Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2022 i Hi-Fi Choice

PRICE: £140-£260 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: SONY.CO.UK SONY HAS EXPANDED its wireless X-Series portable speaker range with three new models: the SRS-XG300, SRS-XE300 and SRS-XE200. The company says that the SRS-XG300: “lets you enjoy deep, club-like bass and clear high-frequency audio, thanks to the integrated tweeters and Mega Bass features… For those who prefer their party with some added colour, you can switch on the SRS-XG300’s ambient illumination that synchronises the lighting on the speakers to the beat of the music.” Designed with portability in mind, the SRS-XG300 comes with a retractable handle while the smaller SRS-XE200 has a strap, making it easy to carry around. All models come with IP67 rating, making them splash and dust proof. The SRS-XE300 and SRS-XE200 also benefit from Sony’s shock testing to ensure they…

PRICE: £860 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: MUSICALFIDELITY.COM HENLEYAUDIO.CO.UK HENLEY AUDIO IS bringing Musical Fidelity’s new MX-Stream music system to the UK – the company’s first high-end audio optimised streamer and network bridge. The MX-Stream is optimised for bit-perfect audio with low-noise regulation throughout plus support for Spotify, Tidal, Highresaudio, Qobuz and TuneIn services. It is Roon Ready certified with Shairport, UPnP/DLNA and Bluetooth, and you only need to attach USB and NAS music storage for full library support and playback. It’s controllable via smart devices and PC, boasts an HDMI output for attaching a screen and the chassis has been designed to add extra weight in a bid to make it resistant to unwelcome vibrations and interference. The company explains: “The MX-Stream is a universal, transport-only network device that can deliver…

PRICE: £6,800 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: MCINTOSHLABS.COM FINESOUNDS.UK NEW-YORK BASED MCINTOSH has launched its new MR89 AM/FM tuner, which is described as: “A thoroughly updated stereo receiver for the modern music lover, which benefits from a plethora of advancements including adjustments to sensitivity, signal-to-noise ratio, harmonic distortion, channel selectivity and stereo separation. The MR89 also features exclusive McIntosh radio frequency circuitry that can receive both strong FM signals from nearby stations, while also being able to tune in weaker FM signals with little to no noise.” The company claims that setup is easy as the MR89’s signal-quality monitor can display detailed signal, multipath and noise levels (from the incoming radio signal) to help fine-tune optimal placement of the AM or FM antenna; and an RAA2 AM antenna is included. The MR89…

SHELTER HARMONY £4,300 According to the dictionary, the definition of ‘Harmony’ is: “the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions”. That, and the obvious association with the world of music probably explains why it’s appeared in the name of more than a few domestic and pro-audio brands and products over the years. This particular celebration of Harmony comes in the form of Shelter’s flagship moving-coil cartridge, which at £4,300, is far from the costliest pick-up you can lay your hands on from the high-end scene. As one of Japan’s most well-known boutique cartridge manufacturers, Shelter names its MCs with as much care as it selects its diamonds, body shells and mechanisms. Indeed, even the brand name was coined by founder Yasuo Ozawa…

TURNTABLES £500-£995 DETAILS PRODUCT Edwards Audio TT4 Carbon ORIGIN UK TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 5.2kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 465 x 113 x 370mm FEATURES ● 33 & 45rpm ● Unipivot tonearm ● Edwards Audio C50 MM cartridge DISTRIBUTOR Talk Electronics Ltd. Edwards Audio is the brainchild of Kevin Edwards of Talk Electronics. His range of vinyl spinners is proudly designed and made in the UK. It’s obviously hitting the sweet spot because he’s growing fast and has just opened a new manufacturing facility in Wiltshire. He’s followed the blueprint – set by Rega in the Seventies and expanded by Pro-Ject in the Nineties – of making clever, minimalist designs that are tweaked to give the best possible sound per pound. The TT4 Carbon is no exception.. The deck sports an attractive…

TURNTABLES £500-£995 DETAILS PRODUCT Rega Planar 3/Exact ORIGIN UK TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 6kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 447 x 117 x 360mm FEATURES ● 33 & 45rpm ● RB330 tonearm ● Exact MM cart DISTRIBUTOR Rega Research Ltd. There will be some reading this for whom the Rega Planar 3 was the first ‘proper’ turntable they owned. Launched in 1978, it hit the sweet spot between high-end decks and budget ones perfectly. Indeed it was so successful that there was once a waiting list to buy one. These days, the formula remains much the same, although the deck itself is way better in terms of design. Although basically an inexpensive, minimalist vinyl spinner with no independently sprung sub-chassis or other such fanciful features, it combines a suite of clever touches to…

