Monthly Archives: August 2016

Any loudspeaker fans reading this will have likely heard of the Tannoy DC6TSE, one of the loudspeakers credited with putting Tannoy on the map as a well-regarded commercial hi-fi brand. Well, there's a new sheriff in town, a multi-award winner that wasn't necessarily supposed to steal the limelight upon its initial release...

Those are the gorgeous and demure Tannoy Revolution XT6F Speakers, the smaller of the two floorstanding models in the somewhat gamechanging Revolution XT range, first

We're all used to soundbars by now. Super compact home cinema, perfect for smaller spaces... or simply for those who don't want their living spaces cluttered up with cabinets and wires. The fact of the matter is, a decent soundbar will do the job... and do it very well. There are new innovations and new releases all the time (it's proven to be a popular venture) but there are a few firm favourites that keep hanging on.

Take, for instance:

The technology in the hi-fi and AV world has gradually improved to a certain point. Once upon a time, seperation was the only way to achieve the closest thing possible to perfection. Now, that isn't strictly true. In fact, one-box (or at least, fewer box) solutions are becoming ever more desirable, and that's not just down to convenience. Now it's possible to have something that will sound the part regardless of the source... and look the part too.

Case and point...

The Oppo BDP-105D Blu Ray Player

The Sopra range of loudspeakers is the latest from Focal. They gap between the affordable Electra range and the top of the line Utopia range of loudspeakers. The Sopra range is built on the same manufacturing process as the Utopia range, ensuring that quality and attention to detail are of the upmost priority. The Sopra line is also the first in Focals history to be voice and designed using Naim’s excellent NAP amplifiers.

New Technologies

Sopra features 3 new technologies that Focal have produced

I have written about the many and varied Yamaha MusicCast systems and speakers as they have emerged, with one particular speaker catching my eye: the Wx-030. This was a compact, feature-laden wireless multiroom speaker full of promise. The critics recognised this and so did the customers, inspiring Yamaha to look a little closer and see what else could be done in this field of mini-multiroom.

Which leads me onto the latest MusicCast incarnation:

The tiny Yamaha WX-010 Wireless Speaker + MusicCast

‘Of all art, music is the most indefinable and the most expressive, the most insubstantial and the most immediate, the most transitory and the most imperishable. Transformed to a dance of electrons along a wire, its ghost lives on. When KEF returns music to its rightful habituation, your ears and mind, they aim to do so in the most natural way they can … without drama, without exaggeration, without artifice.’ ~Raymond Cooke

KEF the Reference needs no introduction. It's a range that helped to