SAT's remarkable XD1 record-player system

Let’s begin by discussing what SAT’s XD1 Record Player System is not: It is not a Technics SP-10R in a sci-fi–inspired plinth—although the XD1’s engine does begin life as the SP-10R’s basic drive system, which is stripped down to a handful of essential components, reimagined, reengineered, and rebuilt to much higher mechanical standards.

GOLDENEAR BRX

When I first started writing for Stereophile, John Atkinson brought me a speaker to review. The shipping box was really beat, and it had some other reviewer’s name on the UPS label. After a few days of trying to get it to sound good, I speculated that John and at least one other reviewer already knew this speaker did not sound good. Flummoxed, I wrote JA a simple email (he likes simple emails), “Is this a test?” He replied, “Everything is a test.”

Deja Lou

It’s déjà vu all over again in New York City. 1988: The bankrupt Fear City NYC of the 1970s had given way to the go-go ’80s, with many missing the fruits of the Wall Street boom. AIDS ravaged the city, unabated, and a rash of violence and crime fueled by the crack-cocaine epidemic made for a grim underbelly of urban blight and neglect.

CANADA: PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO

I was shocked and greatly saddened by the news of the passing, at age 68, of Brian W. Russell, president and co-founder (along with his brother Chris) of Bryston Ltd. Established in 1973, Bryston’s first product was a power amplifier for the professional market.

The First Watt F8

I spent my childhood summers on the Reichert family farm near Turtle Lake, Wisconsin, where, inside the red 1880s barn, my uncle Harold played 78rpm records for his cows.

Something's coming

So, what’s “this thing of ours”?

Rotel Michi P5

PREAMPLIFIER

THE WIND CRIES MARTY

Composer Sasha Matson talks to veteran reedist Marty Krystall about film music, studio work, recording, and working with musicians from Serkin to Zappa.

Marten Oscar Duo

LOUDSPEAKER

Grandinote Shinai

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

Valley of the Sun

Audio Research Reference 6SE - LINE PREAMPLIFIER

Line Preamplifier

Alta Audio Alyssa LOUDSPEAKER

It was a “Wow!” audio moment I’ll never forget.

A gift at war (for Veterans Day)

In March 2003, as news networks broadcast images of American tanks racing north toward Baghdad, my infantry platoon dug shallow foxholes in south-ern Iraq. We were part of a defensive perimeter guarding FARP Exxon, a helicopter refueling point for the Army’s 101st Airborne Division.

Musical Fidelity M8xi

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

Polk Audio Legend L100

LOUDSPEAKER

NAD Masters Series M33

STREAMING INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

Göbel High End Divin Marquis

LOUDSPEAKER

REVINYLIZATION

Bill Evans’s best late album

RE-TALES

George Vatchnadze’s newest gig

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?

WITH DATA LORDS, MARIA SCHNEIDER MAKES A STATEMENT ABOUT THE STATE OF THE WORLD AND SOCIETY.

Naim Mu-so 2nd Generation

ALL-IN-ONE MUSIC SYSTEM

GRAMOPHONE DREAMS

Communing with immortals “Future generations will be able to condense into the brief space of twenty minutes the tone pictures of a lifetime—five minutes of childish prattle, five moments embalming the last feeble utterances from the death-bed. Will this not seem like holding veritable communion with immortality?” —BERLINER GRAMOPHONE COMPANY CA. 18771

ANALOG CORNER

25 years and counting

Analog Corner

Some cartridges and analog accessories

Analog Corner

Insiders views on everything vinyl

GoldenEar BRX

LOUDSPEAKER

“What's Going On”

MY BACK PAGES

CLASSICAL ROCK / POP JAZZ- RECORD REVIEWS

Editor's Pick

What Am I Worth

REVINYLIZATION