Articles Archive - Page 2 of 268

Hana SH MkII

The Hana brand is the enfant terrible of affordable cartridge design. It launched its first models in 2014. Ten years later, the SL and SH moving coils are now at Mk II status. As the name suggests, ‘SL’ and ‘SH’ are low- and high-output variations on the same moving coil theme. We looked at the high-output SH MkII.

These are not simply minor changes to the previous models. Between the original SL and SH launches, Hana produced the higher-end M series and two top Umami models – the Red and Blue. These new cartridges have more in common with these top-end models than the original Hanas.

Tapered cantilever

Central to these upgrades is the inclusion of a tapered aluminium cantilever, which replaced the straight model in the previous version. While the Hana SH MkII retains the nude diamond Shibata tip, the tapered cantilever is designed to reduce tip mass. Like its predecessor, the Hana SH MkII is designed to track at around 2g. It comes in a nice little black box (albeit the outer packaging is no longer two-tone) and has the same small self-seating stylus guard. I’d prefer something that gets your fingers further from the stylus when fitting it. Nevertheless, it gives the Hana SH MkII minimalist appeal.

Critical parts, including the yoke, pole-pieces, and gold terminal pins, have been cryogenically treated. As before, the 2mV output, the 47kΩ suggested load impedance and 130Ω internal impedance of the SH (original and Mk II), make it compatible with the majority of moving magnet phono inputs. In addition, the increased mass of the SH MkII (rising from 5g to 8.6g due to a brass top plate) enhances its compatibility with suitable tonearms. It now features a broadly curved body, akin to the M series. Also, it is coated in a matte black elastomeric paint. This paint is reputed to provide better resonance control than its predecessor.

Logged hours

Sadly, I didn’t have an original SH to hand in testing this cartridge, but I have an Umami Red. Having logged some hours with the SH in the past, it was clear this new SH MkII was a lot closer to the Umami than the original SH. The Umami Red is possibly the most exuberant of the Hana range. The new SH MkII is slightly more mellifluous and warmer than the Red. However, it is not so warm that it sounds lush or a little dull.

Everything you played through the SH MkII sounded really coherent, lithe and legato, with excellent presentation of vocals or guitars front and centre. It made sense of more complex and shouty pieces of music. Even those on ‘Machine Gun’ from Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsies album [Reprise] came across clearly. As a result, you get the sense of being there in the audience.

Midrange out

Like all the best designs, the Hana SH MkII leads from the midrange out. Sure, that means the extreme top end isn’t as extended and expressive and the bottom end isn’t as full or deep as the Umami Red. But in its class, it’s a tough one to beat. Additionally, any rivals that outperform the Hana at the extremes of treble and bass never seem to match its articulation in the midrange.

There’s one more feather in the Hana SH MkII cap. It’s perfectly poised, both in performance and its place in the world. This isn’t the cartridge you use in some grandiose tonearm that costs as much as a BMW. However, it sounds fantastic in the sort of places where a sub-£1,000 cartridge might venture. Its balance of warmth, good sense of rhythm and flow, and dynamic power make it the perfect partner for something like the Technics SL-1300G, which is also tested this issue. In contrast, moving up or down the cartridge price points unseated that sense of effortless balance, making the results more uneven.

The Hana SH MkII is an excellent addition to the cartridge line-up and goes to the head of the class for cartridges at its price. I really can’t think of anything better in its category.

Price and contact details

Hana SH MkII: £645, $850, €749

Manufacturer

Excel Sound

youtek.jp

UK Distributor

Air Audio Services

airaudio.co.uk

hana-cartridges.co.uk

+44(0)1491 629629

Tech Talk: Ted Denney of Synergistic Research

Ted Denney needs no introduction to many of our American readers. However, he might not be quite so well-known on this side of ‘The Pond’. However, his company – Synergistic Research – is well-known for making system-transforming components that throw down a gauntlet to audio’s many traditionalists.

Now, the company has produced its first music server, Voodoo. Is there more to it than the supernatural, and is it where the magic happens? We speak to Ted Denney to learn more…

Tell us a little about yourself…

I’m Theodore Walton Denney III — Founder, Lead Designer & CEO, Synergistic Research. I founded Synergistic Research in 1992 from the humblest of starting points — a 1,200-square-foot industrial space, a $100 IKEA futon, and an income under $10,000 a year for the first three years. What I had instead of money was a clear-eyed understanding of something the entire audio industry had, in my view, fundamentally misunderstood. Specifically, where the music actually lives in an audio system.

Today, SR operates from a 13,000-square-foot factory in Southern California. The product range spans cables, power conditioning, active shielding, grounding systems, network infrastructure, acoustic field control, and now streaming servers — all built around a single coherent physics framework. This approach is different. Rather than a collection of independent product categories, it unifies all elements under one system.

How do you do that Voodoo that you do so well?

A Cole Porter quote… nice!

At its core, Voodoo addresses a problem that, to my knowledge, the rest of the streaming server market is not attempting to solve. The industry’s focus on improving digital audio quality — with better DAC chips, lower-jitter clocks, enhanced power supplies, and USB isolation — is valid and produces genuine results. However, it tackles the well-known adversary in digital audio. At the same time, it leaves the hidden one unchallenged.

The unseen threat is the electromagnetic field environment created by computation itself. Every CPU, RAM chip, and integrated circuit in a streaming server produces high-frequency switching noise as a direct result of its operation. That noise does not exist in the digital signal itself. Instead, it exists in the electromagnetic field surrounding and carrying the digital signal — and because energy in a conductor system travels through the field around the conductor, not within it, this contamination cannot be removed by any downstream filtering or isolation method.

Improve the field

The only solution is to improve the field environment at the point of generation — within the architecture itself. That is what Voodoo’s built-in ULF/ELF biasing and electromagnetic cells do. They do not suppress noise after it occurs. Instead, they continuously maintain a corrected field environment, preventing contamination from forming in the first place.

The results, once the high-frequency RF contamination was eliminated, did not just narrow the gap with analogue. They surpassed it — particularly in the aspects where analogue had always excelled. Soundstage depth, height, and width all exceeded our reference turntable. The music projected into the room and enveloped the listening position in a way that even the finest vinyl playback had not managed. High frequencies featured more air and transparency. Bass was tighter and more defined — not the rounded, forgiving bass of digital, but genuinely more resolved and present.

Then something unexpected occurred. Freed from the layer of high-frequency noise we had always assumed was simply characteristic of digital sound, we started to perceive our turntable differently. Mechanical noises we had previously ignored — bearings, motor artifacts, the physical contact between stylus and groove — became audible in ways they hadn’t been before. We had tolerated these sounds unconsciously because we were so captivated by how the turntable reproduced spatial and timbral qualities. However, with Voodoo surpassing it in those same aspects, the mechanical noise had nowhere left to hide.

When did development for Voodoo begin?

Development commenced in 2023. The catalyst was a particular and exasperating realisation that emerged gradually through our earlier work on network infrastructure.

The development of Voodoo started with a careful, systematic year-long process: we aimed to build the best-sounding computer we could before making it uniquely ours. Every variable that could be altered was changed. Different CPUs, motherboards, RAM chips, internal buses, and linear power supplies — literally every component and pathway inside the machine — were considered open questions. We tested dozens of configurations over hundreds of hours of double-blind listening tests. Importantly, during tests, we used chassis that looked identical from the outside. This was so no visual cues could influence the results. No assumptions, no shortcuts. The methodology was the same as we use for every SR development. We determine the performance ceiling through a thorough controlled comparison. Then we progress from there.

The second phase was when Voodoo truly became Voodoo. We started integrating our ULF/ELF biasing technology and electromagnetic cell architecture — previously developed for our ground blocks and power conditioners — directly into the computer’s infrastructure. This involved taking field measurements with probes inside a live computing environment. We looked for electromagnetic signatures we already knew linked to improved sound quality. Next, we confirmed those measurements through further double-blind listening tests.

How did prototyping move from here?

All critical listening decisions were made in our reference system at the SR factory in Southern California — the same controlled environment we use for every product development. When prototype performance stabilised, advanced units went out to a network of beta testers across different systems and listening rooms. Their feedback informed subsequent refinements.

The power supply architecture for the PC environment was initially developed in collaboration with engineers who specialise in that domain — we were not, and are not, a computer company, and we had no desire to reinvent expertise that already existed. Once those foundations were in place, we integrated our own UEF technology and electromagnetic cell designs into those supplies. In this way, we made them genuinely and distinctly ours. The starting point was borrowed. Everything that makes Voodoo sound the way it does is not.

How easy was the move from ‘lab’ to ‘listening room’?

The shift from a unit that excelled in our reference room to a product that performs consistently in the real world was, frankly, more challenging than the core engineering. Our reference system offers an ideal environment, but the market does not.

When Voodoo was launched, several units were returned. The issues were traced to voltage variations across different markets—something we had not fully anticipated—and to BIOS settings that behaved differently under real-world conditions than they had in our laboratory. As a result, each returned unit was examined, the failure point identified, transformer headroom in the power supply adjusted, and firmware settings refined. The final production Voodoo now performs reliably across the wide range of conditions found in the open market. In addition, it sounds better — even under the ideal conditions of our own reference system — than its predecessors.

Where does Voodoo sit in the Synergistic Research product line?

Voodoo sits at the top of SR’s network infrastructure hierarchy and represents the logical culmination of a chain that begins with our earliest cable designs, extends through our ground blocks and power conditioners, and continues to our Ethernet switches and routers. Each of those products addresses the field environment at different points within the signal chain. Voodoo manages it at the source.

Manufacturer

Synergistic Research

synergisticresearch.com

Synergistic Research Voodoo

It’s a bold move. In the argot of English football commentators, Synergistic Research is “a game of two halves.” On one side, it offers a range of well-regarded cables, power conditioners, and platforms. On the other hand, many of its products take an unconventional route, even by audiophile standards. So, naming your streaming music server ‘Voodoo’ is quite the flex. That name alone should evoke a wry smile from most, except perhaps the most stubborn of audio’s self-appointed gatekeepers.

In fact, scratch the surface of any of Synergistic Research’s products and that ‘unconventional route’ is baked into every product.

So, on the face of it, the Voodoo is just a good Roon-based server in a well-made case with a couple of top screens set in bronze to improve cooling and let you see into its internal gubbins. It feeds a DAC either through USB or Ethernet like any good server of its type. But, the closer you look, the more this brings to the party.

