Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2019 i Hi-Fi Choice

The loudspeaker sector appears to be one of the fastest growing areas in the audio market at the moment, with a seemingly ever increasing number of hi-fi designs arriving in a variety of shapes and sizes. A quick flick through this month's issue demonstrates the range of models available at price points to suit every pocket, from budget floorstanders to a high-end design from Wilson Audio, the place-anywhere TuneTot standmount (p43), and ELAC's superb Vela BS 403 with its JET tweeter (pictured left). Our Audiofile pages regularly bring you news of the most interesting loudspeaker designs, and there's bound to be plenty more to come following new model launches such as Acoustic Energy's flagship 500 Series (exclusively announced on p6) showcased for the first time at this year's Bristol Hi-Fi…

If not quite the loftiest tower in the group, the R-610F is certainly the deepest and so has quite a chunky physical presence. Suffice to say, the big, bulky and black floorstander from the company’s entry-level ‘R’ lineup isn’t the kind of speaker that dissolves into the décor. And, sans grille, the spun copper finish of its mid/bass driver is arguably even more eye catching than Monitor Audio’s three-driver orange array. The R-610F’s Tractrix horn features a circular throat around an aluminium diaphragm that fires into a square 90º x 90º mouth. The tweeter’s so-called Linear Travel Suspension uses Kapton, an extremely light and rigid material claimed to improve resolution and detail. A matching horn-shaped bass reflex port on the rear claims more powerful low end with reduced port noise…

QAcoustics can count itself among a small band of speaker makers that are consistently impressive. It’s as if the company would have to be handed a set of instructions describing how to put a foot wrong. Such is the case with the 3050i, which doesn’t look much different to its predecessor. It is (there are dubiously desirable shiny surrounds for the drivers), but the main ambition is better sound. There are degrees of trickle down involved and when the donor is the flagship Concept 500 (HFC 426), that has to be good news. Principally, the update involves something called P2P, Point-to-Point bracing, which, according to QA, supplies ‘internal support in areas of the cabinet that need stiffening, including an extra precision-cut damping panel’. Cue ‘more focused, accurate and low distortion…

Let’s start by getting one thing out the way. The £10,998 price tag at the top of the page is not a misprint or reflective of a one-off special edition. In fact, it doesn’t even include the cost of the grilles for Wilson Audio’s smallest speaker yet that pays homage to the company’s first ever design created to solve a specific installation challenge. This is an unashamedly high-end solution, but for a sense of perspective the TuneTot sits at the foothills of a strong product range extending all the way up to the WAMM Master Chronosonic built-to-order flagship priced around £700,000. Wilson Audio has cemented its reputation as one of the world’s premier high-end loudspeaker manufacturers. Founded in 1974 by Dave Wilson, it has refined long-held design principles in the…

Drawing from the collections of Bowie’s former manager Kenneth Pitt, Bowie biographer Kevin Cann and The David Bowie Archive, these demo recordings compiled as Spying Through A Keyhole are previously unreleased and, excitingly, none have been circulated among fans and collectors. Some songs were released in their final studio form (In The Heat Of The Morning, London Bye Ta-Ta, Space Oddity); some were known as titles only (Mother Grey, Goodbye 3d Joe, Angel Angel Grubby Face) and Love All Around is a previously undocumented song. With these songs reaching the 50-year mark, the likelihood is that this release is designed to extend the copyright on them, just like Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Van Morrison, Pink Floyd and others have done in recent times. For example, Dylan’s unambiguously monikered The 50th…

MARK LEVINSON NO 515 £12,999 The first turntable to wear the Mark Levinson name, the No 515 is developed in cooperation with VPI and features a unique three-belt drive system. The price shown includes a factory-fitted Ortofon Cadenza Bronze moving-coil cartridge. MARK LEVINSON NO 519 £19,999 A sophisticated digital audio player and DAC that includes support for Tidal streaming (with MQA support), Qobuz and internet radio alongside a CD mechanism and digital inputs. It can also be used as a preamp connected to a power amp. MARK LEVINSON NO 585.5 £15,999 The 585.5 is relatively unusual for a Mark Levinson device in that it is an integrated amp. It still delivers a very hefty 200W per channel, which is made available to a selection of digital and analogue inputs including…

