EQUIPMENT REVIEWS
PRO-JECT 6 PERSPEX TURNTABLE
This is a brilliant turntable. It does absolutely everything a turntable should, and in a stylish fashion, and even better, it comes pre-fitted with a superb—and completely adjustable—tonearm that will accommodate an enormously wide range of phono cartridges. But…
EMILLÉ CHA’AM VALVE INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
Kwangwoo Electronics didn’t even have an audio division until 1991, when founder Keun-Bae Lee, using the slogan ‘Just for your Musical Bliss’ decided to create one. The company didn’t begin exporting outside Asia until 1993, but since then has been going from strength to strength.
KRIX VOLCANIX SUBWOOFER
Krix’s latest release, the Volcanix, is the first Krix sub to feature a software-controlled interface, which you get to drive using just a few front-mounted buttons and an eerie-looking blue screen display fitted to the front of the subwoofer. It also has an all-new Class-D amp on board, and an updated bass driver.
NORTH STAR SAPPHIRE SACD PLAYER
Has Italian manufacturer North Star taken its zeal for recycling too far? Don’t confuse North Star Sapphire SACD player with the ‘North Star Sapphire CD player’, even though they’re as alike as peas in a pod. Confused? You’re not the only one…
BEL CANTO EONE DAC1.5 DAC
Despite its name Bel Canto is not only proudly all-American but also one of those modern-day rarities: a high-end audio company in which the original founder and lead designer is still the owner and lead designer. And he’s fanatical about jitter…
LEGEND ACOUSTICS SMALL RED ISOBARIC MONITOR
If you were one of the many audiophiles lusting after a pair of Legend Acoustics’ Kumbar Wirri (Big Red) loudspeakers, the good news is that Dr Rod Crawford has revisited his design, the result of which is the smaller—and more economical—Small Red.
FEATURES
AUDIO NEWS
Rotel, Creek, B&W, JBL, Aaron, Jays, Denon, NAD, Electrocompaniet, Parrot, B&O, Wilson, Linn, Audio Physic, Equinox, Creation Audio, Bose, Naim, Ayon, MartinLogan, Cambridge, Sony and Arcam have all released new products…
SHOW REPORT
Malcolm Steward thought it was as cold as a witch’s tit at Bristol’s high-end show but he warmed up when he discovered that just £150 would secure a Pro-Ject Essential turntable fitted with a Pro-Ject Unipivot tone-arm and an Ortofon cartridge!
OBITUARY
Prof Dr Fritz Sennheiser, founder of Sennheiser, has died, leaving his son, Jörg, in sole charge of the family company. From modest beginnings with just 7 employees, the company he founded now has a workforce of more than 2,100.
BACK STAGE
Last year, Brilliant Classics tried to cash in on the anniversary of the death of Josef Haydn by releasing his complete works in a single edition. Perhaps due to the global financial crisis it didn’t sell, so it’s now available amazingly cheap: #1.25 per disc. But is it worth it? Norman Lebrecht investigates...
EDITOR’S LEAD-IN
According to a recent Australian survey (National Baseline Study on Warranties and Refunds), 57 per cent of retailers had never heard of a Statutory Warranty. Most also don’t realise that when it comes to warranties, the buck stops with them.
MUSIC
ROCK ON
Poor Tracey Thorn. Jez Ford fell asleep while reviewing her latest album (Love & Its Opposite), mainly through terminal boredom induced by unthinkably plain instrumentation, truly awful drum programming and plodding songs. What was Ben Watt thinking?
CLASSIC CORNER
Vaughan Williams was a self-described ‘cheerful agnostic’, but likely would likely not have been too cheerful about the treatment dished out to his Sancta Civitas and Dona Nobis Pacem by David Hill and the Winchester Cathedral Choristers!
SUPER FIDELITY
Violin virtuoso Ole Bull is probably the next most famous Norwegian in music after Edvard Grieg and a new 2L Blu-ray release premieres three of his works and delivers a new recording of the Concerto in A Major, which Bull described as ‘the most difficult music ever written for the violin.’
JAZZ TRACK
Brilliant British saxophonist John Surman has released his most overtly jazzy album for years, and it’s superbly recorded which is great, because Surman makes as magnificent a sound on both his saxophones as anyone alive. Brewster’s Rooster is an album to put on your ‘must buy’ list!
DVD REVIEWS
Stephen Dawson says the Dolby TrueHD 5.1-channel mix on the new Blu-ray version of Amadeus, the film about Mozart’s life, delivers a superb representation of the original sound track and is about as brilliant a merging of music and movie as has ever appeared on screen.
Esoterica
SOUND TRAVELS
Tom Waters’ quest for perfection has led him through a range of audio equipment from some of the biggest names in high end audio, including Krell, Dunlavy and Wilson Audio, to name but a few, but his current system contains none of those brands. John VanDyke investigated…
LEGEND ACOUSTICS SMALL RED LOUDSPEAKERS
Legend Acoustics’ Small Red aims at offering much of the considerable sonic qualities of the Big Red sans DEQX in a smaller passive single-box stand-mount package. Edgar Kramer wondered how you’d even approach the remarkably big sound of which the Big Red is capable, in such reduced physical form.
INTERVIEW
Sennheiser’s Maurice Quarré knows pretty much everything there is to know about headphones, and he told Greg Borrowman that although Bluetooth was an emerging technology for headphones, particularly portables, it wasn’t there yet!
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