Gateway

Furthermore, in the tradition of all things Synergistic Research, the Voodoo often serves as the gateway to many more products within the company’s philosophy. We’ve taken our time to examine the Voodoo. As a result, there’s a whole array of products that are likely to follow once it captures your interest. Consider this the first part of a two-part feature. Once the Voodoo wins you over and you find yourself under its spell, much more will follow.

A Roon-based server is a fine ‘proof of concept’ for a company like Synergistic Research. Roon’s own Nucleus One means that any audible improvements have a well-established baseline. And, if the product ticks the ‘damn good server’ box, the ‘introduction to Synergistic Research’s concepts’ follows afterwards.

However, the issue Synergistic Research faced is that a computer-based product uses a computer. That sounds fairly obvious, but an off-the-shelf computer in a nice box will not achieve that ‘damn good server’ goal.

So, in developing the Voodoo, Synergistic Research went back to basics. The team applied the sort of listening tests it uses for every product it produces, but this time to every component and subsystem that goes into making a computer-based server. Eventually, you know you’ve crossed over into a world of obsessive-compulsiveness when you can recall the sonic plusses and minuses of a dozen Ethernet connectors. This might seem, well… nuts to most people. Still, if your company’s core is to try to reduce the effects of the electromagnetic field environment, you better make damn sure that your source component isn’t acting like a ham radio on the sly.

In making an electromagnetic field-generating product that produces as little electromagnetic field effects as possible, Synergistic Research found it had made a good-sounding music server. But that was just the start.

ELF care

From here, Synergistic Research began carefully applying its ULF/ELF biasing and electromagnetic cell technology into the architecture of the server computer itself. Before Voodoo, these only appeared in the company’s ground blocks and power conditioners. This wasn’t as easy to transfer as it sounds. Primarily, this is because the inside of a power conditioner is a relatively controlled EM and RF environment, at least when compared to what’s going on inside most computers. It wasn’t impossible, and the improvements these technologies brought justified their inclusion. However, the application was slow work, and the project took longer than expected to come to market. The question now is ‘was it worth the effort?’

I’ve deliberately excised all other Synergistic Research products from this test, both for its ‘proof of concept’ demands and to prevent jumping to conclusions. If something is said to work by Ultra Low Frequency, EM and RF interference reduction, if you have other devices in the chain that do a similar thing, you risk reviewing the wrong thing by mistake. The downside to this is you are showing off the Voodoo in the worst possible light.

Not more detail

The first impression of the Voodoo server is not ‘more detail’. If your system is already resolving, detail is the one thing you probably have in abundance. The more telling change is a reduction in a subtle kind of glare—an electronic insistence that makes music sound like it’s being lit by an LED rather than by daylight.

With the Voodoo server in place, there is typically an increased sense of ease. That word is overused, but it’s appropriate. Music feels less like a set of discrete events and more like a continuous performance. The system becomes more tolerant of volume; you can turn it up without the top end turning into a stress test.

Well-recorded vocals have more ‘chest’ and less ‘edge’, not because the server is warming them up, but because the electronic hash that undermines sibilants and consonants is reduced. The result is that articulation improves while aggression decreases—a rare and welcome combination.

Fizz-free

Take a close-miked female vocal with plenty of air and potential for sibilance. With many servers, the ‘air’ comes packaged with a faint fizz, a kind of ultrasonic glitter that impresses in a quick demo and fatigues over an evening. The Voodoo Server’s trick is to preserve the openness without the fizz. You still hear breath and space, but you also hear tone.

Acoustic instruments show the same pattern. A steel-string guitar is a particularly good test: it has transients, harmonic complexity, and a long decay. Through the Voodoo server the leading edge is still crisp, but the body of the instrument becomes more obvious. There’s a stronger sense of the wooden cavity behind the strings. Additionally, the decay trails off more smoothly. That smoothness is not softness; it’s continuity.

Piano—often the killer of any romance with streamed digital—benefits in a way that is difficult to un-hear once you’ve heard it. The instrument has both percussive strike and harmonic bloom. With a noisier or less stable digital front end, you tend to get the strike and a suggestion of bloom. With a better one, the bloom occupies the room and the decay becomes a narrative in itself. The Voodoo server leans toward the latter. It allows the DAC to draw the instrument in longer strokes rather than pointillist dots.

Locating performers

One of the paradoxes of high-end streaming is that some setups deliver spectacular imaging by exaggerating edges. You get pin-sharp outlines, but the people inside the outlines are oddly flat. The Voodoo server produces more believable images. Performers occupy space rather than merely being located in it.

Depth is often the most obvious beneficiary. A lowered noise floor and reduced RF contamination frequently yield greater depth perspective: the rear of the stage is easier to see into, and reverberant cues have more gradation. This is the kind of improvement that doesn’t necessarily jump out in a short audition. However, it becomes obvious when you return to the old configuration and find the stage has collapsed a little toward the speakers.

Voodoo doesn’t give you ‘more bass’, but improved bass quality: pitch definition, start/stop control, and the sense that bass lines are played by fingers rather than by an algorithm. On electric bass, the Voodoo server helps you follow the line through dense mixes. On acoustic bass, it brings out the wood and string textures and makes the relationship between note and resonance clearer. The effect is that rhythm sections lock in more convincingly. Drums and bass feel like they are sharing the same time grid.

That last phrase—time grid—is important. This is where noise and timing intersect. It’s not that the server is “changing the bits.” It’s that by reducing electrical interference and improving the conditions at the DAC input, the conversion process behaves more predictably. Also, the system reproduces rhythmic relationships with greater certainty.

More than a filing

The Synergistic Research Voodoo server is a purpose-built music server for listeners who have accepted that digital playback quality is not just about file format or streaming service. It’s about the electrical and temporal conditions under which the DAC is asked to do its work.

It is also, unavoidably, a product that asks you to buy into a worldview. If you’re comfortable with the idea that noise management and system synergy can yield audible gains even in the digital domain, the Voodoo server can be a musically satisfying step forward. If you want a server whose story is purely about CPU load and storage size, there are other options.

For those already deep into high-performance streaming, though, the Synergistic Research Voodoo server makes a strong case for the server as a genuine source component—one that belongs on the rack not because it’s convenient, but because it’s consequential.

Read more about the genesis of the Voodoo here.

Technical specifications

Type: Roon server
Inputs: 2x USB (Type B for DAC connection); Ethernet, Ground Plane connection (to Synergistic Research Ground Conditioner), IEC socket
Onboard controls: ULF bias setting (front panel), manual reset (rear panel)
Onboard storage: 500GB (external NAS drive recommended for file storage)
Dimensions (WxHxD): 8.5 x 46 x 29cm
Weight: 12.25kg
Price: £15,995 (230V version), €16,995 (230V version), $14,995 (110V version), $15,995 (230V version)

Manufacturer

Synergistic Research

Homepage: synergisticresearch.com

Product page: synergisticresearch.com/digital/voodoo/

Where to buy: synergisticresearch.com/dealer-list/

UK distributor

Harmony Hi-Fi

harmonyhifi.co.uk

+44(0)1701 629345

Linn 360 with Pistonik motor system preview

The Linn 360 loudspeaker is already a known quantity round these parts. https://hifiplus.com/articles/linn-360-floorstanding-loudspeaker-2/ Whether in full Exakt active mode or used as a passive loudspeaker with an active bass component, it’s Linn’s shot across the high-end bows. But, like any loudspeaker, it’s hobbled by the nature of the drive units used in most loudspeaker systems. That all changes with the launch of the Pistonik motor system. These are replacements to the 6” upper bass and 8” woofer units in the 360. They will be available as standard to all 360 models from today. In addition, existing 360 users can get them as an upgrade.

In fairness, this hobbling isn’t the fault of most drive units. It’s a combination of things coming together to make the drivers a bottleneck in most systems. Most drivers are off the shelf designs, even if modified to suit a specific need. That means the characteristics of the driver is designed to cover the greatest number of installations. In addition, as a passive system, the drive unit maker needs to be extremely conservative. This is because the upstream amplifiers are unpredictable.

While car analogies are massively overused, it fits here. Most drivers are a little like a production saloon. They are perfectly good and designed for a wide range of drivers. A suspension and drivetrain that comes with a sneeze test. You can take your eyes off the wheel long enough to sneeze and not find yourself in a ditch. Compare this to the British Touring Car Championship, or NASCAR. Now, you have a car with a suspension and drivetrain that reacts to every twitch and movement of the person behind the wheel.

The gloves are off

Linn’s 360 is different. It’s full of known qualities. The Exakt active system or active bass system in passive operation means the way the drivers are driven is entirely controlled. There are no speaker-blowing low-powered valve amps or voice-coil melting ultra-powerful amplifiers. In addition, when you design loudspeaker drivers for a specific loudspeaker enclosure, you get the potential to make a drive unit with the gloves off.

Of course, whether that’s a freedom for a manufacturer or a chance to just make in-house drivers largely depends on how innovative that company’s R&D team is willing to go. And in Linn’s case, they go deep! Rather than take an existing design, Linn went all in and rethought the loudspeaker driver motor. This is the part where the voice coil passes through the magnet. They created a very long-stroke travel through the magnet thanks to a significantly extended magnetic gap. That gives the voice coil an order of magnitude longer travel.

That new motor requires a re-invented suspension system. In the 8” driver, for example, the unit uses two spiders in place of just one in the basket of the speaker. Meanwhile, the drive unit material itself is hard aluminium, to reduce cone break up while retaining low mass.

Such driver tech isn’t just thought up in a dream. It takes a lot of physics. Linn is one of the few companies who use the COMSOL multi-physics modelling program.

Coming soon…

We’re not going to go into too much depth here; for that, read our review in Issue 256 out in early June. But it’s a big change. Playing some traditional ‘fat lady sings’ opera, in the already very good 360, she sounds angry; with the new drivers, she sounds furious! It wasn’t a magnifier on the sound, just laser focused on the music. More importantly, that focus means nothing is off the table. Pick some music not known for its audiophile quality – ‘Know How’ by Young MC for example. That’s old school rap from 1989, complete with janky 80s-era samples. That’s not the kind of thing that ever gets played in audio shows or demonstrations, because it rarely sounds good. Here, it rocks! You have the pumping backbeat reproduced in all its glory.

I moved from Beethoven piano to ‘Rumble’ by Skrillex and everything in between, and in all cases the drivers start and stop with blistering speed, powerful depth and excellent dynamics. It’s fast when you need it, full and rich when you don’t. But, breaking the music down into its audiophile components seems wrong; it’s all about playing music more.

