• Crescendo Manual

This item has been shown 0 times. Audire Crescendo Vintage Stereo Power Amplifire: $250. Fantastic Audire Crescendo vintage power amplifier - #5805.

Thought this was fun: Hall of Fame We have sold thousands of different products over the years. But there are a few that became true friends along the way. Now, like your friends, some come with baggage and turbulence. But at the end of the day, they're still friends.

I'm placing them by the approximate year that they made their mark at AE. Some were designed earlier than we discovered them. I don't pretend that AE has touched base with every good product out there. But we've seen a lot of good stuff. So, in thinking this over, since 1977 1977 Connoisseur BD-2A turntable This was a great turntable for about $200 in its day! It's the epitome of a friend you love and hate. It sounded oh so good when loaded up with a Sonus Blue cartridge.

But, it was more than a little funky. Its rubber boot kept falling off. The headshell was a mess. LP rumble could be nasty. But, considering its time t'was a mighty fine source!

It had good detail, but not much foundation. Rega Planar 2 & 3 turntables These are simply the best values in the history of turntables!

They still make them, with upgrades of course, today! The original Planar 2 came with a teak base and Luster S shaped arm. The 3 had the better arm and black plinth.

Within a few years both models were fitted with Rega's own tonearms. When that happened, they blew the competition away. I still remember a turntable demo we had with the Regas vs B&O vs Technics direct drive. Thermo scientific incubator manual. We had four of the same LPs, synched them up and could compare with the flip of a switch. It was so easy to tell that the Regas were better that it was embarrassing to the other guys. Panasonic couldn't care less, but our B&O rep came by to say he wouldn't sell us B&O anymore if we didn't change the demo- cuz our competitor was complaining that B&O was impossible to sell in light of this revealing comparison! The Regas supported the best cartridges of the day- the Denon 103D, Grados, Deccas- super tables!

They still are, by the way! Dahlquist DQ-10 speakers The DQ-10 was one of the first really good dynamic driver speakers. They were hideously inefficient and needed careful placement.

But, they didn't sound boxy and when run with big amps, did a very nice job. Despite being large, the bass wasn't prodigious. It sounded better with a sub! We ran them with GAS amps primarily. It was a good combo for the day, but the Ampzillas ran hot and had issues. The Son was more reliable but borderline in power for these hungry speakers.

Ampzilla & Son of Ampzilla Ampzilla was a big nasty amp from GAS. It ran hot and had some reliability problems. But it was among the first of the big bruisers that could drive Magnepans and Dahlquists. Son of Ampzilla sounded more mellow and was more reliable. But Ampzilla served its purpose for the customers who needed the muscle.

Ampzilla is the definition of an amp we loved- and hated at the same time. Magnepan MG-1 speakers At only $500pr the MG-1 was an eminently affordable, audiophile speaker at a great price.

Yes, they required placement away from the back wall which many wives didn't want. But the sound was quick and the image was large. MG-1 rewarded you for running the best possible electronics! Magneplanar Tympani 1-D speakers To this day it's one of the most unique speakers to have graced hifi-dom. They sounded large and open when you ran them with enough power. That was a challenge in the 70s! They were difficult to dial in.

It was the ultimate tweaker's speaker. They rewarded you for hours of fiddling and fussing.

I heard them sound great, and lousy- depending on how they were placed and what they were run with. The good news is, they rewarded the customer who was willing to work with them and massage them with the right electronics. ARC SP-5 Preamp When I opened in April of1977 ARC had its full function SP-4a preamp and D-100 amp. It was a nice combination. But by June ARC introduced the SP-5 which was a better sounding preamp for less money. I wasn't as nuts about the D-100.

It sounded good but didn't drive our tough speakers well enough. 1978 Snell Type A Speakers I wandered into the Snell demo room at CES in Chicago just like a hundred others. The size of the image was immense. The sound was smooth. It was quite striking in its lack of assault to the ears. I was immediately taken by the Snell A and ordered them.

The Type A was a magnificent use of drivers that were quality but not much more. Peter Snell died a young man at 38 or so. But it was a pleasure to meet him and sell his baby for a few years. He got more mileage out of parts that came off the shelf than anybody! Linn LP-12 What a great table! Linn showed us that the darn thing spinning the LP was as important as the arm or cartridge.

When fit with a great arm and cartridge, which was NOT a given in 1978, the LP-12 extracted more info than the Regas. But, with many of the BAD arms of the day, the LP-12 didn't sound as good as the Regas! Grace 707/Denon 103D My hair turned gray early messing with arms and cartridges!

Trying to find good marriages was, well, like trying to find a good marriage. There aren't many! The Grados did the hula in most arms, and the marvelous Denon moving coils needed a substantial arm. Hence, this was my choice for best of the day! Run with a Denon HA-1000 headamp- very nice!

