Premiere Design

For 30 years, Canadian Classé has been making audio electronics of distinction, and this year is no different. At the CEDIA Expo next week, the company will introduce four new power amps in its well-regarded Delta line.

With a dream team of audio engineers and designers, the newly formed Constellation Audio is bound to make some serious waves. Along with the Hercules monoblock power amp, which I profiled a few weeks ago here, the company's first offerings include the Altair 2-channel preamp, which sports one of the coolest-looking industrial designs I've ever seen.

During Michael Fremer's recent appearance on my podcast, he told the story about how he fell in love with a turntable he had reviewed for Stereophile—and how his wife had wholeheartedly approved of buying it, even though it cost as much as a high-end luxury car. That turntable is the Caliburn with Cobra tonearm from Continuum Audio Labs in Australia.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Danish speaker maker <A href="http://www.dynaudio.com">Dynaudio</A> released a special-edition model called the Sapphire in 2007. Limited to 1000 pairs worldwide, the final 30 will be wrapped in an exclusive gloss-blue piano-lacquer finish.

Simple, modern, elegant—the PS1 from Cue Acoustics is definitely not your father’s speaker. Think of it as a forward-looking system for discriminating listeners who crave a simple setup that’s free of wires, hulking speakers, and an ugly stack of components (like the ones collecting dust in the back of your den). Promising big sound and a vivid soundstage, the PS1 system is extremely compact and provides everything you need to pump up the volume except an audio source: a pair of speakers, each with its own built-in 150-watt digital amplifier/processor, and a wireless transmitter that streams uncompressed audio from your TV, PC, smartphone, tablet, you-name-it, to wherever you decide to put the speakers (which, by the way, must be plugged into an AC outlet). Want to grab your tablet and play impromptu DJ at a party? As long as the tablet supports the DLNA connection standard, you can stream audio wirelessly to the PS1’s iPhone-size transmitter, which runs it through a signal processor and sends it to the speakers; otherwise, you can go old school and plug a cable into the transmitter’s digital (optical S/PDIF) or analog (3.5mm stereo) input.

Audiophiles know well the name Dan D'Agostino, who co-founded Krell in 1980 and served as its chief engineer for 30 years. After selling the company in 2009, this audio legend started a new one—Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems—whose first fruit is the Momentum monoblock power amp, which will debut at CES next month.

With just about everything being made in China these days—including high-end audio gear from companies based in other countries—it seems inevitable that native manufacturers would join the party. Founded in 1995, Shenzhen Danyigao Audio Equipment Limited uses the trademark Dared to brand its tube-based electronics, including the Flagship Series DV-805 and DV-845 single-ended monoblock amps, whose model numbers indicate the specific tube on which each is based.