That’s the point, here. The science doesn’t need some granular overview of how the music sounds; it just sounds better. Yes, given that bass drivers are the change, bass is tauter and faster… but more importantly the space and clarity of the midrange and treble get cleaner and more detailed thanks to those bass units.

No debate

If you are reading this while staring at a pair of existing 360s, there’s no debate. This is your next upgrade. Spend ten minutes comparing the two, and you spend two minutes comparing the two and eight minutes arranging and paying for the upgrade. Fortunately, it’s a two-hour dealer fit rather than a Return To Manufacturer upgrade. For new buyers, the 360 is a little more expensive and a lot better… and now with a real-walnut finish. Eather way, once you hear it, you won’t want to be separated from your speakers for too long.

Price and Contact details

Prices: 360 Exakt Integrated loudspeakers: £99,500
360 Passive with Active Bass (PWAB) loudspeakers: £67,000
Drive Unit Upgrade for 360: £16,500

Manufacturer

Linn

linn.co.uk

+44(0)141 307 7777

AXPONA Acquired by Sound & Fury LLC

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. 28 April 2026: Sound & Fury LLC today announced the acquisition of AXPONA (Audio Expo North America), the largest high-end audio event in North America.

Since its inception, AXPONA has served audiophiles, manufacturers and music enthusiasts as a premier destination to experience high-fidelity sound and cutting-edge audio equipment from around the world. The acquisition brings together AXPONA’s reputation as a world-class exhibition with Sound & Fury’s forward-looking vision for the evolving high-end audio market.

“I had my first audiophile experience in sixth grade at my best friend’s house — and it changed the course of my life,” said Henry Wu, owner of Sound & Fury LLC. “Decades later, I am honored to serve as the next steward of what I believe is the greatest audio event in the world, alongside one of the best teams in the industry.”

Under new ownership, the existing event team will remain in place to ensure a seamless transition for exhibitors, partners and attendees. The 2027 show, scheduled for April 9–11 at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center, will proceed as planned, with enhanced programming and new features to be announced in the coming months.

The acquisition comes at a pivotal moment for both AXPONA and the high-end audio industry. With growing interest from a new generation of listeners, the event is poised to expand its reach while continuing to serve its core enthusiast audience.

“AXPONA 2026 set a new benchmark for energy, engagement and scale,” said Liz Smith, event director. “The growth we’re seeing reflects a community that is evolving in exciting ways. We’re excited to build on that momentum as we expand the show for 2027 and beyond.”

For more information, visit www.axpona.com.

Stack Audio SmoothLAN Regenerator

I’m not sure how Theo Stack does it. All the network filters on the market at around the £750 price point of the latest Stack Audio SmoothLAN Regenerator are passive devices in plastic boxes. The Stack unit has a machined aluminium case and a separate power supply, which makes it look like remarkable value in material terms alone.

Stack Audio has always used machined aluminium casework for its electronics, keeping costs down. When I asked how Stack achieves this, Theo explained that it has smaller margins than other brands and sells directly rather than through retailers.

Not big, clever

The SmoothLAN Regenerator is not a huge device at 10.5cm (four inches) long, but if you look at the underside, you can see no fewer than 36 bolts holding it together. These give some indication of the nature of what goes on inside, where there are nine separate compartments containing three stages of reclocking and filtering to clean up the incoming network signal.

The separation of the filtering stages blocks external and internal EMI, which is emitted by pretty well all electronics and can get through the smallest of gaps, hence the need for so many fixings in the Regenerator. The standard SmoothLAN is a smaller, passive filtering unit, as the suffix indicates the SmoothLAN Regenerator does not merely filter but regenerates the network signal to strip out the noise that typically pollutes network connections.

There don’t appear to be many network regenerators on the market. The known one is the Uptone EtherRegen from the US, but a quick search didn’t reveal any others. I wanted to know whether the SmoothLAN Regenerator works as a single input switch, but Theo says it doesn’t operate similarly.

Uncompromising

It uses two stages of passive filtering and three active reclocking stages to produce a 100mb output that is “noise-free for uncompromised music streaming.” Stack provides a short (50cm) unbranded ethernet for connecting the filter and streamer, which I used for this review. Results would likely improve if this were upgraded.

The reclocking stages require power; a 5V low-noise switch mode plug-top supply connects to the SmoothLAN Regenerator via a USB C socket between the in- and output ports. The connecting cable plugs into the power supply rather than being fixed, as is usually the case.

I discovered this when it was accidentally pulled out. Each circuit block within the SmoothLAN Regenerator has its power supply, while the clock supply is further isolated to minimise phase noise and jitter.

I assessed the Stack SmoothLAN Regenerator by trying it with various streaming devices with and without a fancy Network Acoustics Tempus switch, which provided a fair degree of isolation. The first set-up consisted of a Melco N10 server/streamer with its USB output connected to a CAD 1543 MkIII DAC (also featured in this issue).

I played Bob Dylan’s ‘Tangled Up In Blue’ from the library on the Melco and then put the SmoothLAN Regenerator between the incoming network connection and the server. The Stack Audio’s inclusion resulted in a distinct relaxation of the sound but not a smoothing of detail. In fact, leading edges became better defined, and it was easier to appreciate the kick drum and the guitar playing. At the same time, the track gained more drive and emotional impact. The combination of impetus and ease made for a significant overall improvement.

Making it easy

Using a track from Qobuz, Ike White’s ‘Changin’ Times’, and switching from ‘regular feed’ to ‘Stack filtered and clocked’ produced a larger improvement. Streaming service sound quality has greater potential for noise gathering and never sounds as good as locally stored material, but the SmoothLAN Regenerator tried to balance this out. There was more power in the bass line, more space in the sound overall, and a better definition of leading edges.

This last quality gave the tune a more precise sense of timing whilst bringing ease to the presentation, which was very welcome. The song really got into its groove with the Stack in line, with greater separation of the percussion, guitar, drums and bass line. I also contrasted the Stack Audio SmoothLAN Regenerator with another network filter at a similar price. This comparison was a closer run, as you might expect. Still, there were things the SmoothLAN Regenerator could do that the alternative did not—notably, depth of image, a general increase in detail resolution and all-important relaxation.

Analogue beats digital?

Analogue sources always beat their digital counterparts on the sense of ease; digital can do detail, dynamics, and even bandwidth, but it’s rare to find one that sounds as relaxed as a good turntable. The fact that the Stack brings some analogue-style ease to the result is most welcome.

The second source I combined with the SmoothLAN Regenerator was an Electrocompaniet ECM1 MkII streamer (reviewed in Issue 242). I started with June Tabor’s rendition of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ from Qobuz. This filter’s cleaning up of the sound and enhanced image projection gave the singer’s voice a more subtle expression in a tonally richer and refined soundstage.

Stacked from 4 images. Method=A (R=2,S=2)

The SmoothLAN Regenerator seems to deburr the sound and remove roughness by reducing noise; it brings out the purity of a voice like this and delivers greater definition. Overall, this positive result encourages further listening and makes this streaming service more appealing in a revealing system.

Someone recommended Camille Bigeault to me recently, this French drummer plays with a degree of temporal precision that would impress Steve ‘The Metronome’ Gadd and the track ‘Mental Web’ certainly lives up to its name. Here, the Stack regenerator helped to make the piece more accessible by opening up the space and dynamics while adding shape to the kick drum. The drums took on a presence in the room that was not there before, essentially turning an almost flat presentation into a three-dimensional one thanks to greater clarity across the board, which is most apparent in the midrange where the guitar and leading edges reside.

What surprised me was that this piece of math rock took on an emotional weight inaccessible without the SmoothLAN Regenerator. Presumably, because everything was more transparent, it was easier to appreciate the subtleties and virtuosity of the musicianship.

Open wide

With a more familiar track in ‘Straight No Chaser’ by Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Paul Motian [The Old Country (More from the Deer Head Inn)] the addition of the Stack filter opened up the soundstage, expanding it from between the speakers to outsides of both. More exciting is the way that it allows the life in this live performance to become palpable, expanding the space where the performance took place so that you can hear the musicians playing more clearly and the way that the venue’s acoustics react, essentially letting more detail through in a coherent manner.

The last piece of hardware I set up to try the SmoothLAN Regenerator with was an Innuos Zenith SE server/streamer. Initially, I played a song from the drive, ‘So Begins the Task’ by Stephen Stills, and left the Tempus switch between the network and the Innuos. Adding the Stack to this chain was nonetheless beneficial, with a sense of grain reduction, making for greater flow and a smoother, more analogue sound with greater vocal projection once again. It went from being a beautiful track to a sublime one. I also tried the Ginger Baker Trio piece ‘Ramblin” from Qobuz, while rolling back to a generic network switch. The result was consistent with earlier tests; an apparent increase in energy but also speed. The playing went from being good to absolutely thrilling and made for far stronger listener engagement.

Congratulations!

Stack Audio deserves congratulations for bringing this build, finish, and sound-quality product to the market at such a competitive price. The SmoothLAN Regenerator’s solidity inspires confidence in longevity, and its weight means that it won’t be pulled off the shelf by heavy ethernet cables. If you fancy hearing what your streamer can do when freed of the many nasties that beset most networks, I would encourage you to give it a thorough spin; it will not take long to appreciate what it can do.

Technical specifications

Type: Active Ethernet regenerator
Input: RJ45 Ethernet.
Output: RJ45 Ethernet.
Power supply: 5V plug-top.
Supplied cable: 0.5m Ethernet.
Size HxWxD: 23x80x105mm
Weight: 333 grams
Price: £750 (EU and US price calculated at purchase)

Manufacturer

Stack Audio

stackaudio.co.uk

+44(0)1626 24 9005

Marantz 60n

Marantz is far from alone among audio companies in having undergone several changes in ownership over the last decade or two. But Marantz is a company that, in nine years, has been acquired by Sound United, which was itself acquired by Masimo in 2022, and, as of 2025, is now in the hands of Harman. Change of ownership is the sort of upheaval and uncertainty that might have provoked a lesser company, perfectly understandably, to take its eye off the ball just a little.

Marantz, though, is not a lesser company—it has forged ahead regardless. And if ever a product indicated that while a brand may not be sure of exactly where it’s heading, it most certainly knows where it’s coming from, it’s this 60n.

All present and correct

The 60n is the correct product and at the correct price. £1,299 put Marantz’s way buys a well-specified, good-looking, beautifully built integrated network streamer equipped to do everything a mainstream customer might realistically expect. The control options are good. The finish is just about interesting enough to make it stand out. As long as the 60n can compete where performance is concerned, the Marantz will seem to be an attractive prospect for any presumptive new owner.

