November - December 2018

Australian HiFi

Australia's No 1 guide to home audio

Australian HiFi18 min read
Soundbites
Klipsch has released its new Reference Premiere series speakers. Michael Buratto, product manager for Klipsch, said that the new line comprises enhanced versions of the company’s previous award-winning Reference Premiere series models plus adds new m
Australian HiFi2 min read
Protecting Your Digital Assets
Who owns your music if you die? I know it’s not such a joyful topic to be talking about, but death is inevitable and even if you’re one of those who believe in life after death, you can’t take your music with you. (And if you’re into rock ‘n roll, yo
Australian HiFi10 min read
B&W 606 LOUDSPEAKERS
It has been eight years since British manufacturer B&W first developed its ‘Continuum’ cone material for use in its flagship loudspeakers, the 800 Series Diamond models, and it’s been six years since B&W released its first ‘Six’ series. Why mention b
Australian HiFi4 min read
Laboratory Test Report
Graph 1 shows the frequency response of the B&W 606 as measured by Newport Test Labs. It’s the combination of two different frequency response measurements, using two different measurement techniques. The section of the trace below 1kHz is the averag
Australian HiFi11 min read
Audio-technica At-lp7 Turntable
Dylan might have called it a simple twist of fate. In 1952 Hideo Matsushita, at just 22-years of age, landed a plum job at Tokyo’s Bridgestone Museum of Art where one of his duties was to organise concerts to promote LP records which had just arrived
Australian HiFi3 min read
Laboratory Test Report
Newport Test Labs first measured the frequency response and channel separation of the Audio-Technica VNM20EB cartridge with pink noise test signals. Along with square waves, pink noise is one of the most difficult test signals for any phono cartridge
Australian HiFi4 min read
Laboratory Test Report
Newport Test Labs measured the frequency response of the Revel Concerta2 M16 speaker as 45Hz to 22kHz ±4dB, which is an excellent result and shown in Graph 1. You can see from this graph that the response is particularly flat between 250Hz and 12kHz
Australian HiFi10 min read
Revel Concerta2 M16 Loudspeakers
One of the trickiest ongoing problems for any speaker designer is not so much getting the speakers they design to sound good—though that can be pretty tricky!—as making sure that they don’t sound so good that they cannibalise the sales of higher-pric
Australian HiFi7 min read
Bryston Bcd-3 Cd Player
A question I am often asked is: ‘Why would anyone buy a CD player these days?’ I usually just answer with a single word: ‘Simplicity’. I am now consciously trying to reduce the stresses of modern living by making my own life as simple as possible. Wh
Australian HiFi4 min read
LAB REPORT Bryston BCD-3 CD Player LABORATORY TEST REPORT
Newport Test Labs measured the output voltage of the balanced outputs of the Bryson BCD-3 as being a bit over 4-volts (see the table for the exact voltages), with of course the unbalanced outputs coming in at half this voltage. The difference in volt
Australian HiFi3 min read
Siegfried Linkwitz (1935–2018)
Siegfried Linkwitz, the co-inventor of the Linkwitz-Riley crossover, a favourite of loudspeaker manufacturers and DIY speaker builders the world over, has died, aged 82. When asked about his many inventions over the years, Linkwitz would often invoke
Australian HiFi12 min read
Vitus Audio Ri-101 Amplifier
Eight years is a long time in the high-end audio business. But that’s how long Vitus Audio had its RI-100 integrated in its amplifier line-up, so you’d have to assume that the company’s founder and head designer Hans Ole Vitus was so happy with it th
Australian HiFi4 min read
Laboratory Test Report
Newport Test Labs measured the power output of the Vitus Audio RI-101 with just a single channel driven as being just shy of Vitus Audio’s specification of 300-watts per channel, with the amplifier on the lab’s test bench returning a figure of 292-wa
Australian HiFi6 min read
Sound Travels
Hugh Dean has been manufacturing amplifiers in Melbourne for more than 20 years. He owns a company called Aspen Amplifiers. His Maya and Saksa solid-state power units were marketed as ‘bespoke’ units in Australia and overseas. His current products ca
Australian HiFi9 min read
FIIO Q1 Mark II PORTABLE DAC
I had been planning to review the FiiO Q1 portable DAC and headphone amplifier, but before quite getting to it, the Chinese firm launched a successor. The FiiO Q1 Mark II is a huge upgrade over the original model. The old unit was a PCM-only device,
Australian HiFi1 min read
Equipment Listing
‘The power amplifier is Class-AB, using a MOSFET output stage. Speaker protection is internal, and power supplies are a monobloc design with two 300-watt transformers. Gain is 28.5dB, power is rated at 208-watts into 8Ω, bandwidth is 5Hz to 22kHz and
Australian HiFi5 min read
Anti-skating What It Is … And Why You Need It
Lately we’ve noticed the release of several turntables—some of them otherwise high-end, expensive units—that dispense with the traditional anti-skating feature. Sadly, we’ve also read various reasons why it wasn’t necessary on those turntables, and t
Australian HiFi6 min read
Australian Hi-Fi & AV Show 2018
This year’s Australian Hi-Fi & AV Show was full of surprises—including several world-firsts. We rush-wrote this brief report to meet deadline. You can read the full-length show report—and see many more photos of the show—at www.avhub.com.au/show2018
Australian HiFi3 min read
Psb Speakers M4u 8
A Swedish headphone reviewer, an American headphone reviewer and an Australian headphone reviewer walk into a bar. As the drinks evolve into dinner, talk turns, unsurprisingly, to headphones. ‘If you could have only one pair of headphones,’ asks the
Australian HiFi4 min read
Rock On
Passing 60, it seems the Modfather has entered a third solo age here, bringing new acoustic subtlety and improved clarity of production over most of his recent experimental catalogue, with bewitching results. The songs are delicious, still a bit Beat