It even tracked well. Rogers LS-3/5a speakers The Rogers came out in about 1975. I had heard them then, but thought, they are so small people would blow them up. Well, I was pretty accurate on that count! But, I picked them up shortly after opening my store. I sold a boatload- they had great timbre, imaged beautifully, but had no bass or dynamic contrast.

The middle character was beautiful, one of the early boxes that didn't sound much like a box. The good news is that within their limits, they were perhaps the most successful speaker of their day- small, great sound, pretty, accurate. For vocal, guitar, piano- very sweet indeed! One of my favorite LPs was Willie Nelson, Stardust. No matter what else I played it on, I kept coming back to the Rogers! But of course, we were always trying to make them play louder, add subs, etc.

It just didn't work. No matter how hard we tried to get SPL and bass, we just blew em up!! Audire Diffet One Preamp The Diffet One was Audire's first discrete preamp. For about $500 it had great clarity and dynamics.

You had to double the price to beat it. It had an excellent MM section on board. If morphed into a Diffet Two and Diffet Three over the years- all wonderful values from classy Julius Siksnius of Audire in California. NAD 3020 integrated amp The 3020 was a crisp, clean sounding integrated amp. It didn't have much bass, but was a bargain basement wonder.

It was super for your Polks or bookshelf B&Ws. 1979 Kimber 4PR speaker wire I came back from a trade show with a sample, listened, and have been hooked ever since! Ray Kimber was the first guy talking about OFC, braided cable and all kinds of cool things like cold drawing. It's no wonder that in the new millennium Kimber is still at the head of the class. B&W 801 speakers The best speaker the market had yet to see arrived in 1979. The 801 bettered the planars and electrostatics, to my ears anyway, in every way, shape and form. They demanded power, but so did the screens.

The 801 made use of Kevlar and a special midrange housing that nobody had even thought of before. With a big time woofer and excellent cabinet design, the 801 really introduced the modern era of loudspeaker design.

Before this, guys were basically just buying drivers from Madisound and screwing them in boxes! Most companies still are.

B&W 802 speakers The big debate of the day was, which is better? The 802 had two 8s, the 801 had one 12. They had the same gorgeous midrange/tweeter head- truly ground breaking speakers! I liked the 801's fullness but some folks liked the leaner look and tauter bass of the 802. We sold more 802s because of the more domestic size. I recently visited (2010) an old buddy who is still running a pair in mint shape.

They have held up very well! RH Labs SB-1 subwoofer This was the first CLASSIC SUB. It was a coffee table size. This sub made full use of its driver by tuning the chambers fully. It was a terrific sub which whupped the competition.

Yeah it was big and not many ladies would let them in the house. But if you got one of these bad boys hooked up to T-1Ds, pretty esoteric stuff for the day!

On top of the performance Randy Hooker (RH) called it a subwoooofer, which added to the charm! Hafler DH-200 and DH-101 David Hafler left Dynaco in the dust and created these terrific sounding little guys. The preamp sounded better than it had a right to.

It was built cheap as can be, but sounded very clean. The amp was a better value- with very tight bass and good clarity. Most of you old audio guys had at least a sniff at these, I would guess! Apt Holman Apt Holman made a very popular preamp and power amp. The good news is that the preamp had all the features that audiophiles wanted for about $650.

The sound of the preamp was similar to the Hafler 101- clean but thin. The power amp (100x2 $700 ish) was clean but too lean for my taste. It was a bit surprising to me how much traction these products got in the press for their level of sound.

But they were reliable and had nice features. 1980 Threshold 400A, 4000A, SL-10 Threshold knocked ARC off the shelves for me! I had grown to love ARC's warmth and smoothness.

But, it was slow and dark compared to the Threshold. The 400A amp at about $1300 was a steal. It beat the ARC D100 handily. I was humbled when customer Bob brought in a 400A and it KO'd the ARC quickly. The 4000A at $2k was the best amp you could buy!

The SL-10 preamp had a dead silent moving coil section- what a great array of products! These, like the B&W 801, ushered in the era of truly progressive gear.

Audire Crescendo power amp, Legato preamp While all the world was raving about Hafler, I was raving about Audire. Sorry, but the Hafler preamps were built like paper airplanes. The DH-101 sounded good, but it had its share of problems, not the least of which were that many of the people who tried to build them, didn't do a very good job! The Legato preamp blew it away!

It was much smoother and warmer- and built ten times better. The Crescendo amp was more mellow than the DH-200, a better choice with most speakers. Audire didn't get much NATIONAL acclaim, but it deserved more than Hafler! 1981 Audire Forte power amp The Audire Forte was a wonderful amp. It had Herculean bass and pushed DQs, Maggies and big B&Ws properly. We sold many, with pride.

It was a dual mono amp with huge power supply and a deal at under a grand. It was the best option south of the Thresholds that ran closer to $2k. Audire Poco moving coil headamp One of the constant battles of the day was how to step up the gain of the moving coil- without adding hiss or killing the clarity.

