Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2024 i Hi Fi News

Cable specialist Furutech has a new flagship interconnect. Priced at £4930 and £5060 for RCA- and XLR-terminated 1.2m lengths, respectively, the Project V1-L features a ‘hybrid’ three-layer configuration of OCC and DUCC conductors, all subject to the brand’s proprietary cryogenic and demagnetisation processes. Furutech’s ‘Nano Crystal Formula’ (NFC) tech. is also employed in the rhodium-plated plugs and conductor cores. Sleeves, made from polypropylene and cross weaved fibre, are claimed to limit resonance and cable ‘stress’ while remaining flexible. Furutech Co., Ltd, Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan, 0118 981 4238; www.furutech.com…

Advance tickets are now on sale for the UK’s premier high-end audio event – The UK Hi-Fi Show Live, hosted at the Ascot Racecourse Grandstand, High Street, Ascot on Saturday and Sunday 21st -22nd September 2024. Friday 20th is reserved for accredited press/trade only. Tickets will cost just £20 (£30 for a weekend pass) via www.eventbrite.co.uk or using the links on the www.hifishowlive.com site. Concessionary £15 day passes will be offered for subscribers of Hi-Fi News and Hi-Fi Choice (print and digital subscribers will be contacted by e-mail). See our website for further information. Tickets On Sale Now! www.hifishowlive.com…

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 through the pandemic period, with biosecurity adding to the logistical complexity of our four-week schedule – but we never missed an issue or compromised the ‘Hi-Fi News Pledge’: 1. Our reviews are never brief ‘hands on’ experiences of a product from a press or dealer conference spun into a four or five page article. 2. Products reviewed in Hi-Fi News already have secure distribution and retail channels in the UK. So readers should be able to…

Mars sets the tone for any Planets, live or on record. Under the composer’s baton in 1926, it establishes aggressive intent from bar one. War is not on the horizon, but advancing over the next hill. By contrast, the recent BRSO/Harding version (BR-Klassik) builds up menacingly, around a fifth slower, towards an implacable evocation of a war machine. TEMPO TUG-OF-WAR Two such different visions of the piece don’t compel us to decide which one is ‘right’. Holst left no metronome marks on the score, just plain old Allegro for Mars. Nonetheless, we might ask ourselves which one more closely resembles what Holst had in mind. The answer would seem to be obvious – his own recording! – except it has often been said (to justify a slower performance) that Holst…

The Go-Go’s arrived in New York City in 1981 to start recording their debut album with producer Richard Gottehrer and engineer/co-producer Rob Freeman. According to Kathy Valentine in her memoir All I Ever Wanted, the duo ‘made each of us feel important and essential to the record, treating every member with equal respect and listening to any ideas, opinions and concerns’. They were given a budget of £40,000 for Beauty And The Beat, which was, Valentine has said, ‘a modest amount for a signed group’. Yet they spent it all, and Gottehrer ended up using his own funds to finish the album. However, as Valentine also recalls, the band’s impressions of the end product were not positive at first. ‘All of The Go-Go’s assembled for a listening session at the…

AUDIOPHILE: VINYL SHELLY MANNE & HIS MEN At The Black Hawk Craft Recordings/Contemporary CR00601 (180g vinyl) ‘Who’s the greatest jazz drummer?’ always boils down to Messrs Blakey, Rich, Roach, Krupa, et al, but I have a soft spot for Manne, not least for his classy work during the sessions which delivered this first of four LPs. Sonically, it oozes valve-era early stereo – the presence of Victor Feldman on piano will trigger memories for fans of 1970s/1980s audiophile vinyl – this sublime album captured when Manne’s quintet performed for three days in 1959 at the Black Hawk club in San Francisco. Radical it is not, so casual jazz fans will find the extended be-bop version of ‘Summertime’ accessible rather than daunting – you can easily lose yourself in it. Here’s…

Correspondents express their own opinions, not those of Hi-Fi News. We reserve the right to edit letters for publication. Correspondents using e-mail are asked to give their full postal address (which won’t be published). Letters seeking advice will be answered in print on our Sound Off pages, but due to time constraints we regret we’re unable to answer questions on buying items of hi-fi or any other hi-fi queries by telephone, post or via e-mail. SPENDOR SPLENDOUR MESMERISED BY THE MIDBAND OF THE BC1 A friend of mine has a pair of Spendor BC1 loudspeakers from the 1970s that he drives with an Audiolab 8000A integrated amp. It’s a modest set-up, but I’ve heard some great music through them. Intrigued, I borrowed the speakers as well as their dedicated stands…

