Introduction For many years I have found the pursuit of perfect musical reproduction to be equally a passion and a challenge. My love of music started very young, as did the understanding that music reproduced accurately provided a vastly greater musical experience. As a child, I was enchanted by the family stereo system, which at the time was one of the better systems on the block. By the time I was 14, I had convinced my parents to co-sign a loan for my very own system from a local high-end retailer, all in pursuit of my drug of choice – music. The only difference today is that there are many more choices and looming format wars that years ago were outside our wildest dreams. In the end, there is one constant that has not changed, which is the reason that we all have music playback systems – we want to get as close ...

Introduction It is easy to design a system that sounds great when you have lots of money to invest. You can pick from the most high end, most high performance products on the market with little regard for anything other than getting exactly the sound you want. Achieving this goal on a tight budget is a whole other story. Enter the Rotel RCD 975. Every good music and home theater system needs a good "front end." In Europe, investing the majority of your audio money into a front end is common, however in the US where bigger is better, we tend to opt for investing more funds into loudspeakers. The Rotel RCD 975 is a great compromise. At $750 (USD) the Rotel RCD 975 isn't cheap, but its performance is way above its price range. Technically the Rotel RCD 975 uses two continuous calibration digital to analog converters, one on each channel. Each DAC ...

Introduction Meridian’s 800 is their flagship source component, responsible for reference level playback of compact discs, DVD-Video discs, DVD-Audio discs and beyond. The 800, like its AV preamp brother, the Meridian 861, is vastly configurable and highly programmable, allowing the end user to elicit incredible playback feats with true ease. Pricing starts at $19,440 for a basic CD/DVD transport, while a fully loaded unit complete with 5.1 analog outputs, Meridian’s proprietary digital output and an internal video processor weighs in closer to $25,000. Music lovers dedicated to stereo-only playback can use the 800 as a CD player and/or high-performance audio preamp that drives the owner’s existing high-end stereo amplifier(s) and speakers. Alternatively, the 800 can be directly and digitally connected to Meridian’s cutting edge digital speakers. If you subscribe to the less is more theory, these configuration options are as good as it gets, and if you are simplifying a stereo system, you can sell off ...

Introduction Harman Kardon’s CDR 2 is a true dubbing deck, with a play-only and a separate record/play CD tray, allowing direct dubbing from the play deck to the recording deck. Matching the new sleek and modern styling of Harman Kardon’s new line of electronics, the $699 CDR 2 stands out in a crowd with its brushed aluminum disc trays and buttons. The CDR 2 essentially offers two separate players in a single chassis, with outputs for each deck. Both line level and digital (coax and optical) inputs are provided for the CD-R/CD-RW recording deck. Each tray plays CDs, providing sequential play when both trays are full (known as the single mode). In the dual mode, the decks can play simultaneously for multiroom applications. Entering this product line on the late side, Harman Kardon has made up for lost ground with a feature popularized by the computer industry. Offering 2x and 4x speed recording when dubbing ...

Introduction Famed British manufacturer Linn, well known and respected for their extremely high-performance audio components such as the legendary LP 12 turntable and the ($135,000 plus) Keltik active system, has created perhaps the first true high-end all-in-one music playback system. The compact and sleek Classik ($1950 or $1995, depending on which of five colors is chosen) combines a tuner, CD player and amplifier into a small (H 80 x W 320 x D325 mm) metal chassis. It looks and sounds right as much at home in your main listening room as it would on a bookshelf or desk in an office or den. Loudspeakers are not prepackaged with the Classik. However, the Linn Tukans ($800 to 850) are frequently used with the Classik to create a complete music playback system, priced at $2,800. The amplifier section delivers an impressive 75 watts a side, far more than any other self-contained unit. The preamplifier supplies three line level ...