News
New Sonus Faber Olympica Nova range
Sonus Faber have announced a brand new range of speakers, the Olympica Nova.
In the constant pursuit for advancement, Sonus faber has reinvented the collection that embodies the company’s stylistic manifesto, and which has contributed to building its identity internationally. This is how Olympica Nova was born - a revolutionary new range and true tribute to its predecessor, the original Olympica range. Characterised by the latest technologies melded with Sonus faber's artisanal craftsmanship, Olympica Nova adds a new dimension to the ‘Made in Italy’ history of Sonus faber.
Olympica Nova is where experience meets elegance. It is the distillation of our identity: Olympica Nova is Sonus faber.
While the new Olympica Nova embraces a design inspired by the original series, there is a trove of freshly developed technologies, from completely new drivers and crossovers, to a new real wood cabinet structure and internal volume tuning, together with a new exterior look. Of the seven models in the collection, three are all-new to the Olympica Nova line, including an on-wall model, a third and more powerful floor-stander (Nova V), and a larger center channel (Center II).
Rega Planar 8 Review
Brought to you by The Ear
A few years ago Rega set out to build the ultimate turntable, they looked at completely new ways to create a plinth with massive stiffness and negligible weight and used technology from F1 and aerospace to create the Naiad, the only cost no object product the company has ever built. The research that was done for that project proved to be invaluable for the development of more affordable turntables, the first one to really benefit was the RP8 launched five years ago. This was the first Rega to be built around a foam cored plinth cut down to skeletal form to keep the weight as low as possible. It didn’t always look skeletal because the removable surround gave it a conventional rectangular appearance, its real purpose was to provide hinge points for a lid. With the Planar 8 Rega have abandoned this approach and built an entirely skeletal turntable, their first unless you count the rare as hen’s teeth Naiad.
What’s more surprising is that the new plinth is a different shape to the RP8 (and likewise the RP10), presumably the decision to live without a lid and the requisite support gave Rega complete freedom in this respect. All a turntable plinth needs is a means of fixing the armbase, main bearing and motor plus legs placed such that it stays upright. The Planar 8 plinth is smaller than an RP8 and thus sheds a few grams but there must be another reason for the change. Those of a cynical bent it might think that the change away from an outer plinth was done to keep costs down, which is not a problem in my book. The RP8 maintained its £1,598 price point for five years during which time costs must have risen. It was incredibly good value in my book, easily the best turntable you could buy for the money so margins couldn’t have been that big in the first place...continue reading here
Check out pricing and specs here
So magnets are pretty rad!
It finally is here, it exists, its real, and it's hella cool.
All of the things we were promised in early sci-fi movies are coming to life and its awesome.
The new MAG LEV magnetic levitation turntable has finally landed at Miranda Hifi and our inner 8 year old selves could not be any more giddy if we tried. The MAG LEV ML1 features a fully levitating platter with electronic speed controller which allows you to swap between 33.3 and 45 RPM with ease. As it uses electromagnets speed control is very good and stable and platter stability is very good too and in turn removes the whole platter vibration issue. As with all turntables though, keep cats, footballs and small children away...
It utilises a 9" Project carbon tonearm so it is nice and stiff and light, and is semi-automatic. It will auto lift at the end of the record, no return though and it requires manual cueing.
Cartridge duties are taken care of by the workhorse Ortofon OM10. Whilst this will get you going, to really get the best out of it, we strongly recommend an upgrade to one of the 2M or preferably Quintet range.
So come on down to the store and marvel at the wonders of magnets, because magnets.
A.J. van Den Hul builds cartridge live!
This is an awesome event. We are very lucky to have A.J. van Den Hul showing us how he builds a high quality cartridge.
