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60 Articles

Having discounted headlines like ‘Little’n Large’ or ‘David and Goliath’ by way of emphasising the exponential difference in scale between DALI’s KORE and YG Acoustics’ Cairn loudspeakers, we settled on ‘Max’ and ‘Mini’ for a simpler cover message this month! However, as two exemplars of the science and art of loudspeaker design, these new models have more in common than you might expect. Both are priced at the upper end of their respective physical scales and while DALI’s flagship is a huge, double-enclosure, dual-reflex floorstander offering the kind of sensitivity and bass extension you’d expect from a box of this stature, it shares with the Cairn a nimbleness and lightness of touch that’s often lost to battleship models. That’s because DALI’s engineers were as keen for the KORE to sound…

Coming up Roses

HiFi Rose’s new RS520 (£3399) might not feature the unusual ‘steampunk’ aesthetic of the manufacturer’s RA180 [HFN Jul ’22], but it utilises the same GaN (Gallium Nitride) transistor-based ‘Class AD’ amp technology, albeit here in traditional two-channel (250W/8ohm) guise. For this flagship ‘just add speakers’ model, this onboard power plant is partnered with an integrated Rose OS, the Android-based streaming platform previously seen on HiFi Rose’s RS150 [HFN Jun ’21]. It’s accessed by a full-colour, capacitive touchscreen dominating the unit’s front panel. Wired connections include analogue line, optical, coaxial, USB-A, USB-B and HDMI eARC inputs (the latter supporting video playback either to the amp’s display or a TV), plus Ethernet, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi (via a USB dongle). The RS520 is Roon Ready, MQA-compatible, and supports file playback from local storage…

Coming up Roses

ELAC’s top deck

Following an early preview at this year’s High End Show in Munich, ELAC’s new range-topping vinyl player, the Miracord 80, has now gone on sale. Priced £1999, the deck features a milled, solid wood plinth dressed with anodised aluminium panels, and a 10in carbon fibre tonearm that can be prefitted with an optional Clearaudio-designed moving-magnet cartridge (for a package price of £2199). Unusually, and to achieve a high 5.6kg mass, the belt-driven platter is fashioned from steel rather than aluminium, while the 33.3/45rpm speeds are governed by a PID servo-controlled DC motor with optical sensor. Finish options are gloss black or walnut veneer, while an optional dust cover can be added for £199. ELAC Electroacustic GmbH, Kiel, Germany, 01285 643088; www.elac.com…

ELAC’s top deck

HI-FI NEWS' NUGGETS

ELECTRO UPGRADE UK electrostatic loudspeaker brand Mellow Acoustics has revisited its hybrid FrontRo model to deliver a new Pro iteration. Upgrades to the hand-assembled speaker include a larger (now 6.5in) dynamic woofer with new magnet design, plus a retooled crossover ‘to give more electrostatic transparency in the midrange’. Finish options are light oak (£9500) or Californian walnut (£10,000). www.frontro.co.uk ENTRY IFI AUDIO DAC Launched ‘just in time for Christmas’ with a stocking-friendly price of £79, iFi Audio’s Uno is a palm-sized hubpowered USB-C DAC described as a ‘first rung upgrade’. Its ES9219MQ/Q SoC (system on chip) supports 384kHz/32-bit PCM, DSD256 and MQA, with format and sample rate indicated by an LED ring behind the (analogue-based) volume control. Outputs are on a 3.5mm headphone socket (rated at 211mW/32ohm) and a pair…

As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, NAD has announced a ‘vintage-inspired’ limited edition amplifier, the C 3050 LE. This 2x100W-rated integrated will sell in numbered units, from 1 to 1972, for £1750, and takes styling cues – including the original ‘New Acoustic Dimension’ logo and power meters – from the company’s 1974-era 3030 model [HFN Dec ’15]. The chassis is finished in a walnut veneer, but retro leanings only extend so far: the C 3050 LE sports two-way aptX HD Bluetooth, HDMI eARC and BluOS-delivered hi-res streaming connections, in addition to RCA line ins (including a phono stage) and headphone out. Amplification is via ‘HybridDigital’ UcD Class D modules, while a Texas Instruments DAC chip handles files up to 384kHz/32-bit. A non-limited version without BluOS module, the C 3050…

The long-awaited successor to Electrocompaniet’s AW 600 mono power amp (aka Nemo, which debuted in 1999), is the AW 800 M, which claims 800W/8ohm and is priced at £19,500. Showcasing a ‘from the ground-up’ design, it features a new output stage with 32 high-current bipolar transistors, and upgraded power supply with two shielded toroidal transformers and 0.21F of reservoir capacitance. This is a bridged amp, so will run in mono, stereo (2x300W/8ohm) or bi-amp modes, selectable via a rear panel switch above balanced XLR inputs and 4mm speaker binding posts. Supporting the 55kg, 490mm-deep chassis – with integral heatsinking – are a pair of alloy rods in the top-plate to improve overall stiffness. Other features include auto power down, trigger in/out ports, and illuminated ‘feature lighting’ (and new 3D logo)…

Sporting the styling one might expect from a company known for its software engineering, Apogee Electronics’ BOOM (£329) is both a USB audio interface for music creators and a hub-powered desktop headphone amplifier. BOOM is bundled with Apogee Control 2 software for MacOS, iOS and Windows plus Ableton Live Lite DAW, and includes a 6.35mm ‘instrument’ input plus combination mic/line/jack socket. Apogee boasts its 6.35mm headphone output has a ‘zero-ohm’ source impedance while its onboard ADC and DAC hardware (no ‘low-end codecs’, says Apogee) operate up to 192kHz/24-bit. Apogee also claims this is the first audio interface in its class to offer onboard DSP hardware, in this instance supporting the Symphony ECS Channel Strip – ‘tuned’ by famed audio engineer Bob Clearmountain – and including three-band equalisation, drive and compression…

