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Issue 65 June 2009
Editorial By Alan Sircom
Last issue, I joked that former editor Roy Gregory was "spending more time with his speaker cables". Little did I know at the time how prophetic those words would end up being. Roy has now taken up the post of Vice-President of Marketing for the Nordost Corporation. This does not automatically spell the end of Roy Gregory's words in the magazine, though. Naturally, products that are from the Nordost stable are strictly out-of-bounds to him from this issue onwards; as, of course, are products from rival companies. So, we'll never get to see the words 'coherent cable loom' fall from his keyboard ever again in the pages of Hi-Fi Plus, but Roy's years of experience as a reviewer of high-end sources, amps and speakers would be very hard to replace.
Roy has been given special dispensation to discuss cable in this issue however, but only in the context of the design of his new listening room. Even before he took on his new role, his dedicated listening room was so full of Norse-named Nordost that a list of products reads like a lost Lord of the Rings manuscript. To not mention the cabling used would be to ignore a key aspect of the room's sonic development. But, as a last act of cable contrition, he gets to grips with Philosophy and Audioss, as part of the Splash Audio system. These cables were a key aspect of Splash's presentations at this year's Bristol and Heathrow hi-fi shows.
I am currently looking at the ways Hi-Fi Plus can go forward, both in terms of its style and editorial content. In this issue, the fruits of this investigation include long-form reviews — the six-page special on Pass Labs' pre/power combination - and short-form supplementary reviews, such as the one-page review of the Lehmann Black Cube Linear USB headphone amplifier, to accompany the Sennheiser HD800. We are also looking at follow-ups of important products, like the Vitas amplifier and cables. But while the magazine has got the decorators in, now's the perfect time to let me know what you think — good and bad. Otherwise, I'll just paint the whole magazine in purple and green stripes with yellow spots. Mmmmm... tasteful.
Readers Survey
To help us know more about what you want from Hi-Fi Plus, we've included a short questionaire in this issue. Simply fill it in and send the form back to us by July 20, 2009, and you can win one of two superb pairs of Audio-Technica AD-700 Open back hi-fi headphones, retailing at £140.
Check them out at www.atheadphones.com!
