Hifi Pig

More Reports from Munich High End

16. May 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: hifi news, Hifi Shows, munich High End 2013

Linette has finished her “Birds Eye View” of the Munich High End Show and you can read the final part here.

I’ve written part 3 and part 4 of the Show report but there is still much more to add including an interview with Norbert Lehmann of Lehmann Audio and an “in Show” review of some massive Gryphon Audio Loudspeakers that made their debut at the Munich High End Show.

We’re slowly working through all the photographs and notes we’ve made and we hope to have our coverage tied up by the end of this weekend…hopefully.

Hifi in Your Garden

16. May 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: hifi news, Loudspeakers

We received a press release from Sonance about an interesting looking hifi set up for use in the garden. The SonArray garden sound system by Sonance comes packaged in a single box with eight horn-shaped SR1 satellites and an underground subwoofer (should keep the moles at bay too).The simple daisy-chained loudspeakers attach to any standard two channel amplifier and the system will cover an area of 185sqm.

The company say that it produces sound quality and coverage “far beyond the reach of conventional garden rock speakers”. The Sonarray SR1 speakers, just 4 inches in diameter, are discreet enough to be located under plants or foliage, so the system won’t compromise your garden design or hard work.

Facing inwards from the perimeter and directed by the satellites’ horn-shaped enclosures, the SR1 is less likely to spill into adjacent gardens which should keep your neighbours on-side too.

Price is £2500.

High End Munich 2013 – A Bird’s Eye View. Part 2.

14. May 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News, Uncategorized · Tags: hifi news, Hifi Shows, munich High End 2013

You can read the second installment of Linette’s views on the Munich High End show, “A Bird’s Eye View”, where she’ll be talking about what stood out at the show for her.

Brands she discusses include Thoress who make some interesting looking valve amplifiers, German Physiks and their omnidirectional loudspeakers, Vexo amplifiers, Lehmann Audio and Estalon.

You can read it here – hope you enjoy it.

Part 1 is here

Legacy Audio Aeris Loudspeaker

14. May 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: hifi news, munich High End 2013

Legacy Audio, based in Springfield USA, premiered their Aeris loudspeaker to the European market at the Munich High End show 2013.

It’s a bold yet elegant looking loudspeaker and is packed with tech’. While touting 24-bit DSP and 1kwatts of internal bass power, the upper portion of Aeris is open-air dipole which the company says offers “fast decay of midbass frequencies and airy spacious highs”.

The 6 driver, 4.5 way system is the first to use the Legacy Dual Air Motion neodymium tweeter and a dipolar titanium encrusted 8” midrange with an enormous motor structure imported from Italy. The midbass is delivered by an open air 10” driver, while dual 12” subwoofers provide a linear volume displacement of nearly 200 cubic inches. The bass section is internally powered by dual 500Watt ICEpower® modules.

Chief Designer, Bill Dudleston, describes the development of the new Aeris loudspeaker: “ My initiative of providing a 4” AMT that could transition to the smoothest and most dynamic 8” midrange driver available was met with the challenge of accordion-folding 16 square inches of Kapton into the 4” long, 1” wide chamber. Neodymium was employed to provide the flux density required. The results were more uniform dispersion and tremendous attack. Treble now had natural weight and shimmer without tizz. The 10” dipolar driver completes the transition to the foundation provided by the dual 12” subs.”

Hifi Pig had a good listen to the Aeris at the Munich Highend show and you’ll be able to read what we thought very soon.

Specifications

Frequency Range: 16-30 kHz, Sensitivity: 95 dB (@2.83 volts/1m) Upper cabinet dimensions (HxWxD): 147 cm x 37 cm x 41 cm

Base dimensions (HxWxD): 8 cm x 48 cm x 46 cm

Munich High End 2013 – A Birds Eye View Pt 1.

13. May 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News

Bird: UK slang meaning a woman/wife/girlfriend, synonyms: broad, chick, dame, girl, lass.

Linette (Mrs Hifi Pig) gives her opinions and perspectives of the Munich High End show in a series of articles written from a woman’s perspective.

Find out what she enjoyed on the first day of the Munich High End show in part one of “Munich High End – A Birds Eye View Part 1”

In the future Linette will be taking a much more active role in the running of Hifi Pig and will write reviews as well as being a contact for manufacturers, dealers and distributors.

