Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2023 i Hi Fi News

So the story goes, the late Henry Ford offered his iconic Model T in ‘any colour you want, provided it’s black’. Time was, you could also buy any hi-fi you liked, provided it was British. When Hi-Fi News was already sailing the audio seas – and so many other titles, past and present, were yet to be a glint in some publisher’s eye – the likes of Leak and Quad represented hi-fi’s royalty. Those were the days, in the 1950s and ’60s, when the UK audio industry really did rule the (musical) waves. Consumer choice, fuelled by access to a truly global market, had yet to be realised. Between 1960-1970 international hi-fi arrived in the UK from Japan and Europe before imports from the US really kick-started the high-end scene…

NEW ENTRY-LEVEL PMC has launched the prodigy1 standmount and prodigy5 floorstander, priced £1250 and £1995 respectively. Two-way designs with a 1.7kHz crossover between their 27mm soft dome tweeter and 133mm natural fibre bass/mid, the speakers feature the company’s customary ATL bass loading with front-facing Laminair port. There’s one studio-esque finish (Silk Black), and grilles are a £99 option. www.pmc-speakers.com UK-MADE MC PREAMP Michael Fidler’s £650 MC Pro phono stage is set to join the Kent company’s MM model. Features include stereo/mono switching, 63dB/73dB gain selection, and a variable low-frequency crossfeed setting. Inside the all-aluminium chassis, hand-soldered circuitry feeds a ‘hybrid’ transistor/IC op-amp input amplifier. Output is rated at 21V via the MC Pro’s balanced XLR connection, and 10.5V over RCA.  www.michaelfidler.com…

AUDIO FILE Floorstanding three-and-a-half way loudspeaker Made by: Sonus faber SpA (Fine Sounds Group), Italy Supplied by: Fine Sounds UK Telephone: 07714 232033 Web: www.sonusfaber.com; https://finesounds.uk Price: £30,000 The Amati G5 sits at the top of a four-strong new ‘fifth generation’ range of the company’s Homage speakers, so-called because they pay tribute to the tradition of musical instrument manufacturing in Cremona, Italy. And they do so not just in name, but in the way they’re made, with extensive use of selected woods, handcrafting based on the work of traditional luthiers of the past, and even a lute-shaped profile, which first saw the light of day in the previous Homage series [HFN Oct ’17]. But there’s even more resting on this latest lineup: it is, after all, 30 years since the…

AUDIO FILE Network-enabled media storage device/streamer Made by: Antipodes Audio Limited, Kapiti Coast, New Zealand Supplied by: Elite Audio Ltd, Fife Telephone: 01334 570 666 Web: https://antipodes.audio; www.eliteaudiouk.com Price: £25,000 Network audio is a significant growth area in hi-fi, helped along by network-connected transports and servers, designed to be used into offboard DACs. We used to call these devices ‘network bridges’, interposed between the home network, and any storage devices thereon, and an audio system. Nowadays they’ve grown beyond that basic functionality, being able to access music stored internally or via directly connected drives. Meanwhile, the ‘network connectivity’ is used to access online streaming services, and offer remote control via a tablet or smartphone app. Each of these transport devices has its own spin on what’s being attempted, and the…

AUDIO FILE Two-way coincident-driver standmount loudspeaker Made by: MoFi Electronics, Chicago, USA Supplied by: Karma-AV Ltd, York Telephone: 01423 358846 Web: www.mofielectronics.com; www.karma-av.co.uk Prices: £2999 (£499 stands; £3399 package) Speaking to designer Andrew Jones at High End Munich in May ’23, he kidded that his latest loudspeaker could be considered the ‘European’ version of his larger SourcePoint 10 [HFN Apr ’23]. ‘People were often surprised by its size – it does host a 10in driver after all – so something smaller was needed’, he explained. Cue the ‘modest’ SourcePoint 8, with its 8in version of the launch speaker’s inaugural 10in coaxial driver. The SourcePoint 10 is not unlike those big pickup trucks that sell so well in the US. Interesting to look at and mighty fine if you are a…

While his main interest is high-end audio, Barry Willis also writes about the culinary industry, visual art and theatre for a huge variety of US newspapers and magazines The brilliant 1999 sci-fi spoof Galaxy Quest featured an extraterrestrial culture modelled on broadcasts of old earthly TV shows of the Star Trek variety – shows that the far-flung interstellar recipients revered as ‘historical documents’. Threatened with annihilation by a super-powerful reptilian warlord, they appeal to a group of has-been actors for help. It’s a fantastic comedy, a wonderful redemption story, and a great exploration of the way anything can be reinterpreted. Reinterpretation is a useful tool in any art, but perhaps most versatile with music. Last month I wrote about my fascination with Broken Peach and Shut Up & Kiss Me,…

