Townshend Seismic Isolation Podiums for Speakers

February 5, 2023 – By now most of you have heard about the best speaker isolation devices on the market. We will initially display a pair under our Fyne Audio F703 speakers. Several of my customers that have upgraded from Iso Acoustic Gaias have told me that the improvement is not subtle. At two to three time the cost one would expect that. If you have moderate to expensive reference speakers, these are mandatory.

ACT SCM50ASLT Active Loudspeakers

September 5, 2022 – Widely reviewed, praised and the most popular of the ATC active line of loudspeakers now on display in the rosewood finish. ATC active continues to be my reference. ATC was winner of the AZ Audio Video Club Speaker Fest in 2019 and placed second in the recent 2022 Speaker Monitor Fest. At Big Ear, one of our best selling products for good reason.

Click Here for ATC Client List

Sound Anchor Speaker Stands

May 21, 2022 – My favorite speaker stands for several decades but only available factory direct. Big Ear is now one of the first dealers to have a retail agreement with Sound Anchor. These stands aren’t flat packed (assembly required compromises rigidity) but ship fully assembled and filled with Sound Anchor’s proprietary anti-resonant material. If you need the best speaker stand money can buy for your monitors or towers, please contact Big Ear for more information.

Manley Labs Mahi EL84 Mono Amplifiers

November 12, 2021 – My favorite push-pull output tube is the EL84 and I believe that the Manley Mahi monoblocks (Mahi Mahi, ha ha haaaaa) to be the best of this type. Extra excited as these could be an incredible match with our relatively efficient Fyne Audio F703 or Pi 4 speakers. Stay tuned. Made in USA Manley Labs is an overall favorite at Big Ear; been a fan of EveAnna and her crew for decades. Also stay tuned for a series of revolutionary new preamps from Manley.

Iso Acoustics Component Isolation Including the Famous Gaia Speaker Footers

October 29, 2021 – At Big Ear we listen to our customers. After several came back to me and said something like, “Hey Tom, I love my new speakers but you wouldn’t believe what an improvement I got decoupling them from the floor with Iso Acoustics Gaia footers.” Now you can purchase your Iso Acoustic products through Big Ear and I’ll be offering substantial discounts when you purchase Iso Acoustics products with a pair of speakers or subwoofers (retroactive to previous speaker customers). The Gaia footers are their claim to fame and biggest seller but their other isolation products for all your other components are very cost effective and well regarded isolation solutions. Yet another company that started serving the professional audio community so effectively that they made a very successful transition to consumer ultra hi fi audio. A continuing trend at Big Ear.

Mutec MC3+ Smart Clock USB

October 23, 2021 – Mutec is a professional audio company found in the best recording studios in the world. All recording engineers understand that a studio master clock is critical in order to produce the best sounding digital recordings. Audiophiles are either unaware or overpaying for inferior, overpriced consumer audio copy cats in expensive chassis. The Mutec MC3+ Smart Clock USB optimizes jitter-affected digital sources like CD/DVD/SACD transports, streamers and computers, conditions the signal to audibly improve any DAC and much more. Big Ear now has a unit on hand for your evaluation. For me, it’s a keeper and moves between my recording studio and stereo playback systems.

Fyne Audio F703 Speakers

October 19, 2021 – In a previous What’s New? announcement, I mentioned that Big Ear would soon have a pair of Fyne Audio F702 speakers on display. Since then, I decided to go with the same speaker that Jim Smith of Get Better Sound and RoomPlay Reference fame replaced his custom, $40,000 Tannoy Canterbury reference speakers with, the Fnye Audio F703. Jim now uses the Fyne F703 speakers exclusively for his RoomPlay Reference sessions. Needless to say we are very excited. I expect the Fyne F703 speakers will be installed, broken-in and ready for an audition around early November.

UberLight Flex Turntable & Stereo Equipment LED Task Light

October 12, 2021 – Michael Fremer’s favorite turntable lamp. I agree. The new UberLight™ Flex offers complete control. With nine total light settings and 40% more luminous efficiency, the new UberLight™ Flex delivers up to 240% more lumen power than their previous model. The UberLight™ Flex’s 26.5” silicone gooseneck can hold virtually any shape. Anywhere. Anytime. Includes USB connectivity and power brick for portability and a 270° rotational head for precision control. A great gift for the audiophile in your family. Available in black: $59.

