The Philips-supplied laser pick-up system was meant to be separated from the CD12’s main chassis, making it immune to extraneous disturbances like loudspeaker vibration (both mechanically coupled and airborne). High-speed DSP was employed to control the CD control/servo circuits, and a puck was used to control them. The spindle motor was brushless for electromagnetically silent […]
Linn’s second-ever turntable design, dubbed “Son of Sondek,” had a lot to live up to. Linn’s attempt to entice silver disc customers back to vinyl was launched in 1987, just as Compact Disc was finally gaining traction. This means it had to outperform decent CD players, be simple to set up and use, and have
It’s not just about listening to music when it comes to hi-fi. Of course, its primary role is to sound good, but it also serves an aesthetic purpose. There’s no shortage of gear that excels at one of these functions, but it’s unusual to find something that excels at both, such as Lecson’s famed AC1/AP3
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One of the most iconic names in British hi-fi, Harold Joseph Leak founded this now-defunct company in London in 1934, later selling it to the Rank Organisation in January 1969, when its fortunes began to falter. Between these times, and particularly in the 1950s and 1960s, the brand was known for high-quality amplifiers, radio tuners,
In the 1970s, Japan’s Victor Corporation was a completely committed hi-fi producer, producing a range of highly clean sounding amplifiers, tuners, cassette players, and turntables. The 1977 QL-70 was one of the company’s best vinyl spinners, consisting of a turntable motor unit and plinth minus tonearm (the QL-7 had a manual tonearm, while the QL-A7
Do you recall the decade of the 1980s? The only substantial amplification at the start of the decade came in two boxes. You’d have to buy two, one marked ‘pre’ and the other marked ‘power’, whether it was Naim, Meridian, Exposure, or Quad. Then, in 1984, Naim Audio shocked the hi-fi world with the introduction
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The world of loudspeakers in the 1980s was strange, but rarely great. With its clangy, first-generation metal dome tweeter, Celestion’s SL6 was considered cutting-edge. Linn’s bizarre Isobarik, with its slew of forward-facing and upward-firing motors, was cited as a model. Many people dismissed Quad’s ESL-63 electrostatic, which had been twenty years in the making. What
Serious audiophiles used turntables as their primary music source back in the mists of time, when hi-fi was as widespread as mobile phones are now. Upgraders should buy the greatest possible design available, which generally meant a single speed Scottish deck, according to the publications of the day. This necessitated the development of good but
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If you wanted to get serious about sound on a budget in the 1980s, vinyl was your only option. For the most of the decade, Compact Disc was the domain of the wealthy; even the cheapest Philips machines cost over £300 towards the end of the decade. No, if you only had half that much
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Let’s be honest: Bang & Olufsen’s philosophy isn’t ‘sound first, everything else second.’ However, if we’re being honest, it’s difficult to say the same about the majority of so-called “true hi-fi” makers, to whom we serious audiophiles happily grant house room. Can you honestly state that the ordinary Arcam is solely concerned with sound, ignoring
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