In 2016, this £1,250 integrated amplifier was released. It features five line inputs, a moving magnet phono stage, and aptX wireless Bluetooth, however it lacks DAC functionality. Aside from the Bluetooth, which is unabashedly a convenience feature, this amplifier looks a lot like something from the 1980s. It’s a big, Class AB thug with a […]
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Reloop has been producing professional audio equipment since 1996, and a dedicated hi-fi section was established two years ago. The £650 Turn5 is the company’s top-of-the-line turntable, and it’s essentially an SL-1200 clone with the exception of the variable speed control and a distinct paint job… It’s not quite as good as the Technics, but
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Rega’s first Planet CD player, which was released in the mid-1990s and was not to be confused with the first Planet turntable, was the company’s entry-level silver disc spinner. This was the 2000-model-year update, and it was an unusual piece of equipment. It’s a pleasure to operate simply because it doesn’t have a traditional drawer
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We periodically see exciting new variations on the loudspeaker theme; manufacturers sometimes come up with better cone materials for their mid/bass units, and occasionally unique tweeters appear. Ribbons have recently regained popularity, although other types have also come and gone. One of the most intriguing to yours truly was the Linaeum ‘figure of eight’ dipole
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Back in 1977, Realistic described their Minimus-7 ‘Metal Cabinet Speaker System’ as “little simply in size, not in performance.” It’s still astonishingly capable and relevant in 2021, given how few micro speakers have been released in the last forty-five years or so. There’s not much to it — a simple 100mm ‘high compliance woofer’ –
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The Quad II is one of the most well-known British power amplifiers, with a legendary reputation and a definite and iconic valve design. It was first released in 1953, and a corresponding preamplifier – the QC 22 – was added in 1959, just as stereo microgroove recordings became available. However, the early Quad IIs were
Peter Walker of Quad was entirely correct in looking for a better way to construct a loudspeaker. The failures of his flagship loudspeaker, the Quad CR Corner Ribbon, which was a radical hybrid design with a ribbon tweeter and a conventional bass driver in a wood cabinet, inspired him. Even though it was one of
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Back in the early nineteen seventies, the main purveyors of turntables in Britain were Garrard and BSR, with the likes of Lenco, Dual, Philips, Collaro and Balfour also providing some popular designs. Many were auto-changers, and they were frequently featured in popular radiograms of the time; however, they were far from suitable for audiophile use.
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Prices began to drop within a few years after the first SACD players arrived. You didn’t have to spend £5,000 on Marantz’s groundbreaking SA-1 any longer. Suddenly, DVD players with SACD compatibility became available for a tenth of the price, and the Philips DVD 763SA was the cheapest serious Super Audio Compact Disc spinner by
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To honor the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Johan Sebastian Bach’s death, Ortofon released three new Kontrapunkt moving coil cartridges at the turn of the millennium. The a and b comfortably outsold the c, despite the fact that they were all slightly different. The b was my favorite of the bunch, with a Nude
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