Munich High End 2013 – Show Report Part 1.

13. May 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: hifi news, munich High End 2013

Part one of Hifi Pig’s report of the Munich High End 2013 show is now up and live. We will be publishing lots more around the show with dozens of reports of what we saw and what we heard so keep popping back tot he site.

We think that giving the reports out in bite size chunks is preferable to one long piece and we hope you enjoy.

Once we finished all the write ups we will publish a slideshow of all the photographs (over 500) that we took at the show itself.

Part one is here

Arcam AVR750 7.1 AV Receiver

13. May 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: hifi news, munich High End 2013

Arcam make some bold claims for their latest AV receiver, the AVR750 7.1 and the specs certainly look impressive. They launched the new receiver at the Munich High End show and we went along to have a bit of a listen in what was definitely one of the most lively rooms there.

• 4K (UHD) video compatible including upscaling

• 7 HDMI inputs, 2 HDMI outputs, ARC compatible

• Auto setup with room correction

• Class G power amplification

• On board PSU for rSeries accessories

• Ethernet, RS232 and IR control

• Free iOS control app

Charlie Brennan the MD of Arcam says the followint about it.

“The AVR750 is, quite simply, the highest performing AV receiver Arcam has ever made. The AVR750 is an audiophile product by any measure. Equally at home with high resolution surround sound or two-channel music, the AVR750 delivers stunning realism with everything from heavy-weight blockbusters to your favourite concert video.

The power amplifiers within the AVR750 are perhaps the finest ever seen within any AV receiver. Power delivery is both clean and tight against a background noise level that is astoundingly low. Listeners can expect to be enthralled from the opening sequence to the final encore!”

We had a listen to the new receiver at Munich High End show on Saturday and, whilst we’re not usually great fans of A|V set ups, were very impressed with its performance through some KEF E series loudspeakers. You can read more in due course when we publish the Munich High End show reports in full.

Price £4000.

Munich High End 2013 – Mrs Hifi Pig Has a New Love!

12. May 2013 · 1 comment · Categories: Hifi News

At the request of a good few people who we met at the Munich High End show Mrs Hifi Pig, otherwise known as Linette, will be taking a greater role in writing for Hifi Pig.

Here she tells her story of her first experience of the Avantgarde Trios and six basshorns. She reckons it was a bit of a religious experience.

Read what she has to say here

Munich High End 2013 – Newcomers.

12. May 2013 · 1 comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: munich High End 2013

Hifi Pig have just spent the last few days at the Munich High End show which if you didn’t know is a huge show showcasing the whole gamut of Hifi available in the world today.

Our first of many show reports looks at the eight companies chosen by the High End society to represent the newcomers – or new kids on the block of the hifi world

Hifi Pig knows what it’s like to be a new company in the hifi world and so when we heard that the organisers of this years Munich High End show would be offering a handful of new hifi manufacturing companies the opportunity to display their wares we thought we would also lend our support by giving them a little more of the limelight in the pages of Hifi Pig.

The companies chosen were: Pure Audio Project, Manufacture le Son, Rike Audio, Lab 12, Black Pearls Audio, Schuch Tronic, BeatOn and Erzetich Audio. Read more

Burson Timekeeper Amplifier

06. May 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News, Uncategorized · Tags: amplifiers hi fi, hifi news

Burson have announced a June launch for their Timekeeper amplifier. It is an 80W per channel Class-AB stereo power amp which can be bridged into a 240W mono block and is the same size as the company’s Conductor preamplifier.

There is a growing community of desktop audiophiles and the Timekeeper is very much aimed at this group of users. Burson say that these audiophiles want “high-end equipment that are desktop friendly and given the compact size of the Timekeeper amplifier they will not be disappointed”.

The Timekeeper looks to be a versatile bit of kit and you can have it running in stereo, then upgrade to 2 Timekeepers as you move from a desktop system to large room listening and from RCA systems to XLR systems.

Every bit of the Timekeeper is custom designed and built to achieve Burson’s “definition of perfection”.

