The Haute Fidelité show was a great success for us, not least because this year we actually managed to catch our train and get there in one piece.
It’s a really good show it has to be said and members of the public who attended are clearly very passionate about their two channel replay and their music. On the negative side, signposting to the various floors (it was over three floors) could have been a little clearer. More »
We’re on a bit of a journey with the infamous DJ spinner, the Technics 1210. Some have a bit of a love affair with the 
turntable whereas others loathe it. Personally I fall into the Love It camp, though in its stock form, whilst a reasonable way of getting music from the vinyl grooves, it doesn’t really cut it in some company.
However, there’s a growing community out there in audiophileland who are taking the humble Technics turntable and modifying it extensively and keeping only the basic chassis and motor unit.
Well, not wanting to be left behind and very much wanting to know what could be achieved with the 1210 I bought a second had one a while ago and began modifying it. First of all an external PSU, new arm, feet and platter mat were added which did indeed raise the humble Technics’ performance somewhat.
In this latest tinkering exercise I procured a Mike New replacement bearing from the folks at Mains Cables R Us to see if this could rinse out any further improvements from the turntable. Included in the review are a number of photographs to show just how easy the fitting of the bearing is.
When we heard that James Morrow in Edinburgh was going to be having a launch event for the new Lyric from Cyrus we couldn’t help but send along our man in Scotland (Billy Smith) to take a look. More »
British audio cable manufacturer Atlas Cables had announced the launch of its Hyper 3.5 speaker cable. Engineered 
using similar principles learnt during the development their Mavros and recently launched Ascent cables, Hyper 3.5 is said to give a significant upgrade to users who wish to retain the overall character of their system yet improve the clarity, openness and accuracy normally associated with a component change.
Hyper 3.5 employs 72 x 0.25mm high-purity OFC conductor stands encapsulated within a carefully selected high efficiency PTFE (Teflon) dielectric coating. The resultant conductor is embedded within an anti-vibration filler and finished in the same gloss black sleeve in keeping with the Hyper family design.
Available in the UK now, the Atlas Hyper 3.5 speaker cable is priced at £40.00 inc. VAT per meter un-terminated. 2m factory-terminated pair (using Atlas’ 4mm Z-plugs or spades) has a UK SRP inc. VAT of £280.00.
Bird Radio (Mikey Kirkpatrick) is originally from Hereford, is a graduate in music from Goldsmiths College in London and has his own production company (Avacado Music) which has produced over 30 recording projects.
The world needs more artists like Bird Radio who are not afraid to stand apart from the mainstream musical dross with which we are bombarded on a daily basis. Bird Radio eschews the X Factor-radio-friendly format and very much walks his own path. Indeed, he is a one man band armed with a suit case that takes the role of kick drum, a flute which he loops in on itself along with other instruments and an interestingly quirky vocal delivery that lies somewhere between medieval troubadour and a wicked Daevid Allen. He sets his stall out from the very start of the album as being that little different from the norm – and that’s a good thing! More »
The Roth Sub Zero II builds on the performance of its forebear and aims to deliver great ‘sound per pound’ as well 
as adding the latest audio technology. The Sub Zero II has two built-in Ultra-Bass passive drivers, a pair of high performance bass drivers, and a brace of full-range drivers and has no need for a separate subwoofer.
The 60 watts of peak power Class D amplification provides the brawn for the likes of action movie bangs and crashes, and Roth say the unit is also brings a “deft touch to subtle audio moments, as well as lower volume replay”. An additional DSP setting has been included for music playback and then there’s a third DSP algorithm for voice emphasis, ideal for those who are hard of hearing and need to have clear delivery of news and current affairs programmes.
£149.00 SRP in UK stores from late November onwards.
In a World exclusive Roksan has offered us a review of their new Kandy K2 B2 amplifier which is an 
upgraded version of their previous K2 amplifier but with a higher output and the inclusion of Bluetooth technology. Dan Worth takes a listen to the new integrated amplifier from Roksan.
“There’s no denying that the K2 BT can do large dynamics, speed and attack, convey heavily weighted bass passages with ease and once suitable synergy has been obtained, the top end can sound refined and expressive leading down into the mids with great coherence.”
Read the full review of the Roksan Kandy KT BT integrated amplifier.
Nu metal. Time has made a generic misnomer of the term. It’s no longer “nu”, and in many pundits’ eyes & ears, isn’t even metal. Whatever your opinion of the bands lumped into that category, general consensus is that Korn were among the pioneers and just about the cream of the crop. This is either a compliment or means they’re guilty of the greatest crime in the history of recorded sound depending on your musical bent .
