Sound and Image

Australia’s Richter has been busy in the design room to celebrate its 35th anniversary, and the results are now announced — two Series 6 ‘Special Editions’, one of which is an entirely new range-topping floorstanding speaker design, the Excalibur. “W

In our ongoing series of Dealer Systems, we ask a hi-fi dealer to recommend a system. This issue it’s the turn of WestCoast Hifi Midland, and the Western Australian store has gone for a Roon-headed system with some serious high-end power. “To be hone

Epson projectors, once released, stay around for a good few years; this is not a company which brings out iterative updates every season. So when a major new model arrives, you can expect something special. The new Pro Cinema LS12000B 4K Pro-UHD lase

The Zeppelin became an instant archetype upon its original launch in 2007, not only for its shape, but for its price, which unashamedly defined a new level of premium all-in-one system, first as an iPad dock, then twice as a wireless speaker, now tod

The design flair and speaker expertise of Italy’s Sonus faber has been fully exercised in its latest creation, the all-in-one Omnia speaker system. It’s a lovely thing, with its expansive walnut-topped laminated-wood surface split by wide strips of l

Finding your towers of power! Floorstanding speakers are the proper termination to a proper hi-fi system. Forget your soundbars, your all-in-one systems: stereo floorstanding speakers deliver the full range of frequencies, with widely spread stereo f

Elac might wish to apply a few edits to its Wikipedia page; this accurately dates the German company to 1926 and gives its original name of ‘Electroacustic GmbH’, now abbreviated to the modern brand. But then it expends almost a fifth of the subseque

Here we come to the second of the Australian speaker brands in this round-up, Richter, with this Harlequin one of its longest-running designs. It is the company’s most compact floorstander, the larger ones being the Wizard in this group, and the new

Our abiding memory of Acoustic Energy goes back 28 years, at an interesting time during the company’s history. It was only eight years after the company had been founded by Phil Jones in West London; Jones had grown up sitting in on his father’s big-

When California-based Sound United Polk decided to upgrade one of its best-sellers, the outgoing S60 floorstanders, it went all-out with the changes: new bass/midrange drivers, a new crossover, re-vamped internal bracing and a whole new exterior. In

Here we have the second pair of floorstanders available from South Australia’s Krix. Compared with the Phoenix Mk2 models we heard earlier, these Harmonix Mk2 add a fairly minimal 9cm to the height, yet the overall increase in volume adds nearly 50%

Bowers & Wilkins is a speaker brand that boasts the cachet of its top 800 Series with all their Abbey Road endorsement and general acclaim. But all luxury brands have ‘affordable’ models in their ranges: Mercedes-Benz has its A-Class, BMW its 1 Serie

It’s very lucky that Krix is a privately-owned Australian company; if Krix had been a normal company, the original Neuphonix design might never have seen the light of day, and this MkII would then never have existed. Most loudspeaker companies are ma

Harman’s JBL is one of the USA’s largest loudspeaker manufacturers, building thousands of products across the domestic hi-fi, commercial audio and professional sound fields. Our floorstanders round-up here will finish with one of its top ‘Project’ de

Now that we’re up into some solid money, we’ve arrived in an arena where speakers become even more of an art form. Of which Vivid Audio presents a good example here – although the company’s designers would be quick to tell you that this is not a case

If Bowers & Wilkins can be considered the world’s most venerated loudspeaker manufacturer, that’s because it has pushed the boundaries of performance, sound quality and aesthetics ever since it was established in Britain in 1966 by John Bowers and Ro

Closing off our group of price-ascending floorstanders, then, please welcome the magnificent JBL K2. These are named after the world’s second highest mountain, because yes, the company also has a still higher ‘Everest’ loudspeaker, though they might

Audio-Technica has presumably enjoyed success bringing its ATH-M50x headphones out of the studio and onto the street by adding Bluetooth to their traditional cabled operation; those are now in a Mk2 version and are starting to receive the colour vari

Audio-Technica’s ▶ founder Hideo Matsushita, and the first advertisement for the company’s inaugural AT-1 and AT-3 cartridges, made possible using a new technology that could implant a diamond needle without crushing the tip of the pipe cantilever.

First album in six years, and third turn from guitarist John Frusciante. We yearn to shine a light in the world, to uplift, connect and bring people together, ” said the Chili Peppers in a collective statement heralding their latest album. “Each of t

W = Sound+Image Award Product of the Year HC = Sound+Image Award Highly Commended Our buying guide is based on the Sound+Image Awards presented each year, highlighting the very best value products at each price level. We list the latest winners from