New from East Sussex-based turntable/vinyl accessories specialist The Funk Firm is its ‘From Nature’ turntable, featuring a hand-crafted solid wood plinth with coloured ‘river’ inlay, which the company says can be customised to suit your listening room decor. Priced from £8383 the deck is prefitted with the brand’s flagship ‘Cross Beam’ FX-3 tonearm, and supplied with its Houdini cartridge decoupler and ‘low-noise’ Achromat – two components that are also part of The Funk Firm’s ‘Bubble Isolation’ kits available for third-party turntables. A further upgrade package is available that adds The Funk Firm’s Akutrak moving-magnet phono preamp, and MM cartridge, for £10,383. The Funk Firm, Newhaven, UK, 07846 798367; https://thefunkfirm.co.uk…

Upcoming Events

05-08 JAN International CES 2020, Las Vegas, USA; www.cesweb.org 24-26 FEB Bristol Hi-Fi Show, Marriott City Centre Hotel, Bristol; www.bristolshow.co.uk 05 MAR Spring Audio Jumble 2023, The Angel Leisure Centre, Tonbridge, Kent; www.audiojumble.co.uk 17-18 JUN North West Audio Show, Cranage Hall (De Vere Cranage Estate), Cheshire; http://audioshow.co.uk 29-01 OCT The UK Hi-Fi Show Live, Ascot Racecourse Grandstand, Ascot Berkshire SL5 7JX; www.hifishowlive.com…

Hi-Files Show ’22, Belgrade

The first weekend of October may have seen the residents of Belgrade rushing outside to enjoy the summer-like weather, but eager audiophiles had a different destination in mind – this year’s Hi-Files Show, which took place at the city’s Holiday Inn hotel. The ‘long-time-no-see’ atmosphere at the event, following its three-year long suspension due to the pandemic, reminded everyone that Zoom and multicasts are no substitute for hearing and seeing high-end audio components in the real world. It was also heartening to see that the local scene has proved itself resilient to all kinds of global setbacks, with no names missing, while there were plenty of fresh products to enjoy, turning this year’s event into one of the largest Hi-Files Shows ever held. Auris Audio’s first outing into the world…

Hi-Files Show ’22, Belgrade

Live and kicking

They are never a substitute for being there, but live albums have served a far more important role in the history of popular music than mere adverts for artists’ stage shows. Many of the best have cemented great performers’ reputations while also being greatest hits sets, offering an important point of difference from studio equivalents. Some have been the albums that launched careers – Peter Frampton is a prominent example here. Others we’ve chosen in this selection are notable for the wild scenes captured – oh to have been a fly on the wall of that insane Stooges show in Detroit, captured on Metallic 'KO. STAGE NAMES Many of these live albums didn’t benefit from the recording technology that is at the disposal of modern-day acts (and yes, overdubbing and…

Live and kicking

The hi-fi news & Record Review Reader Pledge

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

The hi-fi news & Record Review Reader Pledge

There are many ways to express that emotion of delighted surprise when encountering something unexpected: everything from the archaic ‘Gosh’ or ‘Goodness’, through the more contemporary low whistle or ‘Wow’, or even the kind of expletive never found in these pages. Meanwhile, the Blessed Google suggests that the Danes might say ‘hold da helt ferie’, literally ‘take a whole vacation’, which I guess is somewhere close to the American ‘get outta here’. But for those of us brought up on British films of the latter part of last century, perhaps the best reaction to these new DALI flagship speakers is just to mention their name, perhaps followed by ‘blimey’ for the full effect. You see, the DALI KORE speakers, yours for a cool £70,000 a pair in their combination of…

The inspiration for the KORE was an abandoned project from a decade ago, the ME9 [pictured], which was shown as a concept design at various events. With a lofty cabinet having an hourglass shape, the side panels curved inwards, it used bass drivers mounted at the top and bottom of the baffle, flanking a pair of midrange units which, in turn, straddled a central tweeter. It was built as a cost-no-object statement reflecting what the company could achieve at the time, and DALI hinted at an official launch within a year under the Eminent name. However, events overtook the ME9, and despite the obvious effort put into both designing and building the speaker, a downturn in the world economic situation led to it being shelved before it could come to…

DALI is justifiably proud of the extent of ‘home grown’ engineering inside its flagship loudspeaker. ‘Every driver is designed and built in house,’ says CEO Lars Worre. ‘We even assemble the custom magnet systems and wind the coils, and although the mylar/etched film used in our planar tweeter is sourced from China, this speaker is still as Danish as it gets!’ The wood fibres in its bass and mid units are a DALI staple, its engineers having worked with this cone material for many years. ‘These wood pulp cones do not have the damping of polypropylene, for example’, says Lars, ‘so it’s like a wild horse that we have to tame! We work with the geometry and surround, adapting the shape, the amount and type of doping, the glue, etc,…

VPI Avenger Direct

We may have a first here as VPI offers its Avenger turntables in belt-drive, rim-drive and direct-drive guises, the latter £36,500 Avenger Direct bringing the range to a total of four models. The genesis of the Avenger Direct was bittersweet, however, because it was inspired by, and has subsequently ‘leap-frogged’ over, the long-awaited VPI Vanquish flagship. In the meantime, the launch of the £100,000+ Vanquish remains on hold… The real-world predecessor to the New Jersey-based company’s Avenger Direct, in motor technology terms, was the HW-40 [HFN Apr ’19] but, as VPI says, ‘it was apparent that advances had been made in not only the available drive electronics, but also in the materials and software control’. VPI has continued to make running production improvements to the basic rotor and stator supplied…

