Opinion

On the 20th of August, there will be an empty space - spiritual, if not physical - at the centre of the Royal Albert Hall. At time of writing, the replacement for Sir Andrew Davis had not been announced, but whoever takes on the task, I hope they keep the programme unchanged. Rather than fulsome speeches of tribute, this would be the most humble act to perform in his memory.

A properly setup subwoofer can add enormously to your musical satisfaction. Improperly setup, it can be an annoying nemesis.

Many subwoofers are designed for maximum dynamic impact with multichannel movie soundtracks. While they may excel at making explosions sound convincing, they may not contribute much to your enjoyment of music. Truly musical subwoofers are rare.

How much longer can it last? In America, as here, vinyl sales have been growing year on year for nearly two decades. But a 2022 slowdown in growth set some commentators suggesting that the vinyl boom could soon be over.

Reading the review of HiFi Rose's RA280 amplifier had me thinking about the ways in which technology has developed over the decades. Modern audio enthusiasts are fairly familiar with the choice between 'solid-state' electronics and 'valve' (or 'tube' for our American colleagues). However, the full story of the choice of devices used for audio and radio kit has shown far more evolution over the decades - and is probably now evolving again.

It's hard to be green and analogue. Manufacturing vinyl LPs consumes a lot of fossil fuel and heat energy - one estimate puts the production of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) at 30,000 tonnes per year for use by the global vinyl industry. So, it was big news when British speaker company PMC recently announced investment in UK company Evolution Music Ltd and Evovinyl, an alternative to PVC made from natural sugar cane.

It was the word homotonal that caught my eye. Surely no one writes like that in 2024, I wondered to myself. I read on. ‘Similar to Plato’s ideas of the imprint of moral virtues onto the human soul through music…’ – eh? Bear in mind I was reading a booklet note to accompany a new album of Mozart’s piano sonatas. I flipped the page to look for the author’s credit. No name given.

Last month I touched upon the economics of audio – in particular, the unlikely possibility of getting back a substantial fraction of the money put into high-performance equipment. Long ago, the rule of thumb was that suggested list prices for high-end products were generally five times factory cost. That was when multi-tiered distribution was still the rule – manufacturers delivered goods to distributors, who in turn offered them to dealers. Distributors provided marketing assistance, employing sales reps who called on dealers, did demonstrations, and could intervene in the case of defective products.