A few months into my new job as Managing Editor of What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision, the ink barely dry on the ‘S&V’ rebrand, an Apple press release arrived about a new portable music player, roughly the size of a pack of cards, that could hold a thousand songs.

I had joined What Hi-Fi? in 2001 from the computing and technology press, already fluent in digital and the impact the internet was having. I’d even met Steve Jobs. But in the rarefied world of hi-fi, all the iPod warranted in our November 2001 issue was 70 words in the News in Brief section, headlined “Apple’s MP3 Jukebox”.

But hey, What Hi-Fi? had been going 25 years by then – it had already seen a lot of newfangled things come and go.

A quarter of a century on from that passing mention, the iPod that changed everything is itself a museum piece – while the physical formats that downloads then streaming were supposed to kill are having the last laugh. The vinyl revival continues apace, CD sales are enjoying a resurgence, and even cassettes are back in style.

And still, What Hi-Fi? covers it all – informing a growing global readership on how to enjoy more from your music, TV and movies – however and wherever you choose to consume them.

In my ten-year tenure at What Hi-Fi?, I was Managing Editor, Editor, Editor in Chief and Brand Director. I oversaw the launch of international editions, moved our test rooms to Teddington, hosted a decade of What Hi-Fi? Awards, and sat through more format wars than I care to remember – SACD vs DVD-Audio, Blu-ray vs HD-DVD, DTS vs Dolby vs THX and more. I watched plasma televisions rise, peak with Pioneer’s extraordinary Kuro and then quietly surrender to LCD (until OLED entered stage left).

I’d seen the hi-fi industry begin to consolidate, some great names disappear, and a few genuinely visionary engineers transform the way the world enjoyed music and movies.

We were never afraid to tell people what NOT to buy, either, especially during those febrile format wars. In the short-lived era of DVD recorders, with competing ‘standards’ to choose from, we urged consumer caution – our national media campaign of ‘Don’t buy a turkey for Christmas’ cost us a lot of advertising pages from irked manufacturers (my name was mud in the C-Suite).

But first, back 25 years to a day when all these things seemed utterly insignificant. On 11th September 2001, I was at a far-flung printing plant with our Production Editor, press-passing the latest issue of What Hi-Fi?. We weren’t entirely happy with the colour balance of the magazine since the redesign, so we were onsite to work with the printers to get things spot on.

Back then, a press pass involved much sitting around in a break room – TV news on in the background – waiting for the presses to be loaded up with the next section of the magazine. You’d then go into the print room – roaring presses churning out thousands of pages a minute – to review and agree output with the technicians.

Just before heading in to pass the first magazine section, the TV cut to pictures from New York, where it seemed a plane had accidentally hit the World Trade Center. By the time we took our next break, the second plane had struck the Twin Towers, and we realised the news was much, much darker.

The rest of that afternoon was surreal. Around us, other magazine makers and print staff were moving between stunned silence and urgent phone calls – frantically checking whether anything in their forthcoming issues needed to be pulled, whether any feature or advertisement was suddenly, horribly wrong for the moment. The ordinary machinery of publishing, grinding on, because it had to.

Somehow, we completed the press pass, before spending the night in a regional hotel, drinking endless cups of tea, glued to the TV watching history unfold through our tears. Magazine making had never felt more futile.

Let’s lighten the mood with tales of when things went wrong for more innocent reasons. Such as the Moscow launch of What Hi-Fi? Russia, where one magazine executive slid off his stool mid-presentation after too much local vodka. Or the time the repro house forgot to add any of the adverts into the Buyer’s Guide section (plenty of white space to write notes in that issue).

Or the infamous cover-flap incident.

We had a big subwoofer test that month, and the cover promised – in the largest, boldest type we could fit – BIGGER BETTER BASS. What nobody thought to check was how it sat under a promotional cover flap that was running on that issue. Which is how a magazine about high-performance audio came to sit on the nation’s newsstands with BETTER ASS screaming at passing shoppers in giant capitals…

My ten years at What Hi-Fi? raced by, in a rhythm of CES launches, Bristol Hi-Fi Shows, manufacturer press trips, ‘Summer of Sport’ TV-test specials, IFAs, What Hi-Fi? Awards, bumper peak-season issues, and the growing demands for online content.

All this and many, many hours sat on a test-room sofa, evaluating products with the best team – energetically debating up to (and beyond) publication about the merits of particular products and technologies, discovering new music, perfect test tracks and more. (The ‘new’ music I introduced was most likely something recorded before I was born. Sorry not sorry.)

It was a magazine of many Andrews – four of them in the editorial team at one time – including the inimitable Andy Clough, editor extraordinaire, whose dry wit, attention to detail and peerless industry contacts powered What Hi-Fi? into the 21st Century. ‘Cloughie’ was taken far too young, as was legendary Buyer’s Guide editor, Caroline Osborn, who notched up four decades of What Hi-Fi? service. The team was hugely enriched by her diligence, kindness, and cake tins of awesome chocolate brownies.

Because brands and technologies rise and fall, but it’s people – yes, even in the age of A.I. – that make the difference. Happy 50th Birthday, What Hi-Fi?!

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1976 vs today: veteran audio experts discuss the biggest shifts in music and hi-fi during What Hi-Fi?'s 50-year lifetime

A look back to 1976 and the first issue of What Hi-Fi? magazine

Apple at 50: how Cupertino changed the audio world time and again – and not always for the better

The year is 1998, and Mission is on a roll. Its entry-level 700 speaker range is already a success. Rather than basking in the glory, the company rams home its advantage with a new step-up option, in the form of the elegant 77 series.

It is a four-strong range, and the smart 771 standmounter is the starter model. They cost £170 (around $255), which puts them up against tough competition such as Mordaunt Short’s MS20i and Tannoy’s mighty Mercury M2, but are good enough to hold their own.

The 771 stands just 31cm high and is barely wide enough to enclose its 13 cm mid/bass unit. This makes them the kind of speakers that could slip into even the smallest of rooms without intruding.

Mission’s driver engineering is cutting-edge for the time, particularly the use of an Aerogel cone for the mid/bass driver. Aerogel combines Kevlar and carbon fibres in an acrylic polymer to create a light, rigid and well-damped diaphragm. The promise is of greater detail, stronger dynamics and improved transparency than more traditional materials.

Rather than use a conventional dustcap at the centre, the 771’s mid/bass has a solid metal phase plug. This conical component improves the mid/bass driver’s off-axis performance and smooths the top end of its frequency response.

The 771’s tweeter is the same soft-dome unit as used in the rest of the 77 range. Rather than being mounted rigidly, as is conventional, it is isolated from any front baffle vibrations (generated by the mid/bass unit) through a clever leaf-spring arrangement.

It also helps that the drive units are positioned so close to each other. The bigger driver cuts into the tweeter’s faceplate, improving the alignment of their acoustic centres, so aiding the 771’s integration and dispersion characteristics.

Even Mission's slim proportions hide a chunky 38mm thick MDF front baffle, with rounded-off edges to reduce diffraction effects. The rest of the cabinet is made of 15mm particleboard.

In 2026, the use of real-wood veneers isn’t particularly common below the £1000 mark, so it comes as a surprise to find that they were standard on a budget offering made decades ago.

There are three finish options: graphite black, rosewood or the cherry of our sample. We even like the textured leather look of the front baffle. It all adds up to a classier-looking speaker than is normally found at this level.

Our samples are the 771e, a mild update introduced a couple of years after the original and sold for £200 (around $300). The differences between the two generations are mild and amount to a few component swaps in the crossover and an extra set of speaker terminals to allow bi-wiring.

The 771e speakers' claimed sensitivity of 87dB/W/m and nominal 8-ohm impedance are both par for the course, and won’t worry any decent price-comparable amplifier.

These Missions were budget speakers, so it makes sense to partner them with appropriately priced electronics. Something such as the Marantz PM 6007 integrated amplifier, fed by its matching CD6007 CD player or the Cambridge Audio MXN10 music streamer, would work a treat. Chuck in a Rega Planar 1 turntable and you have the makings of a very fine (and affordable) system.

A used pair of Mission 771e currently costs £60 – £110 (around $90-$165) depending on condition. For that kind of price, they are a no-brainer.

As we play Lenny Kravitz’s Are You Gonna Go My Way, it is hard not to get caught up in the energy of the music. These speakers deliver rhythms with unusual verve, capturing the music’s hard-charging nature superbly.

They are small, though, so don’t expect lots of bass. The lows they do produce are decently taut and agile. In comparison with Dali’s Oberon 1, a close modern equivalent in terms of size and price (adjusted for inflation), it is surprising just how much more solid and authoritative the little Oberons sound with basslines.

They also trump the Missions in terms of clarity, detail resolution and the rendering of dynamic contrasts. The Dali’s superiority in these respects is obvious and a clear indication of how far affordable speakers have come in the past quarter of a century.

Yet, as we go back to the Missions, it is still easy to fall under their spell. The 771e may be limited in certain aspects of performance, but there are fundamentals they get spot on. Alongside their excellent timing, we have seamless integration between the drivers, and an open and articulate midrange.

Voices are well projected and expressive, so that we really understand Michael Jackson’s anger in They Don’t Care About Us.

While the level of detail is no longer anything special, they have an appealingly cohesive way of organising the information they do resolve. Each sound and instrument fits naturally into place, and the piece of music as a whole makes sense. This applies as much to the dense electronica of Radiohead’s 15 Step as it does to Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.

The 771e was the product of a company at the height of its powers. Mission’s attention to cosmetics was second to none, while the inclusion of clever technologies and engineering showed real ambition.

Modern alternatives have certainly pulled ahead in terms of clarity, authority and dynamic punch, but the Mission 771e’s blend of musical cohesion and rhythmic prowess still holds plenty of appeal, particularly at the prices these speakers now command. They are well worth a punt if you find a pair in good condition.

MORE:

Read our Mission 770 review

1976 vs today: veteran audio experts discuss the biggest shifts in music and hi-fi during What Hi-Fi?'s 50-year lifetime

The Mission 770 story takes in the BBC, Spendor and the drive to do better

In 1976, Steve Wozniak demonstrated his Apple 1 prototype computer a few months after he, Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne founded the company; Peter Frampton released what would become one of the best-selling live albums in history; and JVC launched (and won) the video cassette format war against Sony’s Betamax with its VHS (Video Home System) player.

It was also a golden year for hi-fi – particularly in Britain – and not only because What Hi-Fi? arrived in newsagents for the first time, the debut (mostly black-and-white) issue claiming to provide the price of every piece of hi-fi equipment on sale in the UK.

Arcam and its debut A60 amplifier were born, KEF launched the first speakers to benefit from computer-aided design (CAD), and Pioneer released a new king in the ‘Watt Wars’ era with its SX-1250 receiver.

At that time, the main concerns of an electronics engineer were, according to Cambridge Audio’s head of engineering, Nick Brown, “analogue performance across a handful of inputs, whether the remote control worked across the room, and whether the packaging survived a drop test.” Amplifier design was, he says, already hard, but today it’s a different discipline entirely.

And the same can be said when it comes to wider hi-fi sources and electronics, loudspeakers, and audio-enhancing accessories that weren’t even necessary way back when. We asked several hi-fi brands to pick the technological groundbreakers that changed it all…

An expanding canvas of features and protocols

For Brown, the technological landscape has gone from balcony garden to sprawling arboretum, now that modern amplifiers must handle an array of analogue and digital connectivity, connect reliably to TVs, PCs, gaming consoles and Bluetooth devices, and sometimes incorporate networked and wireless technologies.

“Control might come via an IR remote, a Bluetooth remote, or a mobile app,” he adds. “Customers want sound profiles they can adjust. Regulators want the whole thing running in under half a watt in standby and waking up in seconds.

“Every one of those connections has to be tuned, verified and tested for consistency. Take eARC, for example: supporting it properly means testing against as many television models as we can get our hands on, because TV manufacturers implement the standard differently, and what works perfectly on one television can behave unexpectedly on another. The specification exists, but the real world doesn't always follow the rules.

“The knock-on effect across the whole development process is significant. Where product development once drew on a relatively small core team, it now pulls in software engineers, network specialists, UX designers, compliance experts and more – all working in parallel, all needing to get it right. Perhaps the most telling sign of where things have landed: our fastest-growing team right now isn’t electronics or software. It’s QA [Quality Assurance].”

Along Brown’s line of reasoning, it’s not one game-changing technology per se, but the nature of the game changing entirely. Not only has the hi-fi world expanded to accommodate the mushrooming features brought by digital and the internet, but it has also had to learn to play ball with the ever-expanding world of household electronics, ordinance and all.

Digital disruption on sound quality

Of course, the arrival and continual maturation of digital audio have played a pivotal role in how hi-fi has transformed not just logistically but also sonically in the past 50 years. QED engineer Jon Jeary highlights the Compact Disc as “the ultimate game changer” for democratising access to high-end hi-fi.

“Suddenly, a system costing only a few hundred pounds could potentially rival vinyl or reel-to-reel setups that had cost thousands just a few years earlier,” he says, recalling an experience he had between 1976 and the earliest years of the CD.

“The year What Hi-Fi? launched, I bought the latest Steve Miller Band album on vinyl,” says Jeary. “On the way home, the record warped slightly in the summer heat. Played on my father’s respectable and relatively expensive system – a Garrard SL75B, Trio KA2002 amplifier and Wharfedale Kit speakers – the first track on each side suffered audible wow, flutter and even a jump.

“Yet we still loved the music and accepted the limitations: pops, clicks, end-of-side distortion and a restricted soundstage. That skip simply became part of the song.

“Nine years later, I heard the same album on a friend’s Philips CD104 [player]. The difference was astonishing: no scratches or jumps, an inaudible noise floor, perfect stereo separation, negligible distortion and a ruler-flat frequency response.

“For the first time, I realised as a student I could realistically own a system capable of challenging my rich uncle’s prized Revox reel-to-reel setup.”

Digital audio formats and technology ushered in a different – and technically ‘better’ – sound, but their watershed innovation – network streaming – introduced problems of its own, and, according to Chord Company’s Patrick Mitchell, the quest to solve them has had a huge impact on the modern audio engineering landscape.

It has allowed hi-fi streaming to be the game changer it has become in the high-end space.

“Optimising a digital system has introduced a whole new set of environmental variables that simply didn't exist when we were spinning isolated discs,” says Mitchell. “When you introduce a network streamer, the audio system becomes physically connected to the broader domestic data network – an environment originally designed for office computers, smart TVs and home appliances; not delicate audio signals.

“Standard home networks are inherently noisy environments, and that hidden electrical noise can heavily mask the subtle details that make recorded music sound real.”

While hi-fi has always grappled with the detrimental effects of external noise, streaming has, Mitchell says, removed the natural isolation of physical media, which more or less has a self-contained playback loop.

He argues that in order to maintain audio quality in digital streaming systems, the network path needs to be treated “with the same care and engineering prestige traditionally reserved for premium analogue playback”.

For a cable company such as Chord, this has blown the windows wide open for creating devices that break that unhealthy electrical path and strive to reduce noise, such as network filters and switches.

Parts progression

While the same types of parts are by and large the same for analogue designs as they were 50 years ago, componentry has improved as techniques, materials and research have, and naturally you now have digital elements in the hardware mix.

“The list of improved parts and techniques is almost endless,” says Cyrus’s managing director, Nick Clarke, whose list of examples includes the use of phase change materials for heatsink bonding and a higher current handling in a given transistor package for an amplifier output stage.

For Jack Oclee-Brown, KEF’s senior vice president and chief technology officer, one specific part-progression stands out as particularly groundbreaking for the hi-fi market: the magnet.

Magnets are crucial elements of loudspeaker, headphone and phono cartridge design; they convert electrical signals into mechanical movement in speakers and headphones, and vice versa in cartridges.

“In 1984, a new type of magnetic material based on the element neodymium was developed, offering far higher strength than previous materials,” says Oclee-Brown, adding that neodymium magnets are still the strongest type commercially available today.

“Toward the late 80s and early 90s, neodymium magnets started to find their way into audio products and brought about a technical revolution. At KEF, we used this new type of magnet to allow us to miniaturise the loudspeaker tweeter, placing it at the centre of the midrange driver to create our famous Uni-Q driver array.

“Headphones could be made smaller, lighter and more portable; products like Apple’s AirPods could not exist without neodymium magnets. Whatever you might think of the sound quality, neodymium magnets allow tiny speakers to be buried inside our phones and tablets.”

Magnets in audio (and other industry) applications are also a ‘watch this space’ solution, says Oclee-Brown, who says that they need more research and innovation. “Neodymium magnet demand is rising year-on-year, and the search for greener and more sustainable alternatives is an important field that some companies, like Niron Magnetics, are already working on,” he adds.

From educated guesses to simulated trials

So we have the quantum leap from analogue to digital in how we consume and perceive sound, the many more features to engineer (and engineer around), advanced and innovative componentry, and the closer relationship to the wider technology of the home to accommodate.

But arguably just as significant are the ‘behind the scenes’ technological advancements that shape how audio design, engineering and manufacture look today.

In his 38 years as an audio engineer, during which time he has designed and built products for the likes of Audiolab, Arcam and Harman International, Nick Clarke calls out the impact of Computer Aided Design (CAD) as the biggest change.

“When I started in this industry [1988], there wasn’t any,” says Clarke. “We laid out circuits manually after sketching the idea on paper using black tape on a sheet of plastic at a 2:1 scale so that you had a chance of producing this by hand. This was then sent away and photo-reduced to a 1:1 master, from which the (usually) single-sided PCB was produced.

“There was no link to the mechanical parts of the product design, so that required a lot of work to ensure the PCB and the mechanics matched, and the components were large through-hole parts that were manually fitted and hand-soldered.

“The whole process was costly, labour-intensive, time-consuming and fraught with opportunities for something to go wrong, with absolutely no error checking other than either peer reviews, or building it, seeing what you had done wrong and going around the loop again.

“Today, you have extremely advanced CAD software for both the PCB and the mechanics, which link together in such a way with a vast amount of automated checks that it is virtually impossible to produce a PCB that has errors that would prevent manufacture or doesn’t fit in the casework.

“It is, too, like American mathematician and computer scientist Richard Hamming said: ‘The purpose of computers is insight, not numbers.’ Not only does the use of computer design allow for more accurate ‘doing’, but also more extensive experimenting.

“We can now use simulation tools for trialling circuit ideas or the thermal efficiency of heatsinks – tasks which in the past would have been very educated guesses at best or total blind alleys at worst,” says Clarke.

“It’s no substitute for clever ideas or innovative design, but they allow you to try a lot more things a lot more quickly and that collectively drives higher performance across products at every level of the market.”

