LATEST ADDITIONS

Loudspeakers
Gershman Acoustics Grand Studio II Loudspeaker
Review: Andrew Everard,  |  Mar 01, 2024
Unusual, if not unique – does this Canadian company's idea of stacking two speakers for each channel pay sonic dividends?

The idea of stacked speakers is nothing new: SME founder Alastair Robertson-Aikman was famed for using double-decker Quad ELS57 electrostatics [HFN Sep '77 & Dec '01] and the idea was even endorsed by the speaker company which provided instructions to achieve the same thing, with the upper speaker mounted in a frame upside down above the lower. Even the late brand ambassador, Ken Ishiwata, was for a while demonstrating his Marantz electronics with stacked pairs of Mordaunt-Short Performance 6 speakers mounted in frames he'd spec'd and had custom-made.

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Audiophile Vinyl
Audiophile: Vinyl, February 2024
Ken Kessler  |  Feb 29, 2024
This month we review: The Doors, The Connells, John Fogerty and The Yellow Balloon.
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Audiophile Digital
Audiophile: Digital, February 2024
Ken Kessler  |  Feb 29, 2024
This month, we review: Taj Mahal, Black Sabbath, Martin Denny and Miguel Espinoza Fusion.
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Rock
Rock, February 2024
Mike Barnes  |  Feb 29, 2024
This month we review: Madness, Cat Power, Raze Regal & White Denim Inc. and Micko And The Mellotronics.
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Jazz
Jazz, February 2024
Steve Harris  |  Feb 29, 2024
This month we review: Jim Rotondi Quintet, Paul Mottram, Logan Kane and Aaron Diehl & The Knights.
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Classical
Classical, February 2024
Peter Quantrill  |  Feb 29, 2024
This month we review: Scottish CO/Maxim Emelyanychev, Pina Napolitano, Wiener Concert-Verein/Zlabinger, etc, Dubois, Orfeo Orch/Vashegyi and Household Cavalry Band, St George's Chapel Winds Orch.
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Hi-Res Downloads
Hi-Res Downloads, February 2024
Andrew Everard  |  Feb 27, 2024
This month we review and test releases from: Thierry Fischer/Utah Symphony, Espen Berg et al, Jack Dejohnette's Special Edition, Chris Kramer & Jens Filser and Sons Of Liberty.
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Loudspeakers
KEF R11 Meta Loudspeaker
Review: Andrew Everard,  |  Feb 26, 2024
hfnoutstandingKEF's R series adopts all the 'acoustic principles' of its far costlier Reference range, but is the big R11 Meta a 'disruptor'

How to make sense of the KEF speaker range? A sideways glance helps no end: comparing ostensibly similar models from across the company's four mainstream lineups – five, if you count the highly polished Muon flagship [HFN May '08] – will give a clearer idea of the way these various loudspeaker series dovetail together, even when the similarities seem greater than the differences.

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From the VaultPre/Power Amplifiers
Tron Nucleus/PX25/300B Amplifiers
Steve Harris  |  Feb 23, 2024  |  First Published: Aug 01, 1999
hfnvintageSteve Harris on a small British manufacturer making a bid for the high ground with a single-ended amplifier offering a choice of output valves

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the audio underground in the US and Europe finally picked up on the efforts of Japanese audiophiles two decades earlier, and started a revival of single-ended triode amplification. The American interest really got going when enthusiasts started salvaging dusty pre-war systems out of old movie houses. Western Electric's 300B triode, dating back to the dawn of cinema sound systems, became the tube of choice.

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Phono Preamplifiers
Mola Mola Lupe Phono Preamplifier
Review: Adam Smith,  |  Feb 22, 2024
hfnoutstandingDeveloped from the phono stage debuted in the Makua preamp and Kula integrated, the Lupe is a deceptively simple-looking but hugely flexible, app-driven phono preamp

In recent years Dutch firm Mola Mola has spread its wings from the Bruno Putzeys-designed pre/power amplifiers it debuted at CES in 2013 to include partnering separates. The first of these was the innovative Tambaqui DAC [HFN Nov '19], which fleshed out the company's optional digital module into a standalone design, and into the Kula integrated [HFN Oct '21]. These are now joined by the £7299 Lupe phono preamplifier named, in typical Mola Mola fashion, after a fish – 'Lupe' being the Hawaiian name for the broad stingray.

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