Hi-Fi News - Yearbook 2021

LOUDSPEAKER

Two-way, reflex-loaded floorstander
Made by: Kudos Audio, County Durham
Supplied by: Kudos Audio
Telephone: 0138 841 7177
Web: www.kudosaudio.com
Price: £4000

Kudos Audio

Cardea C20

In a way, Kudos has come full ‘floating’ plinth – onto which the RIGHT: Kudos’s
circle with its Cardea C20. After downward-facing reflex port vents – 180mm doped-
all, the Cardea was the first paper pulp coned
speaker the company offered ready attached, so it’s just a matter bass/mid unit
of screwing in the high-quality and 29mm fabric-
back in 2006. The standmount C10 spikes provided, positioning them, dome tweeter
and connecting them up. are customised
was the launch model, also now versions of SEAS
drivers. The
available in an updated form at FIGHTING SPIRIT former exhausts
£3500, while the floorstanding C20 through a
downward-firing
we have here sells for £4000. Listening to these speakers is an ‘boundary bass’
reflex port onto
With a background in music, and absolute riot. Just about everything its spiked plinth.
The cabinet is
specifically PA systems, company you play through them has more available in white,
walnut, natural
founder Derek Gilligan is a great spirit and verve than you’ll be oak and black oak
believer in voicing his speakers by expecting, and whether you like finishes

ear rather than measurement. And listening deep into a recording or
there’s certainly a house sound just revelling in the boogie factor,

here, which doesn’t so much draw you won’t come away disappointed.

you seductively into the music as Playing the Crowded House
grab you by the lapels.
album, Dreamers Are Waiting
The C20 has just a single pair
[EMI], the initial impression of a
of combination banana/spade/ slow-burning set soon gets to the

bare wire terminals on the rear listener, so well is the innovative
panel, but even here the design songwriting and musicianship, plus

of course Tim Finn’s glorious

‘These loudspeakers voice, conveyed by the C20s.
let you listen deep, or
just revel in the boogie’ Switch to the southern

rock of Blackberry Smoke’s
You Hear Georgia [3 Legged

Records], and the C20s really
unleash the boogie factor,

is unconventional. Some speakers with great slabs of thundering

mount the crossover and terminals rhythm underpinning the driving
to the rear panel itself, or even use guitars and powerful vocals of the
a moulded ‘tray’ for the terminals, band’s lead singer, Charlie Starr.

but Kudos mounts them on an So, just a great rock speaker,
then? Not in the least. Play
inset panel made from the same soprano Kate Lindsey’s recording
high-density fibreboard as the main

enclosure. This is then torqued of Scarlatti’s ‘Il Nerone’, her soaring
into position to give the electronic voice accompanied by a subtle

components a solid platform. continuo [from Tiranno; Alpha

Wired to the crossover are Classics], and it’s hard not to be

a custom version of the SEAS captivated by the way the vocal HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS
Crescendo K2 29mm tweeter, and hangs absolutely stable in space,

a 180mm mid/bass unit with a while the instruments possess both Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83V – 1kHz/Mean/IEC) 84.7dB / 85.5dB / 83.6dB

coated paper cone. Both drivers warmth and precision. Impedance modulus: minimum 6.96ohm @ 157Hz
and crossover are designed in & maximum (20Hz–20kHz) 35.5ohm @ 1.85kHz
Impedance phase: minimum –39o @ 3.6kHz
accordance with Gilligan’s ‘keep it VERDICT & maximum (20Hz–20kHz) +42o @ 900Hz
Pair matching/Resp. error (200Hz–20kHz) 1.4dB/ ±4.4dB/±4.8dB
simple’ philosophy. These are quite possibly the most
LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz) 48Hz / 28.5kHz/29.4kHz
With its rated 88dB sensitivity rewarding way to spend under THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m)
and 8ohm nominal impedance, the £5000 on a pair of speakers right 0.7% / 0.2% / 0.25%
Dimensions (HWD) / Weight (each)
C20 is hardly the trickiest of loads now. The brand’s ‘music first’ design 925x200x270mm / 18kg

for an amplifier, and at 18kg apiece philosophy is right up there as soon

the speakers are manageable for as you start to use them and they’ll
most of us. They come with their work with a wide range of amps.

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 101



LOUDSPEAKER

Five driver, three-way floorstanding loudspeaker
Made by: Magico Loudspeakers LLC, Hayward CA, USA
Supplied by: Absolute Sounds Ltd
Telephone: 0208 971 3909
Web: www.magico.net; www.absolutesounds.com
Price: £27,998

Magico A5

W hile the look and feel and glue are cut around the metal
of the £27,998 A5 is bracing matrix and applied to all the
very much that of the exposed internal surfaces.
A1 [HFN Jan ’20] writ
Meanwhile, also issued first in

large, the common ground diverges the A5 are Mundorf’s new ‘M-Resist

beyond the shared 28mm beryllium ultra foil’ resistors, which are said
dome tweeter and use of 6061-T6 to offer better power handling and
‘aircraft grade’ aluminium slabs for thermal performance.

the cabinet, braced by an internal

matrix of alloy tubing. RAY OF LIGHT

Debuted in the A5 is Magico’s This speaker delivers, not just ‘in
spades’ but with a breathtaking
new 105mm midrange driver – the lightness of touch that finds the
first ‘pure mid’ unit from the brand,

working within its own sealed midrange as fast and transparent as

enclosure. It’s smaller, lighter and the treble, underpinned by a bass
more rigid than Magico’s previous that’s as quick and deep as it is slick.

upper bass/mid units, boasting A quick burst of improvised

improved dispersion and a higher jazz with Nasheet Waits opening

350Hz-2.2kHz bandwidth. ‘Untitled’ [Shift, Blue Note] perfectly

This diminutive ‘Nano-Tec’ driver illustrates the A5’s ability to convey
employs a cellular alloy honeycomb the punchy rhythm of a firmly-struck

core that’s skinned top and bottom drum while maintaining the delicacy
with a layer of carbon-fibre and
graphene. The increased stiffness and air of cymbal strikes.
And while these are big speakers,

pushes primary breakup resonances they’ll take on diddy LS3/5As when

out beyond the cone’s passband it comes to creating ‘intimate’.
The close-mic’d soprano

‘Every lisp, sibilant Barbara Hannigan brings a
and vocal inflection is
imprinted on the air’ hushed immediacy to Erik
Satie’s avant-garde symphonic
drama [Socrate, Winter &
Winter]. Again, there’s that

so there’s less need for (weighty) sense of weightless drivers
imprinting every lisp, sibilant and

damping countermeasures. Magico vocal inflection on the air.

supports and terminates the cone These speakers are capable of so

with a very light and compliant much more, of course, and there’s

foam surround that’s less restrictive no bigger stage than The World

than a rubber roll. Of Hans Zimmer – A Symphonic ABOVE: The A5’s sealed and heavily-braced aluminium
A more substantial rubber
Celebration [Sony Classical]. We cabinet hosts a 28mm beryllium dome tweeter, a new 105mm
surround is used for the 175mm spent a day with the A5, discovering graphene/carbon-fibre sandwich mid unit and no fewer than
woofers, but otherwise these share and delighting in the finesse of three 175mm sandwiched-coned woofers

the same cone construction as the musical detail that had otherwise

mid. Again, titanium is used for lain hidden in the nooks and

the voice-coil former but with a crannies of Zimmer’s tour de force. HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS
more powerful neodymium-doped Perhaps it truly takes a masterpiece

magnet instead of the pure ferrite of engineering to realise fully a Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83V – 1kHz/Mean/IEC) 87.7dB / 87.1dB / 84.3dB

‘engine’ of the midrange. masterwork of composition. Impedance modulus: minimum 2.65ohm @ 93Hz
& maximum (20Hz–20kHz) 21.6ohm @ 46Hz
And there’s more to the brushed Impedance phase: minimum –72o @ 56Hz
& maximum (20Hz–20kHz) +29o @ 35Hz
black anodised enclosure than its VERDICT Pair matching/Resp. error (200Hz–20kHz) 1.1dB/ ±2.7dB/±2.8dB

slab alloy sidewalls and internal A unicorn among equines, the A5 LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz) 41Hz / 26.9kHz/26.4kHz

scaffold of bracing. Key to the is one of a very rare breed – the THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m) 0.2% / 0.06% / 0.25%
‘impossible’ moving-coil speaker
cabinet’s ‘vibration management’ Dimensions (HWD) / Weight (each) 1140x267x376mm / 82kg
is the company’s application of that gets very close to the lightness
Blackhole 5 damping sheets to the and transparency of the best

inside surfaces of the alloy panels. ’statics/ribbons while harbouring a

These 25mm laminates of foam bass kick that eludes them all.

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 103

LOUDSPEAKER

Four-way omni-directional loudspeaker
Made by: MBL Akustikgeräte GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin, Germany
Supplied by: Stranger High Fidelity, Real World Studios, Wilts

Telephone: 07702 155847
Web: www.mbl.de; www.stranger.info

Price: £51,000

MBL Radialstrahler

101 E MkII

Few loudspeakers are as sandwich woofer, although the two RIGHT: Treble,
instantly recognisable as the alloy layers of this bass driver are mid and bass
‘Radialstrahlers’ – directly separated only by glue. are covered by
translated ‘radial emitters’ pulsating ‘melon’
At the top-end of the speaker drivers that sit
atop a sub-bass
– but we have waited a decade for and frequency scale there’s a trade- enclosure. The
cabinet hosts a
them to reach the UK. Representing off between the physical size of the 300mm alloy-
coned driver that
the Radialstrahler clan here is the treble petals and the HF extension exhausts through
two front-firing
MkII version of the 101 E, priced at and sensitivity (output) that can be ports

an eye-watering £51,000. achieved, so the sensitivity of this

While most loudspeakers are ‘heavy’ woofer has been reduced to

omni-directional at low frequencies better match that of the melons.

becoming less so at higher octaves,

the Radialstrahlers are as close to SOUND ALL AROUND

full range omni-directional designs There is certainly a ‘sound’ here, not

as currently exist. Each speaker only with respect to tonal colour

comprises a vertical array of three but also in the speakers’ ability to

‘melons’ built around a hollow spine create a truly huge but meticulously

and separated by cylindrical magnet crafted soundscape. They revealed

assemblies. Each magnet drives the the sampled layers on Massive

Attack’s ‘Unfinished

‘The speakers found the Symphony’ [Blue Lines,
2012 Remix; Virgin] with

singer pouring her heart the same clarity as the
haunting overtones of the
out, nay excoriating’ vocals, while the title track

from Amy Winehouse’s

melon segments (petals) directly Back To Black [Universal Records]

above it by way of a conventional found the singer pouring her heart

voice-coil arrangement. out, nay excoriating.

The top of each melon is glued We also sought out the largely

into an anchor so the elements are instrumental version on the 21st

squeezed upwards and outwards Anniversary Edition of Dare – Love

on the positive stroke and pulled And Dancing [Virgin]. Here the

downwards and inwards on the orchestration of those synthesisers

negative-going stroke, producing a is all the more vivid, punchy and

360o pulse of sound for each cycle. squeaky-clean. Which is as it should

Only the bass melon is supported be, except that through these novel

with something like a traditional Radialstrahlers it’s possible to hear

spider/suspension – the mid and the low, mid and high patterns

treble drivers have no spider or radiating as if from the individual

suspension and the voice-coil is ‘melons’. MBL’s speakers are the

left free-floating in the air gap. For perfect canvas on which – through HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS

these two smaller drivers, only the which – to enjoy this iconic, Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83V – 1kHz/Mean/IEC) 80.3dB / 79.8dB / 76.8dB

petals are moving, so MBL was able polyphonic masterclass. Impedance modulus: minimum 3.6ohm @ 40Hz
& maximum (20Hz–20kHz) 12.4ohm @ 26Hz
to more accurately control the Impedance phase: minimum –56o @ 32Hz
& maximum (20Hz–20kHz) +37o @ 612Hz
uniformity of their output. VERDICT Pair matching/Resp. error (200Hz–20kHz) 2.3dB/ ±7.3dB/±9.1dB

There’s only so far down that It’s been a decade since we first LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz) 28Hz / 15.4kHz/15.3kHz
THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m)
the big ’ol melon will go, and so saw these speakers but it was worth 0.65% / 1.1% / 3.5%
Dimensions (HWD) / Weight (each)
MBL has married it to a sub-bass the wait. While the 101 E MkIIs 1526x450x540mm / 80kg

enclosure. This truncated pyramid offer a musical soundscape that’s

functions as an acoustical bandpass, as distinctive as their appearance is

‘powered’ inside by what MBL startling, to listen to them is never

describes as a 300mm aluminium less than an experience.

104 | www.hifinews.co.uk | YEARBOOK 2021

BUDGET ESOTERICA – LOUDSPEAKER

Floorstanding two and a half-way loudspeaker
Made by: Monitor Audio Ltd, Rayleigh, Essex
Supplied by: Monitor Audio Ltd
Telephone: 01268 740580
Web: www.monitoraudio.com
Price: £569

Monitor Audio

Bronze 200

The company’s close-to- Half-height magnetic grilles RIGHT: Available
entry-level Bronze series are supplied, plus a pair of foam
bungs for the twin HiVe II ports. The in Black, White,
runs to eight models, but bungs, says MA, are to be used if the
Walnut and
it’s perhaps the Bronze 200 loudspeaker can’t be positioned at
floorstander that many would-be ‘Urban Grey’
finishes, the
audiophiles will investigate first. least 20cm from a rear wall, but we Bronze 200 hosts

A slim two-and-half-way tower expect far more buyers will struggle a pair of 140mm
C-CAM bass/mid
speaker priced £569, with attractive to adhere to the recommended drivers that
finish options (Black, White, Walnut side-wall clearance of ~90cm. cross over to a

and ‘Urban Grey’), plus driver 25mm C-CAM

technologies borrowed from pricier PLAYING DETECTIVE ‘Gold’ dome

models, it appears at face value to The Bronze 200 is able to conjure tweeter (with ‘UD
offer performance potential and up a wide, detailed full-range sound
Waveguide’) at
that hi-fi holy grail: value for money. while (in keeping with its market
2.4kHz
The Bronze 200 features two position) putting little strain on
C-CAM mid/bass units, both 140mm partnering amplification. So the

in diameter. One of these drivers rockabilly riff on Bryan Adams’

touches base with the partnering cover of Eddie Cochran’s ‘C’mon

C-CAM tweeter at 2.4kHz while Everybody’ [Tracks Of My Tears]
both reinforce the low-end below enjoyed a solidity and warmth, the

700Hz. Developed over many vocal had a lovely texture and raspy

generations, the ‘technology’ in the edge, and the guitar sliced through
the midrange with ease.

