Archives: Hi-Fi

Milan TOP Audio 1997 Show Report

Malaysia and posted in Hi-Fi, Show Reports

  Just as the Hi-Fi Show in London demonstrated an increase in the number of exhibitors and visitors, so did TOP Audio, in Milan. An extra floor and a new exhibit hall were opened to account for the added numbers, … Continue reading →

Extreme Audio

Brummell and posted in Hi-Fi, Features

  Most people have no idea how good music can sound in the home. Too many down-market purveyors of junk have succeeded in promoting features over performance, while all that the iPod and its ilk have given us is convenience … Continue reading →

A Pair of Wharfedales: The Story of Gilbert Briggs and His Loudspeakers

Australian Hi-Fi and posted in Miscellaneous, Hi-Fi, Book Reviews

  While writing the story of KEF, Dr Andrew Watson and I were contacted by Prof. David Briggs. He told us that he was working on a history of Wharfedale. His name was not coincidental: Wharfedale’s founder, Gilbert Briggs, is … Continue reading →

Natural Born Kessler: Surround Sound Matters

Home Entertainment 11/1995 and posted in Columns, A/V

So all is well in Surround-Sound Land, eh? For once, the home entertainment merchants have standardised, right? Not. Huh? Isn’t the world of home cinema already and emphatically Dolby-Surrounded? Stop and smell the matrices, or at least look at the … Continue reading →

Optimus PRO LX5 Loudspeaker

Sound & Image and posted in Hi-Fi, Reviews - Loudspeakers

Not once but twice this year the Tandy Corporation has begged from us the question, “What’s going on at Radio Shack?” First, they wow us with a pocket-money CD portable which has the audiophile community in a dither. We sat … Continue reading →

Mondo Audio: CE Regulations and EU Meddling

Audio 1/1996 and posted in Hi-Fi, Columns

Global “size reduction” is something we’ve been taking for granted for years. I mean, the popularity of Baywatch has probably done more to convince the world that all American women have D-cups than anything since Jane Russell in The Outlaw, … Continue reading →

Hi-Fi News Back Page – Multi-Channel

Hi-Fi News & Record Review 4/2001 and posted in Hi-Fi, Columns, A/V

To demonstrate that multi-channel sucks for pure music, just pull out any studio albums mastered for the original 4-channel formats, circa-1970. You and I know that this is fraudulent, though, because those recordings have the same validity relative to modern … Continue reading →

London Heathrow Hi-Fi Show 1993

Glass Audio and posted in News Items - Archives, Hi-Fi, Show Reports

In the context of this magazine, you’d expect me to say that the Hi-Fi Show, at London’s Heathrow Airport, was tube-laden. That’s because I’m not here to tell you about the CD players, speakers, turntables, solid-state amps or any of … Continue reading →

Headroom: Lumley, Cremonese Cloth

Hi-Fi News & Record Review 9/1989 and posted in Hi-Fi, Columns

One has to admire Raymond Lumley for plugging away with his eponymous valve amplifiers because, on the surface, his company looks just as quivery as the next. Yet despite a split with his original partner (Roy Grant, when the company … Continue reading →

Air Tight ATC-1 Valve Control Amplifier and ATM-1 Valve Power Amplifier

Hi-Fi News & Record Review 8/1989 and posted in Hi-Fi, Reviews - Amplifiers

VACUUM PACKED Few specialist Japanese valve amplifiers ever leave Honshu; we try the long-awaited Air Tight. Never, if you value your sanity, thumb through a Japanese hi-fi magazine. If you’re an inveterate hi-fi casualty, the pictures you’ll see will haunt … Continue reading →