When the Audio Critic was subjective.

That was the Levinson ML2 mono 25 watt amp. And Aczel was correct! A classic design and still one of the best sounding amps! Designed by Tom Colangelo (who also designed the ML1 preamp).

The ML2’s were priced at $3600 a pair in 1976. Hardly qualifies as "high end" compared to the sky-high prices for a lot of today’s gear (Dagostino, Soulution, Dartzeel, MBL ...).

I have followed The Audio Critic from the beginning (1977) to its end. For the most part Peter Aczel's recommendations were spot on! He made a serious attempt to reconcile measurements with listening trials. Unlike the all-over-the-map conclusions of the "golden ear" reviewers at Stereophile and TAS. And was the first to stress the importance of proper tonearm/cartridge alignment for LP playback - when LPs were the most common music source!

Aczel was also the first to publish a comprehensive chart for determining proper alignment for a wide range of tonearm lenghts, stylus-to-pivot distance, offset angles and overhang distances. This chart was for the Baerwald alignment. And he discussed VTF and stylus rake angle, along with the importance of stylus shapes (conical, elliptical, Shibata ...) for maximizing music retrieval from those vinyl grooves!

After the arrival in 1983 of the CD he abandoned the LP as a reference source. Aczel called LP playback "buggy whip" technology and embraced digital sources as music's future. Naturally this engendered much hate from the analog uber-alles crowd!