‘The correct product’, in this instance, means ‘an integrated Class A/B stereo amplifier with network streaming smarts, an accessible ESS Sabre ES9018K2M DAC of 32bit/384kHz and DSD256 native resolution, and that can easily become part of a multi-room system’. You’re good to go if you have a pair of speakers and a smartphone with a music-streaming app.

The Marantz 60n can twist out 60 watts of Class A/B power into an 8-ohm load, rising to 80 watts per side into 4 ohms. Its DAC is accessible via digital optical, digital coaxial, USB-A and Ethernet inputs and wirelessly via Bluetooth 5.4 dual-band wi-fi. The wireless aspect of its specification allows it to be Roon Ready and can support the ‘Connect’ versions of both Spotify and TIDAL music streaming services, too. Install the ‘HEOS’ (‘home entertainment operating system’) control app that’s free for iOS and Android, and as well as the ability to access further music streaming services and internet radio providers, the 60n can form part of a multiroom audio system with appropriate Denon and/or Marantz equipment.

Side with analogue

The analogue side of things has not been neglected, either. Three line-level inputs (on unbalanced stereo RCA sockets) are joined by a moving magnet phono stage, and there are pre-outs for use with a subwoofer and with a power amp. Sturdy SPKT-1 binding posts for a single pair of speakers complete the back-panel line-up.

The 60n has a floating section ahead of a slightly contoured, slightly patterned metal front panel that changes appearance a little depending on how the light catches it. A relatively small ‘porthole’ display keeps the ‘traditional Marantz’ flag flying, and there are controls for volume, balance, bass and treble along with a ‘source direct’ control that bypasses those last three. A power on/off button and a 6.3mm headphone socket complete the front panel. Build quality and the finish standard are well up to the standard the asking price demands.

In addition to the control app (which is comprehensive enough but rather slapdash in its layout), the 60n can be controlled using a large and logical remote control handset. Getting what you want from the device and positioning it within a multi-room system is very straightforward.

Able driving

The Marantz 60n ably drives a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 705 S3 Signature loudspeakers on their bespoke FS-700 S3 stands for the test. Sources consist of a Clearaudio Concept turntable connected to the MM phono input, a Rega Apollo CD player connected to both the digital coaxial and one of the line-level analogue inputs (to make a straight A/B comparison between the Rega’s DAC and the equivalent in the Marantz), a FiiO M15S digital audio player loaded with hi-res digital audio files of various types, and an Apple iPhone 14 Pro housing Presto and TIDAL music streaming apps. The Marantz can also access a Buffalo Terastation NAS device thanks to its Roon compatibility.

The 60n sounds fuller, more complete and more convincing if given the proper stuff to work with. But it’s well worth noting that the Marantz doesn’t throw in the towel if ‘the proper stuff’ is not forthcoming.

Don’t sweat the lesser stuff

So while a heavyweight 180g vinyl pressing of The Hold Steady’s Stay Positive [Vagrant] is preferable to a 320kbps MP3 of the same album streamed via Bluetooth, and while a 24bit/96kHz FLAC file of Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten performed by Staatsorchester Stuttgart and Dennis Russell Davies [ECM] proves a better bet than its 16bit/44.1kHz CD-borne equivalent, the 60n doesn’t turn its nose up at the lesser stuff. Instead, it treats it with a degree of care that’s by no means a given in products similarly specified and priced.

There’s a smooth unfussiness to the overall sound of the 60n that makes it a) an adaptable device, and b) appropriate for use with any number of price-appropriate loudspeakers. Its low-frequency presence is decently robust and just fractionally forward where the entire frequency response is concerned – with carefully controlled bass attack, allowing for cogent rhythmic expression. Detail levels regarding tone and texture are impressive, too, and there’s slightly more low-end variation available here than the norm.

Shine scintilla

The top of the frequency range is a little circumspect when it comes to outright extension, and that last scintilla of shine and brilliance is missing from the treble response, too. But the high-end activity is substantial rather than hard, and it’s just as detailed and informative here as it is at the opposite end. But it’s in the midrange that the Marantz is at its most adept and most impressive – and not only because of those powers of detail retrieval that make every singer sound characterful and direct. It’s open and revealing, sure – but its tonal balance is carefully neutral and its facility with the minor harmonic variations apparent in every voice makes for a naturalistic and convincing listen.

The whole frequency range hangs together quite nicely, that little hint of low-end overconfidence notwithstanding, and there’s a fair amount of dynamic headroom available when the intensity (or straightforward volume) of a recording ramps up. The Arvo Pärt recording makes it apparent that even the most minor, most transient dynamic shifts in harmonic response aren’t overlooked, either.

The soundstage the 60n creates is coherently organised and quite spacious, too – so even a massed orchestra can find space for every participant to operate. The left-to-right layout is broad, and there’s a mild but definite suggestion of front-to-back and even top-to-bottom. The Marantz is unified in its presentation, knitting even the most complex recordings into a single occurrence rather than presenting them as a series of individual events.

Just the facts

The Marantz 60n isn’t the most vigorous or assertive listen. For all of its dynamic potency, it’s a slightly matter-of-fact listen: “The facts, just the facts” would seem to be its mantra. And for those who value a calm and judicious presentation of their music, this attitude is approaching ideal – but those for whom music is, first and foremost, entertainment could find the 60n a little lacking in animation. Its ‘fact-led’ trait can be mitigated just as easily as it can be compounded by the choice of partnering loudspeakers, of course – and, to a lesser extent, by the source equipment the Marantz is amplifying. But even though some judicious system-matching is definitely in order, there’s no way to refute the attitude of the 60n ultimately. You either like it or you don’t.

Like it or not, though, there’s no denying the 60n is an admirable device in many ways. There’s the way it presents itself, of course, and how it makes your music sound – no matter where it originates. But, there’s the way it’s a Marantz product, the likes of which yet another change of ownership seems extremely unlikely to undermine.

Technical specifications

Type: network streamer/Class AB amplifier/DAC
Analogue inputs: 3 x line-level unbalanced RCA; MM phono
Digital inputs: digital coaxial; digital optical; HDMI ARC; USB-A; Ethernet; dual-band wi-fi; Bluetooth 5.4; Roon Ready; Spotify Connect; TIDAL Connect
DAC resolution and supported digital formats: 32bit/384kHz PCM; DSD256 (inc. DSF). AAC; ALAC; FLAC; MP3; WAV; WMA
Music services and wi-fi inputs (country dependent): Amazon Music HD; AWA; Deezer; iHeartRadio; Mood:Mix; Pandora; Qplay; SiriusXM; SoundCloud; Sony HiRes; TIDAL; TuneIn
Analogue outputs: unbalanced RCA stereo pre-out; subwoofer pre-out; Marantz SPKT-1 speaker outputs
Digital outputs: none
Frequency response: 5Hz – 100kHz
Distortion (THD + noise): 113dB
User interface: ‘HEOS’ app; RC006PM remote control
Dimensions (H×W×D): 139 x 442 x 431mm
Weight: 7.2kg
Price: £1,299, $1,500, €1,500

Manufacturer

Marantz

marantz.com

hARt Lab Tune Three

There are some curious patterns in reviewing. Having gone years without looking at a hybrid power amplifier, no sooner was the PrimaLuna Evo 300 back in its packaging that I was tapped up for another take on the same principle. While they might share a basic theme, the hARt Lab Tune Three is a somewhat different beast compared to the PrimaLuna and, indeed, almost anything else.

hARt Lab is based in Chalandri, Greece, and focuses exclusively on building amplifiers: pre, power, and integrated. The preamps are all valve-based designs, but the power amplifiers (and the solitary integrated) mix valves and MOSFETs to secure the best characteristics of both. The Tune Three takes this basic concept and adds many unusual or downright unique design features to it.

Unique construction

The unique aspect concerns how the Tune Three is constructed. Where most power amplifiers at this sort of price employ metal in their construction, generally resulting in something with the density of a neutron star, the hARt Lab instead employs amorphous wooden fiberboard in such a way as to be rigid in the ways that hARt Lab wants it to be but flexible in others which they claim dampens unwanted vibrations and mechanical noise feedback, resulting in lower noise floor and eliminating crosstalk. The company also puts its money where best needed; in the circuit. The base also incorporates ‘FloatO’ integrated anti-resonance feet to assist this further.

The rest of the chassis also uses fibreboard with the same intentions. These panels receive the MICoat luxury painting procedure for a genuinely impressive finish. The side panels can also be removed and swapped for ones in different colours and finishes to suit.

The amplifier housed in this chassis features a dual mono design that employs one CV181 (commonly known as a 6SN7) valve operating in a zero feedback driver stage, paired with a MOSFET output stage. The 80mm height of the CV181 accounts for the relatively tall overall height of the hARt Lab, as there is ample clearance between the valve’s top and the top cover. Power is rated at 165 watts into eight ohms, increasing to 275 watts into four, figures that should provide considerable freedom in speaker selection. The power supply responsible for this is a VAcc battery emulator with custom-wound mains transformers. hARt Lab asserts that the outcome is unaffected by external power fluctuations. The entire amplifier is then wired with a single grounding point.

No impedance difference

You’ll find a single pair of RCA inputs and two sets of speaker outputs at the back. These do not differ in impedance like an all-valve amp and don’t switch independently, so they seem designed to assist with cabling choices rather than anything else.

hARt Lab equips the Tune Three with IR triggers, allowing it to power on and off with a compatible preamp, and it should hopefully be intelligible to other devices as well.

The resulting amplifier looks, and I think more importantly, feels unlike anything else I can remember testing. The clever aspect for me is that while the Tune Three is lighter than most other amplifiers in this price range, it doesn’t feel insubstantial. You can tell that a significant amount of time and energy has gone into its construction, and it has a very distinct character of its own. The blue LEDs glowing inside are used as low-noise reference diodes in the cathode bias circuit, making them a lot more than a mere design features.

Fifteen colours

The illuminated logo on the front panel can be adjusted to one of 15 colours to better match other displays, which is another fascinating detail. The Tune Three undeniably feels different from other amplifiers at this elevated price point, but it possesses a clearly defined character that will appeal to those for whom climbing the pricing ladder doesn’t necessarily mean an increase in mass.

I connected the hARt Lab to my resident Chord Electronics Hugo MScaler and TT2 DAC, with the latter serving effectively as a preamp. It then outputted to the resident Kudos Titan 505 speakers, a design that can realistically be classified as slightly ‘valve unfriendly.’ Before any music was played, the hARt Lab did commendable things for anything containing valves. It is utterly silent at idle and powers both up and down without any unwanted noises. Aside from a slightly lengthy start-up sequence, it’s as easy to live with as a well-sorted solid-state amp.