TURNTABLES £500-£995 IN SIXTH PLACE is Yamaha’s MusicCast Vinyl 500. It’s a great deck for the money, is packed with features – including impressive wireless/ network functionality – yet still sounds nice to listen to. Its build, finish and slickness are a lesson to the world that the Japanese haven’t lost their touch – even at this price. In fifth is the Pro-Ject X1, for no other reason than the competition is so stiff. The package is strong, with an excellent MM cartridge and build is way better than budget Pro-Jects of yore. In absolute terms, though, it sounds a little soft around the edges, and doesn’t quite have the slickness of build of some others in the group. The NAD C 588 is also an appealing all-round package. I…

Sonos has long dominated the multi-room speaker market, but it’s taken the company longer to get the hang of soundbars. However, it seems to have settled into a nice groove with its range of late, providing a Dolby Atmos upgrade for its second-gen Beam offering (HFC 487), and now releasing a more affordable option in the shape of the Ray. Available in black or white, it’s more compact than the Beam 2 so it can fit easily inside a TV cabinet or tucked on a shelf below the screen. The Ray houses two tweeters, two mid drivers and a pair of bass ports, although as usual Sonos chooses to keep the specifics to itself. There’s no support for Dolby Atmos, just Dolby Digital and DTS Digital at this price. Fair…

Available in a variety of colours, the TW-E5B is the middle model of Yamaha’s true-wireless range positioned slap bang between the entry-level TW-E3B and more expensive TW-E7B, which is expected later this year for £220. Far from the most elegant earbuds we’ve seen, the TW-E5B has a large, oval outer panel and a chunky cylindrical body that fits inside the ear with the earpieces protruding quite noticeably. Yamaha has opted for actual buttons – that need to be pressed firmly – to adjust volume and other settings. The complaints stop there, though, as the chunky design fits quite well, thanks to a raised ridge on the inner section of the earpieces that helps hold them in place. There are four sizes of tips included to help provide a good fit,…

It’s been a wild ride, but if our journey so far is anything to go by, the best is yet to come,” says DJ Becca Ferrier Baker, founder of Orange Moon Records, North Berwick. A beautiful coastal town in East Lothian, 30 minutes by train from Edinburgh, North Berwick may boast dramatic scenery, but until recently it couldn’t stake a claim to a great vinyl hang-out. All that changed in December 2021, when a small community-based record store with big ideas opened above speciality coffee roasters Steampunk Coffee, a stone’s throw from the sea. Cool, stripped-back and industrial but supremely welcoming, Orange Moon is a fantastic mix of retro and modern – which reflects the music in the racks; the accessories on the wall; the decks crying out to be…

Irecently acquired a copy-master tape of a Bert Kaempfert album, the LP of which I have had in my music collection since the late-Sixties but hadn’t played for decades. When I started playing the first track and heard the Kaempfert trademark ‘crackling bass’ sound my memories of it came flooding back – not just the tune, but the orchestration, timing and pace. The music was superb and the quality in terms of dynamic range, clarity and imaging was significantly better than from the LP. All in all, I had a highly enjoyable and rather nostalgic time. However, according to a study conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Toronto and Unity Health Toronto, not only is listening to familiar music a pleasurable experience, it also gives the…

Jesca Hoop Order Of Romance ★★★★★ CD Memphis Industries WHILE SIR PAUL McCartney and Diana Ross were getting all the attention on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury, over in a smaller field Jesca Hoop was quietly making herself the secret star of the festival. Her set, in which she unveiled songs from her new album, was so ecstatically received she was invited to the main stage to guest with Elbow. The Californian singer-songwriter who was born long after Ross had left the Supremes and the Beatles had broken up, was raised as a Mormon, ran away from her parents and their religion at 16 and got her first footing in the music industry as a babysitter to Tom Waits’ children. Kismet, her debut album, was released in 2007 and Waits…

AS THE MORE affordable sibling of QED’s XT5 power cable, the XT3 is designed to deliver clean and distortion-free power to your audio equipment. Though it lacks the ferrite jacket fitted to its sibling, it is otherwise similar. The conductors are made from 99.999 percent oxygen-free copper and are sheathed in a Black Pearl outer jacket. The cable is terminated in a UK mains plug at one end (or optionally with a EU Schuko plug) and an IEC C13 connector at the other. The XT3 benefits from QED’s X-Tube technology to reduce the ‘proximity effect’ created when current density builds up in the parts of the conductors that are closest to each other, causing the cable impedance to increase as the frequency or current rises. This effect is relevant even…

