Opinion

I was recently delighted and excited to hear that a new edition of Stephen Spicer’s book on the history of Leak – Firsts In High Fidelity – has been released. The original edition appeared as a large-format paperback in the year 2000, and it’s a fascinating account of the story of the people involved, the company, and its products.

Following a flying visit to an audiophile friend’s listening room, Barry Willis believes Gallium Nitride (GaN) power transistors could be just what the amplifier world has been looking for

I was particularly interested to read the recent review of the Technics SL-1200GR2 [HFN Sep ’24]. This is because for a very long time I’ve owned and been happily using a much earlier example of the direct-drive breed. I can’t now recall exactly when I bought it, but I’ve had a Panasonic/Technics SL-1500 turntable and arm with a Shure V15 series cartridge since about 1973. And it has continued to deliver good performance for about half a century!

The main sign of the SL-1500’s age after so many decades of use is that the small rotary potentiometer, which tweaks the rotation speed, has developed a ‘burn spot’ just at the place that sets 33.33rpm. This means that, nowadays, I have to let the deck run for about a quarter of an hour before use and then check if the speed has settled down correctly, or needs a slight tweak.

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.

There is a nice irony to the fact that the most silent musicians of all are required to be the best with words. Orchestras may like the conductors who speak the least, but explanation, correction and encouragement can’t entirely be done at the tip of a baton. Meanwhile, the public is perennially fascinated by the power dynamic at play when a single figure seems to conjure unity from the talents of a hundred individuals.