The Marcof headamp was OK, but ultimately too noisy for a top system. The Denon HA-1000 was nice, but $450. The Poco at $175 was a bargain! It was battery operated and enabled customers to enjoy Denons, Supexes and other top MCs. Poco was a wonderful, affordable solution to the problem.

B&W DM-16 speakers DM-16 was the successor to the pregnant kangaroo- the DM-6. At roughly $2000pr the DM-16 sounded unlike any other B&W.

It was thick in the bass and a bit muddy. You needed loads of muscle to bring it alive. With the Audire Forte amp, it sounded nice and solid.

With anything less, it was murky, They disco'd it pretty quickly but it was fun while it lasted- with a strong amp! 1982 C-J PV-2A preamp The CJ preamp was a tube, basic, no frills preamp. It sounded warm and mellow- plenty of gravy on those mashed potatoes! The bad news is, it ran noisy, ate up tubes and occasionally decided to belch and pop. We sold them for a few years but ultimately realized they didn't belong in top systems because within a couple years, they all went down. CJ's repairs would only hold for a while.

It was sort of like an MG automobile- great in the summer when it was sunny and dry- but you couldn't rely on it for 12 months or reliable operation. Oracle Delphi Turntable This ground breaking table competed with the Linn LP-12. It was much prettier and accepted a wider range of arms. We sold bazillions of these with Magnepan Unipivot arms and Talisman cartridges.

They were great fun! They required much diddling. But Steve McCormack of Oracle was a class guy and a pleasure to deal with. When he left the company, it was a nightmare. Acoutstat 2+2 speakers This was a weird speaker that developed a cult following. It was just under 8' tall and less than two feet wide. It was inefficient as heck and a tough impedance.

But, its image was large, albeit beamy. Magazines dubbed it the best speaker of the day. And then a famous reviewer said it had a credit card character of sound. The mouth that fed its success (reviews), killed it!

It was so tough to drive that Acoustat ultimately made its own amps and preamps. The amps were respectable but the preamp was noisy and I practically got in a fist fight with them because I refused to sell it. 1983 B&W DM-23 three way speaker At about $600pr the DM-23 was B&Ws first modestly priced 3-way speaker. It was easy to drive and more accurate in the middle than anything similar.

It laid the groundwork for B&W to be a powerhouse in affordable speakers. Up to this point, B&W only played in the stratosphere. B&W DM-22 speakers At $450 per pair the DM-22 was a gorgeous 6 ½ 2-way with a swoop neck grill design and soft dome tweeter. It was quite immediate and detailed.

It didn't go as deep as DM-23 which sold for just a little more. We sold more 23s. The 22 had the bad luck to come out at about the same time- so it never achieved the status it deserved! Denon DCD-1500 CD Player: Audio Emporium Enhanced Early CD players took a bite out of the music.

They were harsh on top and I wasn't impressed. But we knew the format was going to take over the world.

Yet we weren't happy with that edge. We spent some time modifying various players and settled on a handful of capacitor improvements that warmed up the sound. In later enhanced CD players we even switched out the DAC chips to make them better. We enhanced CD players from different companies for a good five years or more. Eventually we were happy enough with Kyocera and Marantz CD players. The DCD-1500 was well built and for about $700 we were happy enough with it to endorse it- after the enhancement! 1984 Threshold SA-3 amp The Stasis design came of age with this big boy.

What a great amp with magnificent sparkle! Magnepan MG-3 speakers MG-3 introduced the true ribbon to the Maggie designs. It was a one panel Maggie with ribbon tweeter.

Consequently, it was more airy and spacious than MG-2 or even the T-1D. MG-3 ushered in a new level of panel sophistication and sold for a meager $2k pr. Amber Series 70 amp The Amber Series 70 was one of those good tweak amps. It ran 70 w/ch or 200 bridged. It was too sensitive in the bridged mode, but sounded nice in stereo.

It was smoother and rounder than the DH-200. But when you pumped it up, the rail fuses went.

Nonetheless, it was a fine amp for only about $400 and I remember it fondly. 1985 B&W 808 speakers Were you ready to rumble?! By 1985 the 801 was such a venerable product that it was king by acclamation. So B&W decided, almost as a goof, to build two 801s in one box! The 808 was a mere $8k pr and about 350 pounds.

It was truly awesome with the right horsepower! Kyocera R-851 receiver The best stereo receiver I ever heard came out this year. The R-851 started a great relationship for us and Kyocera.

It was priced like Yamaha or Denon but built much better! At $850 with guts! 85 w/ch, this was the first RECEIVER that could drive some of our demanding speakers nicely. Kimber 4TC speaker wire Ray Kimber stepped up from the 4PR plastic coating to Teflon Coating and variable size stranded wire.

It improved musically in midrange and high frequency resolution. 4TC remains one of the best values in the speaker wire world! Kimber PBJ interconnect Interconnects up to this point had been mostly parallel wires with a plastic jacket around them to make them look larger than they were. Kimber's PBJ was braided in weave, without a shield. The result was passage of more information- and arguably the best interconnect you could buy for reasonable money! 1986 B&W DM-2000 speakers Do you remember this pentagonal shaped speaker? It was a forerunner to the Matrix design that has propelled B&W away from the field.

