SoundStage! Hi-Fi | SoundStageHiFi.com

Sponsor Logos

JBL's Best-Kept Secret Is a Killer All-in-One Music System—the L75ms Integrated Music System Revisited

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Category: System One System One; Created: 01 December 2022 01 December 2022

This is the article that almost never happened. The idea for it first came up when I was picking up the JBL L75ms Integrated Music System ($1500, all prices in USD) from Gordon Brockhouse’s place. Gordon had just finished reviewing it for SoundStage! Simplifi, and his endorsement of this all-in-one system in that review was so glowing that our team basically had to give it our Reviewers’ Choice award. His praise also piqued my interest. So as I was bundling it into my SUV with the plan of returning it in a few weeks’ time to JBL’s Canadian distributor, Erikson Consumer, I told him that I was tempted to listen to it myself. But that’s when he said, “I have to warn you, it’s really hard to get in and out of the box.”

Movie Night, Music Night with the Focal On Wall 302 Loudspeaker

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Category: System One System One; Created: 01 August 2022 01 August 2022

When I started this column about three-and-a-half years ago, I envisioned it would be for products priced in the hundreds, not thousands, of dollars. But occasionally I’ve felt the need to stretch the budget, like the time I wrote about the Sonus Faber Lumina III loudspeaker and Rotel RA-1572MKII integrated amplifier-DAC, which are priced at $2100 per pair and $2099.99 respectively (all prices in USD). Granted, they’re not cheap, but they’re good value for money and I felt that thrifty audiophiles should know about them.

Blown Away by Monitor Audio Bronze 100 Loudspeakers

Details: Written by Douglas Schneider Douglas Schneider; Category: System One System One; Created: 01 May 2022 01 May 2022

Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.

Diego Estan reviewed a pair of Monitor Audio Bronze 100 loudspeakers on SoundStage! Access in August 2020. About three months after that, Jay Lee produced a follow-up Take 2 video review on the Bronze 100 for our YouTube channel. Last month, James Hale wrote about the 100 yet again for his “Art+Tech” column on SoundStage! Xperience. Does anything more really need to be said?

The Affordable All-in-One Streaming Solution that Surprises—Bluesound’s New Powernode

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Category: System One System One; Created: 01 November 2021 01 November 2021

I’m often the last stop for products that are sent to the SoundStage! Network for review. Normally, a review product is shipped direct to the assigned reviewer, who listens to it and writes it up, and then it gets shipped to me for photography and/or measurements. Typically, I also listen to a product before it goes back to the manufacturer or distributor, so I can get a feel for how it sounds.

Back to Inexpensive Basics—KLH Albany II Loudspeakers

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Category: System One System One; Created: 01 September 2021 01 September 2021

Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.

In my previous “System One” installment, in May, I wrote about Rotel’s RA-1572MKII integrated amplifier and Sonus Faber’s Lumina III loudspeaker. The Rotel sells for $2099.99 (all prices in USD), while the Sonus Fabers are $2199 for the pair. Their prices are a little more than twice what I thought to be an upper limit—around $1000—for each component when I launched this column.

Double Trouble—Rotel’s RA-1572MKII Amp and Sonus Faber's Lumina III Loudspeaker Enter the Mix

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Category: System One System One; Created: 01 May 2021 01 May 2021

In December 2018, I wrote the first article to appear under the “System One” column name. In that article I explained: “The title means someone’s first system, or someone’s only system—or something else, depending on what’s covered that month. What won’t change is the theme around which I wrote the first two pieces: cost-effective, high-performing equipment that many people can afford.”

High-Value Surprise—the Music Hall a15.3 Integrated Amplifier

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Category: System One System One; Created: 01 March 2021 01 March 2021

Originally, I had no intention of writing about Music Hall’s a15.3 integrated amplifier for this column, even though its price (only $549, all prices in USD) makes it ideally suited. In December 2020, the a15.3 was sent to us by Music Hall’s Canadian distributor, Motet Distribution, for James Hale to review, which he did in February 2021 in his SoundStage! Xperience “Art+Tech” column—and that should’ve been that.

Inexpensive Outboard Alternatives: Bellari VP549 and NAD PP 2e Phono Stages

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Category: System One System One; Created: 01 January 2021 01 January 2021

In August 2020, I reviewed the Hegel Music Systems H95 integrated amplifier-DAC for this site. If you read that review, you’ll know that the H95, which is priced at $2000 (all prices in USD), is a good performer and good value, but you’ll also see it’s not as feature-rich as some other integrated amps on the market. For example, like all of Hegel’s integrated amplifiers, it has a built-in DAC but lacks a phono stage. Vinyl playback is a pretty big thing for hi-fi buyers across all price ranges, and many lower-priced integrated amps answer that demand, so I intended to criticize this omission in the review.

IsoAcoustics' zaZen I Isolation Platform -- Is It Worth a Budget-Conscious Audiophile's While?

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Category: System One System One; Created: 01 October 2020 01 October 2020

If you’ve ever seen a Zen Buddhist sitting cross-legged in quiet meditation, what he or she might have been doing is called zazen -- “a means of insight into the nature of existence,” per Wikipedia, which goes on to say: “The aim of zazen is just sitting, that is, suspending all judgmental thinking and letting words, ideas, images and thoughts pass by without getting involved in them.”

Perfection from Pro-Ject for Under $1000? X1 Turntable with Pick it S2 Cartridge

Details: Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider; Category: System One System One; Created: 01 September 2020 01 September 2020

Pro-Ject Audio Systems currently makes over 50 turntable models spread across 12 lines. The X1, from their X Line, stands out from that crowd for its lineage -- it’s essentially an update of Pro-Ject’s very first turntable, the 1 (aka P1), which debuted in 1991. The 1, Pro-Ject’s first product of any kind, was successful enough to give the company the kick-start it needed to eventually become the hi-fi manufacturing juggernaut it is today.