SoundStage! Lead-In Video: Estelon X Diamond Mk II Preview

The SoundStage! Australia Lead-In series showcases products that are soon to be reviewed on SoundStageAustralia.com. In this video, SoundStage! Australia editor-in-chief Edgar Kramer briefly describes key aspects and hints at the performance of Estelon’s Classic Series top-ender, the X Diamond Mk II loudspeaker. Estelon is based in Tallinn, Estonia.

Read more ...

SoundStage! Lead-In Video: Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Loudspeakers Preview

The Lead-In series features products that are soon to be reviewed on SoundStage! Australia. In this video, SoundStage! Australia editor-in-chief Edgar Kramer gives you a preview of and some insight into the brand-new Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4, which replaces the 800 D3 and is now the flagship speaker from this famous British brand. Did the B&W designers outdo themselves with the 801 D4? Watch this video to find out. And check back on SoundStage! Australia on October 15, 2021, to see the full review.

Read more ...

Sydney’s Reinvented Music Hot Spot: Audio Connection

In this writer’s view, there were only three high-end audio salons in the Harbour City in the 1990s able to demonstrate a wide sampling of the best high-end audio on the planet. Audio Connection was one. It had the largest and the most diverse representation despite having the most modest premises at the time. Back then, as a wet-behind-the-ears grommet surfing the waves of Sydney’s hi-fi scene, I longed for those unattainable pearls of desire. Coral-like beauties, down deep and alluring but beyond my reach on the water’s surface, an ocean of crispy greens between us. Yes, Audio Connection was the Barrier Reef of Sydney’s hi-fi scene. Expertly curated by my good friend Josef Riedeger, the store was crammed with the best exotica. His generous hand brought those coveted components closer to the shallows, within my reach, where I often delighted in netting them.

Read more ...

Yamaha 5000 System – A Room with a Different View

As culture evolves, language also changes. The lexicon can be shaped by societal movements, fashion, the media. Or, as we’re seeing, global events. Pfizer. AstraZeneca. Lockdown. Jab. Words previously with near-zero collective meaning are now ubiquitous. In the audio world there are also entrenched terms. Brand names. JBL, Tannoy, Marantz. There’s another definitive name which, uniquely and literally, can express the essence of music across an entire arc from instrument to the home and the stages in between: Yamaha.

Read more ...

Focal Powered by Naim Store Launches in Sydney

In line with an expanding strategy across the globe, Sydney’s Addicted To Audio newly renovated showroom launches with the incorporation of the ‘Focal Powered by Naim’ store experience.

Read more ...

Nirvana Sound Hosts Rudy Van Gelder Studio's Live Streaming Event

On this particularly cold Melbourne Sunday, while the masses were braving the year’s first blast of winter, on the other side of town there was something warming up... two world-class 100kg Class-A Greek heavyweights. Enter here the audiophile’s new home of entertainment, team Nirvana Sound!

Read more ...

The Sydney Audio Club Meets at Bowers & Wilkins Australia

The Sydney Audio Club has been in ‘forced-lockdown’ and in full music quarantine for over a year. Like all other recreational entities, the buoyant organisation succumbed to the tyranny of the dreaded pandemic, forcing it to shut shop primarily for safety reasons while also in order to comply with Australia’s strict public gathering laws. Currently, with an ease in restrictions due to zero cases for nigh-on-two-months, the club re-emerges with one hell-of-a-meeting. Courtesy of Bowers & Wilkins Australia’s Sydney headquarters, no less.

Read more ...

Redgum Audio's Ian Robinson Interview

SoundStage! Talks: SoundStage! Australia’s Edgar Kramer talks to REDGUM Audio’s designer Ian Robinson about his personal journey from the 1980s to the present, and the “Goldilocks” effect applied to the company’s highly-acclaimed amplifiers.

Watch now ...

Line Magnetic Australia Event at Perth’s Frank Prowse Hi-Fi

It’s official. Australia is now confirmed as ‘A Warm Place’ thanks to Line Magnetic showcasing its range of tube audio electronics and vintage-inspired horn loudspeakers at one of Perth’s premier audio dealers, Frank Prowse Hi-Fi.

Read more ...

Wilson Audio's Daryl Wilson on the SabrinaX Loudspeaker

SoundStage! Talks: Wilson Audio CEO Daryl Wilson sits down with SoundStage! Australia editor-in-chief Edgar Kramer to chat about design philosophies for the new SabrinaX loudspeaker, what it means to design a Wilson Audio loudspeaker at any price level, and the music that moves and inspires him.

Watch now ...

Duntech's Kiat Low Interview

SoundStage! Talks: SoundStage! Australia editor-in-chief Edgar Kramer talks to Duntech Audio’s CEO, Kiat Low, about John Dunlavy’s legacy design philosophies and how they apply to the drivers, crossovers, and overall design of the company’s new Senator and Princess loudspeakers. Kiat Low also touches on the future reinvention of the iconic Duntech Audio Sovereign loudspeaker.

Watch now ...

Feature: The Importance of Expert Analogue Rig Setup

Recently, the arrivals of a Transrotor Crescendo turntable and Reed 1X tonearm had this writer performing analogue system assembly acrobatics with the meagre remnants of near-zero muscle memory. After some brow swiping, I had the assembly of the various arm and turntable components finally completed. Next task was to tackle the complexities and inter-relationships of proper tonearm, cartridge and turntable adjustment. However, the skills and tools to properly do that are beyond me, leading to investigations on an aptly experienced and suitably equipped turntable set-up guru.

Read more ...

SoundStageAustralia.com