PRICE: £1,200 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: KEF.COM UK COMPANY KEF has introduced its LSX II wireless hi-fi system, which is being marketed as boasting: “high-fidelity sound, numerous connectivity options, easy use and contemporary design”. An upgrade from the original LSX (HFC 456), the new model uses the W2 wireless platform from the LS50 Wireless II (HFC 488) and connectivity options include HDMI and USB-C, making it compatible for TV, laptop and desktop computer setups. The X factor The company describes the LSX II as taking: “the two-speaker box approach, giving music the space to breathe and develop, creating a three-dimensional soundstage”. Each speaker uses a version of KEF’s 11th-generation Uni-Q driver array, a signature technology which acts as a point source where the tweeter is placed at the precise acoustic centre…

PRICE: £460-£3,000 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: KLIPSCH.COM KLIPSCH HAS LAUNCHED a new range of speakers – the Reference Premiere series, an enhanced, third-generation version of its previous Reference Premieres. Featuring what the company claims to be: “the most impactful upgrades in the series’ history,” the newbies use larger proprietary Tractrix horn technology in a bid to improve high-frequency response and extension and enhance imaging and dynamics. Klipsch’s signature copper Cerametallic bass drivers with aluminium Faraday rings and Tractrix ports are used to provide what the company says are: “powerful low frequencies while minimising distortion and maximising efficiency”. The new series also boasts an exclusive Linear Travel Suspension (LTS) titanium tweeter, which is claimed to maximise dynamics in order to deliver detailed performances. The range is available in two furnituregrade wood finishes…

PRICE: £75 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: INTROBYBLACKRHODIUM .CO.UK BLACK RHODIUM HAS released three new products in its Intro range – the Mains Power cable, XLR stereo interconnect and Sub-Woofer cable. The Mains Power Cable is fitted with either UK 13-amp or Schuko plugs in a standard length of 2m covered in woven braid in a bid to reduce unwanted vibrations. The company explains that: “sound quality is further enhanced by a large ferrite core placed close to the socket”. The Mains Power Cable is available in a choice of seven colours – black, blue red white, orange, yellow and green – and is priced at £75. The company says the XLR stereo interconnect: “is specially designed to give a high-quality sound at a very affordable price. As such it is highly…

PRICE: £1,590 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: EXPOSUREHIFI.COM BRITISH BRAND EXPOSURE has launched a new 3510 pre/power amplifier combination. The company says the 3510 series shares many design elements with its top-of-the-range 5010 series. First came the 3510 integrated, which replaced and improved upon the 3010S2D (HFC 397) of the outgoing 3010 series. Now the 3010 series pre and power amplifiers are being phased out, replaced by the 3510 models. The new preamp sports six line inputs, with the option to substitute one of these to fit an MC or MM phono module or a plug-in DAC. There are two main RCA outputs and one tape out. Exposure says that high-quality relays are used for input source selection, while audio output stages use discrete transistor Class A output buffers. The AV input…

Hi-Fi Choice employs the most methodical test and measurement regime in the business. Here’s how we do it... TURNTABLES GROUP TEST TURNTABLES ARE NOT things that can simply be unboxed, switched on and played. All designs here come out of the box partially disassembled, so each has to be built beforehand and, of course, setup. How this is done varies considerably, but all follow the same basic approach. All decks come supplied with a cartridge included in the total package price. This varies from basic types such as in the Yamaha, to accomplished mid-price designs as per the Rega and Pro-Ject. For this reason, wherever possible, an Audio-Technica AT-VM95E (HFC 444) is also tried as a reference; decks are auditioned both with this and their supplied cartridge. Alignment is done…

TURNTABLES £500-£995 DETAILS PRODUCT NAD C 588 ORIGIN Canada/Czech Republic TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 9.2kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 435 x 125 x 340mm FEATURES ● 33 & 45rpm ● Carbon fibre tube tonearm ● Ortofon 2M Red MM cartridge DISTRIBUTOR Sevenoaks Sound & Vision With a wealth of turntable production experience, NAD’s zany 5120 – complete with bendy tonearm – of the early Eighties is perhaps its most iconic. This latest design is a very neat, well made affair that’s much more conservative than that. Manufactured by Pro-Ject in the Czech Republic, it’s very much in the mould of the company’s budget fare – which is certainly no bad thing. As with every deck here, this is a belt-drive design – which is easier and cheaper to make than direct drive,…