Similarly, Peter Comeau, the IAG Group’s director of acoustic design for brands including Mission, Wharfedale and Quad, singles out the monumental impact of advanced measurement methodology and the arrival of simulation tools on speaker design.

“When I first became interested in loudspeaker design, as a teenager in the late 1960s, measurement typically consisted of hoisting a baffle high above the ground on a crane with a microphone suspended a yard or so from it,” Comeau remembers.

“Then, in the ’70s, anechoic chambers became more prevalent, and we had Bruel & Kjaer sweep [noise] generators and a pen graph response tracer to help view frequency response and harmonic distortion.

“Today, there’s a whole raft of measurement systems and software analysis and simulation to help, stretching from laser scanning of cones and domes to crossover software optimisation.

“Does this actually help us design better loudspeakers? The short answer is ‘yes’; we can make better diaphragms and motor systems, control cabinet vibrations successfully and simulate the power response of loudspeakers in rooms.”

Like Clarke, Comeau commends such technology’s ability to speed up prototyping and trialling, as well as facilitating a greater understanding of the problems involved in achieving good sound.

Despite that, however, he still champions what has, since and prior to 1976, been crucial to obtaining that end goal: using our ears: “The process of hours and hours of fine-tuning, experimentation and tweaking that is as relevant today as it always was.”

It hails back to Clarke’s point that, while technologies are advancing, they only work if, in his words, “you have the knowledge of how to use them and what they can do for you (and sometimes, more importantly, what they can't).”

The technological game has changed significantly in the past five decades, absolutely; but designer and engineer know-how remains at the heart of it all as much today as it was back then.

MORE:

1976 vs today: veteran audio experts discuss the biggest shifts in music and hi-fi during What Hi-Fi?'s 50-year lifetime

"The concept is spot on and it could be a signpost to the future of surround" – revisiting our review of the world's first soundbar

9 debut stereo amplifiers from iconic hi-fi brands – legendary amps from Audiolab, Cyrus, McIntosh, NAD, Naim and more

Mark your calendars: we have set the date for the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2026. And this year, we will not only crown a fresh set of winners, but we’ll also be celebrating our 50th birthday!

Yes, on 12th November, the crème de la crème of hi-fi and home cinema will don their gladrags and descend on London to celebrate the top products in their categories at an exclusive black-tie event.

But ahead of the big hi-fi and home cinema gala, there are a few dates you should mark in your calendar.

As of now, companies can submit products for consideration on our Awards site. Submissions close on 12th August, at which point our team will get all the products into our viewing and listening rooms and begin testing in earnest.

These, along with any product that is still on sale that we have reviewed and awarded five stars, will then be considered for a Best Buy trophy in their relevant category.

After the AV battle royal plays out and we have decided which products are truly the best of the best in each category, we will then reveal the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2026 Best Buy winners on 13th October.

These brilliant products then form the shortlists for the Product of the Year categories, which will be revealed at the black-tie event on 12th November in London. While the event itself is closed to the public, you can follow along on our social media feeds, where we’ll be posting updates and all this year’s winners.

If you want to get even more involved in the action, we will also be running our special Readers’ Award. This lets you vote on a shortlist of products, created by our reviewers. Voting goes live on 14th September and closes a couple of weeks later on 28th September – so make sure to mark the date if you want to get involved.

On top of all that, as What Hi-Fi? is turning 50 this year, we’ll also have a special category that we have never run before. We’ll reveal details of that closer to the ceremony – so watch this space!

MORE:

Check out the full list of What Hi-Fi? Awards 2025 winners

Make sure to take a look at our What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame

Rega's Roy Gandy wins What Hi-Fi?'s Outstanding Contribution Award for 2025

If you search online for a soundbar, you will be flooded with oodles of options. From budget bars to premium models with Dolby Atmos for immersive surround sound, there is a soundbar out there for everyone.

When done right, they will upgrade the sound from your TV’s built-in speakers to deliver a more enveloping audio experience without the need for multiple extra speakers and reams of wires.

But we were not always this spoilt for choice. The only alternative to making do with your TV’s audio was investing in a multi-speaker sound system that took up a lot more space and cost a lot more money.

It was Yamaha that changed all that with the YSP-1, a "digital sound projector" that acts as the forefather of the soundbar category we know today.

The Yamaha YSP-1 came out more than 20 years ago, and the What Hi-Fi? team reviewed it back in April 2005.

This revolutionary product crammed 40 small driver units – each backed by an individual amplifier – and two bass drivers in to one long speaker bar.

These drivers were paired with a clever processing system that beamed sound around your room, bouncing off the walls to create a convincing surround sound experience.

We loved the idea of Yamaha’s YSP-1 from the moment we heard it, and the bar received a four-star verdict for delivering a “sizeable dose of energy and drive”.

Some issues held it back from five-star greatness. For one, properly configuring the soundbar to your space wasn't easy. As we noted: “Set aside an evening and work through the expert menu, adjusting beam angles, focal lengths and levels, and the sound will be significantly better.”

That set-up process is a far cry from soundbars now, with the majority of brands offering a much easier calibration process where the system can gauge the dimensions of your room using built-in microphones or even a dedicated set-up app.

Despite its fussiness we were still ultimately enthusiastic: “The Yamaha isn’t perfect, but the concept is spot on. It’s an alternative to a sub/sat system, and it could be a signpost to the future of surround”.

And call us fortune tellers, because the YSP-1 was indeed a catalyst for more brands to produce their own takes on the all-in-one soundbar.

Yamaha also continued to build upon its inaugural product in the category. Take the Yamaha True X Surround 90A (pictured, above), which includes a main soundbar, subwoofer and two surround speakers.

We were impressed by its well-controlled subwoofer and powerful audio from the soundbar, even if the speakers felt a little disconnected from the rest of the system.

While the soundbar category has evolved, not least with premium options offering serious surround sound powered by Dolby Atmos, the YSP concept remains surprisingly unchanged. Yamaha, and the YSP-1, we salute you.

MORE:

Here's our review of the Yamaha True X Surround 90A

Check out the best soundbars

And these are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

If you told vinyl enthusiast John Smith in 1976, when the first magazine issue of What Hi-Fi? occupied coffee tables around the UK, that, in his lifetime, all of the world’s music could be accessed affordably at the touch of a screen and played without a cable in sight, he might well have asked what streets your dealer occupied.

Indeed, you would only need look at the cover of that first magazine side by side with What Hi-Fi?'s latest issue to see that the music and hi-fi landscapes have changed astronomically in the past 50 years.

Discussing those five decades’ worth of hi-fi evolution in a single 2000-word article might sound as ambitious as covering the history of Christianity in a 30-minute podcast. So, full disclosure, this isn’t that.

Instead, it’s the perspectives of some of the hi-fi industry’s longest-serving members on the biggest shifts hi-fi has experienced in their careers and lifetimes – and not just the many gains but also the losses that have occurred along the way.

Every album in your pocket

All hi-fi roads lead back to music, so it isn’t surprising that the astronomical change in how we consume it over the past five decades is frequently cited as one of the major causes behind, and indeed catalysts for, hi-fi progression.

“The last 50 years have seen 1000 songs fit into your pocket with the original iPod, and now more than 100 million available instantly,” remarks Steve Sells, technical director at Naim. “We can explore music so effortlessly these days – that certainly wasn’t the case back in the late '70s,” adds Alan O’Rourke, who founded Ruark Audio 40 years ago.

As it is difficult to imagine anything in the foreseeable future having as much omnipresent impact on life as the birth and evolution of the internet in recent decades, it is also hard to envisage something influencing the music world more significantly than streaming, although AI music creation will no doubt have a good crack in the coming years.

Eric Kingdon, who has spent over four decades at Sony, appreciates the modern coexistence of streaming and physical media, with today’s popularity of the latter somewhat a byproduct of the retro resurgence.

“Thanks to streaming and downloads, the doors have been blown open for people to experience and try new music,” he says, noting that some artists and recordings can now be remembered due to their renewed focus and attention.

“Any change which opens the ears of people to listen has to be a positive.” He points out that music fans are then going to music (vinyl) stores and interacting with and handling music.

Today’s retro revival and its promotion of interactive, tactile experiences is influencing not only music mediums (even CD is now experiencing a mini resurgence, it seems) but also product design, with touch surfaces and screens now somewhat making way for a return to ‘old school’ buttons and dials.

While the old (vinyl and analogue) fully and determinedly transitioned to the new (streaming and digital), has some back-pedalling since seen the industry now settle on a happy medium?

The social switch

That shift in music consumption media has impacted our interaction with it on a social scale. Fifty years ago, the act of listening to music was more deliberate, more limited. It was the choice between a few radio stations that didn’t necessarily cover all music genres, a weekly music television show like Top Of The Pops, and buying an album on vinyl.

Buying ‘a hi-fi’ was a financial and domestic decision akin to a sofa or telly, and an oft-planned listening experience between family and/or friends. It was listening to an album from beginning to end – an exercise that is now far from an everyday one for most, the decline of which has spawned the ‘album listening party’ community-promotional event.

It would soon start to become a more personal, insular experience as the Walkman encouraged private, portable listening, and today those kinds of encounters dominate our interaction with music. It’s not such an ‘event’; it’s everywhere, all the time, it’s short-form, and I couldn’t count on the What Hi-Fi? staff’s collective fingers how many times I’ve heard seasoned hi-fi hobbyists cite that change as “a shame”, or a phrase carrying similar sentiment.

Hi-fi has become more niche, existing on the sidelines alongside the headphone-wearing, portable speaker-owning masses of more convenient, accessible products. “Being a hi-fi enthusiast evolved into quite a lonely passion or hobby, certainly a very individual one,” says O’Rourke. “It became very insular and even nerdy.”

Flat-panel TVs arriving in the ‘90s arguably stunted hi-fi’s mass appeal further. “Music definitely lost its way a bit and became secondary for quite a while,” says O’Rourke, “with flat-panel TVs taking all the attention away from sound. People were happy to spend £6k on a 42-inch plasma TV, but spending that on a hi-fi system would seem crazy to many.”

That said, the Ruark CEO is seeing progress, arguing that the industry is now shifting to cater to that change by producing hi-fi that appeals to modern tastes and common budgets, and is now all the more sociable again for it.

“Now, it's probably more about hi-fi for the whole family, which is a bit like a radiogram being the centre of home listening again!” he says. “The market has moved towards making hi-fi more accessible and ensuring it has a wider-ranging appeal.”

We may not have come full circle – it isn’t back-to-back album listening on the sofa with mates, per se – but user- and domestic-friendly, high-appeal wireless speakers and systems are indeed encouraging social music listening again, whether that’s within the household or beyond it.

Hi-fi gains the computer

Naturally, we know more about psychoacoustics and the behaviours of materials than we did 50 years ago. There have been improvements in measurement tools and manufacturing processes, and technologies and materials that were once so costly that they were exclusive to high-end applications have become increasingly accessible, trickled down and experienced.

Software development is advancing, as is the hardware/computational power that facilitates that. Kingdon notes our deeper understanding of recording technology and technique, and the higher audio resolution we can now offer in both services and products. And, similarly, Arcam co-founder John Dawson acknowledges that “the advances in lossless digital audio across the signal chain – from studio microphone to point of delivery – have greatly improved overall sound quality”.

The technical ‘shift’ between the 1970s and today is both extensive and enormously valuable. “Five decades of steady technological progress have reshaped almost every aspect of audio design,” Sells puts it in a neat nutshell.

The direction many brains would’ve bolted towards in response to this article’s headline, however, would be the transition from analogue to digital. The ‘70s – the first full decade dedicated to stereo playback – was vinyl and turntables, reel-to-reel tapes and recorders.

Today, it’s cloud-based streaming and computer-based playback. Essentially, many of the talking points here exist within the giant technological and cultural gulf between them, created in what, contextually, was a very short timeframe. Dawson comments that “advances in the wider electronics industry, driven by the revolution in microelectronics and computers” have significantly improved product reliability and performance.

Actual, measured, objective performance… and perceived performance. Sells discusses how digital software has transformed how we perceive sound quality, too, with advances in DSP (digital signal processing) particularly allowing audio equipment to sound much bigger and deeper than its size would suggest.

“Where electronics once merely ‘matched’ speakers, ensuring compatibility in impedance and power, modern systems ‘know’ the speaker,” he explains. “DSP models the drive units’ behaviour in real time: it understands their mechanical limits, the music signal at any moment, the listening level and even the instantaneous position of the diaphragm.

“At low listening levels, its low‑frequency response can be intelligently extended beyond what the enclosure would normally allow. When that extended bass would exceed the driver’s safe limits, DSP anticipates the excursion and reshapes the signal to keep the driver within bounds, without audible distress. Crossover integration is equally precise, with minimal phase error and bit‑perfect time alignment between drive units.”

He also points out how certain technical hardware developments have literally changed how we perceive music. “Paradoxically, we have more ‘nothing’: silence,” he says. “Pre‑amplifiers, power amplifiers, and loudspeakers have been relatively low noise and low distortion for decades, but the overall noise floor of recording and playback systems has steadily fallen.

“In the 1970s, it sat around 70dB; by the 1990s, it approached 90dB, and today it has been pushed further still. Once noise falls below roughly 90dB and remains spectrally smooth, the auditory system adapts, and the noise itself can [with the right environmental factors] disappear from awareness.”

Casualty of change

Expansive music discovery is one of streaming’s priceless gifts, and few would argue that generally having access to all the music on the planet for a little more than a tenner a month isn’t a blessing. But for all of its door-opening, the convenience of streaming has closed one that Harman’s Mark Hockey, who has represented brands such as JBL for over 30 years, fears will be closed forever: the traditional art of the mixtape.

“For the best part of three decades, the mixtape cassette was the only way to share music with friends, family and a possible new loved one – to present them with a lovingly prepared compilation that could, in some cases, have an encoded message hidden within the tracklist,” he says.

He explains how choosing the order of the tracks could convey that message, and that it was a skill to fit them just right on each side. You would need to source the desired tracks from your (or others’) collections, purchase the cassette (“‘normal’ for mates, chrome to show how much you care!”), balance the tracks’ tempo and pace, and even write the inset labels and perhaps design artwork for the cover. An art indeed.

“Every mixtape was a real labour of love, often completely unique. By comparison, sending a streamed tracklist mix only takes minutes to tick a few boxes and then ‘share’. This compilation might possibly carry the same sentiment, but the art of careful planning, time and uniqueness of a real mixtape may now be lost forever.”

Not a one-way street

Of course, hi-fi is, by its very nature, a compromise in that it cannot reproduce a recorded music signal exactly and is inherently impacted by the environment it operates in, but technological progression hasn’t prevented new compromises from being introduced, as one particular repercussion of digital audio shows.

“The advent of digital was not an unambiguous improvement,” says Sells. “It introduced a new family of distortions, often less sonically forgiving, and the subjective impact of their errors was underestimated.

“Non‑harmonically related alias products, jitter and signal‑dependent noise register as distinctly unnatural; we are typically an order of magnitude more sensitive to these than to equivalent levels of harmonic distortion.”

Fortunately, Sells explains, such artefacts, while still present, are now increasingly suppressed by advancing DSP, while AI-based systems are turning the focus from recovering an audio signal (by removing noise and distortion from it) to “reinterpreting” it.

“By learning the statistical characteristics of voices and instruments,” he explains, “they can infer what may have been lost, rather than simply stripping artefacts away.”

Kingdon recognises how many people who fly the sound quality flag are cautious that DSP can alter the original intention of the recording – and sometimes with good reason. “When done properly, however, it can be a revelation,” he says.

It’s a natural segue into another point he is keen to make: the great importance that we, as an industry, don’t chase technology for technology’s sake; that every technological improvement should meaningfully upgrade “the user’s emotional and physical experience”.

The word ‘convenience’ is a huge part of modern life as we strive for easier, uncomplicated experiences, and hi-fi hasn’t been exempt from this increasing expectation.

After all, Bluetooth speakers and lossy music formats haven’t prevailed in the 21st century because they bring sonic advancements over what came before! Dawson fears that convenience is commonly prioritised over quality today, “leading most people to accept ‘good enough’ rather than strive for excellence in music reproduction”.

That shift hasn’t been helped by what Heinz Lichtenegger, CEO and founder of Pro-Ject Audio Systems, calls “solution manufacturers”, who he says aren’t interested in good sound but pump the audio market with cheap products, pushing sound-prioritising hi-fi companies to the sidelines.

“Some of the worst times for this were the ‘90s,” he says, “when we saw cheap tower products (lots of us will remember those plastic midi systems!) made with poor quality materials for super-cheap prices. I believe we have regained a lot since then, but we must always be aware of cyclical market forces that work against those of us who still care.”

Kingdon, too, warns that we should avoid “treating music like a fast food experience” because we can. “Compression is a powerful tool to allow people to enjoy large volumes of content in a variety of environments. But as always, it’s the quality of music reproduction that counts in any environment the user chooses.

“As a famous impresario from the film The Red Shoes once said, ‘The music is all that matters. Nothing but the music.’” No matter how monumental the changes in music and hi-fi, past and present, when it comes down to it, that’s the sentiment we hope will never shift.

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There are many bands with deserved reputations for making exquisitely-produced records, but if you’re looking for the final boss of sonic perfection, Steely Dan can’t be beaten.

Steely Dan were formed in 1971, but within three years the band’s only permanent members, founders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, had decided to give up playing live and become full-time studio dwellers.

From 1974’s Katy Lied onwards, the pair scoured the United States for session musicians who were capable of bringing their sophisticated compositions to life. With The Royal Scam, released half a century ago this month (yes, it shares the same big 5-0 birthday with What Hi-Fi? this year), they set themselves a lofty new standard to beat.

The Larry Carlton Show

Most Dan aficionados will tell you that Aja, which came along just a year later in 1977, is the album to choose if you want to hear the band at their absolute peak, and I’m not here to start an argument.

Aja is the record that was added to the USA’s National Recording Registry in 2010 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and the one that has an absolutely brilliant episode of Classic Albums dedicated to it. Both accolades are very much deserved.

Aja has Deacon Blues, it has Home At Last, it has the title track, and it has arguably Steely Dan’s most famous song, Peg (sampled by De La Soul for their song Eye Know), but what it doesn’t have is Kid Charlemagne, one of the greatest songs in the band’s extensive repertoire of great songs.

The Royal Scam’s opening track is built around Fagen’s organ and Don Grolnick’s Fender Rhodes piano, but it’s also home to some of the most impeccable guitar-playing you’ll find, well, anywhere.

Larry Carlton, who contributed to just one track on Katy Lied after the departure of original guitarist Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter, had obviously impressed Becker and Fagen, because his workload goes up fourfold here.