The sound of silence

This is interesting because once you stop listening to the sound of its silence and instead focus on its actual sound, the hARt Lab’s character becomes more reminiscent of a pure valve device. Listen to The Phosphorescent Blues by The Punch Brothers [Nonesuch], an album that is catnip to vacuum tubes, and the hARt Lab responds in a way that suggests there is nothing but those CV181s in there. Chris Thile’s delicate vocals offer a presence and sheer realism that surprised me, even though I’ve used this album as test material since its release.

Keep listening, and this impression solidifies, but with some interesting and largely beneficial caveats. The hARt Lab has a truly fabulous midrange, as you might expect, but it isn’t emphasised over the rest of the frequency response. The top end, in particular, is energetic and detailed while being enormously refined at the same time.

Not so seismic

The bass available isn’t as seismic as that of some purely solid-state devices, but the same definition found in the upper registers provides a clarity and presence that is convincing. In terms of bandwidth, the hARt Lab’s MOSFETs certainly make their presence felt.

The solid-state aspect of the Tune Three truly shines- besides the fact that I can listen to the Titans at volume levels that are decidedly un-valvelike- in how the hARt Lab performs like a solid-state amp. Enjoying the seventies-tinged ‘Outta Sight’ by The Sheepdogs [Self Released] on the hARt Lab is a genuine pleasure. It brings all those swaggering seventies details to the forefront of the mix, sounding rich and utterly believable. It also grips every time signature with a confidence that transforms this album into an absolute riot. ‘Scarborough Street Fight’ becomes something completely rhythm-driven; a track you simply cannot sit still to. This amplifier is perfectly capable of having fun when it desires to.

Genuine audiophile

Of course, when you provide the hARt Lab with a genuinely audiophile recording, it responds magnificently. Stanley Jordan’s unique cover of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ from his Magic Touch album [Blue Note] is ideal for the hARt Lab. Jordan’s distinctive style enables him to effectively play two melodies simultaneously on the same guitar, which can sometimes sound somewhat confusing. Given the amount of information being conveyed, one might overlook just how remarkable his performance is. In this case, the clarity and three-dimensionality available allow you to appreciate the complexity of one man and a guitar, enhancing the magic of the performance rather than diminishing it. This isn’t a soulless disassembly; it’s more like a glimpse behind the curtain to understand how things work.

This effortless ability to make sense of what you listen to means that the hARt Lab’s true capabilities only come into focus after a few hours. At some point, you realise you are somewhere between five and fifteen albums in, and the amplifier itself hasn’t crossed your mind once, but you’ve enjoyed everything that has come from it without hesitation. It’s the electronics equivalent of soft power, and the hARt Lab excels at it.

Talent

Of course, at this price point, there is no shortage of exceptionally talented rivals, many of whom, by virtue of using casework that could double as a convincing blast shield, appear and feel more spectacular than the Tune Three. hARt Lab has taken a gamble that the Tune Three’s unique appearance is enough to entice you to sit down in front of it and have a listen. From there it stands on much more solid ground because this singular amplifier does an incredible amount right. This is realistically the best hybrid I’ve had the pleasure of listening to, and it is likely to win many admirers.

Technical specifications

Type: Hybrid dual-mono stereo power amplifier
Rated Power: 2x 165W(rms) into 8Ω load, 2x 275W(rms) into 4Ω load
Sensitivity: (for Max. Power) 3.4 V(rms)
Frequency response: 5 Hz – 100 kHz
Power consumption: 2 W standby, 200 W idle
Dimensions: (HxWxD): 20 x 43 x 41 cm (incl. jacks)
Weight: 32 kg
Price: £26,500, €30,000

Manufacturer

hARt Lab

hartlab.gr

UK distributor

AirT Audio

airtaudio.com

+44(0)1223 344053

More about hARt Lab

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ELAC Concentro M 807

ELAC has not always been an audio company. It started nearly 100 years ago (the centenary is in September this year), pioneering underwater echo-location and growing into a substantial company by the 1930s, working on airborne sound-location systems before the invention of Radar. The first forays into audio reproduction came after the war with turntables, and by the mid-1950s, ELAC was one of the largest German brands in this field. It wasn’t until the 1980s that they started building loudspeakers. Today ELAC has headquarters in the US and in Kiel, Germany, and makes a broad range of speakers, from Bluetooth to the Concentro M 807, the flagship in a relatively small range of six high-end stereo models.

Sheer numbers

You can’t help but notice the sheer number of drivers on the Concentro M 807. There are 11 of them across three surfaces of the gently curved cabinet. Most are grouped on the front baffle, with an array of six small cones surrounding a planar JET tweeter. The 40mm cones cover the high midrange, while the two 115mm cones above and below them handle the lower mids from 650Hz to 2650Hz. The lowest frequencies, up to 150Hz, are covered by a pair of 250mm aluminium sandwich cones on either side of the cabinet, nearer the plinth.

Most of the drivers on this ELAC have aluminium sandwich cones, except the six midrange drivers, which, due to the required low moving mass, feature a pure aluminium cone design. The midrange cones are faceted for extra pleasure, or, more technically, to increase stiffness, and their surfaces resemble the inverse of a faceted jewel; a fact that becomes apparent only in bright light or close inspection. From the listening seat, they don’t look that different from regular drivers. It would be worth angling your LEDs just so if you listen with your eyes open. They sound better without such distractions, however.

Diffuse enhancement

The reason for the circular array of small midrange cones is dispersion or directivity control. Switches on the back of the speakers allow the user to change the dispersion pattern and scale the soundstage, for both room tuning and personal taste. The five settings offered include ‘concentric’, which “forms a larger virtual point source. This mode increases directivity, focusing the soundstage between the speakers while reducing reflected sound for a more intimate, pinpoint experience.” ‘Diffuse enhancement’ “broadens the soundstage, enriches ambient cues, and creates a more immersive and atmospheric experience.” While ‘depth emphasis’ “focuses energy inward, enhancing depth and dimensionality. The result is a soundstage with increased layering and spatial realism.”

As there is a switch on each speaker, these settings can differ between channels and be used to compensate for room boundary variations. If one speaker is closer to a side wall than the other, you could set it to the depth emphasis position to reduce reflections. Concentric mode is the purest variant, as all the drivers operate in unison in a conventional manner. However, the extensive array of crossover networks has been designed to minimise compromise in any of these settings, no doubt.

I did wonder why the Concentro M 807 has so many panels covered in heatsinking on the back, but looking at a cutaway image of the insides reveals that each of these five elements has some form of electrical components behind it. I don’t think I have ever seen a more extensive crossover array – clearly it’s not easy to provide the directivity control offered on this speaker, which explains why it’s not a feature I have seen elsewhere.

Strong core

The cabinet is far from your average rectilinear box. The only flat surfaces are the sides, which taper backwards. The rest is gently curved to enhance stiffness and reduce internal reflections. The baffle thickness is not specified, but it tapers and looks pretty chunky at the central core section. Those looking for the reflex port are best directed to the cutaway, as this element vents underneath the box into the area provided by a steel plinth. This elevates the cabinet and allows the base to be angled, avoiding a parallel surface to the top and increasing stiffness. The base also provides a broad footprint and fixings for large conical feet, which are supplied in a dark chrome finish with matching floor receptors.

Replacing DALI Epikore 9 floorstanders, which are nearly as great in mass and cost in the system, the ELAC Concentro M 807s made it clear from the outset that such factors have little bearing on sonic character. This is a disciplined speaker that is in full control of its faculties, regardless of what you throw at it. There is no mincing of words nor fluffing of lines. You hear what’s in the signal and not a lot more or less. In other words, these ELACs are extremely clean, revealing and capable of delivering whatever the source and amplification manage to send their way. Precision is the word, but not in a take-no-prisoners way, just in a sense of doing very little to color or massage the sound for one effect or another.

No limits

I placed them so the front baffles were a metre from the rear wall, as per the DALIs, and hooked up the Rega Solis power amplifier, equally precise and delivering 150W of Class AB power, via a William Eikos Ultralitz cable. The result was astonishing levels of detail, resolution, image specificity, wide bandwidth and high power handling. I’m not a level freak, but these felt as if there were no end stops. Apparently, there is a bigger version in the pipeline, so presumably people with larger rooms and amplifiers want more, but the Concentro M 807 never showed any sign of strain in my system. And boy, did they deliver power when it was required. Kick drums in particular seemed to kick harder and with more clarity of shape than usual, thumping me in the chest with surprising visceral impact.

Solidity of image is another obvious strength. Many speakers can make the bass sound solid, but the higher up the frequency range you go, the harder this becomes. Fully rounded high frequencies are surprisingly rare. But these ELACs delivered the same sense of three-dimensionality across the board, and this makes for very real live sound if the recording is up to the job.

Pipe down

A current favourite is Bill Frisell’s East/West, from which the track ‘Pipe Down’ is a highlight, but one that doesn’t always work at high levels due to its high intensity. Here, however, it proved to be chock full of thrill power, with a close-your-eyes-and-you’re-there sense of realism. It made it a lot less painful that I wasn’t at the concert 20 years ago.

These ELACs aren’t as relaxed as the DALIs or a Vivid say, but neither are they aggressive or forward. They are perhaps just a bit keener on detail. This makes them fussier than average about recording quality and capable of making the better productions sound spectacular. If the music is laid back, so is the sound. JJ Cale’s 5 is a great example. You get the tight but loose sound of the band, the analogue fluidity of the recording, and that sense of ease that only Cale seemed to manage.

A recent piece of baroque interpretation on ECM, Gianluigi Trovanesi and Stefano Montanari’s Stravaganze consonanti, can easily sound brash and forward thanks to its scratchy period instruments and piercing woodwind, but here it was totally magnificent and made me want to play the whole album. The ELACs play the straightest of bats and reveal so much detail in such a coherent way that the music you love really comes alive with their help.

Precise and coherent

I was initially concerned that the Concentro M 807s were a technical tour de force, that their dispersion adjustments would mess up timing, and that musical enjoyment would be limited to a few audiophile productions. I am glad to say that they are nothing of the sort. Precise and totally coherent, these ELACs make a very good case for the technologies and construction choices made in Kiel.

