Australian Hi-Fi Magazine November / December 2022

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Australian Hi-Fi Magazine November / December 2022

Since 1969, Australian Hi-Fi has kept audiophiles up to date on all the latest advances in audio technology and the hi-fi components available to enjoy music. All equipment reviews and music reviews are written by professionals who are experts in their respective fields, and are checked for accuracy by experienced sub-editors. Every audio component reviewed in Australian Hi-Fi is also independently tested by a NATA-certified test laboratory, whose test results and graphs are published with each review, together with a detailed technical analysis of those results.

Australian Hi-Fi also maintains a complete database of all Australian and New Zealand distributors of hi-fi equipment, along with updated listings of the brands they distribute. Australian Hi-Fi is published six times a year and on sale at thousands of news agencies throughout Australia and New Zealand, as well as being available in selected audio stores across the country plus International mail and online.

6 Editor's Lead-In: We Say Goodbye To 2022
A year of recovery and recuperation, and yet it hasn't been without progress.
Editorial By Rebecca Roberts
And just like that, you are about to tuck into the last Australian Hi-Fi issue of 2022. It's been a year of recuperation for much of the world following the disruption of You Know What, though price hikes are seemingly everywhere you turn and, for many industries including hi-fi, supply hasn't fully recovered — as hi-fi dealers across the country are bearing witness to and determinedly grappling with. Fingers crossed that 2023 will be a year of more 'normality' in that respect. This year hasn't exactly been bereft of good times for the industry, mind you, or indeed of progress.
---> Editor's Lead-In: We Say Goodbye To 2022.

Equipment Reviews
22 KEF LSX II Speaker System
The petiteness of KEF's baby stereo speaker system very much belies its feature set and performance, which set the bar very high at this modest price. Want affordable all-in-one without compromising the stereo aspect? Look no further.

28 Adcom GFA-555se Stereo Power Amplifier
An evolution of an 1980s amplifier that became not only Adcom's best-selling and most famous model but also one of the most famous amps of the last century. It lives up to the legacy, too, deserving a spot on the 'must-listen' list of anyone in the market for high-quality, high-fidelity power amplification.

38 Elementi Audio Fire Home Theatre System
Totally invisible and completely customisable, Elementi Audio's flagship surround sound package is a game-changer. "I have never heard any other that came even close to delivering this high level," says our reviewer.

64 Grado RS1x Open-Back Headphones
Surely no-one has ever described Grado headphones as 'exotic' before now. But I stand by my description of the RS1x tri-wood open-backs, which look — not to mention sound — very striking indeed.

Features
8 Audio News
Technics SL-G700M2 digital source; Bowers & Wilkins 700 S3 speakers; Monitor Audio Platinum Series 3G speakers; VYDA cables; Focal Bathy and Utopia headphones; Ohm Acoustics W2000AU speakers; Revival Audio Atlante speakers; Audio-Technica 60th anniversary products; iFi Neo Stream streamer; Astell & Kern Ultima SP3000 music player; Roon 2.0; Ruark R2 Mk4 music system; Pro-Ject E1 turntable; Bluesound Powernode Edge streaming amplifier; NAD C 3050 LE streaming amplifier; REL Acoustics Serie HT MKII subwoofers.

44 Hi-Fi Primer
How on earth do you choose the right speakers for your room and system when so many aesthetic styles, sonic flavours and opinions are out there? This speaker shopping 101 offers rules, recommendations and perhaps purely reminders on the process, from research through to set-up.

48 The CD's 40th Anniversary
The first consumer CD player launched in Japan in October 1982, and 40 years later Australian Hi-Fi contributor Stephen Dawson, who purchased what was then only the second player to be sold in Canberra, writes his love letter to the compact disc.

Music
79 Something Different
Mikael Åkerfeldt flexes his multi-genre muscles for the Clark soundtrack — an epic 34-track monument to the history of music — while eclecticism continues on the page with an audience-less live metal album, and Shearwater at their most serene.

80 Reissues: Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick turns 50 in respectful fashion, its legendary newspaper format retained, as rock classics from Lou Reed, Dinosaur Jr. and The Allman Brothers Band are also revisited and reissued decades on.

81 Rock Rippers
Pixies' latest is a perfect example of why the band still matters so much; The Mars Volta are back after a decade-long hiatus; and the Chilis churn out a welcome second album of the year.

82 Head Bangas
Ozzy is having a blast with a bunch of his mates and, weirdly, a newfound sense of artistic ambition on his latest album, while Lamb of God thunders and screeches in their "very pissed-off record", and Megadeth proves there is still life in its iconic formula yet.

Esoterica
51 Interview: Australian Hi-Fi sits down with Krispy Audio's Cameron Pope, whose journey from hi-fi hobbyist to hi-fi dealer owner started 16 years ago when he was searching far and wide for an interconnect for his iPod and amplifier.

56 High-End Review: Marking the beginning of a balanced era for a certain Austrian household hi-fi brand, this turntable features a moving-coil cartridge and, unusually for domestic hi-fi kit, a balanced mini-XLR output.

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