Series 2
All prices are quoted in euros unless otherwise noted.
1 €  is approximately 1.28 US dollars at time of report.

EMT's JPA-66 "Varia-Curve" tubed stereo preamplifier might well be an analog-lover's dream. Priced at 18,000 € and available by the middle of this year, the '66's front-panel features independent controls (on the far left) for four different phono inputs (they can each be independently adjusted for cartridge loading and level) as well as another section that allows for varying equalization of the RIAA curve (center section of faceplate). The JPA-66 also has a "Scratch Filter" to help deal with those pesky wear-and-tear problems that vinyl is plagued with, along with typical preamplifier functionality like input selection, volume adjustment, and balance.

We were also impressed by the Thales tonearm, which, at 6000 €, is pricey but nifty. It's a multi-piece 'arm system that maintains the correct cartridge alignment with the record the way a linear-tracking 'arm does, along with the correct pivot motion that a pivoting 'arm does. Designer Micha Huber calls it "pivotal/tangental" and had a chart on the wall to explain the rather complex motion it makes. It was used on a Brinkmann Balance turntable, and the folks from Brinkmann were equally enthused.

At first, the introduction of Marantz's PM7001 KI integrated amplifier and ...

... SA7001 KI SACD/CD player seemed just ho-hum. Then we learned their prices: 899 € for the SA7001 and 799 € for the PM7001. While not the cheapest components one can buy, they do appear to represent outstanding value in terms of build quality and performance. In fact, their excellent price:performance ratio, based on what we heard during Ken Ishiwata's demonstration, is one of the reasons we picked the demo as a Standout and also named the products ShowStoppers.

Burmester for the masses? Not quite, but getting there. While in previous years Germany's Burmester concentrated on displays of cost-no-object products, this year they showed a number of new "somewhat affordable" components, capped off by the B30 three-way loudspeaker priced 7900 € per pair. The B30 features a JET "air-motion transformer" tweeter. The sound we heard from these speakers in Burmester's room was very good, the styling was wonderful, and the build quality seemed excellent. There were also two more models introduced -- both lower priced: the B20 (3900 € per pair) and the B25 (5900 € per pair). In addition, Burmester also showed the brand-new 061 CD player priced at 6900 €, which is part of a new series of electronics that's above the entry-level Rondo line first introduced in 2005 but below Burmester's reference-grade components.

If you're wondering how Burmester derives its model names, the first two digits of the model are the year the product was introduced, and the last digit the month. So, 061 is January of 2006. However, because all of the products we saw have three digits, we're not exactly sure if all design work simply stops at the Burmester factory from October to December.