Review: Ken Kessler

Review: Ken Kessler, | Nov 21, 2024 | 0 comments

To celebrate a half century of the Wilson Audio family brand, it returns to its founding and arguably most iconic loudspeaker - The WATT, with bass support from the Puppy!

Whether it be cars or guitars, anniversaries benefit small manufacturers because they present authentic marketing opportunities. One of these is a reason to release a special model while another is to declare one's provenance. You can't fake longevity, so the real value is that anniversaries cannot be 'made up' as they arrive only with the passage of time. And while it's hard to believe, 2024 marks the first half-century of Utah-based Wilson Audio Specialties, and the designated birthday cake is The WATT/Puppy you see here.

Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

Skyanalog REF

Review: Ken Kessler, | Nov 21, 2024 | 0 comments

Is this the largest cartridge manufacturer we've never heard of? Stepping out of the OEM shadows to unveil its own-brand MCs, Skyanalog looks set to be a major disruptor

Two things struck me when PM said we'd be reviewing a cartridge from a new manufacturer. The first thought, from my glass-half-empty side, was: do we really need another? But the second was: this must be proof that the vinyl revival is substantial enough to warrant it. When told that the company was planning a 25th anniversary model, my curiosity about Skyanalog was truly piqued. 'New' it most certainly isn't.

Loudspeakers

Quad Revela 2

Review: Ken Kessler, | Oct 25, 2024 | 0 comments

Bigger brother to the standmount two-way Revela 1, the three-way ’2 lifts Quad’s engineering into a floorstander

Quad’s Revela 1 is a classic two-way standmount offered at £1799 per pair minus supports, or £2498 if bought as a set. The floorstanding Revela 2 tested here sells for another £1k at £3499, complete with fitted, spiked plinth. The basic technology defines both speakers, but for the Revela 2 it has been doubled up and more. The test, then, is to discover how much extra that £1000 delivers...

Disc Players

Soulnote S-3 Reference

Review: Ken Kessler, | Oct 14, 2024 | 0 comments

Still big in Japan, the SACD takes pride of place in Soulnote's 'ultimate digital playback system' that also includes the option of digital filterless conversion and external clocking

With Soulnote having already proved its analogue mettle in these pages with the E-2 phono preamp , does the brand have similar prowess with digital? And not just with CDs, for this S-3 flagship is a fully-fledged SACD player.

Pre/Power Amplifiers

D'Agostino Relentless 800

Review: Ken Kessler, | Aug 07, 2024 | 0 comments

The hi-fi world’s most powerful amplifier – the aptly named Relentless – has spawned two new offspring, but the ‘baby brother’ of the duo still weighs in at 145kg apiece

Lame analogies – both banal and obvious – spring to mind when one is directed to review an amplifier which is a little over half the power of its predecessor. One thinks of cars offered with engines of half the horsepower of a dearer sibling, of second growth wines, and other half-pint offerings. But the D’Agostino Relentless 800 Mono Amplifier – a heady £236,000 per pair – delivers the wattage that provides its model name: 800W per chassis. And that is conservative.

Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

EAT C-Dur

Review: Ken Kessler, | Jul 18, 2024 | 0 comments

Every product range has its sweet spot and the combination of EAT’s C-Dur deck with C-Note tonearm and optional Jo No5 moving-coil pick-up makes it the ‘plum’ choice

Just below the mid-price point of European Audio Team’s (EAT) nine-model range, the C-Dur belt-drive deck looks likely to identify a new price/ performance benchmark. We have been flooded with decks at the £10,000-£12,000 mark to designate entry to the scary high-end, and companies such as MoFi, Thorens and Pro-Ject have numerous models from £500-£3000, but something was needed in between from, say, £3000 and £5000. At £3500 with arm, EAT’s C-Dur – German for C major – fits the bill.

Integrated Amplifiers

Luxman L-509Z

Review: Ken Kessler, | Jul 08, 2024 | 0 comments

Taking its cues from the industrial design and Darlington topology of the L-509X, the latest L-509Z variant demonstrates how subtle revisions can exert a big sonic impact

At first glance, since they look like twins, you might wonder what Luxman has done to the L-509X integrated amplifier [HFN Jan ’18] to justify the Z suffix. The pesky price increase from £8500 to £10,999 reflects six years of inflation and recent world turbulence, but don’t be fooled by nearly identical looks. The devil is in the details.

Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

Reed Muse 1C/3P Turntable

Review: Ken Kessler, | May 09, 2024 | 0 comments

Artisanship and innovation meet in this precision-engineered turntable/arm combo that brings 21st century know-how to bear on a pre-Millennium turntable technology

Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks. After decades of being dismissive of idler- or rim-drive turntables, if not downright hostile towards them, I have had my ears opened by Reed's Muse 1C. A previous owner of a Thorens TD 124 [HFN Jun '59] and a Garrard 401 [HFN Dec '65], I never considered them to be as rumble-free nor as quiet as direct-drive or belt-drive turntables. The Lithuanian-designed and built Muse 1C, at £9998 without arm, the least expensive model in a range of three, has changed all that.

Loudspeakers

Franco Serblin Accordo Goldberg Loudspeaker

Review: Ken Kessler, | Apr 18, 2024 | 0 comments

Inspired by the diminutive and still current Accordo, the Goldberg variation features a larger cabinet and bass/mid driver, and integral crossover. Is bigger always better?

Odd though this might sound, it bothers me when PM gives me a sequence of exceptional loudspeakers to review. Can there really be that many miraculous designs, one after the other – or am I growing soft? Following models from DeVore Fidelity [HFN Aug '23] and Wilson Audio [HFN Sep '23], and reborn LS3/5As, I find myself with a new Franco Serblin speaker that has rocked my world. The Accordo Goldberg could be, overall, the best yet to come out of the fertile brain of the inspirational if, sadly, late designer.

Loudspeakers

Quad Revela 1 Loudspeaker

Review: Ken Kessler, | Apr 01, 2024 | 0 comments

Quad's first new speakers in some seven years feature an evolved version of the ribbon tweeter seen in its 'Corner Horn' of 70 years ago. Now, of course, they come in pairs!

For nearly nine years, I have been listening to Quad's ribbon-hybrid S-1 speaker – the brand's smallest two-way box-type system – as part of my day-to-day desktop set-up. When they were launched, I revelled in the realisation that they were a throwback to Quad's first ever loudspeaker, the Corner Ribbon of 1949, and the all-new Revela 1 tells you that the company's boffins, based in the UK and China, haven't been sitting idle since 2015.

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Review: Ken Kessler

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