Not to be confused with one-time US loudspeaker brand Thiel, Germany’s Thiele is a boutique turntable/tonearm manufacturer established in 2021 by Helmut Thiele. Formerly chief designer at Thorens, Thiele’s own-brand debut TT01 deck and TA01 arm are now in the UK courtesy of distributor Absolute Sounds. For its tonearm, Thiele claims a ‘zero tracking error design’ (of less than 0.036°) through a combination of conventional pivot and linear tracking bearing layout [similar to that of Reed’s 5A tonearm – see HFN Jul ’23]. Suitable for use on turntables supporting 9in/10in arms and with a 14g effective mass, the TA01’s double-walled armtube uses a damping gel between its two concentric carbon fibre layers, while the headshell is further damped through the use of ebony wood. The base price is £11,500, rising…

Powergrip’s YG3 ‘clean power unit’ has launched in the UK priced £2799 and is designed to manage mains distribution in a multi-component system via 12 output sockets rated at a combined 25A/5.75kW. The mains outlets are arranged in two banks of six, one bank using a ‘General’ in-line filter that features large ‘Nanocrystalline’ air-cored inductors while the other six include additional, configurable parallel-wired ‘hi-fi’ filters. The YG3 may be controlled via an app and reveals a host of power line diagnostics on its multi-colour display – including distortion, DC offset, high frequency flicker noise, AC frequency and, of course, the voltage of the incoming household supply. DC blocking and suppression of both differential and common-mode noise are all claimed without increasing source impedance. Powergrip Ltd, Taipei, Taiwan, 01249 323551; www.powergrip.com…

IFi Audio has released new iterations of its compact ZEN CAN headphone amp and ZEN Blue Bluetooth DAC. The new ZEN CAN 3 (£229) is said to boost output power compared to its predecessors [HFN Nov ’20] to 2W/64ohm, and introduces a ‘micro-speaker amplification mode’ for in-ear ’phones with xMEMS drivers, alongside new analogue EQ presets. Meanwhile, iFi Audio’s ZEN Blue 3 [pictured] shares the same compact, curved chassis with two-tone finish, and can both receive and transmit lossless CD-quality audio via Bluetooth 5.4’s aptX Lossless codec. Up to 96kHz/24-bit playback through LDAC and LDHC/HWA is also supported, and the device doubles as a conventional wired DAC with its USB-C and S/PDIF inputs. iFi Audio, China, 01903 768919; www.ifi-audio.com…

The weekend of March the 15th saw the debut of a brand-new show – the Southwest Audiofest, brought to life by Lou Hinckley and Gary Gill, the masterminds behind the Capital and Pacific Audiofests that take place in Washington and Seattle, respectively. Held at the opulent Anatole Hilton in Dallas, said to possess the largest art collection of any hotel in the US, the Southwest event was all about high-end two-channel sound. And while the show might have been relatively small, occupying just 40 rooms, it was packed with top-notch audio systems from leading cutting-edge global brands. Visitors were also treated to a slew of North American audio-show debuts, including a prototype turntable from VPI. Driving a pair of Sonja 3.2 speakers from YG Acoustics were two Constellation Audio Centaur…

Lana knows what I’m on about. In the song ‘Brooklyn Baby’ from her brilliant 2014 LP Ultraviolence, Ms Del Rey complains, ‘They think I don’t understand the freedom land of the ’70s’. She was born, you see, in 1985 and Lana – known to her mum and dad as Elizabeth Grant – is deemed by those who should know better to be too young to appreciate the ’70s aesthetic. GO WEST Age, of course, has nothing to do with it. You only need to listen to any of Lana’s records to suss she gets it. This one lyric makes it abundantly clear she’s an old soul in a young body. ‘The freedom land’ is spot on. It was a ‘land’ when I was growing up, a mythical land where youth…

ORIGINAL LP The version of the LP now dubbed the Indianapolis Press (it was pressed in that city and has an ‘I’ stamp on the runout groove) sees the picture of the group on a background Kathy Valentine has called ‘a weird peach colour’ [IRS SP7002]. On later pressings (stamped with ‘Sterling’ in the runout groove), the background is blue [pictured above] with the band’s name in white lettering, while on the rear cover, among five photos of the band in a bath, the central one of Gina Schock has been reversed. FIRST CD That Beauty And The Beat was released on CD in the US in 1984 [IRS CD70021] – a time when CD players were owned only by a wealthy few – surely reflects the elevated commercial status…

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Monitor Audio has looked to its Studio 15 loudspeaker of the 1980s as inspiration for a new bookshelf/monitor model. The Studio 89 sandwiches an MPD (Micro-Pleated Diaphragm) III tweeter between two 108mm RDT III C-CAM bass/mid drivers, the trio managed by a 2.4kHz third-order crossover with ‘bespoke’ capacitors and inductors. The 157x340x361mm (hwd) cabinet, with 18mm-thick baffle and through-bolt construction for extra rigidity, features twin rear ‘HiVe II’ slot ports for a claimed low frequency extension of 48Hz (–6dB), while sensitivity is a suggested 86dB/1m. Off-setting the Studio 89’s gold-coloured drivers is a high-gloss black finish. Pricing is £2000, with dedicated stands also available for £500. Monitor Audio Ltd, Rayleigh, Essex, 01268 740580; www.monitoraudio.com…

