SOUND + IMAGE magazine offers a comprehensive package focused on lifestyle home electronic entertainment. It provides easy-to-read information about audio and video equipment and how ordinary consumers can assemble extraordinary systems that look and sound fantastic.
Dynamic tension • The Editor likes it louder…
Sound + Image
Marantz Harmonies
FEATURE OVERLOAD! JBL's all-dancing Pro 3 TWS
Northern lights
Beyer goes big for 100
Model 10 a ‘special recipe’
More Michi
Merlin ‘plus’
SVS drops 17-inch subs
Lumagen processing for less
Vivid Audio Moya M1 • The UK's Royal Ascot Racecourse plays host to the UK Hi-Fi Show Live in September; the venue also transforms in the evening to host the EISA Awards Gala, so we had two good reasons to head over this year. This an unusual venue: vast spaces and widely varied rooms of solid concrete, yet also window walls of glass. Here are our top spaces and new releases from this year's show: Editor Jez was, as so often, on the floor…
dCS Varèse
D'Agostino Momentum C2 (and friends)
Going steady • Sony's latest projector, also called the ‘Bravia 8’, shows the innate benefit of native 4K, in addition to impressive motion handling and easy set-up, plus one of our favourite ever remote controls.
SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED • The design of this CEDIA-winning home cinema was simplified by the owner selecting one of the six ‘Signature Series’ options offered by Wavetrain Cinemas.
WAVETRAIN CINEMAS Signature Series
ALL-IN-ONES • We generally preach the sermon of hi-fi separates: a big system for a big sound. But sometimes you just want it all in a simple package. So here we continue our search for the best all-in-one single-box solutions.
Meridian Ellipse • Grand sound here, although with a five-grand price: Meridian's Ellipse may be the best small wireless speaker we've ever heard, but we are a tad shocked by the tag.
Revo SuperConnect Stereo • In the 10 years since the original SuperConnect launched, Revo has changed ownership twice and found a new home in Australia. The new SuperConnect Stereo streaming radio shows that the company hasn't lost its mojo.
Audio Pro C20 • It looks minimalist, but this stylish Scandi-design system is in fact well-equipped with inputs and streaming, while delivering fantastic all-in-one performance for the money.
Ruark R1S • A classic digital and FM radio updated to include Spotify and streaming… with the surprise being how good a sound this relatively small box can deliver.
JBL Xtreme 4 • Not a boom box! As with its predecessor, the rugged exterior of the portable Xtreme 4 hides a performance which can surprise hi-fi fans as well as getting beachgoers dancing round the firepit.
Clear attraction • Discoveries during the pandemic led Pro-Ject to create this new acrylic turntable which brings the bonus of an new type of cartridge: balanced moving-magnet.
Starter spinner • Audio-Technica brings a just-above-entry-level deck which should appeal to those looking to start a relationship with vinyl, or for those who are getting back to black.
Modern legends • Musical Fidelity presents a 50-year-old loudspeaker design originally intended for use in BBC vans. Does it retain any relevance to the modern world of hi-fi? (Spoiler: yes it does.)
Zildjian makes a splash • A 17th-century cymbal maker turns its hand to wireless noise-cancelling headphones. We expected a branding exercise, but the Alchem-Es prove genuinely different — protective, corrective, enjoyable, and especially attractive for drummers.
Is your streaming lossless? • Are you getting a full flow, or a drip-feed? Tidal and Spotify offer different levels of music streaming quality, but...