Welcome to The Abso!ute Sound online! We explore music and the reproduction of music in the home. We believe that the sound of music, unamplified, occurring in a real space is a philosophic absolute against which we may judge the performance of devices designed to reproduce music. Our goal is to provide the resources consumers need to judge how a component's sound either honors or departs from the music's truth, and to make sound purchasing decisions that maximize their experience of reproduced sound. Below is our Issue 171, April / May 2007 contents and editorial.

 

Read this edition's editorial by clicking here.

 

Articles & Reviews In This Issue

6 Letters

14 From The Editor

16 Start Me Up
Chris Martens reports on Rotel's excellent, affordable RC-1082 preamplifier.

23 The 2007Consumer Electronic Show
TAS brings you the hottest new products from this year's biggest high-end-audio event.

8  Absolute Analog
Sutherland Ph3D Battery-Powered Phono Preamplifier
Chris Martens on a lower-priced version of Sutherland's excellent Ph.D phonostage.

89 Audio Analogue Enigma CD-Receiver
Can a one-box audio system satisfy?
Neil Gadcr has the answer.

92 Rogue Audio Stereo 90 Power Amplifier
Sallie Reynolds on a roguish tube amp.

94 Reference 3A Dulcet Loudspeaker
Dick Olsher on the aptly named Dulcet.

100 Ayre CX-7E CD Player and AX-7E Integrated Amplifier
Two of audio's best values just got better, says Sue Kraft.

107 Harbeth HL Compact 7ES-3 Loudspeaker
Paul Sevdor on a future classic.

112 Synergistic Research Tesla Series Loudspeaker Cables
Neil Gader on Synergistic's new low-capacitance, active-shielded cables.

116 Esoteric P-03 Universal Disc Transport and D-03 Digital-To-Analog Converter
Robert Harley reports on Esoteric's 125-pound, two-box,
$30k contenders for the state-of-the-art in digital playback.

114 Recording of the Issue
Arcade Fire: Neon Bible

113 Jazz
Coverage of new records from Scott Colley, Mike Dillon, Stryker/Slagle Band, Anat Fort, Mike Mainieri, Norah Jones, and Turtle Island String Quartet.

141 Rock Etc.
Reviews of the latest CDs and LPs from Low, Air, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Shins, Kassin+2, Antibaias, Kodo, X-Clan, David Bromberg, John Mellencamp, and Greencards. Plus, Legacy's Sly and the Family Stone reissues and two Yes audiophile pressings.

156 Classical
The scoop on three new titles in Naxos' American Classics series, Godar's Mater, Schubert's String Quartets, Lang Lang's Dragon Songs, The Painted Veil soundtrack, and The Complete Philadelphia Orchestra Recordings 1941-42 set. Plus, three SACD reviews.

168 TAS Back Page
Neil Gader interviews TAD's Andrew Jones.

 

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