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Why Bigger Is Not Always Better: Focal Vestia N°3 Loudspeaker

Details
Doug Schneider
System One
01 July 2023

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

Reviewers' ChoiceAs I’m typing these words, I’m listening to Bruce Cockburn’s latest album, O Sun O Moon, through a pair of Focal Vestia N°3 floorstanding loudspeakers, the subject of this review. But when I initially set this review up, I’d planned to listen to the album, and some of my reference recordings, through Focal’s Vestia N°4 floorstanders.

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A New Direction for “System One,” Mapped Out While Living with Bowers & Wilkins’s 705 S3 Loudspeakers

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Douglas Schneider
System One
01 April 2023

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

Back in December 2018, I launched a new regular feature on SoundStage! Hi-Fi. As I outlined in that inaugural column, the name “System One” could refer to “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 . . . cost-effective, high-performing equipment that many people can afford.”

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

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Doug Schneider
System One
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.”

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

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Doug Schneider
System One
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.

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Blown Away by Monitor Audio Bronze 100 Loudspeakers

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Douglas Schneider
System One
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?

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

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Doug Schneider
System One
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.

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Back to Inexpensive Basics—KLH Albany II Loudspeakers

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Doug Schneider
System One
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.

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

Details
Doug Schneider
System One
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.”

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

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Doug Schneider
System One
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.

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

Details
Doug Schneider
System One
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.

