What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision - Hi-Fi

USA: The end of an era as New York's last Virgin vanishes?

Andrew Everard — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:26:00 GMT

Bang goes another good reason for a trip to the States: as Virgin Media here announced the launch of its music download service, the last of the USA's Virgin Megastores, the flagship branch in New York's Times Square, closed down at the weekend.

That means the end of the chain, which at its peak had 23 shops in the States, but by last weekend was down to just two: the split-level New York landmark, its illuminated logo signalling a well-known meeting-place, and much more compact store in Hollywood, California, which had easy parking and a great selection of music last time I was there.

HMV, then Tower, now Virgin
It's the latest in a series of high-profile record store closures in the States over recent years: HMV pulled out five years back, and Tower Records' 89-strong chain bit the dust in 2006.

The latter wiped out one of my favourite record shops: the poster-covered Tower store on the way down to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, where you could park right outside and browse the slightly dusty bins for new releases and treasures alike, before crossing a busy intersection to the dedicated classical shop across the street.

Now gone, too, is the Virgin Megastore just off Union Square in San Francisco, where I spent too much time working out how many of the then brand-new DVDs I could fit into a suitcase already overburdened with new clothes, while my wife marveled at the range of Japanese pop music on offer in the world section, and hinted that a trip to the cafe at the top for iced coffees might be in order.

I used to like the ambience: the music was loud, there was an in-store DJ playing an eclectic range of tracks and – when you wanted a spot of P&Q – a soundproofed classical section which also happened to be the coolest place in the whole store.

Forlorn and empty
That one bit the dust back in April, and I gather the former Virgin Megastore now sits forlorn and empty on the corner of Market and Stockton, within the sound of the clatter and clang of the cable-cars. Sad...

The reasons? Well, they're all the obvious ones, really: the Current Economic Situation, and of course the falling sales of music. And it's not all to do with the demon iPod, although that's eating into the sales of physical media, or CDs to you and me. From a peak of 785m per year in 2000, US album sales had fallen 45% by the end of last year. but even now CDs account for over three-quarters of those sales.

Blame it on the markets
So is it down to online sales of CDs? Again no – the real villains of the demise of the huge entertainment stores are the major retail chains, with up to two-thirds of all CD sales going through the likes of Wal-Mart and electrical retailer Best Buy.

As the head of Virgin Entertainment in the States, Simon Wright, told the New York Times at the weekend, “It’s clear that the model of the large entertainment specialist working in a large space is not going to work in the future.”

So now it's down to the independent record shops in the States, with the splendidly named Almighty Institute of Music Retail reporting that there are still at least 2000 of those still in business across the nation.

Brings back memories of a rather enjoyable record-shop crawl from a press event out in the smart residential areas of Chicago back to the central hotel where I was staying. Hot afternoon, record shops seemingly on every block, and a bag, already carrying a bulky Harman/Kardon press-pack, growing heavier with each stop. That must've been the better part of 15 years ago...

However, my absolute favourite is still going strong: San Francisco's branch of the self-proclaimed world's biggest independent record store, well worth the long hike down Haight Street through what would be 'the former hippy central' if it wasn't still lined with shops selling Indian textiles, crystals, sandalwood soap and wholefood. You get plenty of time to admire the sights, sounds and smells as the traffic creeps along...

Amoeba Music is located in a converted bowling alley right down the end of Haight, where the street reaches Golden Gate Park heading toward the Bay.

It sells new and obscure, it sells mainstream, it sells CDs, LPs and DVDs, not to mention VHS tapes, 45s, 78s, Laserdiscs – in fact anything able to carry sound or vision, new and used.

It has live appearances, it has reproductions of classic concert posters – and it has by far the most enthusiastic and knowledgable staff you're going to meet in any record shop.

The rules of engagement are simple: shirts and shoes are required, so no ambling in from the park on a hot day, and if your bag's big enough to hold anything they sell, you check it at the desk on the way in.

Oh, and if you're going to find the best stuff you have to do more than just flip through the bins. Get yourself down on your knees and – no, don't pray, but start trawling through a whole stack more stuff on the floor.

The chain actually started across the Bay, in the university city of Berkeley, and since 1997 has had this second store in San Francisco, with another opened in LA, on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard, in 2001. The LA one carries the 'world's largest' title.