Price $2600

TCI Mamba Silver-Plated Audio Interconnect Cables

02. May 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News

Designed and made in the UK, by True Colours Industries, the new TCI Mamba Stereo Hi-Fi Interconnect, is said to be a serious performance cable at a relatively affordable price.

The Mamba features a bi-axial shielded construction and is terminated with TCI True-Plug™ gold-plated RCA phono plugs in a pseudo-balanced configuration.

It is also available in a fully balanced configuration, terminated with high-quality XLR connectors featuring gold-plated contacts.

Design

- 2-Core Silver-plated OFC cores with Teflon insulation

- Bi-axial shielded construction

- 100% Foil with 16 way braid screen

- Fully wrapped in Red PVC insulation

- Lead free Silver soldered contacts

- TCI True-Plug™ RCA phono plug

- High quality XLR plugs

Prices

RCA terminated: 0.6m £175, 1.0m £200, extra 0.5m £30

XLR terminated: 0.6m £225, 1.0m £250, extra 0.5m £30

Thiel Unveils the CS1.7 Floorstanding Loudspeaker

30. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News

Theil Audio has announced the introduction of the CS1.7 Coherent Source® floorstanding loudspeaker. The CS1.7 employs THIEL’s phase and time coherent design using first order crossover networks.

“The CS1.7 seeks to establish new standards for resolution of detail, imaging and staging, dynamic capability, and tonal purity for those consumers seeking ultra high fidelity from an attractive, compact form factor.”

The technology employed in the CS1.7 design is all new, leveraging much of the R&D from the company’s flagship model CS3.7. The CS1.7 tweeter, based on the platform used in their CS1.6 has been optimized for the CS1.7 featuring a new voice coil, new magnetic circuit and reworked aluminum diaphragm which Thiel claim results in increased linearity and lower distortion. The aluminum woofer’s “star” diaphragm was conceived using the latest laser measurement technology and also utilizes a new voice coil and magnetic structure that enables the driver to operate as a piston through a much greater range of frequencies. The crossover network is a classic THIEL first order acoustic design. The cabinet is 1-inch thick and the massive baffle, with a low turbulence vertical port, is 2-inches thick, increasing rigidity and inertness. The CS1.7 comes equipped with leveling feet, however an optional brushed aluminum Outrigger base (pictured here) is available to maximize stability on virtually any surface.

“The CS1.7 delivers superb musicality from a sleek floorstanding loudspeaker that is décor friendly thanks to its moderate size and elegant array of real wood veneers,” said THIEL National Sales Manager Stephen DeFuria. The CS1.7 represents the performance and value that our dealers and worldwide distribution have been asking for.” The THIEL CS1.7 is now shipping to authorized THIEL dealers with an MSRP of $3999 per pair.

Benchmark DAC2 D Announced

25. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: DAC, hifi news

Benchmark have announced their new Digital to Analogue Converter the DAC2 D. The DAC2 D has the same performance of the company’s DAC2 HGC but without the analogue inputs and the 12V trigger. Keeping the specs inline with DAC2 D, it has” lower noise, lower distortion, improved accuracy, outstanding musical detail, precise stereo imaging, an advanced digital filter design, and a new high-sample-rate Asynchronous USB Audio interface”. All inputs are isolated from interface jitter by Benchmark’s new UltraLock2™ jitter attenuation system. Internal digital processing and conversion is 32-bits, and includes 3.5 dB of headroom above 0 dBFS. Four balanced 32-bit D/A converter are summed together for each balanced output. Benchmark claim that the new DAC2 D has an analogue sound.

Features:

Sample Rate Display
Word Length Display
More Digital Inputs (5 total)
More Analog Outputs (3 total)
Digital Pass Through
Native DSD Conversion
Polarity Switch
Asynchronous USB 2.0
Driverless Asynchronous USB 1.1
Home Theater Bypass
Power Switch
Low Power Consumption

Price is $1795

Kef Introduce First Headphones

25. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: headphones, hifi news

KEF, the UK loudspeaker manufacturer, has announced its first ever range of headphones, the M500 (pictured) over-ear headphones, and the M200 in-ear buds.

M500

The over-ear M500s use a full-range 40mm neodymium driver with a super light, copper clad aluminium voice-coil that’s been tuned by KEF’s engineers to deliver a “powerfully musical sound with a tight, clean bass”.