Carlton’s multiple solos on Kid Charlemagne are a masterclass in restrained virtuosity, played purely to serve the song and not his own ego. It’s complex but not needlessly complicated, and you’ll need a suitably competent system to reproduce the wonderful tone and texture they captured in the studio.

His playing on Don’t Take Me Alive is almost equally brilliant, leading you through a song about a lone wolf with “a case of dynamite” who also may or may not be an android. And while Carlton isn’t the only incredible guitarist to appear on the album, it’s his playing that stands out the most.

Shuffle your beat

Steely Dan’s search for the crème de la crème of session musicians also led them to Bernard Purdie, a drummer whose CV includes work with Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, James Brown and Frank Sinatra, but is perhaps most well-known in musical circles for his trademark ‘Purdie Shuffle’ beat.

Purdie plays on every track on The Royal Scam bar Don't Take Me Alive and Everything You Did, so his laidback vibe is all over the record. There’s often a loose but still very precise feel to what he plays, and with a lot of prominent hi-hats it’s an album that will really test your system’s ability to reproduce treble without sounding harsh.

Purdie’s partner in groove is bassist Chuck Rainey, who also played with him on Aretha Franklin’s Young, Gifted And Black and With Everything I Feel In Me, and it’s hard to imagine a better pairing.

Just listen to this isolated rhythm section from Kid Charlemagne to hear two artists meshing absolutely seamlessly. They’re not perfectly in time, but the whole thing has so much more life as a result. A good system will be able to really communicate that wonderfully organic feel.

Listen to the intro to Haitian Divorce, and while the piano and distinctive talk-box guitar dominate it, you should also be able to hear Purdie’s delicate cymbals in the background just before Rainey’s reggae-infused bass comes in.

Play it on a good enough system and you can almost taste the Zombie cocktail “in the coco shell” that Donald Fagen sings about in the song’s second verse (although the less said about the slightly dodgy accent he occasionally affects the better).

Sing on stranger

Fagen was a reluctant lead singer, only taking on the role after failing to find a suitable alternative earlier in the band’s career, but you’d never know it – he’s not afraid to have his vocals front and centre in the mix.

Whole books have been written about the shady characters you’ll encounter in Steely Dan songs – well, one, the excellent Quantum Criminals by Alex Pappademas and Joan Lemay – and the occasional sneer in Fagen’s voice makes him the perfect narrator for their tales.

You can hear it when he sings about extraterrestrial fixers with scars “from ear to ear” on Sign In Stranger, and a “wooly man without a face” on Caves Of Altamira, while Kid Charlemagne describes an in-demand drug dealer who has to make a quick getaway (inspired by a chap called Owsley Stanley who supplied LSD to California’s chemically curious in the ‘60s).

It’s not just Fagen’s voice you’ll hear either. Michael McDonald, who is most famous for being an on/off member of the Doobie Brothers, sings backing vocals on Kid Charlemagne, and good midrange performance from your system will ensure his distinctive voice sounds its very best.

Elsewhere there’s an ensemble cast of backing vocalists, including Clydie King, Sherlie Matthews, Venetta Fields and Timothy B. Schmit, whose other credits include Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, The Rolling Stones and the Eagles. So while Fagen might not be the strongest singer on the record, there are plenty of legendary voices you’ll want your system to do justice to.

• Listen to The Royal Scam on Tidal
• Buy The Royal Scam by Steely Dan at Amazon

By royal appointment

You could pick almost any Steely Dan album to give your hi-fi a proper workout. The band's meticulously crafted songs are a particularly good test of transparency and how well your system organises its soundstage, but if you’re looking for a record that has more of the rock and less of the jazz that defined their later releases it’s hard to look beyond The Royal Scam.

While it’s easy to see why some people think of their music as being overly polished and clinical – although I've never thought the ‘yacht rock’ tag fits them – there’s more of an edge to The Royal Scam. It’s probably Steely Dan’s most energetic album, it’s definitely the darkest, and almost certainly the one that’s most fun to play air guitar along to.

Aja remains the ultimate Dan record, but the 50th anniversary of The Royal Scam presents the perfect opportunity to lose yourself in the band’s seedy world.

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It’s the pulsating heart of your hi-fi system and, as anyone who’s read this publication knows, to ignore its sonic relevance in your setup would be foolish in the extreme.

Several long-established and highly revered audio firms started out when one or two individuals shared a common goal: to release a decent stereo amplifier – something better than whatever was currently powering their system.

We have seen and tested many (though not all) of these amplifiers and their successors over the 50-year history of What Hi-Fi?, and here we’ve picked out nine of the very best, in our humble collective opinion.

These little powerhouses have left indelible marks on hi-fi history, paving the way not just for the brands that blossomed in their wake, but for the agile, transparent and joyous music systems we enjoy today.

Naim NAP 200 (1973)

Julian Vereker’s shift from building cars to designing amplifiers and loudspeakers (for London’s Capital Radio, no less) led to the founding of Naim Audio in 1973.

With both Julian and his co-founder Shirley Clarke as directors, their shop in the centre of Salisbury, England, was the birthplace in that same year of the company's first consumer product: the NAP 200 power amplifier.

Vereker originally designed the NAP 200 in 1971 and, although its descendants differ greatly – the line continues to evolve with products like the excellent NAP 100 to this day – Naim still shoots for the same performance goals of pace, rhythm and timing.

Cyrus One (1984) 

The Mission Cyrus One – back when Cyrus was a part of Mission – was a piece of kit very much aimed at audiophiles, despite its budget-friendly price tag.

It had no tone or balance controls and carried plenty of inputs for sources. Early examples had a plastic case to eliminate the distortion effects of eddy current, but later versions switched to a cast metal case – sophisticated for a budget amp.

In the What Hi-Fi? review, we concluded that the inaugural One communicated a precise soundstage, but it was also capable of handling low-level details that other amplifiers "repressed or simply rendered messy".

Combine that sound with the superb build quality, and you had an amp whose performance could rival pricier options.

• Old amplifier vs new amplifier: which is better?

Cambridge Audio P40 (1968) 

Cambridge Audio's first ever product, the P40 integrated amplifier, was also the first ever amp to use a toroidal transformer – a significant innovation at the time.

These days, it's a standard component inside high-end amps; a sure sign that what the firm tried back in 1968 worked out really rather well.

The follow up to the P40 arrived just a few years later in 1970 with the P50, a much more powerful amplifier with a unique active volume control.

However, one glance at the lines and craftsmanship on the P40 is to know that this is a stunning debut amp.

A&R A60 (1976)

Amplification & Recording Cambridge was founded back in 1976. Now known by a far snappier moniker, Arcam (see what they did there?), the company’s success was built on its first amplifier, the A60.

Pictured above is our review from August 1981, though the product was launched five years earlier.

Back in the early 1980s, this slimline integrated amp would set you back £190 and was considered the go-to middle-market amplifier, comparable to the Crimson 510/520 pre/power combination (remember that?). It proved the ideal upgrade from budget champions such as NAD’s original 3020 (which we will get to shortly).

It was a functional unit with a decent array of line-level inputs plus a capable moving-magnet phono stage – hardly a surprise considering vinyl was still the dominant media of the day.

The tone controls were subtle in their action and as such could, on occasion, prove useful when any recording or partnering kit wasn’t quite balanced.

The A60 also had a filter switch which progressively rolled off frequencies above 7.5kHz in a bid to reduce hiss from a tuner or the impact of a pop from vinyl.

NAD 3020 (1978)

A power output of 20W per channel was hardly earth-shattering but, at £85, the 3020 could drive speakers better than pretty much any of its rivals. The 3020 amplifier put NAD on the map, such was its impact.

The story goes that when NAD’s managing director, Marty Borish, hired a quiet audio engineer called Bjorn Erik Edvardsen, the pair noted a space in the market. Edvardsen got the bit between his teeth.

Initially headquartered in London, NAD’s growing team, led by Edvardsen, obsessively experimented and refined the electronic designs, seeking a eureka moment. When it finally came, NAD delivered perhaps the best-selling hi-fi amplifier in history.

The original NAD 3020 had a balance that was smooth and full-bodied, delivering a good, coherent sound which worked well with the some of the less–refined budget kit of the time.

The cult-like following generated by the 3020 was so great that NAD would have been foolish to shelve it. In 2013, some 35 years after its initial release, we gave the latest NAD D 3020 iteration a coveted five-star review and a What Hi-Fi? Award.

Burmester 777 (1977) 

As a musician, Dieter Burmester (founder of Burmester Audiosysteme) always wanted to make his sound system reproduce music as naturally and purely as possible, and it was the malfunction of his preamp that led to him fashioning the first Burmester product.

Preamps on the market couldn’t satisfy Dieter Burmester’s high demands, so he built his own from parts of medical machines – the Burmester 777.

According to the firm, the 777 – so named because it was released in the seventh month in the year 1977 – remains a core element of Burmester's products today.

In 2007, Burmester even released a 30th anniversary update in its honour, a preamp called the Burmester 077. Did we like it? You could say that. In our review, we concluded, "If you can afford it, buy it right now."

McIntosh 50W-1 (1949) 

Before you write in, the amp pictured is the 50W2 (two pieces, which form one 50W-per-channel mono amp), McIntosh's fourth amplifier, circa 1951 – think Elvis and Frank Sinatra territory.

Why are we not showing you the original 50W-1? Well, photographs of hi-fi separates from 71 years ago are quite hard to come by, it turns out.

In 1946 Frank McIntosh, a design consultant for broadcast and TV stations, hired Gordon Gow to help him design a high power, low distortion amplifier for his clients. This amplifier would be the 50W-1.

It included McIntosh’s first patented circuit, the Unity Coupled Circuit – still used in the company's current products.

Musical Fidelity Dr. Thomas Power Amplifier (1982)

Musical Fidelity chose to keep the naming of its inaugural product simple with The Preamp. It was released in 1982 and quickly racked up rave reviews.

Evidently, the designer of its shoebox-style power partner, Dr. Martin Vincent Thomas, didn't like the idea of designing 'The Power Amp', and chose to take matters into his own hands when it came to establishing a moniker for Musical Fidelity's first power amplifier. Thus, the Dr. Thomas was born.

With its black acrylic casework and name (what a name!) illuminated in red on the fascia, the 100W+ Dr. Thomas power amplifier cut a fine figure – a great visual match for the similarly-styled Preamp.

It was also surprisingly powerful. Sadly, this casework design was dropped quite quickly – but what a lovely-looking setup it must have been.

Audiolab 8000A (1983)

Audiolab's 8000A caused quite a stir in the early 1980s thanks to its "superb finish and styling" – just take a look at our review (below).

Admittedly, today it looks a lot like a grey-tinged box with lots of dials, but it offered excellent sound and features, including bass and treble controls, a stereo balance control and a separate record selector, so you could "listen to one source while taping another". And the sound was smooth with "plenty of presence and detail".

Audiolab was formed in 1983 by Philip Swift and Derek Scotland, quickly earning worldwide acclaim in that same year with the 8000A – an integrated stereo amp that was both a natural ‘step-up’ from budget models of the time and, latterly, a classic hi-fi component.

Thanks to its fine build and features, the 8000A was great value for money too.

MORE:

13 debut decks from iconic turntable brands

22 debut speakers from iconic hi-fi brands

Turntables ruled the roost when What Hi-Fi?'s first issue landed in October 1976. As we're celebrating our 50th anniversary this year, we've been taking some lovely nostalgic strolls down memory lane, and looking back at some of the most iconic hi-fi and home cinema products throughout our lifetime.

Of course, turntables predate us considerably, with plenty of brands – Dual, Garrard, Pioneer – starting life long before we did, while many others, such as Rega, Linn and Michell, were still in their infancy during this decade. Here, we're looking back at the very first turntables made by some of the world's most legendary hi-fi brands; first efforts that, in many cases, continue to define each brand's legacy and products even today.

Our list below looks at the first record players made by Audio-Technica, Pro-Ject, NAD, Roksan, Wilson Benesch and more. Bonus points – and please comment below – if you ever owned one of these original models.

Rega Planet (1973)

In 1973, Rega’s co-founder Roy Gandy set out to make something structurally solid. According to Rega’s historical records, sound quality was secondary at that time (gasp!).

Gandy wanted to produce a reliable turntable that he knew would last, but would also look different. “Why can a turntable not have three outrigger points spinning round, that people might buy as a piece of sculpture?” he asked.

Thankfully, better overall performance was also soon the goal. And as Gandy took his prototypes to potential manufacturers, the outcome was the Rega Planet, with its three-spoke, steel and aluminium platter and Acos Lustre tonearm.

• We take the Rega Planet for a spin in our test rooms
• A behind-the-scenes tour of Rega's factory

Linn LP12 (1973)

Still going strong 50-plus years after its inauguration, Linn’s debut turntable has some stamina – even if it has had more updates over its lifetime than Trigger’s broom.

The company’s very first product, designed by founder Ivor Tiefenbrun (who argued the source was always the most important part of any system), the LP12 is still one of our all-time favourite decks.

Interestingly, the first version came without a plinth, but soon moved to the more recognisable version (pictured). The LP12 remains arguably one of Scotland's finest hi-fi exports ever.

• We visited the company's Glasgow HQ for The Making of: Linn Sondek LP12

Michell Reference Electronic (1977)

While the 1982 GyroDec is probably the company’s signature deck, its first was the Reference Electronic. This deck was hatched from Transcriptor’s Hydraulic Reference, which famously appeared in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.

In the late 1960s, Michell GyroDec founder John Michell started manufacturing parts for Transcriptor turntables, eventually making them under licence.

When the companies parted ways in 1977, Michell began its own production. And so, the Reference Electronic, which came with a coloured mirror finish or marble plinth, was born.

• Read our recent Michell Gyro SE/Cusis S review

Wilson Benesch Turntable (1989)

It’s ironic a company now making loudspeakers costing six figures was founded on a shoestring less than 30 years ago. Wilson Benesch dedicated its first year to research and development, and the outcome was the Wilson Benesch Turntable. Clearly the creativity went into the design and not the name.

The Turntable featured two world-firsts: a carbon fibre composite sub-chassis and carbon fibre tonearm, the A.C.T. One. Carbon fibre was used for its torsional stiffness and damping of structural vibration within the system. The material now goes some way to defining the brand, having been used in its designs ever since.

The Turntable's success allowed Wilson Benesch to reinvest in new product development, paving the way for the company’s first pair of loudspeakers.

• Read our Wilson Benesch The Full Circle review

Pro-Ject 1 (1991)

The Pro-Ject 1 laid the foundations for what has been a virtually unblemished record of success for the company. The 1 was essentially a modified version of the Tesla NC-500, originally made as an affordable turntable for distribution in the Eastern Bloc.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Pro-Ject founder Heinz Lichtenegger modified a batch to sell in his shop in Vienna. When these proved a success, he re-opened production at the original factory in the Czech Republic. It’s the same factory Pro-Ject turntables are made in today, and still houses the original Tesla machines.

The 1 range still lives on today, the 1 Xpression Carbon being the latest version. Because of its legacy, Pro-Ject can still supply all the 1’s original parts – so, if anyone has one...

• 12 of the best Pro-Ject turntables of all time
• Read our recent Pro-Ject Debut Evo 2 review

VPI HW-19 (1980)

With a suspended sub-chassis and an aluminium platter with lead attached underneath, the HW-19 was VPI co-founder Harry Weisfeld’s first work and marked the first chapter of the US company’s story.

Three versions followed over the next two decades, during which the design moved to an acrylic platter and acrylic-stainless steel sub-chassis. It's a far cry from the brand's impressive deck aesthetic today.

The HW-19 is no longer in production, but upgrades are still available for it.

• Read our VPI Prime Signature review

Technics SP-10 (1970)

The superb Technics SL-1000R, the company's “most premium turntable ever” (and also part of What Hi-Fi?'s reference system), is actually a reimagining of the company’s very first deck. Built in 1970, the SP-10 was the first to use a direct-drive system, and it spawned a long line of legendary turntables.

The motor rotated at the same speed as the record, therefore eliminating the need for a speed-reducing mechanism (such as a belt) and the mechanical vibrations it caused.

In short, direct drive meant lots of torque, instant start-up and excellent speed accuracy.

• The history of Technics

Clearaudio Reference (1993)

The Clearaudio name might conjure up the classy, matt-black aura of the multi-Award-winning Concept, but the German brand first entered the turntable market several years prior with the Reference.

The Reference’s chassis had a resonance-optimised shape, rather than the typical rectangular build. Made from acrylic, with brass metal parts (later stainless steel), distinctly placed feet, heavy arm pillars and resonance control weights, the Reference considered materials and geometry at length.

And a year later, the more advanced Clearaudio Master Reference brought a new power supply and tonearm, among other developments.

• Inside the Clearaudio factory: building £145,000 turntables and assembling cartridges by hand

NAD 5120 (1983)

NAD’s turntable debut could possibly date back to a 1981 model, but this mystery proved beyond our detective skills – so the 5120 belt-drive turntable goes down as the company's first.

Instead of isolating the turntable from external vibrations by placing the rigid unit on rubber feet, NAD instead fixed the platter and tonearm on a separate sub-chassis floating on springs. Unusually, the 5120 originally came with a flat tonearm – though this was soon changed to a conventional design.

The NAD 5120 was notable for its interchangeable tonearm assembly, allowing use of more than one cartridge or arm, and its de-coupled, spring-suspended counterweight which absorbed resonance by vibrating at the same frequency.

“Despite its ugly ducking looks, this inexpensive deck gives a performance that far exceeds its price,” read the What Hi-Fi? review.

Pioneer PLA-1 (1955)

Pioneer is renowned for its DJ turntables, but the company's first deck appeared several years before the club disc-jockey was a thing.

Back then it was described as an ‘induction rim-drive’ (i.e. an idler-wheel drive) turntable, with a rubber wheel connecting the motor shaft to the edge of the turntable platter. This drive method was later replaced by the popular belt and direct drives.

The PLA-1 offered three speeds, weighed 13kg and was priced ¥29,900 (about £190).

Garrard 301 (1954)

From 18th-century jewellers to manufacturers of military rangefinders in WW1 and, eventually, turntable manufacturer, Swindon-based Garrard Engineering & Manufacturing Company has some story.

Its first deck, the Garrard 301 Transcription Turntable, came in oil- and grease-bearing versions and was used by the BBC’s radio stations (pictured). The equally notable 401 followed in 1965, introducing a redesigned exterior, more powerful motor and different braking speed control and bearing.

In 1979, Garrard was bought by Brazilian firm Gradienete and production moved to the other side of the world. Today, British company SME owns the Garrard brand, and is looking to develop the brand further in the near future.

Roksan Xerxes (1985)

Despite being named after a Persian king, the Xerxes wasn’t the company’s most oddly-named product of the 1980s – that award goes to its 'Hotcakes' speakers.