VPI Avenger Direct

DIRECT DRIVE REVIVED

The idea of driving a turntable platter directly without an intermediate belt or idler is far from a new one. Very early examples, including the Garrard 201 [HFN Jan ’08] with its induction motor, can trace their lineages back to the 1930s. That said, the first deck that brought about the modern electronic era of direct-drives was Technics’ original SP-10, from 1970 [Vintage Review, HFN Nov ’10]. Direct-drive’s heyday lasted through the 1970s and early 1980s with some truly astounding designs. Technics’ original SP-10 hit its ultimate Mk3 guise in 1981, using a motor shared with the SP-02 cutting lathe, joining contemporaries including the Trio L-07D, Sony’s mighty PS-X9 [HFN Mar ’17] and Denon’s even mightier DP-100M also in 1981. These vinyl-spinning behemoths straddled the professional and domestic markets, offering…

Ortofon MC Diamond

It’s long been said that ‘diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ but, according to Ortofon, they also have the potential to be the number one chum of any vinyl fan. While diamonds have been used for styli for decades, few manufacturers have the skill or, indeed, the budget to implement them elsewhere. Enter the Ortofon MC Diamond – the company’s new £7349 flagship low-output moving-coil that features not only a diamond stylus, but also a diamond cantilever. Now, if you’re thinking that this cartridge and name seem familiar, then you wouldn’t be wrong because the MC Diamond is the third generation of a design that first saw the light of day in 2012. This was the MC Anna [HFN Oct ’12], dedicated to the famous Russian operatic soprano, Anna Netrebko.…

Ortofon MC Diamond

POLISHING THE DIAMOND

In the quest for the ideal cantilever – one that’s both infinitely stiff and has vanishingly low mass – only those cartridge brands with both the budget and microengineering resources can contemplate the most extreme of options. Diamond fits the bill in terms of stiffness versus density but the stylus – a 5/100μm Ortofon Replicant in this instance – can only be glued in place rather than mounted through a hole [see inset picture]. Achieving this with precision, and without significantly adding to the tip mass, represents yet another challenge but one met with confidence and success by Ortofon’s engineers. Of course, every cantilever ‘rod’ brings a series of bending and twisting modes that interfere, or at least modulate, the motion of the coils relative to the stylus in the…

POLISHING THE DIAMOND

PS Audio BHK M600

Until this year, the flagship power amplifier in PS Audio’s stable was the BHK Signature 300 [HFN Jul ’16]. Still on sale, it bears the initials of Bascom H King, the veteran designer (Infinity, Constellation Audio and more) who was given license by the Colorado-based company to engineer a high-output monoblock amp around his favoured tube/solid-state hybrid topology. Six years on from launch, the ’300 model has been relegated to second-tier status, replaced by the PerfectWave BHK M600. Again designed by King, and completed weeks before the engineer’s passing in May 2022, this amplifier is described by PS Audio as ‘a lifetime of design encapsulated in a single product’, and a ‘no-holds barred upgrade’ of its sibling. The price tag, of £30,000 a pair, is roughy double that of the…

PS Audio BHK M600

ARE YOU WARM YET?

With a host of power MOSFETs, and a PSU to match, each BHK M600 boasts over 600W/8ohm on tap, and some 25A in reserve to support over 1kW into low 2ohm loads. Each mono chassis pulls 277W from the wall at idle, a portion of this soaked up by the triode tube stage but most is absorbed in the generous biasing of the bridged, quasi-complementary MOSFET power amp. These devices are mounted on two very substantial side-mounted heatsinks so, in practice, the M600 takes a few hours to reach thermal equilibrium at a toasty 50oC. Its designer, the late Bascom H King, typically took a relaxed approach to the application of corrective feedback – often good for sound but, in this case, only after a protracted warm-up. When first switched…

ARE YOU WARM YET?

AVM Ovation CS 8.3 Black Ed.

Nowadays there’s a wealth of all-in-one units available but AVM was one of the brands to spot the trend early on. That partly explains why, even in an industry that loves extensive model ranges, the company has an impressively large product offering – including five streaming receiver solutions. And there’s little concession to price in this range, so the top-of-the-line £14,950 Ovation CS 8.3 model boasts ample power reserves, a full range of streaming capabilities and a slot-loading CD player. It’s the successor to the CS 8.2 [HFN May ’17] and still employs Class D amplification from Pascal [see PM’s boxout, p61] – a well-known supplier to pro audio brands, and recently featured in Dynaudio’s active Focus loudspeaker – next to an ESS-based DAC. The Pascal module is driven by…

AVM Ovation CS 8.3 Black Ed.

