CLASSICS
60 HI-FI WORLD SEPTEMBER 2019 http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk
SPENDOR BC1 1976 £240
Celestion HF1300 tweeter meets bespoke Spendor
Bextrene mid-bass unit. The result is a beautifully
warm yet focussed sound. A little bass bloom
necessitates careful low-stand mounting.HH ELECTRONICS TPA-50D AMPLIFIERS
1973 £110
Simple design with easily available components,
solid build quality and fine sound make for a sur-
prisingly overlooked bargain. Not exactly stylish,
however.BBC LS3/5A 1972 £88
Extremely low colouration design is amazing in
some respects – articulation, stage depth, clarity- and useless in others (both frequency extremes).
Came in wide variety of guises from various manu-
facturers building it under licence.
LEAK SANDWICH 1961 £39
EACH
Warm sounding infinite baffle that, with a reason-
ably powerful amplifier can sound quite satisfying.QUAD ESL57 1956 £45
EACH
Wonderfully open and neutral sound puts box
loudspeakers to shame. Properly serviced they give
superb midband performance, although frequency
extremes less impressive. Ideally, use in stacked
pairs or with subwoofers and supertweeters.
SYSTEMS
MERIDIAN SOOLOOS 2.1 2010 £6,990
Crisp styling, bright, colourful touchscreen, plus
excellent search facilities. This is one hard disk
music system with a difference. Best partnered to
Meridian active loudspeakers.NAIM UNITIQUTE 2010 £995
Great little half width one-box system with truly
impressive sound allied to a wealth of source
options.ARCAM SOLO MINI 2008 £650
Half the size and two-thirds the price of a full-sized
Solo, the Mini gives very little away in terms of
performance to it bigger brother.MERIDIAN F80 2007 £1,500
Fantastically built and versatile DVD/CD/DAB/FM/
AM unit, designed in conjunction with Ferrari.
Ignore nay-sayers who sneer that it isn’t a ‘proper’
hi-fi product. Just listen.
MARANTZ ‘LEGEND’ 2007 £22,000
The combination of SA-7S1 disc player, SC-7S2
preamp and MA-9S2 monoblocks delivers jaw-
dropping performance.SHANLING MC-30 2007 £650
Quite possibly the cutest all-in-one around with fine
performance from the CD player, tuner and MP3
player input. Very low power, though.AURA NOTE PREMIER 2007 £1,500
Lovely shiny CD/tuner/amplifier with fine sound
quality and dynamic abilities.ARCAM SOLO NEO 2006 £1,100
Excellent all-in-one system, with a warm, smooth
and balanced sound to match the features and
style.PEACHTREE AUDIO IDECCO £1,000
Excellent sounding iPod dock, impressive DAC and
fine amplifier section make this an excellent one
box style system.TUNERS
ARCAM FMJ T32 2009 £600
Excellent hybrid FM/DAB+ tuner with a smooth,
engaging sound. Factor in its fine build and it’s a
super value package.MAGNUM DYNALAB MD-100T 2006 £1,895
One of the best ways to hear FM that we know;
superbly open and musical sound in a quirky but
characterful package.
MYRYAD MXT4000 2005 £1,000
Sumptuous sound and top-notch build quality make
for a tempting AM/FM package. Warm and richly
detailed on good-quality music broadcasts.
NAIM NAT03 1993 £595
The warm, atmospheric sound is further proof of
Naim's proficiency with tuners.CREEK CAS3140 1985 £199
Excellent detail, separation and dynamics - bril-
liantly musical at the price. T40 continued the
theme...QUAD FM4 1983 £240
Supreme ergonomics allied to a pleasingly lyrical
sound with plenty of sweetness and detail made
this one of the best tuners around upon its launch.NAD 4040 1979 £79
Tremendously smooth and natural sound allied to
low prices and good availability make this budget
analogue esoterica.MARANTZ ST-8 1978 £353
Marantz's finest radio moment. Warm, organic
sound plus an oscilloscope for checking the signal
strength and multipath.YAMAHA CT7000 1977 £444
Combines sleek ergonomics, high sensitivity and an
explicit, detailed sound.SONY ST-5950 1977 £222
One of the first Dolby FM-equipped tuners, a for-
mat that came to nought. Still, it was Sony’s most
expensive tuner to date, and boasted good sound
quality with brilliant ergonomics.ROGERS T75 1977 £125
Superb mid-price British audiophile design, com-
plete with understated black fascia.Smooth and
sweet with fine dimensionality.SANSUI TU-9900 1976 £300
A flagship Japanese tuner. It boasts superlative
RF performance and an extremely smooth and
lucid sound.TECHNICS ST-8080 1976 £180
Superb FM stage makes for a clean and smooth
listen.REVOX B760 1975 £520
The Revox offers superlative measured performance
although the sound isn’t quite as staggering as the
numbers. Fine nonetheless, and surely the most
durable tuner here?SEQUERRA MODEL 1 1973 £1300
Possibly the ultimate FM tuner. Massive in terms of
technology, size and features dedicated to extract-
ing every ounce of performance from radio, includ-
ing impressive multi-purpose oscilloscope display.LEAK TROUGHLINE 1956 £25
Series I an interesting ornament but limited to
88-100MHz only. II and III are arguably the best-
sounding tuners ever. Adaptation for stereo easy via
phono multiplex socket. Deliciously lucid with true
dimensionality.