Gentle giant and hi-fi guru Paul Messenger was my mentor and the man that got me into this game when he was draughted in to edit Hi-Fi Choice magazine in 1987. That was the year the title changed from being a quarterly A5 publication to a monthly A4 magazine, Paul handled the transition seamlessly because […]
Deutsches Schallplattenmuseum, Nortorf A record collection totalling 180,000 LPs and 78s, plus the history of audio under one roof comprises a most unusual German record museum. The German depository of records and recording began life as part of Nortorf town’s museum in Schleswig-Holstein. When that building had to be demolished those behind the incredible collection […]
Audio Consultants at Crescent Records Crescent Records recording studio is tucked away in a rather unlikely place among the elegant Victorian villas clustered on a hill overlooking the ugly sprawl of modern Swindon. Next to an agreeable but unimposing house, the studio is in an extension originally intended to accommodate an indoor pool. The story […]
Kii Audio factory tour When we reviewed the Kii Audio Three BXT active DSP loudspeaker system the sheer complexity of the design wasn’t easy to fully comprehend. What was clear is that this loudspeaker system with onboard processing, DAC and power amplification is one of the most dynamic and revealing on the market today. Given […]
The flurry of European hi-fi shows in the latter part of 2022 meant that I had to miss the milestone anniversary party staged by high-end Italian company Gold Note. Enjoying their sound at the hectic Warsaw show I arranged to visit the company’s headquarters early in 2023. So it was that I boarded a flight […]
Larger-than-life David Jefferys was one of the first people I met upon joining Hi-Fi News & Record Review in 1988. David was then at Tannoy, having previously been sales manager at both AKG and Haden Labs which distributed Sennheiser (as well as Denon and Dual). I recall how we discussed things that I knew about […]
Ansuz, Aavik & Børresen There are some unusual developments coming out of Aalborg in the north of Denmark. Michael Børresen and Lars Kristensen are developing products based on the resonant characteristics of the human body. To put it more plainly they are using metals that are sympathetic to this frequency including tungsten, titanium and zirconium. […]
Pro Audio Design (PAD) is a Boston-based group of audio distribution companies which has been appointed the exclusive distributor of Japanese loudspeaker brand TAD Laboratories for the US and Canada. Company president Dave Malekpour has been working with TAD for almost 30 years and while his roots lie in pro audio and studio specification, this partnership […]
Max Townshend died on the last day of 2021 and will be missed by an awful lot of people. He had been in the hi-fi business since 1975, setting up Townshend Audio in Australia before moving it to the UK three years later. Initially Max marketed Elite cartridges, the first to feature a parabolic stylus […]
With its extreme architectural subsidence and renaissance squares Pisa is not the first place you might look for a modern electronics company but it’s the city that Marco Manunta (above right) and his partner Nadia Marino started M2Tech in 2007, and it remains their home. Marco is an engineer with a greater understanding of digital […]
By building a range of very fine music servers and associated products Innuos have established themselves as a major player in the streaming market, yet until now those wanting to stream direct from an Innuos Zen, Zenith or Statement have had to use a third party to do so. With the roll out of Innuos […]
In a recent group test of turntables by another publisher the Rega P10, a personal favourite, was criticised for having a lack of bass. This perceived shortfall is because the P10 is one of the most successful turntable designs when it comes to minimising extraneous or unwanted vibration, or distortion to give it the correct […]