These stores are huge, and the exterior has moved on a bit from the dingy premises I first encountered when I followed the buzz from a hi-fi show all the way down Haight, driving a carful of fellow Amoeba virgins, some half a dozen years back.

Kids in sweetshop mode
Inside, we went into 'kids in sweetshop' mode, and spent far too much time seeking each other out to show the treasures we'd unearthed – and far too much money.

This was real record-shopping: not some soulless clicks on a mouse, but down among the music, inhaling that unmistakable smell of pre-loved vinyl.

And you know what? Just sitting writing this has the bin-flipping fingers itching again. I'm off to click the mouse – but this time on Expedia, not iTunes.

I mean, look at the pictures below and tell me you're not tempted...

JAPAN: The world's most expensive CD process, and the world's priciest CD packaging

Andrew Everard — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:14:00 GMT

In best Arkwright from Open All Hours tones, I have to say "It's been a funny old day...".

This morning the news media was all abuzz with a survey saying Britain's favourite 'hi-fi' would leave you change from £20, the assumptions behind which had me clapping metaphorical hand to forehead in disbelief; this afternoon I learn about audiophile CDs selling for over £1000 a pop.

Oh, and the world's most expensive CD, at a sniff under £70,000. That's CD as in disc, not as in player...

The £1000 CDs come from Japanese record company Victor, or JVC as we know it here. There's a rather small range available at the moment, with three new titles due to join the catalogue next week, including a recording of Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez, with soloist Kaori Muraji.

And why are they Y180,000, or about £1225, a time? Well, using a process developed by Japanese company Memory-Tech, and called CrystalDisc, the CDs use a specially tempered glass as the base layer on which the data-carrying substrate is fixed, then finished off with ultra-violet hardened resin.

Just like those dental glues your favourite drill-jockey moulds into place on your gnashers then zaps with the clicky light thing.

The metal forming the reflective surface? That's gold, rather than the more conventional aluminium.

The discs, which are mastered using Victor's K2HD mastering, involving near-fanatical attention to detail at every stage, can only be put together using a process which involves a lot of user-intervention. There's no chance of hammering these out on a production line as happens with conventional discs.

So why does it sound better? Well, translating a translation of CrystalDisc's Japanese site suggests that the company says both the optical and physical characteristics of the disc are better than those of conventional mass-made CDs. Oh, and the rapid hardening of the resin makes it set more accurately than the usual process, which relies on natural cooiling.

That makes the discs easier to read, meaning the optical pickup drive, servos and error-correction have a lot less work to do.

Just to make sure you get the point that your new disc has just cost you over a grand, the Victor/CrystalDisc titles come in a very superior jewel case – right-hinged, of course, just like Japanese books.

It comes complete with a plaque on which will be engraved a serial number, showing where your disc sits in the very limited production run – and it looks like there's space, if required, for the owner's name.

Seems like just the thing no well-heeled Japanese audiophile would want to be without – even if, thanks to the craftsman manufacturing process, you'll have to order your disc in advance and have it made for you. You're unlikely to find these on sale in your local Tokyo Tawarekodo.

On the subject of very expensive Japanese CDs, a compilation disc entitled Woman has recently gone on sale in the Takashimaya department store in Tokyo's Nihonbashi – imagine a Japanese Selfridges, Oxford Street, and you'll have the general idea – for a cool Y10m, or around £68,000.

It's so expensive because the jewel-case is made of platinum, and further lives up to its name by being studded with getting on for two carats of diamonds.

Or if you prefer you can have the disc in its standard packaging, and save yourself Y9,998,000!

US audiophiles can now buy studio master discs. If they don't mind strange jazz...

Andrew Everard — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:06:00 GMT

It's a long-running audiophile argument – how do you know whether your system sounds as good as it can? Are you listening to an inferior copy of what was recorded in the studio?

The only answer, some say, is to get access to the studio masters – used to be 'master tapes', but we've moved on a bit since then. Trouble is, that's not something most people can do.

Now, audiophiles in the States are being offered the chance to buy one-to-one copies of 192kHz 24-bit master discs from Chesky Records, in the form of Gold Studio Master DVD-R discs.

