Monthly Archives: November 2015

We love it when a humble model, part of a system designed to work with the other 'parts' steps up and reveals itself as the star of the show - and that's exactly what has happened with the Tannoy XT6F. The winner of the What HiFi Award 2015 for "Best Floorstanders £600-£1200" had a slightly less glamorous beginnings.

The Tannoy XT6F speakers heralded some amazing things when it was premièred at the Bristol Hi-Fi show in 2015, alongside the rest of the system it was released with: the XT!

The Ruark MIIIs. Three gorgeous DABs/music systems, one glorious brand. One of them (the R2) has just won the What Hi-Fi  2015 award for "Best All-in-One System" - so let's revisit one of our favourite ranges one more time and remind ourselves exactly what it is that makes an award winning hi-fi/lifestyle product. One of the best things about Ruark is it encapsulates both of these things beautifully, without leaving the tiniest ounce of sound or functionality behind.

Let's start from the base

Sometimes it pays to go into a brands long, lustrous history, and sometimes it's best to let the products do the talking. When it comes to pretty much everything Quad - the amplification specialists - have brought to the table, their history has faded into insignificance! That is evermore true when it comes to the gorgeous new Artera range, but we'll get to that in a moment.

Although... Quad's history is pretty impressive. Let's give you a brief overview...

Quad History

Quad have been around for

Cyrus. They might not be the most charming looking units on the market, but we've long championed them as some of the best sounding and most functional streamers, CD players and other source separates that money can buy. Hey, we know them pretty well.

They have a permanent fixture in our showroom and have done for years, so we always knew they were winners. But it's always nice when an external body (like What Hi-Fi!) confirm what we already know (that Cyrus are pretty awesome!) with not one, not

November is the month where we celebrate all that is high-end, just before the mad Christmas rush begins and therefore the perfect time to look at what you want, before you look at whatever everybody else might want. It's a good time to get yourself something special

So, on that note, here's something (well, two things!) that are both high end, and special. Very special. All you have to decide is... bookshelf, or floorstander?

... and which colour too, of course. Those beautiful specimens above are

Linn. It hardly needs an introduction, but this is the part of the article traditionally reserved for such things... so I'd best adhere to it. Linn are a legendary high-end hi-fi audio company, who have one mission in life: to make everything sound better. We've been a proud official retailer since 2014, and the more time we spend with Linn's glorious systems, Sondeks, speakers and separates, the more we grow to love them.

... and we loved them long before we retailed them!

Now, we've already gone

Hi-fi furniture! Yes, it's necessary and yes, it can be kind of cool too. Especially when it's made of something that's both perfect for the job at hand (i.e. isolating, flexible yet rigid and attractive) as well as perfect for the realms of sustainability. Bamboo grows quickly, is easy to maintain and is therefore very eco-friendly. It's no wonder that the hi-fi stand specialists Atacama chose the wonder plant for an entire range!

Okay, here's the lowdown. Everything in the bamboo is available

Ready for something a little more high-end? Sure, we love bringing you value. We want you to have the best high-fidelity sound and functionality, regardless of your budget. But we also want you to know exactly what else there is out there. Hi-fi is a realm of abundance. Of build quality, of exceptional innovation, of high grade materials, of no-holds-barred excellence. And we just love to frolic in the high-end depths every now and then! And that's where the Pro-Ject Xtension 10 turntable comes

The Naim Mu-so. It really doesn't need an introduction, does it? Even if there wasn't a huge picture of one right above this very sentence (and throughout this entire article!), chances are you already know what they look like. Strangely alluring slabs of pure technology that radiate mystery and intrigue. But how many of you have actually played with and (most importantly) heard what one of these things sounds like? I would bet the resounding answer is: not enough. Well, we are here because

There are many products out there that are deemed 'irreplaceable', The cable that we're featuring today is the replacement to one of those very items, and one that even we (the hi-fi retailer!) honestly believed could not be replaced.

Have you heard of the Chord Carnival Silver Screen? I'd be surprised if you haven't. It's been the most popular speaker cable on the market ever since its conception several years ago. It was cheap (£6 p/m!) but performance-wise it was virtually unparalleled, and was