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Over the years, the BBC has done arguably more that any other broadcaster to push the boundaries of audio performance. Perhaps the best known fruit of its labour comes in the small but perfectly formed cabinet of the LS3/5A studio monitor loudspeaker. Originally produced for outside broadcast vans, it went on to become commercially available and is rightly recognised as something of a classic. Perhaps not so well known, but equally important in the grand scheme of things were BBC sound engineers Lee Taylor and Mallory Nicholls. When they decided to go out on their own and form a company with a monicker that was a coming together of their first names, few would have dared predict just how far the pair would go. Jump forward to the current day, and Leema Acoustics is widely recognised as a no-nonsense brand that has developed a reputation for doing things its own way. But not in a flamboyant way, instead following a belief that its approach is the one that yields the best results, and so far it’s not gone too far wrong.

Elemental my dear reader
The Elements Series (consisting of CD, DAC, preamplifier, power amplifier and ultra phono stage) make up Leema’s entry-level components, and behind their relatively sensible price point are some distinctly impressive specs. Today our focus is on the gorgeous half-width Elements integrated amplifier. As well as a set of XLR inputs, it is fitted with three RCAs, three optical and a single coaxial input alongside a USB port. For such a small box, that’s an awful lot of connectivity. Claiming to deliver 56W into 8ohm, 110W into 4ohm and 160W into 2ohm, the Elements Integrated Amplifier is designed to get the very best from whatever loudspeaker you decide to partner it with. The on-board DAC is capable of handling 24-bit/192kHz files, there’s a built-in headphone amplifier and there’s also full LIPS implementation so that it can be integrated with other Leema products for complete system control.

Although we’ve not had the pleasure of getting acquainted with the Elements Integrated Amplifier on the HFC test bench, we did feature it as part of our Beautiful System back in HFC 397 and were suitably impressed by what we heard. “The control it exerts over the speakers is absolute. The sound engineering background of the founders is apparent in the accuracy, but this never steps into ruthless dissection of poorer recordings”. To stand a chance of winning the half-width hero for yourself, answer the simple question on our website.

To be in with a chance of winning answer this simple question:

Where did Leema's sound engineer founders start their careers? 

A) BBC
B) ITV 2
C) Sky News

Click here to submit your answer and enter the competition