Hi-Fi Choice

The Elements Pre-Amp is Leema Acoustics’ latest addition to its space-saving range of components. Retaining the same half-width chassis for which the range is famed, the Elements Pre-Amp also boasts an onboard digital-to-analogue converter. The result is a S/PDIF coaxial input, three S/PDIF optical inputs and an asynchronous USB port all capable of handling files up to 24-bit/192kHz resolution. Analogue inputs include three unbalanced RCA inputs, a pair of balanced XLRs and a 3.

Welcome to the May 2016 issue of Hi-Fi Choice – the essential guide to getting the best possible sound from your hi-fi, whether you're buying, tuning or tweaking. . . 

 If this month’s cover star is anything to go by, hi-res audio is gaining traction among serious audio fans.

Budget two-way speakers the LX-2 and LX-3 (shown) are the debut models from Mission’s latest entry-level loudspeaker range, the LX Series. Despite their affordable price tags, Mission informs us that the new models have been designed to deliver compelling musicality. For the LX Series the company has produced a tweeter with a neodymium magnet (selected for maximum magnetic force in such a small space) and a 25mm microfibre dome. This is partnered with the 130mm mid/bass driver unit (one in the case of the LX-2 and two for the LX-3), sporting cones fashioned from an advanced fibre formulation apparently selected for its superior self damping and excellent stiffness.

In the 1986 hit, Huey Lewis and the News famously sang: “It’s hip to be square”, but is it really? Could it be that the man behind the eighties powerhouse The Power Of Love hadn’t quite managed to get his facts straight? There’s no doubt that when it comes to the most popular shape for loudspeakers, square – or perhaps more precisely rectangular – is the way to go. But what if someone were to break from the norm and come up with something a little bit more exciting looking? Could it really be possible to get a high-end performance from a shape other than those boring four straight lines that make up an oblong? And while they’re carrying out the process ofreinventing the audio equivalent of the wheel, how about making just one of the things, rather than the pair that we’ve hadto make room for up to now? Enter the clever folk at Geneva, who with the AeroSphère Large (HFC 407) have created something that looks more like a piece of high-concept furniture than a way to impress your friends and terrify audio traditionalists. Beneath that slightly flattened 40cm orb, is a rather more angular forward-facing structure that houses two 25mm tweeters, a brace of 102mm mid/bass drivers and an upward-firing 152mm subwoofer. These are configured within three separate acoustic chambers and powered by individual, DSP-optimised Class D amplifiers capable of some cunning fine tuning to suit your room via a free app that can be downloaded from the Geneva website.