New issue of What Hi-Fi? out now: power up with premium floorstanding speakers, marvellous Mini-LED TVs and more

This issue we bring you a round-up of some of the best floorstanding speakers you can buy from £2000. If you have the room and the budget to spare, you can’t beat a pair of floorstanders for the perfect combination of power and finesse.

Also in this issue, we have some extraordinary examples of big-screen 65in Mini-LED TVs. If you want a massive screen, but can’t afford a top-of-the-range OLED, one of these impressive alternatives will see you right.

There is also a three-way Group Test of £500-£600 phono stages: three five-star products, but only one winner!

Big speakers, powerful sound

If you are lucky enough to have a decently sized room to enjoy your music in and £2000 or more to spend on a pair of stereo speakers, you have access to a rare and very desirable cache of aural (and visual) delights, courtesy of the modern premium floorstander.

Floorstanding speakers have a head start over their standmounted cousins when it comes to internal volume and driver size. Essentially, more space means more bass – although it is also easier to deliver a sound that has greater scale and authority. And the bigger your room, the easier you will find it to accommodate a floorstanding speaker.

Then there is the luxury build quality. At this price level, floorstanders don’t just benefit from great engineering, they are also blessed with top-quality materials, from crossover and driver components to connection terminals and wood-veneer finishes.

Musically, the benefits that premium floorstanders have over mid-price models are most obviously heard in terms of greater transparency, better dynamics and a more immersive soundstage.

This month we round up our favourite floorstanders at over £2K. Whether you warm to the contemporary elegance of the Sonus Faber Sonetto V G2 or the retro charm of the Fyne Audio Vintage Classic X, we hope – and believe – there is something in this collection to float your sonic boat.

65in Mini-LED TV round-up

Ever since we waved goodbye to cathode ray tube technology and ran with open arms towards those first, futuristic-looking plasma flatscreens, telly technology has evolved fast. Right now, Mini LED screens are the talk of the town.

Not so very long ago, OLED televisions, with individual pixels emitting their own light and colour independently of their neighbours, were wowing us with the advances they brought over standard LED screens in terms of their deeper black levels and greater contrast.

Then came Mini LEDs, which ushered in an era of very localised backlighting that allows for increased brightness, even better contrast and more localised dimming. That, in turn, means less likelihood of ‘blooming’ – the fuzzy flaring effect visible around small areas of bright light in a dark background.

Of course, today’s Mini LED TVs are not always better than comparable OLED ones, but there's no doubt they have improved and are continuing to do so at an impressive rate.

Mindful of all this, we thought that now would be a good time to round up the best Mini-LED offerings from the world’s five leading TV manufacturers. These screens are either at the top or very near the top of their makers’ ranges, and represent the best non-OLED televisions currently on the market.

Read our current recommendations for the best Mini LEDs (at 65-inch sizes) in this month's What Hi-Fi?

Phono stage group test

If your music system includes a turntable, then no other component is as important to the sound of your vinyl as the humble phono stage.

This vital part of the chain is what makes the music signal recorded in the vinyl groove audible through your amplifier and speakers – it raises the turntable’s audio output and adds standardised equalisation for a tonally even presentation.

Many stereo amplifiers, turntables and active speakers now come with a phono stage built-in, but if they don’t, you will need to buy a separate phono stage to complete your vinyl system and hear your records.

However, even if your amp, speakers or turntable do include a phono stage, opting for an external one is also a great way to upgrade your vinyl set-up’s sound beyond what’s possible with the built-in versions.

If you’re thinking of giving your record-playing system a sonic lift, we would recommend a phono preamp upgrade before you do anything else.

This month, we pit three fine options, priced around the same mark, against each other in a group test. The three fantastic units we have here include a moving magnet-only model, and two that are switchable to accommodate a moving coil cartridge as well as a moving magnet one.

While we had to pick an overall winner for this group test, all three phono stages are strong contenders, and which one is right for you will come down to personal taste as regards their musical presentation, and whether or not, of course, you need a moving coil phono stage.

Read this month's What Hi-Fi? to find out which of these unassuming but oh-so-important units emerged triumphant from our test rooms, and which one may be the winning choice for you.

First with reviews

As always, our First Tests section is filled to the brim with in-depth, impartial and expert verdicts on the very latest hi-fi and AV gear.

First up this month we lead with a truly remarkable TV bargain, if we were to go on price versus screen-inch especially. The TCL 98C7K is a huge 98-inch Mini-LED TV, and – spoiler alert – our reviews team were impressed enough to award it five-stars this month.

If it's big-screen thrills you're after, but in a compact and convenient form factor, then a lifestyle or 'coffee table' projector may be more your speed. This month we take a look at Epson's new EF-72 projector, that may suit your needs perfectly. Find out more in December's What Hi-Fi?

Elsewhere this issue, we have in-depth, expert reviews of Monitor Audio's Bronze 50 7G standmount speakers, Beyerdynamic's DT990 Pro X open-back headphones, Samsung's The Premiere 5 projector and Bose SoundLink Plus Bluetooth speaker.

Finally we have a brace of products from a new British hi-fi company, Fell Audio – the Fell Audio Fell Amp and Fell Audio Fell Disc CD player.

See what our review team thought of all these products in December's What Hi-Fi?

Worth their weight, and priced accordingly

Our Temptations section of the magazine is where you'll find the highest of the high-end of hi-fi and AV products.

This month we have a top-end integrated amplifier, the Pathos Inpol Remix MkII. Its interesting design (top-end hi-fi rarely looks more than merely functional) is not the only thing that sets it apart.

It uses a hybrid of valve and transistor technology to create fantastic sound – essentially the best of both worlds. Read more in this month's mag!

We're already big fans of Cyrus' new 40 series of hi-fi products, and the latest of these to enter our test rooms is the Cyrus 40 PPA phono stage. "Despite delivering a deeply analytical view of the recording," we note in our review, "the Cyrus 40 PPA remembers to have fun."

Find out more in December's What Hi-Fi?

Finally, don't forget to check out our Buyer’s Guide, featuring a definitive and freshly updated list of all the best home entertainment kit you can buy – including winners of 2024's What Hi-Fi? Awards. If you’re looking to purchase anything from a pair of the best wireless headphones to a home cinema speaker system, this section will tell you where to spend your money wisely.

Whatever you do, don't miss the December 2025 issue of What Hi-Fi?. Grab a copy today, or simply download it onto your tablet or smartphone. Enjoy!

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