AVM has had a technology tie-in with Denmark’s Pascal A/S for a number of years, selecting the U-PRO 2S Class D amplifier module for its Inspiration CS 2.3 [HFN Dec ’21] while retaining the beefier S-PRO2 from the earlier Ovation CS 8.2 [HFN May ’17] for this latest Ovation CS 8.3 Black Edition. The S-PRO2 module [pictured above with S-A2 extension board] is rated at 2x500W/4ohm (at 89% efficiency) and comes with Pascal’s UREC universal switchmode PSU with Power Factor Correction (PFC) and standby converter. In theory, these modules are bridgeable for a claimed 1kW/4ohm output but AVM runs a single S-PRO2 in stereo guise within the CS 8.3. More importantly, while we saw the U-PRO 2S module’s response influenced by speaker load impedance in the CS 2.3, the improved…

YG Acoustics Cairn

Depending on your age, there’s the potential for confusion in the naming of YG Acoustics’ latest loudspeakers. The Peaks series is inspired by the Rocky Mountains looming over YG’s base a few miles outside Denver, and most of our readers will be from generations with ‘life experience’, and upon hearing the title ‘peak’ will likely associate it with products of aspirational quality. In the argot of London teenagers, however, ‘peak’ is now taken to indicate unexpected bad luck. In truth, the recent collaboration between Cambridge Acoustic Sciences and YG’s mid-US manufacturing base has been nothing but fortuitous [see boxout, p65]. HEAD FOR HEIGHTS Launched at the beginning of 2022, the Peaks lineup starts with the Cairn we have here, at £9900 in a choice of three finishes, or £11,500 with…

YG Acoustics Cairn

The period following the departure of founder and Chief Engineer, Yoav Geva, has seen the new ownership of YG Acoustics – the Colorado-based high-end loudspeaker brand – focus on developing its most accessible range to date. In fact the new Peaks series would never have been possible without the combination of financial investment from the US and ‘technological’ investment – including a host of proprietary simulation resources – from UK-based Cambridge Acoustic Sciences. The latter was co-founded by Cambridge astrophysicist Matthew Webster, who is now CEO of YG Acoustics and works alongside longstanding YG employees Nathan Cramer (Operations manager) and Jason Browning (Product design lead) who remain at the Denver plant. Every facet of the Peaks loudspeakers, from driver and crossover design to cabinet construction and materials optimisation – down…

An object lesson in how to create a monopoly: make something no-one else can copy. As tricky to manufacture as CD players, electric cars, digital cameras and quartz watches might have been at the outset, competitors soon emerged for each. Not so DS Audio’s ‘optical’ cartridges, which have captivated the high-end since arriving in 2015. Imitators have yet to emerge. At £4995 for the new DS-W3 cartridge, £9495 for the matching energiser/equaliser, or £12,995 if purchased together for a £1495 saving, it’s not like the rewards aren’t there to inspire other manufacturers. The package, it must be remembered, also obviates the need for a phono stage as DS cartridges do not work with RIAA circuitry [see PM’s boxout, p69]. A HEAD START As for the dearth of opposition, cynics would…

Strictly speaking, while all DS Audio’s phono cartridges use photo-electric technology – derived from the guitar pick-ups and computer mice of the Digital Stream ‘optical device development’ company – they still ‘pick-up’ from the groove using a mechanical stylus and cantilever. However, the stereo current that’s output via the DS-W3’s L+ and R+ terminal pins is derived from the light of two fixed, narrow-beam 5V LEDs (one per channel) shining on a pair of photocells. This output directly reflects the passage of the stylus through the analogue groove because the LED light paths are partially interrupted by what DS Audio calls a ‘shading plate’ – a lightweight beryllium film that’s connected to the moving cantilever. The LEDs, meanwhile, are powered via the DS-W3’s L– and R– pins using a proprietary…

Auralic Altair G1.1

Although Auralic (promoted as AURALiC) only launched the Altair G1 in 2020, the Chinese brand already has its G1.1 update available. It appears together with the Aries G1.1 as the new and more affordable options within their respective tiers, with the Altair and Aries G2.1 [HFN Oct ’21 & Feb ’21] being the more expensive models. However, as all Auralic products share a very similar chassis design and carry names that aren’t very descriptive, it’s sometimes difficult to discern which box does what [see Sound Off, p116]. In the case of the Altair brevity suffices – this digital hub is equally an ESS9038Q2M-based DAC, a streamer and even a media server/music library, if so desired. The Aries, on the other hand, is purely a digital transport, for use with an…

Auralic Altair G1.1

AURALIC’S ANCESTRY

While most hi-fi brands will often shout about their heritage, Auralic’s origins are shrouded in mystery. The brand is not very old, founded in 2008 after Xuanqian Wang and Yuan Wang met at the Waldbühne, Berlin’s open-air venue best known for the annual end-of-season Berliner Philharmoniker concert. Their first product was the ARK MX, which was only available in China. It was followed by the widely available ARK MX+ [pictured], a rather straightforward DAC sporting a futuristic industrial design later replaced by the more contemporarily dressed ‘G’ generation. Sources are currently Auralic’s primary focus, but previously it offered amps, such as the Merak monoblocks or the Polaris – a very early entrant into the now popular streaming amplifier segment. Auralic was also in the vanguard of hi-fi app development, at…

AURALIC’S ANCESTRY

Atlas Arran Transpose

While audiophiles might ordinarily associate the ‘home of the brave’ with Linn Products, Scotland is also home to the hand-made Atlas Cables. Its new Arran interconnects and speaker cables are a clear evolution, taking inspiration from its solid silver Asimi range [HFN Dec ’18], utilising the same geometry but with OCC (Ohno Continuous Casting) copper. The more affordable Mavros range also uses OCC copper but contains a mix of solid and stranded conductors. In common with the Asimi flagship, the Arran speaker cables (priced £4795/2m and £5995/3m sets) get closer to the ideal of a ‘single’ solid strand with an air dielectric. In practice, each signal/return conductor comprises six OCC copper strands, four at 1.2mm2 and two at 1mm2, each strand shrouded in a cotton weave with microporous PTFE tape…

