Loudspeaker: Piega P10. $9000

Reviewed 12/30/99. It is a system that is coherent, balanced, tonally accurate, detailed and open, with dynamic impact, clean transients, good imaging and depth; a system that is effortless in its reproduction of music that will reward you with many hours of listening without fatigue. These unique ribbon drivers have the best of what is so coveted with this technology and they are married to fast proprietary woofers with excellent lows, midbass and dynamics. Perhaps the most impressive thing about this speaker is that you can play it at ear shattering levels without the speakers compressing the sound or becoming raucous or rife with distortion! Expensive? No, not for a reference, full range speaker system. If you are an audiophile or music lover who has always loved the special sound of electrostatics, ribbons and similar speaker systems but despair at the lack of dynamics, low bass or unacceptable union with dynamic woofers in hybrid versions, then take heart, the P10 has solved the problem! No, it is not a ribbon dipole but these unique ribbon drivers have the best of what is so coveted with this technology and they are married to fast proprietary woofers with excellent lows, midbass and dynamics.

Digital: Sony SCD-1 $5000

Reviewed 5/10/99. Sony has spared nothing in introducing the Sony-Philips, Direct Stream Digital featured in its Super Audio CD player. It is beautifully finished and built like a battleship – a piece of equipment to treasure. In the world of High-End Audio, it would command a price far greater than the asking price of $5,000. In a way it seems like a bargain! My immediate impression was a sense of ease in the reproduction of music, a lack of CD artifacts, as close to live as I have heard! It is on a par with analogue, but with a different sonic presentation. I listened to a number of regular CDs and was struck by the outstanding job the SCD-1 did.

Accessories: PS Audio P300

Reviewed 8/25/99. I am not much for adding accessories to my system partly because I find that often the cost far exceeds the level of improvement and secondly because my system is located in our living room – the WF restricts the addition of anything that detracts from the aesthetics of the living room. The P300, an addition to my source components, significantly improved my system with (as PS Audio claims) "...better depth, bass, impact, slam and three dimensional imaging...."