Bugge Wesseltoft, Dan Berglund, Magnus Öström Rymden: Reflections & Odysseys 180g vinyl Jazzland THE PIANO-LED TRIO has become something of a jazz staple with many great artists having embraced the form over the years. One of the most successful in recent times was the Esbjorn Svensson Trio (or est as they are more commonly known), but their dominance of the European scene came to an end with Svensson’s sad death in 2008. The trio behind Rymden consists of bass player Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Öström from est alongside the inspired keyboards of Bugge Wesseltoft. The tunes on Rymden are written by separate band members so there is a variety of styles, from Öström’s which are very est to Wesseltoft who channels funk-era Herbie Hancock on one, and genuine beauty…

2x SACD Pentatone HEARD IN EITHER the stereo or surround sound mixes, this recording is a model of natural orchestral sound engineering. Take the string section — the body of sound evenly fills the soundstage just as one would experience in a concert. The string tone is superbly rich and full and avoids the unnatural over brightness that's so common these days. The winds have clarity, sitting naturally in the stereo picture without being brought forward by inelegant spot-miking. The brass and percussion are crisp and focussed. The strength of the orchestra is in its large string section, so essential to Russian music. The winds and brass are more variable in quality; often elegant and stylish, but sometimes a bit out of tune. A thoroughly enjoyable complete Swan Lake, which…

1932 Birmingham Sound Reproducers is founded, while Sally Owen Clark (aka Petula) is born in Epsom, Surrey 1972 BSR establishes its Nipponese subsidiary while in Singapore Led Zeppelin are banned from playing due to their long hair 1975 BSR launches the BDS 80 as John Lennon takes a five-year hiatus from making music in order to devote himself to his family 1986 BSR is renamed CTI Japan while Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel bass player Paul Jeffreys dies in an air crash aged just 36…

RATHER THAN BEING a revision of the previous Pro we looked at in HFC 441, the Flares Pro 2 is actually an all-new model. The differences are evolutionary rather than revolutionary, but Flare says that they amount to significant sound quality improvements over the original, which remains on sale but at a considerably lower price. The Pro 2 uses a single 5.5mm dynamic driver made from Beryllium mounted inside a titanium cylindrical housing. This is designed to work with the ear tips to provide what Flare calls Acoustic Lens Technology. This creates a shape not unlike the waveguide found on some tweeters and aims to help focus sound when the tip is compressed in the ear canal. Tip the balance There are three different tips supplied in three different sizes…

kIntroducing two new products from Puresound, first up is the A30-R (£1,900) Class A integrated valve amplifier that claims 30W power output. Based on the company’s long-running A30, the restyled front panel of the R version sports a gloss black finish, while the revised specification claims to achieve cooler operation and a lower noise floor and provides four line-level RCA inputs, 4 and 8ohm loudspeaker impedance taps and a motorised volume control via the supplied remote handset. The all-new L5 line-level preamp (£1,000) incorporates four RCA inputs along with twin RCA outputs and also has a motorised volume controlled via the supplied remote. Both models are on sale now and further details can be found at: PURESOUND.INFO…

The Smart Matrix Silent from Clearaudio promises super quiet record cleaning for LPs and 7in singles – via a supplied adapter – for all types of records, new or old. As the name suggests, it’s engineered to keep noise to an absolute minimum while using a 500W vacuum motor. It promises a deep yet gentle removal of all chemical pressing residues, dust, fingerprints and other contaminants, while its bidirectional rotation offers even greater cleaning performance. Weighing almost 11kg and measuring 345 x 234 x 345mm (WxHxD), it’s available now in silver or black finishes priced at £1,375. An optional dust cover costs £125. SOUNDFOWNDATIONS.CO.UK…

Consumer electronics giant, Sony aims to fuse vinyl’s much-loved sound quality with the convenience and flexibility of connecting wirelessly to compatible Bluetooth speakers or headphones with its recently introduced PSLX310BT turntable. Wired connectivity is also provided along with gain level adjustment selector (low/mid/high) and a built-in phono stage for direct connection to a line-level amplifier. The belt-driven deck has an aluminium platter, 33 and 45rpm electronic speed change, a straight tonearm and comes supplied with a clear Perspex removable dust cover. One-step auto playback lowers the tonearm and stylus into the record groove and automatically returns it to its resting position at the end of playback. Finished in black, it will be available from April and costs £250. SONY.CO.UK…