‘If it wasn’t so compact Meanwhile, a wide-flung
you’d swear that this
design cost a lot more’ and airy treble created a
well-spaced image that easily
expanded beyond the speaker
cabinets themselves. With The

Police’s raw-sounding 1979

tweeter’s 25mm ‘Ceramic-Coated live performance of ‘Can’t Stand

Aluminium Magnesium’ dome lies Losing You’ [Live!; A&M Records],
in its combination of a lightweight these floorstanders did a decent

alloy core to which is applied a layer job of conveying the scale of the

of aluminium oxide. recording – not to mention that of

This enhances the rigidity of the players on the stage.

the dome without significantly Better yet was the swirling,

increasing its moving mass. In fluid and expansive picture they

practice, this combination of low painted with the title track from

density and stiffness is essential Carbon Based Lifeforms’ Interloper

for a rigid tweeter that lacks the [Blood Music]. As this electronic

‘lossiness’ of a soft dome type, composition ebbed and flowed,

here pushing the primary breakup the speakers seemed right on HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS
resonance to as high an ultrasonic song, offering plump bass, crisp
Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83V – 1kHz/Mean/IEC) 88.5dB / 88.5dB / 86.3dB
frequency as possible. percussion and rich synth chords.
Impedance modulus: minimum 4.35ohm @ 219Hz
The 909mm-tall cabinet features & maximum (20Hz–20kHz) 16.8ohm @ 81Hz
Impedance phase: minimum –36o @ 100Hz
15mm internally braced MDF walls VERDICT & maximum (20Hz–20kHz) +38o @ 27Hz
Pair matching/Resp. error (200Hz–20kHz) 0.7dB/ ±1.4dB/±1.4dB
and a 21mm front baffle and is This may well be a ‘budget’ speaker,
LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz) 40Hz / 52.6kHz/50.9kHz
a feast of right angles. However, but it’s not a budget performer – it THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m)
0.8% / 0.65% / 1.1%
we’d agree with Monitor Audio’s offers too much scale, clarity and Dimensions (HWD) / Weight (each)
886x166x265mm / 13kg
insistence that this gives it a ‘clean nuance for that, while being lively

and modern look’. Indeed, if this and easy to drive. Voiced to please,

loudspeaker wasn’t so compact, it’s also styled to appeal thanks to
you’d swear it cost a lot more. an attractive modern aesthetic.

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 105

“Aqua takes the competition
to the cleaners !”

Aqua LinQ & La Scala MkII

Network Interface Optologic DAC

“Every once in a while, the reviewing malarkey unveils a product that is so exciting that all you can do is
sit back and play as much music as possible before the plus size lady sings, or in this case the editor
demands copy. This pairing from Aqua in Italy turned out to be just such a product—OK, it’s
two pieces but put them together and you have one hell of a digital streaming system.”

“It reduces the low-level grunge that undermines digital audio to a far greater extent than most streamers,
this isn’t something you are necessarily aware of until it’s gone or you play a vinyl record on a great turntable.

Here it seems to have totally disappeared.”

“It’s almost as if the streamer is stripping away everything that isn’t music and presenting the DAC
˪˜˧˛ ˧˛˘ ˦˜˚ˡ˔˟ ˔˟ˢˡ˘ ˜ˡ ˔ ˣ˥˘˖˜˦˘ ˬ˘˧ Ђ˨˘ˡ˧ ˙ˢ˥ˠ ˧˛˔˧ ˦ˢ˨ˡ˗˦ ˦ˢ ˥˜˚˛˧ ˜˧Ϟ˦ ˨ˡ˖˔ˡˡˬʡϡ

“It’s listening at a higher level, chakras fully aligned with the light of musical communication
precisely focused yet natural in its pinpoint imaging and dynamic energy”

Jason Kennedy |

Distributed
in the UK by

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LOUDSPEAKER

Five driver, three-way floorstanding loudspeaker
Made by: Paradigm Electronics Inc., Canada
Supplied by: Pulse Cinemas Ltd, Essex, UK
Telephone: 01279 647 039
Web: www.paradigm.com; www.pulsecinemas.com
Price: £5400

Paradigm
Founder 100F

Named after the return technology, which applies to both
to the company of Scott the elastomer suspension of the
Bagby, who established bass and midrange drivers, and the
the brand, the Founder outrigger feet. Low-frequencies,

Series comprises six loudspeakers. meanwhile, are reinforced via a
The £5400 100F we have here is downward-firing reflex port.

one of three floorstanders and uses

an unconventional enclosure where GREAT GUNS

right-angles are in short supply. It’s Big and bold? Check. Open and

also fairly big – not in height at just detailed? Check. Rich in bass and

106cm but in depth (40.9cm) and crisp in treble? Again: check. The
front-baffle width (32.8cm). 100F is a consummate all-rounder,

It borrows elements from with just a hint of warmth that

Paradigm’s other models, most invites you to listen for extended

obviously the Perforated Phase periods. Guns n’ Roses’ ‘Locomotive

Alignment (PPA) ‘lens’ that aims (Complicity)’ [Use Your Illusion II;

to better control dispersion of the Geffen], is a funk-rock epic. Here

speaker’s midrange and tweeter. Yet the 100F delivered weighty, hard-

the company stresses the Founder hit drums, highs that sparkled, and

Series is a ground-up design, citing a captivating midrange presence.

the new FEA-optimised cabinets and Time for something a little

drive units as evidence of this. trickier in the shape of Kate

Bush’s ‘Babooshka’ [Never

‘It delivered the weight For Ever; Rhino Records].
Bush’s idiosyncratic soprano

of hard-hit drums, and voice can sound strident in
the wrong hands, but while
highs that sparkled’ it revealed a tilt towards

brightness here, it was free of

Starting with the latter, the 100F overt edginess and emerged from a

debuts the AL-MAC (aluminium/ soundstage of exemplary depth.

magnesium/ceramic) tweeter, The Founder 100F was also
a 25mm dome sitting within a ready for Muddy Waters’ ‘My Home

large, shallow waveguide. Below Is In The Delta’ [Folk Singer; Geffen].
this, and isolated via a 2nd-order The production here is deceptively
2.1kHz crossover, is a 152mm dynamic, and this lively speaker dug

AL-MAG (aluminium/magnesium) into each snare hit, aggressively- ABOVE: Offered in Walnut/Black Walnut and Midnight
Cherry/Piano Black high gloss finishes, the faceted enclosure
midrange driver. There are then picked steel guitar note or vocal hosts three 177mm mineral-loaded carbon-coned woofers, a

three ‘CARBON-X Unibody’ 177mm emphasis, while conveying the 152mm alloy mid and 25mm alloy/ceramic dome tweeter

bass drivers, which are one-piece track’s quieter aspects with delicacy.

designs, sans dust-cap. These are The space between instruments

made from ‘mineral-infused’ carbon was beguiling, as was the blend of HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS
fibre and bonded to Paradigm’s softness and aggression. In all our
Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83V – 1kHz/Mean/IEC) 89.6dB / 89.1dB / 87.9dB
‘Active Ridge Technology’ surround. listening, we found no flavour of
Impedance modulus: minimum 3.2ohm @ 119Hz
Paradigm says the faceted design music with which it really struggled. & maximum (20Hz–20kHz) 32.3ohm @ 22Hz
of the 100F’s 20mm-thick MDF Impedance phase: minimum –57o @ 26Hz
& maximum (20Hz–20kHz) +55o @ 19Hz
cabinet, plus reinforced internal VERDICT Pair matching/Resp. error (200Hz–20kHz) 2.3dB/ ±4.3dB/±4.7dB

bracing and 25mm top and bottom Find the necessary amplifier power LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz) 33Hz / 54.1kHz/63.8kHz
THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m)
plates, reduces internal standing for the 100F and you’ll be rewarded 0.25% / 0.25% / 0.55%
Dimensions (HWD) / Weight (each)
waves and structural resonance. with a detailed, inviting soundstage 1065x328x409mm / 33kg

More attention to unwanted and a voicing that works across a

vibrations comes via a new iteration wide range of music. Paradigm has

of the company’s Shock-Mount a real winner of a speaker here.

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 107

DAN D'AGOSTINO
AT OXFORD AUDIO

Because not all amplifiers are equal

PROGRESSION INTEGRATED ON DEMONSTRATION NOW

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& Bank Holidays

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LOUDSPEAKER

Three-way, six-driver floorstanding loudspeaker
Made by: The Professional Monitor Company Ltd
Supplied by: PMC Ltd
Telephone: 01767 686300
Web: www.pmc-speakers.com
Price: £54,995

PMC fact fenestria

A lthough launched at flat-diaphragm ‘piston drivers’ use RIGHT: The
Munich’s High End Show in 19.5mm soft
2018, it’s taken over three a membrane comprising carbon dome treble
years for the £54,995 fibre layers sandwiching a Rohacell and 75mm soft
dome mid are
foam core. These are driven by isolated from
the main cabinet
fact fenestria to arrive for review. 14cm magnets, and are mounted by a separate,
hourglass-shaped
But now the speakers are here, still between the main enclosure and a baffle. Pairs of
imposing at 1.7m tall and weighing decoupled secondary baffle, which transmission
a healthy 80kg apiece complete floats on a magnetic suspension line-loaded
165mm bass
with their stabilising plinth. sealed with a gasket. units, with flat
This flagship design involves two carbon-fibre/cell
foam sandwich
bass cabinets – one sitting on that ROCK SOLID diaphragms, are
mounted above
plinth, the other inverted on top, Give them some high-quality, and below
plus a floating metal section, called powerful amplification and the

the Nest. This slots into a cutout fact fenestrias can certainly

formed by those two assemblies, deliver, rocking out with the raw

on which are mounted both the southern swagger of the title track

tweeter and the midrange driver. of Blackberry Smoke’s You Hear

Even then you’re not done, as Georgia set [3 Legged Records].
the outer ‘cabinet’ of each speaker There’s fine instrumental definition

is formed by four ‘planar wings’. and speed, all underpinned with

These are part of the mechanics of a big, solid bass thump, and

the entire assembly, acting as tuned impressive soundstaging. The same

mass dampers to tackle resonances. is true with the Crowded House

But at its heart, the fact fenestria set, Dreamers Are Waiting [EMI].

is a relatively simple speaker. The They lurch appealingly into ‘Playing

tweeter is a 19.5mm version of the With Fire’ with real drive, and just

company’s long-running Sonomex as easily slip into the easy groove of

design, with a soft dome and ‘Start Of Something’, the beautiful

neodymium magnet, mounted in a harmonies on this song persuasively

rendered to draw the listener

‘They rock out with the into the heart of the music.
raw southern swagger However, you don’t need
of the title track’
big musical forces to hear
what these speakers can do.
With Martha Argerich’s The

Legendary 1965 Recording

36mm surround, itself isolated by a [Warner Classics], the pianist, then

silicon mount PMC calls an ‘Aureole’. just 24, plays with vivacity and

As for the 75mm midrange wonderful expression, and there’s

driver, this uses a cotton dome, a great sense of ambience around

as does the tweeter, here doped the piano in the studio, plus speed,

with a revised chemical cocktail. attack and lightness of touch all at

This is said to give better stiffness once. The imaging is rock solid, and

and lightness, while unwanted rear the instrument convincingly scaled

energy vents into a tuned chamber. without being unnaturally close-up.

The bass sections demonstrate But then that’s the hallmark HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS

familiar PMC thinking, using of these speakers – they have all Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83V – 1kHz/Mean/IEC) 82.0dB / 82.7dB / 81.3dB

the company’s ATL (Advanced the weight and solidity of those Impedance modulus: minimum 4.7ohm @ 81Hz
& maximum (20Hz–20kHz) 11.6ohm @ 255Hz
Transmission Line) loading, venting multiple bass drivers, without ever Impedance phase: minimum –32o @ 29Hz
& maximum (20Hz–20kHz) +25o @ 160Hz
out via Laminair ports. Rather like sounding over-large or ponderous. Pair matching/Resp. error (200Hz–20kHz) 1.3dB/ ±3.1dB/±3.3dB

the diffusers used on racing cars, VERDICT LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz) 33Hz / 26.8kHz/25.9kHz
the aim here is to smooth airflow. THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m)
0.25% / 0.09% / 0.9%
However, while ATL and the A striking piece of engineering, Dimensions (HWD) / Weight (each)
1700x370x623mm / 80kg
Laminair ports are found in other this speaker delivers speed and

PMC designs, the bass drivers detail, along with exceptional

here are all-new, and developed soundstaging for an involving listen.

purely for this speaker. The 165mm Just don’t stint on the amp.

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 109

LOUDSPEAKER

Two-way standmount loudspeaker
Made by: Rogers International UK Ltd, Virginia Water, UK

Supplied by: Rogers International UK Ltd
Telephone: 0333 533 0135
Web: www.rogers-hifi.uk

Prices: £4899-£5599 (£1599 stands)

Rogers LS5/9
Classic SE

Following the revived 1970s the LS5/9s are compact and easy
JBLs and Rogers’ return to to handle. Supported on their
LS3/5A manufacture [HFN dedicated stands, no toe-in was
Jul ’19], the arrival of a needed – we set them up in an

dead-accurate, reborn BBC LS5/9 equilateral triangle from the hot

as part of Rogers’ ‘Classic’ range seat, swiftly learning that placing

is further proof a trend is under them too far apart will create a
way. Allowing for inflation, though, serious ‘hole in the middle’.

at £4899 in walnut, olive and While these LS5/9s are
Amazaque finishes (add £50 for modestly sensitive and not a

rosewood) the new LS5/9 will set tough load we found that they

you back considerably more than a love power and revel in being

decommissioned, ex-BBC pair. driven hard. We were also warned

Reviewed and pictured here, by Rogers that the PVC surrounds

however, is the deluxe ‘SE’ version ‘need to do some work before

finished in the Amazaque veneer (an they warm up, about half an hour,

African hardwood). What you get to fill the bass out!’.

with the SE, at £5499 in the basic SHEER MAJESTY
finishes and £5599 for rosewood or

RAL colours, are gold badges and a These speakers are as revealing as

Panzerholz front baffle. The £1599 one would demand and require of

stands are made entirely from this a ‘tool’ speaker at the Beeb. Sound

same resin/hardwood composite Tour: Spain [Verve; 7½ips tape]

material and feel as hard as metal. proved the perfect opener. With

Panzerholz aside, the rest of the trumpet, piano, castanets, massed

UK-made cabinet is the standard girls’ voices and a host of others to

BBC design of thin-wall 9mm birch create the sonic picture, the LS5/9 The analytical capabilities of the ABOVE: Rogers’
LS5/9 puts us in mind of a studio own 210mm
Classic SE swiftly revealed a dweller listening for minutiae. That’s polypropylene
not to suggest such a mindset is like bass/mid driver is
‘Hot damn, these made number of qualities. listening for pleasure, which is what joined by a 34mm
The bass was smooth, hi-fi is all about, but this speaker soft-dome Audax
certainly serves both audiences. tweeter with
us think more of panel realistic, non-aggressive and phase plate. This
speakers and dipoles’ substantial while the voices VERDICT SE version of the
were clear, sibilance-free LS5/9 features a
These will charm you for what they rigid Panzerholz
and utterly convincing. What are: LS3/5As with more level and baffle
deeper bass. We sat there rapt, the
ply with damping sheets. The 34mm we certainly did not expect, given sound so natural and uncoloured
that the matter of cost vanished.
Audax HD34 tweeter is still made in that this is still a ported two-way
France, modified by Rogers in the enclosure, was the way the LS5/9

UK, while the crossover is assembled disappeared. Hot damn, these

in the UK to BBC specification. boxes made us think more of panel

Rogers reverse-engineered the loudspeakers and dipoles.

