Steve Harris

Opinion
Setting The Record Straight
Steve Harris  |  Oct 21, 2024  |  0 comments
With recent data suggesting the vinyl revival is beng solely spearheaded by Taylor Swift, plus environmental concerns about LP production, Steve Harris wonders where it goes next

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.

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From the Vault
First Naim turns
Christopher Breunig,  |  Oct 08, 2024  |  0 comments
hfnvintageNaim Audio at last offers a CD player, but how does the CDS compare with its rival from Linn, wonder Christopher Breunig and Steve Harris

Apr 1992

My patience was put to the test with the Naim CDS. As I unpacked the two units and coupled them together I experienced a flush of old 'brand loyalty'. Since the days of the original 12S preamp and NAP160 power amp, my meetings with company founder Julian Vereker had been cordial and I had spent several pleasurable years with my NAP250. My frustration came with the waiting time for the player to warm up before listening began.

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Jazz
Jazz, July 2024
Steve Harris  |  Sep 26, 2024  |  0 comments
This month we review: Empirical, Alice Coltrane, The Jazzanians, and Julian Lage
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Jazz
Jazz, June 2024
Steve Harris  |  Sep 09, 2024  |  0 comments
This month we review: Melissa Aldana, Charlie Payne Quartet, John Surman, and The Clark Tracey Quintet
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Opinion
Storage stories
Steve Harris  |  Aug 07, 2024  |  0 comments
The BBC isn’t just a creator of content – since the early days of hi-fi it’s collected and archived commercial music. But has its operation become too big to continue, wonders Steve Harris

When you’ve got a million records, some of them might have to go. In January the BBC began a series of online auctions to dispose of unwanted vinyl from its fabled record library. In a tweet, Omega Auctions said it had spent a productive few days clearing out thousands of LPs from the BBC’s archive. You wonder whether this was just another job to them, or whether they thought they’d died and gone to heaven.

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Jazz
Jazz, May 2024
Steve Harris  |  Jul 28, 2024  |  0 comments
This month we review: Charles Lloyd, John Etheridge, Liv Andrea, and Radhika de Saram
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Jazz
Jazz, April 2024
Steve Harris  |  Apr 29, 2024  |  0 comments
This month we review: QOW Trio, Jasper Høiby | Three Elements, Lage Lund and Joel Ross.
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Jazz
Jazz, March 2024
Steve Harris  |  Mar 29, 2024  |  0 comments
This month we review: Erskine & Kavuma, Joel Harrison, Ethan Iverson and Rymden.
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Jazz
Jazz, February 2024
Steve Harris  |  Feb 29, 2024  |  0 comments
This month we review: Jim Rotondi Quintet, Paul Mottram, Logan Kane and Aaron Diehl & The Knights.
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From the VaultPre/Power Amplifiers
Tron Nucleus/PX25/300B Amplifiers
Steve Harris  |  Feb 23, 2024  |  Published: Aug 01, 1999  |  0 comments
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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