As Steven Spielberg would have undoubtedly chewed over in approaching his recent West Side Story remake, resurrecting a classic for the modern market needs to offer a balance of both nostalgia and newness, familiarity and freshness. We suppose that’s the case whether you are reviving a classic movie, vintage car, or indeed an iconic pair of hi-fi speakers.
It’s true that Hollywood remakes can sometimes signal an ideas vacuum, but they can also retell popular stories with much better audio, imagery and directorial know-how than was available for the original. In a similar vein, the rebirth of a speaker of old can provide hi-fi enthusiasts with beloved classic designs that sound considerably better than the originals thanks to technological evolutions.
Recent years have, for example, seen JBL bring back its 1970 L100 (and with quite a bang); Sonus Faber reimagine its 1991 high-end-defining Extrema; Spendor evolve its renowned ’70s BC1 design to the equally compelling Classic ½; Wharfedale revive its highly popular 1965 Linton, complete with a ‘Heritage’ tag; and