The M500s feature an aluminium frame, with breathable and sweat resistant memory foam earpads and headband.

The frame design also features a ‘Smart Hinge’; unlike most headphones that require two hinges to fold and rotate the ear pads, the M500s’ Smart Hinge can rotate on two axes, making them adaptable to different sized (and shaped). It also allows you to fold them up into a highly compact form for carrying around.

M200

The in-ear M200 earphones utilise a user adjustable Secure Arm that helps to keep them snug in the ear, and a rigid aluminium driver housing that” eliminates unwanted vibrations and raises sound performance to new levels”.

The M200s also use ‘DDD’ (Dual Dynamic Driver) tech, a two-way system with a 10mm driver for the bass and a 5.5mm dynamic neodymium driver for midrange and high frequencies.

Hublot Inspiration Headphones

25. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: hifi news

Monster, the headphone brand, has announced it is collaborating with luxury watchmaker Hublot to create Hublot Inspiration – a luxury noise cancelling headphone that offers an “unprecedented music listening and lifestyle experience”. The lightweight, rock-solid black and carbon fibre Hublot Inspiration over-ear headphones will be available this summer at Hublot retailers for EUR 1.750.00. UK price to be announced.

Reference Fidelity Components Launch Reference Fidelio Loudspeaker

23. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: hifi news, Loudspeakers

Reference Fidelity Components, under the leadership of our own Paul, has announced the launch of it’s all new, full range loudspeaker which they are calling the Reference Fidelio – a loudspeaker that has been created to be a “final destination”.

This floor standing loudspeaker utilises the legendary Tannoy 12 inch DC driver to deliver “breath-taking dynamics, scale and imaging”.

Each loudspeaker is hand crafted in 24mm Birch Ply and finished in a choice of real wood veneers. Front baffle edges are made from solid American Black Walnut.

Internal crossovers are hand built using “very high quality components throughout” including Claritycap ESA capacitors and Janxten air-cored inductors. Furthermore each components is hand picked to be within 1% tolerance.

It’s a front ported design and the cabinets are said to be exceptionally stiff, with interior bracing and panel surface damping designed to reduce panel resonance amplitudes in the critical mid-range frequency area. Not surprisingly each cabinet takes 80 -90 hours to complete.

The Reference Fidelio is available for audition or review.

Technical Specifications

Frequency Response: 28Hz-20KHz (-6dB);
Sensitivity: 92dB/1w/1m
Nominal Impedance: 6 ohms (easy load)
25mm Solid Birch ply braced cabinet, choice of real wood veneers and finishes;
35mm ply/mdf laminated front baffle for low resonance
Hand built and tuned custom crossovers.
Net volume: 160 litres
Dimensions: 1280x525x425mm; 70Kg approx per loudspeaker.
Recommended amplifier power: From 25 Watts, valve or solid state

Completed Loudspeakers: £6, 495.00, Cabinets Only: £4,950, Cabinets plus Crossovers: £5,250 all depending on the veneers you choose.

Canor TP306VR+ Valve Phonostage

22. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News

U.K. Hi-Fi distributor Sound Fowndations has announced the addition of the CanorTP306VR+ valve phonostage to its

portfolio of audio components.

The CANOR TP306VR+ is an all-valve phonostage featuring valve rectification.

The circuit boards feature patented CMT ™ (CANOR Milling Technology). Areas of the circuit board are precisely removed to give the circuit similar electrical characteristics to one direct wired with air dielectric cables.

Compliant rubber mountings are used for the circuit boards and valve bases to protect against microphonic distortion.

The mains transformer features grounded double copper foil internal shielding together with a screened housing to protect against electromagnetic noise. It also features a vacuum impregnated core and is potted in an anti-vibration compound to combat mechanical noise.

All signal path capacitors are audiophile Mundorf polypropylene type.

The MC input uses a high quality Lundahl step-up transformer.

A wide range of input gain, resistance and capacitance settings are easily optimised using rear panel switches.

The substantial resonance-damped chassis includes separate internal chambers for the power supply and each stereo channel to protect against noise and maximise stereo separation.