Each disc contains up to 4.7GB of data, and they're designed to be copied to your computer's hard drive, and then played back through a DAC able to handle 192kHz/24-bit audio, an amplifier and speakers.

Chesky makes it very clear that the discs won't play on DVD-A, CD or SA-CD hardware, making these releases just like Linn's Studio Master downloads, or Naim's high-resolution packages.

Where the Chesky recordings differ from the Linn offering, however, is that the disc you buy contains uncompressed .WAV files, whereas Linn gives you a choice of lossless FLAC or WMA. Naim, meanwhile, combines 24-bit/88.2kHz .WAV files on a data disc with a separate CD of the same music.

Only two problems I can see with the Chesky recordings. First, they're only available to buyers in the States, at $45 (£30) a pop. And second, the choice of music in the initial releases isn't exactly inspiring.

A jazz quartet version of the whole of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, anyone...?

And one more thing: Chesky says 'these discs are not limited editions".

In which case, I suggest you have another look at your packaging, chaps...

Onkyo launches new affordable audio products

dominic dawes — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:58:00 GMT

Onkyo has announced a brand new pair of two-channel hi-fi products for the UK.

A new CD player, the C-S5VL, and integrated stereo amplifier, the A-5VL, will both hit these shores in June. While exact prices have not been set, Onkyo says both units will be 'below the £500 mark, possibly well below'.

The new Onkyo A-5VL stereo integrated amplifier

Both products have been developed from scratch, with particular attention paid to the UK market. The sub-£500 hi-fi market is, of course, extremely competitive. But Onkyo is bullish about weighing into the fray against what is by any estimation some very tough rivals.

As for the products themselves, smart silver fascias with relatively traditional designs are offset by sleek, slightly slimmer dimensions than usual for this type of product. At first glance, this makes for an attractive aesthetic proposition.

The Onkyo C-S5VL CD and SACD player

The products will hit the UK market in June, and we look forward to getting them in to our listening rooms and putting them through their sonic paces in a thorough testing.

What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision goes off on a Danish Tangent

Simon Lucas — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:59:00 GMT

What have I learned about Denmark in the last day or two? It takes a year’s apprenticeship before you can even pretend you serve a decent Smørrebrød (elaborate open sandwich); the wind will find the slightest gap in your overcoat and exploit it, so ensure you’re fully sealed up before you venture outdoors; a Danish Danish pastry even smells better than an English Danish pastry.

Other valuable information: Danish loudspeaker’n’electronics firm Tangent has renewed cause for optimism as the year progresses. Like many companies around the world, the last weeks of 2008 found Tangent under not-inconsiderable pressure from forces which, for the large part, it couldn’t control.

Now an autonomous division of PHC, the firm’s a leaner and more focused proposition than perhaps it was six months ago. I found all these things out on a flying visit to Tangent’s HQ in Aulum, western Denmark.

A flight from Stansted to Billund delivered me to the calmest international airport I’ve ever visited, and an hour’s drive west (on roads used by what are surely the world’s most considerate drivers) brought me to Aulum.

It’s a modest little town with, as Churchill said of Atlee, much to be modest about. The Tangent facility is a series of remarkably long single-storey buildings, which seem to cling to earth in an effort to escape the wind – it’s a long way from one end of the factory to the other but at least there are no stairs.It’s as clean, tidy and hospitable as the country at large, and as likely a place as any to find the manufacturer of some of our favourite desktop radios.

There was time to admire the handsome new Prestige loudspeaker (pictured above), which is, visually at least, a very Danish example of harmonious proportions and clean-edged design, and a chance to nudge What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision to the top of the list for a review sample of the NET-200 (pictured below).

This is a full-size Internet radio intended to slot into a hi-fi separates system, so as an evangelical advocate of the format I’m looking to schedule a First Test as soon as it arrives.

What else? Peter Schmeichel presents Champions League highlights on TV like some gigantic, blond Gary Lineker. Danes like to get the business of going out for dinner, eating and then asking for the bill out of the way by 8.30pm, in order to enjoy more time in the pub. And Horatio, friend of the most famous Prince of Denmark of all, wasn’t kidding when he said the middle of the night was dead and vast.

GLASGOW and KOREA: Where's all the music gone?

Andrew Everard — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:51:00 GMT

You may remember a couple of months back I reported from the huge record shops I found in the Yongsan Electronics Market in Seoul, Korea.

