Price Paid:  $3200.00 from filtronique son-or

Summary:
I Bought this product being a stello200 as the salesman told me, made by the canadian company Oracle. In fact i saw the stello at the Festival Son et Image 2003 edition here in Montreal Quebec.The stello line was being promoted by the founder of Oracle Jacques Riendeau the designer of all the products. The stello200 is an entry level player but still at 4000$cdn+tax so not that cheap. After listening to other players such as the new classé cdp-10,Yba delta3 rega jupiter and copland 822 me and my girlfreind decided to choose the stello. For both of us it had the best all around sound and it was on special at 3200$cdn so 800$ less and it's a canadian product!! Good buy we said to our self or did we??? A week later i saw an article on a Hi-Fi magazine from the U.K. The main subject was about the invasion of asian companies in the world of Hi-Fi and on the cover was the stello200 being a south corean made by April music. The model on the cover was a little different from the one i bought but mainly the same. After reading the article there was no mention of Oracle or Riendeau. I was quite upset not that it was made in Corea but i felt cheated was-it realy worth the 3200$?? I quess so since we compared it whit other players costing as much as the stello. But still i was very upset, so i call the salesperson. He didn't know what to say,i think he was more upset than me.
After two days he calls me back and tells me the real story. I'l make it as simple as possible. Riendeau the founder of Oracle sold his company, he then went to work for April Music and designed the line stello. He left April Music and bought back his old company and brought back the stello line but never said aword to the people that hold his product line. He said(Riendeau) that the canadian version is better with better components and looks as for the product finish. I agree whit the finish but as for the technical data it's the same,in the U.K magazine there was a picture of the inside so i open mine and notice that the elements on both players are the same. I quess the only way to be sure is to listening both players. After having the stello for one month and a half i went back to the store since i found out they had the Ayre cx-7 in store. I went home with the unit,after comparing both players for a week-end i traded the stello for the Ayre, and it wasn't because it was made in corea maybe?? But simply because it sounded better sure it was more expensive but just 500$ But the salesperson gave us a special. So now we are very happy. Sorry for my english since i mainly speak and write french. By the way you can go on the Oracle web site to see the difference in both players.

Strengths:
good overall player

Weaknesses:
cheap remote control for an Oracle product if it is real Oracle product.if i comparing the stello with the Ayre it has a smaller sound stage and it' a little bit more aggresive than the Ayre.

Similar Products Used:
rega jupiter,classé cdp-10, simaudio nova,yba delta3 and copland 822