The Xerxes was notable for a number of technical innovations. Its motor rotated on a spindle to even out speed irregularities, and it had a clever suspension system for the platter/sub-platter, using rubber blobs instead of springs. It also made its lightweight platter heavier on the outside, to maximise inertia.

Roksan entered a turntable market dominated by the Michell GyroDec and Linn LP12, but we boldly predicted it would give the latter a run for its money.

• Read our Roksan Xerxes 20 Plus review

Audio-Technica Sound Burger (1983)

It might surprise you to know that Audio-Technica's very first turntable was the very unconventional Sound Burger. Released in 1983 – just as compact discs and CD players were taking off – this battery-powered, compact "stereo disc record player system" was unlike any other deck we had seen. The slimline design had a 9cm platter, could play singles and albums, had a built-in phono preamp, weighed just 1.2kg, and came with a pair of foldable wired headphones.

We noted in What Hi-Fi?'s June 1983 issue (second slide, above) that the original Sound Burger looked like a toy at first, but it was "full of surprises" and the reviewer quickly warmed to its quirky but well-made charms. Despite a rich, "congested" midrange, and somewhat one-note bass, the sound was "exciting and clear" and could "give some conventional turntables a run for their money" – especially considering its great-value price of just £89.

While never reaching mainstream success, the Sound Burger was resurrected for Audio-Technica's 60th anniversary, this time with Bluetooth streaming powers. We found the styling and build quality to be well thought-out when we reviewed the most recent model, and its mid-forward sound has a lively, appealing sense of flow that is simply fun to listen to.

• Read our Audio-Technica Sound Burger review

Oracle AC (1979)

Oracle’s first turntable was simply called ‘Oracle AC’, but is often considered part of the long-spanning Delphi line launched the following year. There were eventually six variants, with the MkV in 1995 seeing bigger developments in its manufacturing.

This first belt-drive turntable was competing with the Linn LP12. At $800, they cost roughly the same, but Oracle didn’t use a two-piece platter. Instead the belt ran on a rim located underneath the platter, making it fiddly to change speed manually.

The Oracle's sub-chassis was suspended by a three-point mount on stretched springs and, to help eliminate horizontal movement of the suspended platter, its centre of gravity was moved to the same height as the suspension fixings. It also featured a screw-down clamp to pin the record firmly to the mat.

Dual 1009 (1964)

Considering Dual's long history with record players, it's surprisingly tricky to pin down exactly what Dual's first complete turntable was. Brothers Christian and Joseph Steidinger began the company in 1907 making precision parts for gramophones and watchmakers. But it wasn't until the "Dual-Motor" was created in 1927 – a combined spring-loaded clock mechanism and electrical motor – and became so successful that the company adopted the Dual name in 1935.

An early model most certainly would have been a portable gramophone, and we're told two complete 'turntable systems' called W1 and W3 both appeared in 1934. It's hard to track down more information about them. Much of the development of Dual products in the early ’30s was driven by two engineers, Emil Knecht and Herman Papst – they would go on to design the first European direct-drive turntable, the Dual CS 701, in 1973 – and by the '50s, Dual became the biggest manufacturer of turntables in Europe.

But the first modern 'hi-fi' turntable from Dual? That would be the legendary Dual 1009 from 1964 – considered to be Dual's first "audiophile" record player. This four-speed deck was fully automatic, and had a sterling reputation for its robust build quality and reliability of the automatic mechanism.

• Read our Dual CS 518 review

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How does a vinyl record make a sound?

What Hi-Fi? Vinyl Week 2026 is in full flow, and we are celebrating all things related to the format as we build up to Record Store Day 2026 on Saturday, 18th of April.

We are rolling out a mix of reviews, features and buying advice, whether you’re a seasoned vinyl-spinner or taking your first steps as a budding collector.

As part of the celebrations, we’ve reached out to some of the biggest players in the turntable space to ask their opinions on turntable design and where they think the biggest scope for improvement is. Here’s what they had to say…

Never heard of the Rega Planet turntable? We wouldn’t blame you. It was the company’s first product and was introduced in April 1973. Rega made it for only four years before phasing it out for the more conventional-looking and hugely talented – and now iconic – Planar 3 model.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

The inaugural Planet was originally supplied without a tonearm, which wasn’t unusual back then. Most buyers went for something such as the highly regarded SME 3009 arm with good results. However, Roy Gandy, Rega’s co-founder, wanted to sell complete units, and the search for a suitable tonearm for his new deck led to a company called Cosmocord.

Cosmocord had plenty of stock of the Acos Lustre tonearm, and a deal was struck whereby it would supply the tonearm to Rega and take care of the distribution of the complete deck. The record player became the Acos Rega Planet while the agreement lasted (around a year), and then the Acos branding was dropped once Rega took charge of its own distribution.

Take a close look at the sample provided to us by Rega, and it is remarkable just how much of the Planet’s design is still reflected in the company’s current turntables.

To our eyes, the Planet ooks for all the world like an early Planar 3 with a fancy trio of pods to support the record. And, to a large extent, that’s exactly what it is.

That distinctive platter-less design was inspired by the premium Transcriptors decks of the day, with Gandy deciding that his first product needed something distinctive to stand out in what was already a crowded turntable market.

Early versions of the outriggers used chrome-plated brass, which was later changed to silver anodised aluminium with an inlaid rubber ‘o’ ring, as on our sample. The outrigger arrangement still looks stunning, and it is hard to keep our eyes off the deck when the pods are spinning with no record on top.

There is, however, a reason that just about every turntable on the market uses a flat platter to support the record. Those pods leave large parts of the record unsupported, and those sections pick up airborne vibrations, which adversely affect sound quality.

This is why the company moved to a more conventional platter design (though ultimately in glass rather than aluminium) for the Planer 3 that followed.

The Planet’s plinth will look entirely familiar to those who know Rega’s turntables. In this earliest incarnation, it is a chipboard piece that is black laminated on all its surfaces. This makes the structure relatively light and rigid – parameters that the company’s turntable designs have continued to prioritise over the years.

Gandy’s early experiments with plinths led him to conclude that excess mass was a bad thing, due to high noise-transmission and energy storage.

There was a long search for an appropriate motor. Rega eventually settled on one made by Philips and imported into England by a company called Impex. The motor was principally used in pinball machines, but it had qualities that Gandy wanted.

It ran at a lower speed than the others he had tried, which meant he could use a larger pulley and smaller centre drive hub. The result was a quieter operation with less vibration.

It took months of development to engineer a suitable way to mount the motor onto the solid plinth. In the end, a combination of a rubber ‘o’ ring and a suitably positioned metal plate did the trick. This arrangement allowed accurate motor alignment and good decoupling, while providing enough motor-body movement to compensate for any irregularities in the drive belt.

Those belts were bought as 3mm continuous cylindrical lengths of rubber, cut to size and then hand-glued end-to-end by Gandy. Enabling the drive system to cope with belt irregularities was certainly sensible.

As for the Planet’s feet, these were from a company that made rubber door stops. Originally, Gandy bought off-the-shelf designs, but after a number of weeks (and regular orders, we suspect), the company made bespoke feet for Rega. These were deeper and softer for added clearance and better isolation from support vibrations.

How does the Rega Planet sound today? Our test sample is straight from Rega’s vaults and is an early Acos Rega Planet fitted with the Acos Lustre arm. The cartridge fitted is Rega’s current entry-level moving magnet, the Carbon, which is a solid, balanced performer for its modest £35 / $75 price.

We connect the Planet to our reference system of Cyrus Phono Signature/PSX-R2 phono stage, Burmester 088/911 MkIII amplifier and ATC SCM50 speakers, as well as a more price-compatible combination of Rega Brio Mk7 and KEF LS50 Meta speakers. Regardless of the partnering system, the Planet turns in a charming though not flawless performance.

Speed stability could be better, and the Planet isn’t the most dynamic performer. It’s fair to say that any current Planar turntable, including the entry-level Planar 1, gets more out of the record groove. Yet, we can’t help but enjoy ourselves.

We spend a few days working through our record collection, taking in large-scale classical symphonies such as Beethoven’s Fifth, old jazz classics such as Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis and modern pop productions such as Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever set. The Planet succeeds in putting a smile on our faces.

This is no sonic microscope. It doesn't dig out the last grain of information from the record groove – and the fitted Carbon MM isn’t going to do that, either. However, the Planet is a fun and interesting listen.

The information it does dig up is presented in a cohesive and balanced way. Music flows when played on this record player and, even by current standards, communicates the emotional content well. The latter point may seem like a throwaway line, but it is still surprising just how many hi-fi products, almost regardless of price, fail in this important respect.

While rhythmic precision isn’t impeccable, we get a good sense of musical momentum and involuntarily tap our feet with tunes that encourage such behaviour. Large-scale dynamic swings, such as in the Beethoven symphony, are soft pedalled, but lower-level intensity shifts still come through satisfyingly.

The tonality of a record player is largely dictated by the cartridge, and the Carbon is a nicely balanced performer. It doesn’t go overboard at either frequency extreme, avoiding any annoying peaks or troughs in frequency. The Carbon may be modestly priced, but it steps out of the way of the music better than most moving magnets at its price.

That sentiment applies to the Rega Planet as a whole. It isn’t massively revealing or insightful by modern standards, but put on your favourite record, and we’re sure you’ll enjoy it. When that record ends, we think the temptation to put another one on will be strong.

Ultimately, when a piece of hi-fi encourages you to listen to another piece of music, it's doing its job well. Judged in this context, the Rega Planet still does the job.

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There are plenty of well-remembered classic turntables. The Thorens TD160, Linn LP12 and Technics SL1210 come to mind, and we wouldn't have to work hard to add another dozen famous names.

However, we're not interested in those well-loved decks here. Instead, we've dug deep into the past 50 years of What Hi-Fi?'s history to find a few gems that seem to have slipped the collective hi-fi consciousness.

Not all of these record players were sonic class leaders, but they all have something that has us longing for an evening playing records in their company.

Bang & Olufsen 1800 (1984)

What Hi-Fi? is all about performance above most things, but even we aren’t immune to the stylish charms of Bang & Olufsen’s 1800 record player. This was a belt drive budget turntable, costing around £99 back in 1984, yet still managed to pack automatic operation and all the style the brand is so famed for.

Surprisingly, considering its ultra-slim plinth, the 1800 featured a fully-sprung sub-chassis to make it less sensitive to external vibrations. There was no platter mat as such; here, it is replaced by thin rings of Nextel that were claimed to reduce any static charge on the record.

The 1800’s arm was a thin, wand-like affair. It was fitted with one of B&O’s MMC (Moving Micro Cross) cartridges, a range of moving magnet cartridges designed specifically to work with the low-mass arms fitted to the company’s record players.

Most 1800 turntables would have been bought to complement Bang & Olufsen’s electronics, and so they featured a DIN output. Users would need a suitable DIN to phono adaptor if they had a more conventional third-party amplifier.

What did the B&O 1800 sound like? Our review at the time talks of a sweet, clear and organised presentation, built on a taut and tuneful bass performance. Lows were considered a little lightweight and perhaps the treble lacked a touch of precision compared to the best at the price, but the combination of the 1800’s elegance, ease of use and tidy sound makes it something of a budget classic in our view.

Cranfield Elite Rock (1982)

Linn’s LP12 had become a dominant force in the UK high-end turntable market by the early ’80s, and its suspended sub-chassis design was mirrored in many other decks of the day. So, the arrival of the Cranfield Elite Rock, with its solid design, heavy plaster-loaded structure and silicon damping trough was something of a shock.

The Rock originated from research done by the Cranfield Institute and was packed with innovative engineering solutions. However, it was the use of silicon fluid (sitting in the trough over the record) to damp arm resonances that proved the most controversial aspect of its design.

This added another step before playing a record, as the trough needed to be swivelled out of place to put the record on the platter, then pushed back. Also, if you weren’t careful, it was possible to spill the silicon fluid onto your records, which was messy.

The thing is, the whole arm-damping idea really worked, giving the cartridge a much more stable base to work from. This arrangement also made the sonic differences between tonearms less significant, and so the Rock got great results from affordable but capable options such as Rega’s RB300.

If you think that records sound warm and smooth, listening to the Elite Rock will prove a real shock. It had a dry and precise balance with some of the tautest bass of any record player.

Detail levels were exceptional, as was the Rock’s composure when playing demanding music. The Elite Rock may not have been the best finished high-end deck on the market, but it was right up there with the very best sounding options at the time.

Dual CS505-2 (1984)

Back in the early ’80s, if you wanted a good-quality, affordable turntable but couldn’t stretch to Rega’s Planar 2, you bought Dual’s CS505-2. This was a well-engineered and decently made budget deck that delivered a sound well above that achieved by most rivals.

The low price, around £75, didn’t stop Dual from offering a suspended sub-chassis, though, which served the deck well when positioned on less-than-perfect supports. The CS505-2 also included an auto-stop and arm-lift function at the end of a record side, making it more convenient to use than the competition.

Sound quality? Pretty good, with the Dual sounding enjoyably energetic and decently detailed. There was a good sense of balance about the CS505-2’s presentation and enough composure to stay organised when the music became demanding.

Sure, if you had more to spend, better sound was possible, but for the money, for a few years at least, nothing budget bettered the Dual as an all-round proposition.

Michell Syncro (1984)

Michell’s Syncro was introduced as a more affordable alternative to the company’s high-end Gyrodec. The Syncro was still a suspended sub-chassis design, though, which made it less sensitive to external disturbances than more rigid options such as the Rega Planar 3.

The Syncro’s platter was made of glass and covered by a felt mat. It was driven by an AC motor via a long rubber belt. Changing speed was a manual affair and involved moving the drive belt from one step of the motor pulley to the next.

While the Michell could be bought without an arm, it was usually fitted with a Mission 774LC or Linn LV-X in the early days, and a version of the Rega RB300 tonearm later on. Regardless, the Syncro was considered a lucid and detailed performer that could dig deep into the fabric of the recording.

This record player was a well-engineered and capable alternative for those who couldn’t stretch to the range-topping Gyrodec. Looking at it now, we can’t help but be tempted to search eBay for a sample in good condition.

Roksan Radius (1989)

Roksan’s first product was the legendary Xerxes turntable, released in 1985. The Xerxes was a truly ambitious and innovative record player that set the cat among the pigeons in the UK high-end market.

While the Xerxes established the brand, it was a pricey product, and the company needed a more affordable offering to help with growth. That new deck was the Roksan Radius (£399).

This was aimed at a more mainstream audience and came with the new Tabriz tonearm. Speed change was electronic, and the deck used a simplified version of its big brother’s clever isolation system.

The result was a truly capable performer that not only delivered a class-leading performance but did so in a package that was easy to use and much more affordable..

The Radius’s sound was agile and informative. It had a lovely top-to-bottom consistency and a low-frequency performance that prioritised tunefulness and articulation over outright weight and warmth. If you find one in good condition on the second-hand market, you won’t be disappointed.

Pink Triangle Tarantella (1998)

It is hard to believe that the Tarantella is almost 30 years old. Its styling still feels so fresh. This talented deck was something of a revelation back in the late ’90s, combining a striking appearance with class-leading sound quality at an entirely reasonable £850.

Our sample was fitted with the then-ubiquitous Rega RB300 tonearm and proceeded to dominate its price class for a number of years. The Tarantella sounded clear, detailed and musically coherent; a blend of talents that meant that it sounded at home with all types of music.

True, build quality wasn’t perfect, but if you got a good one, it was a pleasure to own. Speed control was electronic rather than manual, and the plinth-mounted LED lights made it look stunning in a darkened room. All in all, this is a modern classic.

Pro-Ject Elemental (2014)

Pro-Ject has long been the master of great-value turntables, and the Elemental was one of its finest. This was a wonderfully minimalist design that cut back on every luxury, leaving just the essentials. Elemental was truly an apt name.

Costs were saved by reducing the plinth size. It was just big enough to house the arm and cartridge. There was no means to level the deck and no form of suspension to isolate it from its surroundings.

However, there was an artificial stone mass anchor below the main bearing to add structural stability and act as an energy sink for noise generated by the main bearing and motor.

The platter was made of MDF and drive was delivered by a smooth-running DC motor. Speed change was manual, of course, but at least the Ortofon OM cartridge was factory fitted and the arm adjustments for bias and tracking weight already set. This was truly a plug-and-play turntable.

Sound quality was great for its £150 price, with good detail and a fine sense of organisation. This was a nicely balanced performer for the money, with a well-rounded presentation that would work well in the kind of budget systems it was designed for.

In the end, despite great reviews, its stark appearance proved too much for customers. Pro-Ject soon reverted to conventional rectangular plinths for its budget offerings, which we think is a shame.

Wilson Benesch Full Circle (1999)

While Wilson Benesch is now best known for its terrific range of high-end speakers, its first product was a record player. It was simply called The Wilson Benesch Turntable and was a determined effort to get more out of the record groove by using careful engineering combined with cutting-edge materials (such as carbon fibre) for the sub-chassis and tonearm.

That first record player was a well-received product, but by the early ’90s it was clear that the turntable market was in decline – thanks to the introduction of the Compact Disc – and so the company focused on speaker production.

However, it didn’t ignore vinyl replay altogether, releasing the Circle turntable around the turn of the century. When it was partnered with the company’s carbon fibre tonearm and cartridge, the package was called The Full Circle.

The Circle replaced the original record player’s suspension system with cantilevered carbon fibre rods. The deck was built around a layered construction that separated the motor (and all its inherent vibrations) from the sensitive cartridge/record interface.

The result was a beautifully simple-looking design that was superbly made and class-leading in performance. So much so that it garnered multiple Awards and five-star reviews from us over its production run. We think it remains an attractive and sonically competitive product to this day.

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Our back issues and bound copies of What Hi-Fi? magazine live on the shelves of our hi-fi listening rooms. Not only are they a handy reference tool, but they also serve as useful acoustic room treatment that gives the rooms a more balanced sonic character.

It always amazes me, when I venture in to the room – more often than not disturbing Kashfia, our long-suffering and extremely patient hi-fi and audio editor, in the process – to delve into our archives, how both very different and yet reassuringly familiar the magazines I leaf through are to me. The more things change, the more they stay the same, etc and so on and so forth.

The January 1981 issue of What Hi-Fi? serves nicely (well, of course it does) as a case in point. I mean, that’s a loooong time ago. (Although I, sadly, remember it only too well.)

Generally, when I go back a few decades looking at issues past, I like to put things into musical context and check out the big hits of whichever year I happen to be referring to.