2013 marks 20 years since the band released their first demo, so it’s a bit of a milestone year for them. However, in the current musical climate of an incalculable number of bands spawning an inconceivable number of heavy sub-genres, a group widely perceived as irrelevant has-beens or never-weres releasing an album entitled ‘Paradigm Shift’, is either a really brave, or really fucking stupid move. Which is it? Read on, dear reader…. More »
Of the slew of ’90s/alt/grunge acts releasing albums of late, Pearl Jam is pretty much the only one which boasts a steady line-up and a consistent timeline of releases dating back to their debut.
They’re late to the party if you choose to compare the most recent release dates, but they’ve been omnipresent for the last two decades. This could work either for, or against them; on the one hand the members’ experience and familiarity with each other may contribute to the album’s cohesion, but on the other hand they may be missing some youthful exuberance and simply going through the motions… 20 years is a long time and Lightning Bolt is their 10th album… More »
I have to admit I’ve been a bit remiss in reviewing this particular record. It arrived a while ago (it was released on the Comeme label in late October) and it’s been hammered on the main rig ever since.
So let’s backtrack a little – I reviewed the “One Night in Comeme Vol iii” compilation a while ago and really enjoyed it and so was expecting this release by Sano to be pretty good, but in reality I absolutely loved it. More »
Rockport Technologies have announced the introduction of their new Atria loudspeaker. 
In essence the Atria is a smaller version of the company’s well received Avior loudspeaker.
Like the Avior, the Atria uses a carbon fibre sandwich cone midrange and woofer and the same Beryllium dome Scanspeak tweeter. Whereas the Avior has two 9” woofers per cabinet the Atria has one and has an overall volume of about half that of its bigger brother.
The Atria loudspeaker is meant for smaller rooms but Rockport say it has almost the same bass extension as the Avior, whilst its sensitivity is slightly lower at 87.5dB.
Avaialble now at $21 500
We reviewed the original ASU-100 wall shelf from Audio Suspension a few months ago and now they’ve announced the 
Special Edition ASU-100 which has all the features of the ASU-100 but with frosted edges and a remote controlled, full colour LED lighting system.
With its provided infared remote control (so as to avoid any RF interference) you can choose any colour of the rainbow + white to light up your shelf. You can also choose the brightness of the LEDs and have your shelf glow the same colour of the lighting on the rest of your equipment or to suit your room or even your mood. The shelf can even gently rotate through its colour spectrum for a relaxed, ambient feel or even flash for a party mode!
The Special Edition also comes with an inbuilt level to ensure your kit is level and custom special edition engraving.
Looks cool we thought !!
The Theater 6 Hybrid is a new 5.2 loudspeaker set from Teufel Audio featuring two subwoofers that have been directly 
integrated into the front loudspeakers.
According to Teufel developer Christoph Winklmeier, “Our new Theater 6 Hybrid offers many uses for hifi and film fans. Use the floor standing speakers for stereo, as a 2.2 set with active subwoofers, or as the front speakers plus subwoofers for a complete 5.2 home cinema set.”
A switch on the loudspeakers transforms the bass drivers into either active subwoofers or part of a passive 3-way system.
The Theater 6 Hybrid is available now for £ 1,399.99
Canor have announced their latest “Precision Tube Compact Disc Player” and digital to analogue converter,
the CD 1.10.
New CD player is equipped with a standalone 24-bit/192kHz digital-to-analogue converter for each channel, and with a high-quality CD drive with compact disc disengagement bearing driving mechanism.
The Canor CD1.10 inherits the big matrix display from its predecessor, the CD2 VR+ CD player and its appearance fits the design of the Canor power amplifiers.
The digital to analogue converter section of the new CD player includes coaxial, optical and USB 2.0 inputs and also XLR outputs, digital optical and digital coaxial as well as two RCA outputs.
Canor use their patented Canor PCD Milling Technology throughout.
Black Pearls is a relatively newcomer to the audiophile marketplace and their first product, the Birth 100 Integrated 
amplifier, certainly looks like a well thought out product from the outside. Hifi Pig’s Stuart has the Black Pearls amplifier at home for a close up and personal review.
“Hifi Pig first bumped into the Greek “Black Pearl” brand whilst at the Munich High-End show earlier in the year. They were part of the newcomers’ area of the show and had what looked to be a pretty accomplished design for a company with just one product under their belt – the Birth 100 amplifier…alas it wasn’t possible to listen at the show and so we sought out a review sample.”
Read the full review of the Black Pearls’ Birth 100 Amplifier.
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