Fred Manteghian has posted his review of the Classé CT-SSP Surround Processor ($9,000) and CT-5300 Amplifier ($9,000) at Home Theater. Here is an excerpt:
I love movies that show snippets in the lives of fictional musicians, like Pure Country from 1992. It’s not a great movie, to be sure, but when George Strait takes the stage, the sound blows you away, even if it is only Dolby Digital 5.1. Now it’s Jeff Bridges’ turn in Crazy Heart, a movie that borders on, well, no it is depressing (and watching him smoke just about made my lungs collapse). But when you finally get some music, it’s all good. The CT-SSP gets some amazing palpability in the bowling-alley concert, where the lead guitarist’s Telecaster is particularly full of bite. The CT-5300 exhibits that jump factor that’s all too hard to come by and makes scenes come alive. In the case of Crazy Heart, it makes you feel like you’re in that bar or that stadium, watching that concert. It’s not just the macrodynamics of a concert setting where the Classé system excels, but the microdynamics exposed in the subtle incidental instrumental music used when Bad travels to his next gig. With the Classé, it’s all very
You can read the full review here.
Kal Rubinson also reviewed the CT-SSP for Stereophile here.
