Introduction The ever-present Monster Cable brand is expanding. Not a company to rest on its laurels, Monster’s vast portfolio of products will now include power amplifiers to go along with a robust offering of cables, accessories, furniture, speakers and beyond. Monster power amplifiers, like their recently reviewed loudspeakers, are not being prominently promoted on their own, but rather as part of an entire Monster products solution. One day you will be able to walk into a Monster Cable M Design dealer and purchase an entire Monster system. The Signature MPA 5150 five-channel reference power amplifier ($3,500) is one of three amplifiers in the Monster Power amplifier lineup. The MPA 5150 is a five-channel amplifier rated at 150 watts per channel into eight ohms and 250 watts per channel into four ohms. The MPA 5150 chassis is anything but your ordinary black box amplifier. The styling is consistent with Monster’s line of power conditioners. The 75-pound, 17-inch-wide ...

Introduction I have owned various Krell amplifiers in my reference systems over the years, each providing hours upon hours of listening joy. Recently, Krell has released a new top-of-the-line lineup of gear under the Evolution moniker that speaks to those for a need for the best of the best and a willingness to pay for it. The review system under evaluation is comprised of a $10,000 Krell Evolution 505 SACD player with 24-bit 192 DACs, a $15,000 Krell Evolution 202 two-chassis stereo preamp and the monstrous Krell Evolution 900 monaural amplifiers at $20,000 each, or $40,000 for the stereo pair as reviewed. My review samples are done in Krell’s signature silver finish, which is breathtakingly beautiful out of the rack and poised on a simple table as it is installed in my reference system. Set-up To start, it is important to note that the Krell Evolution 900 power amps are nothing short of huge. With a travel ...

Introduction There are few high-end audio brand names that carry with them such universal admiration as Mark Levinson. The mere mention of Mark Levinson components conjures up feelings of quality, luxury and lust that I can only equate with brands at the level of, say, Patek Philippe, the Four Seasons resorts and perhaps even Lexus. Since the late 1970s, Mark Levinson gear has been the subject of many audiophiles’ dreams and has kept consumers and even modest editors wondering how they can spend their tax returns to land such well-crafted audio reproduction gear. When you find out a Mark Levinson amp is coming your way, even if you are a jaded reviewer, you get excited. The Mark Levinson No. 433 is a first for the brand, in that it’s not only a true multi-channel amp, but it is also a long-awaited solution for the company’s customers and dealers who have moved into home theater and ...

Introduction Power. Grown men have spent their entire lives fighting and even dying for it. We often associate power with size and weight, but can be fooled by the little guy whose abilities can drop the largest of men. Bob Carver is known for packing amazing amounts of power into the smallest and lightest of boxes with his amplifiers, and it seems Mr. Carver has empowered yet another “little guy” with his new Theater Grand Amplifier 7400. As president of Sunfire, Bob Carver has been a major player in the audio industry since 1970, when he founded Phase Linear, and he has kept pace with the rapidly changing business throughout the years. His advances in amplifier technology are legendary and his new top of the line seven-channel amplifier, the Sunfire Theater Grand Amplifier 7400, puts out a rated 400 watts per channel into eight ohms into all seven channels, and doubles down to 1600 ...

Introduction Classé has thrown the gauntlet down in the multi-channel amplification arena by introducing the CA-5200, a five-channel, 200-watt-per-channel amplifier whose sole intention is to raise the bar high enough in both aesthetics and sound to make everyone swoon, from the design-oriented to the hardcore audiophile. One look at the CA-5200, even unplugged or without a preamp, and you’d be hard pressed to suggest Classé hasn’t accomplished at least half of its mission. The CA-5200’s sleek lines and nontraditional metal work beautifully matches the stealthy pose of the lauded Classé CDP-300 DVD player and the SSP-600 AV preamp. The size and stature of the CA-5200 is certainly a head turner, with heat sinks on either side of what appears to be a solid block of aluminum, refined to a blended front face with large rounded corners asymmetrically bisected by a vertical black anodized aluminum panel that is consistent with the rest of the Delta product ...