Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2015 i Hi-Fi Choice

Welcome to our 400th issue, a special anniversary edition celebrating 40 years of expert hi-fireviews and buying advice. In putting together this issue, I have come to realise just how significantly the world of audio has changed in an amazingly short amount of time. Devialet’s Silver Phantom music system (starting on page 14) is other worldly even by today’s standards, and it’s hard to believe the audio developments that have taken place in just four decades and how the way in which we listen to music and its accessibility has evolved. I was perhaps a bit too young to remember the very first issue of Hi-FiChoice when it launched in its original A5 format back in 1975, but I do remember the music and sounds of the time that got…

Personal stereo What if you could tailor your pocket player to suit your hearing? That’s what Aumeo Audio has set out to do by mapping hearing profiles using its app and palm device via crowdfunding site Indiegogo. See it in action at: bit.ly/1Cb1AQv New dawn for Dynaudio With its growing range of wi-fi-controlled active speakers, it’s only fitting that Dynaudio’s website has been given a reboot. Packed with images, videos and product details, the site is a slick window into what drives these Danish speaker builders. dynaudio.com Window dressing We loved this recent tongue-in-cheek tweet from Oxford Audio Consultants, which is guaranteed to get a few knowing nods from passersby. Behind the humour Oxford Audio is a hi-fispecialist that goes the extra mile with annual events and a monthly music…

AS: What was the biggest challenge you faced in creating the Phantom? PEC: Firstly dealing with so many different areas of expertise and bringing them together to overcome obstacles around acoustics, mechanics, signal processing, software, hardware, design, manufacturing, you name it! The biggest challenge was to fit the equivalent of a huge high-end system into a very compact enclosure while still keeping prices as low as possible. How have you achieved an extra 2,250W over the standard model? It was a another big challenge, especially when factoring in the speakers’ thermal management. We use higher temperature grade woofer magnets, more efficient thermal material to extract heat to the heatsink and specific signal processing as well as SAM. The two look similar, but the component dimensioning changes significantly to produce 99dB…

2004 People finally discover a way to socialise as talking to one another and writing letters was deemed outmoded with the launch of Facebook and the world instead turned to emoticons and pictures of cute cats to express themselves. The people of the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand saw sense and banned smoking in public places. Meanwhile in the UK, over 1,000 people congregated in Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk, to pay their respects to the legend that was John Peel. His coffin was carried out to the sound of The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks. Following a bust up with his record label, George Michael announced that Patience would be his last commercially available album and that future releases would come via his website to raise money for his favourite charities.…

EMINENT TECHNOLOGY LFT-8B FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKER £2,500 This American speaker may well be new to you, but the original was launched back in 1989, and in the intervening quarter of a century its design has remained largely unaltered. Why? It works, brilliantly. Chances are, though, you’ve never heard them, so perhaps it’s time for another curtain call... The deep, heavy, unported base houses an 8in driver, designed inhouse by Eminent Technology. Handling a deliberately limited frequency range below 180Hz, it effectively acts as a highly focused subwoofer. Bruce Thigpen, the designer, was intent on achieving “excellent transient response with the minimum of colouration near the crossover frequency”. The end result is a strongly damped, sealed enclosure that creates an air suspension design, promising fast and accurate bass performance that will not…

ES: Given the level of internal revisions to the M6si, was any thought given to making it an entirely new model? DW: It was always our intention that the M6si was a revision to the existing M6i. In fact, internally, the project was referred to as M6i Mark 2. Does the M6si operate fully balanced from the XLR input as befits the SMD construction? The M6si doesn’t operate fully balanced internally. The benefits of XLR balanced connection are largely to do with preserving the signal quality through the cable rather than within the unit. For customers who desire the fully balanced connection experience, we can always offer the M8 Pre and M8 700m combination, which are fully balanced throughout. With the fitment of digital inputs to the M6scd, does this…

