ALPHASON: What happened?

“Made the HR100S and HR100s MCS arms in the late 80’s early 90’s, it’s a medium compliance unit featuring a ultra rigid design machined from titanium right from the bearing to headshell as a one piece, features a ceramic gimbal bearings and was designed by Mike Knowles, the Xenon was a slightly cheaper version of […]

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AMPLIFIER STRESS: Is this why 4 Ohm loads stress amplifiers?

There have been quite a few questions lately regarding the safety (or otherwise) of driving 4 ohm speakers from amplifiers only rated to drive 8 ohm loads. Rather than just add to the mass of unsubstantiated conflicting opinions (e.g. “amplifier XXX is built like a tank, so it must be able to drive 4 ohm […]

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CONVERSATIONS WITH COLIN: Audiophile industry heroes

Hi Colin. Who if any are your audio designers heroes and why? Thanks. Nigel Beethoven (no jokes please) Hello Nigel. Heroes is a bad thing to have as it puts normal humans on a dais and yet they are human. But the gents and ladies in this complex industry that I put up with; the […]

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Howard Popeck speaks at length to people with interesting things to say: Mr. Dominique Mafrand, the driving force behind French audio maker l’enceintebleue

Hello Dominique. How did your interest in music reproduction start? It began when I was very young. One of my four brothers studied electronics at school and found a job in a French company called Ferisol manufacturing professional electronics equipment for the industry. It was back in 1960/1965. It was the beginning of pop music […]

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HARBETH: Spendors comparable to Harbeth C7ES3?

Hi all. It seems like Spendors and Harbeths share a lot of qualities, while the Spendors seem to be less expensive. Are any Spendor models comparable to C7ES3s? I really like what I’ve read about the Harbeths, but they aren’t available in my area while Spendors are. Any other similar speakers to consider? Please click […]

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