They learned with DM-2000 that controlling all this cabinet reflection info was vital to precise imaging. This did it for about $1400pr. Vector Research VCD-700 Audio Emporium Enhanced CD Player For only $400 we sold a ton of these very reliable CD players. Some of our competitors chided this move, saying, Vector Research?! What they didn't know is that Vector vendored products out, like NAD, Adcom, Cambridge and Outlaw do today.

This CD player was made by Kyocera and remains one of the best built, inexpensive players we ever sold. We did our bypass cap mod and made this a very solid source piece for a couple of years. At the same time Vector had very nice receivers and a fine integrated amp- sourced from Rotel! 1987 Rotel RA-870 integrated amp This marvelous integrated set the stage for many a serious, affordable high end system. To this day Rotel has great sounding integrateds with real power and fair prices. The RA-870 was the first to cut the mustard.

Kimber KCAG interconnects Kimber introduced the high end KCAG to the market. With pure silver wire and the unshielded weave, KCAG set new standards for transparency, regardless of price. Kyocera DA-710CX CD player What a fine CD player! Up to this point we had sold a few reasonable players from NAD, but this is the first one that was truly built like a brick outhouse and demanded our respect.

It was about $800 and made the other stuff look like tinker toys! 1988 Kyocera DA-310 CD player Most of you will remember that in the early days I was not excited about the sound or build of CD players. We actually modified or enhanced as I called it, some early NADs and Denons to soften up the bright top end. Well, the Kyocera 310 pretty much ended all that.

It was only $325, built very well and had good components. It won me over and I was proud to sell it to anybody! We had sold Kyoceras under the Vector brand name. But it was nice to have the DA-310 because it was the real McCoy and didn't need our bypass cap mod. Rotel RT-850 tuner The 850 was the first digital tuner that sounded good and performed as advertised. It was clear, didn't drift, easy to use.

We sold a boatload because back in the day, as my rotten kids say, FM was still a vibrant source without one third of its time wasted on ads! 1989 Threshold S-350e power amp What a great amp! Once again Threshold raised the bar with this high end offering! CAL Aria CD player Boy, what these guys did right, they really did right! The Aria was a warm, smooth CD player. It was a BAT wannabe (see 2001). Unfortunately, it wasn't very detailed and when the lasers had problems, CAL couldn't fix them.

The service on these and other CAL items was a disaster for the money they asked. But it sounded buttery in a day when most CD players were still hard edged.

1990 B&W Matrix 804 speakers To me, this is one of the most significant speaker introductions of all time! It really hurt the flat panel speaker biz in our store. It was a small tower, imaged GREAT, sounded boxless, was efficient, had quite respectable bass.

Finally, we had a smallish speaker SHE was happy to have and HE was thrilled to have. With separate Kevlar mid in its own enclosure and the open air tweeter, this marked the era where B&W started to leave the competition in the weeds! 1991 Forte 4 amp This great sounding class A amp from Threshold was a joy.

At about a grand it was great for B&W 804s or any number of other, reasonably efficient speakers. We still encounter customers that have these and are delighted with them two decades later. What a great amp! Paradigm Titan speakers At only about $209 per pair the Titan redefined how good a cheap speaker could sound. When it came out, it clobbered the mainstream competition. There is no arguing with its hardware. It used a cast frame driver, sturdy cabinet and whupped fanny.

With a number of revisions over the years, Titan dominated its price class for about fifteen years! CAL Sigma, D to A Converter This small, tube, DAC, was just the ticket for taking the edge off some of the CD harshness that was common in the day. You could add it to most any CD player with a digital out and it made something downright nasty, enjoyable.

A nice product! 1992 Paradigm Atom speakers Paradigm followed the Titan with a little brother- that Atom- another killer! It was 10% smaller and sounded 95% as good. This one-two punch put Paradigm on the map as the best budget spks out there! Rotel RB-980 power amp The RB-980 was an instant classic! At 120 w/ch and about $600 it sounded more like a Threshold than an Adcom, NAD or Carver. It was fast, stable, solid and NOT BRIGHT.

This marks the time frame when Rotel really gained the upper hand over its upper mid priced competiton. Rotel OWNS this territory post 2000. But this amp in particular brought the roof down! Marantz MA-500 mono block power amp The MA-500 was the cute, long skinny amp that worked wonderfully in home theater or stereo.

It didn't have quite the warmth or altruistic audiophile character of the Rotel. But, it was bullet proof and very flexible. We sold a ton and they served our theater goers very well indeed! 1993 Threshold T-2 preamp The T-2 established new performance standards industry wide for its clean, quiet, powerful sound. Things not only started, but STOPPED better than anything I'd heard before. Tube products introduced a certain color that some folks would prefer, period. But for most of the market the T-2 stepped away from prior solid state competition.