210mm bass unit, which is fitted Switching to CD, there’s a HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS
with the correct BBC-specified superb live take of ‘Lola’ on CD2 in

PVC surround. The high frequency the 50th Anniversary CD box set Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83V – 1kHz/Mean/IEC) 86.6dB / 87.2dB / 85.2dB

adjustment tag strip is visible on of Lola Versus Powerman And The Impedance modulus: minimum 5.69ohm @ 172Hz
the baffle as per the original studio Moneygoround Part One [BMG]. This & maximum (20Hz–20kHz) 24.1ohm @ 89Hz
Impedance phase: minimum –47o @ 103Hz
loudspeakers, although it is not is a blockbuster of a track with a full & maximum (20Hz–20kHz) +30o @ 74Hz
Pair matching/Resp. error (200Hz–20kHz) 2.1dB/ ±3.0dB/±2.4dB
user-adjustable. For tight pair- soundstage and the sheer majesty
LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz) 59Hz / 22.1kHz/22.7kHz
matching, the speaker is tuned via of a choral group behind Ray Davies. THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m)
0.6% / 0.07% / 0.2%
this tag strip in a similar way to He’s positioned dead centre and Dimensions (HWD) / Weight (each)
460x275x285mm / 12kg
the LS3/5A, where tweeter level is – in this instance – standing in the

matched via an auto transformer. room. There is no denying the 3D

Weighing only 12kg each and capabilities of this speaker, within

measuring 460x275x285mm (hwd), spitting distance of the LS3/5A.

110 | www.hifinews.co.uk | YEARBOOK 2021

LOUDSPEAKER

Three-way, six-driver, four-amp active floorstander
Made by: System Audio A/S, Denmark
Supplied by: Karma-AV Ltd, York
Telephone: 01423 358846
Web: www.system-audio.com; www.karma-av.co.uk
Price: £7000 (£400 wireless stereo hub)

System Audio
Legend 60.2
Silverback

This flagship floorstander and include a 25mm high-frequency
may appear to be an unit with a woven silk dome and
archetypal slender, tower a DXT (Diffraction eXpansion
speaker but peer around Technology) lens. This sits above

the back of the £7000 Legend a 150mm woven-fibre midrange

60.2 Silverback and you’ll find a driver and four 150mm woven-

metal plate – the Silverback of fibre woofers, running in pairs off

its title – with IEC mains inlet, separate internal amplifiers.

XLR and USB connections, plus a

bank of status LEDs below legends MASTER BLASTER

including ‘Wireless’, ‘Centre’ and A dozen drivers in your eyeline

‘Subwoofer’. So not only is this an implies a full-range, full-scale sound,

active model, it’s one with wireless and that’s what the Legend 60.2

and multichannel ambitions. Silverback delivers. The voicing

This is because a WiSA module replaces overt bass warmth with

is built into the 60.2 Silverback sheer bass weight and energy,

meaning it can be paired with any while there’s a bright, sparkly grasp

WiSA source. System Audio steers of upper registers and impressive

buyers towards the Stereo Hub from imaging. And all of the above is

Platin Audio and OEM company largely true whether you opt for

wireless connection or use the

‘This loudspeaker analogue XLR input.
punches out bass like This speaker punches like its
its gorilla namesake’
gorilla namesake. With KOAN
Sound’s ‘Funkblaster’ [Funk
Blaster EP; Tidal Master] kick

drums, in particular, arrived

Hansong, which it describes as ‘the with force, while the metallic-tinged

meeting point for all your audio bass sounded impossibly huge.

devices’ – including wireless ones. Meanwhile, Mike Oldfield and

The Stereo Hub facilitates System York’s remix of ‘Ommadawn’

Audio’s low frequency (sub-300Hz) [Tubular Beats; Ear Music] delivered

in-room bass correction too. a soundscape that washed over

Above the amp/control panel the listening position and felt

on the rear are two bass-reflex completely removed from the

ports, even though this is described slim cabinets up front. And as for

as a sealed speaker. The Legend Adele’s tear-jerker ‘Hello’ [25; XL

60.2 Silverback looks identical to Recordings], we lapped it up. The ABOVE: System Audio’s 150mm woven-fibre midrange [top]
and four 150mm bass drivers look identical but the mid unit
the passive Legend 60.2 (£5400), way these speakers planted the has a shorter (lighter) voice-coil. The tweeter with DXT lens/
waveguide was developed with the Danish patent holder
but the introduction of an Analog singer in the room, and revealed

Devices DSP-based crossover and every vocal inflection was stop-

560W-worth of Class D amps (with what-you’re-doing captivating.

integrated DACs) has allowed SA to HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS

rethink the speaker’s sound profile. VERDICT Pair matching/Resp. error (200Hz–20kHz) 4.7dB/ ±6.1dB/±4.3dB
LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz) 20Hz / 25.5kHz/26.7kHz
The Legend 60.2 is a three-way The speakers mix the powerful bass- THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m) 0.35% / 0.30% / 0.50%
Dimensions (HWD) / Weight (each) 1180x200x335mm / 27kg
bass-reflex design with a rated 30Hz rich sound you’d expect with top-

low-end reach, but the Silverback end refinement and a wide, open

version is sealed, and claims to hit image while the Stereo Hub brings

17Hz. The drivers remain the same welcome extra functionality.

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 111

INTRODUCING THE:

M3x Vinyl

The M3x Vinyl is a phono stage designed to fit into any modern system. It is stylish in its layout
and intuitive to use, while the inputs and outputs are designed to never be overloaded
or limited for absolute signal integrity. It can be set for either moving magnet or moving
coil cartridges and adjusted for the exact loading requirements of each. The internal fully

discrete circuitry is optimised for sonic excellence

Dont Settle for anything less than perfect Musical Fidelity.

Hi-Fi News, Hi-Fi World,
May 2021 June 2021

DDisistrtirbibuuteteddbbyyHHeennleleyyAAuuddioio : HenleyAudioUK | : HenleyAudio
TT: :++4444(0(0) )11223355551111116666 | | EE: :ssaaleless@@hheennleleyyaauuddioio.c.coo.u.ukk | | WW: :wwwwww.h.heennleleyyaauuddioio.c.coo.u.ukk |

LOUDSPEAKER

Three-way floorstanding loudspeaker
Made by: Wilson Audio Specialties, Utah, USA
Supplied by: Absolute Sounds Ltd
Telephone: 0208 971 3909
Web: www.wilsonaudio.com; www.absolutesounds.com
Price: £21,498-£22,998

Wilson Audio

SabrinaX

Six years – that’s how It caused a listening frenzy that
long ago the Sabrina was ran, initially, to eight hours. What
launched. So five years after rocked our world from the outset
was the soundtrack to Show Boat
that seems about right [Columbia], the overture so massive
before making a new version of any

model as good as the original was we thought there could be no more

– and remains [HFN Aug ’15]. The surprises until the male voice on ‘Ol’
Man River’ followed by a stunning
main change to the SabrinaX, which delivery of ‘Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat
costs £21,500 in a standard finish,

involves the enclosure – now entirely Man’ rendered us dazzled.

composed of Wilson’s X-material. Surely such less-crowded pieces

Here, the dense, mineral-loaded beg for intimacy? Absolutely. Yet

polymer that is X-material has been there was a feeling of all-embracing

reformulated to further ‘deaden’ atmosphere, of presence, of – yes –

the cabinet, just as the structure’s air on a colossal scale. It happened
internal bracing has been refined – again with Nancy Wilson’s Just For

courtesy of laser interferometry – to Now [Capitol], her breathless, edgy
reduce if not entirely eliminate any take on ‘That’s Life’ made all the

remaining flexure of the panels. more real by details which attested

There’s direct trickle-down to the Wilson (Audio) bloodline.

from costlier stablemates too. Next up was The Crickets’ Long
So the Convergent Synergy MK5 Way From Lubbock [Rollercoaster]

and Glen D Hardin, Elvis’s

‘The track enjoyed the pianist, delivering the finest-
most exhilarating, in- ever cover of Huey ‘Piano’
the-room piano sound’ Smith’s ‘Rockin’ Pneumonia
And The Boogie-Woogie

Flu’. This boasted the most
exhilarating, in-the-room

tweeter, modified for use in the piano sound we could have hoped

stately WAMM Master Chronosonic for, with speed, clarity, attack and

floorstander to improve dispersion, – crucially – low-end mass to add

extension and reduce distortion, is richness. Can a system swing? We’ll

now incorporated into the SabrinaX. spare you the ‘pace-rhythm-timing’
spiel of yore. The SabrinaX simply
Similarly, the 203mm paper pulp freed the recording. It was all there,
woofer, with modifications to the

voice coil former and suspension, unleashed. We sat stunned. ABOVE: ‘X-Material’ cabinet is supported on substantial spikes

has been levered from the Sasha If you own the Sabrinas and and hosts a 203mm reflex-loaded paper-pulp woofer, 146mm
doped-cone mid and 25mm silk-dome tweeter. At the rear,
DAW into this smaller cabinet. loved them last Tuesday, you will there’s a port for bass and a resistive slot for the mid driver

Bass loading is improved with love them next Tuesday. They are

a reduction in port turbulence still magnificent. If, however, you HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS
and the crossover – its topology have £22k to spare, and need a

‘tweaked’ to better optimise the floorstander that won’t take over Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83V – 1kHz/Mean/IEC) 89.6dB / 88.8dB / 86.6dB

revised drivers – now features your home, while still delivering Impedance modulus: minimum 2.39ohm @ 155Hz
& maximum (20Hz–20kHz) 15.9ohm @ 19Hz
Wilson’s own AudioCapX capacitors. John Ford-scale panoramas, Daryl Impedance phase: minimum –60o @ 67Hz
& maximum (20Hz–20kHz) +27o @ 255Hz
Wilson has a speaker for you. Pair matching/Resp. error (200Hz–20kHz) 0.6dB/ ±2.85dB/±2.90dB

GRAND DESIGN LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz) 52Hz / 30.3kHz/32.9kHz
THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m)
The Sabrina defied belief with VERDICT 0.2% / 0.1% / 0.5%
Dimensions (HWD) / Weight (each)
a soundscape that belied its Compared with the Sabrina, the 965x305x390mm / 51kg

dimensions, encouraging us to write SabrinaX expands the soundstage

that ‘It sounds as “big” as a speaker and extends the bass in ways that

double its height’. The SabrinaX shock, even when played side-by-
sounds even more grand. side with its big sister, the Sasha.

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 113

LOUDSPEAKER CABLE

Factory-terminated loudspeaker cables
Made by: AudioQuest, California
Supplied by: AudioQuest UK
Telephone: 01249 848 873
Web: www.audioquest.com

Price: £2910 (3m stereo set, terminated in 4mm plugs)

AudioQuest
William Tell
Zero

One of the founding additional annealing), and amp/speaker
fathers of the each individually insulated with combination cut
audiophile cable a thick PE dielectric. straight to the chase.
scene, California-based There was an immediacy
The 12 gauge cross-section, here, reflected in the
tangible, edge-of-your-
AudioQuest has been developing strand spacing and gentle seat threat posed by the
electric cello and string section
its conductor technology for twisting combine to offer low underpinning ‘Why So Serious
(The Dark Knight)’ [Hans Zimmer
no less than four decades. The resistance with moderate – Definitive Collection; Silva]. And
yet, despite this sense of urgency,
William Tell Zero featured here capacitance and inductance, attack and power, the system also
conveyed the finest subtleties
is part of the ‘Folk Hero’ series though we’d probably not with what was described at the
time as a ‘considered delicacy’,
– prices range from £2340 (2m advise lengths over 5m free of any grit or grain.
A challenging listen on some
pair), £2910 (3m) to £3480 for or so. Otherwise, the systems, the acoustic jazz of
Craig Taborn Trio’s Chants [ECM]
a 4m pair, with £570 per extra thickness, and stiffness, possessed a little extra velvet
with the AQ cables in tow, the
metre. This ranks as affordable of the cable is largely composition’s intriguing melody
still weaving its typically hypnotic
when compared to the flagship accounted for by the patterns but without the edginess
that we’ve heard before.
‘Mythical Creatures’ series that multiple braid, foil and
VERDICT
tops out at £20k for a 2m set of conductive carbon screens that ABOVE: Deep
within the While not ‘entry level’, AQ’s William
the Dragon Zero... envelop each trio of conductors, William Tell Tell Zero still offers plenty of slam
Zero’s outer for your bucks, although you’ll
The materials and geometry providing comprehensive EM and braided jacket need very robust sockets on the
and carbon/ rear of your speakers and amp to
of the cable derive from AQ’s RF shielding. A choice of spade foil screens manage the bulk of its ‘Y-shaped’
are three SST terminations. Securely fastened, this
understanding of skin-effect and and banana plug terminations is (Spread Spectrum cable squeezes as authoritative a
Technology) sound as possible from your system,
offered, all heavily silver- PSC+ (Perfect with a smoothness and freedom
Surface Copper) from ‘hash’ that’ll soothe the most
‘The electric cello and plated, and ‘cold-welded’ conductors furrowed of brows.
to the strands using

strings posed an edge- miniature grub screws.
The 72V DC power pack
of-your-seat threat’ velcroed to the destination

end of this directional

its efforts to minimise non-linear cable is AQ’s DBS (Dielectric Bias

conduction between adjacent System), wired between the drain

strands. In this instance, three and shield to impress a polarising

dissimilar-diameter strands are voltage across the internal

employed per leg of the cable, dielectric. AQ postulates that this

AQ specifying its PSC+ copper fixed electrostatic field rapidly

(an OCC copper subject to ‘forms’ the dielectric and hastens

the ‘run-in’ time of its cables (see

https://patents.google.com/

patent/US7126055B1/en).