TANNOY REVOLUTION XT 6F FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKER £999 We all know what a good loudspeaker should do, but how to do it is another matter altogether – there are many different ways of attempting this. Moving coil drive units in a wooden box are the most common and simplest type to produce, but arguably the most flawed. Still, because the concept is so old there has been plenty of time to refine it, and Tannoy came up with its own solution nearly 70 years ago. Its first dual concentric design – the Monitor Black of 1946 – was a coaxial speaker combining mid/bass and treble units in one drive unit. This was not sold in cabinets, but as research tools for testing microphones, due to the exceptionally flat frequency response. Overall,…

JP: Was there a benchmark among your all-analogue preamps against which the NAC-N 272 was set? JG: Naim’s benchmark has always been about the musical performance and if it communicates. The target for the 272 was no different. Combining a network player and preamp in one box is not easy and we are really pleased with the result. How difficult was it to implement the DSD capability? The optimisation was the main challenge: code writing and DSP code at this level is science with an element of art – it’s the art that makes it interesting. The difference between great code and average code is very significant in the areas of enjoyment and engagement of music. So, beyond DSD64, where next? DSD128? MQA? Never say never! Although we don’t see…

Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here Following Dark Side Of The Moon was never going to be easy and it took Floyd two years of angst – but the end results were eventually really rather majestic. Bob Dylan Blood On The Tracks A staggering return to form on the classic divorce album: bittersweet, honest and direct with not a hint of self-pity in the emotional maelstrom. Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti Mature and diverse heavy-rock at its most epic. Sadly, Led Zep would never sound this good again. Bob Marley and The Wailers Live! The album that made reggae hip was recorded on an unforgettable hot and steamy night at London’s Lyceum. Queen A Night At The Opera Breathtakingly ambitious, full of musical ingenuity and theatrical flair, and rightly dubbed Queen’s…

It was a great privilege to work on this fine magazine, a publication that I dedicated 11 wonderful years to, the last few of which, in the hot seat as editor until 2011. It’s a big chunk of time, of course, and I witnessed the rise and fall of brands, the coming and going of trends and the incredible collective experience of our big-name contributors at the time. I was fortunate to soak up a huge amount of knowledge from the diverse panel of experts we commissioned on a monthly basis: Paul Messenger, Jimmy Hughes, Richard Black, Paul Miller and Alvin Gold. From Jimmy’s Tweaks (which some readers may recall made it to a two-part cover-mount booklet) to the intricacies of product design, there was plenty to learn by an…

The BBC Research Department at Kingswood Warren began to do research on plastic drive unit cone materials in the mid sixties, under the leadership of Del Shorter. Dudley Harwood (latterly of Harbeth Acoustics) was second in command and Spencer Hughes was the laboratory technician. Two years were spent making cones in a variety of shapes and sizes, and results were positive. The main benefit was consistency; the cone was more repeatable and the highfrequency response was superior. The bextrene was coated with a plastiflex damping compound to remove colourations from 1,500 to 2,000Hz, so the process was never completely automated. During the seventies, polypropylene began to take hold, again with pioneering work by the BBC Research Department. It performed similarly to bextrene but didn’t need to be coated due to…

CD Movement Records THE LAC IS a group of musicians inspired by the work of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, and the sound they produce is some of the funkiest, most enthusiastic and all-round joyous music you’re likely to hear. Funke Adeleke, the only member who can claim Nigerian descent, is a powerful voice up front and the musicians give it plenty of oomph. They don’t have the great man’s presence or mystique, but they do have his political sloganeering. They could be accused of being a Fela tribute band, but by taking Kuti’s ethos and rhythms as their starting point, they’ve managed to stake their own claim to the Afrobeat lineage.…

FLAC 16-bit/44.1kHz Linn Records REISSUED AS PART of Linn’s ECHO series, the Brit jazz singer’s sophomore album from 1991 is a joy. She imbues this collection of standards with a sheen of class, partly from the purity of her voice, but also from the deliberateness of her phrasing, which is articulate, but never forced. Supported by her piano trio and occasional string arrangements, it’s an intimate affair with highlights including Hang My Tears Out To Dry and I Wish I’d Met You.…