Technical director, Cambridge Audio DP: Why create the Edge series? DB: For our fiftieth anniversary we felt that the time was right. Five decades ago our founders had a vision of creating hi-fi systems that delivered Great British sound into people’s homes affordably. One of these talented engineers, Professor Gordon Edge, was the brains behind the innovation and design of our first product – the legendary P40 integrated amplifier. In recognition of this, we developed Edge. We have done high end before, of course. Back in 1987 Cambridge Audio launched the CD1 two-box CD player – the first of its kind to have the transport and DAC separated, and the most expensive CD player in the world at the time. Edge took three years to design, with no less than…

On the face of it, the Oberon 5 is a much more modest proposition than DALI’s traditional fare – the smaller of two floorstanders in a lineup just two tiers above its entry-level Spektor range. It’s the daintiest tower in the group and the tactile grain finish is a classy touch. The Oberon 5 is a simple two-way design, its brace of 130mm mid/bass drivers using the company’s proprietary wood fibre/paper-pulp cone tech and sharing the work load with a larger than usual 29mm soft-dome tweeter. Two lines of thought here: the cones are claimed to be high in stiffness and low in resonance, but just as importantly DALI’s engineers have devoted themselves to optimising the motorsystem to deliver exceptional clarity and dynamics. With a claimed sensitivity of 88dB/1W/1m and…

If Mission’s tubby QX-2 standmount (HFC 436) proved that it’s hip to be square, its lofty, slimline sibling affects a more conventional elegance and makes those rigidity-boosting aluminium end caps look better still. The rounded-off cabinet corners and footprint expanding, heavyweight metal plinth smack of the aspirational, too, as do the slick comb-tooth driver trims concealing the fixing bolts. Its proportions are essentially those of the baby QX-1 standmount made long with an extra mid/bass driver, two rear-firing bass ports and vastly more cabinet volume to address a much wider bandwidth remit. The 135mm main drivers adopt Mission’s new DiaDrive cone system, which has an inverted pulp and acrylic cone driven by a secondary sub cone to “transfer maximum transient impact” from the motor system – which itself uses an…

CEO Wilson Audio ES: Tell us about the design brief? DW: One of TuneTot’s main design objectives was to be as compact as possible while still providing relatively good LF extension. TuneTot uses the same high-quality parts and proprietary materials as the WAMM Master Chronosonic and we are thrilled with the results, both sonically and aesthetically. Is its ability to work in almost any location a reflection on how many of us build hi-fi systems today? We wanted flexibility of installation and a level of adjustability that would accommodate just about any compact system. With the built-in driver alignment tools, included vent plug and all the other elements we offer, you can sonically and visually customise your TuneTots more than what we’ve ever offered. What would you say inspired the…

Since the headphone market exploded with new brands and models from all sectors of the audio world almost a decade ago, Focal has been working hard to stay ahead of the competition and grow its lineup with a range that covers all possible bases. The Elegia is its latest addition and at first glance looks very similar to the Elear (now priced at £900) that we first saw back in HFC 416. Unlike its other full-size headphones, the Elegia is a closed-back design suitable for listening in noisier environments than would typically be practical for open-backed models. The enclosures are claimed to completely isolate the drivers from the outside world and unlike a few notionally ‘closed’ designs we’ve seen over the years, there is no venting at all. The driver…

At the start of the new year, the music industry trade bodies release their final sales figures for the preceding 12 months. The British Phonographic Industry – the trade body that keeps tabs on these things – reports that streaming is going gangbusters. It now accounts for nearly two-thirds (63.6 percent) of UK music consumption; in 2018 there were 91 billion audio streams served through Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and other streaming services. That’s a 33.5 percent rise on the year before, 2,350 percent up on 2012. The BPI says that in 2019 it expects 100 billion streams, helped by the likes of the licensed Youtube Music, which launched in the UK last June. In December, 2 billion audio streams were served in a single week. So it’s curtains for…

he sad death at the end of 2018 of Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks set me thinking about the significance of punk and its enduring legacy. The warmth of the tributes to Shelley were evidence of how the impact of punk is etched upon the cultural landscape. With songs such as Boredom and Orgasm Addict, Shelley and his Manchester band took what had been a London-centric cult and turned punk into a nationwide phenomenon. Perhaps more importantly, the Buzzcocks epitomised punk’s DIY spirit. The group’s first record, the Spiral Scratch EP, was self released and paid for via an early form of crowdfunding by borrowing £500 from friends and the guitarist’s dad. Their only ambition was to sell enough copies to pay back the debt. Yet in taking control of…

