Hi-Fi Choice

Fine tune like a pro The dark art of subwoofer setup is explained in this fantastic series of videos produced by REL. Corner placement, orientation, phase, crossover and room correction for both two-channel and home cinema are all explored in depth. Click here to find out more. Sonos: Sound Tracks A fascinating series of videos by acclaimed music journalist Joe Levy, Sound Tracks is available to Tidal subscribers and features in-depth chat with producers, engineers and musicians about the tunesthat changed their lives.

Welcome to the AVTech Awards for 2017/18. Here, the UK’s premium AV magazine brands – Hi-Fi Choice, Home Cinema Choice and Hi-Fi News & Record Review – come together to celebrate the very best music and movie hardware you can buy. Every month we test and review more hi-fi, TV and home theatre equipment than any other organisation in the UK, and our annual Awards are informed by this pool of experience. Winning products range from headphones and portable music players to flagship floorstanding loudspeakers; from 4K TVs and projectors to Ultra HD Blu-ray players and AV receivers; from USB DACs and headphone amps to turntables, integrated and pre/power amplifiers and every black box and cable in between.

Despite the burgeoning popularity of the one-stop shop hi-fi component – to which one need only add speakers for a complete system covering all modern, non-physical digital media requirements – not everyone wants that degree of convergence and will happily settle for an integrated amp with on-board DAC and a decent phono stage. Canada’s Moon by Simaudio has, perhaps inevitably, just cracked that particular nut with the introduction of the Moon 240i integrated amp/DAC – essentially the company’s highly regarded Nēo Ace streaming integrated amp minus the streaming bit and a helpful £710 from the Ace’s asking price. As such, the £1,990 240i represents a new entry point for Moon’s neatly tiered integrated amp range, which peaks – via the 340i and 600i – with the 2x 175W 700i. We’re some way from that with the 240i, which quotes a more modest 50 Class A/B Watts per channel but, as ever, this is only a rough guide to speaker-driving ability and no guide at all to sound quality, an area in which Moon amps usually excel.

From the moment Rega revived its Planar name with the introduction of the Planar 1, Planar 2 (HFC 415) and Planar 3 (HFC 411) turntables in 2016, it was just a matter of time before an RP6 successor would become a reality. Rumours had been circulating for some time after the Planar 3 debuted well over a year ago, and anticipation was finally broken with the official announcement of the release of the new Planar 6 in mid-July. The good news is that it was well worth the wait. So much more than just a beefed-up version of its Planar 3 sibling, the Planar 6 boasts a new lightweight, single-piece plinth, improved two-piece platter and superior power supply design that borrows from Rega’s flagship RP10 turntable.