Well, this just in from a Scottish reader, and it may explain how all those empty bins are being filled.

Donald Mackinnon writes that:

"I read your piece about LPs in Seoul with mixed feelings.

"A few months ago, I went into my favourite secondhand record (ie LP) shop in Glasgow, looking forward to a happy hour or so of browsing, only to find the shelves in the classical room completely empty. In alarm, I asked the owner if he was abandoning classical LPs.

"No, he assured me, it was just that a Korean gentleman had been in the shop a few days before, and had bought up literally everything, without even a cursory look at what he was buying. The shopkeeper described it apologetically as an offer he couldn't refuse.

"I know we live in the global economy, but I was saddened by this. I am happy to visit websites all over the world (and thank you for the Korean website address you printed), but I hope they aren't going to drive local shops out of business."

It seems there are South Korean record dealers out there, travelling the world and buying up LPs in bulk, to keep shops like this supplied. So if your local secondhand music store suddenly looks like a giant Hoover has hit it, now you know why.

Mind you, given how inexpensively the records seem to sell once they get to Korea, and the reasonable exchange rate of the Korean Won against Sterling - though even this has changed a bit since I was there back at the beginning of December -, LP bargain-hunters should probably start planning their holidays now...

KOREA: in the high tech capital, vinyl is alive and well...

Andrew Everard — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:06:00 GMT

One fascinating thing about my day spent in Seoul's Yongsan Electronics market was the huge amount of vinyl on sale. I found this massive store full of secondhand discs, with the staff busy unpacking boxes and pricing up more stock to fill the empty bins in the centre.

And there are bargains to be had if your taste extends to the kitsch. The K-Tel compilation below, from the glam rock era - 1976, to be precise. Complete with what looks like a period Spirograph attack on the cover, it would probably have the Guilty Pleasures fans foaming at the mouth: It contains hits from the likes of ELO, Elton John, Thin Lizzy and Diana Ross, and it's yours for the princely sum of W500, or about 20p.

There are more upmarket used vinyl stores, with a more selective display of prized records. This is the window of 33RPM, with discs including a 1960s Brian Hyland album, Nirvana's Nevermind and Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother alongside the classical discs.

But even in the general music/DVD stores here there's a massive selection of used vinyl for sale

and bargains to be had, whatever your taste in music...

B&O Launch: An evening at the opera...

Andrew Everard — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:52:00 GMT

Bang & Olufsen chose the Copenhagen Opera as the venue for the launch of its new BeoSound 5 digital music player, due on sale in March next year.

The player itself comprises the striking-looking main control unit, with its stacked aluminium controls on the post to the right and a comprehensive display panel, and a hideaway black box containing the 500GB hard drive and connection panel for audio and data.

Rotating the main dial on the top scrolls through the options on offer, while a lever below it operates a 'light beam' display used to select modes, Below that a third ring, with a knurled edge, accesses volume control.

Concept and prototype developer Oliver Wallington, seen above demonstrating one of the development units used in creating the system, explained that the first concept of the system took just two weeks to put together, using items such as tablet PCs, computer mice and bits of Lego.

Another week was spent implementing the MOTS (more of the same) software at the heart of the system. Developed by the Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence, this system allows the user to 'sow a seed' by selecting a track or album and allow the system to programme more music based on an analysis of that track and the other content stored in the system's memory.

The MOTS system isn't something the user needs to select: it runs all the time, and will just keep on making selections unless you overrule it.

The company enthuses about having friends round and letting them 'sow their own seeds' by choosing a track, then seeing where the system takes the party. It's all part of the concept of freeing users' music collections, it says.

Wallington talked about the feel of the controls, and the way the electronic display and mechanical controls appear to be one and the same. and he also discussed usability issues - apparently it's important that the system can be worked with a glass of wine in one hand - perfect for late-night listening.

Another presentation was given by designer Anders Hermansen, who gave us an insight into the concept of the user reaching into the unit to operate it. That's what that wireframe model at the centre of the picture is all about, and shows how deeply the company considers the way its users will interact with its products.

Finally, we heard from Geoff Martin, B&O's Tonmeister and sound design specialist, who gave an enthralling primer on data-reduced music, including demonstrations at the piano in the Opera's huge orchestra rehearsal room, and a demonstration of what's lost when different levels of MP3 data reduction are employed.

