The power supply is a fundamental part of any piece of electronics, not least audio components where the quality of the power supply has a direct influence on the sound quality produced. An amplifier for instance uses electrical power to increase the strength (voltage) of a signal to the point where it can drive a […]
I am a relative newcomer to the world of Linn Sondek LP12 ownership, I bought a pre-loved example and rebuilt it with upgrades from Linn and from Tangerine Audio just last year. The LP12 seems to draw adulation and scorn in about equal measure in the audiophile community. If you ‘get’ what it does, there […]
John Burns explains stylus cleaning I’ve been working closely with records and cartridges for 40 years and am in particular debt to the expertise and knowledge of Dynavector Systems, Tokyo, the brand that my company, Pear Audio, distributes in the UK. There are two things in the design of most moving coil phono cartridges that […]
Richard Barclay continues his explorations in the deep waters of headphone tech with an investigation into what really counts in a headphone amplifier. As a headphone is essentially a miniature loudspeaker, it shouldn’t be surprising that the interactions between headphones and headphone amplifiers are very similar to those between loudspeakers and power amplifiers. Many of […]
When I first met Theo Stack of Stack Audio at the Bristol HiFi Show in 2018, he discussed his ideas for building after-market parts for Linn LP12 owners who wanted to upgrade their turntables. In the year that followed he has worked hard to deliver on that plan. For the past two weeks my listening […]
As a headphone is essentially a miniature loudspeaker, it shouldn’t be surprising that the interactions between headphones and headphone amplifiers are very similar to those between loudspeakers and power amplifiers. Many of us have hopefully developed a pretty good knack for selecting appropriate amplification for our loudspeakers and vice versa, but how confident are we […]
Sean Jacobs explains the work he did on the power supply for the remarkable Innuos Statement server. The lower box contains the first stages of the PSU – transformer, rectifiers and capacitor arrays, along with some additional filtering components. There are eight separate transformer output windings, eight sets of rectifiers and eight banks of capacitors – all […]
Back in the sixties and seventies the BBC had real resources, they made all their own programmes and did ground-breaking technological research, the like of which few commercial operations could compete with. One of the areas in which they made a major contribution was the cutting-edge design of monitors for use in their recording studios […]
Ken Ishiwata is making the transition from guru to a sage now that he has 40 years under his belt with Marantz, the company he went to after getting his start in the industry with Pioneer. Superscope bought Marantz from founder Saul B Marantz in 1964 and moved production to the former Standard Radio facility […]
PMC’s Oliver and Peter Thomas answer a barrage of questions about the biggest and best loudspeaker they have ever built. Our review of the fact fenestria is here.
Occasionally you get an illustration of the cyclical nature of life, Laurence Dickie must have felt that way when Vivid Audio, the company he designs loudspeakers for, moved into the facility where he was previously employed by Turbosound to do a similar job in the PA world. I suspect that this was not a coincidence, […]
Google is fast becoming a fundamental part of everyday life, its tentacles reach into nearly every crevice of our work and leisure and this naturally includes audio entertainment. As well as a music streaming service on Prime, Amazon sells the Google Chromecast wifi receiver. This inexpensive (£30) dongle is available in AV form with HDMI […]