I suspect that if you wanted them to sound more laid back, all that would be required would be a source and an amplifier of that ilk. They are as transparent as you could ask for and as honest as the day is long. They are also extremely capable for their size and price – high resolution, high power, and features like dispersion control are never inexpensive, and you get an awful lot of all three in this sharply styled ELAC.

Technical specifications

Type: 4-way, 11-driver, floorstanding speaker with reflex loaded enclosure.
Driver complement: One JET 6c planar tweeter; six 40mm A-XR cone high midrange drivers; two 115mm AS-XR cone low midrange drivers; two 250mm AS cone bass drivers.
Crossover frequencies: 150Hz, 650Hz, 2.65kHz
Frequency response: 24Hz – 50kHz
Impedance: 4 Ohms
Sensitivity: 88dB/2.83V/m
Dimensions (HxWxD): 134×46.1×59.5cm
Weight: 62kg/each
Finishes: black high gloss, white high gloss.
Price: £37,000, €44,000, $45,000/pair

Manufacturer

ELAC Electroacustic GmbH

Home Page: elac.com

Concentro M 807 Product Pages: https://elac.com/m807

Where to buy ELAC: https://elac.com/dealers-distributors

+49 (431)-64774-0

UK distributor

Hi-Fi Network

hifi-network.com

Wilson Audio Autobiography preview

The Autobiography by Wilson Audio is the Autobiography of Wilson Audio. It’s also the Autobiography of the listener. Those three elements intersect instantly, but it takes time to put that into words.

That doesn’t mean an excuse to wax lyrical, although that’s something of an inevitability. No, it’s that your first reaction when sitting in front of the Autobiography is quiet, intense processing. I sat in front of the Autobiography with three other audio reviewers. At least three of us are known for being loquacious. If there’s a witty or sarcastic comment to be made, at least two of us will try to make it with the slightest provocation. And all four were silent, just drinking in what the Autobiography could do. It took a good ten minutes before anyone could say anything; not just about the loudspeaker… anything.

This is not a review. A handful of dealers and reviewers flew to Utah in late April to see the new Autobiography launched at the nearby Springville Museum of Art, learn more about it at the Wilson Audio factory, and listen to it in the Provo listening room, built by Sheryl Lee and the late Dave Wilson. The listening session ran for a couple of hours, with a small group of four or five in the room taking it in turns to sit in the hot seat.

Jet lag advantage

I’ve turned severe jet lag to my advantage here. The embargo on discussions about Wilson Audio’s Autobiography lifted while I was somewhere above the Labrador Sea. By the time I landed, all I had were a few brief notes, the start of a nasty cold, and a burning desire to sleep for a week. Rather than simply deliver the same as everyone else, just a few hours late, I decided to check the comment sections and address some of the many ‘observations’ that are inevitable when a company releases a $780,000 loudspeaker.

By now, Wilson Audio’s Autobiography itself is something of a ‘known unknown’. The design, architecture, and basic specifications are the ‘known’ part, already discussed at length. So, I’ll keep it brief; it’s a six-way (ish) design with a vertical midrange-tweeter-midrange array flanked by two 7” ‘Pentamag’ lower-midrange drivers, and an inverted-dome rear-firing tweeter in the upper lower-midrange cabinet (read that again; it does make sense… honest).

The upper gantry

These drivers all sit in an upper gantry with an exceptional amount of adjustment for time-alignment. The lower cabinet, on which this intricate array of cabinets and verniers sits, holds 12” and 15” bass drivers and features a refined version of the clever front-or-rear vent found in the Chrononsonic XVX.

Each driver has its own ‘firsts’, but the Convergent Synergy Laser Sintered tweeter and the twin 2” MID (Midband Integration Driver) dome designs are particularly interesting. The tweeter sits in a clever 3D-printed housing with a rear wave chamber that acts almost like a tiny anechoic space, improving energy dissipation and reducing internal reflections. Meanwhile, the upper-midrange dome sits in a waveguide that makes it look like the dustcap of a larger midrange cone. It’s only when you see it on models with metal trim details that you realise the ‘cone’ is the driver’s faceplate, and you begin to see it for what it is.

Five alive

That said, the five-ALNICO-magnet arrangement at the rear of the lower-midrange units is also an exciting new development, improving on the QuadraMag drivers used elsewhere in the Wilson Audio line-up.

All these drivers are made to Wilson’s exacting specifications, and none has been used in any previous Wilson Audio loudspeaker. With the company’s trickle-up/trickle-down ethos, in which the technology and drivers of previous models filter through to the next, there has never been an ‘all-new’ Wilson driver complement since the company’s first WAMM. So, ‘off-the-shelf drivers’ or ‘mid-range Scanspeak units’… yeah, riiiight!

Autobiography sits at the top of the Wilson Audio range, yet it stands 8 cm/3.15” shorter than the WAMM Master Chronosonic. Don’t get too complacent. Even without spikes, the Autobiography still stands at 206 cm, which is a little over 6’ 9” or 0.954 standard Shaqs. Much of this weight is borne by the enclosure, with the gantry uprights and midrange front baffles made from Wilson’s own H-Material, vibrationally sensitive components made from its V-Material, and the cabinets made from X-Material. These combine to deliver optimal damping, structural integrity, vibration control, and stiffness in the right parts of the loudspeaker.

The dimensions and driver complement are just the start of the story, however.

Just look at it

Let’s be clear about the Autobiography. With a finish that places it in the same class as Patek Philippe and Rolls-Royce, the prospective purchaser will spend a long time simply looking at the loudspeaker. It’s a voyage of discovery, and each time you look at the loudspeaker, you find something new. The different kinds of guilloche (engine turning) on the metalwork are inspired, sometimes in straight lines, sometimes curved around a point. And in the metal band that joins the two sides of the 3D-printed tweeter housing, there is an almost prismatic geometric pattern.

Then there are unheard-of levels of adjustment, and it’s here that horology sort of steps aside; there are gear wheels, bridges and verniers, but no train of wheels or parts that need maintenance and lubricated jewels to keep it running. There’s also no need for a desk full of watchmakers’ tools to adjust the Autobiography. All of it can be done by hand, eye, and ear. And, at 372 kg/821 lbs/2.53 Shaqs per speaker, quite a few elves trained in piano moving and loudspeaker installation.

Easy unlocking

Wilson Audio has made its adjustments easy to lock and unlock. Take the rear MTM alignment cam. It is adjusted by turning a metal cylinder with a small, fold-out lever. Fold the lever back, and the toothed rear of the cylinder locks into place. The action of that alignment system is ‘buttery’ smooth… and irresistible. I will lay bets that every Autobiography owner will unlock the cylinder and give it a few turns. Fortunately, Wilson thought of this, and the setup comes with two sets of data sheets for each customer, so both they – and their dealer – know the correct alignment points for the loudspeakers.

But what’s the point? Our hearing system is highly temporally sensitive. We can detect time-domain errors of just a few microseconds, and this is one of the key components of hearing that doesn’t degrade with age. Most fixed-baffle loudspeakers can achieve in-room time-domain coherence of about 100µS, but our hearing can resolve coherence errors at around 10µS. The Autobiography improves on the WAMM’s 2µS. When everything arrives at the listener’s ears at the same time, our brains do less heavy lifting in interpreting the sound and have an easier time listening to the music. So, ‘what’s the point of all the metalwork?’ To get you closer to the music.

Smaller footprint

Despite having larger bass drivers, the loudspeakers have a slightly smaller overall footprint than the WAMM, making them suitable for installation in any room where the Master Chronosonic XVX can be used. While room size is rarely a consideration at this level, there are people for whom the WAMM was a step too far. Similarly, the Autobiography presents a slightly less demanding load than the WAMM, although, once again at this level, finding a partnering amplifier is never going to be a problem.

This loudspeaker stands as tall as most basketball players, weighs slightly less than a new Harley-Davidson Road Glide, and costs as much as a very nice 3,000 sq ft family home in the town where it was built. Bespoke is included in the package. Five standard, 15 upgrade, 11 premium pearl, and seven premium ‘Colors of the World’ cabinet finishes, with chrome or black-chromed hardware, offer at least 76 possible combinations; factor in different grille finishes and there are hundreds of permutations.

An introduction

The photographed finishes are merely an introduction; of the four built examples, I thought the white-with-chrome hardware version in the Wilson home was the nicest-looking. In particular, the white had an almost pearl-like iridescence. Regardless, this isn’t a shrinking violet of a loudspeaker; it’s a bold statement of intent, both on Wilson Audio’s part and that of the owner. No apologies are demanded, no quarter given. Which is probably the only reason why Mr “I’ve seen more attractive Daleks” won’t be buying a pair.

We live in an age where ‘megacars’ (cars delivering more than 1,360 horsepower, or 1 megawatt), sit above ‘hypercars’ (with around 800 horsepower) and both sit above ‘supercars’ (with around 600 horsepower). As you move further into this ultra-high-performance realm, the cars themselves become more uncompromising in design, and that is reflected in the price.

The same applies to almost every discretionary purchase today; everything from Vertu phones with a concierge service, hand-made Namiki fountain pens that cost as much as a car, women’s handbags that cost as much as a fleet of cars and watches with price tags so large, the mainspring will wind down before you’ve finished counting that high.

The Autobiography isn’t the first loudspeaker to enter this ‘ultra’ stream, nor will it be the last. Technologies developed in this loudspeaker will end up in the next series of ‘My First Wilson’ speakers, and that development is amortised here.

Dancing

I’m dancing around the big topic; how does it sound? That’s the ‘unknown’ part for all but a select few right now. I’m dancing around it in part because the terms are beyond us. We tend to define sound reproduction in terms of its limits, putting those limits into siloed parameters – the soundstage was wide and deep, the vocals detailed and articulate, and so on. But as we get further up the mountain, those limitations shrink, and we begin to describe the sound as a musical event. Maybe that explains The Silence of the Wordsmiths.

The demonstration itself was designed to take the listener from the soundstage through the bass in stages, then to the expressiveness and personal nature of Autobiography listening. At each step, there wasn’t much to reference against in absolute terms, leaving almost all other loudspeakers wanting.

Letters

Soundstage, for example. The use of ‘Letter’ by Yosi Horikawa (which begins with someone dipping a pen in ink and scribbling from the far left through the centre of the image to the right, before it develops into a percussive rhythm piece) is a difficult test for any loudspeaker, as there’s a strong chance of a clearly recognisable tonal or staging ‘dip’ between the speakers; nothing of the sort happened, and you’re left with the sound of a close-mic’d scribbler at their desk… rendered perfectly. For a big loudspeaker, it gets out of the way almost completely.

