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I Was Wrong About Phono Preamps

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 01 May 2025

It’s one thing to mess up. It’s another thing altogether to make a blunder when you’re on record with the correct take already. But such is life. In a recent episode of the SoundStage! Audiophile Podcast, host Jorden Guth and I were chatting about gear, and he mentioned how much he loved the PSB Alpha iQ active speaker system, praising it for practically everything, but expressing some skepticism about the system’s phono input. “Will it give you the best phono stage? Will it give you the best reproduction of your records? I’m going to say probably not.”

Anthem MRX SLM A/V Receiver

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 01 May 2025

Reviewers' Choice The home-theater marketplace—what’s left of it these days—is awash with slim A/V receivers that prioritize room-friendly aesthetics and/or outright unobtrusiveness over performance-oriented specs and features. And I don’t mean that in terms of amplified output, since the 50Wpc you get from most slim receivers is probably more than enough for most mixed-use spaces. It’s rare, though, to find a compact AVR that delivers the goods in terms of room correction. The most popular models, such as the Marantz Cinema 70s ($1200, all prices USD), rely on bog-standard Audyssey MultEQ—which in my opinion is worse than no room correction at all—instead of the more advanced and better-sounding alternatives like MultEQ XT or XT32. And that’s just one of the many things that sets Anthem’s new MRX SLM ($1299.99) apart from most of its svelte competition.

Technics SL-100C Turntable with Audio-Technica AT-VM95E Cartridge

Details: Written by: Thom Moon; Created: 15 April 2025

Reviewers' Choice Technics is a fabled name in turntables, best-known for its SL-1200 direct-drive ’table—a fixture in discotheques and dance clubs throughout the 40 years during which it was manufactured. But in 2010, Panasonic, which owns the Technics brand, stopped making turntables.

First Look: Unboxing the Anthem MRX SLM A/V Receiver

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 15 April 2025

There are few things in life that I claim to know with absolute certainty, but one of them is this: if you present me with the packaging for an A/V receiver of unusual size (AVROUS?), I cannot resist the urge to stack it atop, under, or near the packaging for an AVR of more typical dimensions.

Nobody Warned Me Vinyl Would Turn Into a DIY Hobby

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 01 April 2025

Imagine this scenario: You’ve been following along with my vinyl journey for the past few years, from uninterested commentator to curious outsider looking in to recent convert to burgeoning enthusiast, and you happen to have a time machine. You decide to take a trip back and visit a previous Dennis, tell him that one day soon he’ll actually have a modest but precious record collection, and ask him, “When all is said and done, even after you develop a love for vinyl, what will your least favorite aspect of the hobby be?”

Kanto Audio Ren Powered Loudspeaker System

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 01 April 2025

Kanto isn’t messing around when it comes to broadcasting exactly who and what its latest powered speaker system, the Ren ($599.99, all prices USD), is designed for. Although the packaging and official nomenclature refer to it as simply a powered speaker system, a quick DuckDuckGo search reveals the SEO description for the system to be “REN Powered Speaker System with HDMI for Home Theater.”

Goldring E4 Moving-Magnet Phono Cartridge

Details: Written by: Thom Moon; Created: 15 March 2025

Reviewers' Choice Founded in 1906, Goldring is possibly the oldest extant manufacturer of phono cartridges in the world. Although they were established in Berlin, they moved to the UK in 1933. Today, Goldring manufactures two lines of moving-magnet cartridges—the entry-level E series and the step-up 1000 series—plus six moving-coil units. They’re part of the Armour Home organization, whose other products include Q Acoustics speakers and QED cables, among others.

Unboxing the Kanto Audio Ren Powered Loudspeaker System

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 15 March 2025

As I said in an editorial a few months back, it’s becoming increasingly clear to me that normies, insofar as they’re buying audio gear, are buying powered, self-contained systems—be they powered or active stereo speakers or all-in-one/just-add-speakers components—and as such, I’m going to do my best to work such products into my review calendar. So don’t be shocked if you see me bringing in more products like the Kanto Ren for review going forward, because when I interrogate people at my local record shop about what they’re doing to get sound into the room, it’s products like this that dominate the conversation.

Would You Pay $300 for a Truly Magical Component? What If It Were Software?

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 01 March 2025

To me, some of the most interesting stories come from one specific form of conflict: when a character’s ideology clashes with his or her principles. I’m writing such a story right this very now. I am that character. And if you’ve read my review of the Onkyo TX-RZ30 A/V receiver, you might already have a sense of why.

Onkyo TX-RZ30 A/V Receiver

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 01 March 2025

Reviewers' Choice As I write this, the 2025 International CES has just wrapped in Las Vegas. Perhaps the biggest news of the show for hi-fi enthusiasts was the fact that Onkyo is back, with a trio of stereo audiophile components coming later this year that evoke memories of the brand’s glory days. I’m here to tell you, though, that Onkyo is already back in a big way—at least with regard to home-theater gear—as evidenced by the newest addition to its RZ Series lineup, the TX-RZ30 ($1199, all prices USD).

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