The Planar 3 was a progression of Rega Research’s initial vinyl incursion, the Planet, and was released in 1978. This was a bizarre-looking design with three massive cast aluminium alloy spokes to support the record. Because this didn’t work out so well, a common mod was to place a glass mat on top of the […]
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It’s 1989, and the hi-fi world has changed dramatically. We’re still debating the advantages of digital audio – and unless you’re one of a select few hi-fi nerds around the world with early access to the new ‘Digital Audio Tape’ format, which runs at a heady 48kHz sampling rate, ‘digital audio’ means Compact Disc in
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Philips, don’t you simply adore them? Whenever this inventive Dutch consumer electronics behemoth ventured near serious hi-fi, everything went horribly wrong. The company’s portfolio of avowedly high-end late-1970s esoterica, the ‘Black Tulip’ collection, was designed to take on both the Brits and the Japanese in one fell stroke. Unfortunately, it had about as big of
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Nytech’s iconic ‘Calculator Tuner Amplifier’ is virtually forgotten these days, although it made a big impact on the British hi-fi market when it was hot in the late 1970s. When it was first released in 1972, calculators were practically the width and depth of an LP record, and they, like the Nytech, were connected into
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The fact that multimedia speakers aren’t intended specifically for hi-fi is the main obstacle for most hi-fi enthusiasts. As a result, they can’t possibly be worth an audition, so the logic goes. Since the dark days of the late 1980s, when the first examples appeared, modest active designs used by students to beef up their
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Compact Cassette was still considered a novelty media in 1973, having been invented by Philips a decade before for dictation purposes alone. It was absurd to think it could deliver true hi-fi performance. Serious tape users possessed Revoxes, particularly the A77, or one of a growing number of high-end Japanese decks from Sony, Akai, or
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One poster on a Naim-friendly internet forum adds, “Naim Audio makes musical instruments, other manufacturers build hi-fi.” It’s an intriguing proposal since it captures the essence of what Naim Audio devotees see in the brand. Of course, flippant remarks like this aren’t entirely accurate, but they do provide some insight into why people love this
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In a world of hard, harsh, and spitty budget boxes, the Mission 752 was one of the loveliest and most fascinating economical floorstanding loudspeakers of the nineties, with a beautifully smooth, open, and easy sound. One of the reasons for this was its (at the time) cutting-edge HDA (High Definition Aerogel) mid/bass driver, which provided
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Passive preamps have one advantage: Their short signal lines and lack of circuit complexity result in a clear, detailed sound. They aren’t, however, a cure-all for the problem of controlling your source. They have traditionally depended on resistive networks selected via a switch or rotary variable resistors, which can result in significant impedance mismatches at
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It’s interesting how some iconic goods have vanished into the mists of time, completely forgotten, while others are still talked about decades later. The 104 tuner from Meridian is an example of the former, but it also deserves to be the latter! It has Allen Boothroyd to credit for its wonderful packaging and ergonomics, and
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