Technical Spec’

Valve compliment:1 x EZ81, 2 x 6922 4 x 6SL7

MM gain:42 dB

MM input impedance:47kΩ

MM input capacitance:100 / 220 / 470pF

MM signal to noise ratio:78dB

MC gain:56 / 62 / 68dB

MC input impedance:80, 160, 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 2000Ω @ 56dB

20, 40, 100, 200, 300, 400, 600Ω @ 62dB

5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150Ω @ 68dB

MC signal to noise ratio:74dB

RIAA equalisation:20Hz – 20kHz +/-0.3dB

Harmonic distortion:< 0.05% @ 1kHz

Dimensions (w x d x h):435 x 350 x 122mm

Weight:12kg

Price is £2750.00

Pagani, Sonus Faber, Porche, Burmester, Volkswagon and Dynaudio

17. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: hifi news

At this year’s High End show in Munich, visitors can experience high end audio not just limited to the home but also in three high end motor cars.

Pagani and Sonus Faber

The exhibitor Audio Reference from Hamburg is presenting one of the most exciting sports cars on Earth, equipped with the exclusive Sonus Faber system. In future, Pagani, the Italian producer of luxury sports cars, will be fitting its vehicles with these exclusive sound systems. One of the ultimate dream cars with a price tag of around €1.4m will be at the show. (All pics are of this system)

Porche and Burmester

The Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer Porsche and the high-end audio company Burmester from Berlin have been working closely together for years now.

All in all the new Porsche Cayenne boasts 16 speakers with a total diaphragm area of 1,400 cm2. Providing in excess of 1,000 watts of output. This is enough to produce over 120 decibels of sound pressure in the vehicle, meaning that a large orchestra or hard rock band can be listened to at the original volume. Each of the 16 loudspeakers is controlled by its own preamp and power amp. Technologies and materials used from Burmester’s home audio range are used in the car’s system.

Volkswagon Touareg with Dynaudio

This year Dynaudio is presenting the Volkswagen Touareg with the Dynaudio Confidence premium sound system. 620 watts, 12 speakers and the latest DSP technology are boasted. All the chassis fitted in this Volkswagen are hand-finished components from Dynaudio’s main plant in the Danish town of Skanderborg.

Avid Introduce Acutus Black Turntable

16. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: hifi news, high end audio

Over nearly two decades the Acutus turntable from UK manufacturer Avid, has progressed to become renowned throughout the audio industry. Visually the turntable is a striking piece of engineering, its distinctive polished chrome finish having done much to set the fashion for open skeletal styling.
Whilst we at Hifi Pig always thought the turntable looked stunning in chrome, Avid had many requests for a black version, but due to the complexity in perfecting the standard of finish required this never happened. Now technological improvements and bespoke tooling have allowed the possibility of Avid offering a lustrous black finish on both the Acutus SP and Acutus Reference SP.

The Acutus SP Black and Acutus Reference SP Black are available now with a UK retail price of £12,000 and £17,000.

Vieilles Charrues Program 2013

16. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News

Not strictly Hifi but we thought this was worth sharing as it’s a festival close to our hearts here at Hifi Pig Towers.

The Vieilles Charrues festival is a huge music festival that happens yearly in the Breton town of Carhaix.

The program for this year has been announced today and includes:

Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Phoenix, Rammstein, Elton John, M, Santana, The Hives, Paul Kalkbrenner, Alt-J, The Vaccines and Vitalic amongst many more.

The Vieilles Charrue festival takes place on July 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st.

Lots more acts take part in the festival from all over the world. More information here.

Atlas Element USB Cable

15. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: hifi news

Atlas Cables has announced the launch of a new range of USB cables for computer audio applications. Available now, the Atlas Element USB comes in either A/B or A/B Mini form in multiple lengths from 0.5 meters to 5 meters.

Made up of parallel lay twisted-pair silver-plated high-purity OFC copper conductors encased in a high quality foamed Polyethylene dielectric, Atlas has paid particular attention to ensure that every conductor is identical in length. Using precision equipment to measure and micro-cut each conductor “ensures there is minimal time difference between each pair”.

To combat crosstalk between the twisted pair, the ground and the power conductors, Atlas uses a triple shielding technique that isolates the differential data, power and ground conductors from each other as well as providing an integral shield around the entire cable to help reject noise. In addition, the 95% outer screen prevents unwanted noise getting into the signal conductors, with its low inductance providing excellent transfer impedance at high frequencies.