TURNTABLES £500-£995 DETAILS PRODUCT Roksan Attessa ORIGIN UK TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 6.3kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 432 x 115 x 353mm FEATURES ● 33 & 45rpm ● Roksan Attessa unipivot tonearm ● Roksan Dana MM cartridge DISTRIBUTOR Monitor Audio Group This British brand came to the fore in the mid-Eighties, gaining critical acclaim for its high-end Xerxes turntable. Things have changed since then for Roksan, and it now makes affordable designs too – and the Attessa is a very interesting one. It’s an all-in-one package, including deck, tonearm, cartridge and phono preamp; the latter can be switched off so you can use your own phono input should you prefer. And, of course, you can change out the bundled entry-level Dana cartridge too. The aluminium tonearm is a unipivot design and the…

ENGSTRÖM ARNE £29,500 Engström’s ARNE integrated amplifier is the company’s ‘entry-level’ offering and is quite possibly an amp best suited to what comedy writer Danny Robins made famous as “The Cold Swedish Winter”, as it can also double as a potent heat source. That’s because the curvaceous glass cover protecting the pairs of power triodes inside gets very warm indeed, so this amp requires plenty of ‘fresh air’. By the way, when it comes to Engström, ‘entry-level’ should by no means be mistaken for meaning affordable in any way as this particular slice of triode tube gorgeousness will set you back the best part of £30,000 for what is effectively the ARNE ‘Mk 2’. The subject of extensive R&D since its launch, this 300B integrated is now offered in a…

Ten years ago it was phono stages, then it was DACs, valve amps, headphone amps and head-fi. Now, the happening thing is wireless speaker systems. Given that everything else either is or is trying to go wireless, this should come as no surprise. JBL has been a fairly early entrant into the market, one that’s going to be saturated within a year or so from now. It has done a number of wireless speakers to date, but this is the most sophisticated and expensive I’ve tried. It takes it firmly out of the portable Bluetooth speaker sector – good as its products in that sphere are. The 4305P straddles more consumer audio-type products and the budget hi-fi sector. Being a JBL speaker, it does things its own way. It has…

True wireless is good business for a number of companies at the moment and Bang & Olufsen has shown a fair degree of proficiency in the sector. The Beoplay EX is its flagship offering and enters the market towards the top end of pricing for the category. The core spec is largely in line with rivals, but there are some anomalies. Unusually for a design at this price, there is only a single driver per enclosure. This is a 9.2mm dynamic unit for which B&O gives a quoted frequency response of 20Hz-20kHz. This is coupled to a Bluetooth 5.2 implementation with aptX Adaptive and AAC as well as the default SBC. With Bowers & Wilkins and Philips offering multiple drivers, the latter at a substantially lower price, the B&O looks…

The whole world has gone mad”, Kate Bush said recently in a rare interview on BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour. She was talking about the ‘sync’ licence and accompanying retro-mania which catapulted her 1985 hit Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) back to the top of the charts after the song was used by Netflix’s sci-fi drama Stranger Things. Bush’s renewed success has broken at least three records – the longest time between release and a song reaching number one; the oldest female songwriter to reach the top spot; and the longest ever gap between number ones – 44 years since Wuthering Heights gave Bush her only previous chart-topper in 1978. Since then another sync from the same Netflix drama has also taken Metallica’s 1986 Master Of Puppets…

On AC/DC’s album Let There Be Rock there’s a track called Bad Boy Boogie. In truth, it’s not the greatest song the band ever recorded, but as Bon Scott yelps: “All you women, come along with me/And I’ll show how good a bad boy can be” its testosterone-fuelled thunder seemed to perfectly sum them up. Few bands have ever done the priapic hard-rocking bad-boy boogie with more salacious glee than AC/DC. Their debut album was appropriately titled High Voltage and they have kept the current flowing at a level fit to blow every fuse ever since. Next year AC/DC celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first club gigs in Sydney, Australia in 1973. Along the way they have sold more than 200-million albums with 1980’s Back In Black becoming the…