Steve Harris edited Hi-Fi News between 1986 and 2005. He loves jazz, blues music, vinyl and vintage hi-fi and anything that makes good music come to life It’s said that women consume more music than men, but they sure don’t consume more hi-fi. This is not because women don’t appreciate good sound. On the contrary, when it comes to judging equipment, women can very often be more discerning and more decisive than men. But if I dare generalise, three things that women definitely don’t appreciate are big black loudspeakers, piles of visually ill-assorted electronics, and untidy cables. They’ll prefer so-called ‘lifestyle’ products. HERE COMES THE BRIDE So it made me smile when, in spring 2023, the Californian online publication eCoustics picked its selection of ten good-looking items for a round-up…

Hi-Fi News Jun 1997 Each month HFN will bring you an article from our vast archive of features and reviews from yesteryear Conrad-Johnson’s ‘Anniversary Reference Triode’ has been some time in the making. In fact, an early version was developed seven years ago which has since been used as a lab reference. The ART is simply a remote-controlled line preamplifier, which at £15,000 is priced far beyond any previous Conrad-Johnson offering in this sector. It will be made in a limited edition of just 250 – probably just right for a modest production run at this elevated price level. STACKS ’N’ SHARES Up until recently, the C-J Premier 7b has set the reference standard for preamps, but this has now been pipped at the post by the successful duo of Premier…

To help ensure accuracy, your classified advertisements must be submitted by email or post… Please email your entries to: letters@hifinews.com 2. AMPLIFIERS TRAFOMATIC Audio Experience Head One valve headphone amplifier. Superb sound, immaculate condition. £600. Tel: 0208 6709634 SYNTHESIS Roma 510AC valve integrated amplifier. Good condition. Boxed. RRP £3600. Less than two years old, now £2000 ono. Collection preferred – heavy! Edinburgh area. Tel: 07792 414536 GRAHAM Slee Gram Amp 2 Communicator Phono preamplifier. MM or MC cartridges. Unused, £80. Email: vinylpaul@hotmail.co.uk. Tel: 020 8286 1048. CAMBRIDGE Audio Azur 351A amplifier. Spotless. Mint condition. £210 ono. Tel: 07505 057414 LEHMANN Audio Black Cube headphone amp, vgc, £200. Tel: 07555 26393 AUDIO Research REF 75SE amplifier. One owner. Demo in south Oxon. Collection only. £5100 ono. Email: davidwise12@hotmail.com. Tel: 07385 211571…

Musical Fidelity is adding two BBC speakers to its portfolio. Priced £2349 and billed as the ideal companion to its recently relaunched A1 Class A amp, the LS3/5A [pictured below right] adds a Palisander veneer to its sealed birch plywood cabinet, and provides black foam grilles to cover the 110mm mid/bass driver and 19mm dome tweeter. Nominal impedance (15ohm) and sensitivity (82.5dB) match the BBC’s 1976 R&D specification. This miniature is joined by the £4099 LS5/9, a bass-reflex monitor with 234mm woofer and 34mm tweeter, plus high-frequency tuning via its front baffle resistor jumps. The veneer finish here is Cherry. Audio Tuning Vertriebs GmbH, Austria, 01235 511166; www.musicalfidelity.com…

AUDIO FILE USB DAC/preamplifier Made by: HEM Ltd, Poland Supplied by: Signature Audio Systems Telephone: 07738 007776 Web: www.ferrum.audio; www.signatureaudiosystems.co.uk Price: £2800 Does the world really need another DAC? Considering the ample offerings from traditional and emerging Asian hi-fi brands, you might be tempted to say, ‘not really’. However, Poland’s Ferrum Audio combines experience with a flair for innovation – its parent company HEM has been an OEM contractor for other manufacturers, possibly inciting its engineers to go one better for their own brand. Whatever the case, they’re serious people that like to have a bit of fun, particularly with their product names. Case in point: ‘wandler’ is German for ‘converter’. Built around the Sabre ES9038PRO DAC with Ferrum’s ARM processor-based SERCE digital module up front and new current-to-voltage (I/V)…