53-CD box set Decca THIS SUMPTUOUS 53-CD box set restores many classic Decca recordings, using the original sleeve designs to create a collector’s dream. Among many gems is Decca’s first LP of Stravinsky’s Petrouchka, conducted by Ernest Ansermet. Several omissions are surprising, but the selection is a good mix of well-known and rare material. The recordings for the most part carry their years lightly, sounding sharp, open and remarkably clear. Clarity and focus were always ‘mono’ trademarks, and the ear soon adjusts to the lack of stereo spread and depth. There’s also an interesting book with some wonderful vintage photographs.…

Linn Records (linnrecords.com) has a real treat for classical music fans with the SCO, Baldini and Elizabeth Watts’ take on Mozart’s Opera Arias and Overtures. Over at HDTracks (hdtracks.co.uk), Richard Thompson’s deluxe edition of Still, Waylon Jennings’ Classic Album Collection, Dave Douglas’ High Risk and Emmylou Harris and Rodney Cromwell’s The Travelling Kind are all worth hunting down. Finally, High Res Audio (highresaudio.com) has Leon Bridge’s glorious Coming Home, Drones by Muse, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s eponymous album and Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet for anyone that fancies a bit of hair metal.…

EACH OF THE four cartridges were easy to fit into my headshell as they all have the standard 0.5in mounting and come supplied with fixing screws. All are designed for the standard 47kOhm load from the phono stage and none of them have any problems with the Alpha Design Labs GT40a phono stage. Therefore, they would all fit the bill as a worthy replacement or upgrade to a moving magnet cartridge supplied with a hi-fistarter turntable like those covered in HFC 398, but when you start to focus on the subtle nuances of each, a ranking does emerge. In fourth place is the Audio-Technica AT120Eb, which is the lowest compliance cartridge of the group, although it may better suit a tonearm with a higher effective mass than the Jelco SA-750.…

The Chord Company has launched what it calls its most advanced mains product to date, the Sarum Super ARAY power cable. First unveiled at the Bristol Show 2015, the mains plug is a bespoke version of an MS Power mains plug, with silver-plated conductors, says the maker. It’s also claimed that the fitting of two silicone tubes improves mechanical damping and vibration. Cable insulation is gas-foamed PTFE and the shielding is high-density silver-plated braid. The flagship Sarum Super ARAY is available at 1m long for £1,700 with additional metres priced at £450 and upgrades at £750. CHORD.CO.UK…

The online hi-res music provider is now offering VirtualVault, a system that allows its existing customers to stream their own music libraries free of charge via the HighResAudio mobile home page. The system, claims HRA, works with all mobile devices (smartphone/tablet PC), desktop web browser and/or even via the web browser in your car. It caters, for wireless transmission via Bluetooth and is compatible with wireless multi-room solutions, says company CEO Lothar Kerestedjian. HRA claims to be the first to introduce Adaptive Audio Streaming (HLS/HTTP) and, depending upon the available network bandwidth, it promises to deliver sound quality that’s on a par with CD. The company says its new service offers userfriendly access to music anywhere. M.HIGHRESAUDIO.COM/VAULT…

AUDIO WORLD UK (@AUDIOWORLDUK) Check out the first lot of exhibitors and brands confirmed for the 2015 #NationalAudioShow bit.ly/1JSbBtL #headphones #hifi#UK FLEXSON FOR SONOS (@FLEXSON_4_SONOS) Have a look at our brand new Desk Stand for @SONOS PLAY:1 in action youtu.be/GO55-1ev5xA #flexson #tech THE AUDIO ROOM (@THEAUDIOROOM) Would you like to receive a newsletter from us? Join here: http://email.consul4design.com/h/r/5336AACF72C7521D MCINTOSH LABORATORY (@MCINTOSHLABS) 2014 Hi-FiShow in #Moscow & amazing performance of #AndreaBocelli on #McIntosh MC2KW amps & XRT2K speakers. youtu.be/WVE1ZxScWYU #tbt THE VINYL FACTORY (@THEVINYLFACTORY) The genius of Kate Bush in 10 essential songs t.co/xwJUmQjvUB CMC PR (@CMCPR) Philips launches 2015 ActionFit Sport headphones range, designed with sport lovers in mind to ensure high performance KEF AUDIO UK (@KEFAUDIO) KEF’s M500s will help you beat your personal best! #NationalRunningDay #KEF TIDAL (@TIDALHiFi)…