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 TELLURIUM Q Graphite 1.5m pair loudspeaker cables new/old stock, ex-demo purchased August 2021. Excellent condition banana/ banana tighten up collars, original box £525 ono: 07432 245911 or email: christophermaynard02@ gmail.com. SENNHEISER HD 800 S headphones, in excellent condition, boxed, with…

PRICE: £200-£250 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: TANGENT-AUDIO.COM AVOKE.CO.UK TANGENT HAS RELEASED a pair of affordable new amplifiers – the PreAmp II and PowerAmpster II. Designed to accept all of a consumers’ sources, the company says the Tangent PreAmp II is described as: “a compact and powerful preamplifier with connectivity that covers all analogue and digital options: Bluetooth, optical digital, RCA analogue, Aux mini-jack and usefully in the current surge of vinyl enjoyment, a phono stage (RIAA).” Additionally, the PreAmp II can be used as a headphone amplifier via the 6.35mm jack on the front panel and its digital interface features the latest Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD controller from Qualcomm. With the inclusion of a set of balanced XLR outputs, the PreAmp II can be connected to an external power amplifier. It…

PRICE: £5,500 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: DS-AUDIO-W.BIZ JAPANESE PHONO CARTRIDGE expert DS Audio has unveiled its ES-001 to make the playing of vinyl a more stable experience. The company explains: “The speed-stability performance of a record depends on a number of parameters in the pressing of the vinyl. Take for example the positioning of the stamper plate, which creates the record’s groove (which is of course different for each sides), and also the spindle hole at the centre. While both are very precisely stamped and cut, neither can ever be ultra precise in the way that, say, a hard metal can be precision machined – simply because in this case, we’re dealing with a lump of vinyl. “The upshot is that most records rotate very slightly eccentrically, but even this very…

PRICE: £1,350 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: VERTEREACOUSTICS.COM VERTERE ACOUSTICS HAS updated its PHONO-1 MKII, MM/MC phono preamplifier. The company says the new PHONO-1 MKII L features: “improved performance, a new gold-plated L-shaped printed circuit board and significantly enhanced accessibility for the customisation DIP switches…The sound quality improvements are subtle, but significant. The MKII already was better than the original due to the more optimal choice of components. The L takes this further with non-trivial PCB layout improvements. Moving the linear power supply to the main PCB allowed a significant track and ground plane layout optimisation. The new design ensures signal tracks are of equal length, impedances lowered and track widths adjusted to direct current flow.” The company goes on to explain that the PHONO-1: “already included an unusual grounding selection switch…

PRICE: £6,750-£11,750 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: DCSAUDIO.COM UK HI-FI SPECIALIST dCS has launched Lina, its new playback system: “designed to meet the unique needs and demands of the head-fi community.” Billed as: “the definitive system for headphone playback”, it features a dedicated network DAC, headphone amp and Grade 1 master clock, designed and hand assembled in Cambridgeshire. The Lina Network DAC combines dCS’ Ring DAC and Digital Processing Platform with new innovations, such as the company’s first ever touchscreen display, a streamlined user interface and a flex-ridged circuit board. It supports hi-res streaming via Roon, Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, Deezer and Apple AirPlay. The touchscreen user interface has customisable menus and the system can also be controlled via the dCS Mosaic app. The DAC is priced at £11,750. The Lina Master Clock…

THEY TRIED TO kill it, but it wouldn’t die – and now it looks like it’s going to outlast the format that was sent to despatch it. The microgroove LP record – or vinyl to its friends – just keeps on spinning. Amazingly, it has transcended the generation gap and many young people are buying it because they want a ‘physical copy’ of their music. Meanwhile, poor old CD falls by the wayside. Of course, many vinylistas are men of a certain age – perhaps fifty-somethings who never sold their record collections when everyone was telling them to, back in the Eighties. But there are lots of relative newcomers to the format too – either total newbies or those going ‘back to black’ after decades. It is such people at…

TURNTABLES £500-£995 DETAILS PRODUCT Pro-Ject X1 ORIGIN Austria/Czech Republic TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 7kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 415 x 125 x 335mm FEATURES ● 33, 45 & 78rpm ● 8.6in carbon fibre tube tonearm ● Pro-Ject Pick-IT S2 MM cartridge DISTRIBUTOR Henley Audio Ltd. Put simply, this turntable picks up where the very first Pro-Ject 1 left off. It’s a modernised, reimagined version of the company’s debut deck that sold for £200 back in 1991, complete with a pre-fitted Ortofon 510 moving-magnet cartridge. Heinz Lichtenegger launched this company in 1990, when he saw many major manufacturers move out of the vinyl game. Nature abhors a vacuum as they say, so he duly filled it. Coming full circle, the concept has now been reborn as the X1. It shares a family resemblance…