His personal belief? That 256kbps MP3 is good enough for most listeners, with minimal losses to the music.

And he answered those critics who were already muttering that a 500GB hard disk was no longer enough on a product of this kind.

As he said, at full CD quality the system will hold 79 days of music, while at 256kbps that rises to just under 190 days of non-stop playback, which should be more than enough for most users.

More on the company behind the BeoSound 5 here.

B&O Launch: ...A day on The Farm...

Andrew Everard — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:50:00 GMT

The second day of the Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 5 launch program took us north-west from Copenhagen to Jutland, and B&O's hometown, Struer.

Here the company has its headquarters, at The Farm, so called because it resembles a traditional Danish farm layout - and has sheep on the grass outside to emphasise the point.

But before The Farm, a visit to the place where Bang & Olufsen began: the Manor House at Qvistrup (above), home to Svend Olufsen's parents, and where he and Peter Bang started making their first products in the attic.

The house is still lived in by Peter Skak Olufsen, the nephew of Svend Olufsen and a member of the company's Supervisory Board, and his wife Susanne.

Peter explained to us some of the history of the house and its part in the company's development, while Susanne revealed the stories of the women behind the serious, industrious Olufsen and the lighter-hearted (and slightly more wayward) Bang.

We heard about Olufsen's mother selling eggs to pay the company's early bills, and of the staff working at the house becoming part of the extended family, eating and even sleeping at the Manor.

And then we were served lunch from the Skak Olufsens' kitchen - it seems they're used to large groups of strangers (and they don't get much stranger than a busload of journalists) descending on their home for an insight into the company's roots and the odd plate of food or glass of wine.

Over lunch, Peter Skak Olufsen told me that during the company's jubilee celebrations not so long back, they hosted over 2500 visitors, but he emphasised that this is no museum. This really is the family home, and Susanne - who's also a local politician - told us she's looking forward to having a houseful of family over Christmas.

In the afternoon, we moved on to the more industrial side of present-day Bang & Olufsen.

And it's only when you visit the factories and development labs that you realise how wide of the mark are those who insist that buying B&O is all about paying for fancy styling.

You're paying for quality and fanatical attention to detail, from the aluminium milling and polishing machines (above) to the huge anodising plant (below) that's at the heart of the quality and longevity built into every B&O product.

And the same care and attention goes into research and development. We had a session in the listening room (below), where the company's trained listening panels assess both its own products and those of other companies under strict blind conditions, using the acoustically transparent curtains - they're open here to show the layout better -

and also visited The Cube, B&O's unique 12m testing chamber, in which speakers can be measured with great accuracy.

Unlike conventional anechoic chambers, which are lined with sound-absorbing materials, The Cube works by being enormous. The reflections from the walls take so long to arrive at the measuring microphone that the software used to test speakers can ignore them, while the gantry seen here can move, lift or turn any speaker the company makes with pinpoint accuracy.

Oh, and while talking about the equipment The Cube could be used to measure, including TVs – or 'high-quality two-way active speakers with a big display' as the audio guys refer to them – it was let slip that on the way from Struer is a 103in B&O TV. Hint: it might be a little pricey...

Next stop was the basement 'torture chamber', where finished products and components are tested in extremes of humidity and temperature, and subjected to physical abuse even to the extent of being dropped to make sure their packaging will survive in transit.

They even get abused with two kinds of sweat (fresh and old!), cosmetics, bleach and even 120 cigarettes a day being smoked over them (by a machine!) to make sure they'll survive even extreme domestic circumstances.

There's even a test where products are chilled down to well below freezing, then unpacked in a warm room and switched on - not to check they'll still work, but to ensure they don't explode due to condensation and other enviromental effects.

The testers are quite happy if the product takes a while to start working properly, but this safety check is crucial - after all, up here in Jutland, and indeed in points even further north, it's not unknown for consumers to buy a new TV for Christmastime, drive it home for a few hours in the back of the car in sub-zero conditions, and then take it out, set it up and plug it in.

By the way, what's the highlight of the Danish festive viewing on those new TV sets? This ancient sketch by long-gone British comedian Freddie Frinton, which is a New Year's Eve TV institution in Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

The Norwegians, just to be different, show it on December 23rd, but all the countries enjoy it in all its 1963 black and white glory, and without subtitles.

