October 2018
In This Issue...
Great Sounds That Moves You
Article By Noel Keywood

  A great sound, one that moves you, mimics real life. There are dramatic sounds: think PA cabinet pumping raw acoustic power at you at a concert. But that's more about getting the musical message across in a brutish way – an acoustic bulldozer. Fine for a thrill at a concert but not for the home where subtlety is needed, a sound that is convincing of the real thing. One with the lively dynamics and rich timbral content I hear from my son's Simon and Patrick acoustic guitar that has obviously gorgeous tone – a quality that struggles to get through conventional solid-state amplifiers.

Enter valves! Pass music through valves and suddenly the lushness and plausibility return. Vincent of Germany have been producing solidly built hybrid valve amplifiers for a long time, they are well honed and I love listening to them. That's why I and others at Hi-Fi World enjoyed the SV-237MK on p11 so much – a sound different from the herd. It got a big thumbs up from all of us.

Everyone wants to produce a killer turntable able to grab a useful slice of expanding turntable sales around the world. Direct Drive in a solid plinth fitted with a decent arm is a good way to go. Technics have revived this sector with a fabulous new product range – but you pay for such carefully manicured quality. Reloop of Germany use Hanpin of Taiwan to produce a very interesting budget alternative. Don't miss our insightful measurements and in-depth review on p84.

Staying on the subject of vinyl, Hana's SL Mono cartridge reviewed by Paul Rigby on p89 caused consternation. It's an expensive moving coil purposed for old LPs, yet fitted with an advanced Shibata stylus profile seemingly incompatible with the period, where conical styli reigned. We all puzzled over its specification. But after discussion and research – see p93 – it turns out the Hana is a high performance modern MC cartridge well-tuned to exploit historical musical performances on mono LPs. Vinyl is far from dead, it is just awaking – and we are right with it as always.

--- Noel Keywood, editor.

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