Happy Monday and welcome to the latest entry in our regular hi-fi and home cinema news digest, Rewind.
The heatwave may be over in our native Blighty, but that hasn’t stopped a wealth of hot new hardware from flooding our review rooms, including a particularly capable set of affordable standmounts from Dali.
Here are all the facts on the top stories from last week.
Dali’s affordable standmounts are great
Dali is now officially one five-star review away from being on a hot streak. Following our five-star review of the firm’s Sonik 5 floorstanders, lightning struck again last week, with the smaller, more affordable Sonik 1 also earning top marks from our testers.
Designed to work in even the smallest spaces, while retaining Dali’s “iconic” sound, the Sonik 1 is one of the most affordable options you will find in the Danish brand’s current range. As we said in our review:
“With an expressive, well-balanced sound, these standmount speakers are an excellent pick for anyone seeking serious sonic performance in a compact package at this price.”
Read our full Dali Sonik 1 review
Monitor Audio updated its Silver range of speakers
Monitor Audio last week unveiled its new Silver Series 8G range of speakers. Designed for stereo and surround sound arrangements, the range includes seven models.
If you want floorstanders, there are two options: the top-end Silver 500 8G and the step-down Silver 300 8G. Below them, you then get the Silver 100 8G and Silver 50 8G standmounters.
For home cinema systems, it then features the Silver Centre 8G central channel and Silver AMS 8G Dolby Atmos-enabled height speakers. Finally, the range also includes a wall-mountable model, the Silver On-Wall 8G.
Specifications and pricing differ among each model, but every 8G speaker features Monitor Audio’s proprietary Ceramic-Coated Aluminium / Magnesium (C-CAM) driver material, which the firm claims will let them “set a new benchmark for high-fidelity performance”.
We’ll hopefully be able to check this claim if and when we get the new speakers into our listening rooms.
Read the full story: Monitor Audio updates its popular Silver range of speakers to “set a new benchmark for high-fidelity performance at its price”
Technics launched a limited edition turntable
The Technics SL-1200 is an iconic turntable, especially in DJ circles, thanks to its durable direct drive design. So much so that even if you’re not into vinyl, you would probably recognise at least one version of it. Which is why it’s no surprise the Japanese brand has decided to celebrate the iconic record spinner turning 55 by launching a nifty new SL-1200 55th Anniversary Edition model.
Designed to “pay tribute to a turntable lineage that has helped define DJ culture”, the unit comes with a golden design and a wealth of premium parts. The only downside is that you’ll have to act fast to get one, as Technics is only making 12,000 units globally. Pricing is yet to be revealed…
Read the full story: Technics is celebrating 55 years of its legendary SL-1200 turntable with a limited-edition design
A word of warning about dodgy new vinyl
There are a lot of misconceptions about vinyl. One of the biggest we hear, especially from people new to the format, is that a vinyl record will automatically be better than what you get on streaming services.
Sadly, that’s not always the case. We've talked a lot about the importance of which specific pressing you get, especially with older albums. But recently we’ve seen a new wave of first-time pressings arrive that are, frankly, not good enough.
These include releases from Raye, Charli xcx, Olivia Rodrigo, The Weeknd and more that are full of glaring omissions, ranging from unfinished mixes being used instead of the final cut to entire songs missing.
You've been warned.
Read the full story: Beware: these vinyl albums are actually worse than their streaming versions
MORE:
These are the best turntables we’ve tested
We rank the best bookshelf speakers
Our picks of the best surround sound systems