BULLSEYE HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS

Whatever the rhetoric – and AQ Series Inductance (1m loop) 0.79μH
does produce a lot of literature Parallel Capacitance (1m) 203pF
– the impact of these William Resistance (1m loop) 14.3mohm
Tell Zero cables between our Leakage 150Mohm
Constellation monoblock/B&W Power Loss (8ohm speaker) 0.0155dB/m
800 D3 [HFN Oct ’19/’16]

LEFT: Packaging fit for a Folk Hero –
AQ’s hard shell cable case comes in a
lavishly-illustrated box

114 | www.hifinews.co.uk | YEARBOOK 2021

INTERCONNECT CABLE

Factory-terminated silver interconnect cables
Made by: Crystal Cable, The Netherlands
Supplied by: Padood, Cambs, UK
Telephone: 01223 653199
Web: www.crystal-hifi.com; www.padood.com
Price: £14,200 (1m stereo set, terminated in RCA/XLRs)

CrystalConnect balanced XLR equivalent, and
van Gogh while the latter might be a more
likely equipment companion at
Spin-off or brief re-branding, range from £8400, £14,200 and ABOVE: The this price level the single-ended
CrystalConnect is part of £23,000, respectively, for 1m sets van Gogh connections between Classé’s
the same Crystal Cable of interconnects terminated in interconnect Audio Delta PRE (inc. network
company, led by Gabi either RCAs or XLRs. These audio comes with an DAC) and MONO power amps
NFC tag attached [HFN Jun ’21] proved more than
Rynveld, that audiophiles have cables use a mix of two conductor that allows up to the job.
you to check
been familiar with for over 17 geometries. There’s a ‘coax’ for its authenticity So let’s first shoo the
using the elephant from the listening
years. Synonymous with silver the signal leg that has a single iCS CrystalConnect room by making it clear that
smartphone app CrystalConnect’s van Gogh is
conductors, the brand’s latest ‘Art strand, insulated with Kapton and not one of those archetypal
‘bright sounding’ silver cables.
Series’ employs a development a layer of PTFE, that’s screened In practice we found it nearly
as smooth as the best single-
of its monocrystal wires dubbed by a multi-core weave of finer iCS stranded/annealed/cryo-treated
copper interconnects from cable
strands and bound tightly by luminaries including Townshend
and Furutech.
‘The van Gogh cable a transparent Teflon jacket.
The ‘Ground’ or return leg uses To this the van Gogh brought
insight even to the shrillest of
brought insight even to three lower-gauge central recordings, specifically the AIR
Studios-mixed [HFN Mar ’21]
pomp-rock of Muse’s Drones
[Warner Bros]. A hard-hitting set
that can readily sound brittle or
harsh now exhibited rather more
of the treble ‘air’, swagger and
fulsome bass punch that we’ve
come to expect from our finely-
tuned high-end system. It does
‘artistic’ too, with the close-
recorded jazz standards sung by
Natalie Dessay/PMO [Pictures Of
America; Sony Classical] sounding
spine-tinglingly close and breathy
but never claustrophobic.

the shrillest of tracks’ iCS strands, again Kapton/ VERDICT
PTFE insulated, and also with a
There’s no avoiding the formidable
multi-stranded iCS screen. price of these cables, but handle
a pair and you may be surprised
‘Infinite Crystal Silver’ (iCS). Strands Both the RCA and XLR versions at their weight. Even discounting
the alloy barrels, this reflects how
of this high conductivity metal of the van Gogh interconnect much noble metal lies within
that transparent Teflon dielectric.
are deployed across a range that employ four of these legs – CrystalConnect has named this
range after the virtuosi who set new
includes RCA/XLR interconnects, one signal/three return for the standards of expression, their iconic
artwork echoed by the precious
power and speaker cables plus USB, single-ended RCA and two signal/ silver that’s core to the performance
‘painted’ by these cables!
S/PDIF and AES digital interconnects. two return for the balanced XLR

Comprising – in order of scope configuration. Holding the twist

and cost – the Monet, van Gogh in place are CrystalConnect’s

and da Vinci variants, prices entirely decorative, gold-anodised

identification barrels.

SILVER-TONGUED HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS

We tested a 2m length of the Series Inductance (1m loop) 0.23μH
RCA-terminated van Gogh Parallel Capacitance (1m) 450pF
interconnect rather than the Resistance (1m loop) 19.5mohm
Leakage >300Mohm
LEFT: Sweeter than a box of
chocs... the protective packaging for
CrystalConnect’s van Gogh interconnect

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 115

+44 (0)118 981 9891
www.audioconsultants.co.uk

FINE TWO CHANNEL AUDIO SYSTEMS

Loudspeakers of Distinction

LEFT: Eggleston Works Emma Evo. MIDDLE: Amphion Argon 3LS. TOP RIGHT: Kudos Titan 606. BOTTOM RIGHT: Kerr Acoustic K320.

Amphion Designed and made in Finland with a unique Kudos Audio A long-established UK company making
controlled dispersion technology enabling their speakers some of the finest sounding speakers today. Their
to achieve a high-quality sound repeatable in a variety speakers have a neutral tonal balance, very precise
of rooms. The Argon range is well made and offers imaging, and are well balanced across all frequencies.
exceptional value. They are very natural in tone and High resolution of fine details producing a broad and
timbre with no excessive brightness. Bass is extended, deep soundstage. Bass is very fast and controlled
well controlled and without exaggeration. A passive especially in the Titan range where isobaric technology
radiator design used from the mid-way up the model is employed. Their models use SEAS drive units
range offers excellent room integration. uniquely designed for Kudos.

Eggleston Works A renowned US company making high Kerr Acoustics An artisan UK manufacturer using
quality loudspeakers with curved sided cabinets and some of the finest drivers including True Ribbon high
facets that reduce resonances, finished with a durable frequency units, and Scanspeak or Volt units for mid-
metallic polyester paint. An immediately engaging range and bass duties. A birch-ply transmission line
sound, delivering a large-scale sound, wide beyond the cabinet further differentiates them from others. Contrary
outer edges of the speakers, and layering rearwards for to many transmission line designs, these speaker have
a deep sound stage. Extended high frequencies without fast and tight bass response that can be placed closer
being forward, with an authoritative bass resolving to walls than most dynamic designs. An open and large
good textural detail. Voices are rendered accurately sound stage, a natural presentation, and an impressive
and in correct proportion to the instrumentation. Fast ability to disappear.
dynamics with excellent timing.

[email protected] 4 Zephyr House Calleva Park Aldermaston Berkshire RG7 8JN UK Speakers AC114 V2

PROGRAMMABLE POWER SUPPLY

User-configurable DC power supply
Made by: HEM Ltd, Poland
Supplied by: Signature Audio Systems, UK
Telephone: 07738 007776
Web: www.ferrum.audio; www.signaturesystems.co.uk
Price: £1095

Ferrum Hypsos universal verdict. Feeding new and
legacy USB, S/PDIF and network-
Cleaning-up your AC mains up menu, though we cannot see ABOVE: OLED attached DACs from iFi Audio,
power has long proven its any good reason for doing so. display and rotary Arcam, Pro-Ject, Mytek and Chord
benefits. But what of the encoder is all among others revealed, to a greater
Another defeatable feature is its that’s required or lesser extent, an improvement
low voltage DC supplies ‘4T sensing’ or four-wire connection to view the DC in the smoothness, liquidity and
output status and ‘easiness’ of the sound, with a more
– the so-called ‘wall-warts’ – that that extends the regulation of its navigate Ferrum’s consistent uplift with SSM engaged.
comprehensive Backgrounds were that bit darker,
often come packaged with today’s DC supply to the very tip of the product listing,
or set and/or the atmospheric piano-noodling
small form-factor DACs, headphone supplied 2.1mm and 2.5mm-jack manually adjust of Don Gruisin’s Out Of Thin Air
the output [Octave Records; DSD64] betraying
amps, phono stages and turntables? umbilicals rather than the output the suggestion of extra depth.

Many are unsophisticated socket of the Hypsos. Again, leave Pro-Ject’s Stream Box S2 Ultra
[HFN Oct ’18] network player also
switchmode blocks with basic this switched on unless you are benefited from the Hypsos’s touch,

rectification and regulation, and daisy-chaining the Hypsos to feed the sound – almost regardless
of the attached DAC – enjoying
are sources of RF and other noise multiple products, for example. a reduction in low-level grain.
Defeating SSM will likely increase
in their own right. Replacing them Some wall-warts, specified up levels of circulating RFI and this,
in turn, might be interpreted as
with a robust, fixed-voltage linear to a high 5A, have scrawny flying extra ‘edge’ or detail. Of course,
the absence of measured change
PSU certainly makes sense. leads and can suffer a voltage drop
merely indicates we were missing
Ferrum is going one step further under load. This isn’t the case with the target with our choice of tests!

with its £1095 Hypsos – a very the Ferrum Hypsos which is rated Not so with iFi Audio’s ZEN DAC
headphone amp [HFN Jul ’19] or
up to 6A continuous (or 80W,
Arcam’s analogue rHead [HFN Nov
‘Zimmer’s Symphony whichever occurs first) before ’16], auditioned with cans ranging
now thundered all the protecting its output. from Oppo’s PM-3 [HFN Jul ’15] to
more convincingly’ B&W’s P9 Signature [HFN Mar ’17].
At the time of writing, the
Hypsos’s flash memory hosts Here we’d hit upon measurable
the details of over 100 DC- differences that may, arguably,

powered products. You scroll correlate with the added tonal

flexible user-configurable DC PSU through the menu listing and select richness and authority heard at
modest playback levels.
that operates over a 5V-30V range your product, and if it’s not included
So The Dark Knight – the opening
with direct support for a host of you can read the DC voltage off the suite in Hans Zimmer’s Symphonic
Celebration [Sony Classical;
third-party products. Ferrum’s back of your product’s wall-wart 48kHz/24-bit] – now thundered

website carries the updated list. and manually enter the value, again, all the more convincingly with the
Hypsos ‘conducting’, illuminating
the ambience of the Vienna
Konzerthaus to rousing effect.

Housed in a robust alloy via the menu. There’s also a fine

case with illuminated logo, the ‘sweet spot’ tuning of ±5%. VERDICT

Hypsos combines a substantial The Hypsos protects its own Given that plug-top ‘wall-warts’
generally accompany budget hi-fi
toroidal transformer feeding output against over-voltage/over- components, a circa-£1000 supply
upgrade might seem academic. But
a microprocessor-governed current but it cannot accommodate the subjective impact of Ferrum’s
Hypsos should not be discounted.
switchmode supply with, in turn, every ‘user error’. You’re given a ten

fully discrete regulation. second countdown before any new

The switchmode supply operates DC voltage is enabled, but if you

at around 1MHz so Ferrum uses cook your favourite compact hi-fi

spread spectrum modulation (SSM) then know that you’re also kissing HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS

to ‘smear’ the switching frequency its guarantee goodbye.

and any associated EMI/RF. Residual DC voltage range (unloaded) 5-30V (±5%)
Maximum current (loaded) 6A
noise is now that much easier for DISTILLED DC Power consumption (unloaded) 7W
Dimensions (WHD) / Weight 216x58x228mm / 2.9kg
the regulators to deal with. It’s We tested and briefly auditioned

possible to defeat the SSM via the over 15 different 5V-18V DC-

Hypsos’s detailed but intuitive set- powered products in the quest for a

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 117

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LOUDSPEAKER CABLE

Banana plug and/or spade-terminated loudspeaker cables
Made by: In-akustik GmbH & Co. KG, Germany
Supplied by: Karma AV, York
Telephone: 01423 358846
Web: www.in-akustik.de; www.karma-av.co.uk
Price: £640-£750 (3m stereo set, depending on termination)

In-akustik

Reference

LS-204 XL

Micro Air

Once Germany’s best- strands, arranged in ABOVE: Fitted opener ‘Too Good At Goodbyes’
kept cable secret, the four concentric layers, and jacketed with a choice of burst forth just behind a very close-
In-akustik brand – part in a polyethylene sleeve. rhodium-plated
of the family-run plugs, the LS-204 miked Smith. His voice retained
In-akustik set out to, and XL Micro Air the right amount of ‘edge’ while
combines a useful the percussion had equal snap, the
Braun Group – is nothing if not succeeded in, designing a low physical flexibility
with a technical ensemble maintaining a balance on
comprehensive in its offering. Every inductance cable by employing a design that the civilised side of fierce – a tough
supports long ask with these plaintive, slightly
type of power, analogue, digital and helical geometry that also keeps amp-to-speaker
cable runs sibilant vocals.
AV cable is included, across multiple parallel capacitance down to
The percussive intro to Paul
ranges, alongside custom-install a minimum. Furthermore, the
Simon’s In The Blue Light [Legacy
accessories that extend to ambient substantial 7.86mm2 (3x2.62mm2 Recordings] sounded fresher –
thankfully – as this ‘reimagined’
LED lighting solutions. per signal/return leg) cross-section collection of his lesser-known album

In-akustik’s copper is smelted of those multi-stranded copper tracks was revealed in meticulous
and refined in Germany, the highest cores keeps loop resistance and
detail here. The vibrant take on
any power loss down to a very ‘Pigs, Sheep And Wolves’ enjoyed a
good sense of attack, of expectation
‘These are “straight low level. Cold-welded to your
choice of ‘Easy plug’, spade and excitement too, all the while
down the line” cables, or, as here, 4mm BFA-version
banana connectors, these avoiding sounding too demanding
not tone filters’
cables are tailor-made for long, or, heaven forbid, harsh.
>5m runs where your amplifier

quality OFC batches being selected is placed at one end of the room
for its flagship ‘Reference’ range of and your speakers at the other!

audio cables, including the LS-204 FEEL THE AIR VERDICT
XL Micro Air we have here. The ‘XL’
An evolution of In-akustik’s ‘Air
version of this cable features six To test the idea, we used a 7m Helix’ geometry, the ‘Micro Air’

multicore conductors, grouped as set of LS-204 XL Micro Air cables construction of its LS-204 XL

signal and return pairs, that are (£1350-£1450) and, as heavy- cable retains the low resistance
wound around a polyethylene fibre gauge cables typically get the best
and inductance of the German
core. Each conductor comprises from amps offering a low output
brand’s costlier cables but with the
multiple, lacquer-coated copper impedance, auditioned them with
advantage of lower capacitance,
a Devialet Expert 800, as well as
promising a more consistent
Constellation Inspiration Monos
behaviour with a wider range of
[HFN Oct ’19], with our in-house amplifiers. There’s a lot of hand-

B&W 800 D3s [HFN Oct ’16]. made cable here for the money,
These cables are ‘straight down making it a reliable bet for that first
‘big upgrade’.
the line’ performers, not tone filters,

as illustrated by testing material

like Sam Smith’s The Thrill Of It All HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS
[Capitol Records]. No less ‘thrilling’
Series Inductance (1m loop) 0.23μH
with the LS-204 XLs in tow, the Parallel Capacitance (1m) 110pF
Resistance (1m loop) 4.8mohm
choral accompaniment on the Leakage 100Mohm
Power Loss (8ohm speaker) 0.0052dB/m
LEFT: Air (a superior dielectric) is put to

good use here with multiple conductors
spaced around an ‘air rich’ fibre core

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 119



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VINTAGE TURNTABLE

Sony PS-Q7

W hen Technics released
its SL-10 turntable in
1979 with a footprint
the size of an LP sleeve
[HFN Apr ’19], it was evident a

record player did not have to be

large to give top quality results.

