Chord Choral Aspire

Jonathan Margolis, reviewing this music system (from Kent, U.K.-based Chord) in the November 3 Financial Times "How To Spent It" supplement, wrote that "Some skeptical visitors have commented that it looks like an upmarket life-support machine...."

From the Chord website:
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Aspire Stand

Following the success of the Choral series the Aspire stand is the latest addition.

Standing 1.2 metres the Aspire stand can house 5 Choral components.

Each component is placed in the stand at a 45 degree angle allowing for the unique styling of each unit to be more fully appreciated.

The stand consists of two side pieces and a solid base unit with four adjustable feet.

The sides are custom extruded from huge slabs of solid billet aluminium, precision jigged and milled using a multi access milling machine.

The base is milled from a massive aluminium slab.

The feet for the base are precision turned from solid aluminium, they attach to the base via four threaded cups milled into the underside of the base. The feet can be adjusted for level and height.

To add convenience to beauty the base also features a captive mains distribution block.
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Brushed or Black Aluminum.

The six-piece system shown above, including the Chord Blu CD Transport, DAC64 Digital to Analog Converter, Mezzo 140 Power Amplifier, Symphonic Phono Stage and Aspire Stand, costs $52,230.