Anna Calvi Live At Meltdown FLAC 24/44.1 onkyomusic.com MERCURY PRIZE-NOMINATED CALVI'S live album – recorded at the South Bank's Meltdown – is a swirling, gothic pop odyssey, full of sumptuous instrumentation and her sonorous voice. Across 12 tracks – including a guest appearance by David Byrne – Calvi shows why she's one of the most distinctive voices in music today. As she strokes her trusty Fender Telecaster, this recording is so clear and spatially perfect it's like being there. PH Neil Young Songs For Judy FLAC 24/176.4 onkyomusic.com NEIL YOUNG'S FANTASTIC 1976 live album has been given the HD treatment and though perhaps not quite as he'd like you to hear it via his Pono player, has never sounded better. As Young strums his way through 20-plus tracks (he opened…

AT FIRST GLANCE, the xCAN looks almost identical to iFi Audio’s stablemate xDSD (HFC 439). Both share the same gleaming aluminium casing, with a compact, ridged design that looks similar to a hipflask. But while the xDSD functions as a multi-purpose DAC/amp combo, the xCAN primarily focuses on providing a portable and powerful analogue headphone amp. The main controls on the two devices are very similar too, with the same chunky volume dial, which also doubles up as a control button for switching between wired or wireless input modes. The xCAN also has the same Settings button on the right for switching between the 3D+ and XBass II filters, but where the xDSD sports just a single 3.5mm headphone socket, the xCAN adds a 2.5mm connector for balanced headphones as…

A lot has been written about HMV since December. Some of it overly whimsical and some more realistically noting that in an age of on-demand entertainment it has become something of a dinosaur, reacting to purchasing trends with the alacrity of a supertanker trying to pull a three-point turn. But among all the noise, the rather sadder tale of Fopp has slid by the wayside. Fopp was an independent that offered everything that HMV's new owners are hoping to instil in their acquisition in an effort to prevent it from slipping into irrelevance. Stocking the same mix of vinyl, books, CDs and DVDs as HMV but at a vastly reduced price, it was the go-to store for those in the know – not least because, thanks to its indie roots,…

PRICE: £179-£499 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 01732 740944 WEB: SSAV.COM Sister brand to NAD and Bluesound, Canadian loudspeaker maker PSB has revamped its long-running Alpha range and introduced four all-new models including two compact standmounts, a floorstander and a centre speaker for multi-channel installations. The new range is said to combine improved materials and production techniques over the original design first introduced 30 years ago, offering natural sound from a minimalist and elegant cabinet. The P3 (£179) is the smallest standmount measuring 130 x 220 x 174mm (WxHxD) and fitted with a 19mm tweeter placed below the 102mm mid/bass driver and claims a sensitivity of 87dB into 8ohm. The new tweeter used throughout the range is a ferrofluid cooled design with a Neodymium magnet off ering high sensitivity and power handling,…

As the larger of the floorstanders in the five-strong F series, the F303 boasts two 150mm multifibre paper coned mid/bass drivers with unusually contoured ‘variable geometry’ roll rubber surrounds for a non-homogenous interface and a more effective barrier to the cone’s energy, leading to a cleaner, more precise sound. Sunk into a glossy black ‘head band’, the 25mm tweeter’s key parts are a polyester dome and a powerful neodymium magnet system. But integrated with the protective mesh cover is a so-called ‘phase loss compensator’, which delays output from specific areas of the dome to promote a smoother, more extended frequency response. Similar attention to detail and quality has been paid to the computer optimised (but critically fine-tuned by ear) crossover board, which uses high-grade components usually found in far more…

Seldom high-end, cost-no-object behemoths, the cleverest speakers are built-to-a-price designs that deliver where it really counts: sonically. That could be the moral of this roundup and, arguably, there is no finer exemplar than the Monitor 300. Flagship of MA’s value-orientated entry-level Monitor range, it’s the next lowest-cost tower here but just about the tallest and, with three sizeable mid and bass units, packs what looks to be formidable firepower. A 2.5-way design, two of the 165mm Metal Matrix Polymer-coned drivers handle the bass all the way down to a claimed 35Hz while the third is dedicated to the midband. Lifted from the Bronze range, the 25mm black Ceramic Coated aluminium magnesium dome tweeter is said to reach a more than ample 30kHz. A pair of Monitor Audio’s HiVe II (High…