Soon all of the big players in the
Japanese hi-fi industry were

racing to produce something

similar. Well, almost all.

Sony, the great master of

miniaturisation, was not a

company to imitate others.

Sony’s PS-Q7 was closer in size

to the cover containing a 7in single,

rather than an LP sleeve, measuring

just 215x58x235mm (whd). This

saw the platter reduced to a small a 12in LP, so the motor’s torque had ABOVE: The when fed a 7in single, there being a
PS-Q7’s sculpted more rigid surface under the stylus.
hub in one corner of the plinth with to be moderated to ensure stability. plinth leaves So Chris de Burgh’s ‘Don’t Pay The
enough room Ferryman’ [A&M] was arrestingly
the record overhanging the rest of Since it is fully automatic and for a 12in LP but dynamic, our notes saying ‘CD like’.
conceals the
the cabinet on two sides. only has two major controls the L-shaped arm And with a decent (flat) record
while not in use. the PS-Q7 can certainly sound taut,
Another feature was the use of PS-Q7 is very easy to operate. A The record clamp dry and toe-tapping. As an attractive
is built into the device to bridge the gap between
an ‘L-shaped’ arm, with the pivot single dial selects the speed (either corner of the lid the end of the LP era and the
beginning of the CD one, this tiny
located at the rear of the deck near 33rpm or 45rpm) and the record turntable would have been bang
on target. Its looks enchant and it
the centre. The right-angle bend size (7in or 12in) with all four sounds more than capable enough
not to disgrace itself even in critical
in the arm resulted in the tip of permutations available. After that, a company. The dedicated audiophile
may find it wanting, but pride of
the stylus tracing a line that was single key starts and stops playback, ownership remains high.

roughly along the inside edge of the automatic systems being

the lid, meeting the requirement accurate if a bit slow in operation.

for compactness without having to A record can be played with the

make the arm excessively short. lid open or shut, a heavy built-in

The inclusion of direct drive centre clamp running on a ball-

in a turntable so small was a race coming into action when the

major engineering feat. The DD lid is closed. Though the arm has

motor followed Sony’s established no cueing lever it can be pushed

manually to any position above

‘With a decent record the LP before the lid is closed VERDICT
it can certainly sound and the start key is pushed. The
taut and toe-tapping’ arm then drops into position. The Sony PS-Q7 defines the
As for the pick-up, this was a minimum volume of machinery
specially designed MM type required to play a record properly.
While bettered by models just a
with a 4-pin mounting, similar little larger, it is still a fascinating
object and a design classic.
BSL (Brushless and SlotLess) to Technics’ T4P system but smaller

principle and retained the printed and thus incompatible.

‘Magnedisc’ encoder to monitor HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS

its rotation. Because of their low BANG ON TARGET

speed, all DD turntable motors The Sony PS-Q7’s presentation is Turntable speed error at 33.33rpm 33.21rpm (–0.38%)
Time to audible stabilisation 7sec
rely to an extent on the mass of surprisingly good given its small Peak Wow/Flutter 0.20% / 0.25%
the platter to act as a flywheel to size, the title track of Judie Tzuke’s Rumble (silent groove, DIN B wtd) –61.8dB
Rumble (through bearing, DIN B wtd) –62.9dB
smooth their rotation and to damp album Welcome To The Cruise Hum & Noise (unwtd, rel. to 5cm/sec) –42.5dB
Power Consumption 5W
the action of the servo system. [Rocket Record Company] sounding Dimensions (WHD) / Weight 215x58x235mm / 2.5kg

This was not possible with the spacious and brisk, if a little bright.

PS-Q7, so the mass of the record The instrumentation retained its

became a factor in the motor’s immediacy, though vocals could

control loop. The inertial moment of take on an edgy quality at times.

a 7in single is much less than that of However, the deck fared better

122 | www.hifinews.co.uk | YEARBOOK 2021

VINTAGE CD PLAYER

Philips CD10 as opposed to the usual Philips
architectural solidity, but tonally
The European market leader decade. The 16-bit version of the ABOVE: About the characteristic smoothness and
in full-size CD players just Philips 4x oversampling package did the same size as richness are still there. Furthermore,
not arrive until 1986. three CD cases since the imaging problems are
had to have a portable stacked on top nowhere near as evident when the
player after Sony was first One of the things that makes of each other, player is heard via headphones as
the CD10 uses they are through speakers, this
to market in 1984 with its D-50 the CD10 remarkable is that a top-loading could have been an almost ideal
arrangement, product – akin to a pocket-sized
[HFN Jan ’13]. Breaking cover at the it, too, is a 16-bit machine, complete with Marantz CD-73 [HFN Mar ’19].
a magnetic disc
end of the same year, Philips’ CD10 introduced some months before clamp in the Sit back and listen to Katie
player’s lid Melua’s ‘Mockingbird Song’ from
looked to be a mildly restyled Sony the more mainstream models. Call Off The Search [Dramatico] and
you’ll find the CD10 to be as rich
D-50 at first glance, but there was In fact all the CD10’s decoding and fluid-sounding as the D-50 is
fast and focused. As is often the
far more to the player than that. and DAC architecture came from case with old Philips players, the
bass guitar sometimes got in the
Opening the lid revealed what the Sony D-50, culminating in a way of the rest of music with its big,
lazy sound but vocal rendering was
appeared to be the familiar Philips 16-bit CX20133 DAC time-shared excellent and displayed fine clarity.

single-beam, swing-arm laser between the two channels with Only a shrunken soundstage
in which the various parts of the
assembly, indicating the D10 was an heavy analogue filtering required mix appeared as smears instead
of pinpoints gave away that this
original piece of work rather than a at the DAC output to remove the wasn’t one of the old 14-bit classics.
Similar effects were noted when
straightforward ‘cut-and-paste’ job. remnants of the 44.1kHz sampling. playing orchestral pieces, Strauss’s
Don Juan [BPO/Karajan: DG] thrilling
Philips went to its newly acquired The servo circuits from the D-50 with its sound, the smoothness of
the strings allowing the entire piece
Marantz Japan Incorporated (MJI) could not be used, however. Sony’s to be enjoyed at a realistic volume
level without listener fatigue.

Only the most delicate solo violin
sections revealed a lack of ultimate
refinement when compared to a
full-sized ‘reference’ player. Still,
overall the CD10 performed well
given its basic underpinnings.

subsidiary to have the CD10 KSS-110 three-beam laser mounted

on its motorised sled had very VERDICT

‘The CD10 is as rich different drive requirements to There was more to Philips than
those of the CDM-2P, meaning oversampling and digital filters – its
and fluid-sounding as that Philips had to miniaturise designers could even make Sony’s
the Sony D-50 is fast’ its unique servo circuits onto chips sound like their own. An
a couple of specially designed intriguing machine, then, and one
capable of making sweet music.
surface-mount packages. In

designed and made, though Philips fact, these were the first devices

did produce a special version of its of this type to find their way into a HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS

CDM-2 optical unit in its European Philips player of any size.

factories – known as the CDM-2P – Maximum output level / Impedance 1.73Vrms / 418-1046ohm

especially for the CD10 portable. SMOOTH STRINGS A-wtd S/N ratio 88.9dB

All full-size Philips players at What is perhaps most remarkable Distortion (1kHz, 0dBFs/–30dBFs) 0.0032% / 0.029%

this point used twin 14-bit DACs about the sound of the CD10 is Distortion & Noise (20kHz, 0dBFs/–30dBFs) 0.0062% / 0.0019%

and a 4x oversampling digital how similar it is to that of a full-size Frequency response (20Hz-20kHz) +1.10 to –2.75 dB

filter. At a time when the Japanese Philips player, eg, the CD104 [HFN

competition offered a single DAC Apr ’14], despite it having no digital Digital jitter 750psec

and analogue filtering only, this filter and only one DAC. Critical Resolution @ –90dB/–100dB +4.9dB / +5.9dB

gave the Dutch firm a technological listening reveals the expected Power consumption 5W

lead which wasn’t convincingly rather chaotic imaging that many Dimensions (WHD, inc. battery) / Weight 125x45x210mm / 1.2kg

countered until the end of the single-DAC players tend to exhibit

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 123

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VINTAGE CD PLAYER

Sharp DX-411H mistake, the treble is still pin sharp
and extremely quick, but it does not
Like all the Japanese majors, When a disc is loaded into ABOVE: Unlike dominate or overwhelm.
Sharp had a CD player ready some early
for the 1983 season. Its the player the number of tracks players, the Indeed, the familiar parts of
debut DX-3 was produced available is shown just briefly, but controls here the Boléro were an exhilarating
are simple and listen, the player delivering a sense
not the disc’s total running time. logical. Although of immediacy some supposedly
formed mostly more sophisticated designs can
almost completely in-house and was The indication then returns to just from moulded miss. Yes, when the orchestra was
plastics, the playing low-toned sounds it seemed
followed over the next few years by displaying track 1 and zero time, quality of fit and that the impression of focus was
finish of the front lost, but any snap of percussion
a string of machines made mainly to waiting for play to be selected. of the DX-411H soon restored the illusion of a live
is of a good performance taking place.
secure the company market share. A track number cannot be standard
Imaging was fair, but a broader
The 1986 range, of which the chosen before the disc’s TOC (Table soundstage would have been
appreciated. As it was, the sound
DX-411H was a part, was a more Of Contents) is read either, so you was largely confined to the area
between the speakers, lending it a
commercially viable and better can’t drop a disc in the drawer, two-dimensional quality and a sense
of restricted front-to-back depth.
engineered set of products. Costing choose which piece you want to
This lack of ambience proved to
a little over £200, for your money hear, press play and walk away like be less of a problem with simpler
material. Katie Melua’s ‘Mockingbird
you got a single 16-bit DAC (Sharp’s you can with the newer machines. Song’ from Call Off The Search
[Dramatico] had a convincing vocal
own design), time-shared between However, such quirks are minor centre presence and a big, chewy
bass line. Again, less-than-perfect
the stereo channels. A three-beam compared to those of some period focus was evident around the drums
and guitar, but the usual issues
sled-mounted optical unit formed rivals (eg, from Philips). people complain about when it
comes to the sound of early CD
the heart of the mechanism, The use of a single time-shared players (cold/sterile/hard, etc) are
neatly sidestepped by the way the
while a brace of Yamaha LSI chips DAC inevitably introduces a phase DX-411H has been voiced. To our
ears it sounded a little like a good
error between the two open-reel tape recording made at
3¾ips, minus the tape hiss and with
‘Parts of Ravel’s Boléro channels, increasing with perfect speed stability, of course.
were exhilarating to
listen to on this player’ signal frequency. The effect is VERDICT

ameliorated in the case of the Its civilised presentation made the
DX-411H worth the price of entry
DX-411H by Yamaha’s digital when launched. The player remains
filter. The oversampling not a good listen today, and is a fine
place to start if you’re interested
only halves the interchannel in early CD and want a piece of the
action at minimal cost.
could be found in the decoding phase error to ~45o at 20kHz but

section of the circuit and in the 2x also pushes digital alias distortions
oversampling digital filter.
out to beyond 88.2kHz, simplifying
Meanwhile, a dedicated chip the design of the analogue filter

from Sanyo contained much of the that follows. It’s a technical

servo system and it was no surprise compromise, for sure, but the
to find an LCD numerical readout DX-411H is still capable of making

on the fascia as Sharp was a prime highly enjoyable music. HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS

mover in this particular technology.

Two Sharp acronyms adorn CHEW ON THIS Maximum output level / Impedance 2.03Vrms / 3.13-2.48kohm

the player’s keys – APSS and APMS We began our audition with a A-wtd S/N ratio 101.0dB

– and their meanings are spelt digital recording of Ravel’s Boléro Distortion (1kHz, 0dBFs/–30dBFs) 0.0022% / 0.0063%

out in brackets under the disc conducted by Daniel Barenboim Distortion & Noise (20kHz, 0dBFs/–30dBFs) 0.0029% / 0.0015%

drawer. They are ‘Auto Program [Deutsche Grammophon]. Given the Frequency response (20Hz-20kHz) +0.25 to –2.8dB

Search System’ (ie, skip forward/ time the DX-411H was launched,

backwards) and ‘Automatic you’d probably imagine it to have Digital jitter 1100psec

Programmable Music Selector’ (ie, a hard, forthright and glassy sound. Resolution @ –90dB/–100dB –1.9dB / +3.5dB

track programming). The latter Yet it’s really rather civilised in its Power consumption 10W

facility could also be found on the presentation and, if anything, a Dimensions (WHD) / Weight 364x78x305mm / 4kg

company’s cassette decks. little soft in the midband. Make no

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 125

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VINTAGE RECEIVER

B&O Beomaster stereo decoders and quartz-locked
6000 4Ch digital tuning became the norm.

In 1975, B&O announced A practical electronic means ABOVE: Every Yet, for all its power, the
what was arguably the most of volume and tone control had Beomaster 6000 4Channel lacks
advanced quadraphonic system not yet been developed so the major control on the dynamics and excitement of
available at the time. And at volume, balance (both left to right the best amplifiers of the period
the Beomaster – though this was not evident
its heart was the Beomaster 6000 and front to back), treble and bass
6000 4Channel with every type of music. Chopin’s
4Channel receiver. Costing ‘a little controls were all motorised. A
receiver is Nocturne No 20 [DG 447 098-2]
over £1000’, the complete outfit single servo motor was used, with flush and sleek,
had a beautifully liquid sound
included a specially adapted version electromagnetic clutches to engage electronic
switching and when played through the two front
of the firm’s tangential tracking the relevant adjustment. motorised
attenuators channels of this receiver, each
turntable [HFN June ’14] and four Meanwhile, a moving orange making normal
and every note being exquisitely
Beovox P45 Uni-Phase loudspeakers. cursor showed the setting of each projecting
control surfaces formed before falling from the
What’s more, the system was function. These refinements made unnecessary loudspeakers. ‘Polished’ was a word
that kept coming to mind, with any
designed to play both Sony/CBS it possible to add a remote control, rough edges invisibly blended away.

