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 […]
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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
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When Technics debuted the SL-10, the company’s first parallel tracker, in 1979, it didn’t have an easy time in the UK. Japanese items, particularly decks with integrated weapons and cartridges, had little or no appeal in the British high end sector. Forget about completely automated turntables that were created with convenience and ease of use
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In 1997, Technics released the SL-1200LTD, a thousand pounds worth of piano black lacquer and 24-carat gold plating fastened to possibly the most popular and longest-lasting turntable in history. As if that wasn’t enough, Technics threw in a pair of DJ headphones, a numbered brass plaque on the plinth, and a gold Technics logo on
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The Mark 2 version of the SL-150, released in 1977, added quartz-locked servo control to the original’s excellent direct drive motor, introduced a redesigned and quieter plinth, and incorporated wood into the equation; the armboard and lower section now received this as both a cosmetic touch and a sonic improvement. It was a worthwhile redesign
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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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The SA-1 from Marantz was the state-of-the-art in high-resolution digital audio thinking in 2001. Compact Disc had been around for about two decades, during which time it had been polished and streamlined to the point that it could no longer function. Thanks to the redoubtable talents of its technical figurehead Ken Ishiwata, Marantz had shown
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Philips, don’t you simply adore them? Whenever this inventive Dutch consumer electronics behemoth ventured near serious hi-fi, everything went horribly wrong. The company’s portfolio of avowedly high-end late-1970s esoterica, the ‘Black Tulip’ collection, was designed to take on both the Brits and the Japanese in one fell stroke. Unfortunately, it had about as big of
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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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Back in 1979, vinyl was the only serious music carrier this side of open reel tape, and the Linn Sondek LP12 was the only serious LP spinner, at least according to the UK hi-fi press. However, this viewpoint was not widely shared elsewhere, and in Japan, a fierce competition was raging between a number of
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