Archives: Hi-Fi

Blog No. 14: An LS3/5a For the Ages

2/2019 and posted in Hi-Fi, Reviews - Loudspeakers, Columns, Blogs, News Items - Archives

Consider this a Public Service: you are being warned, before the release date of June/July 2019, of a run of only 50 pairs of speakers guaranteed to become collectors’ items. Falcon Acoustics’ Jerry Bloomfield told me they’re making the finest … Continue reading →

Anachrophile Special: Acoustic Research – A Day In the Life

Hi-Fi News and posted in Hi-Fi, Features

Frank Sinatra and Frank Bruno have had comebacks, so why not a hi-fi company? Witness the return to form of one of the industry’s original leaders. by Ken Kessler Euthanasia has been the preferred practice when it comes to dealing … Continue reading →

Blog No. 10: CES 2016 After the Fact

2/2016 and posted in Show Reports, Blogs

  While CES reports always burst with new hardware, they only indicate productivity. What they do not convey is the mood of the event, nor how it is a litmus test of the health of the hi-fi industry. Some reporters … Continue reading →

Blog No 9: The Calm Before the Storm

and posted in Show Reports, Blogs

My silence of late is due to too much travel (“Awwwww, poor baby …”) but I should add much of it has to do with the crush of hi-fi shows, clustered in the autumn. And I only managed three.   … Continue reading →

Theta Carmen DVD Player

Hi-Fi News 9/2000 and posted in Reviews - Digital Sources, A/V

Bless Theta’s sense of humour. By naming one player ‘Miles’ and another ‘Pearl’, the company showed how to appeal to a wide cross-section of customers and music tastes. The former could have been named for, say, Miles Davis or Buddy … Continue reading →

The Jadis System: A Load of Orchestras

Hi-Fi News & Record Review 6/1998 and posted in Hi-Fi, Reviews - Amplifiers

When a company’s catalogue includes – typically – a £16,000 pre-amp and a £9000 CD player, well…is it any surprise that the brand is perceived as ‘expensive’? Jadis, the legendary French valvistes, have been fighting this image, the past few … Continue reading →

Garrott Decca Cartridge

Hi-Fi For Pleasure 5/1983 and posted in Hi-Fi, Reviews - Analogue Sources

  I had honestly intended to kickoff the actual buying exercises with items decidedly down-market in price. Alas, the post and transatlantic communication are against me, so I’m going to start you on the road to second-hand bliss with a … Continue reading →

Natural Born Kessler (No. 1): The Paul Klipsch Biography

Listener and posted in Hi-Fi, Columns, Books

Pretend just for a moment that you’re a civilian, not a savvy audiophile. What exactly would you know about the following?: Single-ended triodes. SACD. Cable directionality. Speaker spikes. VTA. The answer is … precisely nothing. We function in a self-contained … Continue reading →

Mondo Audio: Digital Standards, ARA and AAHEA

Audio 4/1996 and posted in Hi-Fi, Columns

  Consumer Electronics Shows might rightly be all about new products ready for the shops, but an aspect that’s rarely covered in the hi-fi magazines is the industry manoeuvring. Whether or not it means anything to you if you don’t … Continue reading →

Blog 2: 18 October 2014 – A Weekend In Paris

and posted in Hi-Fi, Show Reports, Blogs

In case anyone thinks I’m making this up, the Festival Son et Image taking place this weekend in Paris is a seriously busy show … like in the old days. As this is a blog and not a show report … Continue reading →