Australian HiFi3 min read
Top Picks
It was never going to be easy for Hellions to follow ‘Opera Oblivia’. The dramacore debonairs reached a peak with the rich and ravaging theatricality of LP3. So rather than strive to reproduce its anomalous spark, the Sydney crew has taken a leap in
Australian HiFi3 min read
Jazz Track
If knowing that a solo pianist is playing a Steinway even infinitesimally narrows your idea of how this album may sound, forget it: disorienting and enchanting post-production treatments make it like hearing a piano conversing with its own ghost. It
Australian HiFi3 min read
Stradivari’s Secret
aybe you don’t know M much about violins, but I’m willing to bet a dollar you think you know enough to answer the following two questions. Question 1: Who made the most valuable violin in the world? Question 2: Who made the best-sounding violin in th
Australian HiFi4 min read
Super Fidelity
Keith Jarrett’s Köln Concert is the best-selling solo album in jazz history. Recorded in 1975 in Cologne, with Jarrett playing a baby grand delivered instead of the Bosendorfer 290 Imperial that should have been on the stage for this live performance
Australian HiFi2 min read
From The Desk Of Len Wallis
We have recently launched our new website, having finally bid goodbye to the old site after 14 years, an eternity in website years – and for the first time we have a cart!! While that addition of E-Commerce is obviously important to us, we have still
Australian HiFi2 min read
New Blue
Bluesound offers the most versatile, high-resolution multi-room audio system we stock. From powered speakers and soundbars to CD storage and streaming for your HiFi, there is a solution for every room to get high-res MQA at audiophile quality. Now it
Australian HiFi1 min read
Yamaha’s Flagship Stereo
Yamaha continue to reinforce the notion that they can still be a powerhouse in high-fidelity two-channel stereo, and that they are not just a bulk-box or surround sound factory. Their new Elite Hi-Fi series introduces three new stereo components, wit
Australian HiFi2 min readComputers
Stereo R-N803 receiver
Yamaha also continue to release more commercially available two-channel products, one of the most notable being their new R-N803 receiver. This 145-watt/ channel powerhouse features almost every piece of technology you could ask for. Firstly it comes
Australian HiFi2 min read
B&W 600 Series
It has now been a couple of years since Bowers & Wilkins upgraded their top-of-the-range ‘800’ series of speakers. The ‘700’ series was updated late last year, and now it is time for the ‘600’ series to be revamped. This new series is the latest rend
Australian HiFi1 min read
MARANTZ RUBY & ‘13’ SERIES AV RECEIVERS
Marantz are in the process of upgrading their ‘12’ series of AV receivers to the ‘13’ series. We have already received the SR5013 ($1,650) and SR6013 ($2,290), with the SR7013 due before the end of the year. Upgrades over the earlier series include t
Australian HiFi2 min read
Kiseki Cartridges
The story behind Kiseki is a rather convoluted one. This brand exudes the concept of home-grown artisan manufacture. The name and marketing conjure up the vision of craftsmen toiling away in a village in Japan – producing priceless jewels for the aud
Australian HiFi3 min read
Top Gifts Accessories And Tweaks!
French speaker manufacturer Triangle have released two pre-terminated (banana to banana) speaker cables to complement their range. Both utilise high purity oxygen-free (minimum 99.99%) copper. Symphony 25A: $299 for a 2.5-metre pair Opera 25A: $179 f
Australian HiFi2 min read
New Laser Light Highs From Sony
In our last edition, we were praising the Sony VW760ES laser projector as their best residential unit yet. It seems that we spoke too soon – as the new VPL-VW870ES has since hit our shores. The new model uses the same advanced SXRD (Silicon X-tal Ref
Australian HiFi2 min read
UHD Blu-ray benchmark
Panasonic have been setting the benchmark with processing and calibration behind their Ultra High-Definition (UHD) OLED televisions. The best way to appreciate the vibrancy and clarity of these excellent screens is with the best content available. Ev
Australian HiFi3 min read
Power Conditioning
The importance of the quality of the power being delivered to your system has been well documented during the last decade. However, we have still been somewhat surprised by the popularity of PS Audio’s new offering, the $14,995 DirectStream P20 Power
Australian HiFi4 min readTechnology & Engineering
Signature Cinema Design – At Home
When Len Wallis Audio was asked to work on a new-build cinema with two of Sydney’s most respected architects and builders (Bruce Stafford Architects and Joe Fuda of Innovative Building), we knew the team effort would deliver the finest of cinema resu
Australian HiFi2 min read
Your Table Awaits!
Pro-Ject’s response to the increasing number of cheap plastic turntables with lightweight platters, low performance tonearms, poor quality cartridges etc. flooding the market. The Primary E is hand-built in Europe, comes with an Ortofon cartridge and
Australian HiFi1 min read
Trinnov At The Top
Serious Home Theatre has really grown up in the last couple of years. The release of Atmos and DTS:X has really changed the way we design and implement theatres. It took decades for home theatre design to move from 5.1 to 7.1 (with a short stint at 6
Australian HiFi2 min read
Naim Streamers
The latest streaming components from Naim have hit the shelves and have already made an impact. While they are building on the success of their previous streaming platform, these units are essentially completely new products, but feature the classic
Australian HiFi1 min read
Duntech Senator
Duntech holds a very special place in the heart of many Australian audiophiles. Not only were they undisputedly one of the finest speakers ever built, they were designed and manufactured here in Australia. Unfortunately the company folded late last c

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