Mdomnick,
Your statement about Stereophile is not true. John Atkinson took a lot of criticism from his readers for giving a less than a sterling review of the new Thiel CS 1.6. Michael Fremer, the one who actually reviewed the Halo JC 1, has criticized the Harron monoblock amplifiers as being "too tidy." He felt that their soundstage was too small for the price, or something like that. When Michael reviewed the Ayre V1, he gave a mixed review, stating at the end of the article that both solid state and tube lovers alike may not like the sound of the Ayre. The impression that he gave was that the amp was too much of a comprise and MAY not appeal to either amplifier camp. And when Michael reviewed the Aerial 8, he used a Mark Levinson 335 as a test amplifier. He felt that the amp was a little too sterile for his tastes. He concluded that it was an amp that appealed to the head more than the heart, or something to that effect. Finally, Michael noted that when he reviewed the $32,000 Midi-Grand Kharma 1.0 loudspeaker, he felt that the bass was not tight and fast enough for his room and that the loudspeaker was not the last word in dynamics, despite the big soundstage it created.
So you can see that Stereophile, and especially Michael Fremer, do not give a rubber-stamp rave review with everything they test. Thus, the Halo JC 1 could very well be an amplifier worth listening to.