SQ and Victor CD4 records, and optional at first and standard A pleasing impression of space

be compatible with a four-channel thereafter. Ultrasonic sound was was also noted, albeit upon a

tape recorder. The Beomaster 6000 employed to deliver the commands, soundstage we felt to be a little
more constricted than we know to
as with the later Beomaster be possible. It was more up-tempo

‘Each and every note of 2400 [HFN Dec ’19]. material that tripped up the 6000
One important 4Channel, tracks such as ‘Enjoy The
Silence’ by Depeche Mode [Violator;
the Chopin recording ergonomic innovation to
Mute] not rendered with all the
energy we know to be present.
This was not a matter of restricted
bandwidth or lack of power, more
that the presentation possessed an

oddly two-dimensional quality.

Bass too became wayward at

high listening levels. Both effects

were limited in their extent, but

we had hoped for better from

B&O’s costliest model. We doubt,

however, that this will matter to

prospective buyers. This is one of
hi-fi’s true design classics, that made
everything else on the market look
clumsy and out of date.

was exquisitely formed’ appear on the Beomaster VERDICT
6000 4Channel was the use
Despite its rather relaxed sound,
of what B&O would later call the Beomaster 6000 4Channel
wound its way into our hearts.
4Channel could also receive FM ‘electronic covers’. This saw certain Ergonomically brilliant, it remains
a true object of desire.
stereo radio broadcasts. functions only visible when relevant

On paper the 6000 4Channel’s and in use. For example, the radio

power amplifier produced 4x40W, dial could only be seen if the FM

a substantial figure from such a slim free-tuning mode was selected.

piece of equipment. Yet it was the HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS

Beomaster 6000 4Channel’s striking PREMIUM BLEND

appearance that won it the greatest At a basic level the design gets Power output (<1% THD, 8/4ohm) 44W / 72W (4x35W/4x60W)

praise. The work of designer Jacob a lot of things right. The sound Dynamic power (<1% THD, 8/4/2/1ohm) 46W / 85W / 130W / 115W
Output imp. (20Hz–20kHz/60kHz) 0.42–0.56ohm / 0.75ohm
Jensen, the receiver finally achieved here is muscular and powerful, Freq. resp. (20Hz–20kHz/100kHz, 0dBW) –1.7dB to +0.85dB/–5.2dB
Input sensitivity (for 0dBW/30W) 53mV / 365mV
the goal of having no projecting while tonally it’s reasonably even A-wtd S/N ratio (re. 0dBW/30W) 84.8dB / 99.6dB

major controls, everything being too, with a pleasingly extended

sleek and flush. This was achieved bottom end. Treble can seem a

by the use of electronic signal little curtailed, soft even, but not

routing, meaning that all the unit’s excessively so by the standards of its Distortion (20Hz-20kHz, 10W/8ohm) 0.013–0.17%
Power consumption (Idle/rated output) 41W / 136W
functions could be selected by peers. The FM tuner too is every bit

short-travel push buttons that were as good as it needs to be, accepting Dimensions (WHD) / Weight 670x80x320mm / 16kg

cut into the stainless steel fascia. that it comes from a time before PLL

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 127

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VINTAGE PRE/POWER AMPLIFIER

is hugely appealing. As a result,

should you wish the Yamaha pairing

to rattle your fillings, then they will

cheerfully oblige. The thunderous

bass on ‘The Day That Never Comes’

from Metallica’s S&M2 [Blackened]

powered through the room with

such impact that when the track

came to a close we felt slightly out

of breath – always a good sign!

Meanwhile, there’s a sweetness

and delicacy to the treble that is far

from guaranteed with a 40-year-

old design. The phono section is

particularly capable in this area.

There is never a hint of grain or

hardness; rather, cymbals rang out

confidently and percussion strikes

Yamaha C-2a/M-2 started promptly before shimmering
into the background gracefully.

Where the units did show their
age a little, however, was across

the midband. Playing Mozart’s Eine

Kleine Nachtmusik [BPO/Karajan]

Come 1979 and interest multiple stages. In fact, two phono ABOVE: The we were swept along by the way
in Yamaha’s VFET power inputs are provided. Phono 2 is a C-2a preamp the Yamaha pairing projected the
fixed MM input with a 47kohm load, (top) sports a performance and shone a light on
amplifiers was fading. but Phono 1 could be configured for dedicated front the different instruments. However,
‘VFET’ was no longer the
big buzzword, having been replaced either MM or MC operation. panel control to the best amplifiers also capture the

by ‘high fT’ MOSFETs that boasted For MM, loads of 47kohm, switch between richness of the violin strings. Here
an impressive 80MHz switching 68kohm or 100kohm were its two phono they sounded a little ‘flat’.

with dissipation up to 150W. So it available, while the standard MC inputs while the What was never in any

was that these formed the basis of input offered a 50ohm load. What’s M-2 power amp doubt, however, was the superb

Yamaha’s two new range-topping more, the C-2a’s Phono 1 selector (below) features soundstaging set up by these

power amplifiers – the M-4 and the had a fourth option, offering illuminated Yamaha amps. Some ’70s designs

200W-per-channel M-2. a 2.5mV MM input sensitivity switches and one can be vague in spatial terms, but

In the case of the M-2’s output combined with 100ohm loading. LED power meter not the C-2a and M-2, which sound

stage, Yamaha made use of In addition, sockets on the rear for each channel focused and do so with ease.

three parallel-connected Toshiba of the C-2a gave capacitive loading

2SC2461 N-channel devices and options for the MM Phono 1 input. VERDICT

With nothing connected, The C-2a and M-2 show Yamaha

‘The impact of the bass the load was 220pF and never lost its touch when it came to
left us feeling slightly out plugs were provided to building premium pre/power amps.
of breath – a good sign!’ alter this to 330pF or The M-2 is powerful, dynamic and
470pF. And the rest of fun while the C-2a is crisp, insightful
the C-2a was equally well and joyously detailed. Together they

specified. Both Tuner and make a formidable combination you

three 2SA1051 P-channel types, Auxiliary inputs were offered, plus would do well to seek out.

with power provided via a large two tape loops with a separate

toroidal transformer and a hefty record output control. HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS

discrete power supply. Meanwhile, Power to the C-2a came from a Power output (<1% THD, 8/4ohm) 290W / 490W

the input amplifiers were also high quality, fully regulated power

FET-based and saw a dual-stage supply with separate sections for Dynamic power (<1% THD, 8/4/2/1ohm) 342W / 635W / 655W / 35W

topology used, the aim here being each amplification block within the Output imp. (20Hz–20kHz/100kHz) 0.050–0.053ohm / 175ohm

high stability and low distortion. unit. A dedicated supply was also Freq. resp. (20Hz–20kHz/100kHz, 0dBV) +0dB to –0.0dB/–0.3dB (C-2a)
Naturally, a suitable matching provided for the MC head amp. Freq. resp. (20Hz–20kHz/100kHz, 0dBW) +0dB to –0.1dB/–1.3dB (M-2)

preamplifier was required and this

came in the form of the C-2a. With PREMIUM POWER A-wtd S/N ratio (re. 0dBV/0dBW) 96.7dB (C-2a) / 95.5dB (M-2)

vinyl still the audiophile’s source of The first thing to grab you here are Dist. (20Hz-20kHz, 0dBV Pre/0dBW Pow.) 0.0001–0.002%/0.0002–0.001%

choice, Yamaha spared no expense the seemingly limitless reserves Power consumption (Idle/rated output) 95W / 825W (31W, C-2a)
when it came to the phono stage of power on tap, served up with a
here, utilising a dual-FET circuit with sense of precision and control that Dimensions (WHD) / Weight 435x183x362mm / 21kg

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 129



VINTAGE LOUDSPEAKER

Technics
SB-7000

One vintage Japanese provided so that the owner
loudspeaker with which could set up the treble and
everyone is familiar is the midrange characteristics of
Yamaha NS-1000M [HFN the speaker to suit their taste.

Oct ’18]. But at the time, all the big While the midrange unit

Japanese brands offered something operated in a sealed and

of a similar size, cost and ambition damped enclosure, the

(if not absolute quality). woofer was loaded by two

Initially released in Japan in resistively-coupled cavities

mid-1975 as the Technics 7, these occupying the volume of

three-way floorstanders reached the main cabinet, eventually

the wider market during 1977 leading out to a slot port

after having been renamed the below. Efficient drive units,

SB-7000. As with much Japanese a relatively simple crossover

kit, the speakers offered a headline and a large, sparsely damped

refinement to set them apart from cabinet resulted in a claimed

competitors: ‘phase linearity’. sensitivity of 93dB/1W/1m.

Linear phase loudspeakers

were not new, of course, but the BIGGER BITE

approach adopted by Technics saw From its appearance, one

a conventional passive loudspeaker would expect the SB-7000’s

able to be driven by an ordinary sound to be dominated by

stereo amp, with phase linearity a deep and extended bass.

maintained by a combination While this is true, there is far

of carefully optimised crossover more to it than that. One

parameters and the staggered might also expect the tweeter

positions of the drive units. to be overly bright-sounding, job. Near seismic levels of bass
were generated even when using
Making optimal use of a woofer as is the Japanese stereotype. This is only modest amplification. In short, ABOVE: A large
the SB-7000 should be required
measuring 350mm mandated a also not the full story: the tweeter listening before you drop a grand 350mm aramid
on the default pair of Yams. fibre woofer is
refrigerator-sized cabinet while an certainly has a vivid character but it
VERDICT married here
is smooth and refined too.
Although a little quirky in some to a matching
‘Phase linearity set this The word ‘bite’ is what areas, the SB-7000 is an excellent
came to mind time and loudspeaker overall. For those 120mm cone
speaker apart from its time again. On New Order’s who have the space it offers both
Technique [Factory], the fast refinement and treble clarity few midrange unit
contemporary rivals’ percussion on ‘Vanishing other classic speakers can match. and fully exposed
32mm soft dome
Point’ combined clarity tweeter

additional enclosure was employed and power in a way we’ve rarely

for the 120mm midrange unit. Like encountered. Meanwhile, lots of

the woofer, the midrange driver bass drive gives the SB-7000 the

featured a reinforced triple-layer rich, luxurious lower register that is

cone made of blended aramid so evocative of late ’70s high-end HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONS

fibre. Meanwhile, on the top of kit, even if it is a tad slow compared Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83V – 1kHz/Mean/IEC) 88.0dB / 88.3dB / 87.4dB

the cabinet an exposed 32mm with more advanced speakers that Impedance modulus: minimum 4.56ohm @ 2.4kHz
& maximum (20Hz–20kHz) 26.2ohm @ 59Hz
cloth dome tweeter was placed would arrive in the 1980s. Impedance phase: minimum –56o @ 69Hz
& maximum (20Hz–20kHz) +55o @ 9.5kHz
in free space, the silver rectangle Being able to do the job without Resp. error 0dB/–2dB/–4dB (200Hz–20kHz) ±6.1dB / ±5.9dB / ±7.6dB

surrounding it being part of its taxing the partnering amplifier or LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz) 46Hz / 27.4kHz
THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m)
strontium-ferrite magnet assembly. the loudspeaker itself results in a 0.35% / 0.65% / 0.55%
Dimensions (HWD) / Weight (each)
As for the crossover circuit, this natural, fluid presentation. If you 845x480x410mm / 36kg

was mounted at the rear of the want to hear albums such as LFO’s

midrange unit enclosure and was Frequencies [Warp] in the manner

not extravagant. As was popular in which they were intended then

at the time, two controls were the SB-7000 is a good tool for the

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 131

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OPINION

Paul Miller

Group Editor

Technical writer on all things audio for some 40 years, award-winning test engineer
and current President of EISA, Paul Miller took over the editor’s chair in 2006

Weltanschauung

Has your ‘world view’ been altered by the seismic events of the last two years or, like Paul Miller,
are you so immersed in the joys of our audiophile universe that nothing will dent your passion?

No, I don’t have the dictionary Together, we will make it a celebration
set to ‘German’ and, no, my to remember. In the meantime, and as I
cat has not just sat on the described in the 2020 Yearbook, Hi-Fi News
keyboard (though he is wont will always maintain the quality of ‘real’

to do so...). The meaning of my headline reviewing that you demand and deserve

Weltanschauung rather succinctly – keeping you as close to the action as we

encompasses the wholesale shift in possibly can. A year ago I revealed how

world view precipitated by the events we maintained our in-house photography,

of the last 18 months or so. Especially, I listening sessions and world-leading lab

would argue, 2021, as populations either tests throughout the pandemic, ensuring

race to embrace the shifting sands of our subscribers never missed an issue.

the ‘new normal’ or test the water with

measured hesitancy. OUR PLEDGE TO YOU

Audiophiles, being a typically You can read more about the ‘Hi-Fi News

thoughtful and cautious lot, have Pledge’ in each regular issue of the

tended to occupy the magazine, typically on

latter group. Hence ‘The UK Hi-Fi p39. In a nutshell, every ABOVE: The flagship darTZeel monoblocks
Show Live will item you see reviewed in arrive at Hi-Fi News, along with distributor
the complete lack of return to Ascot Hi-Fi News will have been Absolute Sounds’ Pedro Luis – the first step on
hi-fi shows and physical delivered, photographed a six week ‘review journey’ into HFN Dec ’21
next year!’ and lab tested on site –
(audio) gatherings of no ‘hands on’ shortcuts, also developed a specific lab regime
any significance on the no quick listen at a dealer to investigate the efficacy of KEF’s
or in a distributor’s ‘metamaterial’. The segue into our
international calendar. subjective listening was fascinating,
and always so satisfying when we can
Munich’s High End, offer our readers a complete picture
of technology serving the musical
Chicago’s Axpona, experience. With B&W’s flagships we
were able to test and audition the
Warsaw’s fabulous Audio backroom dressed up as outgoing 800 D3 flagship with the 801
D4, back-to-back. That’s some 400kg of
Video Show and, of course, our own Hi-Fi a real review. Bearing in mind the size and loudspeakers in one review!

Show Live at the Ascot Grandstand [see weight of the kit that graces our facility Not only was this the world exclusive
but (very likely) the only direct technical
p28] have all gone dark for two seasons. every month, the logistics of ‘doing it right’ comparison of the two models you’ll
read. Our independent proof-of-concept
Tokyo’s Audio Show still looks ‘live’ take some navigating! developed to illustrate the improvement
offered by B&W’s Turbine Head and
for this year but with Japan’s restrictions Pictured here you can see Pedro, from new midrange driver suspension is
similarly unique. But then that’s why you
in place for overseas visitors, this must Absolute Sounds, overseeing the delivery read HFN, alongside the views of Ken,
Andrew, Mark and our other regulars, of
surely be a more local event than usual. and installation of darTZeel’s massive NHB- course. Whatever else is going on, our
Weltanschauung is resolute.
Sadly, Denver’s Rocky Mountain Show has 18NS preamp and NHB-468 monoblocks.

announced its permanent closure after These are the cover stars for our Dec ’21

17 highly entertaining years. issue where we’ll dive deep into how they

sound, and what makes them tick...

