Amplifiers

Rogers was one of the most well-known hi-fi brands in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. Originally created in 1947 by Jim Rogers to produce speakers such as the Theatrical Horn Loudspeaker, the company later gained the license to manufacture BBC monitors and sold tens of thousands of LS3/5as, LS 5/1s, and L 5/9s, the […]

We’ve seen a quiet revolution in stereo amplifier design over the last few years, as we’ve seen a shift from one style of creating power amplifiers to another. In the grand scale of things, the delayed transition from Class AB to Class D functioning is noteworthy for a variety of reasons – probably on par

It’s unfortunate that so many outstanding brands have faded away, from Leak and Garrard in the United Kingdom to Micro Seiki and Sansui in Japan. In the 1970s, the latter was one of the most well-known Nipponese brands, with a proud array of high-end, high-quality items with an uniquely slimline yet powerful sound. The Sansui

Until the 1983 release of the Naim NAIT, integrated amplifiers were thought to be something you bought before you could afford a ‘real’ preamplifier/power amplifier combo. It’s fair to assume that the breed was not well-liked. Instead of presenting low-cost circuitry in a costly cabinet adorned with acres of brushed aluminium and bouncing power meters,

California-based The Reference 8 and 9 monoblocs were NuForce’s first Class D amplifiers, which were introduced during the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The £635 Reference 8 single-ended input (RCA) and £700 Reference 8b balanced input (providing a claimed 100W RMS) were available, as well as the £935 Reference 9 having balanced and

Richard Hay, a man who served his audio apprenticeship with the highly regarded Arthur Radford and Arthur Bailey at Radford Electronics, founded Nytech in the early 1970s. His company produced well-regarded mid-market equipment for about fifteen years before circumstances combined to put an end to it. But, because to a bizarre set of events, the

China was beginning to make major inroads into the world’s hi-fi market towards the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, taking advantage of its low manufacturing costs to manufacture enormous and impressive amplifiers for less money than expected. However, the introduction of Class D technology enabled Japan to fight back. It’s a

The A-400 integrated amplifier from Pioneer was released in the spring of 1990 to rave reviews in the United Kingdom. The fact that Japanese amplifiers had been regarded with great distrust in the British press until then, simply because they weren’t particularly audiophile in orientation, played a part in the dynamic. For example, a decade

Pioneer is one of the more intriguing Japanese brands, as well as one of the most impressive in terms of product quality over time. It has never failed to innovate in consumer electronics since it was founded in 1937 by Japanese engineer Nozomu Matsumoto. The golden years of hi-fi, according to neutral observers, were from

Switching distortion is at the root of a lot of the problems with transistor amplifiers. The sound of those tiny three-legged semiconductors turning on and off on demand is ubiquitous, and most people have become accustomed to it — like rain in the winter. It also has a similar effect on sound; it becomes murky