Atlas Arran Transpose

Johann Strauss II Die Fledermaus

Johann Strauss’s third operetta was an instant hit when it opened at the Theater an der Wien in April 1874. Austria had suffered a stock-market crash the previous year and audiences were in the mood to rinse away their troubles with buckets of sekt and a slice of escapist nostalgia. Strauss set to work and sketched the whole operetta in six weeks, boiling down a typical, if confused-looking, medley of German farce, French vaudeville (the original story by Meilhac and Halévy) and Viennese adaptation. The advantage of these several sources was its ready supply of different entertainments within the same piece. Die Fledermaus satisfies the advice to ‘make ’em laugh, make ’em cry’ and throws in the circus (or, at least, a lot of dancing or cabaret). POPULAR APPEAL The…

Johann Strauss II Die Fledermaus

Pink Floyd Animals

Kate Bush had her Bronte. And her Joyce. The Doors had their Blake via Huxley. Dire Straits had their Shakespeare. Led Zeppelin had their Tolkien. The Police had their Nabokov. It seems like since time immemorial rock and pops stars have plundered literature for lyrical inspiration. Even Ozzy had his Crowley. And Pink Floyd were no exception. For the Floyd – or more specifically Roger Waters – it was Orwell’s Animal Farm, although in the band’s early days, when Syd Barrett was briefly the leader, Kenneth Grahame’s Wind In The Willows provided the title for the group’s debut album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Once Waters assumed control, Pink Floyd took a turn away from the hippy-dippy stuff towards far darker material. Ummagumma’s ‘Careful With That Axe Eugene’…

Pink Floyd Animals

Hawkwind In Search Of…

Musicians’ fascination with space, and their attempts to evoke its unfathomable vastness in sound, dates back at least as far as Ancient Greece. It was Pythagoras who developed the concept of Music Of The Spheres, a theoretical cosmic harmony produced by the movement of the planets and stars that could translate into music. This theory was still in vogue in the 16th century, where it was espoused by German astronomer Johannes Kepler, although he thought these galactic vibrations could be felt, rather than heard. And the notion of the sounds of space also ran through composed music: Joseph Haydn’s opera Il Mondo Della Luna (or The World On The Moon) was premiered in 1777; Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite The Planets, completed in 1917, evoked the moods and characters associated with…

Hawkwind In Search Of…

PRODUCTION NOTES

Following an earlier session at AIR Studios in London, where the group assembled to record a version of ‘Master Of The Universe’, Hawkwind’s record label moved the band into Olympic Studios in Barnes [see p88] with George Chkiantz on engineering and co-production duties. Chkiantz had pioneered the effect of flanging on The Small Faces’ 1967 hit ‘Itchycoo Park’ and stereo phasing on Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Bold As Love’, and applied these effects to the end section of ‘Master Of The Universe’. Meanwhile, ‘You Shouldn’t Do That’ had emerged from the lengthy jams the band had played at Canvas City outside the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1970. The recorded version was open ended, but its structure was shaped by musical cues. ‘That cowbell at the end that just keeps going –…

PRODUCTION NOTES

Alternate Format Discography

ORIGINAL VINYL LP In Search Of Space is unusual in that even among band members its title is disputed. On the LP label and spine it is referred to as In Search Of Space, but Barney Bubbles’ artwork has the title as Xin Search Of Space and some even call it X In Search Of Space – although there is no space between the first two letters. The first copies were released in the UK in October 1971 on the United Artists label [UAG 29202]. The full-colour cover featured Barney Bubbles’ logo, while a blurred picture of naked onstage dancer Stacia Blake graced the rear. The trifold cover opened up into a stylised ‘hawk’ shape with pictures of the group, lyrics and credits in blue monochrome on the inside. Also…

Alternate Format Discography

Olympic Studios

So, here’s how you do it. Take two synchronised tape copies of a finished recording and play them simultaneously into a third master recorder, all the while manually retarding the rotation of one of the two tape reels by pressing on the flanges, manipulating the phase difference between the two sources. Easy-peasy. Now you can flange. You can what!? Flange. You know that brilliant bit near the end of The Small Faces’ ‘Itchycoo Park’ where everything goes all wobbly and trippy and it sounds like a plane’s landing on the drum kit? Well, that swooshing effect is called flanging and, despite a few others claiming to have invented the technique, for the purposes of this article we’re attributing it to a geezer named George Chkiantz, a British engineer who worked…

Olympic Studios

AUDIOPHILE: VINYL

JONI MITCHELL The Asylum Albums (1972-1975) Asylum/Rhino R1 680935 5x180g LPs This magnificent sequel to The Reprise Albums 1968-1971 [Rhino R1 653984] could cause a few arguments, as that contained Blue – for some her greatest work. This, however, comprises no less than For The Roses, Court And Spark, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, and the double live LP, Miles Of Aisles, a quartet of consecutive releases of such brilliance that few artists can boast such a run, perhaps only Dylan, The Stones, and The Beatles. Remastered by Bernie Grundman, pressed to perfection, original sleeves intact, it’s hard to dispute that these represent her peak years. The title tracks alone support that, but ‘Free Man In Paris’? ‘You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio’? Another masterclass in genius. KK AL…

AUDIOPHILE: VINYL

AUDIOPHILE: DIGITAL

COMPACT DISC SUPERAUDIO DVD BLU-RAY VINYL DOWNLOAD KEITH RICHARDS Main Offender BMG BMGCAT5200CD (two discs) A Stones-heavy month, this expanded 30th anniversary edition of Richards’ second solo album is presented here with an extra CD, but I’d have loved the inclusion of his version of ‘Key To The Highway’ from a Japanese release. Arriving halfway through The Rolling Stones’ career, it dates from 1992, recorded between Steel Wheels and Voodoo Lounge. Effectively this is a get-together with friends such as supersession player Waddy Wachtel and drummer Steve Jordan (who replaced the late Charlie Watts for The Stones’ 2022 tour), but it is pure Keith. The value is in the bonus disc: 12 tracks from his other band, the X-Pensive Winos, live in London the same year. KK THE ROLLING STONES…