MAKE A DATE There’s another advantage in testing

But the times, they are a’changing, and everything on site – it also allows us to

I’m in no doubt that we will all meet plan for investigative comparisons. We

again and share the sights and sounds of had two good examples this year with the
hi-fi’s royalty together. So grab your diary ‘Meta’ version of KEF’s evergreen LS50

and leaf ahead one year, for the UK Hi-Fi Uni-Q standmount [p99] and, very recently,
Show Live 2022 is scheduled to return with the launch of B&W’s flagship 801 D4
to Ascot on 10-11th September. I cannot floorstander [HFN Nov ’21].

wait to welcome you all back to the UK’s

most prestigious hi-fi show venue and HEAD-TO-HEAD

share the stunning sounds offered by all For the former we arranged for both

that you see, and more, in this special original and Meta versions to be delivered,

188-page Yearbook. photographed and tested together. We

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 135

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01228 546 756 0191 285 7179

OPINION

Barry Fox

Technology journalist

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

Thinking outside the box

Can traditional hi-fi dealers still compete in a world of cut-price online retailing boosted by the
effects of the pandemic? Yes they can, says Barry Fox, as he looks back over the past 12 months

Getting lost while driving RIGHT: Specialist
around the industrial hi-fi stores, which
wastelands of Wembley, I
chanced on the huge gates have the patience
and know-how to

to a mini-city, called Amazon. The vast explain how it all shutterstock.com/Altrendo ImAges

complex of enormous grey ‘sheds’ connects together,

is where I have unknowingly been still have a major
shopping during lockdown. part to play when

These little cities are popping up all it comes to selling

over the country, with staff who help audio equipment

machines ‘pick’ product from mountains

of racks. I then pick up my purchases,

for free, from a local convenience store.

Amazon is now opening its own high

street shops to cut out the middlemen. unnamed ‘RETRA members are incensed by After a chance drive past a now-defunct
B&O Centre, I approached B&O. All
Driving back from Amazon-land Mr Fox’s naive view that Amazon’s threat manner of small, portable B&O audio
I passed what had once been a hi-fi gear is available online. So what sales
to brown goods bricks-and-mortar dealers control can B&O enforce on its big stuff?
dealer’s showroom. It paid the rent by is virtually infinite’. With curiously twisted At the time of writing I am still waiting
selling small high-profit margin items like logic, Lovewell and King then went on to for something useful by way of reply.

cables to anyone buying big-box, low- justify their anger with the reminder that As restrictions relaxed, a family friend
margin audio or video. The defunct hi-fi bricks and mortar dealers ‘are the lifeblood showed me an enormous new TV bought
at significantly reduced price from John
showroom is now a Tesco foodhall. of the CE industry… are passionate about Lewis. The store salesman had pointed
to a large display of TVs bought online,
what they do [and] offer a whole range of and then returned for refund. Was this
because they were too hard for those
LOCKDOWN LUXURY services that an internet retailer can only who had bought them to setup?

When I celebrated the relaxation of aspire to offer’. Indeed. But dealer trade PAWS FOR THOUGHT

restrictions with a trip to the cinema, bodies need to get the message across. When Philips and B&W celebrated the
end of lockdown at Abbey Road Studios
I had to sit close to a man munching Of course no-one could have predicted with a most welcome hands-on demo
smelly food, and muffle my ears to the effect of the Covid pandemic on trade, of top end hi-fi TVs, the penny dropped.
Without expert help your average
the horribly overloud but Tesco had taken online shopper does not have a cat in
hell’s chance of correctly assembling
sound of adverts for ‘The defunct over from the defunct and connecting big-box high tech that
cars and Dolby promos. hi-fi demo room long has been dumped on their doorstep.
Chances are they will just send it back.
Lockdown has opened before lockdown. And
manufacturers have been So the Amazons of this new world are
hi-fi showroommy ears to the luxury of not going to invite problems by selling
this stuff. Forget about the niceties of
having a volume control is now a Tesco dramatically upping their trade law, Amazon et al are just going
foodhall’ to leave the tricky big stuff market to
that’s in my hands. direct sales online game. specialist dealers and custom installers.
Just about any small box So there is a future for hi-fi dealers who
The past year also AV gadget or connector are ready, willing and able to adapt.

brought old memories is now easier and cheaper
flooding back. In July

2010 I wrote an article for dealer trade to buy online than by physically going to

magazine ERT predicting that although a shop. And customers are getting wise to
Amazon was then still relatively small this. The easy dealer profit on accessories

its ‘threat to brown goods bricks-and- that once existed has now gone.
mortar dealers is virtually infinite’. The manufacturers are curiously coy

This provoked a fervid reaction about whether trade law lets them enforce

from previously sensible brown goods the traditional system of supplying big

trade body RETRA (Radio, Electrical boxes only to specialist dealers who can

and Television Retailer’s Association). demonstrate product – thereby preventing

Its then-President Bryan Lovewell and customers with no shame booking a dealer
Press Officer Simon King raged that demo and then buying cheaper online.

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 137

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OPINION

Barry Willis

Journalist for top American audio-video publications

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

A note from midsummer

Barry Willis consults a number of industry observers in his quest to make sense of the year that’s
been, and concludes that it was a tale of two online music ecosystems, one old and one new

The laudable purpose of HFN’s RIGHT: Bandcamp
annual Yearbook is to sum up describes itself as
the previous 12 months. That ‘an online record
can include everything from store’ where fans
changes in the music industry and can discover and
listening habits among music fans to directly support
fascinating laboratory developments and new artists. It says
noteworthy new audio products. an average of 82%
of monies collected
Yet this year has been unlike any goes directly to
other. As I write, the spectator-free Tokyo musicians or their
Olympic Games are running silently in label
the background. Delayed a year, the
Games are expected to put Japan some mentioned ‘cassette, eight-track tape and and available free on YouTube [www.
US$25 billion in the hole. Meanwhile,
the pandemic will be two years old by open-reel’ to which I replied that I have youtube.com/watch?v=WIZwg1t2iAo].
the time this edition hits the newsstand,
Western Europe has endured some of the covered the cassette tape revival two or The online treasure trove encompasses
worst floods in centuries and wildfires
are raging in Russia and North America. three times, including telling readers where ‘obscure albums that aren’t easy to find

BY THE DOZEN to buy new decks (yes, they exist), while elsewhere, and amazing performances

Against this background, coming up with Ken Kessler regularly delves into open-reel. at incredible locations released only
a pithy take on what rocked the audio
world in 2021 is a challenge. I therefore Regarding eight-track, it may be the on YouTube’. Here he included a link to
took an informal survey of a dozen or
so industry watchers who pay attention proverbial frozen-solid day in hell before Cercle Productions – well worth pursuing
not merely to music sources, amps and
speakers, but also to the behaviour of any serious audio magazine gives it a at www.cercle.io – and followed that
those who use them. Responses varied
from predictable to insightful. retrospective. My belief is that when the with a mention of Bandcamp (https://

One suggested Qobuz as a good topic long-predicted zombie bandcamp.com), a
for examination. It’s a great service, but
wasn’t new this year, I replied. Another apocalypse finally comes, ‘“I know that service that ‘connects
eight-track will be the seems an musicians to fans
ABOVE: Genesis in the early ’70s – see their dominant format. The directly, providing higher
restored 1973 concert in Paris on YouTube ongoing vinyl revival earned compensation to artists

absurdity, buta few nods, but at this point than other platforms...
high-quality digital-only
the excitement has waned.

The most astute and stay with me”’ releases available for

original response I received streaming or download’.

was from another friend, Quoting the Bandcamp

Clay C, engineer, audio geek, art fancier, site, he mentioned ‘fans have paid artists

and lifelong observer of social trends. $800 million using Bandcamp, and $15.4

‘YouTube’, he stated simply. ‘I know that million in the last 30 days alone’.

seems an absurdity, but stay with me... It’s

really another library of performances that TRICKLE CHARGES

do not exist on other media. I find more That’s an encouraging development,

cool new stuff on YouTube than on Roon, especially significant given that musicians

for example... I know the quality varies, but have seen their revenue streams dry to

sometimes it’s remarkable’. less than a trickle with the shutdown

He cited the performance of Genesis of public performances. I already make

at the Bataclan Club in Paris on the 10th monthly contributions to a couple of

of January 1973, originally captured on artists via Patreon, but Bandcamp is

16mm film, but remastered as 4K video something I plan to explore.

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 139



OPINION

Adam Smith

Hi-fi reviewer

Electronics engineer, music lover and former loudspeaker designer, Adam Smith
is known to dabble with all audio formats, but is a committed vinyl fan at heart

Let’s get physical

It was another fine year for vinyl, says Adam Smith, who drills down into the sales of physical
media before picking out those products that lit up his listening landscape this year

Guess what? Sales of LPs are still RIGHT: One
on the up. However, even I am of the ‘Highly
astounded by the numbers Commended’
involved. According to the products in HFN
mid-year report from MRC in association Apr ’21, Thorens’
with Billboard in the US, LP sales across TD 148A sits atop
the Pond increased year-on-year by no the company’s
less than 108% during the first half of range of fully
2021, with over 19 million units sold. automatic
This is a remarkable figure. turntables

Yet it’s just part of a striking rise in The increase in supply of new vinyl that VPI has a great reputation among
the sales of physical media in general.
The figure for this in 2021 so far is an hardware shows no sign of slowing vinyl aficionados and not only did the
increase of 37.5%, while digital album
sales dropped by nearly 27% over the down either, and the resurgence is being deck live up to this, it proved to be one
same period and sales of digital tracks
fell by 20%. It seems that streaming is embraced by wider audiences still. Even of the finest models in its price range
becoming the default choice for digital
music consumption. The US recorded Rolling Stone magazine has got in on that I have heard for a while. It was great
a 10.8% increase in on-demand song
streaming but, considered globally, the the act, recently publishing a list of five to finally review a VPI turntable and I
figure was an increase of 27.5%.
recommended turntables under $500 for sincerely hope it won’t be my last!
TAPE MEASURES
readers who are rediscovering vinyl.
Back home in the UK, vinyl also showed
its 13th year of growth in a row through Review-wise there were many fine SUMMER SURPRISE
2020, according to the BPI, with nearly
five million vinyl LPs purchased. More vinyl-related items that passed through Aside from turntables, Hana’s Umami
amusing, perhaps, is the continued
and somewhat unlikely attraction of the Smith listening room during the past Red [HFN Dec ’20] cartridge proved to
cassette tapes, with some 157,000 units
apparently purchased last year. 12 months. The reappearance of what is be as sonically tasty as its Japanese name

ABOVE: From Japan – the Hana Umami Red the Thorens TD-160 reborn in the form of suggested while Norwegian company
MC cartridge sports an Urushi lacquer finish
the EISA Award-winning TD Hegel marked a new

1601 [HFN Nov ’20] was a ‘Vinyl from entry into the vinyl arena
very pleasant surprise and Salisbury? with its first ever phono
I had an equally enjoyable
and far lazier time with the stage, the V10 [see p44].

A compact, neatly styled

company’s fully automatic Who would’ve and highly versatile unit,
TD 148A [HFN Apr ’21]. this proved to be just as

The big Thorens news thought it?’ capable as I could have
of 2021, of course, was the hoped, coming from a

new TD 124 DD turntable company well versed in

[see p42]. Admittedly, it’s a direct-drive the art of audio electronics.

deck, unlike the original which was a hybrid However, the biggest vinyl newcomer

belt/idler design, and there’s no word on a surprise of the year has to be the Naim

corresponding TD 224 DD autochanger yet, Solstice – the first turntable in its history,

but what an absolutely glorious thing it is. launched, appropriately, on the day

This year also marked a very important of the UK summer solstice. A £16,000

milestone in the Smith calendar because package of turntable, new Aro arm,

a new manufacturer came under my cartridge, phono stage and power

scrutiny – the irony being that it isn’t a supply, plus a dedicated LP and book, this

new manufacturer at all! The company in is a strictly limited edition of 500 units

question is VPI and the Prime 21+ [see p43] and looks to be a very impressive beast.

was the first turntable from the firm I have Vinyl replay from Salisbury’s finest – who

ever spent any length of time with. I know would have thought it?

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 141

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OPINION

Andrew Everard

Reviewer/writer

Andrew Everard has reviewed consumer electronics for over 30 years and is still
effortlessly enthusiastic about new developments, discovering new kit – and music

Low-cost champs

Another dozen months of listening and never a dull moment, says Andrew Everard, who is
happy there’s always something to hold the attention and which is often highly affordable too

Sitting writing this, I’m waiting for
the latest of a long line of ‘virtual’
product launches to hit my
screen, and thinking how much
time such events are saving me. True, I’ve

missed a couple of tentative real events

in recent months, thanks to a mixture of

the dreaded app pings and the odd bout

of suspect symptoms – to date, all false

alarms – but I have to say I’ve got out of

the habit of attending product launches,
not to mention hi-fi shows.

ABOVE: Cambridge Audio may be a latecomer to the all-in-one streaming system market but its

SIGNS OF THE TIMES compact, stylish and impeccably engineered ‘just add speakers’ Evo 150 made a big impression

I now can’t help but feel that spending a

whole day, including a few hours in the retro’ styling, but they went on to convince more compelling they seem. Another

car, just to find out about a new product, with the way they sounded, which is manufacturer very much on a roll

is something of a waste of both time very much in the company’s ‘Because of late is iFi Audio, with a seemingly

and resources. It’s impossible to form Music Matters’ way of thinking. And in a inexhaustible ability to come up with

an opinion about a product just from strange twist, the appearance of Rotel’s new and exciting digital products. I’m

a brief listen with an unfamiliar system duo of Tribute components [HFN Jan ’21], a big fan of the company’s slender NEO

in an unknown room, let alone write a based on work started by former Marantz iDSD DAC [see p63], which has shaded

review – though it does seem that some brand ambassador Ken Ishiwata before more than a few much pricier digital

have developed the ability to do so – his early death, showed the same kind of rivals in the past few months.

meaning that a decent information pack, concentration on musical communication, I seem to have spent a lot of time

combined with an online presentation making them among the best affordable with Michi products in the past 12
hi-fi buys of recent times. months, and I have to say my greatest
should the company wish to do so, is admiration is saved for the most
more than sufficient. At least it is until

we get the product in question into the STAR QUALITY affordable amp in the range. The X3

listening room and lab for testing. The work on the Rotel duo was completed integrated [see p88] is not only great

So though I’ve been ‘WFH’ for many by a team led by consultant and speaker value, but has real star quality whether

years now, no sense of designer Karl-Heinz Fink, used with analogue or digital sources.