The metal plug and head-shell connector has been designed to keep the characteristic impedance of the cable as stable as possible “to reduce jitter even further”.

Commenting on the new Atlas Element USB, Kevin Kelly, Managing Director of Atlas Cables said, “Every aspect of our new USB cables have been designed to enhance sound quality by reducing the jitter issues normally associated with USB cables. By stripping away the problems inherent with USB and overcoming those issues with applied engineering, we feel we have developed a product that will re-set the bar to which premium USB cables will need to be judged.”

0.5 metre £35.00
1.0 metre £37.50
1.5 metre £42.50
2.0 metre £47.50
3.0 metre £57.50
5.0 metre £77.50

Icon Audio’s New MB30SE Valve Monobloc Amplifiers

12. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: hifi amplifiers, hifi news

Combining valve rectification with only two audio valves the Icon Audio MB30SE has been designed with purist simplicity in mind. With an output of up to 27 watts the MB30SE is versatile and capable of high volume levels with medium to high sensitivity loudspeakers.

Using the new KT 120 output valve the MB30SE delivers a good deal more power than triodes such as the 300B and with Icon Audio’s Low Distortion Tertiary transformer on-board the KT120 can deliver a wide bandwidth.

Using high sensitivity loudspeakers the 16 watts produced in triode mode will produce realistic volume levels. However many modern speakers sacrifice efficiency for size and in such cases the MB30SE can be switched to ultralinear mode to deliver 27 watts. Adjustable input sensitivity adds to the flexibility enabling use with either passive or active preamplifiers.

The front panel mounted bias meter allows easy checking and adjustment of the amplifier to give its best performance and also gives an indication of output power.

Every amplifier is finished and tested by Icon Audio’s team of engineers in Leicester, UK.

Features: Icon Audio MB30SE

100% pure class A operation throughout
Valve rectification
Custom wound choke regulated power supply
Choice of low or no feedback
Can be used with a passive preamplifier
“Point to Point” hand wired for the best sound quality and reliability
PTFE insulated silver plated pure copper wiring
Fitted with Jensen™ copper foil in paper and oil audio capacitors
Gold plated input and loudspeaker terminals
Custom hand wound tertiary output transformer
4 & 8 ohm loudspeaker outputs

UK Price is £1999.95 for a pair of the amplifiers.

McIntosh Announce C2500 Preamplifier

09. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News, Uncategorized · Tags: hifi news, Valve Amplifier

McIntosh Laboratory has launched the new C2500 – a valve preamp with 15 inputs. Designed to offer flexibility with both digital and analogue source components, the new C2500’s input complement includes two dedicated phono inputs (MM and MC) and five digital inputs, with D/A decoding at up to 32-bit/192kHz resolution.

The five-strong digital input suite in the McIntosh Digital Engine includes two coaxial and two assignable optical inputs at 24-bit/192kHz resolution, plus a dedicated asynchronous USB 2.0 input operating at up to 32-bit. The preamp’s analogue inputs include six line-level, two balanced, plus the aforementioned Moving Magnet and (adjustable) Moving Coil inputs. The C2500 also includes McIntosh’s new internal High Drive headphone amplifier, which offers increased gain and output power.

Internally, the C2500’s power supply, digital and control circuitry has been isolated from the analogue section and the C2500 boasts the best measured performance of any single-chassis McIntosh tube preamplifier.

The C2500 contains six dual-triode tubes (12AX7A) and further features include assignable tone controls (as needed), and the ability to connect up to three power amplifiers, two of which can be switched on and off for simple multiroom configurations. A Home Theatre Pass Through feature also allows for integration into existing multichannel home theatre systems.

The C2500 sells for £7,495 and is available now.

King Rex Headquarter HQ-1 Headphone Amplifier Review

08. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: Headphone Amplifier, hi fi reviews, hifi news

Jerry puts the King Rex HQ-1 headphone amplifier into his system and gives his opinions on this £600 unit.

Read the full review here.

Clones Audio 25i Integrated Amplifier Review

08. April 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hifi News · Tags: hifi news

Stewart Wennen takes a listen to the little Clones Audio 25i integrated amplifier and likes it a lot.