Stereophile
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- Apr 19, 2013
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- #1
<p><img class="story_image" src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/713creek.promo_.jpg" /></p>
It seems I'm always reviewing an integrated amplifier from Creek Audio. It started in the late 1980s, when I fell in love with the capabilities of inexpensive, well-designed audio equipment, sparked by the spectacular sound of a pair of Celestion 5 bookshelf speakers at a Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. I was reading an issue of <i>Hi Fi Heretic</i> (now defunct), for which my friend Art Dudley wrote, and it included a survey of various inexpensive British integrated amplifiers, some of them made by Creek. I was already familiar with the company, but hadn't listened to affordable British electronics since I'd lived in London, in the early '80s. I got a Creek 4140s2 integrated and was amazed at its neutrality, its lack of etched sound, its natural reproduction of instrumental timbres. I ended up buying it, and used it to review bookshelf loudspeakers.
<p>
In 1995, I heard that Mike Creek was updating all of his electronics, and became intrigued by his new flagship integrated, the 4240SE, which became the subject of the first review I wrote for <i>Stereophile</i>, for the December 1995 issue. I was amazed at how its performance exceeded that of my beloved 4140s2. I bought the review sample, and moved the 4140s2 to my computer audio system.
</p><p>
A few years later, Mike Creek again launched new, more powerful, more expensive integrated amps, and I again reviewed his new flagship: the 5350SE (<a href="http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/327/index.html">March 2001</a>). Again, its performance significantly exceeded that of its predecessor; again, I bought the review sample.
</p><p>
In 2007, I got a call from Creek's US importer, Roy Hall, of Music Hall Audio: "Mike Creek has a new circuit design and a new flagship design." Oh, no
[Source: http://www.stereophile.com/content/creek-evolution-50a-integrated-amplifier]
It seems I'm always reviewing an integrated amplifier from Creek Audio. It started in the late 1980s, when I fell in love with the capabilities of inexpensive, well-designed audio equipment, sparked by the spectacular sound of a pair of Celestion 5 bookshelf speakers at a Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. I was reading an issue of <i>Hi Fi Heretic</i> (now defunct), for which my friend Art Dudley wrote, and it included a survey of various inexpensive British integrated amplifiers, some of them made by Creek. I was already familiar with the company, but hadn't listened to affordable British electronics since I'd lived in London, in the early '80s. I got a Creek 4140s2 integrated and was amazed at its neutrality, its lack of etched sound, its natural reproduction of instrumental timbres. I ended up buying it, and used it to review bookshelf loudspeakers.
<p>
In 1995, I heard that Mike Creek was updating all of his electronics, and became intrigued by his new flagship integrated, the 4240SE, which became the subject of the first review I wrote for <i>Stereophile</i>, for the December 1995 issue. I was amazed at how its performance exceeded that of my beloved 4140s2. I bought the review sample, and moved the 4140s2 to my computer audio system.
</p><p>
A few years later, Mike Creek again launched new, more powerful, more expensive integrated amps, and I again reviewed his new flagship: the 5350SE (<a href="http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/327/index.html">March 2001</a>). Again, its performance significantly exceeded that of its predecessor; again, I bought the review sample.
</p><p>
In 2007, I got a call from Creek's US importer, Roy Hall, of Music Hall Audio: "Mike Creek has a new circuit design and a new flagship design." Oh, no
[Source: http://www.stereophile.com/content/creek-evolution-50a-integrated-amplifier]