Read more …

  1. IsoAcoustics' zaZen I Isolation Platform -- Is It Worth a Budget-Conscious Audiophile's While?
  2. Perfection from Pro-Ject for Under $1000? X1 Turntable with Pick it S2 Cartridge
  3. Triangle's Borea BR03 Loudspeaker Sounds (Mostly) Spectacular
  4. Pro-Ject Audio Systems VC-E Record Cleaner -- More Stuff to Wash
  5. The Q Acoustics 3030i Loudspeaker -- 18Hz-lower Bass Makes a Big Difference
  6. A Schiit-Hot Integrated Amplifier -- The Ragnarok 2
  7. First and Final Impressions -- Totem Acoustic’s Skylight Loudspeakers
  8. Cheap and Sturdy -- Monoprice Monolith 24” Speaker Stands
  9. From Holiday to Heaven 11 -- the Billie Integrated Amplifier-DAC
  10. The Budget British Invasion Continues with QED and Wharfedale
  11. Amazing Values: Audiolab 6000A Integrated Amplifier-DAC and 6000CDT CD Transport
  12. Paradigm Monitor SE 3000F Loudspeakers Conquer Systems One Old & New
  13. Big Surprise -- Fluance RT83 Turntable
  14. Disappointment and Surprise -- Paradigm's Premier 100B Loudspeakers
  15. PSB's Alpha P3 Loudspeaker: Paul Barton Aims for High Sound Quality at a Very Low Price
  16. Hands Down . . . or Up? The Q Acoustics 3020i and 3050i Loudspeakers
  17. NAD's D 3045: a D 3020 V2 on Steroids?
  18. Digital Is Bad . . . or Maybe It's Not That Simple
  19. MPS Jazz Reissues on LP and CD: Comparisons
  20. ECM Reissues on Vinyl: Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny
  21. MPS Reissues Bill Evans, Clark Terry, and Dizzy Gillespie on Vinyl
  22. Vinyl Rules -- Joe Jackson, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, The Tragically Hip
  23. Two Guitarists and a Drummer
  24. Tom Waits, the Pretenders, and More Miles on Mobile Fidelity Vinyl
  25. ECM Records, More Vital and Innovative than Ever
  26. Intervention Records Reissues Three Joe Jackson LPs
  27. Intervention Records Reissues Everclear and Stealers Wheel on Vinyl
  28. Is It Just Me, or Are CDs Too Loud?
  29. MPS Records Reissues George Duke on Vinyl
  30. The Nielsen Sesquicentenary
  31. Analogue Productions Reissues Jeff Beck, Herbie Hancock, and Nina Simone
  32. Ozella Redux
  33. Trackin' HDtracks
  34. The Stunning Rescue of a Major American Symphony
  35. Vinyl Redux: Miles Davis and the Beatles Box Sets
  36. Max Goberman's Haydn Symphonies, with Significant Additions: Part Two
  37. Max Goberman's Haydn Symphonies, with Significant Additions: Part One
  38. Ultradisc UHR Stereo Hybrid SACDs from Mobile Fidelity
  39. Blue Note Records 75th Anniversary Vinyl
  40. From Cuba to Pennsylvania
  41. A Certifiable Legend, Superbly Revived, with Some Unexpected Extras
  42. Music on DVD: Queen, Jethro Tull, and Justin Hayward
  43. Miles on MoFi
  44. A Musical Amalgamation
  45. Americana from a Distinguished Independent
  46. Vinyl from Kansas
  47. Boult Redivivus: Soriano/Argenta Gem
  48. Shannon’s Picks for Spring
  49. Patricia Barber and Anita O’Day on Vinyl
  50. Pittsburgh Weighs In
  51. Dylan and the Band on Mobile Fidelity Vinyl
  52. Folk Songwriters, Master Pickers, and Storytellers
  53. The Truly Definitive Eric Coates
  54. Bethlehem Records Returns
  55. Dr. AIX and Good, Honest Sound
  56. Ristenpart Revivals
  57. Eclectic Summer Sounds
  58. Jutta, O.P., and Von on Vinyl
  59. Five New LP Releases: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Son Volt, Depeche Mode, Marnie Stern, Samantha Crain
  60. "Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective"
  61. A Visit with Mastering Engineer Joe Tarantino
  62. Jazzhaus Preserves American Jazz on Vinyl
  63. Mozart en masse
  64. Amber Rubarth and Wycliffe Gordon: Chesky’s New Binaural+ Series
  65. Post-Election Playlist
  66. Kevin Gray Remasters Holly Cole for SACD
  67. The Art of Johanna Martzy
  68. Ray Charles on SACD
  69. Music to Beat the Heat 2012
  70. Sir Adrian Boult at His Best, Now Better than Ever
  71. Sade: "Diamond Life" in Multiple Editions
  72. Dion: "Tank Full of Blues"
  73. Preparing for the Grammys, and Whatever Happened to Telarc?
  74. Désiré Defauw in Chicago: High Fidelity from the 1940s
  75. Ozella: Audiophile Recordings from Europe
  76. Music to Kick the Winter Blues
  77. The Decca Sound
  78. The Grumiaux Trio’s Mozart
  79. Heavy Indeed
  80. Understanding Digital Music -- USB Audio Transfer Methods
  81. Fuzzy Music, Sound Logic
  82. Understanding Digital Music -- Hi-Rez or Not?
  83. The Modern Jazz Quartet
  84. Understanding Digital Music -- What You Need to Know about Sample-Rate Conversions
  85. The Blues Magoos on Sundazed
  86. Not All Vinyl Is Created Equal
  87. Understanding Digital Music -- What Bit Depth and Sample Rate Really Mean: Part Two
  88. Exit 451: "The Sea Above the Sky"
  89. Surround Sound: Naxos Tries Again, This Time on Blu-ray
  90. Understanding Digital Music -- What Bit Depth and Sample Rate Really Mean: Part One
  91. Vinyl Word: Ella and Joni on ORG
  92. Assessing Bass Performance
  93. Getting to Know Scottish Pop and Folk Music Through Digital Download
  94. The Gift of Music Offers a Treasure Trove of Holiday Recordings
  95. Songlines Redux
  96. Vinyl Word: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Reborn
  97. Halloween Treats for the Ear
  98. Philadelphia and Boston High-Resolution Downloads
  99. As Fall Approaches . . .
  100. Classic Jazz Releases in 24/96

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