1981 is a decent one, to be fair – certainly for the purposes of a nostalgic look back. Yes, pop pickers, the first thing that I could recall from that time was that Joe Dolce’s legendary Shaddap You Face fended off Ultravox’s all-time classic Vienna from the number one slot in the UK charts, thus denying one of the great singles of the entirety of the 1980s its rightful place on any number of lists.

It would, at least, be good pub-quiz knowledge, were it not asked so often that everyone already knows all about it.

Backing Sweet Joe up that year, though, were some tracks that can hold their heads up just as high. It was the year of Adam & the Ants, so Antmusic, Stand & Deliver and Prince Charming were all in the best-selling singles of the year, along with Ghost Town from the Specials, Human League’s Don’t You Want Me, Let’s Groove by Earth Wind & Fire, and not forgetting that track for the ages, the Tweets’ Birdie Song. Terrific stuff.

Sounds familiar

As for What Hi-Fi?, our January 1981 issue led with a real staple of our trade: helping readers get the very best bang for their buck with a new pair of speakers.

“Move to real hi-fi with the latest £100 speaker” is precisely what we at What Hi-Fi? are all about. Were we to have that headline today, it would be for £500 speakers – so right in the middle of some brilliant upgrade speakers from the likes of Acoustic Energy, Bowers & Wilkins, Monitor Audio and more.

And, when we go to the test inside the magazine, we see some familiar names: Acoustic Research, Monitor Audio, Mission, Wharfedale and Tangent. And it was the Missions that took the verdict in the end, with our reviewer raving about the £115 boxes: “Overall then the Missions represent real value for money and are worth auditioning by anyone in the market for speakers at under £250, let alone £100!” Praise indeed.

On the bottom of the cover runs the line, “Plus computerised guide to over 2000 units”. Little did we know in 1981, of course, just how far the “computerised” part of that would take us over the next four decades. What Hi-Fi? has been accessed for the most part by computer for the better part of a quarter of a century.

Entertainment for the home – and the road

It was also immediately impressive to me just how broad the remit was for the brand 45 years ago.

Car stereo gets a cover hit and a five-page group test within the magazine, with a three-way battle testing models from Pioneer, Philips and Sharp. Radio cassette players all, they give a sharp (sorry) reminder of what was classed as pretty much state of the art back in the day.

Let’s just say that one of the “dislikes” in the verdict box for the Sharp RG-6600E was “No rewind on cassette”. There’s a fast forward function, at least.

Contrast that, though, with telling your voice assistant to skip a track these days, and it’s safe to say that the youth today doesn’t know they’ve been born. And that’s without taking chewed and stretched tape into account. Ah, happy days.

Top of the format wars

There is also a page in the news section at the front of the magazine that has not only a car-stereo story, but also one on “Lighter, portable VCRs”.

And that mention is followed later on in the mag by a test of the Sanyo VTC-9300, with the sub-head “Sanyo are the first company to offer a current video at under £400”.

What’s this I read, though? Ah. The Sanyo is “a Beta format model”. Happy days once again, eh? Who doesn’t love a format war?

It regularly jumps out at me, though, in my happy time in the brand’s archive, that What Hi-Fi? has always had a broad coverage of all things home entertainment (and even beyond the home, of course, with car stereo tests).

The main principle remains the same now as it did in 1981, and even before that, when the magazine began half a century ago: to bring the reader honest straightforward, independent reviews that allow them to make an informed decision about the best products to buy for their budget. And long may that continue.

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1976 was a big year for music. Joy Division formed after seeing the Sex Pistols play at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall; Phil Collins took over vocal duties in Genesis after the departure of Peter Gabriel; and the Eagles released Hotel California.

But it was the formation of Apple in the north of said state that might just have had the biggest impact of the lot.

Its founders, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, originally called it Apple Computer Company (amended slightly to simply Apple Computer, Inc a year later) and for the first 25 years of its existence in Cupertino, California, that name was more than suitable.

The company’s focus was on PC alternatives such as the Macintosh, iMac and Powerbook, but in October 2001 Apple revealed a product that would change everything: the iPod.

The thin white jukebox

The launch of the iPod didn’t just turn Apple into a household name, it started a process that would eventually touch almost every part of the way we listen to music.

Portable music was nothing new – the Sony Walkman had been around for more than 20 years by this point – and the iPod wasn’t even the first digital music player.

But Apple rarely innovates in that way, preferring to let others test the water and then swoop in with a more finessed version of a product that appeals to the masses rather than just early adopters.

And appeal to the masses is exactly what the iPod did, selling around 70 million units worldwide in the first five years after its introduction.

Unlike its main early rival, Creative's DAP Jukebox, the iPod was genuinely pocketable, and the wheel-based navigation made scrolling through the 1000-odd songs that its 5GB hard drive could hold an absolute joy.

The What Hi-Fi? review in the February 2002 issue of the magazine called it: “A delightful, simple device that looks and sounds the business.”

Tech companies such as Griffin and Logitech soon saw a gap in the market and began to produce small speaker systems that allowed iPod owners to 'dock' their thin white jukeboxes, but they were invariably cheap and plasticky with sonic performance to match.

Apple introduced their own version in 2006, but the iPod Hi-Fi was only hi-fi in name.

The What Hi-Fi? three-star review couldn’t fault how loud it went, but its uninspiring design and lack of detail, pace and refinement meant that Steve Jobs’ declaration that he was replacing his stereo with one seemed disingenuous at best, particularly considering he claimed to be an audiophile.

Fortunately, genuine audiophiles didn’t have to wait long before something more worthy of the tag came along. Bowers & Wilkins introduced the Zeppelin in 2007, when premium-priced iPod docks were practically unheard of, and while it wasn’t perfect it proved that Apple’s portable music player had a place in home hi-fi setups.

In iTune and on time

It wasn’t just the iPod’s hardware that would be influential. A couple of years before its debut, Napster had arrived on the scene and sent the music industry into disarray by allowing people to share songs online for free.

Record labels struggled to cope with the sudden drop-off in CD sales, but Apple was already working on a solution. It launched the iTunes Store in January 2001 and suddenly gave music lovers a way to download tunes without breaking the law.

As well as legitimising digital downloads, the iTunes Store helped to change how people listened to music. People could now buy individual tracks even if they hadn’t been released as singles and gradually the importance of the album started to diminish.

As people filled their hard drives with collections of digital files they began to look for ways to play them that didn’t involve the tinny little speakers that came with their computers.

2003 saw the release of Roku’s SoundBridge streamers, which could be used to play digital music from an iTunes library through a connected hi-fi system, and in 2004 Apple introduced AirTunes – a precursor to AirPlay that allowed streaming over a Wi-Fi network.

It didn’t take too long for ‘proper’ hi-fi brands to get involved either. Linn and Naim were relatively quick to board the bandwagon, with the former’s Klimax DS arriving in 2007 and the latter’s Uniti, which combined streaming skills with a high-end CD player and amp, winning our System Product of the Year award in 2009.

With the arrival of the iPhone in 2007, and the launch of Spotify a year later, the era of music streaming had well and truly begun.

Today, it's rare to find an audio product that can’t stream, hence the popularity of products like the WiiM Ultra, Cambridge Audio MXN10 and Naim Uniti Atom, and it explains why NAD launched a version of its NAD C 3050 amplifier with an optional MDC2 BluOS-D module.

Despite the enduring appeal of CD and vinyl for some of us, it's clear that streaming music won over the masses and for most people downloads, let alone discs, are a distant memory. And once again, it's easy to trace this shift back to Apple.

RIP headphone ports

Those 19 years since the launch of the iPhone have been transformative from a technology point of view, but design-wise things have become rather homogenised – and to some extent that’s Apple’s fault.

The company’s influence can be seen almost everywhere. Its less-is-more approach has been adopted by countless other brands; Mac-like brushed metal finishes have been de rigueur for years; and slick touchscreen navigation is often preferred to physical controls (although with smartphone apps now often the main method of interaction, those days are probably numbered).

It’s all part of a shift towards products that people want to have on display rather than tucked away out of sight, which can probably be traced back to the original translucent iMac in 1998 – an all-in-one computer that was a genuine object of desire rather than something purely functional.

Back then most headphones you could buy were black, but during the development of the iPod Apple decided to make the buds that came in the box white to match. It was a stroke of marketing genius (albeit one that was largely accidental) that created a new status symbol almost overnight and made the type of headphones you wear a fashion statement.

Other brands suddenly started adding white headphones to their ranges so that even those who didn’t own Apple products could feel part of the crowd. In fact, there’s a strong case to be made that the headphone industry wouldn’t be as massive as it is right now without that simple decision to invert the colour.

Not all of Apple’s decisions regarding headphones have been quite so well received, but while its removal of the 3.5mm port from the iPhone 7 annoyed a lot of people at the time, it seems pretty prescient 10 years later.

Wired headphones are now largely reserved for serious home listening (and influencers), and Apple’s own AirPods wireless earbuds, which it launched at the same time as the iPhone 7, are everywhere.

Of course, for sonic purists many of these developments are not seen as improvements because they often come at the expense of sound quality, or are seen in some way to dilute the fundamentals of the hi-fi hobby.

Apple’s next move is unlikely to change that, particularly if it turns out to be a new screen-toting version of the HomePod, but there’s no denying that its influence has made hi-fi and audio products more accessible, more user-friendly, and more fashionable. Not bad for a computer company.

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What Hi-Fi? turns 50 in 2026 and we're looking back on some of the most important hi-fi and home cinema products in our lifetime – and beyond!

We're going back further than 1976 in this article as we look back on a series of debut speakers from hi-fi brands that went on to great things.

Our list details the first-ever models from some of the most renowned loudspeaker brands in history, including Bang & Olufsen, Bowers & Wilkins, KEF and Quad, some (but not all) of which started life long before What Hi-Fi?.

Wharfedale Bronze 2 (1932)

Wharfedale’s first speaker was built in the cellar of founder Gilbert Briggs' llkley home in 1932.

The Bronze was purely a drive unit (in those days, radio enthusiasts assembled their own cabinets). A year later, it was housed in a wooden cabinet for those who wanted an ‘extension’ speaker. Shortly after came the ‘Nubian’ cabinet speaker in 1934.

But it was a whole decade before Wharfedale marked the first of many milestones: the invention of the first two-way loudspeaker.

In 1945, the company combined a 30cm bass driver with a 25cm full-range ‘treble’ unit, using a crossover at 1kHz. And in the years after the company’s introduction of ceramic magnets to moving coil drive units led to the company’s much-celebrated Diamond series.

• That Was Then... Wharfedale Diamond review

Bang & Olufsen Hyperbo (1934)

Not uniquely, Bang & Olufsen came to the speaker market through radio manufacturing. In 1925, Peter Bang & Svend Olufsen’s first commercial radio – the modest production of which began in Olufsen’s attic – was the Eliminator, a radio component that allowed the connection of a radio directly to the mains, eliminating the need for batteries.

Having moved to a factory in Struer just two years later (B&O remain at that same site today), the Hyperbo – a radio, gramophone and integrated loudspeaker – arrived in 1934.

Like every B&O product produced since, the Hyperbo was heavily influenced by the emerging Bauhaus style in the early 1900s: a design attitude that has consistently manifested itself in the artistic craft behind the company's many speakers and TVs.

Acoustic Research AR-1 (1954)

Acoustic Research was founded in 1952 by inventor Edgar Villchur and his student Henry Kloss. Based on the acoustic suspension principle patented by Villchur in 1956, its first model, the AR-1, sold for $185 (over £1000 in today’s money).

The AR-1's woofer trapped air in the speaker’s sealed enclosure to provide a spring for the diaphragm, enabling it to move back and forth – doing the same job as the more conventional mechanical spring.

This was followed quickly by the AR-2 but it was the AR-3, released in 1958, that became Acoustic Research's landmark speaker, borrowing the AR-1's acoustic suspension technology but bringing onboard newly designed drivers.

Quad ESL-57 (1957)

Quad founder Peter Walker was the first to implement electrostatic technology in loudspeakers, waving goodbye to traditional driver cones and cumbersome cabinets.

In their place he put a thinly-stretched, electrically-charged diaphragm between two metal grilles, which received the music signal from the amplifier.

The first in what has become a brand-defining range of electrostatic speakers, the ESL-57, was in production for nearly 30 years, while the ESL-63 continued Quad’s electrostatic legacy until 1999. Quad continues to manufacture electrostatic speakers to this day.

KEF K1 Slimline (1961)

KEF’s oldest speaker was born out of founder Raymond Cooke’s desire to achieve outstanding sound quality from a slim, living room-friendly enclosure.

At 12.5cm deep, the K1 Slimline incorporated the same driver innovations as the Monitor versions that arrived in the K1 series: the B1814 woofer with its flat rectangular diaphragm of aluminium skinned polystyrene, the M64 elliptical midrange unit with a similar diaphragm construction, and the T15 tweeter with its hemispherical Melinex diaphragm.

To minimise colouration, the wall panels of the braced cabinet were dampened with bituminous pads. And, lounge-friendly in their aesthetic as well as their size, the K1 Slimlines were finished in walnut with 'coffee' fleck grilles – a far cry from some of the designs it employs today.

• That Was Then… KEF Reference Model 101/3

B&W P1 (1966)

Beginnings don’t get much more humble than B&W’s. The year after founder John Bowers started hand-assembling speaker systems in the electrical store he ran with Roy Wilkins in Worthing, Bowers & Wilkins (then B&W Electronics Ltd) released its first loudspeaker: the P1.

The cabinet and filter were B&W's own, but the drivers came from EMI and Celestion – this was in the decade before the company started using the bright-yellow Kevlar woven composite.

The profits from the P1 allowed Bowers to purchase a Radiometer Oscillator and Pen Recorder, meaning that every speaker the company sold could have calibration certificates.

• That Was Then… B&W 602 S3 review

Spendor BC1 (late ’60s)

Bextrene was the material of choice for the speaker diaphragms in Spendor’s first pair of speakers, the BC1.

A product of BBC engineer Spencer Hughes (co-founder with Dorothy Hughes, hence the Spendor name) and co-designer Dudley Harwood, the BC1 speakers had a three-way design: the only commercial 8in Bextrene mid-bass driver, a Celestion HF 1300 tweeter and a Coles 4001 G supertweeter.

They were fed by a nine-element crossover comprised of film capacitors for frequency and temperature stability, and radio metal cored chokes that allowed for high transients and low resonances.

The BC1s hit the market in the late ‘60s and found their way into broadcast and recording studios before eventually being available to buy for consumers. Some 600 pairs were supposedly in operation at the BBC at one time.

• That Was Then… Spendor SP2/3E review

Harbeth HL Monitor Mk1 (1977)

British speaker brand Harbeth came about due to the discovery, by founder H.D. Harwood, of a potential new film plastic for speaker cones.

Towards the end of his career in the BBC’s Research Department, and during investigation into bextrene plastic as a cone material for BBC monitors in the ‘60s, Harwood proposed that polypropylene would make a good cone material.

And so, upon his formal retirement, he set up Harbeth to make a speaker with his patented polypropylene-coned driver. The HL Monitor was released in 1977, and four versions subsequently followed over the next decade.

Dynaudio P-series (1977/78)

We have to pedal back almost 50 years to find Danish brand's first speakers – the five P-series models in 1977. However, they were short-lived, had limited distribution and, while using the company’s own crossovers, were the only Dynaudio speakers to rely on OEM drivers.

The P series (P for 'passive') comprised the P16 (pictured), P21, P31, P46 and P76. All models used specially coated soft dome tweeter with high power handling – something Dynaudio would later become renowned for.

The first range to use Dynaudio’s in-house MSP (Magnesium Silicate Polymer) woofers and tweeters, and receive international distribution, was the four-strong MSP series in 1984. Dynaudio has used its own drivers ever since.

• That Was Then… Dynaudio Audience 52 review

ATC S50/S85 (1978)

After a few years making drive units, ATC produced its first speaker systems in 1978: the bass-reflex S50 (pictured) and infinite baffle S85, which established a naming tradition based on the internal volume of the speaker.

Inside the plywood-based 50- and 85-litre cabinets were 2.5cm soft dome tweeters, a 7.5cm soft dome midrange driver and a 22.5cm woofer (two in the S85).

Unusually, the crossover arrangement allowed for true active tri-amping, allowing you to choose between either the internal passive crossover or an external electronic crossover via a rotary switch.

ProAc Tablette (1979)

A few years after founding loudspeaker manufacturer Celef Audio Ltd in 1973, Stewart Tyler decided that producing more expensive designs in smaller quantities, rather than increasing production capacity and potentially sacrificing quality, was the way forward.

With that decision came a new company name: ProAc, short for Professional Acoustics.

The first speaker to bear the name was the Tablette; mini monitors – they really are dinky – which have spawned more than ten variations since their original production in 1979.

Wilson Audio WAMM (1982)

Following Wilson Audio’s Smart turntable, which was essentially a re-jigged Acoustic Research deck and became Wilson Audio’s first ever product, founder Dave Wilson introduced the company’s first pair of speakers, the Wilson Audio Modular Monitor (WAMM), in 1982.

Each channel comprised two towers: one sub-bass module, and one with twin mid-bass drivers and an electrostatic supertweeter flanked by twin midrange/tweeter modules. It sold for $28,000 and was the most expensive speaker you could buy at that time.

The WAMM evolved through six versions from 1982 to 1993, and has since been revived, with the Master Chronosonic and Master Subsonic speakers still current in the company's catalogue.

Focal DB13 (1982)

JMlab established Focal for speaker driver production in Saint-Étienne in 1979, and three years later the company's first pair of speakers appeared.

The DB13 bookshelf speakers were equipped with a double voice coil driver plus Polyglass and Polykevlar driver cones, and were capable of volumes more akin to larger speakers.

They propelled the company towards the high-end audio market and to international shores.

Martin Logan Monolith (1983)

Convinced they could make a class-leading electrostatic speaker capable of adequate bass and suitable for rock music, Gayle Martin Sanders and Ron Logan Sutherland (later ‘Martin Logan’) conceived a prototype in 1980. Unfortunately, its flat aluminium panel blew up when they turned up the volume...

Undeterred, their first production-ready speaker arrived three years later: the Monolith. A revised transducer saw a clear Mylar diaphragm sandwiched between two perforated-steel stators.

And to ensure good sound dispersion, a horizontally curved panel was implemented, and this curvilinear transducer has been central to the design of every Martin Logan electrostatic since.

Sonus Faber Parva (1983)

In 1983, three years after Sonus Faber founder Franco Serblin produced his first system (an all-wood, all-in-one model called the "Snail" that really needs to be seen), the brand was established in a small laboratory in Monteviale, northern Italy.

It was in that year Sonus Faber launched its first product: the Parva 2-way speaker, featuring a Kevlar midrange cone and solid walnut wood cabinet.

