Amplifiers

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

Quad was a one-man band in the mid-1960s who could do no wrong. Its recently released ESL-57 electrostatic loudspeaker was revolutionary and widely regarded as one of the best designs in the world. Its Quad II valve power amplifiers were also of high quality, and they had garnered a lot of fans. This made it

Quad has typically catered to rich, (small c) conservative people who value quality but aren’t willing to spend exorbitant prices for it. Perhaps this explains why the 909 power amplifier is essentially a gently revised and rehoused 405 – the company’s award-winning, high-capacity transistor power amplifier that was introduced in 1975. There’s nothing wrong with

Quad’s Vena features a totally new, high-quality Class AB amplifier with a strong 45W RMS per channel on the inside (quoted). It features a Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC, which is also used in Quad’s Platinum series CD players, as well as aptX Bluetooth connectivity, making it ideal for users who have music stored on their

When you hear “Made in Japan,” you immediately think of large corporate consumer electronics giants like Sony and Matsushita. Few people realize that, exactly because the Japanese home hi-fi market is so large, there’s opportunity for a thriving set of specialist manufacturers producing devices that are vastly different from your average Yamaha AV receiver… This