Ruark’s Sabre speakers return, a flagship Audio-Technica turntable, Samsung’s new UST projector and more are in our test rooms this month

While it’s always good to recap on some of the best products from the previous week in our regular Rewind column, we also like to keep one eye on the future and give you a glimpse of the kit that’s going to be passing through the What Hi-Fi? test rooms each month.

And, May looks set to be yet another month choc-full of interesting hi-fi, TV and AV products. We’ll be putting them all through their paces, and once we are done, you’ll be able to read about them all in our comprehensive reviews.

This month, among other products, we’ve got an intriguing music streamer and speaker combo from Ruark, a flagship turntable from Audio-Technica, a cute portable projector from Optoma and an innovative TV sound system-cum-soundbar from Canvas.

If you have any questions about these products before we get started on our reviews, drop a comment at the bottom of this page, head to our forums or social media channels, or email us at whathifi@futurenet.com – we’ll do our best to find the answer to your query during our testing process and get back to you.

Ruark Sabre-R

You might not realise this, but Ruark Audio originally started life as a passive loudspeaker manufacturer back in 1984. Its first model was called Sabre, and the company has revisited that same name for its brand new Sabre-R bookshelf speakers, which have made their way into our test rooms for evaluation.

Sabre-R is a two-way design with a 26mm silk dome tweeter and 15cm treated natural fibre cone mid/bass driver. Its MDF cabinets feature the same slatted wood design detail seen on its five-star R1S and R2 Mk4 radios.

Ruark R610

Following the Sabre-R into our test facility is the matching Ruark R610 ‘music console’. It’s a feature-packed all-in-one with 150W of total power, which caters for a wide variety of streaming needs.

There’s DAB/FM, internet radio, AirPlay, Google Cast, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect built-in, plus aptX HD Bluetooth. The R610 is also compatible with UPnP network media servers and supports hi-res files up to 32-bit/384kHz.

You even get a moving magnet phono stage for a turntable and an HDMI eARC socket so you can pair the system with your TV. All you need to do is add speakers, which should be where the Sabre-R come in. All will be revealed later in May.

Audio-Technica AT-LP8X

At any given moment, there are multiple turntables in for review at What Hi-Fi? Towers and May will be no exception. We already have one record player test in the pipeline this month: the Audio-Technica AT-LP8X.

The new deck sits at the top of the company’s current range of turntables and is priced at £849 / $1100.

It’s a direct drive, semi-automatic design which comes with a J-shaped tonearm and a new detachable headshell (the AT-LT10) fitted with the AT-VM95e cartridge. It supports 33 1/3, 45 and 78 RPM, which can be switched between at the twist of a dial.

This new headshell features a universal fit and easy installation for 4-pin cartridges with and without threaded inserts – think of it as a neat potential upgrade path should you want to swap out the cartridge further down the line. Stay tuned for our complete review in the coming weeks!

Neat Iota II

We were huge fans of the original Neat Iota bookshelf speakers thanks to their petite, flexible design and outstanding sound quality. And now, a sequel has finally arrived in the shape of the Neat Iota II.

The Neat Iota II were first unveiled at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show back in February and we have a pair in our test rooms. They are the same size as the original (so should be ideal if you’re short on space), but the new model uses an upgraded mid/bass driver and revised crossover. The aim? To deliver “an astonishing presentation of scale which suggests a far larger speaker".

The new Neat Iota II cost £1095 per pair and are available in satin white and satin black finishes. We can’t wait to put them through their paces.

Optoma Photon Go

There’s a lot to be said for the idea of a quality portable projector, and we’ll be looking to see what Optoma’s Photon Go has what it takes to impress our team of reviewers this month.

It can project a 100-inch image from less than 25cm away with auto image correction. Besides a built-in battery, the Photon Go also has Google TV integrated, which gives you access to video streaming apps such as Netflix, YouTube and Disney+.

The Optoma even has twin 10W Bluetooth speakers at its disposal and built-in Dolby audio, so we’ll be able to see and hear if its performance is up to scratch with movies and movie soundtracks.

Samsung The Premiere 5

Besides the Optoma, our home cinema test room will be getting a serious workout in May with another projector in the building, which will need unboxing and putting to the test.

The Premiere 5 is Samsung's latest ultra short throw (UST) projector, and it's got a few nifty tricks up its sleeve. It's a compact beamer with built in speakers and streaming smarts that's designed to be picked up and moved around the house, and it comes with a stand that allows for a unique tabletop touchscreen experience too.

Placing The Premiere 5 into this stand allows you to interact with the Tizen OS system and a handful of built-in games like you would with a tablet or smartphone, which is quirky party trick indeed.

However, we're primarily concerned with picture and sound performance, so we'll be hooking this pint-sized projector up to our reference home cinema kit to see how it performs in those key metrics for our full review.

Canvas HiFi Canvas 65

Is it a hi-fi system? Is it a soundbar? The Canvas HiFi Canvas 65 is a bit of both. It’s available in different sizes to match your TV, and we’ll be taking a look at the system best suited for 65-inch TVs.

In Canvas’ own words, it combines “high-end speaker construction, room correction and BACCH 3d crosstalk cancellation” and claims “true Hi-Fi performance”. Big claims from a big sound system.

Inside the construction, the Canvas system packs in two 29mm silk dome tweeters, two 6.5” paper cone mid/bass speakers and two passive radiators. It uses Class D amplification to the tune of 250W of total power. Number-crunching is done via a 24-bit/192kHz Burr Brown DAC and quad-core DSP.

There are plenty of modern connectivity options on hand with the Canvas including HDMI eARC, AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Roon, Tidal, Spotify Connect and DLNA support. At £2899 it’s aimed at the more premium end of the TV speaker market and we look forward to hearing what it can bring to the party.

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