This paved the way for some legendary models (such as the Extrema and Guarneri ranges), and what is today, 35 years later, one of the world’s most distinguished and design-savvy high-end speaker brands.

Dali 2 (mid '80s)

The Dali 2 was released shortly after the renowned Danish speaker company Dali (Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries) began in 1983.

The debut speaker had a two-way configuration, with a 6.5in laminate pulp/polyvinyl cone woofer, 1in tweeter with a soft polypropylene dome, and walnut veneered wooden cabinets.

The Dali 2 was followed by larger models in the range, the 3, 4, 6 and 8, which Dali explained shared the same design philosophy and signature sound: they don't "'thunder' or 'boom' bass – they just handle more power and provide better bass response".

Acoustic Energy AE1 (1987)

With the introduction of the AE1 Loudspeaker in 1987, Acoustic Energy Ltd was officially born. The concept was to create a compact studio monitor (it measured 30cm tall and 18cm wide) that could handle the high volumes and dynamics of larger speakers.

To achieve this, Acoustic Energy lined its cabinet with a concrete/plaster compound to eliminate as much resonance as possible, and developed a new mid/bass driver. It featured a 10cm cone of spun aluminium, thicker at the centre than the edges and anodised to create a ‘ceramic sandwich’, and used an oversized magnet assembly that allowed the AE1 to accept 200W of power.

The AE1 was refined in several revisions until 2016, when its SEAS tweeter went out of production. The design has since resurfaced in the amplified AE1 Active model.

• That Was Then... Acoustic Energy AE2 Signature review

Neat Petite (1991)

Neat Acoustics began life as a hi-fi shop in Darlington called North Eastern Audio Traders. After identifying a gap in the market for a small musical speaker, its owners developed the Neat Petite.

When we reviewed them in 1993, we heralded these speakers a musical success. We called their sound 'hugely stimulating', mostly due to the way they portrayed timing and dynamics – something that's continued to be a trademark in the brand’s more recent speakers.

• That Was Then... Neat Petite review

PMC BB5-A (1991)

After a stint as the manager of BBC's Maida Vale studios, Peter Thomas and former BBC engineer Adrian Loader designed the first PMC speaker, the BB5-A.

It introduced the company’s hallmark Advanced Transmission Line technology, in which drivers were used to improve bass output.

In an interview with What Hi-Fi?, Thomas said: “The design was certainly not conventional. Whereas the majority of speaker designers used ported or sealed cabinets, we found that a transmission line system for bass loading, if refined, gave a performance that significantly exceeded conventional bass loading principles.”

Wilson Benesch A.C.T. One (1994)

Five years after launching its first product, the Wilson Benesch Turntable, the British company launched a second: the A.C.T. One loudspeaker.

Unveiled at the 1994 Frankfurt High End show, the A.C.T. One used carbon fibre – the world’s first curved carbon fibre composite panel in a speaker design. It sported the sloping top and solid metal baffle that remain part of the company’s distinctive designs today.

While many years before the implementation of crossover-free midrange driver designs, as seen in the company’s Eminence series, the A.C.T. One placed great importance on phase coherence and the reduction of crossover elements.

Eclipse TD 512 (2002) 

Deviating from the traditional two-driver configuration and box design, Eclipse’s speakers are as distinct as they come. The company’s first, the 36cm-tall TD 512 speakers, were a "radical departure from the speaker norm" (as we stated in our 2002 review), with only one drive unit and an egg-shaped enclosure made of marble-loaded resin.

The former’s job to cover the whole frequency resulted in some shortcomings – namely, a rolled-off treble – but ultimately these beautifully imaged and detailed speakers did more than enough to enjoy a five-star debut. As we said at the time: "Little else at their price (£2350) will deliver such unrestricted access to the recording."

Q Acoustics 1000 series (2006)

Q Acoustics may not have the heritage of some other brands, but the British company’s debut, the six-strong 1000 series in 2006, has been one of the most notable of the 21st century.

The 1000 series comprised the 1010 and 1020 bookshelf speakers, 1010C centre channel, 1030 and 1050 floorstanders, and 1000S active subwoofer. Each model featured the same ferro-fluid cooled, micro-polyester weave tweeter and Linkwitz-Riley crossovers, and every drive unit was ‘torque mounted’ into its front baffle.

The 1010s were five-star performers in their own right, and later received another five-star review as part of a complete multi-channel surround package.

MORE:

• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame
• The best stereo speakers of the 21st century
• 10 of the best songs to test your speakers

As you may already be aware, here at What Hi-Fi? we’re currently celebrating our 50th birthday.

As part of our celebrations, we've been looking back at some of the iconic films that hit the big screen in the same year that we were founded. As it turns out, a string of classics are also celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, including one of Scorsese’s best, an iconic comedy duo pairing up for the first time, and the start of one of the most enduring franchises in film.

1976 was, undoubtedly, a great time if you fancied heading to your local cinema to catch the latest release. Below, the What Hi-Fi? editorial team has highlighted 10 films from that year that we think are brilliant examples of silver screen magic – and if you haven't watch them yet, we highly recommend them for your next movie night.

Taxi Driver

There are few films as harrowing as Taxi Driver. The movie is one of director Martin Scorsese's finest works, at least in my mind.

It’s a brutally honest piece of cinema history that follows Vietnam veteran turned taxi driver Travis Bickle as he slowly descends into madness.

The expert cinematography exudes the lonely isolation, slow detachment, and eventual resentment that Bickle experiences while navigating New York, ferrying everyone from child prostitutes to elite businesspeople around the city at night.

With Robert De Niro as lead man, backed up by an incredibly young Jodie Foster, it’s hard not to feel for the characters, trying to live in the uncaring world it documents – which is one key reason it remains so relevant 50 years after release.

And, as an added perk, there’s now a pretty decent 4K remaster, with Dolby Vision HDR, available on Blu-ray and most streaming services, including Apple TV and Amazon.

If you’re a fan of dark, emotionally complex films that offer a bleak take on the human condition, I’d strongly recommend giving it a watch, if you haven’t already.

Just make sure you’re in a good place mentally before you click the play button. Even now, half a century on, the film will get under your skin.

Words by Alastair Stevenson

Buy Taxi Driver on Blu-ray at Amazon

Rocky

Sylvester Stallone’s boxing film franchise may have gone on too long, but the original Rocky will always be a classic. I mean, would movie training montages have ever been the same without it? The theme song from those scenes alone is so iconic that it even inspired some of the most memorable 118 118 adverts from the 2000s.

Set in mid-1970s Philadelphia, the film marks the birth of one of the most legendary characters in action film history, Rocky Balboa. It follows the fictional tale of how this small-time boxer/debt collector gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fight the heavyweight champion of the world, Apollo Creed.

Creed is played by Carl Weathers in what many consider his most iconic role, although Predator (1987) and Happy Gilmore (1996) fans may disagree. For the record, I think he’s great in all three films.

He is joined by a quality supporting cast in the form of Burt Young as Paulie Pennino and Talia Shire as Paulie's sister, Adriana, nicknamed “Adrian”. Rocky just wouldn’t be the same without her, and the movie's climax is an emotional demonstration of the couple’s love for one another.

If you’ve got a thirst for some action, sticking this bonafide 1976 classic on your TV or projector will quench it in no time.

Words by James Cook

Buy Rocky on Blu-ray at Amazon

Carrie

It’s an iconic image in horror film history: Carrie, bathed in pig’s blood, the whole screen going red with her rage.

Carrie was the very first of Stephen King’s many, many written works adapted into film, with Brian De Palma directing this now-iconic coming of age film with highly emotional performances with lasting impact, and scenes fraught with tension.

Sissy Spacek is magnificent as Carrie: shy, sheltered, vulnerable, tortured yet full of innocence and hope; her constant bullying at school and the oppression at home from her religiously fanatic mother are viscerally felt.

Everyone around her is perfectly horrid, and Spacek elicits so much sympathy that we’re constantly on edge for her – even in the tense seconds leading up to the inevitable, infamous bucket of blood scene at the prom, you wish you could save Carrie from the pain and embarrassment. But it makes her violent revenge all the more satisfying, even if it is still horrifying.

Blending real-world pains with the supernatural in a way that feels both heightened and natural (this is Stephen King, of course, so there’s some telekinesis involved), the film uses the high-school teen experience to maximum effect, which in turn has created legendary moments and clichés that have been repeated in teen horror TV shows and films since (the mean girls, the gym burning down, the hand reaching out from the grave…).

Throughout it all, it’s Carrie who remains the force driving the film – from her innocence and burgeoning powers to the eventual bloodbath, it’s her enduring story that remains a terrific watch and has us at the edge of our seats, even 50 years later.

Words by Kashfia Kabir

Buy Carrie on Blu-ray at Amazon

Bugsy Malone

When I was a kid, I absolutely loved this film. I thought the title character, played by Scott Baio, was especially cool, and I have fond memories watching groups of young New York gangsters being wiped out by splurge guns, a pie-shooting Tommy Gun spoof.

Set during the Prohibition era, the film is loosely based on the exploits of real-life gangsters such as Al Capone and Bugs Moran. With its ensemble cast consisting entirely of child and teenage actors, including a young Jodie Foster as Tallulah, though, the violence has been massively toned down to make it suitable for younger audiences. The actors converse in a distinctive 1920s way, though, which is a nice touch.

I’m not much of a musical fan, but there are some catchy tunes in Bugsy Malone too, particularly my personal favourite, So You Wanna Be a Boxer (featured in the video above).

It might have been years since I’ve seen it in its entirety, but I can’t think of any other gangster spoof movies that are as iconic. I must admit, though, that as an adult I’m not quite sure it will resonate with me quite so strongly as it did during my formative years.

Still, there’s only one way to find out and that’s by watching it again.

Words by James Cook

Buy Bugsy Malone on Blu-ray at Amazon

Marathon Man

1976 was quite a year for William Goldman. Not only did it see the release of All The President’s Men (for which his screenplay would go on to win an Oscar), but also Marathon Man, another multi-award nominated thriller, again starring Dustin Hoffman. But instead of an adaptation, this one was based on Goldman’s novel of the same name.

Hoffman plays Thomas Babington Levy – aka "Babe" – a history student and marathon runner who crosses paths with a Nazi dentist (played with malevolent brilliance by Laurence Olivier) who’s on a mission to retrieve his ill-gotten diamonds.

The scenes where Dr. Christian Szell (Olivier) tortures Babe in the dentist’s chair are a real highlight, though not to be watched if you already get nervy around your annual checkup at the dentist.

“Is it safe?” Shudder.

As you would expect from the pen of Goldman, it’s a taut thriller that really ratchets up the paranoia.

He has written in his memoirs that the story idea occurred to him during a walk through a predominantly Jewish diamond district and he imagined a Nazi on the run placed in the same location.

Like a lot of classic thrillers, the hero is just a normal person placed in extraordinary circumstances and forced to find out what they are capable of. And it’s executed beautifully, with the kind of pacing that’s more typical of a sprint than a marathon.

Words by Joe Svetlik

Buy Marathon Man on Blu-ray at Amazon

Silver Streak

While Stir Crazy (1980) is my personal favourite Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor pairing – I haven’t actually seen their final film, Another You (1991) – Silver Streak was the first time the two American comedians worked together for a feature-length showing.

Released in early December, the thriller comedy is mostly set on the titular train, which is travelling from Los Angeles to Chicago when a murder takes place. Pryor and Wilder team up during the ensuing chaos and, despite their contrasting comedy styles, the two begin hilariously bouncing off one another.

There is a reason that Pryor and Wilder are regarded as an iconic comedy duo and Silver Streak is the first time you see just how good their chemistry was.

But due to the era in which this film came out, it contains parts that have aged like milk and would not be considered appropriate by modern audiences. So, bear that in mind if you do decide to add this comedy classic to your watch list.

Words by James Cook

Buy Silver Streak on DVD at Amazon

All The President’s Men

If ever there was a film to show you how the world has both changed enormously in half a century and yet in so many ways stayed the same, All The President’s Men is surely it.

The story of two Washington Post reporters, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, uncovering the Watergate Scandal that brought down the sitting president of the United States, it inevitably draws sobering comparison with the political situation in that country today.

It’s a terrific story, and a fascinating insight into how almost unimaginably difficult reporting – proper investigative reporting – was in those days. There was no internet, no Google to run to in the 1970s, of course; these guys had to rely on libraries, shoe leather and personal contacts (most famously, in this instance, the high-profile whistleblower “Deep Throat”).

Screenwriter William Goldman, who also wrote a couple of my other favourite movies, The Princess Bride and Marathon Man (featured above), does a wonderful job of keeping what is remarkably complex political intrigue and information both understandable and enjoyable.

Having said that, this is, admittedly, a movie of its time – necessarily rather slow-moving by the standards of 21st-century filmmaking.

You can’t really go wrong, though, with Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford – Bernstein and Woodward, respectively. They are backed up by a strong supporting cast, including Jason Robards and Jack Warden, and superbly directed by Alan J Pakula.

Being 50 years old is all well and good, and the historical differences between eras are fascinating for those interested in any way about old-school journalism. It is, however, the movie’s clear political relevance to today that has become rather more sobering.

The contrast between the media from half a century ago, skewering “Tricky Dicky” Nixon, and the polarised options available to US citizens today could not really be much starker; and, of course, the controversial presidency of today can only hold an appropriately worrying mirror to the events of more than 50 years ago. Whither the Woodward and Bernstein of 2026?

And I write this, of course, just weeks after the announcement that The Washington Post has laid off as many as one-third of its employees. Perhaps there is still plenty for us to learn about the methods, morals and ethics of a world before the worldwide web.

Words by Jonathan Evans

Buy All The President's Men on 4k Blu-ray at Amazon

Logan’s Run

An apocalyptic world where humanity lives in domed communities, blissfully following the instructions of an AI computer overlord.

Yes, this is a hair’s breadth from describing our reality in 2026, but believe it or not, all the way back in 1976, it was the premise of one of cinema’s finest pieces of dystopian science fiction.

And while, like The Warriors, which came out three years later in 1979, Logan’s Run’s take on what people at the time thought was a worst-case scenario for the human race now looks pretty tame, it’s still a cinematic masterpiece worth watching.

For one, there’s the clever use of, at the time, revolutionary special effects. These included the use of actual holograms, at the time, rare wide-angle lenses and Dolby Stereo on 70 mm prints to help create the effects that outright blew viewers’ minds at the time – and eventually nabbed it a Special Academy Award for its visual effects.

And while they may not be as clever or slick as the schlop AI artists are chucking out every week, the innovation remains worthy of applause.

But its themes and the questions it raises about the human condition have also aged well. The film is set in a future where humanity lives a hedonistic life protected from the ruined outside world, with a computer overlord providing for all their needs until they reach the age of 30, and must enter the Carrousel.

It follows Logan, a former “Sandman” who used to kill any citizen who refused to enter the Carousel voluntarily, as he turns into one of the runners he used to hunt when he turns the big three-O. Given the state of today’s world, where we’re ceding more and more control of our lives to AI and big tech, how could the film not still at least partially resonate with audiences even now?

Which is why, 50 years on, I’d wholeheartedly recommend that any sci-fi fan give it a watch, even if it’s not quite as scary as it once was, and it's yet to get a 4K remaster.

Words by Alastair Stevenson

Buy Logan’s Run on Blu-ray at Amazon

The Omen

Fifty years since its 1976 release, Richard Donner’s The Omen remains a masterclass in atmospheric dread – and a surprisingly rigorous workout for a modern home cinema system.

While many 70s horrors rely on dated jump scares, The Omen sustains its power through a suffocating sense of impending doom, which is only enhanced by a high-quality sound system.

Now remastered in 4K, the film delivers the soft, naturalistic grain of the era but the deep, inky shadows of the film’s Gothic architecture have been brought up to present day standards.

You’ll want to look for shadow detail in the infamous "nanny" scene; a lesser display will crush these blacks, losing the terrifying nuances of the Roman backdrop.

However, the true star is Jerry Goldsmith’s Oscar-winning score. From the visceral, chanting of Ave Satani to the piercingly sharp violins, the soundtrack is a benchmark for dynamic range. Try the cathedral sequence to check your system’s mid-range clarity and overall sense of scale.

Half a century later, The Omen isn’t just a horror classic; it’s a reminder of the timeless power of a thrilling score and expert cinematography.

Words by Joe Cox

Buy The Omen on Blu-ray at Amazon

Assault On Precinct 13

A low-budget exploitation film starring a cast of mostly unknown actors that nonetheless sets a movie-night standard, thanks to John Carpenter's masterful direction, brilliant pounding synth score and peerless pacing.

A soon-to-be defunct police precinct and its few remaining staff, plus a couple of transported convicts that have been waylaid there, are besieged by a patchwork, 'cholo'-styled gang hell-bent on revenge for a police massacre of gang members.

The movie takes obvious influence from westerns (most specifically Rio Bravo) as well as Romero's Night Of The Living Dead, and indeed Carpenter's career-long talent for horror is given an early preview in what was only his second movie. The relentless, kamikaze waves of gang members are essentially zombie hordes (that run and fire weapons), and this plus the beleaguered, claustrophobic setting laid out the blueprint for just about every survival-horror video game, zombie flick or 'urban western' that followed (including Die Hard).

There's a dystopian element too; the deserted South Central LA neighbourhood feels menacing, hostile and alien, while America's contemporary real-life fear of rising gang lawlessness in its cities set a chilling tone.

A highway patrol cop is the movie's hero-type, but more notable is death row-bound convict Napoleon Wilson, whose cynical cool set the anti-hero standard and surely helped sketch Han Solo's character a year later (there's even an "I know" moment).

Assault still, crucially, looks great thanks to Carpenter's filming in his favoured Panavision widescreen format – a real treat, that's all the better on a big-screen home cinema set-up.

Words by Chris Burke

Buy Assault On Precinct 13 on Blu-Ray at Amazon

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Is vehicle racing the new benchmark for home cinema sound? F1's Oscar win suggests so

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Lucky, that’s what I call it. The chances of having three of the most significant small speakers of the past 60 years all in one place at the same time, and in proper working order, are small. But here I am, listening to mini-monitor royalty and loving every minute.

Two of the speakers in this group, the BBC-designed LS3/5A and the Acoustic Energy AE1, can rightly claim to be legendary. I think the third, KEF’s LS50, has done enough in the past decade or so to lay claim to that status in the future.

The LS3/5A arguably originated the high-quality mini-monitor speaker category. This is a properly small speaker (about the size of a shoebox ) with an internal volume of around five litres.

It was originally developed for use in outside-broadcast vans and cramped studios, primarily to monitor speech, but was quickly hijacked by hi-fi enthusiasts who loved its gorgeous midrange performance and exceptional stereo-imaging skills.

