Art Emotion Carbon 6 loudspeakers The latest range of loudspeakers from Art may only have been in production for a matter of months, but they owe their existence to an ongoing quest by the company to refine its innovative cabinet designs and choice of drive units. This has resulted in the current comprehensive line-up of […]
Rega Aya speakers After decades of reviewing audio products, I cannot believe that this is the first Rega design to pass through my hands: the British company is long-standing and has a loyal following. It was therefore with more than the usual excitement of receiving a new item that I unboxed the floorstanding Aya loudspeakers, […]
Tannoy SGM 10 speakers Given that the very first loudspeaker I reviewed, back in 1988, was a Tannoy I was interested to hear how a modern iteration from the same marque sounds. Many millions of published words later and I received the first UK samples of the brand-new two-way standmount 10-inch dual concentric design, the […]
Vivid Audio Moya M1 loudspeakers The Moya is by far and away the largest loudspeaker that Vivid have ever made, in fact it’s one of the biggest speakers that anyone has ever made outside of the wild world of horns. Each one is made up of six parts; a plinth, four bass cabinets weighing 60kg […]
Moonriver 505 Hybrid phono stage Regular readers may recognise the Moonriver brand name from two earlier reviews which I submitted for the company’s 404 integrated amplifier, in January 2021 and its more powerful sibling the 404 Reference integrated amplifier, in June of last year. To save you scrolling back through the archives let me summarise […]
Origin Live Strata turntable mat It was a fascinating conversation with Origin Live owner and designer Mark Baker at this year’s North-West Audio show that convinced me that I had to get hold of a new Strata turntable mat for review. I discovered the difference a mat can make many years ago when Linn brought […]
Skyanalog P-1M & P-1G MC cartridges Cartridges are right at the sharp end of groove information retrieval, in every sense of that phrase. Whether it’s a wax cylinder, 78rpm shellac disc or a vinyl record, the cartridge is where the music starts. Stylus tip shape is an often-debated subject too, and many engineers have spent […]
Life-Changer Audio Icon 5 Balanced passive preamplifier It would gratuitously underplay Pál Nagy’s formidable intellectual and engineering skills to characterise his newly-launched Icon 5 line control unit as the result of global collaboration. Nonetheless, while the Icon 5 is designed and made by Nagy in Manchester, it has threads linking it to the wider world […]
Tangerine Audio Revolver LP12 platter Those of you who have been kind enough to read any of my pieces for The Ear over the past few years will know that vinyl is my favourite music replay medium and that, unless there is a guest turntable in the house, I use a Linn Sondek LP12. You […]
Diapason Ares Excel speakers Having revelled in what several bookshelf Diapason loudspeakers from Italy can achieve, I was intrigued to note an inexpensive floorstander in the catalogue, the only other one being a £55,000 design and (way) over my pay grade. The Ares Excel is probably the narrowest floorstanding loudspeaker I have ever used (5 […]
Silent Angel Munich MU streamer The Munich MU is the latest streamer from Silent Angel and aims for higher performance than the entry level Munich M1. To this end it has a double-layer aluminium chassis inspired by their Bonn NX audiophile network switch, for superior structural integrity, enhanced resonance damping and better electromagnetic interference isolation. […]
Rega Nd7 moving magnet cartridge The Nd7 is the most ambitious of Rega’s radical new moving magnet cartridge range. We enjoyed the entry level Nd3 a couple of months back, got some excellent results with the Nd5 not long ago and have arrived at the Nd7 to top of the trio. All three cartridges share […]