So it was with each successive track. You were ‘in’ the music and the mix, not just in terms of soundstage, detail or dynamics; you had an emotional connection with the sounds being made on a level that only seems to happen rarely. It’s why people are still bonded to their electrostatic designs and why others have their loudspeaker ‘forever home’ in horn loudspeakers. The two do things very differently, but I always maintained that if you could mix the transparency of a panel with the energy of a horn – without taking on the downsides of both types of design – you’d have a loudspeaker that gets tantalisingly close to the real deal. Or at least, it gets us all out of Base Camp on our climb up the mountain.

Something different

The Autobiography does just that. And in the process, pushing the sonic envelope does something different for the listener; it bypasses the audiophile-noodling part and reconnects with the music on a very deep level. Sure, being able to feel at least some of that 32’ organ pipe in Westminster Abbey pumping out 16 Hz is a remarkable experience (and not one you get from a CD; you need someone who was there with recording equipment that can process sub-20 Hz sounds). But once you get past the impressive, you start to unpack the personal, the music with meaning. And for once, that meaning jumps out at you immediately.

I found myself drawn to playing intensely personal tracks. I chose to play ‘I Loved a Man’ from the 1958 West End production of Valmouth, not because it’s a good recording – it isn’t. Not even because I knew the voice well – although I did. I chose to play it because some know the singer as Patsy Rowlands, but I knew her as ‘mum.’ Some atavistic part of my brain knew I’d be able to hear her voice in a way I hadn’t since she died 21 years ago.

Memorable moments

The Autobiography does that for you… The clue is in the name. Had I had more time with the loudspeaker, I would have been drawn to those memorable moment tracks; the one that was playing when you met your better half. That music that was playing in the background when you heard something life-changing.

Maybe it was the jet lag talking, but that night, around 4am, I found myself wide awake, crying over the loss of my mother, something I hadn’t done in years. That’s the impact these speakers can have on you. It’s more than a humbling musical experience. It’s something far deeper that gets you more in tune with the music than you might ever expect.

Three kinds of Autobiographers

There are three types of music lovers for whom the Wilson Audio Autobiography will resonate: owners of the WAMM Master Chronosonic, owners of the Master Chronosonic XVX, and those seeking the ultimate in loudspeaker performance.

The first of those is perhaps the most interesting of the three; I suspect those hoping for second-hand WAMM Master Chronosonics to appear may be disappointed. That’s not because of the performance; it’s for the same reason Ferrari owners who have an F40 will never part with it. The F40 was Enzo Ferrari’s last project before he passed, and the WAMM Master Chronosonic was Dave Wilson’s last, great project. I think it’s more likely that many WAMM Master Chronosonic owners will ‘second home’ that loudspeaker but will place the Autobiography in their main system.

With the two other groups, things get a lot easier. The only qualifiers to the Autobiography discussion in both cases are “how soon can I get a pair?” and “which colour scheme do I choose?” That last might prove long-winded.

This is as far as I go with the Wilson Audio Autobiography. I couldn’t fit a pair into my listening room and even if I could, for me it would be less of a ‘purchase’ and more of a ‘mortgage.’ But there will be buyers, and those lucky few will have one of the best musical experiences they can get this side of the real thing. And last time I looked, neither Jimi Hendrix nor Bill Evans is touring these days. Should the rest of us be jealous? A bit, but we should also hope that what makes the Wilson Audio Autobiography so good can filter down to our orbits.

Technical Specifications

Drivers: Forward firing 25.4mm dome tweeter, rear firing 25.4mm inverted dome tweeter, two 50mm upper midrange domes, two 178mm lower midrange cones, 1x 305mm woofer, 1x 381mm woofer:
Enclosures & Materials: Sealed cabinet forward-firing tweeter, rear-vented upper-midrange units, bottom vented lower midrange units, front-or-rear ported bass cabinet
Sensitivity: 89.5 dB @ 1W @ 1m @ 1kHz
Impedance: 4 ohms / minimum 2.1 ohms @ 293 Hz
Frequency Response: 18 Hz – 36 kHz ±2dB : Room Average Response [RAR]
Dimensions (WxDxH): 55x206x55cm
Weight: 372.4 kg per speaker

Manufacturer

Wilson Audio

wilsonaudio.com

UK Distributor

Absolute Sounds

absolutesounds.com

+44(0)208 971 3903

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Fyne Audio F701SP

The Fyne Audio range of loudspeakers can be bewildering; sometimes, they’re keen to ensure every available market niche is covered and preferably overlapped. While this means that for the most part, regardless of what your needs, there will be a Fyne Audio loudspeaker to meet them, this does risk creating something akin to menu paralysis (“Do I want this one, or should I stretch the budget to that one, and if so, what about that other one…?”) and confusion (“So, remind me, what’s this one called…?”). It sometimes helps to think of them as a Friends episode: ‘The one that looks like a 1960s studio monitor’ or ‘The one that looks like a New York fire hydrant’. Or is that just me?

The F700 range is ‘The ones with the cool, boat-backed cabinets’, ranging from the 5” F700 bookshelf to the 12” F704 floorstander. And now there are SP (Special Production) variants of the F701 (8” stand-mount), F702 (8” floorstander) and F703 (10” floorstander), the F701SP, F702SP and F703SP, respectively. The SP suffix means that they use the F700 series cabinets married up to the same driver and crossover tech as the top-end F1 series (‘The ones that look like a New York fire hydrant’), which is to say, their highest-spec drivers and (in-house cryogenically treated) crossovers employing high-grade components such as ClarityCap capacitors and Neotech PC-OCC wiring.

Until now, the F1 series had a significant performance advantage over the F700 series, but the F1 series’ looks are somewhat polarising. Not everybody appreciates the form-follows-function approach of the F1-8 (and its bigger siblings), and I suspect the SP series might find favour with some of those folk. It certainly should. The F701SP is a stand-mount/bookshelf design with Fyne’s top-end 8” point source driver – realistically, though, you’re not going to get the best from a pair of £6,500 loudspeakers on a bookshelf, so let’s go with ‘stand-mount.’

Style with function

The elegantly curved and skilfully crafted cabinet appears modern and will attract those who prefer a contemporary style. However, like all Fyne products, this piece is not just about aesthetics; the cabinet’s curves disrupt internal standing waves, and its extensively braced design utilises high-density birch plywood for enhanced sonic neutrality. The F701SP features an IsoFlare design, which includes a 200mm mixed-fibre mid/bass cone and a 25mm magnesium dome compression tweeter co-located in Fyne’s classic point source configuration, ensuring that the acoustic centres of both drivers align for optimal time and phase coherence with an isotropic radiation pattern. An internal waveguide for the tweeter provides a flat frequency response and minimises internal reflections.

The main driver uses Fyne’s fluted roll surround, which reduces reflections from the edge of the driver cone, where it fixes to the structure. It’s a very classy unit and easily justifies using the high-class crossover componentry it receives here. The crossover supports bi-wiring, and Fyne supplies nicely made links for single-wired use, with no horrid bits of bent brass on the terminals; it also benefits from their in-house deep cryogenic treatment, which carefully controls the cooling and warming cycle to better suit the needs of the components, not a generic cryo cycle. That’s one benefit of making these loudspeakers locally in Fyne’s new Glasgow factory.

Layin’ down some Trax

F701SP’s bottom plate features Fyne’s ‘BassTrax’ tractrix diffuser, which deflects the cabinet’s downward-firing reflex port output into a spherical, 360-degree wavefront. This port design minimises any ‘noises off’ from the port and helps the bass output drive the room with fewer constraints as to placement. It’s not a small cabinet; the port aperture and diffuser add a little height and weigh in at a reasonably chunky 14kg, but the neatness of the design means it’s relatively unobtrusive and looks smaller than it is.

Aesthetically, I’ve always liked the F700 series’ boat-backed style, and it’s clean, modern, and unfussy. The F701SP comes in standard gloss walnut, black and white piano finishes. However, there’s also a matt natural walnut option, and all finishes cost the same. The curved, sloping top panel also helps reduce the impression of size, though it does make it more difficult to confirm the levelling of the speaker. Fyne offers matching speaker stands, which provide mass-loading options.

The level of performance available from the F701SPs does mean that it rewards the time and care taken with ancillaries, setup and placement. Such attention delivers a level of focus, precision and control, which is by no means a given at this price. Once correctly set up, there’s a directness to the F701SP’s delivery, which some may initially find disconcerting, but I’d say this is one of the speaker’s great strengths – it does an outstanding job of simply getting out of the way of the music.

Directness

Take ‘Giants Causeway’ from the Chaos Orchestra album Island Mentality [Chaos Collective], for example. There’s an immediacy and vitality here, a raw energy reminiscent of a live event: ebullient, free and unconstrained, raucous in the best sense. It’s an album of talented musicians having a great time, and the F701SP serves as our party invitation. ‘Landing Ground’, the title track from Laura Jurd’s previous album [Chaos Collective], is tight, fast and tuneful; the choppy strings, piano and bass are immaculately timed and placed, allowing for a greater appreciation of the fluidity of Jurd’s phrasing on the trumpet.

The whole is like a beautifully seasoned dish, with nothing out of place, all designed to work together; speakers who deliver in a clumsy manner or demonstrate uneven timing make it significantly harder to appreciate the music and the musicianship involved here. This is why the F701SP’s directness is such a strength.

Lest you suspect this is merely code for ‘brash’, I have heard the Paul Tortelier/Jean Hubeau recording of the Fauré Élégie [Erato] sound glassy and hard on some systems; however, through the F701SPs, Tortelier’s cello is richly woody and sonorous, beautifully contrasted against a crisp, clean piano tone. The playing is at times emphatic, bold and assertive, while at other times lyrical, featuring liquid phrasing and subtlety that only two musicians who understand each other could achieve without it sounding overwrought. An album of emotive music devoid of histrionics and any hint of brashness would disrupt the spell. Similarly, the ‘Benedictus’ from Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man [Virgin Records] transitions from heartbreakingly sentimental to a sudden, full-throated celebration. On a less nuanced system, this can feel like a disconnect and a bit gauche. Here, it makes more sense, reflecting the mixed feelings at war’s end through the juxtaposition of joy and loss.