AUDIOPHILE: DIGITAL

HI-RES DOWNLOADS

LAKE STREET DIVE Fun Machine: The Sequel (48kHz/24-bit, FLAC) www.lakestreetdivemusic.bandcamp.com As the title suggests, this is the follow-up to Fun Machine, the 2013 album from the Brooklyn-based jazz/soul combo, plus an additional EP of covers, including a scintillating version of ‘I Want You Back’ and a smoky take on ‘Rich Girl’. Founder/guitarist/trumpeter Mike ‘McDuck’ Olson has left so the new release features Akie Bermiss on keys and James Cornelison on guitar. But the heart of the band is still very much in evidence, in the form of bassist Bridget Kearney, drummer Mike Calabrese and stellar vocalist Rachael Price. Her shiversome voice headlines tracks ranging from The Pointer Sisters’ ‘Automatic’ to ‘Anyone Who Had A Heart’, and keyboard player Bermiss’s vocals are just as impressive on Shania Twain’s ‘You’re Still The One’.…

HI-RES DOWNLOADS

CLUTCH Sunrise On Slaughter Beach Weathermaker Music CD WM144; LP: WM145 Clutch started out in the early ’90s as a stoner rock band and traces of that era linger on in the theremin and psychedelic guitar of ‘Skeletons Of Mars’. But they have since incorporated elements from blues, ’70s heavy rock and ’80s metal, which they have distilled into music of formidable potency. And unlike some of their hard-rock peers, their songs are essentially groove-based. Neil Fallon whips up the intensity like a preacher spouting fire and brimstone, with female backing vocals providing a lighter colour on ‘Mercy Brown’. The excitement peaks on the driving rhythms and punchy metallic chords of ‘We Strive For Excellence’ and we are let down relatively gently by the soulful finale, ‘Jackhammer Our Names’. MB…

EDDIE HARRIS Live At Fabrik: Hamburg 1988 Jazzline D77106 [2 discs]; LP: D78106 [2 discs] Back in 1967, the Chicago-born saxophonist and pioneer of the Varitone horn pick-up had a hit with The Electrifying Eddie Harris. And then in 1969 he had an unexpected success with Swiss Movement, a live and allegedly unrehearsed Montreux festival set featuring pianist Les McCann and trumpeter Benny Bailey. At Hamburg’s Fabrik club in 1988, Harris was still purveying R ’n’ Bsoaked funky soul jazz but also letting loose vocally with long tirades of African-inspired animal sounds. You can’t help feeling that the front-man skills of McCann would have helped here, but to compensate there are long, tough, grooving solos from blues/rock guitarist Darryl Thompson. SH JULIA HÜLSMANN QUARTET The Next Door ECM 4807370 For…

CHORWERK RUHR, BOCHUM SO/HUBER, HELGATH, HOFMAN, ALBER Stockhausen: Carré/Kagel: Chorbuch Coviello COV92113 (SACD) Carré has always suffered from being the B side, literally (on an old DG LP) and figuratively, of the triple-orchestra showpiece Gruppen. The spatial theatre of being surrounded by four choirs and orchestras is inevitably flattened by two-channel reproduction, but the piece builds its own enthralling momentum through a mostly gradual rate of change, endlessly varied textures and sudden flurries. Stockhausen likened Carré to hearing the steady tick of a jet engine, and there is a thrilling sense of an aural map being unfurled at simultaneously slow and high speeds. Kagel’s irreverent take on Bach chorales is good fun, too, and performances are immaculately prepared and engineered. PQ Sound Quality: 90% TALICH QUARTET Dvorak: ‘American’ Quartet, 8…

Long-lost conversation

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 On a trip to Japan long ago, to tour factories making hi-fi for the UK, the first thing we journos did when we got a few hours to ourselves was hit the wonderful record stores and buy far too many LPs. And the LP we most wanted was The Planets, played by synth pioneer Isao Tomita. Imogen Holst still controlled the way her father’s music could be sold, but legal loopholes left her with no sway over the Japanese market… SETTING ME STRAIGHT Nothing divides the music and audio world quite as firmly as the use of synths to…

Long-lost conversation

Keep the change?

While his main interest is high-end audio, Barry Willis also writes about the culinary industry, visual art and theatre for a variety of US newspaper and magazines Audiophiles begin life as music lovers. What distinguishes the two is that audiophiles care about differences between audio components. Music lovers may hear differences, too, but don’t care as long as they can enjoy the music – a state of innocence that many audiophiles hope to revisit through endless component upgrades and constant cable-swapping. A fascination with sonic differences is the larval stage of audiophilia, one we all pass through on our way to technophile adulthood. It’s also a stage where many of us get stuck – hobbyists and professionals alike. At trade shows, I’ve often asked purveyors of mysterious, incomprehensible devices what…

Keep the change?

