At SouthWest Audio Fest 2026, Bandwidth Audio's Matt Beardsworth talks about the company's 2845 power amplifier in an interview with Ken Micallef that's now posted on our YouTube channel.
Appeasing my request for old-school songcraft at SouthWest Audio Fest 2026, Matt Beardsworth of Bandwidth Audio pulled out first pressings of Joe Cocker's With a Little Help from My Friends, Mountain's Climbing!Who’s Next—and the system in his room delivered.
I felt transported to my 12-year-old self, bashing air drums and inhaling the rock of my childhood. The Bandwidth Audio system played with profound aliveness, layering, and imaging with fine levels of tonal liquidity and physical corporeality. This was not your grandpa's woozy-sappy-syrupy tube amps, but were instead refined electronic devices that played with swagger, speed, and superb transient snap.
Equipment list: Turntable: VPI Signature 21, fitted with JMW-10 Fatboy tonearm ($8700). Cartridge: VPI Shyla ($1800). Phono Preamp: Bandwidth Audio Kaskode One (outfitted with MC module; $9325). Line Preamp: Bandwidth Audio Aurora One ($8000). Power Amplifiers: Bandwidth Audio 2845 ($45,000/pair; one is shown above). Speakers: DeVore Fidelity O/96 ($17,350/pair). Cables: Audio Quest (speaker cables using the DBS system).
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