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 […]
JungSon JA-88D Review Read More »
It shared much of its genetic make-up with a Philips machine – the CD303 – and was the top model in the company’s first generation range of CD players. To put it another way, its list of component parts reads like a wish list from a 1980s digiphile. The CDM-1 Pro mechanism, which has a
Marantz CD-73 Review Read More »
This is one of Musical Fidelity’s numerous unusual yet appealing products, first released in 2002 as a direct competitor to Naim’s Nait 5 integrated. It was a lovely half-width integrated amp – the business has flirted with this format before returning to full-width – that made a style point of its sleek, custom-built aluminium extruded
Musical Fidelity X-150 Review Read More »
Any audiophile will occasionally peruse the pages of a hi-fi magazine – if they aren’t reading them religiously every month, that is. Had you picked up a copy of What Hi-Fi in 1977, the chances are that by the time you’d finished it, you would know that this amplifier was the one to buy, under
JVC JAS-11G Review Read More »
Japanese manufacturers were fighting tooth and nail in 1980 to provide the cleanest and most powerful transistor amplification yet developed. Marantz was solidly in the Class A camp with a series of new-fangled MOSFET power amps, but Sony and Yamaha had lately gone down the V-FET road (with the TA-N7B and B2, respectively) and Pioneer
Marantz MA-5 Review Read More »
It was difficult to get a competent affordable amplifier in the late 1970s. For showroom attractiveness, brushed aluminum-fronted Japanese versions with tone controls and power meters flooded the market. Sound quality had received little attention; most sounded bland and inoffensive at best, and terrible at worst. New Acoustic Dimension, a relatively new firm, saw a
The audio ability of a loudspeaker is inversely proportional to its aesthetic beauty, according to one of the universal principles of hi-fi. True, the Holy hi-fi provider has allowed an unique exception to this rule for a few high-end panel speakers, but other from that, it appears to apply to practically everything. So when I
The Marantz SA-12S1 is a big one, at 458x126x379mm, and is often finished in the company’s signature champagne gold. Twelve professional-grade Crystal CS4397 DACs and twelve custom HDAM copper-plated op-amps were installed inside, all of which worked in dual differential mode. Marantz’s proprietary Super-Ring toroidal transformer, as well as a separate transformer for the fluorescent
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The ARO is one of the most unusual performance-focused tonearms ever built, reputedly made “hand in glove” for the Linn Sondek LP12 turntable and Troika cartridge. The narrative begins in 1987, when Naim Audio decided to end its particular partnership with Linn Products; Linn was a manufacturer of electronics (remember the LK1/LK2? Some might not!
The monoblocs Trio/Kenwood Stereo Control Amplifier Model L-07C and DC Power Amplifier Model L-07M are from another era. Hi-fi was a very popular hobby across the Western world – and one of the three essential things to buy, along with a house and a car – when it was launched in 1979 at the height
Kenwood L-07C & L-07M Review Read More »