AUDIO FILE Two-way standmount loudspeaker Made by: DeVore Fidelity, NY, USA Supplied by: Absolute Sounds Ltd Telephone: 0208 971 3909 Web: www.devorefidelity.com; www.absolutesounds.com Prices: £6298 (£1398 oak stands) Even the name sounds like a clarion call: ‘O/baby!’, straight out of Austin Powers. It resides ‘one from the bottom’ in DeVore Fidelity’s Orangutan range, with only the minuscule, 25x25x25cm micr/O sealed cube below it. But the O/baby is the one that screams ‘Buy me!’ at this jaded hack. How so? This trickle-down gem from DeVore, smaller than the O/93 [HFN Mar ’23], just may be the answer to my bucket list dreams. Or would be, had I the £6298 for a pair. And £1398 more for the stands. DeVore’s micr/O came first, its raison d’être being that of a miniature O/96…

AUDIO FILE Low output moving-coil pick-up cartridge Made by: Koetsu, Tokyo, Japan Supplied by: Absolute Sounds Ltd Telephone: 0208 971 3909 Web: www.koetsuaudio.com; www.absolutesounds.com Price: £8498 At the high-end of the hi-fi industry, there are companies that, while well-known to the audiophile cognoscenti, still remain something of an enigma. Japanese cartridge brand Koetsu fits that description – its name is often uttered in hushed, reverential tones, but if you’re hoping for a quick Google to unleash a thorough technical insight into its products, as you might for Audio-Technica or Ortofon, then you’re in for a disappointment. The £8498 Coralstone moving-coil tested here is one of Koetsu’s top models, but flies in under the radar with minimal fanfare. Still, part of the allure of Koetsu’s pick-ups is their sense of mystery…

AUDIOPHILE: VINYL LORI LIEBERMAN Truly Drive On Records 115115 18 180g vinyl Besides her fine originals, LL has always shown impeccable taste in others’ compositions, inadvertently becoming an influencer: it was she who was responsible for leading Roberta Flack to that modern classic, ‘Killing Me Softly’, revisited here. I have been honoured to know Lori for 30 years, during which time I have begged her to dig deeper into The Great American Songbook. Thus Truly may be my favourite LP of hers to date, if just for her achingly delicate interpretations of ‘You Go To My Head’, ‘Moonlight In Vermont’ and, yes, ‘Que Será, Será’. And thanks to her hubby Joe Cali, the sound quality is staggering. If you want to know what hi-fi hacks mean by ‘intimacy’, just hear…

Jim Lesurf has spent a lifetime in audio, both as an engineer at UK hi-fi company Armstrong and reader in Physics and Electronics at St Andrew’s University I’ve only recently noticed how, when my wife and I are watching a film or TV programme and she asks, ‘What’s that music?…’, I can instantly identify it. Quite often, before she asked I wasn’t even aware of what was being played. But even when it comes to music I’ve not heard for decades, my mind seems to ‘find it’ without any effort on my part! Having realised that this has been happening, I began to take more notice of my ‘ability’ and found that in some cases even just the first chord of a work is enough to trigger recognition – for…

10-13 AUG TAA Hi-End Audio Show, The Grand Hotel Taipei, Zhongshan, Taiwan; www.taiwanaudio.org.tw 29-01 SEP/OCT The UK Hi-Fi Show Live, Ascot Racecourse Grandstand, Ascot Berkshire SL5 7JX; www.hifishowlive.com 07-08 OCT Hi-Files Show, Holiday Inn, Belgrade, Serbia; www.hi-files.show 20-23 OCT Paris AV Show; https://en.parisaudiovideoshow.com 27-29 OCT Audio Video Show Warsaw 2023, Radisson Blu/Sobieski Hotel, Warsaw, Poland; www.audioshow.pl…

You hold in your hands the world’s oldest and most respected hi-fi magazine – Hi-Fi News – where heavyweight audio engineering is our stock in trade. All our review products are typically subject to a one-month test process from shipping, unpacking, installation, photography, lab work, extended listening, disassembly/packing and collection. This practice was maintained right through the pandemic period, with full Covid biosecurity adding to the logistical complexity of our four-week issue schedule. But we did it… never missing one issue of the magazine or compromising the ‘Hi-Fi News Pledge’: 1. Our hardware reviews are never brief ‘hands on’ experiences of a product from a press conference, brand-led demo or distributor’s back room spun up into a four or five page article. 2. Products reviewed in Hi-Fi News already have…

