Terry Audio's Marshall Terry decided to open a Kissa bar in Austin, Texas. We decided to give Marshall some free publicity and invite Austinites to check out the place and report back. Mr. Terry writes to introduce himself, "Maker of mastering studio equipment, used by my pal Dave (McNair), also the folks at Sterling Sound, Metropolis in the UK, Bernie Becker, so many others..."Main Roomrest of main roomMr. Terry has thrown down the Kissa bar gauntlet:... Read More

On a pier in Red Hook, Brooklyn, an unassuming brick structure sits opposite the drab monstrosity that is the Amazon fulfillment center. Among other things, that brick building houses Resolution A/V, an impressive operation that’s much more than a normal hi-fi dealer. In addition to two showrooms on the edges of their second floor warehouse space, Resolution has several workrooms for diagnosing and repairing vintage gear, as well as designing top-end smart home A/V... Read More

Elliott Fishkin, the owner of Innovative Audio, a store located just below Central Park on East 59th Street, has recently hosted several events, including the introduction of the dCS Varese CD/SACD playback system earlier this year, that I very much enjoyed attending. When Fishkin sent a text message a few weeks ago asking whether I would like to attend a session that he was holding on June 12 with legendary mastering engineer Alan Silverman, founder of Aerial Sound,... Read More

Wilson Audio Specialties just announced the newest loudspeaker in the lineup, the Sabrina V™—a major update of the popular and most affordable floor stander, SabrinaX—that now incorporates the much lauded 7 inch AINiCo (Alnico, Nickel, Cobalt) QuadraMag paper/pulp midrange originally developed for the Chronosonic XVX.The look has been subtly updated..... but more importantly the considerably refined enclosure makes use for its baffle the new "H" material— a... Read More

(press release): Erlangen, Germany 2nd June 2025 – for immediate release: German analogue audio specialist, Clearaudio has launched Compass: a new entry-level turntable designed to make high-end audio quality and performance accessible, without compromise. Compass is a ready-to-play turntable featuring a new T1 tonearm - a smaller version of Clearaudio’s acclaimed Satisfy tonearm - and the newly developed N1 MM cartridge. The compact model comes in sleek black or... Read More

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wilson Benesch Unveils GRAVITON® Ti Tonearm at HIGH END Munich 2025. Wilson Benesch is proud to announce the launch of the GRAVITON® Ti Tonearm, the latest addition to the company’s acclaimed GMT® Analogue Collection. Evolving from the armwand variant provided with the iconic GMT® One System Turntable introduced in 2023, the GRAVITON® Ti Tonearm is a standalone tonearm system, developed for compatibility with the Dohmann Helix One Mk3... Read More

Nagra today announced the release of a new "Compact Phono" phono preamplifier now available in The United States for $4950. Here's the Word Doc that somehow didn't make it into our "in-box":Romanel, Switzerland – 25th March 2025 —Perpetuating a long legacy of excellence in phono stages since the Nagra PL-P, the new Nagra Compact Phono offers the greater part of its predecessors’ quality and performance in a compact and elegant housing.... Read More

For the past few years my old friend, U.K. based audio writer supreme Ken Kessler has been telling me about an upcoming re-launch of the fabled line of London Decca phono cartridges. But it's been "hush-hush". As many of you surely know, the Decca name is/was owned by a U.K. based record label now owned by UMe and it has recently re-launched that label—probably after seeing the great success DGG has had with the Original Sound Series (thanks in great... Read More

(Press release): Erlangen, Germany Thursday 6 March 2025 – for immediate release-German analogue audio specialist, Clearaudio has launched the Diamond Jubilee MC, a flagship moving-coil cartridge design that uses patent-pending technology to offer the ultimate in vinyl playback potential. Limited to just 45 units – representing the company’s milestone 45th Anniversary – the Clearaudio Diamond Jubilee MC is the most sophisticated design in its history. It comes in... Read More

Clearaudio's Unity tonearm, originally developed for the Master Jubilee turntable that celebrated the company's 45th analog manufacturing anniversary is now available in either black or silver finish as a "stand-alone" product for use with Clearaudio and other turntable brands. Price is $20,000. Clearaudio Universal tonearm owners receive 100% trade up allowance when upgrading to the Unity.The Unity combines classic Clearaudio features such as... Read More

Ortofon celebrated its 90th birthday with the release of the now legendary and truly revolutionary MC A90—the first cartridge to use SLM (Selective Laser Melt) technology to build up from metallic powder (stainless steel for the MC A90) a cartridge body shape that would have been impossible to "machine away" from a block of stainless steel, aluminum or other materials. The shape was about self-damping and resonance control, not to create a fanciful... Read More

Oakland, CA. Feb. 10, 2025—Musical Surroundings is excited to announce the appointment of Chris Thompson as Service and Product Manager. Chris was the Quality Control and Special Projects Manager at Parasound in San Francisco for 11 years. One of Chris’ many responsibilities was developing and supporting the Parasound line of John Curl designed phono stages.Moving across the bay to Oakland, Chris now works with Mike Yee, designer of the Musical Surroundings’ Phonomena... Read More

Press release: Acoustic Sounds - the global leader in analog expertise - is proud to announce the return of Chad Stelly, a renowned turntable setup specialist and audio guru, to their team. With Stelly back in the fold, Acoustic Sounds will offer customers the same level of personalized, and solutions-driven equipment sales that defines their best-in-class, in-house brands, Analogue Productions and Quality Record Pressings.Chad Stelly, affectionately known as... Read More

U.K. based dCS debuted its new Varése DAC at NYC's Innovative Audio, January 23rd, first in a mid-day press event to which you are invited (in this video) and later in the day to the public. dCS Managing Director David Steven, North American Director Emron Mangelson and Programme Director Andrew Szelke were on hand to make the presentation of the company's new $270,000 DAC. You will see in this video what went into the research and development of this... Read More

According to Musical Fidelity, the newly introduced M6xTT combines "the inert mass" of 14.5 pound metal alloy platter and "zero resonating" hand polished double acrylic base structure plus an electronically controlled (33 1/3, 45rpm) outboard motor. The 9" aluminum tonearm features azimuth and VTA/SRA adjustability and a 5pin DIN jack output. The M6xTT sits on four height adjustable feet and includes a leather mat and high mass aluminum record... Read More

The TT-Hub turntable and its included isolation base are constructed of bamboo ply—a material chosen for acoustics, durability, and sustainability. The belt drive turntable features a quartz clock-regulated controller with fine speed tuning, feeding an outboard AC-synchronous motor housed in a heavy aluminum chassis. A precision bearing, consisting of a PEEK (polyetheretherketone) thrust pad and jeweled ball, supports a 30mm thick acrylic platter with a special... Read More