Savouring the classics

Jim Lesurf has spent a lifetime in audio, both as an engineer at UK hi-fi company Armstrong and reader in Physics and Electronics at St Andrew’s University I’ve been a member of the Sir John Barbirolli Society for decades. Indeed, I built its first website to enable its existence and activities to become more widely known – and so perhaps help maintain public awareness of Barbirolli’s excellence as a conductor and musician. Decades ago only a small selection of his recordings had been re-released on CDs. This was frustrating for those of us who loved his conducting, and a great shame because it denied new listeners the chance to hear what was buried in the vaults of the then-EMI company. It also meant the skill and passion of the musicians…

Savouring the classics

Welcome to the jumble

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 October marks the autumnal occurrence of the magnificent twice-yearly Audiojumble in Tonbridge [HFN Nov ’22]. First instigated over 30 years ago by vintage audio guru John Howes, and now in the capable organisational hands of his children, Catherine, Michael and Richard, the event is a must if you love old audio. Like fellow Hi-Fi News scribe Ken Kessler, I am a regular at the gathering and have been for over 20 years. I first went to the Audiojumble as a visitor but, when it became obvious that I was rather too partial to the bargains on offer, I started taking a stall at each…

Welcome to the jumble

From paper to polyprop

Steve Harris edited Hi-Fi News between 1986 and 2005. He loves jazz, blues music, vinyl and vintage hi-fi and anything that makes good music come to life You’re probably reading this at a time quite close to the true centenary of broadcasting in the UK, as the BBC began its regular daily radio transmissions on the 14th of November 1922. So maybe it’s a moment to look back at the historical aspect that will be of most interest to audiophiles – the BBC loudspeaker story. Before World War II, the BBC relied on Rice-Kellogg drive units, built into open-backed cabinets and designated LSU/7. But after the war the BBC simply had to develop its own designs. To read all about this subject online, start with broadcast engineer Mark Hennessy’s ‘BBC…

From paper to polyprop

TURNTABLE CHALLENGE

Correspondents express their own opinions, not those of Hi-Fi News. We reserve the right to edit letters for publication. Correspondents using e-mail are asked to give their full postal address (which won’t be published). Letters seeking advice will be answered in print on our Sound Off pages, but due to time constraints we regret we’re unable to answer questions on buying items of hi-fi or any other hi-fi queries by telephone, post or via e-mail. My sincere thanks to Paul Miller and Ken Kessler for their review of Pro-Ject Audio’s Automat A1 turntable [HFN May ’22]. My old Sony recently bit the dust, so I’d begun looking for a replacement that would also bring a step up in performance. However, I’ve always loved the PS-FL7’s automation features and, because I…

TURNTABLE CHALLENGE

In praise of PMC

I want to thank Ken Kessler for his comprehensive reply to my question in the October ’22 Sound Off pages concerning subwoofer integration. While PMC does produce subwoofers that would undoubtedly be a match for my twenty.21 speakers [HFN Apr ’12], they are a bit beyond my budget and much too big. So, I dipped my toe into the subwoofer world with a BK XLS200MkII. Like my speakers, this uses doped paper/fibre cones, so at least in that respect there is a basic level of compatibility. I took the plunge following an email to PMC asking about the benefits of using a sub with the twenty.21s. Within minutes of sending the message my phone rang and, to my delight, it was an engineer from PMC! We talked and I was…

Speakers on a £10k budget

Many years ago, while living in a small London town house, I purchased a wonderful speaker system from audio consultant Thomas Heinitz. It comprised a pair of Rogers LS3/5A speakers and an AudioPro subwoofer. The speakers served me very well for several years until a house upgrade gave me room to install Quad ESL-63s with the woofer. I loved the sound of the ’63s when using a Quad front-end but, unfortunately, following yet another house move these also had to go. To cut a long story short, after I extended a reception room at my current house, I once again had the opportunity of accommodating a pair of Quad ESLs – although this time a pair of 2905s. Sadly, my extensive taste in music, from rock at appropriate SPLs to…

Speakers on a £10k budget

A rather nice find!

I have recently acquired a pair of P Atkinson compact transmission-line speakers that were constructed from a design published in the Nov 1978 issue of HFN. Whoever built them did an excellent job. In fact I’ve seen commercial speakers of the same era that were less well put together. The combination of the KEF B110 driver and Isophon KK8 tweeter works very well, giving an open midrange and a sweet treble. Meanwhile, the transmission-line loading delivers bass that is tight and subjectively deep. A rather nice find! Steve Harris replies: Readers who go back even further than me will remember that the Mini-Line of 1978 was a followup to Atkinson’s big and impressive ‘State of the Art’ DIY transmission-line speaker design of 1976, which rather resembled the big IMFs of…

A rather nice find!

Untangling the technicalities of streaming

I found Andrew Everard’s review of the Auralic Vega G2.1 upsampler and Sirius G2.1 DAC [HFN Oct ’22] disappointing for a number of reasons. Firstly, this is rather an eccentric combination of components to have been used together without an additional streamer, such as Auralic’s Aries G2.1 [HFN Feb ’21], also in the system. As stated in the review, the addition of the Sirius upscaler will have no effect on network-streamed music. If all your music is held on a NAS or a USB device then this would certainly be a reasonable combination of components, but the benefits of the upscaler will be applied to network-streamed music if the Sirius sits between an Aries and a Vega. The equalisation and room correction features of the Sirius are duplicated on the…

Untangling the technicalities of streaming

A vinyl unboxing

Keith Guerrier’s letter published in the October issue has inspired me to share my tale. Thirty-four years ago I purchased a vinyl box set of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut from the JG Windows store in Newcastle. The artists were Kiri Te Kanawa and José Carreras, then both in their early 40s and at the height of their careers. Riccardo Chailly conducted the Orchestrae Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna. The young man serving asked if I would like the box sealed. As it was near Christmas, perhaps he thought it was a present for someone. I haven’t the remotest idea why I agreed, but decided to say yes. The set remained unopened in a cupboard until early August this year. I can’t give you a reason for the precious black vinyl…

