We'd heard of Aurum Acoustics, of course. We read Stereophile and were impressed by Art Dudley's account of his adventures with the Integris 300B Active loudspeakers.

Now Aurum's Derrick Moss has applied some of the same principles to the $13,500 Integris CDP CD player-preamplifier. It's a top-loading CD player with an Anagram Technologies Quantum sample-rate converter, has 11 inputs (five digital, three RCA, two XLR balanced), and has slots for a phono module ($2500) and headphone amplifier ($1000).

Driving the 300B Active loudspeakers, it sounded fabulous. Immense, powerful, subtle, and very, very alive. Moss is an impressive designer one who definitely does not design me-too products.