Receiver & Amplifier Reviews

Eric Dolphy is still playing off the thumb drive as I finish this piece. Oh, right, that's why I got into this business.

2 expert reviews

Never has the field been so full of top-quality A/V Receivers and the competition is fierce among the top manufacturers for these types of components. It used to be that low-end models kept costs down by eliminating features and seriously compromising...

2 expert reviews

Keep on with the good work.

2 expert reviews

In the past two decades, a slow evolution has taken place in audio, as top-notch designers come more and more to understand the nature of the beasts they are working with. Today it is not hard to put together a system that is clean and musical, and...

2 expert reviews

Jungson's JA-88D looks like a power amplifier but it's not. It appears that Jungson was caught out by a high consumer demand for integrated amplifiers at a time when it was primarily producing separate pre and power amplifiers. The company judged that...

3 expert reviews

Despite minor shortcomings, an amp that can be a very rewarding listen

3 expert reviews

The CA-M400 is primarily about control, something it exerts in a remarkably calm yet revealing fashion. Some will feel that this sounds like a lack of dynamics but in truth it means that the amp can deliver all the required power without having to...

3 expert reviews

Both the G61 and G55 are in Meridian's lower priced (for them) G-Series line. Nevertheless, these are high performance, audiophile quality products. Their handsome exteriors, available in either black or brushed aluminum, are built to fortress-like...

4 expert reviews

The Tuatoro is one of the more “tweakable” of the high-end preamps I've auditioned. This could be viewed as extraneous, but I did not find that to be the case. It allows any user to experiment and tune the Tautoro for his own system and personal...

2 expert reviews

Marantz' sales lit asks whether this is an audiophile's AVR or a videophile's AVR. Of course this is their way of saying it intends to be both, and they might well be right. This AVR boasts ample power, a typically Marantz overbuilt chassis and power...

3 expert reviews

Products engineered in Germany have always held a fascination for me. Whether it's the quirky styling of a German motorcycle...

2 expert reviews

While Sunfire's Bob Carver isn't quite the household name that Apple's Steve Jobs is, he absolutely qualifies as a bona fide audio legend. Carver's greatest hits range from his early high-power amplifier, the 350-watt-per-channel Phase Linear 700, to...

3 expert reviews

$2,000 170-Watts x 7 into 8 ohms Processing Modes: DD, DD-EX, ProLogicIIx, Dolby Virtual Speaker, Dolby Headphone, DTS, DTS-ES/Discrete/Matrix/Neo: 6, DTS 24/96 Features We Like: HDMI, component and i.LINK switching, transcoding of analog video to...

2 expert reviews

Adcom has long been a value/performance leader and the GFR-700HD controller looks to continue that fine tradition. At just $2,899 this controller has a wealth of features that are typically the p[rovince of much more expensive products, including HDMI...

2 expert reviews

The VSi55, ARC's lowest priced tube amp/preamp combo at $2995, demonstrates that high-priced technology can trickle down to a more affordable price point in the hands of a manufacturer who really cares.

4 expert reviews

Integrating iPod and XM support is a natural extension of the AVR paradigm, as is HDMI switching. Add i.LINK connectivity and effective automatic setup, and you’ve got a blockbuster that’s hard to beat at this—or even a much higher—price.

4 expert reviews

Back when Jimmy Carter was president (or was it Ford?), my first audio system featured a Pioneer SX-434 receiver. Even then, manufacturers had figured out that SX sells. My old receiver was rated at 15 watts per channel and weighed 18 pounds. Today,...

3 expert reviews

Price: $15,800/pr. Channels/Power: Monoblock; 400-Watts per channel into 8 ohms/650-Watts into 4 ohms Inputs: Single-ended and balanced Theta's Dreadnaught amplifier represented something of a sea change in multichannel power amplifiers. Although a...

2 expert reviews

Half-rack audio compressor/limiter shows a master designer's touch

2 expert reviews

PS audio began in 1975 as two guys' effort to create affordable high-fidelity audio equipment. Paul McGowan and Stan Warren (the P&S) parted ways after a couple of years with Paul continuing PS and Stan going on to Superphon. After a good run Paul sold...

3 expert reviews

Imagine what it would be like if shopping for a new car involved the same number of decisions we must make when buying a home theater system. First, we would pick an engine, then we'd need a chassis to mount it in, and, to top it off, we would hire a...

2 expert reviews

Power amps get little respect in the home theater world. They're the heavy, black (or silver) boxes that sit somewhere in the dark, serving your speakers with a generous supply of power. And they're not even all that popular in the home theater...

2 expert reviews

The feature set of the Denon is so rich, in fact, and its operation so flexible (or complicated, depending on your point of view), that it takes a 191 page manual--all in English--to explain it all!

2 expert reviews

Arcam FMJ AV8 Around the BlockIn the world of high-end audio, the more expensive and higher-performance a product is, chances are the fewer knobs it will have. The opposite seems to be true in the A/V world, where more money means more knobs, more...

3 expert reviews

Cutting Edge rates this amplifier at 1,000 watts into one ohm. The amplifier can be bridged with a second CE1000M to achieve...

2 expert reviews