A vinyl unboxing

Hi-fi halls of fame

It was good to see hints from Ken Kessler in the Mar ’22 issue concerning the development of two audio museums – one for analogue in the EU and another in the UK. In Ken’s words: ‘There is the whisper of a planned, UK-based audio museum, so I have been shipping off as much of my archive as I can afford to part with, in full-to-the-brim Range Rover loads’. At 75 I regard myself as getting on a bit and so have been planning for the future! I have collected pop music since the 1960s and have also been an avid collector of cassettes since 1973, amassing more than 3000 blanks. Now I am trying to find someone to take this collection over. Does Ken have any thoughts? Ken Kessler…

Goodmans One Ten receiver

Almost all audio enthusiasts will know Goodmans for its range of loudspeakers. However, the company’s other hi-fi products are less well remembered, despite the fact that more than one or two achieved considerable popularity among buyers. One example is the One Ten receiver we have here. Designed along European lines, it was launched in 1972 and came in two finishes: a natural aluminium fascia with black controls and a sleeve in teak, rosewood or walnut; or a black fascia with a white sleeve and a mix of white and multi-coloured controls. The latter version saw the colours of the waveband switches match the stripes on the tuning dial. THORN TO RUN The One Ten drew on work Goodmans had undertaken in the decade or so before. With the Maxamp from…

Goodmans One Ten receiver

Halcro dm58 monoblock

There are two piles of magazines, some 150cm tall, sitting in my lounge. They consist mainly of hi-fi titles that I can’t read until they’re ‘out of date’. Why? Because I don’t want to be influenced by the reviews, and I don’t always know whether or not I’ll be reviewing a component I’ve just seen slammed or praised. Thus it was that I tried to avoid whispers about the Halcro amplifiers from Australia. Even so, I kept hearing about these ‘amazing amps’ from all and sundry. DRINK TO THAT Not that you need anyone else to tell you that the Halcro dm58s are – at the very least – ‘different’, that they stand out from the pack. The finish is so good it’s hard to believe we’re talking Land of…

Halcro dm58 monoblock

FIFTY YEARS AND COUNTING

Halcro has tossed out phrases like ‘The Only Amplifier In The World To Challenge A Theoretical Limit’ and ‘Unprecedented Harmonic Distortion Levels Of Less Than 1000 Parts Per Billion’. Its claim is based on the notion that it has taken the typical audio manufacturer 50 years to reduce distortion at 20kHz from 0.1% to 0.01%. ‘Now, with a single revolutionary technological advancement, Halcro has reduced distortion to less than 0.0001%.’ To put this ‘parts per billion’ business into context, and using the results of intensive testing at Adelaide University for verification, Halcro can claim to produce amplifiers with distortion of less than 1000 parts per billion at full power (the aforementioned 0.0001%), while typical high-quality amplifiers produce 200,000 parts per billion. Reading through the bumf, there’s even mention of the…

2. AMPLIFIERS EXPOSURE VI, VII & VIII, receipt, no boxes, £175. Peachtree Audio Nova, box and receipt, £175. Sony CDP-X777ES CD player, no remote £75. Audio-Technica 637, used, £20. Tel: 07904 605849 AUDIO Research DSi200 integrated amp. Efficient, powerful, excellent sound quailty and build. £2100. Tel: 01455 552816 EXPOSURE 2010 amplifier, £400. Cash on collection only. Tel: 07834 898617 MCCORMACK TLC-1 preamp and DNA125 power amp. Owned from new, both in excellent condition. Original boxes, £1850 plus P&P. Tel: 07508 035671. Email: andy.aldridge@gmx.com MUSICAL Fidelity X-A1 integrated amplifier. 50W per channel. Mint condition. Boxed. £375 ono. Demo welcome. Tel: 07505 057414 WORLD Audio KL84 integrated. Expertly built. Collection only. Midlands. £500. Tel: 07875 422574 WORLD Designs Pre4 valve preamp and PSU3. Manufacturer built. Nearly new condition, £950 ovno, plus P&P.…

IN EVERY ISSUE Exclusive high-end equipment reviews, vinyl, CD and hi-res downloads rated, show reports, your letters, in-depth investigations, vintage tests and so much more… PRINT + DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION £56.29 PRINT + DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION 13 Issues delivered to your door Great savings on the shop price Download each new issue to your device A 75% discount on your Digital subscription Access your subscription on multiple devices Access to the Online Archive dating back to January 2008 PRINT SUBSCRIPTION £49.99 PRINT SUBSCRIPTION 13 Issues delivered to your door Great savings on the shop price Never miss an issue SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM SUBSCRIBE TODAY SUBSCRIBE SECURELY ONLINE https://subs.hifinews.com/ DIGITAL ONLY SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE ONLINE… CALL OUR ORDER LINE Quote ref: HFN2022 01858 438 446 Lines open Mon - Fri - 8.00am - 8.00pm…

OFF THE LEASH! KEN KESSLER TELLS IT LIKE IT IS…

If there is a reason why I am obsessed with context, it might be having studied philosophy at university, including a course in logic. As a result, trenchant is my disdain for those who fail to observe, employ or appreciate it. Relating context to hi-fi is to deal with something fundamental: without context, every review in every magazine is meaningless because a frame of reference, ie, context, is absolutely essential for rating the component being reviewed. TARRED AND FEATHERED It’s so obvious as to be simplistic, certainly for those who know that a hi-fi system consists of elements from disparate manufacturers. (Let’s leave one-make systems for another time.) On a philosophical level, it begs the cliche, ‘Nothing exists in a vacuum’ – another way of begging the need for context,…

OFF THE LEASH! KEN KESSLER TELLS IT LIKE IT IS…

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