‘FOMO’ – fear of missing ‘The year’s real with whom I’ve enjoyed DESIGN FOR LIFE
out – has yet set in. discoveries offer some fascinating listening
Instead, my memories sessions back in the days However, the real star turn of the year
of the past 12 months remarkable when travel meant more must be the compact Evo 150 network
are filled with those value for money’ than going beyond the system from Cambridge Audio [HFN Nov
products that had me local supermarket. And in ’21]. Yes, the company may be something
thinking ‘Ah yes, that’s another example of that of a latecomer to the ‘just add speakers’
why I do this for a living’ strange synchronicity streaming solution arena, and as a result

– always a good sign. I went from reviewing the newcomer, and its junior Evo 75

What’s more, the real discoveries of the the Tribute twosome to auditioning the sibling, are hardly without competition.

past 12 months have been those offering FinkTeam KIM speakers [see p96], which are However, the combination of style,

remarkable value for money. very much an over-achieving design. solidity of build, neat design touches

For example, the 30 Series products Having enjoyed hearing the company’s and above all superb performance is

from Marantz, and notably the EISA larger speakers at past shows, sometimes massively appealing. It could be just the

Award-winning SACD 30n SACD/CD/ demonstrated by Ishiwata – see, there’s things to convince the ‘lifestyle’ crowd
network player, may have initially another circle – I was even more amazed of the value of fine sound – and that can

grabbed the attention for their ‘modern that the smaller Fink’s designs get, the only be a good thing.

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 143

CELEBRATING

THE YEAR’S

RED HOT PRODUCTS

GLOBAL AWARDS 2021-22

visit www.eisa.eu for the winners

EISA is the unique collaboration of 60 member magazines and websites from 29 countries, specialising
in all aspects of consumer electronics from mobile devices, home theatre display and audio products,

photography, hi-fi and in-car entertainment. This truly international association includes expert
members in Australia, India, Canada, the Far East, USA and the wider European community, ensuring

the EISA Awards and official logo are your guide to the best in global consumer technology!

TESTED BY THE EXPERTS Q WWW.EISA.EU

OPINION

Christopher Breunig

Music Journalist

Christopher Breunig trained as an architect but became won over by music and
collecting classical recordings. He was Hi-Fi News’ Music Editor from 1986-2000

Pipe and slippers

Christopher Breunig picks a couple of his listening highlights during 2021, besides those in our
Yearbook Classical section, and looks back over technical changes since the analogue days

A listening highlight for me, PHOTOS: STEINWAY & SONS/WARNER CLASSICS/ROGER HAUERT
this year, was to dig out and
play the very first LP I ever

bought: Beethoven’s Sonatas
Opp.109/110, a 1957 Columbia release.
It never had good reviews but I have

always thoroughly enjoyed it.
What surprised me was finding the

sound unblemished (how many pick-ups

had tracked it in these past 64 years?),
while visually it looked shiny-new. It is a

credit to EMI’s pressings of that era. ABOVE: The writer’s first three LPs were all of music by Beethoven: with Walter Gieseking (left)

playing two late period sonatas, Otto Klemperer (centre) and the Philharmonia in the ‘Eroica’

BOX OF DELIGHTS Symphony, and Claudio Arrau (right) in the Fourth Piano Concerto

I began my collection just before stereo concentration camp victim. Gloucester Browsing through a stack of the
City Library was a second home for me review monthlies by EMG Handmade
emerged, with more Beethoven: Arrau in Gramophones I have kept, I found
as a teenager – you could borrow scores,
the Fourth Concerto, and Klemperer in
the ‘Eroica’. His mono LPs of Symphonies

Nos 3, 5 and 7 established him (ex-Vox) and read music criticism in papers and in those analogue days the sound

as the ‘new Beethoven voice’ in the wake magazines. I was au fait with the catalogue assessments really only reflected the

of Toscanini and Furtwängler. And of even before owning a player! pick-ups to hand. Recordings regarded
course EMI began recording him in all
sorts of less likely repertoire: Dvořák’s REWARDING CYCLE as still of audiophile interest today
were frequently dismissed, one way or

‘New World’ Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Another musical highlight for me during another. As my Hi-Fi Choice writer friend
‘Pathétique’, Stravinsky’s Petrouchka… 2021 was reacquainting myself with
Jimmy Hughes used to say, ‘the critics are
My first player was a Pye Black Box, Stephen Kovacevich’s Beethoven Concerto really reviewing their own equipment’.

with autochanger, superseded by a cycle with conductor Sir Colin Davis

set-up from long-gone [Eloquence 484 1728; FRESH FACES

Northern Radio Services, 12CDs] – performances I As readers will have gleaned by now,
Swiss Cottage (concert Peter Quantrill has taken up the reins as
‘The reviewer hadn’t heard since the LP HFN’s classical reviewer and writer of our
pianist Peter Katin was is faced with series of the early 1960s. Classical Companion feature. Early this
a customer) – its own Packaged with other Davis spring I felt I just didn’t want to continue
on. It’s the same with writers on books,
so many newwoolly-sounding speaker, Beethoven Philips recordings theatre, art – even perhaps audio: as
this is indeed a rewarding
with treble unit in an open Time Marches On, the critic is faced with
so many new names, remote from the
artist names’top baffle, Rogers HG88 cycle, with real empathy
comfort zone of familiarity. Although
integrated valve amp and between the young soloist for me, some discoveries – such as Kirill
Petrenko, pianists Filippo Gorini and
a Lenco turntable. I seem (who was then known as

to remember it could play 16rpm LPs. Stephen Bishop) and the conductor.

In those days with the two shops where Good digitally remastered sound too,

I bought my records, you could take but with hints of cadenzas and (possibly)

them back if you didn’t like them – very other solo passages pasted in, it’s a Behzod Abduraimov, and violinist Daniel
different from London’s posh Henry reminder of how production techniques Lozakovich – have proved thrilling.

Stave, which sent out LPs by post and have improved. Listen to, say, Claudio But in any case, I needed to address

were sniffy about replacing faulty copies. Arrau’s old EMI concerto recordings and an unorganised collection of hundreds

Most of my musical knowledge the change in acoustic for cadenzas jars. of CDs in boxes and supermarket bags
came from radio, Cheltenham recitals It’s more subtly accomplished nowadays. all over my flat – demanding a massive
by pianists like Denis Matthews, and clearout of stuff I’ll never want to listen
Soloist balance too, if you think of the

monthly concerts by the visiting CBSO RCA discs with Arthur Rubinstein, or David to again. So it won’t be pipe and slippers
– then under Rudolf Schwarz, a former Oistrakh on CBS/Sony, under our noses. yet (not that I possess either).

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 145

Exceptional Hi-Fi 3
is always rewarding

12

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www.wholenotedistribution.co.uk
T. 0203 9115 549

OPINION

PTaimulJMarimllearn

Edleictotrronics Engineer

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Putting on the style

Is hi-fi losing its allure when it comes to the way it looks? To Tim Jarman’s eyes at least, retro
rules in the design stakes while collectors of vintage gear can claim to be ahead of the curve

Some years ago I bought a new RIGHT: Design
Sony MZ-RH1 Hi-MD MiniDisc classics – the Quad
recorder purely as a result of a 33 preamp (right)
picture I saw of it in a magazine. and matching FM

It looked the absolute business, neat and tuner exemplified all

black with a tiny OLED display along its that was admirable
front edge. My excuse that it would be in British hi-fi when

useful for building a library of transferred launched in the

recordings on a computer turned out to mid-1960s. The

be just that – it never really happened. It preamp would win

was a beautiful-looking thing, though. a Design Council

It can be difficult to spot an emerging Award in 1969

design classic when it is still an everyday
object (not that hi-fi fits so easily into

that category these days), but it struck

me this year that I’ve not seen a product small one, yet the technology has existed as the TD 124 DD [see p42] to name
but three. Even B&O, once the masters
for a while that looks certain to feature for years to make high-end audio kit in of defining what the future was going
to look like, has been buying up old
in one of those irresistible coffee table compact packages. Quad’s 33 preamp Beogram 4002s then reviving them.

books of cult objects in the future. [HFN Jul ‘11] and matching FM tuner It can be amusing to speculate
which one of our hi-fi memories will be
looked great partly because they were re-packaged and sold back to us, and
to ponder on what it would be good
SHRINK FIT unexpectedly small. I don’t know anyone to see in the shops again. Personally I
think there must be mileage in the old
During the vintage era the hi-fi industry who hides away the diminutive 303 power Nakamichi Tri Tracer 700 cassette deck,
had a good track record for producing amplifier that goes with them either. not because it was the company’s best
performer (it wasn’t) but because it was
truly memorable designs. The Lecson There is a limit to how small something by far the best-looking thing it made.

AC1 preamp? Goodness didn’t it look like a turntable can be made, but as a study A ‘new’ Nytech CTA 252XD receiver
good? I choose this as my first example in minimalism the Micro-Seiki DDX-1000 must also be on someone’s product
planning schedule somewhere too,
partly because it came from a small is an often imitated – but never improved perhaps with a bit more fire in its belly
firm, not an industrial behemoth with upon – example of how to do it properly. and a tuner that doesn’t drift this time.

the resources to hire Loudspeakers respond COLLECT CALL

celebrity designers at ‘The problem less well to the shrinking In this respect the vintage collector
will. Those that can is that much of process, but since they can genuinely claim to be ahead of the
really should though, for are usually set apart from curve, for they can have tomorrow’s
was there ever a more the rest of the system re-issues today. Not facsimiles either, but
the real thing. Collecting hi-fi’s design
desirable cassette deck all they really need to classics isn’t just for MOMA in New York,
be is discrete and in it can be a rewarding private pursuit too.
today’s top-endin the Yamaha range So why not delight your eyes as well as
your ears? As ever, the clean, correct,
than Mario Bellini’s kit is so big’ harmony with the rest well cared for examples of past products
of the room. Braun’s LE1 are the ones to go for – you can restore
TC-800GL? (This was electrostatics, styled by anything except originality.
actually the first stereo

cassette deck to grace a HFN cover, in German designer Dieter Rams, showed that

July 1975.) Yes, the internals were good large loudspeakers can be made beautiful,

(courtesy of Copal Koki, who actually although sadly, few others were.

made them), but had they been placed The car industry has shown that models

in a plastic wood wrapped box with a based on the re-hashed styling of older

silver top and a couple of meters at the designs have an appeal to the public. And
back, who would remember it? some hi-fi companies are embracing this
approach too. Yamaha’s amplifiers now
To my mind, part of the problem is

that much of today’s top-end equipment resemble those it was making in the 1970s,

is so big. It is more of a challenge to style Leak has introduced a Stereo 30 lookalike

an oversized object effectively than a and Thorens has brought back its TD124

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 147

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OPINION

Mark Craven

Contributing Editor

Mark Craven has been editor of Hi-Fi News’ sister title Home Cinema Choice for
nearly a decade and has a passion for music, film and everything in between

Variety show

It was the sheer diversity of the components that caught the ear of Mark Craven that made it a
year to remember, and as well as some compact cleverness, there were big surprises too...

One of my favourite moments
in the blockbuster Steven
Spielberg movie Jurassic Park
isn’t when someone gets
munched by a T-rex, but a brief dialogue
between corporate lawyer Mr Gennaro
and the young dinosaur-obsessed boy
Timothy. The latter has discovered a
pair of night-vision goggles in their park
tour truck. ‘Where did you find those?
Are they heavy?’ asks Gennaro. ‘Yeah’,
says Timothy. Gennaro’s response: ‘Then
they’re expensive. Put them back’.

WEIGHTY MATTERS ABOVE: Taking a wholly valve-based approach to hardware design, Italian brand Pegaso has just

The idea of weight signifying price was one product in its catalogue – the P50A integrated amp – which claims to run entirely in Class A

emphasised this year when I auditioned

KEF’s KC62 subwoofer. Designed as an horn-loaded HF compression driver and their OLED panels from the same

ultra-compact bassmaker that can be 300mm woofer a 1.5kHz crossover and major supplier and all are designed

installed in any listening environment, it asks them to work out a midrange between to look as minimalist as possible (put

features dual-opposed 165mm woofers them. Looking at it, and its specification, five 55in OLED TVs in a line, cover the

cleverly mounted on a single motor you think there’s no way it’s going to sound manufacturer logos with masking tape,

with overlapping voice coils, allowing its good, but it does. It’s both dynamic and and I’d struggle to tell which was which).

cabinet to be no more than 25cm in any detailed, with a sensitivity that embraces Performance differences, meanwhile,

direction. Yet this dinky sub weighs over whatever amp you have to hand. predominantly come from processing,

14kg and costs three times as much as Such an amp could be Pegaso’s 2x50W but even here there’s a certain feeling

models more than three times as big. P50A [HFN Jul ’21], the all-analogue, of homogeneity. In fact, the biggest

In the grand scheme of things – all-tube integrated that came to me this differentiator between various models

particularly in the world spring and married of OLED TVs is often the character of

of hi-fi where there punch and rhythm with their in-built speaker systems.
are monoblock amps
a wonderful grasp of TAILOR MADE
‘While describedweighing a quarter of a tone, or NAD’s Purifi
as a “compacttonne – 14kg is hardly Eigentakt-powered It’s a similar story when it comes to

back-breaking, but for monitor”, it is Class D C 298 [see p84], sources, because there aren’t that many
something so small and
which astonished with of them. The Blu-ray player market has

cutesy it results in a comically large’ its power and value for shrunk (following the withdrawal of
great first impression. money. Or maybe BAT’s brands including Oppo and Samsung),

Happily, the KC62 boasts spine-tingling – and and many disc-spinners are based around

astonishing speed, control and heft. gorgeous-looking – VK-3500 [HFN Sep ’21]. the same SoC. And, of course, there’s no

If KEF’s subwoofer was perhaps the It’s the variety, then, of what I’ve analogue version of Netflix offered as an

most brilliantly innovative object to listened to these past 12 months that’s alternative to its digital streams…

pass through my listening room in 2021 been the real highlight. And as someone Audiophiles, on the other hand,

(and fully deserving of its EISA Best Hi-Fi who spends a lot of time fiddling with can build bespoke systems that really

Subwoofer 2020-2021 Award), then JBL’s video-based and home cinema gear, I feel suit their tastes. Your set-up might

4349 [HFN Mar ’21] was arguably the it’s my duty to point out that this variety mix vinyl with DSD, headphones with

most surprising. Here’s a speaker that shouldn’t be taken for granted. electrostatics, a valve-based preamp with

makes no attempt to look modern, is For example, consider OLED TVs, the solid-state monoblocks. And, if you really

comically large for something described hot product on the high street. Currently want, you can now add to it a subwoofer

as a ‘compact monitor’, and gives its all models, regardless of brand, source the size of a ten-pin bowling ball.

YEARBOOK 2021 | www.hifinews.co.uk | 149