A true classic! Paradigm Monitor 5SEMk3 speakers The Five was a wonderfully voiced, 8 2-way tower with soft dome tweet. It sounded large, mellow and was just what the doctor ordered for so much of the early, edgy digital sound. The Five made it all more palatable.

At only $500 per par, I'd still miss the Five, but I still have a pair in my theater system! 1994 B&W Nautilus 4 way speakers This was the first of the Nautilus Series. At a mere forty grand a pair, we didn't sell as many of these as we did Paradigm Titans, but the Nautilus gave us a picture of what was to come. It controlled cabinet resonance better than anything else. It only needed four stereo amps to drive them!

We've enjoyed seeing this technology trickle down to more affordable B&Ws! Paradigm Mini Monitor Most of what I said about the Monitor Five in 1993 holds true for the Mini Monitor. The Mini had the same soft tweeter, but used a 6 ½ woof instead of the 8 found in the Five. It was $300 per pair and enough better than the Titan to be well worth the money. This speaker dominated its price range for several years!

1995 B&W P6 speakers The P6 was a dynamite product because it was a 3-way, with open air tweeter, in a sleek rosenut cabintet. It was sort of a workingman's 804 without the Matrix, at about $1600pr. The P6 was lean and threw a large image! Paradigm PS-1000 powered sub We had sold powered subs before- RHs, M&Ks, Velodynes, but all had their problems.

The finish work wasn't good, the amps had trouble holding up under duress, the crossovers weren't very lean. But the PS-1000 at $550 turned the powered sub market on its ear! To this day Paradigm offers a version of it- and it remains one of the best values in our business, a 10 cast frame sub with big time discrete amp- and lots of muscle! Rotel RDD-980/Rotel RDA-980 Transport/DAC The drive/DAC world was humming along but at some pretty major money. Remember Wadia? Well, typical of Rotel they swiped most of the good ideas, made modest tradeoffs withholding mechanical overkill, and came out with two reasonably priced, great sounding components! The sound was warm, the image was broad.

The bass wasn't as muscular as the $2k per box guys, but at about $700 each, what a deal! 1996 Bryston 4B-ST power amp We picked up Bryston when Threshold/PS/Forte imploded.

The timing was ideal! Bryston had just improved its classic 4B to the Stuart Taylor inspired 4B-ST. At about $2300, 250 w/ch, and 20 yr warranty, Bryston offered some of the best sound in the most reliable package we've ever seen! The bass impact ran rings around its competition, as did the silent noise floor. Bryston BP-25 preamp This companion remote preamp just came out too.

Its noise floor was better than Threshold and the units have proven to be even less persnickety. While we were sad to see Threshold evaporate, Bryston picked up the slack without a missed step for us. B&W 602 speakers B&W broke the mold with the 602. With a 7 Kevlar midrange, 1 thick cabinet and a few other technical gains, the $500pr price range would never be the same again.

The 602 has gone on to become the best sounding traditionally sized bookshelf speaker for many years. It's had a couple revisions and is fresh as a daisy in 2006! Marantz CD-63SE CD player This beauty was almost an accident. Marantz had a fine sounding CD-63 at $400. A reviewer offered, heck, if they just dotted a couple I's and crossed a couple Ts, this could be a state of the art contender for not much more!

And, that's exactly what they did! 1997 Bryston B-60 integrated amp The B-60 shattered integrated amp standards of performance. At last, in a single, skinny chassis you could get definition and image specificity like big separates. Of course it didn't have the bang to drive huge speakers, but it got the most out of anything less. At about $2k, it remains one of the best electronic buys out there.

Bryston 3B-ST power amp Following the 4B-ST, Bryston came out with the 3B-ST, an improvement over its renowned classic. The 3B was significantly less money and for most speakers, plenty of amp! Everything the 4B-ST did well, the 3B-ST did ALMOST as well, for a third less cash.

Marantz MA-700 power amp Marantz finally came out with a bigger brother for its 125w MA-500 mono block. At 200 w mono the MA-700 was primarily and testosterone charged theater amp. Whether you needed one, or more, the MA-700 became a bullet proof theater goer. 1998 Rega Planar 9 turntable While turntables weren't selling well in the late 90s, they were still selling.

It was interesting that Rega made a quantum level improvement in the performance at the $2700 range. It was great- if not 15 years later than we'd have liked! The Planar 9 had a much superior power supply and drive mechanism, as well as perhaps the best tonearm the industry has ever seen!

Further, it came out with its own EXACT cartridge. For a little over $3k you couldn't beat it forperhaps $10k!

Marantz AV-9000 surround preamp The AV-9000 brought good sonics to an A-V preamp with all the switching you could use. The late 80s was a tough time in A-V preamp design. There wasn't much out there that worked as advertised. The AV-9000 did! 1999 Rega Planar 25 turntable The 25 was only about $1300 and a significant upgrade from the venerable Planar 3. The only thing we can again say is, too bad so many folks cashed in their LPs years ago! With the amazing Elys cartridge, the 25 set new standards of performance and non ditzing for about $1500.

