Awards 2011

A great high-end product should combine breath-taking performance with technical innovation and ground-breaking design. Out of all the loudspeakers we have tested over the last year, the KEF Blade best embodies these attributes. Based around the earlier Concept Blade, the production model shares the striking lines and incredibly clever ‘Single Apparent Source’ technology that creates an astoundingly cohesive soundstage from the multiple drivers.

PRICE: £20,000
TYPE: Loudspeaker
TELEPHONE: 01622 672261
WEBSITE: kef.co.uk

Krell is one of the defining high-end brands and the Cipher is a classic example of what it’s capable of when pulling out all the stops. This is a technological showcase that is designed to extract the absolute maximum from both CD and SACD, including multichannel discs. No expense has been spared on the lavishly finished casework, the extensive power supply arrangements and the very sophisticated balanced DAC arrangement. The result is a superlative performer.

PRICE: £12,000
TYPE: CD/SACD player
TELEPHONE: 020 8971 3909
WEBSITE: krellonline.com

The Onkyo pairing is the least expensive of our High End Award products, yet there is no doubt in our minds that they should be included. Incredible build quality, a feature set that makes them some of the most flexible components in their class and with a powerful sound, the Onkyo can tackle almost any speaker with any genre of music and never fail to sound in control and truly engrossing. This is a high-end champion at a real-world price point.

PRICE: £1,700/£2,500
TYPE: Pre/power amp
TELEPHONE: 01628 473350
WEBSITE: eu.onkyo.com