Two Recent FollowUp Reviews

Stereophile has reviewed two somewhat controversial products in recent issues. The Italian Grandinote Shinai integrated amplifier, which Robert Schryer wrote about in November 2020 is a solid-state design but with an output stage that resembles that of a typical push-pull tube amplifier. Falcon’s “Gold Badge” edition of the BBC-designed LS3/5a minimonitor, which Herb Reichert reviewed in April 2021, is a re-engineered version of a design that will soon be celebrating its 50th birthday.

John Atkinson’s measurements of the Falcon loudspeaker are now posted here. JA compares the new speaker’s performance both with that of Falcon’s original take on the design and of his 1978 Rogers LS3/5as. His conclusion: “46 years after the introduction of the original, this is still a competitive loudspeaker.”

Robert Schryer returned to the Grandinote amplifier in the April issue, following a disturbing experience after he had submitted his original review. “Eight weeks after I’d submitted my review . . . the Italian integrated amp blew open,” he wrote. “I don’t mean that it exploded; I mean its sound exploded: It blew open musically. As good as it was already, the sound went from here up to there, overnight. In 16 hours, the amp underwent a transformation that caused it to sound expressively freer.”

For an amplifier’s sound to improve in such a manner such a long time after it had first been installed in a system is unusual, to say the least. Click here to find out more about Robert’s longer-term experience with this intriguing amplifier.

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