The LS3/5A was one of the fruits of an extensive BBC research project into speaker design and was first introduced in 1975. The BBC isn’t a speaker manufacturer, of course, so the speaker’s design was made available under license to third-party manufacturers to make.

KEF was the supplier for both of the drive units, but didn’t make the complete speaker until the mid-’90s. Its version of the LS3/5A, the gloss black one we have in our test room, was made to celebrate the company’s 35th anniversary. Only 500 pairs were ever produced.

Given that the BBC had some of the best audio engineers in the business at the time, and resourced them well beyond the capabilities of any commercial speaker manufacturer, it's no surprise that the LS3/5A turned out to be a technical tour de force back then.

The use of a Bextrene cone in the 11-cm mid/bass was considered cutting-edge technology in a world where just about everyone else still used paper; and the thin multilayer birch-ply cabinet was intentionally designed with a bit of ‘give’ to move any resonances out of the midrange and down into the bass frequencies, where our hearing is less sensitive. The sealed (non-ported) enclosure was heavily damped to control those resonances.

The LS3/5A’s high frequencies are delivered by a 19mm mylar-dome tweeter with a perforated metal cover. The foam strips that surround it reduce reflections off the front panel and cabinet edges

KEF lists the LS3/5A sensitivity at a miserably low 82.5 dB/W/m and a modest power handling of just 30 watts. Essentially, high volume levels and wide-ranging dynamics are off the table if you want the speakers to survive.

This is where Acoustic Energy’s AE1 came in. It launched in 1987 and was a determined attempt to produce a small speaker that ticked all the boxes. The company succeeded, proving that a small box (about the same frontal area as the LS3/5A but a fair bit deeper) could really produce wide-ranging dynamics, high volume levels and a decent dose of bass. Its detail resolution was exceptional for the time.

This performance was made possible by a formidable-looking all-metal driver array that was cutting-edge back then, and an engineering ethos that focused on minimising dynamic compression. An ultra-rigid cabinet that was lined with plaster to reduce internal standing waves and an unusual straight-edged mid/bass cone profile also helped.

The new Acoustic Energy AE1 40th Anniversary model (£1499/$1999) we have isn’t identical to the 1987 original, though. Think of it as a resurrection that is faithful to the original’s character and engineering principles, but tweaked with the benefit of four decades' worth of progress.

The first-generation drive units are no longer available, so AE’s engineers had to remanufacture them. The new drivers adhere to the original’s design ethos, but are tweaked for improved performance where possible.

Both have ended up a few millimetres larger than before (the tweeter is 29mm in diameter and the mid/bass is 12.5cm). Modern manufacturing methods and advances in design mean that both are better behaved than before. The improved drive units have allowed the engineers to simplify the crossover network, so improving the speaker’s performance.

In addition, the cabinet, which is the same size as before, has also improved. It forgoes the mess and complexity of the earlier model’s concrete-lined interior, and is now made with composite sandwich panels tuned to retain the original’s sonic character while being easier to manufacture.

All these things have incrementally improved the AE1 without changing its distinctive sonic signature. I have to say that the build of this 40th Anniversary edition is light-years ahead of the first generation, and the speakers look lovely in their high-gloss finish.

The third of our speakers is KEF’s LS50 Meta (£1299/$1599). This has become something of a modern classic. The LS50 was first introduced in 2012 to celebrate KEF’s 50th anniversary – it seems that KEF likes its anniversary models – and was upgraded to include the company’s clever metamaterial technology eight years later.

The heart of this speaker is the Uni-Q driver array that mirrors the AE1’s use of aluminium diaphragms, but places the 25mm dome tweeter in the throat of the 13-cm mid/bass rather than above it.

This coaxial configuration aligns the acoustic centres of the drivers, giving the LS50 even dispersion characteristics, which ensure an impressively wide listening sweetspot and enviable soundstage stability as we move around the room.

As touched on above, the ‘Meta’ in the KEF’s name refers to a technology that absorbs a claimed 99% of the rearward sound from the tweeter dome, reducing distortion and improving clarity in the process.

Elsewhere, the LS50’s curved front baffle is made of BMC (Bulk Moulding Compound), a material that provides a rigid and well-damped foundation for the Uni-Q array, and the speaker’s rear-firing reflex port is flexible to reduce resonances. Build, fit and finish are as good as we would want them to be.

I listened to all three speakers using the What Hi-Fi? reference system of Naim ND555/555 PS DR music streamer, Technic SL-1000R/Kiseki Purpleheart record player and Burmester 088/911 MkIII amplifier.

The LS3/5A is first, and its excellence with voices is obvious. It may not have the outright resolution of more recent designs, but there is a naturalness to its delivery that is hugely appealing. This is a fleshed-out performance that has a palpability that leaves many modern alternatives sounding thin, clinical and lacking in natural warmth.

If placed with care – a little away from a rear wall and on proper stands – these speakers also stereo image beautifully. That’s down to the well-damped enclosure, controlled dispersion and an impressive pair matching that is within 0.5dB of the BBC-specified reference target.

Given the age of the design, there are shortcomings, of course. Play any music that requires scale and dynamic reach (Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, say) or demands low-end muscle and punch (Massive Attack’s Heligoland or Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy), and these BBC speakers wave a white flag. They sound small, dynamically limited and rhythmically flat-footed with music such as this.

In comparison, the AE1 40th Anniversary speakers respond to such challenges with all the enthusiasm of a two-year-old bribed with a bucket of ice cream. These monitors sound bold and punchy, and are capable of sustaining high volume levels without issue.

Detail levels are clearly better than from the LS3/5A, though it has to be said that these all-action monitors don’t have the sweetness and body of the BBC design through the midrange and treble.

They are a more demanding listen, sounding harder edged without erring so far as to be unrefined or fatiguing. Tonally, they are more balanced, though the KEF LS50 Meta goes even further in this respect.

The AE1 are small boxes, so while they appear to bend the laws of physics when it comes to bass reach (given a muscular amplifier), listen carefully and you will find that properly deep bass is still missing.

Much the same can be said of the similarly sized KEF LS50 Meta. If anything, the Acoustic Energy sounds more muscular in the bass and is certainly more assertive generally, though the newer design’s progress in performance is obvious.

In comparison with the others, the LS50 Meta are clearer, cleaner and more spacious-sounding. They dig up a layer of fine detail that even the mighty AE1 don’t quite manage and deliver all that information in a wonderfully cohesive and balanced way. Their low frequencies may not be quite as burly as those the Acoustic Energy produces, but they are impressively agile and articulate.

In most ways, they are the most insightful and balanced speaker here, just as they should be given the age of the other designs. However, that doesn’t diminish the greatness of the others.

There is a reason that LS3/5A remains so beloved by many hi-fi fans. It has a sweet, easy-going manner that suits certain types of music beautifully, and if that’s what you listen to, these speakers remain as hard to beat today as they have always been.

The AE1 is my personal favourite. It is the small speaker that won’t wilt under pressure. It goes loud and delivers wide dynamic swings with enthusiasm. Sure, by current standards these speakers aren’t the last word in transparency and subtlety, but listen to a pair in full flow and the chances are that you won’t care. Feed them a quality signal, and the AE1 40th Anniversary will shine.

KEF’s LS50 Meta speakers have been What Hi-Fi?’s go-to premium standmounters for well over a decade. They are wonderful all-rounders that deliver a breadth of performance that few rivals get close to, let alone better. Of the three sets of speakers here, they get out of the way of the music most effortlessly. We can’t give them a higher compliment than that.

My conclusion? A great speaker remains a great product even as technology marches on. Sure, some limitations become more obvious over time, but the charm of classics such as the LS3/5A and AE1 doesn’t fade.

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"Hugely capable and surprisingly unfussy" – this streaming and vinyl hi-fi system is a premium package, but you'll be richly rewarded

In praise of small speakers: how their inherent design limitations can work to their benefit

As some of you may know, a certain hi-fi magazine is turning 50 this year (spoiler: it's us).

Given we're nostalgic souls, this momentous milestone has led our reviewers to take a fond trip down memory lane, revisiting the top tracks that came out in the same year as our launch.

1976 was one of the most iconic years in music history (and not just because What Hi-Fi? was born) – a year crammed with sonic treats for every type of music fan.

For the headbangers amongst us, there was the first UK punk single, which began the new wave of sounds that ruled much of the airwaves for the remainder of the decade, while many of the hard rock legends that had been selling out shows since the beginning of the '70s were still pumping out the hits.

For the more flamboyantly inclined, disco was getting people moving, and numerous funk, soul, and reggae acts were firing out bangers to help us all "get on up!"

All-in-all, it was an incredible time to own a great hi-fi system. From this huge catalogue of cracking songs, these 10 iconic tracks hold a special place in the What Hi-Fi? team's heart, so much so that you may well hear them blasting out from our listening room still, 50 years on.

Dancing Queen by ABBA

50 years ago. Half a century. That’s a long time in any life, and for most readers of whathifi.com, it’s ancient history. For me, though, it’s my childhood. And I find myself looking back at a time that was bang in the middle of the formative years of my musical taste.

If I’m honest (and this strikes me as a perfectly acceptable time to tell the truth) my musical preferences when I was 10 were pretty embarrassing – and certainly not something I would confess to as a younger adult. Time is a great mellower and adjuster of preconceptions though. So now? I’m not sure I care what others think of my love, when I was 10, for the music of Showaddywaddy.

The first track to jump out at me, when I looked at the list of UK hit singles from 50 years ago was Under The Moon Of Love, by the crepe-shoed rockers from Leicester. I loved Showaddywaddy, and I loved that track most of all. But it is, without doubt, of its time – and not really a standout system-tester either.

There was, though, one track on that list of top 10 hits from all those years ago that shines out, head and shoulders above the rest, as a beacon of mid ’70s brilliance. Abba’s Dancing Queen is still a guaranteed dancefloor filler half a century after it first topped the UK charts.

From the treble to bass glissando that kicks everything off to the fading out of the “da-dum, da-dum, da-dum” piano chords at the end, this track is, surely, one of the ultimate slices of pop perfection.

It’s a brilliantly produced record, too – and one that serves well as a test disc for your system. If there’s any flaw in the dynamics or rhythmic flow of the set-up you’re listening to, your dancing feet will soon pick it up. You’ll want electronics that are precise as well, to keep up with that irresistible beat.

Having said that, this one is such a banger that it would get most people up and shuffling about if it came out of the tinniest of tinny speakers. So forget about scrutinising equipment for a moment; just stick Dancing Queen on, and revel in a pop-music masterpiece.

Words by Jonathan Evans

Buy Arrival by Abba on vinyl at Amazon

New Rose by The Damned

Released in late October, New Rose marked the beginning of a glorious period for music, certainly for anyone who loves UK punk – and new wave – as much as I do.

While The Damned weren’t the only members of UK punk’s first wave, this single, and the subsequent album Damned Damned Damned, saw the London group beat the likes of The Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Vibrators into the studio to become the first British punk band to release a single and an album, respectively.

Truth be told, New Rose is a banger. Perfectly encapsulating the raw aggression that was to become a hallmark of this genre, it crashes, bangs, and wallops, often all at the same time. Stick it on your headphones or speakers, ideally some with plenty of rhythmic drive and punch, turn up the volume and enjoy the ensuing frenzy.

Words by James Cook

Buy Damned Damned Damned on vinyl at Amazon

I Wish by Stevie Wonder

If this song sounds familiar, I have three words for you: Wild Wild West. (Or rather, wicki-wicki Wild Wild West.)

Say what you want about Will Smith, the man knows how to ruin a good song, be it As The Beat Goes On (Miami), Forget Me Nots (Men In Black) or Rock The Casbah (Will 2K), but his pantomime despoilment of this Stevie Wonder classic is the most unforgivable.

I Wish is vintage Stevie, and comes from Wonder’s golden period. It’s taken from the album Songs In The Key Of Life, which is stacked full of classic cuts like Sir Duke, Pastime’s Paradise and Isn’t She Lovely, and which followed Fulfillingness' First Finale and Innervisions in a creative hat-trick of the likes rarely seen. In an album chock full of first-rate cuts, it still manages to stand out.

A paean to simple childhood pleasures (like “hang[ing] out with those hoodlum friends of mine”), this is Wonder at his best: effervescent, infectious, with those deft opening licks sounding like nothing else before or since.

Wonder apparently got inspiration for the track after attending a Motown picnic – whatever was in those Scotch eggs, it certainly did the trick.

Words by Joe Svetlik

Buy Songs In The Key Of Life on vinyl at Amazon

Fool to Cry by The Rolling Stones

Black and Blue isn’t The Stones’ best album, that much is for certain. Jagger and co. had enjoyed an enviable run of four back-to-back (to-back-to-back) classics before 1976’s release debuted to a somewhat mixed reception, setting themselves an unreachable bar courtesy of Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. between 1968 and 1972. You can’t maintain that sort of standard forever.

Still, the band’s thirteenth studio album does house a few of the sorts of gems that made the group’s earlier works shine so bright, with the bluesy, downtrodden Fool to Cry serving as a reminder that Mick and Keith still had a couple of years before many were wishing they’d take up residency at the Home for Retired Rockers. If anything, 1978’s Some Girls was a return to form…

However you view Fool to Cry, it still has so much of that soulful Stones sound to keep the punters happy, with Jagger’s lyrics riding that finest of fine lines between sincere blue-eyed soul and tone-deaf parody.

Conviction and charisma just about manage to pull things through, mainly thanks to Jagger’s committed performance and Keith Richard’s inspired noodling.

Words by Harry McKerrell

Buy Black and Blue on vinyl at Amazon

(Don’t Fear) The Reaper by Blue Öyster Cult

(Don’t Fear) The Reaper isn’t just Blue Öyster Cult's best-known track; it’s likely one of the most recognisable songs in the world.

Over its 50-year existence, it has been used in more movies than can be listed in this article (Halloween, Scream, The Prophecy, The Frighteners and The Stand, to name a few) and covered by everyone from Finnish goth rockers to American folk singers.

The original is undeniably the best version, at least in my mind. Featuring an emotive, barebones guitar intro, written in A-minor, that slowly builds, adding overdubbed harmonies before exploding into a chaotic, almost psychedelic, midsection, the song is a delight from start to finish.

The deceptively complex, layered composition, which also includes an iconic cowbell rhythm part and textured bass section, makes it a great track for testing hi-fi and a generally exciting, well-recorded listen, even 50 years on.

Yet what truly makes it special, and in my mind is the main reason for its ongoing popularity, are the timeless themes the track explores as it delves into the human condition.

Though many listeners assume it’s a basic story about a couple considering committing suicide together, lead guitarist, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, has constantly challenged this interpretation.

Instead, he insists it’s a deep exploration of our mortality inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, designed to celebrate love’s ability to transcend death – a theme humanity has explored since the dawn of time, and a key reason the song remains so relevant and fresh to this day.

Words by Alastair Stevenson

Buy Don't Fear The Reaper: The Best Of Blue Öyster Cult on vinyl at Amazon

Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy by Queen

Before music streaming was a big part of my life, I would rely on my trusty CD player and my collection of shiny discs to jam along to my favourite tunes.

One of the tracks that I played again and again (suitably featured in my edition of Queen’s Greatest Hits) was Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy. And, even as it turns 50 this year, it is still as much of a banger as it was when it came out.

Released as one of the tracks from A Day at the Races, the tune includes plenty of Queen tells: Freddie Mercury’s cheeky yet absurdly talented vocal performance heads the show, with clever lyrical wordplay making for toe-tapping listening.

Then there’s Brian May’s playful guitar solo, which is just a masterclass in how to capture your audience. The track’s runtime of just under three minutes goes by in a joyful blur, and it begs to be listened to on repeat.

If it has been a while since you dug out this Queen track, I implore you to give it another listen.

Words by Robyn Quick

Buy A Day at the Races on vinyl at Amazon

Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry

Prior to the release of Play That Funky Music in April, Ohio-based group Wild Cherry were a hard rock cover band struggling to find gigs as disco surged in popularity. But one fateful Pittsburgh show saw a member of a predominantly black audience ask drummer Ron Beitle, "are you going to play some funky music, white boys?" and the track, with its instantly recognisable hook, was born.

As soon as the opening guitar riff hits, the tone is set for a dance-off, and then things continue to ramp up as bass, drums, horns, and even a cowbell for a brief period enter the mix. Wild Cherry then tops it off with a short solo in the hard rock vein, as the group expertly blends their rocking past with the then disco present.

Despite being penned in just five minutes, this funk rock classic steamrolled its way to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 by September, and it’s one that you really should take out the subwoofer for, provided you own one, of course.

Words by James Cook

Buy Play That Funky Music on vinyl at Amazon

More than a Feeling by Boston

More than a Feeling is another classic 1970s anthem that still gets a lot of airtime, and there are plenty of good reasons why.

Featuring a catchy melody and emotive lyrics that are ably delivered by vocalist Brad Delp, it’s a fantastic tune that will get everyone from classic rock snobs to Taylor Swift fans’ heads bopping along to the beat.

For me, what makes it so interesting is that, as well as sounding great, it was actually quite revolutionary at a technical level at the time.

Despite that big, polished sound – which has gone on to become almost a cliché in soft rock communities, after decades of bands trying to replicate the track’s catchy magic – it was actually recorded using a wealth of custom equipment in guitarist and composer Tom Scholz’s basement.

This is a key reason it took him five years to complete More Than A Feeling, with Scholz creating his own hardware and techniques to stack the layered guitar parts and vocals that have since become synonymous with the band.

So, as well as sounding nice, it’s also a trailblazing song that laid the groundwork for the garage recording, home-produced revolution that has been keeping smaller acts alive and helping new bands get discovered for decades now. Boston, we doff our collective caps to you!

Words by Alastair Stevenson

Buy Boston on vinyl at Amazon

Disco Inferno by The Trammps

Did someone say burn, baby, burn? Yes, the Trammps did way back in December 76 and Disco Inferno is still very capable of keeping the party going nearly 50 years on from its initial release.

While it needed to be included on the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever (1977) and re-released in order to break into the mainstream, where it peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, it remains one of the most iconic tunes to come out of the disco era.

It's virtually impossible to sit still once those infectious basslines hit your eardrums, and this only becomes more difficult when the uplifting strings and catchy chorus join the party.

It goes without saying that this is a great song for systems with lots of low-end. If yours has excellent clarity in the mid and higher frequencies, however, I recommend you check out the extended album version (in the video above), where you can fully appreciate just how groovy those delightful drum patterns are.

Words by James Cook

Buy The Best Of The Trammps on vinyl at Amazon

The Boys Are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy

When it comes to hard-rocking hits, it doesn’t get much better than Thin Lizzy’s The Boys Are Back in Town.