Joanna MacGregor’s performance of ‘Libertango’ on Live in Buenos Aires [Sound Circus] was supposed to be accompanied by the Britten Sinfonia, with whom she was touring. However, they could not perform that piece with her that night. Instead, she played it solo, with an almost defiant energy that renders the orchestra’s role nearly redundant and fully deserves the tumultuous applause she receives. It’s a tour de force that many stand-mount loudspeakers struggle to portray convincingly because it requires scale, weight, dynamic energy, control and agility. That’s a big ask for any loudspeaker; stand-mounts can offer agility and focus, but not always back it up with scale and energy. Thus, the fact that the Fyne Audio F701SP handled it quickly emphasises what a particularly communicative loudspeaker it is.

Fyne line

There is a fine line between exciting and overblown, and the Fyne Audio F701SP navigates it exceptionally well. These are not simply party tricks; the driver and cabinet possess enough scale and reach to deliver outstanding performance in any standard-sized room, whether on a large scale or with more intimate music. They also exhibit the sophistication and agility to tackle complex or demanding material. The F701SP features excellent timing, precision in the leading edges of notes, a rich tonality and a natural sense of air and space. Its dynamic range breathes freely, lacking any prominent reserve or constraint, establishing it as a versatile speaker of considerable talent. If, like me, you occasionally experience menu paralysis, the Fyne Audio F701SP may be the only loudspeaker you require.

Technical specifications

Type: Two-way bookshelf/stand-mount loudspeaker, reflex ported, downwards-firing port with Tractrix diffuser.
Driver complement: 1 x 200mm IsoFlare point source driver, multi-fibre bass/midrange cone, FyneFlute™ surround with 25mm magnesium dome compression tweeter, ferrite magnet system
Crossover frequency: 1.8kHz
Crossover type: Bi-wired passive low loss, 2nd order low pass, 1st order high pass. Deep Cryogenic Treatment
Power handling: continuous 90W RMS, peak 360W (recommended amplifier power output: 30-180W RMS)
Frequency response: (-6dB in-room, typical) 35Hz-34kHz
Impedance: Nominal 8Ω
Sensitivity: 90dB @ 2.83V / 1 metre
Dimensions (HxWxD): cabinet: 465 x 278 x 393mm
Weight: 14.0Kg each
Finishes: Piano Gloss Walnut; Piano Gloss Black; Piano Gloss White; Satin Natural Walnut
Price: £6,500, $9,000, €7,700 per pair
FS6 611mm stand: £600, $849, €698
FS8 644mm mass-loaded stand inc cable management and 2-layer base plate: £1,099, $1,599, €1,299

Manufacturer

Fyne Audio Limited

Belshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland

fyneaudio.com

+44(0)141 428 4008

Accuphase E-700

Accuphase has an impressive track record in Class A and Class AB amplifiers. The company was started in 1972 in Japan by brothers Nakaichi and Jiro Kasuga as Kensonic and, 10 years later, changed its name to Accuphase, which is derived from ACCUrate and PHASE. Over the intervening years, it introduced more than 240 different models and currently produces mainly amplifiers and CD players.

Class A amplifiers have long been praised for their sound quality. My very first proper hi-fi amplifier was the original Sugden A48, and it was a sweet-sounding amp, too—one reason I was keen to try out a modern-day Class A design.

Uncommon

Class A amps are less common than Class AB as they are less efficient (typically less than 30% compared with 50 to 70% for Class AB) and run hot, so their power output is often limited. They get hot because the power output transistors run at higher bias levels than in Class AB and are always on, drawing constant current even when idle. However, because they are always on, they avoid the crossover and other distortions that occur when the transistors in a Class AB design come close to the zero point as the waveform ‘crosses over’ from the positive to the negative swing of the signal. This zero-point crossover gives Class A amplifiers a superior sound.

The E-700 (35W) is the latest Accuphase Class A integrated amplifier, launched last year. At £10,500, it sits below the Class A E-800S (50W) at £14,000 and replaces the old E-650. Accuphase also has two Class AB amps in the range—the E-5000 (240W) at £12,500 and the E-4000 (180W) at £8,500, with a model below that expected later this year.

The E-700 is a Class A monoblock design rated at 35W into 8 ohms (the E-650 was 30W), 70W into 4 ohms (E650 – 60W), 140W into 2 ohms (E650 – 120W), and 160W into 1 ohm.

Flagship configuration

The power amplifier sections use the same configuration as the flagship E-800S, but with four sets of MOSFETs in a push-pull configuration as opposed to three in the E-650, with a beefy power supply using a sizeable toroidal transformer and large 56,000uF 50V filtering capacitors.

Accuphase quotes a high damping factor of 1,000 for the E-700 (up 25% on the E-650) thanks to the lower output impedance of the four-fold output stage, its negative feedback circuitry and the use of a MOSFET switch for speaker protection as opposed to mechanical relays.

In the preamp section, Accuphase has introduced a totally new AAVA volume control circuit that does away with the conventional variable resistor approach, which, it says, has an adverse effect on sound because of changes in impedance, especially at settings that correspond to normal listening levels. Instead, it feeds the input signal to a voltage/current converting amplifier, where 16 switches provide more than 65,000 possible volume steps. The signal then passes through the ANCC noise-cancelling circuit, which is said to improve noise performance drastically.

Action-packed

Being a Japanese product, you will not be surprised to hear that the E-700 bristles with facilities. The front panel looks minimalist at first glance, with two large knobs to select input and adjust the volume on either side of the central VU meters. Flip down the hinged flap under the meters, however, and you will find rotary switches for speaker selection and tone controls, balance, a power amp in selector (balanced or line) and monitor loop, plus buttons for DAC (optional extra board), MM/MC and MC load (if using optional phono board), subsonic filter and phase inverter (when using a separate preamp) and one to take the tone controls out of circuit. Next to that flap is a headphone jack and an attenuator button that cuts the volume by 20 dB.

On the rear panel, the E-700 provides five line-level RCA inputs, two sets of balanced XLR inputs, a monitor loop for a recorder or equaliser/signal processor, preamp out and in – balanced and unbalanced – plus two sets of speaker binding posts for either two sets of speakers or one pair bi-amped or bi-wired. There is no built-in DAC or phono input, but these are available as optional plug-in boards.

A Class A act

I was lucky enough to get to listen to the E-700 not only in my home system, using an Audio Note CD-T Five transport and Audio Note DAC Five Special through Russell K Red 150Se speakers, but also in the listening room at retailer Signals near Felixstowe – I’d just dropped in for a day’s visit while visiting a friend in the area – where it joined an Accuphase DP-770 CD player and Dynaudio Contour Legacy speakers. My listening comments encompass both sessions but suffice it to say that my impressions of the E-700 were identical in both locations.

UK distributor MusicWorks also supplied me with their own ReFlex Ultra G5 mains distribution block with ReVive Ultra II mains leads, which made quite a remarkable and worthwhile improvement to the performance of my home system compared with a standard mains block and leads.

When I settled down to listen, it was clear from the first few bars of Ben Sidran’s ‘Shine a Light on Me’ from his Enivré d’Amour CD that the E-700 was a class act. The bass line that drives this superb track along is tight, deep and melodic, and the drumkit has excellent dynamics and punch, while delicate cymbal detail was well separated and presented. Sidran’s vocals were open, well focused and articulate, and his play on the DX7 synth was easy to follow. The track really moved well, and its quirky rhythms were well portrayed.

All wheat, no chaff

Another track that sorts the wheat from the chaff is guitar legend Larry Carlton’s fantastic version of the Doobies’ ‘Minute by Minute’ on his Discovery album. This track has a wonderfully sinuous bass line with some great twists and turns, and the E-700 conveys it with great control, weight, and movement. Carlton’s guitar was well-voiced, and I could hear how each note was shaped and played. Drumkit also had a great snap and syncopation with good dynamics.

My favourite Bruce Springsteen track is ‘Racing in the Streets’ from his Darkness on the Edge of Town album. I played it on the E-700 as it is an excellent test of a system thanks to its superbly open vocal and piano on the intro and a bass line that will blow your socks off. The E-700 passed with flying colours – his voice was open and expressive, the piano had weight, presence and space around it, and when that superb bass line kicked in, it was deep, tight, agile and easy to follow. And when the bass guitar and kick drum played together, it was tight and rock solid. It conveys the sheer energy and dynamics of the track well, and the powerfully emotive vocals make this track unique.

Although I enjoyed playing many more tracks during my time with the E-700, the last track I will share with you is ‘No One Emotion’ from George Benson’s superb 20/20 album. This track flies along at a breakneck pace and has fantastic energy, driven by a compelling and gorgeous bass synth line. The E-700 conveyed the sheer drive of this track, while Benson’s vocals were open and delivered with great emotion and the panache that makes Benson special.

During my time with the E-700, I also had another well-respected rival that cost a little less than the E-700, which I greatly liked. What struck me about the E-700 compared with that amp was how much more dynamic and exciting it was without fatigue. The E-700 had a dynamic energy that the cheaper rival lacked and more significant insights into musicianship and vocal delivery.

Authority

No matter what I threw at the E-700, whether vocals from Randy Crawford, Luther Vandross, or John Mellencamp, rock from ZZ Top, or jazz from Miles Davis or Lee Ritenour, the amp took it all in its stride. ZZ Top rocked, while the subtle, understated, yet equally successful at those powerful nuances that make Miles Davis’s trumpet play a sublime experience.

The Accuphase E-700 is an exceptional performer. It has authority, power, dynamics, rhythmic energy, and grip while offering subtlety and inner detail where it is needed. When someone really hits a tom or snare, the E-700 conveys its impact and delights the listener with subtle insights into a delicate cymbal line or the technique and style of a skilled guitarist or sax player.

I truly enjoyed my time with the E-700. It offers superb performance at the price and you’d be very unwise not to consider it if you have around £10k burning a hole in your pocket.

Technical specifications

Type: Class A integrated amplifier
Inputs: Five RCA line inputs, RCA unbalanced and XLR balanced preamp in. Plug-in DAC and Phono boards available as optional extras
Outputs: Unbalanced and balanced preamp output, monitor loop, headphone jack, two pairs of speaker binding posts
Power output: 35W into 8 ohms, 70W into 4 ohms, 140W into 2 ohms, 160W into 1 ohm
Frequency response: 20Hz – 20kHz +0, -0.5dB (at rated output)
THD: 0.05% (2-4 ohm load), 0.03% (8-16 ohm load) (20-20kHz at rated output)
Signal-to-noise ratio: 103dB
Damping factor: 1,000
Dimensions (WxHxD): 465mm x 191mm x 428mm
Weight: 24.9kg
Price: £10,500, $16,975, €11,490

Manufacturer

Accuphase Laboratory Inc

accuphase.com

UK distributor

MusicWorks

musicworks-hifi.com

+44(0)161 491 2932