Weiss Engineering DAC and DSP Processors/Renderers

September 8, 2021 – There’s a lot to like about this Swiss DAC including the headphone output; simply world class. More proof that the best consumer stereo comes from professional audio guys like Daniel Weiss. Many of the world’s best recording studios feature products from ATC and Weiss. The DAC501/502 is the least costly of the top tier DACs and, unlike most, includes an excellent headphone output and a variety of useful DSP functions; equalization, room correction, de-essing, crosstalk canceling and more. RoonReady. Weiss is including factory supplied equalization curves for headphones, currently will all Audeze models available and plans to add more from other top headphone manufacturers. As Weiss receives new curves, they will automatically be installed on the Weiss through regular, automatic, software updates.

Puritan Audio Laboratories Mains Purification

August 23, 2021 – That’s power conditioning on this side of the pond. My experience with power conditioning has been uniformly negative over the decades. Yes, all power conditioners change the sound of your stereo but in most cases negatively. Other recent expensive units from popular cable makers may or may not work in your system and offer poor value if they do make a small improvement. Up to now we have found that the ifi PowerStation to do a good job at a reasonable price and will continue to offer that as an excellent entry level choice. Enter Puritan Audio Labs. Finally, reasonably priced units that clearly improve sound quality without breaking the bank. Unlike most power conditioners, Puritan includes DC blocking making these units a must for anyone experiencing buzzing transformers. Sorry to lay Srajan Ebaen on you, a master of stretching a short paragraph into pages of babble. But, hopefully, you’ll get to the point: “I personally see no compelling reason to spend more on AC power filtering even for our top system”. Puritan Audio Labs PSM156 AC-Purifier

Fyne Audio

August 7, 2021 – Fyne Audio, founded by engineers and management from Tannoy, has taken the Tannoy sound to another level. Big Ear will soon have the F702 floor stander ($10,995 retail) available for audition. Jim Smith of Get Better Sound sold his Tannoy Canterbury speakers ($30,000 retail with $10k Duelund external crossovers) after hearing the Fyne F703 ($13,995 retail). These are the speakers you will hear if you book one of Jim’s RoomPlay Reference sessions. Not yet well known but I expect this to be a very popular speaker line once the word gets out. The 700 and F1 series are built in Scotland. All Tannoy production has moved to China.

WAM Engineering WallyTools

July 19, 2021 – Big Ear has received a full compliment of WallyTools turntable alignment devices; WallyTractor, WallySkater, WallyReference and WallyFulcrum with WallyZenith and WallyAzimuth coming soon. When used in conjunction with our AnalogMagik, Feickert Adjust+, SMARTractor, various Best Tractors, high quality USB microscope with high precision stand, large collection of test records, electronic laboratory equipment, other turntable set up equipment and over 40 years of turntable set up experience, we feel that we’re closer to perfection in this art as is currently possible. This is still a time consuming process when done right, limiting this service to customers who have purchased their turntables through Big Ear. WallyTools are highly recommended by Michael Fremer and represent the current state of the art in turntable/arm/cartridge alignment tools. WAM Engineering WallyTools

Please watch this very recent YouTube video with Greg Weaver interviewing J.R. Boisclair of WAM engineering. In it, Mr Boisclair reveals how badly made many phono cartridges are regardless of price. Apparently, based on the data presented, there is no correlation between price and quality. The good news; once all the WallyTools are here, I’ll be able to determine if the cartridge you purchased will pass our stringent quality controls. If not, it will go right back to the manufacturer for replacement, ensuring that when the job is complete, you will have zero doubt as to the integrity of your purchase and that all parameters are set as close to perfect as possible. J.R. Boisclair Interviewed by Greg Weaver

Soundsmith Phono Cartridges

July 7, 2021 – Big Ear is very excited and proud to now be representing phono cartridges from legendary cartridge builder and renaissance man Peter Ledermann. As our focus, based on sound quality, value and very low noise, is now exclusively with MM and MI phono cartridges (busting more audiophile myths), Soundsmith is the perfect addition to our lineup. Our goal is to display/demo both high (Zephyr MK III) and low (Paua mk II) output examples of their mid-price offerings. Stay tuned…

Wireworld Cable

December 2020 – We’re proud to become the only stereo dealer in Arizona to become Wireworld cable suppliers. Although we still believe that Big Ear cable products are the best bang for the buck, Wireworld makes cable products that we are very impressed with.

Chord English Electric 8Switch

September 2020 – The English Electric 8switch is an audio grade 8-port gigabit streaming network switch.