Kimber Hero Interconnects Kimber introduced is mid priced Hero cable. At under half the price of KCAG the Hero quickly became our best seller, featuring a unique weave design to act as a shield. Marantz DR-700 CD recorder Marantz had the first CD recorder for about $15,000 in 1983.

They learned a lot over the years and finally had one that could replace your cassette deck! It was inexpensive, sounded good and was easy to use. I still use one regularly. 2000 Rega Planet 2000 CD player This Planet 2000 took what was basically a good player, a modified Philips, and made it the best sounding sub $1000 CD player ever built! The Planet was built well, had proprietary Wolfsen DAC and would fit in the best sounding music systems out there- very warm sounding!

I especially liked it with the Bryston B-60! Naim CD-5 CD player The Naim CD-5 presented us with our first look at this clever English outfit. The CD-5 made a number of in your face or so what? Choices in design- that resulted in groundbreaking sound, for $2250.

It could be upgraded with the Flatcap power supply, so they let you step up without trading in. BAT VK-3i preamp At only $2k this preamp with 6922s charted new waters. It weighed about 30 pounds and is as gorgeous inside as it is outside. For $2k, it was just too good! 2001 Avantgarde Duo speakers The Duos are among the best speakers I've heard. They present a larger, more delicate and life sized vocal image than anything else going.

They were easy to drive. They were stunningly beautiful. They put the musician in the room with you with a level of immediacy that is unparalleled! B&W CM-4 speakers The CM-4 is the diminutive, gorgeous tower that images like a champ.

At only $1500pr in real wood finish, the CM-4 is immediately wife acceptable. It provides serious sound and stunning aesthetics!

BAT VK-5SE CD player The BAT CD player achieved levels of performance previously unheard of even in 2pc drive-DAC combos. It's one box for $6k with sound as smooth at butter! Bryston 14B-ST power amp At a mere $5k and 500 w/ch, the 14B-ST was like two 4B-STs in one box. Not many speakers need this kind of power.

But there are a few! 2002 Rotel RSP-1066 preamp/processor What a great thing when you find a super sounding piece that's a great value too!

The 1066 has precisely the array of nuts and bolts 99% of our customers want, at only $1500. Yes, you can beat it, but for three times the price. At $1500, everything else pales in comparison! Rotel RMB-1075, multi-channel amp, 5x120 The RMB-1075 is a gem! In one box, you have 5 x 120w. It isn't like a receiver.

It's a TRUE 120 x5, all channels driven amp. It's attractive too. It came out at $1300 but when the RSP-1066 came out, they dropped this guy to a grand! Bryston SP-1.7 surround preamp This is THE BEST sounding surround preamp out there. Bryston made this a purist piece- no video switching or on board tuner.

This handles only audio. Your video goes straight from your sources to the TV or projector. This is like a surround version of the hallowed BP-25 stereo preamp! BAT VK-51SE preamp BAT made the VK-50SE a couple years back. It was very nice, a bit of a standard with its super tube design. When the VK-51SE came out, I couldn't believe the difference! The 50SE has been a reference standard for many magazines and listeners.

But to me, the 51SE has broken new turf in terms of transparency. It isn't cheap at about $8k, but it's the best preamp I've ever encountered! 2003 Kimber Timbre Interconnect The classic PBJ interconnect was improved to the Timbre, like the music, not the tree! The Timbre softened a slight edge off the PBJ.

The result is the most open, airy cable available at affordable money, under $100 per meter. Rotel RCD-1072 CD Player We've had lots of good values in CD players. But RCD-1072 set new standards for warm, detailed sound at the price. The other nice thing- the RCD-1072 was built well! It came in black or silver and appealed to die hard audiophiles or just normal civilians wanting a CD player that matched the mates in their Rotel stack. B&W 703 Speakers B&W switched from the CDM to the 700 Series.

The CDMs were very nice, lean towers. But the 700 Series is much more refined!

The 703 was the least expensive model to use B&W's unique FST, surroundless midrange driver. The subsequent speed and detail was a nice notch up from 704 and lesser models. Made in B&W's own Danish furniture factory, the fit and finish improved dramatically too. 2004 Bryston BP-26 Preamp Bryston raised the bar on a solid state preamp with the two chassis BP-26. It was great to see them get past the wall wart power supply.

BP-26 rounded out the bottom end better that BP-25. It had better detail and a more silky mid-top response. It was a significant upgrade of a classic preamp and the best solid state preamp we had heard.

B&W Diamond Tweets in the 800 Series Speakers The ultra high end of the speaker world improved much with the introduction of the diamonds. We audiophiles are always asking for more extended top end- until it gets too aggressive. With the new diamond series we could have our cake and eat it too. The 802D and 803D in particular have done very well even in conservative Milwaukee!

