INSIDE OUR NEW ISSUE
Every issue of Sound+Image brings you the latest news, views, reviews and features on audio and AV equipment, reveals the entertainment they bring to your home, and tells you how to get the best personal musical experience when you're out and about.
Expert reviews tell you what you need to know about the latest gear - will it fit your home, does it have the facilities you need, and is its performance leading the pack?
Music and movie reviews and stories fill out your knowledge and give a fine read, while our Buying Guide is the ultimate way to create a short-list for your next purchase.
This issue in our cover story we detail two top home cinema designs - and their designers let you in on the secrets that lift them into a higher realm of movie magic...
GROUP TEST: STEREO WIRELESS SPEAKERS
Sensational sounds from simplified systems
We are great believers in speakers which have amplification built-in. They can be systems in themselves — stereo loudspeakers with built-in streaming and amplification, inputs for TVs and other sources. They can wildly simplify the traditional hi-fi system into something far more suited to the modern age, modern homes and modern décors. Instead of a stack of hi-fi components, you might reduce your system to a pair of streaming powered speakers with your TV plugged into them. A good pair of powered speakers used in this way will trounce the sound from your average soundbar and will very likely also provide a far neater solution.
Reviewed this issue:
Ruark MR1 Mk2
Klipsch The Fives
KEF LSX
DALI Oberon 1 C
Q Acoustics Q Active 200
ELAC Navis ARB-51
KEF LS50 Wireless II
Bowers & Wilkins Formation Duo
AND SO MUCH MORE...
Yamaha Aventage RX-A2A networked AV receiver
As this award-winning series of receivers enters its second decade, we review the first and most affordable release from the range.
BenQ TK700Sti 4K projector
Grab your SMG and prepare for action – BenQ’s TK700Sti is a next-gen 4K DLP projector with dedicated gaming-optimised modes.
JBL Synthesis HDI 5.1-channel speakers
What happens if we place award-winning floorstanders at the front of a full multichannel speaker package and start kicking out movies?
Hisense 75U80G 8K television
Once you get to 75 inches, is 4K UHD resolution enough to make the most of your screen real estate? We get hands-on with this 8K TV.
Musical Fidelity M3x Vinyl phono stage
Give your turntable a high-quality phono stage which will treat its output with respect.
Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition headphone amp/preamp
Naim’s new player focuses on headphones first – but it’s also a brilliant streaming preamplifier.
Boya BY-HP2 cabled headphones
No BT, no NC, just good old-fashioned cables. Result?
comment: WHAT PRICE HIGH-RES AUDIO?
Apple’s high-res move should shake up pricing.
home cinema 1: ENTERTAINMENT EXTENSION
We ask Wavetrain Cinemas’ David Moseley to explain some of the secrets behind this stunning home cinema with 165-inch screen.
home cinema 2: THE DIRECTOR’s CHAIR
Signature Cinemas converted this basement bunker into a screening room fit to deliver movies to the standard demanded by the director himself.
interview: PHILIP SWIFT, SPENDOR
From Lentek to Audiolab to Spendor, Philip Swift has always kept focused on the future. But here he looks back on his career a little as well.
legend: JEAN-LUC GODARD Has any other director ever owned a decade like Godard did the 1960s?
top 5: RECORD COMPANY SAMPLERS 84
Bargain compilations from the 1960s and 1970s delivered the promise of new music, and fame.
music reviews
From new Alice Cooper and Osibisa to reissues from Johnny Thunders, Lennon and McCartney
classic album: BLOOD SUGAR SEX MAJIK
The story of how the Chili Peppers matured, musically at least, with Rick Rubin at the helm.
BUYING GUIDE LISTINGS
Sound+Image #340 July-August 2021 is on sale now in print and digital issues.