2007 2007 marked an interesting point for innovation with the introduction of Apple’s legendary iPhone mobile phone. Meanwhile Nintendo’s Wii games console trounced the Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 PlayStation thanks to its more family-friendly gameplay, and the format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD slowly rumbled on. Radiohead flipped the traditional model for releasing albums on its head with In Rainbows, which was available to fans initially as a pay-what-you-want digital download, with a minimum 45p admin charge. Rihanna spent 10 weeks at the top of the charts with Umbrella, which was the longest stay for any artist at number one in 13 years. X Factor winner Leona Lewis‘ single Bleeding Love was the biggest seller of the year. Meanwhile, Amy Winehouse’s fabulous Back To Black was the best-selling…

CW: What led you to design and build this speaker? BT: I started constructing loudspeakers as a hobby in high school. None of them were any good, as parts availability was limited in the mid to late sixties. Then one day I walked into a local audio shop and they had a single Quad 57 hooked up to a receiver playing an FM radio station. To my ear it was astonishing and seemed to accurately reproduce the input signal. I set out to learn how to make electrostatic speakers. Electrostatic drivers are relatively easy to assemble and they automatically sound good, the trick is learning how to deal with stator insulation. Yet, I wanted a planar transducer that removed any dielectric strength limitations while trying to maximise the benefits of…

DP: How would you say the Tannoy dual concentric has changed over the years? PM: Improvements in materials and manufacturing techniques over the years and computer aided design, both mechanical and acoustical, have enabled the concept to give better performance, greater reliability and substantial gains in power handling. The use of ferrite magnets in 1978, which are common today, became the norm due to rare earth magnets consistently rising in cost, making once affordable speakers very expensive indeed. However, Alnico magnets are still retained for our high-end Prestige models. Do you consider the new driver a major historical development? The Omnimagnet system (shared magnet for LF and HF sections of the driver) allows a better optimised mechanical arrangement necessary for the new waveguide to operate, and also increases power handling.…

Sponsored by: THIS MONTH ED SELLEY EXPERTISE: REVIEWER Active in the industry since 1999, Ed’s first record was Boss Drum by The Shamen. He splits his time between reviewing and protecting hi-fikit from toddler son Will. NEVILLE ROBERTS EXPERTISE: ENGINEER Neville has an eclectic taste for classical baroque and jazz. His wife was forced to marry his transmission line speakers in the eighties and he collects BBC test card music. JASON KENNEDY EXPERTISE: REVIEWER Editor of HFC from 1998 to 2001, Jason’s first turntable was Rega’s Planar 3 and Elvis’ 40 Greatest Hits was his first vinyl, so don’t go stepping on his blue suede shoes. DAVID PRICE EXPERTISE: REVIEWER DP two-finger typed his first hi-fireview some 25 years ago. Since then he’s edited Hi-FiWorld and HFC. He describes himself…

Back in the mists of time I misread an article about Spendor’s first speaker and thought it was called the BBC1. Although a silly mistake, it wasn’t completely implausible because of the company founder’s intricate relationship with the BBC’s Research Department. Of course, the Spendor BC1 got its appellation from its pioneering use of a bextrene cone, but could just has as well be thought of as the best BBC speaker that never was. It harks from a time when the Corporation was a real force behind acoustic design. Its world-class Research Department developed a number of high-quality broadcast monitors under the stewardship of Dudley Harwood in the sixties and seventies. The tiny LS3/5a compact near-field monitor is the most famous, but many more came forth. As a laboratory technician,…

