News

Welcome to the January issue!
News of the recent passing of the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh reminded me of the monstrous Alembic ‘Wall Of Sound’ system the band briefly took out on tour back in 1974. Designed to deliver the highest possible sound quality, it accommodated Lesh’s bass through a quadraphonic encoder that sent signals from each of the four strings to a separate channel and speakers for each individual string!

The setup sounded incredible, but was so enormous it all-but bankrupted the band trying to transport it from venue to venue and had to be scrapped after seven months. A folly, then, but a fine one.

No such problems, luckily, with the quartet of standmounts featured in this issue. Monitor Audio’s Studio 89, System Audio’s Signature 5, Chario’s Aviator Ghibli and our cover star, SVS’ Ultra Evolution Nano, all offer stunning clarity and admirable power without busting the bank or taking over hefty space in your chosen listening room.

Also in this issue you’ll find our biggest ever Audiofile section packed with new kit releases galore, a round up of this month’s key album releases and our 13-page Buying Guide full of all the best equipment we’ve reviewed over the past few months.

Plenty to keep you informed and entertained.

Enjoy!