Released in April, it reached number one in the group's native Ireland, but didn’t hit higher than eight in the UK or 12 in the US. A travesty, but still, chart position is rarely a reflection of a song’s quality. I mean, have you seen the state of the charts these days?

Anyway, now this rant has made me look far older than I actually am, let’s get back to what’s important: singing the praises of Ireland’s greatest band and their second-biggest hit, behind 1973’s markedly different but equally brilliant rendition of Whiskey In The Jar.

The Boys Are Back in Town is a true exemplar of everything that’s great about Thin Lizzy: an endless array of catchy guitar riffs, one of which hooks you in right from the start; a clever tale delivered in an effortlessly cool way that only frontman/bass player Phil Lynott was capable of; and a rhythm section bursting with energy, underpinned by Brian Downey’s swinging drums and tasteful fills.

Fancy yourself a rocker? Well, why not be a roller too, baby and get this on your hi-fi sooner rather than later.

Words by James Cook

Buy The Boys Are Back in Town on vinyl at Amazon

MORE:

We dial up the nostalgia with our favourite songs from 1986 that are turning 40 this year

We look back at the very first CD players tested by What Hi-Fi? and the advent of this innovative digital format

We've put together an affordable, old-school hi-fi system with a modern sonic twist

On 8th March 1979, Philips revealed the very first Compact Disc (CD) and CD player prototype to the press at Eindhoven, Netherlands. The CD player prototype had an LED display and four buttons, and a top-loading mechanism. It was called the "Pinkeltje" and it set in motion one of the most seismic shifts in the history of the recorded music industry.

Philips and Sony were both separately developing digital disc technology during the 1970s, and the two technology innovators from Europe and Japan joined forces to create the standard for the CD. Philips had the physical format for the discs, while Sony offered their expertise in digital error correction.

The first CD shown at this 1979 demo by Philips measured 11.5cm in diameter, but it was later standardised to 12cm. Why? To ensure the format was large enough to accommodate the entirety of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which ran for 74 minutes.

Sony's inaugural CDP-101 player launched first in Japan in 1982, while the consumer-ready Philips CD100 launched in Europe a year later.

On 1st March 1983, the first CD players landed in the UK. By 1988, CD music unit sales surpassed those of vinyl albums.

It was a rapid music revolution and made good on the inventors' promise of being "the biggest step forward in sound reproduction since the invention of the gramophone" (What Hi-Fi?, June 1983).

The format's benefits over the established vinyl – compact size, long life, resistance to scratches and dust, low noise levels – certainly helped quickly win over music fans.

Sift through the pages of our What Hi-Fi? magazine archive for 1983 and you'll find dozens (maybe hundreds) of reviews of turntables, cartridges, tonearms, cassette tapes and cassette players. You'll also see news snippets here and there about the advent of CD and how the record labels planned to make albums available on this new digital format.

The coverage in the magazine is all-analogue until, like the proverbial London buses, What Hi-Fi? published a whole (free) supplement dedicated to CD players in the October 1983 issue.

In this special supplement we tested 11 new CD players, alongside technical information on the new format, CD album reviews, and opinion pieces arguing for and against the new format from respected hi-fi writers of the time, Dave Prakel and Alvin Gold.

The 11 player "supertest" featured CD players from Akai, Fisher, Hitachi, Marantz (which at the time was owned by Philips), Philips, Pioneer, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba, all of which were priced between £480 to £649 (today's equivalent being around £2100 to £2800).

We rated each disc player's construction, features and sound quality, with an overall rating (out of four!) based on our core ethos: value for money.

There were two camps of CD players: one that followed the 14-bit coding used by Philips that employed "oversampling" to achieve the lowest levels of noise and distortion (and were cheaper to make); while others followed Sony's 16-bit technique, which pushed component technology to its limits and tended to be more expensive to produce.

Reading through the reviews, it's the Philips CD100 that came out as the clear winner for sound quality.

We called it a "first-rate performer" that delivered a "smooth sound", a "wide dynamic range", natural voices and a "good driving punch". Philips was also praised for offering the minimalist, slimline size that befitted the nature of the new compact disc, which was one of the promised benefits over a cumbersome racks-based vinyl system.

Conversely, the Sony CDP-101 was heralded more for its "superb internal engineering" that allowed for servicing and repair, while it also offered a headphone socket and the one thing that none of the other players included: a remote control.

Last year, I was lucky enough to visit the Philips museum in the company's home town of Eindhoven where I saw first-hand that very first Philips CD100 from 1983. You can see the photos in the gallery above.

Also on display, under a glass case, was the early "Pinkeltje" protoype, looking a little worse for wear and, on top of it, a very worn CD disc that can only be the very first 11.5cm disc shown in that 1979 press demo.

Other prototype components were also on show, and it was incredible to see a piece of history that seems so recent – my teenage years were rife with CDs – and marvel at how futuristic and fully-formed the CD player was when it launched. No wonder that the adoption of the format spread like wildfire.

We all know how CD's story went. At the turn of the millennium, the CD was at its peak, accounting for 90% of the music industry’s revenue. But at the same time, another digital revolution was happening, the iPod, downloads and, eventually, the rise of music streaming.

We're celebrating 50 years of What Hi-Fi? this year, and the Compact Disc, since its inaugural prototype unveiling and release in 1983, is the dominant format of our history.

It's hard to think of just how innovative and impactful the Compact Disc and CD player were when they first launched, especially when today, there are so many formats (vinyl, CDs, digital radio, hi-res streaming, even cassettes) that sit alongside each other and can be consumed concurrently.

It's even more amazing to think that vinyl has come back with a vengeance and overtaken CD sales in revenue (if not by unit) by quite a margin.

In 1983, the jury was still out on the quality of CDs and CD players, and if this new digital format would (or could) really replace the analogue medium in terms of technical and musical merits, not to mention perceived value and and emotional enjoyment. I'll leave you with the words of Dave Prakel and Alvin Gold, who take either sides of the argument and ponder the Compact Disc's potentials and pitfalls...

[Below, click on the arrow sign on the bottom-left corner to read the full-size text.]

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33 debut products that defined hi-fi history

The best CD players we've tested that you can buy today

In 1976, when the first issue of What Hi-Fi? landed on shelves, the world of home entertainment looked very different.

Vinyl ruled, cassette tapes were ascendant and the idea of carrying your entire music collection in your pocket, let alone building your own home cinema, belonged firmly to science fiction.

What hasn’t changed in the 50 years since is our mission: to help you find the best-performing products for your money, in order to enjoy your music and movies in the best possible quality.

Now, as What Hi-Fi? turns 50, we’re launching a year-long celebration across the What Hi-Fi? website and magazine, across our social channels, and ultimately at our annual Awards event.

Across the coming months, we’ll be diving deep into our archive to revisit the products, technologies and moments that shaped the hi-fi and home cinema landscape. We'll also be looking forward, and thinking about how the world of consumer electronics could change over the next 50 years.

And it won't be non-stop navel-gazing – we'll be spending plenty of time looking at how the wider hi-fi and home cinema industry has changed, from the tech to the products and the brands, and taking time to reflect on some of our favourite products.

The first issue of the magazine sought to be an impartial and trustworthy guide to the best way to get value for your hi-fi money. Sound was later joined by Vision, as What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision branched out into surround sound and screens.

The famous five-star rating system and annual Awards have become globally recognised benchmarks of excellence, helping millions of readers make buying decisions with confidence.

Over five decades, we have reviewed thousands of products – from turntables, speakers and CD players to Dolby Atmos sound systems, wireless headphones and multi-room streaming setups.

Our experienced reviewers have witnessed – and rigorously critiqued – every major shift in home entertainment technology. And while much of that experience is still present and correct on What Hi-Fi? every day, we'll be hearing from plenty of other voices throughout this year that have helped to shape the brand over the past 50 years.

Of course reaching our 50th birthday – which will tick around this autumn – would not have been possible without our readers.

Generations of enthusiasts have trusted What Hi-Fi? to guide their purchases, deepen their passion and help them get more from music and movies.

Without them – you – we wouldn't still be here today. So before we do anything, we thank you all for your support. And we will be seeking your help in our 50th celebrations, later in the year.

As technology continues to evolve, our promise remains the same as it was in 1976 – to deliver expert buying advice based on independent reviews that you can trust.

So stay tuned to What Hi-Fi? in 2026 for a host of special anniversary features, archive highlights and exclusive content to celebrate this landmark year.

In 2016 What Hi-Fi? celebrated its ruby anniversary. After 40 years in the game, we took a moment for a nostalgic look back at four decades of home entertainment.

And in so doing, we arrived at a list of our 40 favourite products of all time: the What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame.

We've since been adding a product every year, assuming we find one worthy, as part of the annual What Hi-Fi? Awards.

10 years later and we're celebrating our 50th Anniversary – and we now have 49 products in our Hall of Fame, ahead of our 2026 Awards at the end of this year.

A lot has happened in the past decades. We've seen the birth and death of numerous products and formats - from Betamax to LaserDisc, Discman to MiniDisc – while the likes of CD, vinyl and Blu-ray have refused to die.

Follow the links below to refresh your memory with our pick of some of the most influential consumer electronics products of the last 50 years.

This is the kit that went beyond good to achieve landmark greatness. This is the very best of hi-fi, home cinema and portable entertainment. Enjoy...

The Hall of Fame decade-by-decade

• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 1: 1970s
• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 2: 1980s
• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 3: 1990s
• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 4: 2000s
• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 5: 2010s
• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 6: 2020s

In 2016 What Hi-Fi? celebrated its 40th anniversary. To mark the occasion we picked our 40 most influential products from those four decades.

We've been adding a new product to our Hall of Fame every year since as part of the annual What Hi-Fi? Awards. Here are our most recent choices from the 2020s, right up to last year's winner...

• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 1: 1970s
• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 2: 1980s
• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 3: 1990s
• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 4: 2000s
• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 5: 2010s

Sony WH-1000XM4 (2020)

Sony has come to dominate our headphone category in recent years, perfecting not only the art of wireless earbuds but also the business of over-ear, noise-cancelling headphones. And with the WH-1000XM4, we decided they merited inclusion in our Hall of Fame.

Sony didn't need to reimagine the design but with the XM4s it did manage to make them slightly lighter while increasing the size of the pads for a more comfortable fit.

Noise-cancelling technology and the ability to adjust the level of ambient sound were still on board, while there was also Sony's LDAC tech for higher-quality wireless audio quality.

Sony moved from the DSEE HX to DSEE Extreme processor, promising better delivery of lower-quality files, while there was also support for 360 Reality Audio. Elsewhere the battery life was boosted and Sony promised an improvement to the noise-cancelling.

Crucially, the overall sound quality continued to keep ahead of the pack. Despite an increasingly competitive market, the XM4 headphones continue to set the pace for timing, dynamics, punch and entertainment.

The XM4s become the third pair of headphones to make our Hall of Fame (following the Sennheiser HD600 from 1998 and the Bose QuietComfort 15, 2009) and are the perfect poster child for what has become one of the most popular product categories in the tech world.

Read the full Sony WH-1000XM4 review

Marantz PM6007 (2021)

The best companies never rest on their laurels. Not content with winning a What Hi-Fi? Award in 2018 for the PM6006 UK Edition, Marantz went back to the drawing board and set about creating another Award winner, the PM6007.

The improvements are numerous. Chief among them is a new DAC, the AKM AK4490 (which replaces the Cirrus Logic CS4398 found in its predecessor). This is complemented by two digital filters – a slow roll-off and sharp roll-off – that users can choose between when playing from a source connected to either of its two optical or single coaxial inputs. Such versatility has trickled down from the brand’s more premium digital processors.

There are new components in the power amp and phono stages, the latter of which also has upgraded circuitry for a higher signal-to-noise ratio. Throw in a subwoofer output, and you've got enough improvements to tempt even PM6006 loyalists.

This all has an effect far beyond the spec sheet. The sound is smooth, balanced and full-bodied, besting its predecessor for clarity, precision and rhythmic punch. If you’re familiar with the PM6006 UK Edition, you’ll know that’s no mean feat.

Read the full Marantz PM6007 review

Sonos Arc (2022)

The Sonos Arc is the company’s first soundbar with Dolby Atmos, and the first soundbar to enter the Hall of Fame.

Atmos soundbars are now more common, and more affordable, but the Arc managed to stand out from the off thanks to its excellent sound quality and reasonable price.

Put it under your TV and you’re in for one of the most immersive experiences you can get from a single speaker.

Listening to music? It’ll help there too, acting as a wireless speaker that slots seamlessly into your Sonos network. That also means it plays nice with every major streaming service going. Which is another box ticked.

Sonos has had a bit of a mixed run of late but the Arc knocked it out of the park, and showed that when Sonos aims at the high end, it hits its target with pinpoint accuracy.

Read the full Sonos Arc review

Cambridge Audio CXN V2 (2023)

A music streamer has entered our Hall of Fame for the first time, and about time too. If the category is old enough to have a legend, this mid-priced Cambridge Audio network player is most certainly it.

The CXN (V2) has won six What Hi-Fi? Awards on the trot, and if you include the original CXN's gongs too, the model was decorated every year from 2015 until 2024 before Cambridge ultimately replaced it.

It's an all-round performer. Cambridge delivers both a punchy bass and a tinkling treble, while the timing is tight and gets your foot tapping. Entertainment and emotion in equal measure, the CXN (V2)'s sound quality led the pack for many years.

It also had all the features you'd want, with Cambridge's own streaming getting regular updates to ensure the likes of Chromecast and Tidal Connect were supported.

All told, it was a welcome addition to the Hall of Fame and a worthy first-ever music streamer.

Read the full Cambridge Audio CXN (V2) review

Naim Nait XS 3 (2024)

Naim’s Nait XS 3 integrated amplifier won its price category in the What Hi-Fi? Awards for five consecutive years. That’s a remarkable achievement – but it takes more than half a decade’s worth of domination for a product to make our Hall of Fame.

This award considers not only the product itself but whether its lineage has made a lasting impact on the world of hi-fi. There is no doubt in our minds that Naim’s Nait series of integrated amplifiers has done just that.

The original Nait integrated amplifier was launched in 1983. It was a basic half-width box with a claimed power output of just 13W per channel. Originally priced at around £180, it offered a cut-price way to access Naim’s famed sound. Up until then the company had only made separate pre/power products, and they sold at what would be considered premium to high-end prices.

That original amplifier was fun, and entertained as few others could at the price. Its basic DNA has survived through the various generations of Nait products since then, and we feel runs as strongly as ever in the current XS 3.

The Nait XS 3 is a fit-and-forget product in the best sense. It slots into your system and does exactly what you want it to, and that is to deliver the music with its emotional impact intact. We can’t ask for any more from an amplifier than that. Its Hall of Fame place is richly deserved.

Read the full Naim Nait XS 3 review

Cyrus CDi (2025)

The Cyrus CDi has won a staggering 12 consecutive What Hi-Fi? Awards in a row. If ever a CD player deserved to go into our Hall of Fame, this is surely the one. That being said, it's not the first CD player to feature in our Hall of Fame – it joins the Marantz CD-63 MkII KI Signature, which features in our Hall of Fame lineup for the 1990s.

The CDi was first reviewed back in 2014 and we would never have predicted just how much of an enduring product it would be. Sure, the design is a little dated but as CD's popularity has waxed and waned, the reliably great performance of the Cyrus CDi has remained steadfast.

Central to the design is its clock stability and bespoke Servo Evolution disc-reading engine, which relies on reading data correctly the first time (rather than relying on error correction). This seems to help deliver a performance that is beautifully precise, detailed and expressive.

Read the full Cyrus CDi review

• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 1: 1970s
• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 2: 1980s
• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 3: 1990s
• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 4: 2000s
• The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, part 5: 2010s

If a week is a long time in politics, then 50 years in hi-fi and consumer electronics is a lifetime.

And there’s no denying it: in October 1976, when the first issue of What Hi-Fi? arrived in newsagents, the UK was another country.

Those old enough to remember the first Ford Fiesta, The Brotherhood of Man or James Callaghan don’t need me to remind them that what passed for modernity in 1976 wasn’t always, frankly, at the cutting edge of anything.

But 1976 was a year of disruption: Concorde took flight, the Sex Pistols shocked the nation on live TV, and the two Steves launched Apple.

That is the pioneering spirit we claim for What Hi-Fi? – leaving the The Best of The Stylistics (the UK’s No. 1 album when we launched) to handle the era's smoother, safer side.

That first issue cost 35p at a time when a pint of beer cost 32p (and our current cover price (£5.99) is more-or-less comparable to a pint now, depending on where you live and the lavishness of your local).

And, like every single issue that followed it, the first issue sought to be an impartial and trustworthy guide to the best way to get value for your hi-fi money. Beyond that, mind you, it has undergone quite a number of changes.

There was very little colour in the magazine; what little there was inevitably belonged to advertisements rather than editorial content.

And there were so many adverts: from manufacturers still going strong and from those who’ve fallen by the wayside, and from a huge number of hi-fi retailers (it seems every sizeable town had a least a couple of independent dealers).

And just as the ads reflected the times, so did the editorial content. Turntables still ruled the hi-fi roost, of course, so the comparisons of decks, arms and cartridges were widespread.

Cassette featured heavily too, both in terms of decks and cassettes themselves – if you wanted to know about variances in wow and flutter between brands, What Hi-Fi? had you covered.

Music centres (remember them?) got a look-in too, as did the first of the exciting new Video Cassette Recorder machines. There was a 'Sound & Vision' element to What Hi-Fi? from the very start.

From there on, the magazine simply evolved to reflect the tastes, preferences and requirements of its readers.

Digital audio started to come on strong at the beginning of the '80s, and by the middle of that decade, the all-conquering Compact Disc was making significant inroads into vinyl’s dominance – the idea that the future was small and shiny, rather than cumbersome and easily damaged, was pervasive.

Tests of groups of turntable cartridges dwindled, replaced by phalanxes of CD players – and a little later, CD recorders. Of course, as we all know, analogue and digital audio have in fact managed to remain happy bedfellows.

And as technological advance followed technological advance, What Hi-Fi? adapted accordingly. Fifty years later, we now reach millions of people around the world every month, online and in print.

From the record-breaking adoption of the DVD to the era of flatscreen TVs and high-quality streaming, technology has shifted at breakneck speed, yet our core philosophy hasn't budged.

Our methodology remains unchanged: products are reviewed by a dedicated team in a controlled environment, evaluated strictly against their peers. We remain entirely insulated from marketing, PR, or commercial pressure.

All we ask for is a product; we provide the fair, square, and final word, in order to ensure you spend your money wisely and get the best "bang for your buck".

Whatever the technological future may hold, What Hi-Fi? will be there to help you enjoy your music and movies in the best possible quality.