2005 Rega Apollo CD Player The Apollo was the surprise hit of 2005! It was quietly announced and ended up redefining serious CD playing for about a grand. The level of transparency Apollo brought to $1k was indeed a new benchmark. Bryston BP-6 Preamp When Bryston brought out BP-26 we were afraid they were DONE worrying about a $2k preamp. Fortunately, BP-6 answered our wishes.

The sound was very much like the classic BP-25 and for a fair amount less money. It didn't have as many ins/outs, but the music was classic Bryston clarity and precision! B&W 705 Speakers The 705 for about $1500 featured B&W's open air, Nautilus tweet. The sound was huge and open- not the least bit boxy. You can always get more bass with a sub. But the 705s sound like opening the window to the music. B&W 603 Speakers The updated 603 is an excellent value.

It's a fairly lean 3way tower for about a grand. It could be driven by almost any receiver out there so it was very forgiving. Yet, if you ran great stuff into, like Bryston, the speakers showed they could get up and run. I liked it a lot cuz a guy could buy them for his surround sound receiver, and yet keep them when the electronics got better. B&W N804s Speakers The 804 at $4500pr offers much of the sophistication of its much more expensive brothers. With top mounted aluminum tweeter, a 6 FST surroundless midrange, and two 6.5 Rohacell woofers and rounded cabinet, 804 brought new levels of sophistication to the price and size.

It looked beautiful too. WAF was very high! 2006 Rega Saturn Rega rewrote the book on Red Book CD operation procedure- literally! The Saturn was the highly anticipated upgrade over the shockingly successful Apollo. With 7 power supplies instead of 3, with dual DACs and a superior line stage, Saturn's performance, especially in regards to transparency and airy, spacious sound, is second to nobody! Rega P1 It's nice to get a turntable back into the mix. When Rega disco'd the P2 in 2004 we thought, well, they just can't make a cheap turntable and be profitable.

Imagine our surprise when P1 was announced! It's a Rega through and through. Machining tolerances aren't as precise. But sonically, it's a terrific upgrade from its $350 competition and a welcome answer to guys with old Duals, B&Os and Technics that need replacing! NAD C325BEE Integrated Amp This new edition of NAD's classic little integrated for $400 was outstanding.

NAD has had many version of its entry level integrated amp. A bunch have missed the mark by cutting corners they shouldn't have.

For example, some didn't have pre-out/main-in loops- or used crummy spring loaded speaker terminals instead of banana posts. This guy did it all right. NAD C525BEE CD Player Ditto above, except the amp part!

NAD has long been known for nice sounding, cheap 2ch. They've had a fine history of $300 ish CD players. C525BEE kept it up.

Paradigm Mini Monitor & Monitor Seven In late 2006 Paradigm introduced much improved versions of their classic Mini Monitor and sleek Monitor 7 tower. These improvements go way beyond a little crossover tweak or unobtanium on the tweeter. The new designs radically up the efficiency and clarity from small cabinets. 2007 Bryston BCD-1 CD Player It took Bryston about 25 years to come out with a CD player.

And when they did, they did it right. With detail and bass impact like we've not heard before, BCD-1 is the best thing to happen to the Red Book CD since 1982! The great thing about BCD-1 is that, especially with the XLR outs, we finally could offer a CD source that was equal to the best electronics.

When running through BP-26 and the 4B-SST amp- it offered affordable edge of the art performance! Rotel RC-1082 Preamp With video and surround sound dominating the market since HD became real, two channel advancements have been few and far between. This $1200 preamp was a welcome exception.

Sounding clean, warm and quiet- but offering main stream features like, remote, phono, headphone amp/jack, tone controls and IPOD input jack on the front, RC-1082 gave us an affordable preamp to brag about. Rotel RB-1072 & Class D Power Amps Rotel's first class D amp was the $2500, 500 w/ch RB-1092. It was a super product and value. But how many people wanted 500w/ch?! It was a welcome addition when the RB-1072 landed at only $900, 100 w/ch. The clarity of RB-1072 was stellar. The bass control was taut and solid as a rock.

The dynamic contrast of RB-1072 was lightning. Rotel offered RB-1072 in seven channel form in the RMB-1077 for $2500.

Hence, 2007 is the year Class D came of age. I'm confident we'll look back in ten years and give a lot of credit to Rotel for making these strides! B&W 683 Speakers This is an instant classic!

At $1500 pr the 683 is a working man's 804. It has the FST surroundless midrange, solid bass and warm top end! N804 is among the finest speakers at any price. 683 is dangerously close in a much less expensive offering. 2008 B&W 684 Speakers The 684 for $1100pr is B&W's first speaker in history to use a Kevlar woofer! B&W worked long and hard to get the Kevlar woofer into its mix, and did so with a bang.