Anyway, the torture chamber tour was almost the end of the day - but there was one more visit to come...

B&O Launch: ...And a night at the Museum

Andrew Everard — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:49:00 GMT

Our final stop on the BeoSound 5 launch program was a trip back into the company's history.

Until recently, the historic products were housed in a 'Time Tunnel' in the basement of B&O HQ, and only seen by invited visitors guided by the company archivist, Ronnie Kaas. Now, in a new extension to the Struer Museum, the collection - or at least part of it - is on show to the public.

You enter the Bang & Olufsen galleries between portraits of the founders, having had your way signposted by a dress made for the company's exhibition staff back in the 1950s.

It seems even the dresses were made with typical B&O attention to detail. 15 years after they were worn by these women at an electronics show

they were still going strong, and were used well into the 1960s.

Kaas, seen above showing that, like the BeoSound 5, the company's original product - a mains-powered battery elmininator for radios - can be used with a glass of wine in one hand, explained to me that the museum collection will change over time

More items will be drawn from the huge range currently in storage, and restored by retired company employees.

But at the heart will be products such as this original radio, with its speaker showing early signs of B&O's flair:

and iconic designs such as the Beolit 39 radio

to those sleek systems most of us associate with the brands's more recent past.

And the museum is full of intriguing oddities, too, including this historic radiogram made for the then Crown Prince of Denmark, Frederik, with the royal crest prominently displayed

to this art deco/Bauhaus extravaganza,clearly showing most of the design trends of the time.

But my favourite product is one bound to strike a chord with those of us involved in reviewing TVs, which often means lugging the things around.

It seems back in the early days of TV, people preferred to have their set out of sight, only bringing it out when they wanted to view it. But how could that be done, with the big heavy wood-cabinet models of the time?

Simple: the B&O designers put some wheels at the back, and pull-out handles at the front, and the result was this, which could be trundled around the room like a wheelbarrow.

Apparently it was a big hit with the delivery staff, too.

Awards issue now on sale at Tesco

Andy Clough — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:50:00 GMT

We know some of you have reported problems getting hold of our Awards issue at Tesco stores, so we've been on to head office and had the issue fixed.

If you're popping down to your local Tesco this weekend, why not pick up a copy of our special 2008 Awards issue – you can't miss it with its snazzy gold foil cover – and enter our exclusive Awards competition.

We've got two fabulous home cinema systems to give away, each worth £2500. Enter by following the instructions on page 42 and you could win:

A £900 NAD Viso 5 all-in-one home cinema system

A DAB tuner module worth £125

NAD's matching Viso iPod dock

A QAcoustics Q-AV surround speaker system

A swivelling stand that will hold your TV and Q-AV system

Two QED HDMI-P cables, a QED subwoofer cable (6m), QED optical cable and QED SA-XT speaker cable.

Full details are in the Awards 2008 issue of What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision, on sale now at Tesco and all leading supermarkets and newsagents.

An inside peek at Marantz's new test facility with Ken Ishiwata

Ketan Bharadia — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:56:00 GMT

I find it interesting to meet audio engineers and see where they work. It always gives plenty of insight into product development and their company's engineering philosophy.

Recently, I met Ken Ishiwata of Marantz fame (above), and visited his new listening room in Eindhoven. Ken Ishiwata is arguably the best known audio engineer around thanks to years of developing top-class hi-fi, wearing some rather distinctive suits and the little matter of Marantz's special edition KI Signature products bearing his initials.

The new listening room is where Ken assesses and tunes all of Marantz's new European products. Only once he is happy are they signed off for production.

The listening room is a lavish affair, far more exotic than normally found at a manufacturer's facility. It's irregularly shaped with angled walls to control standing waves and has had plenty of acoustic treatment.

This is a large room, measuring 8.6m in length and around 6.6m at its widest. Our listening was done with Marantz's Legendary series equipment – the SA-7S1 SACD/CD player, SC-7S2 pre/MA-9S2 power amplifier completed by a pair of Mordaunt-Short Performance 6 speakers (Marantz distributes Mordaunt-Short across Europe).