CD Hillside BACK IN THE early seventies before Clive James became a TV star, his first gig was writing lyrics for the singer Pete Atkin. They collaborated on half a dozen albums and the Atkin-James team for a while rivalled the Elton John/Bernie Taupin partnership, which emerged around the same time. Terminally ill with leukaemia, James – who describes their songwriting partnership as: “The most fruitful artistic venture I’ve ever known” – has now reconnected with Atkin on one final, farewell collaboration. An eclectic set of arrangements ranging from jazz rock to Tin Pan Alley pop nostalgia James’ literate lyrics, about subjects such as obsession, divorce and mortality, boast a strong narrative element, setting up a situation and exploring it like a series of three and four minute novellas. Accompanied by…

CD Goliath Enterprises Do you agree with our reviewers? Decide for yourself and listen to some of this month’s tunes at www.hifichoice.co.uk SOUNDTRACK ALBUMS BY the chuckle brothers of indie rock are rarely cheery affairs, but even by their standards this is grim stuff. What it lacks in pace and humour, it more than makes up for in atmosphere. Themes are teased out slowly and given time to develop and this moody, introspective series requires a little patience to settle into its sedate rhythms. Once you’re there, you can almost smell the acrid air and feel the creeping menace of this revenge tale. Beginning with loops from Ellis’ violin, the pair augment the plaintive tones with light, minimalist touches of organ and electronics to create a spare, doom-laden atmosphere that comes…

FLAC 24-bit/48kHz B&W Society of Sound WILL GREGORY IS the other one from (Alison) Goldfrapp and his Moog Ensemble is an experiment in re-evaluating some of the classic synthesisers. He’s gathered a group of musicians and taking Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.3 as their starting point, they use the often monophonic and other technical limitations of these analogue instruments as inspiration for a set that mixes new music with the very old – and includes some great tunes.…

DVD/CD End Hits Records FFAF were something of a phenomenon in the early to mid noughties with their blend of grunge/thrash that was dubbed screamo and morphed into emo. Last year they toured their 2005 album Hours in full, dropping in other hits and a few new numbers for good measure. This London show reveals just why they were so successful early on, the sound is precisely focussed energy of the emotionally intelligent variety. Quality is limited by Dolby Digital so a bit flat, but it can’t keep this much well honed energy from reaching out and dragging you into the mosh pit.…

One of the many good things about a turntable is the ease with which you can change elements to achieve noticeable improvements in sound quality. An obvious candidate for upgrade is the supplied cartridge. Although simple in concept, the moving magnet cartridge is an electromagnetic generator with many precision parts. Firstly, there is the stylus assembly, which in the case of moving magnet cartridges is usually removable to facilitate replacement when worn. Then there is the suspension, which supports the cantilever onto which the stylus is fitted. This suspension must allow the cantilever to move to allow the stylus to follow the modulations of the record groove, but also be firm enough to transfer the tracking force onto the stylus so that it can track the record. A tiny magnet…

THIS IS THE latest arrival in Audio-Technica’s range of in-ear headphones and acts as the flagship, although at £240 it is comparatively reasonably priced judged by recent trends. As a brand, Audio-Technica has never shown much enthusiasm for armatures and the ATH-CKR10 is a dynamic driver design albeit with some significant differences to conventional dynamic models. Each enclosure actually mounts a pair of 13mm dynamic drivers placed in a counter firing arrangement. In order for them to be able to make noise they are out of phase. A-T claims that this reduces distortion while improving the bass response. To reduce the effect of the excess energy that the drivers can generate, each opposed pair is placed in what Audio-Technica with perhaps a taste for the comic book describes as an…

EARPHONES ARE TRICKY things to get right and manufacturers have quite a challenge to find a design that suits all ears. The Cromo IEM-75 is Lindy Electronics first pair of in-ear monitors and features dual drivers for superior performance. It also has an ergonomic design to offer excellent weight distribution for greater in-ear comfort over longer periods of use. The dual-driver design has been developed to deliver a more spacious and defined sound. Each earpiece contains a 7mm driver for the high frequencies and a 15mm one to handle the bass and midrange. These are tuned within an acoustic chamber with the aim of delivering a highquality and accurate sound. The earpieces are housed within a black chrome aluminium enclosure to provide a rigid structure for them to operate, free…