AUDIO FILE Integrated hybrid amplifier. Rated at 330W/8ohm Made by: Musical Fidelity (Audio Tuning Vertriebs GmbH), Austria Supplied by: Henley Audio Ltd, UK Telephone: 01235 511166 Web: www.musicalfidelity.com; www.henleyaudio.co.uk Price: £10,999 The conclusion to our review of Musical Fidelity’s original Nu-Vista 800 integrated amplifier [HFN Nov ’14] announced: ‘16 years from now, we’ll remember it!’. That was the gap between the manufacturer’s first Nu-Vista product, the 1998 Nu-Vista Preamplifier, and its then-new integrated descendant. Yet while our reviewer was so enamoured of MF’s tube/solid state powerhouse that he imagined it flying the hybrid amp flag for years to come, it turns out the Nu-Vista 800 was not to last quite that long. The arrival of the £10,999 Nu-Vista 800.2 is not, however, evidence that Musical Fidelity feels its predecessor had…

AUDIO FILE CD transport and amplifier. Rated at 2x100W/8ohm Made by: International Audio Group, China Supplied by: IAG Ltd, Cambs Telephone: 01480 447700 Web: www.audiolab.co.uk Prices: £999/£1999 (CD transport/amplifier) While some manufacturers’ product lines can become confusing as models tackling various price points and functionality are launched, relaunched and discontinued, Audiolab has, by contrast, a laser-like focus. It caters very much to the wallet-conscious audiophile, across a clearly delineated stable of amps and players/streamers, which kicks off with its 6000 series and progresses through 7000 and 8300 to the newly launched, flagship 9000 series. This currently comprises two models, auditioned here, but will be joined later this year by another [see boxout p63]. Of the two units, it’s the £1999 9000A that will probably get the most admiring looks, being…

AUDIO FILE Factory-terminated loudspeaker cables Made by: QED (a brand of Armour Home Electronics) Supplied by: Armour Home Electronics Ltd, Herts Telephone: 01279 501111 Web: www.qed.co.uk Price: £241 (3m terminated stereo set) Was it really 25 years ago that QED celebrated its Silver Anniversary with a special edition XT speaker cable? Or a full half century since the brand burst into our audiophile consciousness with, three years later, what must surely be the most famous cable of all time – QED 79-strand? Monster Cable would surely argue the toss, but for hi-fi fans building their first system on a budget, the classic figure-of-eight 79-strand (still only £1.99/m) has long been the go-to choice. The Golden Anniversary XT cable is a little costlier – but far from costly – at £27/m…

Barry Fox trained in electronics with the RAF and worked as a patent agent, but he gave that up to enter journalism. He is one of the world’s top technology writers Whole swathes of Internet radios made by British DAB pioneer Pure recently and mysteriously stopped being Internet radios. Some Pure-connected speakers will have stopped working too. Owners are receiving error messages that tell them to try again later. This is hogwash. Nothing is going to change ‘later’. Pure has shut down the Flow/Connect portal these radios rely on to access any Internet radio station, and that includes those from the BBC. Other big-name makes of Internet streaming radios (such as Roberts) which relied on chip-maker Qualcomm’s Reciva portal have also conked out. This flags up a serious future problem…

Peter Quantrill has been writing about music for magazines and record labels for 30 years. When not hunched over a CD player, he’ll be at a concert, or the cricket The page of classical music reviews that appear in each issue of HFN attempts to take a monthly snapshot of what’s going on in the sector. As the months go by, however, more and more releases never make it to CD. They are issued on audiophile vinyl and streaming services, cutting out the ‘middle man’ of CD. Sometimes they dispense with the expense of physical packaging altogether, and become known in the trade as ‘digital only’. Given that only a minuscule number of recordings are now made with an analogue stage, this is a rather quaint term, but then the…

The L-30 was the cheapest amplifier in Luxman’s 1976 range. Not that it looked anything like a budget model – rather, it had an almost intangible feel of quality and superior finish that in terms of showroom appeal put it above all but the very best offerings from the Japanese big names at the time. At around £180, the L-30 occupied a place in the market where amplifiers began to be considered of interest to the more serious listener. For the same money you could also have had a Sony TA-3650 or Sansui AU-5900, fine units both. For those who preferred British equipment a Cambridge P80 or a Sugden A48, both of which were well regarded at the time, cost about the same as the L-30. This, then, was the…