Although no cassette deck has ever been compared to an oil painting, early specimens of the genre were particularly unappealing. Top-loaders from the 1970s were fiddly and unwieldy to operate, with controls strewn about indiscriminately, whilst front-loaders appeared bold and threatening. Forget about the physics of the machines. They were crude and clumsy, confirming cassette’s […]
Yamaha TC-800GL Review Read More »
Pioneer’s legendary PL-12D is often regarded as the best cheap belt drive ever produced, and for my money, it’s not far off. However, as with so many items, something else comes along a few years later that is superior in many aspects but doesn’t completely outclass it. The SR-222/II from Sansui is one such deck.
Sansui SR-222II Review Read More »
Sennheiser spent millions of Euros researching and creating the new HD650 in 2003, using technology created for its £1,000 MKH40 broadcast microphone to eliminate distortion and enhance clarity, while the sound balance was reported to be based on the Sennheiser Orpheus, which costs £10,000. It all added up to one of the company’s most popular
Sennheiser HD650 Review Read More »
The early 1980s were a period in which everyone was enamoured with new technology. From the video recorder to the ‘microcomputer,’ it appeared that anything with an LED display and an 8-bit silicon chip inside might solve all of the world’s problems. Sharp agreed, and applied its digital wizardry to the issue of LP track
Sharp Optonica RP-7100 Review Read More »
The TC-399 came in Sony’s Autumn 1978 catalogue at a time when the domestic open reel tape recorder was already on its way out. Only two years prior, the Akai 4000DS had stunned the world by selling in significant numbers, delivering outstanding sound-per-pound from the (at the time) dormant open reel format. It was as
Sony TC-399 Review Read More »
1992 was a memorable year for avid amateur recordists all over the world. Sony announced the first ever DAT portable, the TCD-D3, which offered better-than-CD quality digital recording on the move for around £600. However, contrary to common opinion, it was not the first DATman. Denon won the award ahead of Sony, but those who
Sony TCD-D3 Review Read More »
In comparison to any modern music portable, Sony’s WM-D6C Walkman Professional cassette recorder is a massive, brick-like device. It’s ridiculously large by today’s standards, measuring 180x90x40mm and seeming like an eighties phone compared to the latest iDevice. When you look closer, however, you’ll notice the best-sounding portable ever created… Let’s not forget that Sony, not
Sony WM-D6C Walkman Professional Review Read More »
Loudspeaker design isn’t the dark art that some consider it to be. Speakers aren’t immune to physics’ laws; in fact, it’s the principles of physics that decide the sound of any particular product. Simply put, there are the cabinets to get right, the drive units to get right, and the interplay between the two to
Spendor BC1 Review Read More »
Sugden has no introduction; everyone with even a passing interest in audiophilia is familiar with the A21 series of English amplifiers, which began with an 11 watt solid-state bipolar integrated amplifier in the mid-1960s. The A21a became a nineties benchmark; a specialist product that promised clarity at the expense of all else… It was produced
Sugden A21SE Review Read More »
There have been a plethora of compact hi-fi loudspeakers on the market since the original Goodmans Maxim of the 1960s, but very few miniature ones. How many professional hi-fi firms do you know that have created significant speakers that fit in the palm of your hand? Of course, if there was ever a country that
Technics SB-F1 Review Read More »