A cable of any length and configuration can be viewed as a network of series inductors and parallel capacitors. Each of these elements is a little inductance-capacitance (LC) filter, which has an impedance that varies with frequency. This is insignificant at low frequencies, but starts to become important as frequency increases. The actual values of inductance and capacitance will give a particular cable its character. As inductance causes the current to lag the voltage (and capacitance has the inverse effect), cables will cause minute phase errors between current and voltage, which are frequency dependent. At higher frequencies, a cable can also be considered to be a transmission line with a defined characteristic impedance, and, therefore, we must also consider its wave propagation properties. Many would argue that even with frequencies…

Various artists Eccentric Soul: The Dynamic Label “The Numero Group is my favourite label right now, each time releasing records compiled from long-forgotten, smalltown American labels.” Sonic Youth Dirty “This original 1992 LP is a must-own for anyone who appreciates brilliant lyrics and innovative guitar stylings. Nobody else blends distortion and melody so seamlessly.” Miles Davis Quintet Miles Smiles “This album is a cool slice of quintessential sixties modern jazz. The second of five albums released by Miles’ second quintet, featuring the great Herbie Hancock on piano.” Paul Orwell You’re Nothing Special “The second 45 by the contemporary psych/beat artist. We’re giving away this single online soon and Paul’s limited edition album Blowing Your Mind Away is out this summer.” Howlin’ Wolf Moanin’ In The Moonlight “My favourite artist and album ever. The Wolf was…

These pages are a must-read if you’re thinking about buying used kit, or if you have hi-fi you want to sell. It’s free – simply submit your ad of up to 50 words (we will edit them if not), remembering to include your email, phone number and county. The simplest way to send your ad is via email to: letters@hifichoice.co.uk or mail: Reader Classified, Hi-Fi Choice, AVTech Media Ltd, Enterprise House, Enterprise Way, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 6HF. This service is open to private advertisers only. Just one ad per household. Images are for illustration only and do not represent what is for sale FOR SALE ARCAM CD73 CD player, excellent, with manuals and remote £140. Arcam rLink DAC £50. Two Sony minidisc decks, one immaculate, the other used but working…

The fact that vinyl sales in the UK are at the highest point they’ve been in the last 20 years has been widely reported, but what perhaps isn’t so well known is that of the 1.3 million records sold last year, an impressive 325,000 came from HMV. Between 2013 and 2014, vinyl sales for the UK chain have trebled, leading to records now being stocked in every premises for the first time since the nineties. Interestingly, the store has revealed that, Christmas aside, its busiest week of the year has been the seven days leading up to Father’s Day – suggesting that most vinyl addicts are men, or more specifically dads. While the revelation that serious hi-fiis predominantly enjoyed by blokes isn’t exactly groundbreaking news, this trend seems to go…

PRICE: £6,995 EACH AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 01480 447700 WEB: LUXMAN.COM Japanese brand Luxman celebrates 90 years in the audio business with the launch of its new D-06u CD/SACD player, C-700u stereo preamplifier and M-700u stereo power amplifier. The D-06u is fitted with a Burr-Brown PCM1792A D/A convertor and supports PCM up to 32-bit/384kHz and DSD data up to 5.64MHz via the USB input. According to Luxman, the player also comes with dedicated audio player software with support for FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, MP3, DSF and DSIDIFFplayback from either a PC or Mac. The C-700u preamplifier boasts five RCA and two balanced XLR inputs and four line-level outputs while the M-700u power amp claims 120W (8ohm) and 210W (4ohm) per channel. RCA and balanced XLR inputs are offered along with heavy-duty…

