Back on the solid-wood Boenicke monitors, the complementary partnership of mb:55+Classic aired again with a rerun. With their built-in warmth, tonefulness, very wide-dispersion miniature widebander and those long-throw sidefiring low mid/woofers, these compacts really cottoned to the slightly cool high-resolution reading of the Lindemänner in a big way. As expected, going from one stereo amp to two monos benefited general grip, LF weight and overall tone density. Admittedly shameless overkill in this context, I still enjoyed every minute of it. And with killing it softly—or not so softly—with their song, I reached for major seconds by setting up Gabi Rijnveld's Crystal Cable Minissimo. Because their integral stands were a bit too short (I got custom extensions for the Boenickes too to clear my Ikea glass table), I moved them away a bit, then leaned them back as far as the bolt lengths of the frontal furniture glides would allow without falling out. The only minor penalty for this stunt? A still somewhat lower soundstage than strictly perfect. Two 4-inch tall wood blocks of Minissimo footprint would easily address that if one lived with this long-term. But who'd assign €15'000/pr speakers to desktop duty?

Cueing up Yıldıran Güz's very pretty third album Aşkim on Qobuz, the easy answer was, anyone with the requisite scratch who'd heard what I did. In this type nearfield setup, the blue metal-loaded polymer 'boxes' with their rakish tails had plump tone like ripe peaches. Whilst their low bass did attenuate a bit earlier than the Boenickes, the mb:55 kept surprisingly adroit track of it and rather lower than box size for both amps and speakers would suggest as reasonable. This LF was exceptionally well articulated and intelligible down into the mid 30s, simply reduced in output below about 60Hz due to Crystal's chosen tuning. But the most astonishing thing really was the quality of timbral juiciness. At this distance, it eclipsed even the €3'500/pr W5se. The upper-bass/lower-mid bandwidth was gorgeously saturated, voluptuous even. Anyone expecting this from valve gear exclusively—and by extension, decidedly not from class D—would have eaten canned crow. Being curious about the exact origins of this, I reverted to an RCA connection between mb:15 and mb:55. Lo and behold, that diluted it some. Anyone going after this threesome better arrive with proper stamina by way of an XLR cable. But regardless, this quality of sound on a desktop ought to be illegal if one has to get any real work done.

At €5'600/pr for the pair, Lindemann's music:book 55 is an attractively compact 450-watt muscle amp proposition that's just as impressive on small inefficient monitors as it is on €45'000/pr multi-way towers with ambitious 26Hz port tuning. Whilst grammar bullies should cringe at the city of copasetic—copaceticity—and cynics do distrust any such thing built into particular component combinations from the same maker, it's an undeniable happy fact: the mb15/55 team went to school together from birth. They have that act down pat. As a bit of front-end swapping proved, the very fetching color intensity I encountered with the desktop Minissimo was down to the matching USB DAC/CDP. Its XLR connection to the amps is the final completer. I'd already confirmed in its standalone review that analog volume control and analog inputs make it the perfect excuse to finally chuck that separate legacy preamp. That its form factor duplicates the amp/s to invite tidy stacking is an extra bonus.

My intro documented the body-snatching invasion of class D into the high end. Lindemann's implementation adds itself as proof. Today experienced analog circuit designers have learnt how to harness switching tech in ways that please even those who initially wrote it all off as unfit for serious purposes should one be trained by class A amps of the transistor or tube variety. It used to be a sign of superior good taste to diss class D. Today it's become a surefire tell of sad ignorance. The musicbook:55 speaks loudly to that. One of these amps is good. Two of them bridged to mono are even better; and not for the mere purposes of increasing power. The number three with the musicbook:15 becomes downright special. I see absolutely no legitimate or otherwise good reason why an mb:55 user wouldn't right away or eventually end up with one of the four available musicbook sources which differ only in featurization (i.e. disc drive and/or streamer). Such team work is most compadre indeed. It takes all the guess work out of the equation and also romances the eyes with full cosmetic integration. Leave the cynics to chew on that wild word 'copaseticity'. It shouldn't be you. Just enjoy what it signifies: built-in synergy for guaranteed results.

Lindemann Audio website