LATEST ADDITIONS

Like its namesake, Van den Hul’s new Stradivarius version of its Crimson phono cartridge is lovingly crafted by hand (by AJ Van den Hul himself, no less), but it really gets its name from the ‘Stradivarius Formula’ lacquer that coats its koa wood body – which is similar to what’s used for finishing the famous violins. The new moving-coil cartridge features 24-carat gold coils, a samarium-cobalt magnet, boron cantilever and a proprietary Van den Hul stylus. Each Crimson Stradivarius is built to order and can be customised to the buyer’s specific tastes and setup. It’s available to buy now for £3,999 and Van den Hul also offers a free 200-hour service check up.

Perhaps one of the biggest compliments I could pay an audio product on loan for test would be to tell whoever came to collect it they were most welcome to take it away but first they’d have to grapple it from my white-knuckled bear hug grip. Although a tad Walter Mitty, the thought did mess with me come the time to give back the Entotem Plato last year (HFC 400). I think the problem was that this early example of arguably the ultimate one-size-fits-all media server had settled itself so comfortably into my hi-fi world, it was only a matter of time before it slipped on a pair of fluffy slippers and started smoking a pipe. Its sudden but inevitable departure hurt.

Taking key design elements of the technology and materials developed for its D7 (HFC 370) and A6R (HFC 381) floorstanders, Spendor has unveiled its new A-Line series of loudspeakers. The new models have been designed with more compact living spaces in mindand so have been made to be easy to drive and ableto give their best even when placed close to walls. Priced at £1,095, the Spendor A1 is a compact two-way standmount with a 22mm wide-surround tweeter and 150mm mid/bass driver. The £1,595 Spendor A2 isthe smaller of the company’s two-way floorstanders,which includes the same tweeter and bass driver as its standmount sibling, while the £2,195 A4 (pictured, right) is the biggest offering in the range.

Originally introducedin 1991, KEF has announced theeighth generation of its Q Series loudspeakers, which now forms the entry-level range from the Kent-based company. With this considerable pedigree in mind, the companyhasn’t set out to reinvent the wheel with the latest revamp but instead to integrate some of the technologies and design experience developed for some of the maker's more sophisticated models and see them utilised at a new price point. The new technology is most apparent in the drivers. Like the rest of the KEF range, the Q Series uses a Uni-Q driver for upper and midrange frequency duties and mounts the tweeter in the throat of the mid/bass unit.