CD TRANSPORT: Cambridge CXC £300 HFC 401 A keenly priced CD transport that will extract the best from your DAC of choice. Go for something like the Chord Hugo or Rega DAC and you’ll have a source that will do justice to any of these speakers. STREAMER: Auralic Aries Mini £449 HFC 442 It might not be the prettiest streamer going, but the level of performance is beyond anything else at the price. As well as superb sonics, you get an excellent control interface and it can even be used as a server. INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER: Audiolab 8300A £900 HFC 404 Unlike a number of amplifiers currently on sale, the 8300A is exclusively analogue and its clean and insightful sound will complement the talents of the vivacious and fluent Oberon 5…

Loudspeaker designers seem to be faced with an increasingly difficult brief: get smaller but sound bigger and better. The trouble is the laws of physics rarely budge, so audio designers and many listeners often feel the need to weigh form over function, with the result being a slippery slope to discrete but ultimately compromised speakers that can lack dynamics. But German manufacturer ELAC clearly has other ideas. The audio experts tasked with revamping its popular 400 series had a tough gig to improve on, but the Vela BS 403 might just be a revelation. Unboxing the reassuringly heavy Vela BS 403, the precision of fit and finish and the quality of the materials brought together so accurately is striking. From the front, the German built loudspeaker looks orthodox enough, albeit…

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-fi kit from his 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-fi review 25 years ago. Since then he’s edited Hi-Fi World and HFC. He describes himself as an…

CD IHT IT’S CLOSE TO 20 years since Gray’s White Ladder topped charts around the world, which means the expanded deluxe anniversary edition is surely on the way. Meanwhile, we have his first new album in five years and it’s something of a departure, his folk troubadour leanings juxtaposed against a more experimental soundbed of atmospheric textures and electronic programming. The sonic reinvention has been masterminded by Producer Ben de Vries, freeing up Gray to concentrate on nuancing his singular songcraft. His voice has never sounded more soulful than on The Sapling, while the title track has an almost trip-hop mystique and Watching The Waves is as gently hypnotic as anything he’s ever written. Gold In A Brass Age is a fine example of how a multi-million selling artist can…

Paul Thomas, UK/EU sales director Markaudio-Sota, reveals the music that he uses to demo and develop products Ernest Ranglin Below The Bassline Reggae meets jazz. Intricate rhythms and melodies played by superb musicians really enjoying themselves. Features addictive, lightning-fast guitar. John Grant Pale Green Ghosts I remember sitting late at night and hearing this for the first time. John's voice is mesmerising and the album is a great tester for any system. Trentemøller The Last Resort Vamp has the deepest bass recording I've ever heard. This a real test of bass control and extension, timing and setting your speakers up. Industrial sound, but with real hidden beauty. The Steve Miller Band Circle Of Love Macho City has great drumming, bass, lots of phasing and imaging effects. It's a fantastic rock…

AS PART OF the Excel Corporation in Japan that has been making phono cartridges for a variety of different companies for decades, in recent years Hana has introduced designs branded with its own name. We saw models from its S and E series in HFC 408 and 410 but the M is the new top-tier offering, marking a significant jump in design and price. In contrast to the composite used on the more affordable models, the M is made from Delrin – a specialist thermoplastic with similar resonant properties to vinyl. One useful addition is that this body includes threaded inserts making mounting much simpler. The body houses an aluminium cantilever with a nude microlinear stylus that Hana feels is superior to its S series Shibata as its profile more…

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 with no more than 50 words (we reserve the right to edit it if not), remembering to include your email, phone number and county. Simply email your ad to: letters@hifichoice.co.uk. This service is open to private advertisers only. Just one ad per household and please note that images are for illustration only and do not represent what is for sale. FOR SALE CLEAR AUDIO isolation platform with RDC cone feet. £50. Plus carriage: 01825 722936. AKG Y50/Lindy headphone amp, awardwinning headphones with carry case and cable, black, comes with Lindy mini headphone amp. Was £130, now £35: 07981 025698 or email: Chrisandelizabeth2001@yahoo.co.uk (Bristol).…