe it to yourself to test drive it
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01.2024
Bryston Meets Axiom In 2010 James Tanner (Bryston CEO) designed a loudspeaker for Bryston to use as a tool to evaluate its electronics. James wasn’t happy with commercially available speakers by the big names due to limited bass, dynamic range and sound stage. So he created his own! Bryston hired a friendly Canadian company down the road a piece, Axiom, to build these Gibraltar-ish prototypes to his specifications. James and the engineers at Bryston were thrilled with the results of The Model T (for Tanner). The Model T was put into duty in house at Bryston. There was a massive
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12.2023
McIntosh MA8950 Integrated Amp: 200×2 McIntosh won’t let dealers post pricing on their higher end gear. That’s their rule and we have to comply. How many players are in the field on a baseball team? Mac is still made in Binghamton, NY, with luscious blue meters. It’s the coolest looking and most reliable gear in our business. Have you heard… we don’t last forever. Let’s have some FUN while we’re on the planet! Of course you could be prudent and boring. You could just buy a Yamaguchi integrated for $500 that will sound as dry as white toast. Hey, if
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11.2023
Rega Turntables Of England Rega was started by Roy Gandy in England in 1973. He and his wife still run the company! Audio Emporium has sold Rega since we opened in 1977. Rega’s niche has always been to make great sounding, affordable tables. In the early years, Rega made the turntables, but bought tonearms and carts from other sources to round them out. They were outstanding for their day. By the mid 80s Rega was making its line of tables, arms and even cartridges, in house in England. Regas have always had the fit and finish of a UK product,
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10.2023
Bryston A110: $2300 For An Amazing Speaker Array! Two grand is a popular price point in the speaker market. What’s the best value for about $2k? Let’s up the ante a little bit because $2300 gets you into a WHOLE NEW WORLD for just a little more money. The majority of offerings in this range are Chinese imports. Most are flimsy, booming towers- that actually don’t go very deep. They are literally generic- made by job houses that output a myriad of different brands on different days. The Bryston A110 Array will absolutely BURY these flimsy imports when it comes
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09.2023
JL Audio Double Subs Most hi-fi guys know that it’s very tough to get tower speakers to produce bass as deep and powerful as a good subwoofer. Much less TWO good subwoofers. Bryston is among the very few speaker companies who can give you such prodigiously deep bass in a tower that you might think- well, I really don’t need a sub. Bryston’s A3 tower runs $3290 per pair. It’s the least expensive tower out there to “trick” you into thinking a sub might actually be hiding in the dark over there. With virtually any other speakers, when you kick
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08.2023
Tubes! Rogue Sphinx V3 Integrated Amp $1700 With Remote (5h, 17w, 15.5d, 25 lbs, 100×2 into 8 ohms. 200X2 into 4 ohms) One of my favorite integrated amps on the planet is the tube driven Rogue Sphinx V3 (Version 3). When Rogue went from V2 to V3, it incorporated some important changes that made it a much better performer. Rogue insists that you can’t put a DAC or Bluetooth in an integrated or you’ll soil its pristine resolution. It’s easy to buy an outboard DAC or Bluetooth device for modest (to crazy) money. Please don’t disqualify the Sphinx because they
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07.2023
Bryston A1: $4990 Per Pair {47.5h, 9.25w, 17d, 71 lbs, 88 dB SPL, 4 ohms} They’re baaaaack! My fave sub $5k speakers are at long last back in the house. Covid 19 put Bryston behind the 8 ball as much as any company out there. After three long years of being at least 6 months behind on product delivery, Bryston is catching up. As they’re catching up, they’re finally producing some of their A Series speakers that were virtually extinct for three years. Tops among them is the Bryston A1. What a treat it is to have this smooth, powerful
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