Volume 7 No. 2

Reviewed In This Issue

2 Tired Of Reading Unremittingly Sycophantic Equipment Reviews
Editorial By Paul Messenger

4 STAN'S SAFARI No22
Stan Curtis examines the techniques used to reduce loudspeaker distortions

6 HIGH END 2013 PART 1
'An Englishman Abroad', Jason Kennedy reports back from this year's Munich show

8 HIGH END 2013 PART 2
Markus Sauer provides a German perspective on this year's big event in Munich

10 LISTENING TO DSD
SACD is coming back, this time in a disc-less form that can be played straight from your PC. Andrew Harrison reports.

14 TRIANGULAR TURNTABLE
Chris Bryant spins the stylish Thorens TD309 turntable

16 THE NEW SCALA
Focal has just upgraded its most popular Utopia III model. Martin Colloms gets to try out the Scala V2

22 BULLY'S STEREO BARGAIN/MONOBLOCK UPDATE
Chris Bryant tries Bully Sound's stereo BSC-60s, and revisits the revised BSC-100m monoblocks

24 RIBBON DEVELOPMENT
The Martin-Logan Motion 15 has a folded 'ribbon' tweeter

26 A SLICE OF PI
Paul Messenger assesses Voxativ's Pi, its smallest and least costly speaker to date

28 VALVES OR TUBES?
Rafael Todes and Martin Colloms try the VAC PHI 200 amplifier, in stereo and monoblock form

32 BABY THOROUGHBRED
Paul Messenger gets his hands on KEF's LS50 'Son of Blade'

35 KETTLING TODAY
Chord, MCRU, IsoTek, Deltec, Naim and Transparent mains cables reviewed

36 BIJOU BABY
Chris Bryant and Rafael Todes wrestle with the aspirational Astell&Kern AK100 portable music player

38 WALL SPEAKERS REVISITED
Paul Messenger mounts Tannoy Kensington and Goodmans Axiom 80 drivers in his wall

40 BOX CONTROL
Q Acoustics' new Concept 20 is an unusually refined stand-mount that costs less than you might expect

42 MONOLITHIC OBELISKS
Malcolm Steward has stopped spinning discs, but still enjoys a good DAC

44 BRING ON THE ZZS
Parasound's Zdac looks sharply priced, but does it deliver the goods? Chris Bryant answers the questions

46 FOCUSING ON FOCAL
Martin Colloms visits Saint-Etienne to discover what makes Focal tick

49 BITS & PIECES
Paul Messenger and Martin Colloms round up accessory components from Track Audio, CEC, Kondo, High End Novum, Leading Edge and PSB

52 FAVOURITE THINGS
Malcolm Steward picks out ten favourite albums from his collection

54 JAZZ PICKS
Greg Drygala finds half a dozen interesting new Jazz releases

56 THE BEST OF CLASSICAL
Colin Anderson uncovers some recent classical releases

58 ROCK, POP & OTHER NICE MUSIC
The Chord Company's Nigel Finn picks six new(ish) releases

60 SUBJECTIVE SOUNDS
Paul Messenger discusses loudspeaker review perspectives

 

 

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