684 has been an instant success at the most popular of price points. B&W CM-5 Speakers The CM-5, $1500pr, is B&W's upgrade of an always popular product- a reasonably priced mini-monitor. The great thing about CM-5 is that it blows away minis with 4 and 5 inch drivers. Using a 6.5 driver, CM-5 produces significant bass and is the class of its field. Dressed in gloss black, it is dominating the category. Marantz PM-8003 Integrated Amp For a mere grand, Marantz has produced an integrated amp (70x2) that competes with many an esoteric beast, at a fraction of the price. If you build a product like it was built in North America, but build in China for the cost advantages, you can see why PM-8003 has been such a hit.

Featuring Marantz's patented HDAM design, PM-8003 can drive almost all the speakers we have- very well. Marantz CD-5003 CD Player The new budget king of CD players is the CD-5003, $350. It is built like a tank, substantially better than the NADs and other affordable players on the market.

With solid build, marvelous headphone amp and digital out, CD-5003 is finding its way into many high end systems. 2009 Naim Nait-XS Integrated Amp If ever a product existed that defied your expectations, I think this is it.

At $2450 and 60 w/ch, the XS is so quick, controlled and musical- that it's positively remarkable. I've heard lots of nice amps over the years but never has one surprised me so much- where I expected good but got incredible! Then you match it up with the new CD5-XS CD player for $3150 andit's hard to beat at any price. It has enough control to run B&Ws, Paradigms and to a reasonable degree, even the hungry Magnepans!

Bryston BDA-1 Outboard DAC I always tease (sorta) Bryston about being hideously slow at coming out with new products. CDs were introduced in 1982. Bryston's BCD-1 came out about 25 years later. Well, this time they have come out in timely fashion with a state of the art DAC for a reasonable two grand. This guy can make your CD player sound close to a BCD-1, and tie into your computer music and even cable TV box as well. I think in many years we'll look back at THIS piece as the first outboard DAC that really did it all RIGHT for its time! Paradigm Signature 8 Speakers Paradigm has done a nice job over the years with high end speakers.

In 2009 they came out with Version 3 of the Sig Series. The V3s blew the old guys out of the water in my humble opinion! With snazzy Beryllium Tweeters, NLC Corrugated surrounds and much improved cabinetry, Sig 8 at $7k per pair reached the upper echelon!

Sig 6 at $5200pr and Sig 2 and $2600pr are commensurately strong for their prices as well! 2010 Rotel RA-1520 Integrated Amp Rotel had to come up with something special to beat RA-1062.

But with RA-1520 at $1k, they succeeded! With a nice array of features, RA-1520 slides in below the Naim Nait XS as the best deal in an affordable integrated! Rotel RCD-1520 Despite foolish writing in the press, CDs are not OVER. The CD format is still the choice of most audiophiles. Just look at what iTunes does to classical music and shut up about it, paaa-leeeze! RCD-1520 achieves better clarity than the venerable classic, RCD-1072.

We loved the 1072, but RCD-1520 has the best resolution we've found for a grand! Magnepan MG 1.7 speakers At $2k per pair the 1.7s have improved the state of the art at this price.

The 1.7 has a Quasi ribbon woofer, mid-tweet AND super tweeter. It offers solid bass and a huge image. It has hit the ground with raves in the press like no speaker I've ever seen- and deservedly so. $2k has never sounded so good! Updated 03-30-10.

Originally Posted by Chu Gai I really liked my 3-speed, made in America, Schwinn bike from the 60's. Heres a rad 3-speed, stick shift model. On a serious note though, it's sad that some of those companies are relegated to making cell phones now. BOTOH, there are some current audio companies that have branched out. For example it is flea market season now and last weekend I saw a Rotel CB radio. Who'd a thunk the same company that made my prized RSX-972 and pair of RB-980s makes CBs?

Originally Posted by A9X-308 The HOF list looks like stuff they sell/sold and doesn't include a lot of great gear that they didn't. I didn't get into high quality audio early enough(read I'm not old enough ) to have experience with a lot of the mentioned products, but the list did prompt me to check out a few items. Namely those B&W 808s. I would like to hear a pair. If they are better than some 801 Matixes, they have to be something special. I still remember the first time I heard a set of those driven by some Counterpoint gear. That was when it all started for me.

Crescendo Manual

Originally Posted by stevensctt Thought this was fun: Hall of Fame Ampzilla & Son of Ampzilla Ampzilla was a big nasty amp from GAS. It ran hot and had some reliability problems. But it was among the first of the big bruisers that could drive Magnepans and Dahlquists. Son of Ampzilla sounded more mellow and was more reliable. But Ampzilla served its purpose for the customers who needed the muscle. Ampzilla is the definition of an amp we loved- and hated at the same time. I still have my GAS Son of Ampzilla.

I bought it new back in the late 70's when I first began making some money. Of course I had to blow it on stereo equipment! Any way, I have personally rebuilt it about, oh maybe 10 years ago. I love the thing and it's Thalia pre-amp. They're like members of the family to me.

I also have left from that setup an SAE tuner. Back in the day I had JBL speakers all around including 4311s, a Nakamichi cassette and a Dual turntable with Shure V-15 type 4 cartridge. I think all of those were classics.