We also had the pleasure of listen to vinyl on the company's now deleted flagship turntable the TT100 Mk 2. Back in the late Eighties it cost £6000. Today, if Marantz decided to resume production, it would be as much as £20,000. And that's without arm or cartridge.

The intention behind the room is to provide a listening space that is neutral yet not acoustically dead. It's a tough balancing act, but with £70,000, eight months of fine-tuning and decades of audio experience, Ken has come up with one of the best sounding rooms I've heard.

AWARDS 2008: The results in full

Andy Clough — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:50:00 GMT

UPDATE: Videos of all 19 Products of the Year, plus reviews of 80+ Best Buys, now on our dedicated Awards website.

OK folks, the wait is over and today's the day we bring you the results of the What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision Awards 2008. In anticipation of the Awards website going live later this morning, complete with videos of all 19 Products of the Year, here's the winners list in full:

Televisions

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Sony KDL-40W4500 £1190

Best 26in television
Samsung LE26A456 £370

Best 32in television
Sony KDL-32W4000 £700

Best 37in television
Panasonic TH-37PX80B £650

Best budget 40-42in television
Sony KDL-40V4000 £750

Best 46in television
Sony KDL-46W4500 £1600

Best 50in television
Pioneer PDP-LX509D £2400

All-in-one-systems

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
All-in-one-systems
Denon D-M37DAB £300

Best home cinema system under £500
Sony DAV-F200 £350

Best home cinema system £500-£750
LG HT953TV £600

Best hi-fi system over £500
Arcam Solo Mini £650

Best home cinema system £750+
NAD Viso 5 £900

Best sound bar
Yamaha YSP-40D £800

Turntables

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Rega P3-24/Elys 2 £498

Best turntable under £250
Pro-ject Genie 2 £140

Best turntable £1000+
Thorens TD160HD £1560

Style speaker packages

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
KEF KHT3005SE £1000

Best style speaker package up to £500
Jamo A102HCS5 £250

Best style speaker package £500-£700
KEF KHT2005.3 £700

Best style speaker package £1000-£2000
B&W MT-30 £1575

Best style speaker package £2000+
Tannoy Arena Highline 500 £2700

Projectors

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Projectors
InFocus IN80 £1300

Best projector under £1000
Panasonic PT-AX200E £800

Best projector over £2000
JVC DLA-HD100 £4800

Radios

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Pure Evoke Flow £150

Best portable DAB £50-£100
Pure One Elite £70

Best portable DAB under £50
Pure One Mini £40

Best hi-fi tuner
Denon TU-1800DAB £250

DVD & Blu-ray players

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
DVD & Blu-ray players
Panasonic DMP-BD55 £400

Best DVD player under £200
Onkyo DV-SP406 £100

Best Blu-ray player £200-£300
Panasonic DMP-BD35 £250

Best Blu-ray player £500-£700
Pioneer BDP-LX71 £600

Best Blu-ray player £700+
Denon DVD-2500BT £900

Speaker packages

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
B&W 685 Theatre 1 £1206

Best speaker package under £750
Q Acoustics 1010i 5.1 £500

Best speaker package £1500+
Tannoy Revolution Signature £2300

Subwoofers

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
B&W PV1 £950

Best subwoofer under £500
B&W ASW610 £400

Best subwoofer £500-£750
Monitor Audio RSW12 £650

Stereo amplifiers

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Roksan Kandy K2 £750

Best stereo amplifier under £300
Marantz PM6002 £270

Best stereo amplifier £800-£1500
Roksan Caspian M series-1 ú1000

Best stereo amplifier £1500-£2500
Cyrus VS2/PSX-R/8 power £2000

Best stereo amplifier £2500+
Plinius 9200 £3000

DVD recorders and PVRs

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Sky+ HD £75

Best DVD recorder under £300
Sony RDR-HXD890 £240

Best Freeview PVR
Topfield TF5810PVRt £300

Stereo speakers

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
B&W 685 £380

Best stereo speakers under £150
Tannoy Mercury F1 Custom £110

Best stereo speakers £150-£250
Dali Lektor 1 £250

Best stereo speakers £500-£1000
ATC SCM11 £850

Best stereo speakers £1000-£2000
Dynaudio Excite 32 £1600

Best stereo speakers £2000+
Monitor Audio PL300 £5500

Digital media players and accessories

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Sonos BU150 £700

Best ultraportable
Apple iPod nano £110

Best music portable
Apple iPod Classic £180

Best multimedia portable
Apple iPhone £349

Best budget iPod dock
Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere £100