PRICE: £1,699 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 0208 8363524 WEB: PIONEER.CO.UK The high-end headphone market has seen major growth recently, and Pioneer is among the latest brands to enter the fray with its flagship SE-Master1, that has been tuned and tested in London by Air Studios. Handmade in Japan and engraved with its own unique serial number, it is claimed that up to 100 individual processes are required to produce a single SE-Master1 headphone. According to Pioneer, it features 50mm driver units with an aluminium diaphragm finished in a special surface treatment called PCC (Parker Ceramic Coating), that it claims is advantageous for high frequency resolution. In addition, the company says that its PEEK (Poly-Ether-Ether-Ketone) compounding material helps to reduce distortion and achieve a smoother sound quality. The SE-Master1’s housing is constructed…

DEVIALET SILVER PHANTOM STEREO MUSIC SYSTEM £3,629 While all-in-one systems come in many shapes and sizes, generally they follow a similar set of conventions with smaller scale woofers, tweeters and amps packed together under the same roof, trading levels of sonic output for greater degrees of convenience. But as we saw with its Ensemble package last year (HFC 386), following conventions is not really the Devialet way. From the outset the distinctive Silver Phantom’s egg-like case immediately challenges your preconceptions of what a hi-fisystem should look like. Each one houses its own internal amp, DAC, wi-fistreamer and speakers, allowing it to fly solo as a standalone system or work alongside more Phantoms as part of a two or more channel installation through Devialet’s free Spark app and Dialog wi-ficontroller (£249).…

2000 Happily, concerns about everything in the county grinding to a halt at the turn of the new year because of the Millennium bug prove unfounded and the entire British nation gathered in the Millennium Dome to celebrate. The Tate Modern opened its doors to the public in a celebration of all that is great about Britain, while the last Mini was produced in Longbridge in an illustration of all that isn’t quite so great about Britain… Musically things got weird, with The Beatles having the best-selling album of the year with 1, while the top single was Can We Fix it? by Bob The Builder. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Ian Dury and Kirsty MacColl departed this mortal coil and the nation hung its head in shame as Britney Spears, Christina…

2011 The world came together to celebrate the glorious union of the nation’s sweethearts Prince William and Kate Middleton. And for some reason became obsessed with Kate’s sister’s bum. The purpose of Twitter finally became clear and instead of meaningless dullards sharing with the world what they had for breakfast, repressed people were able to galvanise and come together with contrasting results in both the Arab Spring uprising and the London riots. Google decided to try and take on Facebook as it launched its own social media platform, called Google+. The Stone Roses and Black Sabbath reformed, while DJ Bob Harris was honored as part of the queen’s birthday celebrations. Without doubt, the standout star of the year was Adele, who had the best selling album and single of 2011.…

DV: Did you consider using Class D amplification during Plato’s development? DB: We did consider Class D amplification and also looked at a number of Class D modules, some of which are very well respected. However, we wanted to create our own design, which would deliver the highest possible audio quality, given the form factor. The focus of our design was to produce a wide bandwidth, high current amplifier with the most natural sound across the frequency range. The power amplifier heatsinks are coupled to the bottom plate to increase heat dissipation and we have additional active cooling, which kicks in when party volumes are in force, although this is not something I would expect end users to even be aware of. Also, we added a lot of active power…

It is generally considered that cables do not sound their best until they have been run in. This is especially true of silver cables, which can sound a little harsh until they have settled down. Some companies will have already burnt-in your cables for you, saving you the trouble. Others will provide this service for you at a cost. However, you can do this yourself if you are prepared to take the time to do so. Cables need an absolute minimum of 10 hours of use and will carry on improving during the following 70-100 hours. If you don’t have burn-in equipment, you need to connect your cables to a source, such as a CD player or FM radio. Remember, you don’t need the power amplifier on during this time,…

