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Cost-conscious British audiophiles have traditionally gravitated to a handful of well-known brands offering lots of sound-per-pound. One of these is Wharfedale, and since 1982 that means its Diamond series of small stand mounters in particular. But designing, building and distributing loudspeakers in this particular market sector is no easy task, so this one has its work cut out.- - - - -The humble Diamond 12.1 certainly has no easy road ahead of it. As well as being made to sell to those on a strict budget, it also has to impress whether it's plugged into a PC soundcard, mini Hi-Fi or bargain..

The pursuit of the bottom octave in sound reproduction looms as a sort of final frontier for many enthusiasts. It’s a task that’s generally accomplished in one of two ways—by purchasing a completely new set of loudspeakers (ouch!), or by adding a subwoofer (or, as is the case here, a pair of them) to fill the deep-bass vacuum in your current system. The second option is also a daunting prospect. Expensive and acoustically challenging, the lowest octaves (loosely defined as 20–40Hz) demands power and requires space. Yet in spite of the challenges and potential pitfalls, I know of few audiophile..

If you think about it, active loudspeakers should be more prevalent. Those of us with a love of hi-fi separates tend to spend considerable time and money searching for the ideal match between loudspeakers and amplifiers. This quest for synergy then extends to cables, isolation, coupling and decoupling experiments and so on, too… However, with speakers like ATC's SCM40A, this time-consuming and oft-frustrating step is rendered redundant – as its 36kg cabinet comes fitted with a dedicated 242W Class AB triamp arrangement, plus an active crossover. This configuration consists of a 150W module for..

Sound always exists within a space. From the Grand Canyon to the smallest closet, there is no separating sound from the listening environment. If your room is coloring the sound, then you’re making critical mix decisions based on skewed information. This can lead to many frustrating hours back and forth between the studio, the car, and/or any other secondary pair of speakers. In our field, experimenting is what keeps us alive and fresh, but second-guessing is what kills us.- - - - -  The C20 is a bass trap, but not a passive one like the standard acoustic treatment we’ve been discussing so far..

The first integrated streaming amplifier in the history of the Lindemann company is here! The small but fine company from Wörthsee has planted the Musicbook Source II streaming platform in the Musicbook Combo and combined it with the power amplifier technology from the Musicbook Power. Everything under one roof, and that means in concrete terms: connect speakers, connect to the Internet and get started. I don't need to be told twice...- - - - -CONCLUSIONIf you look at the asking price of just under 4,500 euros and put the whole thing in relation to the sound, equipment and connection options, ..

It’s hard to believe that Meze Audio has just released its first Dynamic Open-Back cans, but here they are. Dubbed the Meze Audio 109 PRO ($799), they are stunning, crafted from a carefully curated combination of materials. Those materials include some impressive stuff, like finished walnut wood, zinc, manganese steel, and quality faux leather.Inside the walnut wood earcups resides a novel 50mm Dual-Composite diaphragm. It has an outside ring (or torus) made up of Beryllium-coated semicrystalline polymer surrounding a cellulose-carbon fiber composite dome.- - - - - VERDICTTo sum things up, the..

Today’s V5 Aquarius is a multiple power cleaning system, featuring six independent power cleaning networks in a single chassis, two outputs running for high-current devices such as power amplifiers, while the remaining four are designed for preamplifiers, source and network components. As with the EVO3 it replaces, its role in life is to reduce Differential Mode Mains noise, and the risk of cross-contamination between individual inputs, so that the connected loads do not influence each other’s performance.The V5 Aquarius, along with the rest of the new V5 range, might be the product of a total..

9000A Integrated Amplifier > Classic hi-fi for the modern age Functionally, the 9000A builds upon the highly successful 6000A, which launched in 2018 and remains one of Britain’s best-selling integrated amps. The 6000A recognised that while an amplifier is still the beating heart of any high-performance audio system, just as it has been for decades, a truly versatile integrated amp now needs to cover many bases – digital and analogue sources, wireless connectivity for portable devices, a phono stage for playing vinyl, and amplification for headphones as well as speakers. The AUDIOLAB 9000A is ..