Best premium iPod dock
B&W Zeppelin £400

Best budget desktop speakers
Audioengine A2 £110

Best premium desktop speakers
Dynaudio MC15 £670

Best DAC
Cambridge Audio DacMagic £200

Best media centre PC
I.US XpcHD £1500

Headphones

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Klipsch Image £200

Best in-ear headphones under £50
Sennheiser CX300 £30

Best in-ear headphones £50-£100
Shure SE110 £80

Best hi-fi headphones under £50
Grado iGrado £40

Best hi-fi headphones £50-£100
Grado SR60 £90

Best hi-fi headphones £100+
Grado SR325i £310

Best noise-cancelling headphones
Sennheiser PXC 450 £300

Cables

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Chord Carnival SilverScreen £6/m

Best optical cable
True Colours Industries Coral £35

Best stereo interconnect
Atlas Equator MkII £48

Best mains cable
Clearer Audio Copper-line Alpha £35

Best HDMI cable
Van den Hul HDMI Flat £65

Multichannel receivers

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Yamaha DSP-AX863 £600

Best multichannel receiver under £500
Yamaha DSP-AX763 £400

Best multichannel receiver £1000-£2000
Pioneer SC-LX81 £1500

Best multichannel receiver £2000+
Denon AVC-1HD £3800

CD players

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Cyrus CD6se £800

Best CD player under £300
Marantz CD6002 £270

Best CD player £1000-£1500
Cyrus CD8se £1100

Best CD player £1500+
Cyrus CDXtse / DACX £800/£1100

Accessories

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Atacama Equinox range from £140

Best speaker stands under £100
Soundstyle Z2 £70

Best speaker stands £100+
Partington Super Dreadnought £180

Best phono stage
Cambridge Audio Azur 640P £60

Best remote
Logitech Harmony One £125

Best value upgrade
Tacima CS929 £40

IFA, Berlin here we come!

Andy Clough — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:32:00 GMT

The IFA consumer electronics show kicks off in Berlin tomorrow, and as I write this four of our team are winging their way through the air in preparation for a veritable newsfest over the next few days. We'll have regular updates throughout the day here on whathifi.com.

In case you don't know, IFA stands for the International Funkausstellung and is one of the biggest consumer electronic shows on the planet, taking place from August 29th to September 3rd.

All the major manufacturers will be out in force, including Sony, Samsung, Philips, Sharp, Toshiba, Panasonic, LG, Harman Kardon, Pioneer and Loewe. We're expecting a whole host of new product launches, and the What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision team is on standby to bring you all the latest news as soon as the press conferences start tomorrow.

Rumour has it there'll be a brace of new Blu-ray players from Panasonic, some new Harman Kardon receivers, high-end audio from LG, two new DVD players from Toshiba and possibly a new Blu-ray player from Pioneer.

All this and more will be brought to you live from the show, so remember to log in and check the site for our daily updates.

Advanced search is back!

Andy Clough — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:26:00 GMT

Regular site visitors may have noticed we've been experiencing a few technical glitches this week, for which a thousand apologies. It was all down to the Advanced Search functionality we added in a site upgrade last week, which turned out to be a tad more complex than we'd envisaged.

However, the good news is that we've now identified and fixed the offending bugs in the system, and we hope the site is now working properly again. We'll be adding the Advanced Search filtering to each product category in Reviews over the next few days, so please bear with us while we get it all sorted.

I hope you'll find this new feature useful. It's something we planned at the time the site launched back in June, but it's taken a bit longer than we'd hoped to get it implemented. But now you'll be able to select the products you're looking for by price, star rating or brand in the Basic Search function, and by detailed technical specs in Advanced Search.

It's all part of our drive to make the site the best in the business, and we've got more exciting upgrades in the pipeline over the coming months. So have a fantastic Bank Holiday weekend, and if you're thinking of buying a new TV, hi-fi or home cinema over the holiday period, remember to do your research first here on whathifi.com.

And if you have any technical queries, don't forget our ever-popular Forums – we'll be on hand to help you out. Enjoy the break.