Inspire Hi Fi's Black Magic Phono Stage

I don't think you will have many replies to this one because:-

a) it hasn't been available until recently

b) there are very few details, except possible a price, or photos of it (because inspires website is a bit of a mess)

c) none of the major magazines have reviewed it!

It is indeed a bit of a mess.  I wonder why it's only Hi Fi World that reviews Inspire kit.

Could it be that they are the only ones that Inspire send samples to?

If you don't have one in front of you then you cannot expect to get a review. I am sure WHFSAV would review it if they ever got one!

I assumed, maybe quite wrongly, that kit that gets reviewed was sometimes requested from the manufacturer rather than always offered by the manufacturer?  If it is sometimes requested, it would be interesting to know who declines to make their products available and why.

From what I've read on these forums you do assume quite wrongly.

I think it is highly unusual for magazines to ask for items for review purposes. They are hardly going to pay out to get an item in.

Most manufacturers ship a product to the magazines for review and it gets shipped around to others sooner or later.

Perhaps Inspire haven't any to ship. They certainly do not have any to photograph as you can see (or rather not) on their website.

Perhaps Andrew / moderators could inform us regards WHFSAV's policy on getting products for review.

With reference to the Black Magic Phono Stage and the same appliEs to our iStage. As a lot of people are aware we are extremely busy with our range of Turntables and although both the iStage and Black Magic are available, we are not in a postiion at the moment to widely market the two products, or have them reviewed. This may change after our recent relocation to larger premises. If anybody requires specifics about either of the two phono stages, please contact us direct.

As we have been so busy with our turntables we have put full production of the Phono stages on hold, which is why we have not put them on the website apart from the price list. In terms of the comment that our website is a mess, i feel this is not the case although we do have links to such as our retail outlet for other hi fi equipment which will be completed over the next few months. Most people find our website useful and exciting although not perfect, as with most small companies.

If anyone has queries on any of our products, feel free to contact us direct.

Robert Isherwood

Managing Director

Inspire Hi Fi Ltd

I've contacted Robert directly (very speedy reply) and I hope to trial an iStage before too long.