TURNTABLES £500-£995 DETAILS PRODUCT Yamaha MusicCast Vinyl 500 ORIGIN Japan/China TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 5.7kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 450 x 136 x 368mm FEATURES ● 33 & 45rpm ● Audio-Technica AT-3600 MM cart ● AirPlay; wi-fi; Bluetooth DISTRIBUTOR Yamaha UK Meet the odd one out, in this group. Although it looks like a standard manual belt-drive turntable, it has hidden talents. Not only is there a standard phono output, it has a built-in head amplifier like the Roksan – but there’s more. With its integral analogue-to-digital converter and streaming chip, it can play records and output the signal via wi-fi, AirPlay, Bluetooth or Ethernet. In other words, it’s a far more accessible product for those who’ve grown up in a world where wires aren’t normal. The deck is a slick belt-drive…

DALI’s original Katch was a hit from the moment it went on sale. The company combined its driver know-how with a piece of industrial design that was a cut above the rest. When I did a Bluetooth speaker Group Test back in HFC 443, the Katch was comfortably the best. Time waits for nobody though, and DALI has been tweaking it to keep it competitive. The good news is the basic formula of the Katch remains unchanged. It contains a pair of 21mm soft dome tweeters and 90mm mid/bass drivers that have been designed with a long throw to extract as much low end as possible. It is augmented by a passive radiator to maximise the radiating area. An individual 25W Class D amp powers each driver, which is more…

Our story starts circa 1982, with the launch of Mission’s striking-looking 776/777 pre-power amplifier combo. The young speaker specialist surprised the world by venturing into electronics, turning out a fine-sounding high-end amp pair. After this, it was time for the company to turn its skills to the mid-price amplifier market. Launched in October 1983, the 778 was just as bold a design in its way. It boasted 50W RMS per channel of power via MOSFETs, crammed inside a small half-width case. Unusually, there was a complete lack of tone controls – instead the three knobs comprised volume, input and ‘record out’ selection. This latter meant users could record one source while listening to another. The 778 formed the basis of the product that Cyrus Audio would sell from the early…

Several lifetimes ago, when the UK record industry was still flush with cash, I was sent to Los Angeles to interview someone or other and found myself at the swish Sunset Marquis hotel having breakfast by the pool in the excellent company of Mr Ray Cosbert, who had just taken over the management of Amy Winehouse. I knew Ray from when he was working for a music promoter putting on tours and festivals, and the pair of us were rabbiting on about football, as British chaps are wont to do when abroad during the season, when his mobile rang. He excused himself to take the call and walked off a few yards. This is roughly what I overheard: “OK, tell me it isn’t true. Do I have your solemn word?…

DETAILS PRICE £145 for a 1m pair TELEPHONE 07580 691803 WEBSITE ecossecables.co.uk OUR VERDICT ★★★★★ ECOSSE HAS EMPLOYED several complementary sub-topologies in its Baton MkII design. The conductor material is Ultra High Purity Oxygen-Free Copper plated in Ultra High Purity Oxygen-Free Silver to minimise signal loss, especially with the high frequencies. The conductors are spirally wound around a polyethylene tube that has a primary dielectric of gas-foamed low-density polyethylene. Each conductor assembly has a continuous foil shield and drain wire. This assembly employs the company’s Isohelix technology to minimise externally induced microphonic resonances by effectively isolating the conductors from the outside world. A further continuous foil shield and drain connection wraps the conductor assembly before it is sheathed in a soft red PVC material with an overall diameter of 9mm.…

1 BANG ON! Let There Be Drums! is in UK cinemas this month and is directed by Justin Kreutzmann, son of The Grateful Dead’s drummer Bill Kreutzmann. According to the press release it: “examines the essential role drumming plays in great bands and how music passes from generation to generation,” and features one of Foo Fighter Taylor Hawkins’ last interviews as well as contributions from Ringo Starr, Stewart Copeland of The Police, Stephen Perkins of Jane’s Addiction, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers and sometime Guns N’ Roses sticksman Matt Sorum. 2 JOAN OF ART Faber is publishing The Weakness In Me, the selected lyrics of singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading. Selected and arranged by the author and featuring a foreword by producer Glyn Johns, it features all of Armatrading’s lyrics…