1969 Spendor forms as a company and the BC1 is born – the same year as Led Zeppelin’s eponymous album 1975 The white PVC cone surround is changed to black. To celebrate band members from Slade appear in the movie Flame 1977 A new magnet is fitted, upping the power handling to 55W, meanwhile the Sex Pistols release their album 1994 As Britpop takes over the world, it’s a sad day for Spendor as production of the BC1 ends. Oasis tops the album charts with Definitely Maybe…

It’s easy to understand why Alistair met with some resistance from brands when he looked to set up Signals from a domestic property, but my day just strengthens my belief that it is an approach which – if done properly – offers huge benefits for the customer. Not only do I have a handle on how these three systems perform, I also know what they can offer in a room like my own. This would be irrelevant if the brands being shown couldn’t deliver, but they provide a tremendously capable portfolio that at multiple price points over multiple formats works exceptionally well in domestic settings. It might seem incongruous that people are beating a path to a house in Suffolk from all over the UK, but when you sit down…

The Beatles From Then To You Scarce long-player that rounds up the Fabs’ super-rare Christmas flexidiscs that were issued to lucky fan club members. Brute Force King of Fuh The first of our 7in single oddities, this infamous, intentionally obscene 45 enjoyed a run of just 2,000 copies. Mary Hopkin Postcard There are no less than three Donovan covers on the first of two Apple LPs from the Those Were The Days singer. Billy Preston That’s The Way God Planned It The keyboard player’s fourth LP followed his contribution to The Beatles’ Get Back 45. Alejandro Jodorowsky El Topo A US-exclusive soundtrack to the Chilean auteur’s surreal Western – a favourite of John Lennon’s. Ravi Shankar & Ali Akbar Khan In Concert 1972 Two virtuosos of Indian classical music at…

CD Proper STILL GOING STRONG almost half a century after inventing English folk-rock with Fairport Convention, Thompson’s 25th solo album is being promoted as an adventure outside his comfort zone, a leap into the unknown recorded in Wilco’s Chicago studio with that band’s main man JeffTweedy taking over the production. Yet despite Tweedy’s deft touches, you’d barely notice anything has changed. Thompson’s fluid lead guitar lines and the carefully crafted songs – full of quiet dignity and determination and a very English introversion – all sound reassuringly familiar. Which is, perhaps, just as it should be.…

Hot pick Binker and Moses Dem Ones 180g vinyl Gearbox BINKER GOLDING AND Moses Boyd are a saxophonist and a drummer respectively. They’re young, come from London and have a lot of confidence. When was the last time a sax and drums album was made in this country? Even in the heyday of the free jazz style that they skirt around it was quite a rare thing, a bassist is and always was considered a vital element. vital element. Binker’s heroes appear to be John Coltrane, Charles Lloyd and perhaps Pharoah Sanders, he can play hard, fast and intense but is also very adept at a melody, and both styles are on show on these six improvised tracks. Moses is adept at mixing the rhythm, keeping it on track without…

John Lee Hooker The Healer A serious groove covering a wide range of frequencies. Trademark over compressed Santana lead guitar riffs and sparkling percussion. Person To Person High Time Superb production that showcases a bombastic kit sound, aligned to the rather punchy yet warm tones of a Steinberger bass. Shostakovich 2 piano concertos/24 preludes Op. 34 Oleg Marshey A recording full of atmosphere and excitement. The simplicity shines a spotlight on any system. Claire Martin Secret Love A slow burner with the purest of vocals, emphasising clarity of diction and sonic detail across the mix. All underpinned by a really lush-sounding baby grand.…

Cryogenic treatment of cables is a fairly common process applied to metallic alloys to improve their mechanical properties through stress relief and the formation of micro-precipitates, a technique that can also be applied to cables and valves. The physical changes to the metals are clearly evident, which is why some musical instruments are subjected to cryogenic treatment. The view is that they experience improved tonal performance due to the altered physical and mechanical characteristics after treatment. It is also suggested that tympanic instruments will resist cracking and sliding parts will resist wear and last longer as a consequence of this treatment. In addition to modifications to the physical properties, cryogenic treatment causes the crystal boundaries and the impurities in the metals to be changed and, in some cases, the properties…