If it ain’t broke, so the maxim goes, don’t fix it. But no artist worth their garlands ever paid much heed to that way of thinking – with a few honourable exceptions such as The Ramones. Nonetheless, most musicians prefer evolution to revolution, letting their approach to their work develop naturally as the muse dictates, sudden changes in style only running the risk of alienating fans. The history of popular music is still dotted with examples of bold, if not always entirely successful about-turns in style, image and philosophy. The ratio of risk to reward can give record labels a serious case of the jitters, but when it’s pulled off it only enhances an artist’s reputation, even if it can sometimes take several decades for audiences and critics to fully…

With that large screen on show, it’s clear the £2799 RAS-5000 is not a back-to-basics Rotel amp. Offering multiple streaming options and smart connectivity, including HDMI eARC, this is a receiver to tempt both hi-fi newbies and hardcore traditionalists. Of course, there are many HDMI-kitted rivals out there, including the Cambridge Audio EVO 150 [HFN Oct ’21], Marantz Model 40n [HFN Apr ’22], and Yamaha R-N2000A [HFN Jul ’23] to name just a few. And like the latter two, Rotel’s all-in-one packs all its ‘modern’ functionality into a full-sized housing that will be familiar to followers of the brand. Neither is this a one-off, as the 2x220W/4ohm-rated RAS-5000 is a bigger, more capable brother to the slender S14 streaming amplifier (£1799) launched at the tail-end of 2022. A SIGN OF…

If women face all-too-familiar obstacles to achieving success in music these days, many of those barriers have at least been broken down over the years by trailblazing female artists. One such pioneering act is undoubtedly The Go-Go’s, who burst out of the Los Angeles punk scene in the late 1970s and set a template for pop punk that still endures. Although they didn’t enjoy anything like as much success in the UK – lead single ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’ narrowly missed the Top 40 and the album didn’t chart at all – for a time they were arguably the biggest new wave band in America, thanks to their debut LP Beauty And The Beat. This spent six weeks at the top of the US album charts, which is why, on…

What’s the weirdest drink you have ever had? I’ve guzzled a fair few strange ones in my time, including a gruesome concoction in New York involving what looked like Swarfega mixed with cream. But the one that topped the lot was something or other from a barnacled bottle salvaged from a galleon that had been part of the Spanish Armada sunk in battle in the English Channel in 1588. The bottle was a gift given by a fan to Simon Gallup of The Cure and we uncorked and necked it one night after a gig in the South of France. What did it taste like? I honestly couldn’t tell you. Truth be told we’d downed a fair whack of best Burgundy to whip up the courage to go for it,…

1. ACCESSORIES RINGMAT and Statmat both bought from new. This is the ‘Real Ale’ version of the Ringmat, which I think is the current version. Tonearm must have adjustable VTA. Asking price is £40. Email: michael.bickley@hotmail.co.uk. Tel: 07722 473417 MANA five-shelf rack, £300, plus ISO base, £100. All complete, good condition. No boxes. Collect only, East Sussex. Tel: 078488 09764 2. AMPLIFIERS EAR Yoshino 864 preamp, Serviced by EAR in 2018, mint condition, £1690.ono. Email: jdsnell@hotmail.co.uk. Tel: 07555 950223 ACCUPHASE P-4200 power amp, 90W/ch into 8ohm. Bridgeable, boxed and mint, very little use. £4000. Triode Corporation Japan KT3488 integrated valve amplifier. Complete with EL34 and KT88, 12AX7s, all matched pairs. Plus a matched pair of KT77s. Boxed and mint, £1500. Psvane WE310 valves, matched pair, low hours’ use, in original…

It’s impossible to disregard accessories when discussing hi-fi at the enthusiast level. Normal people – as opposed to we audiophiles – have little awareness of, nor do they care about, things like spikes, stands, etc. These items ice the hi-fi cake for us, not them. My relationship with accessories, however, looks like a sine wave: sometimes I love ’em, sometimes I hate ’em and I have to confess that for many years I was an essential part of the Hi-Fi News Accessories Club. Mea culpa. GETTING INTO BATTLE When called upon to defend accessories, I revert to Steve McCormack’s rationale. Steve, co-founder of Mod Squad, gave us Tip Toes cones, passive preamps and other tweaks. What Steve told me when asked about the efficacy of his accessories was that, ‘They…