Issue 64    March 2009
Editorial By Alan Sircom
Welcome From The New Editor

  Welcome to issue 64 of Hi-Fi Plus magazine, and my first in the Editor¹s chair. In what proved to be one of the worst kept secrets in the hi-fi industry, Roy Gregory has decided to stand down from the role of Editor of the magazine to concentrate on reviewing. Just one issue at the helm of an internationally-renown magazine has proved exhausting enough, and Roy has been doing it for a decade. Little wonder he felt it was time for a change.

Roy has also recently developed a listening room with the breadth needed to handle high-end products with true gravitas, which is why one of his first jobs as reviewer is to explore the truly remarkable Focal Grande Utopia EM and the stunning Audio Research Reference CD8 and more this issue. Lucky man!

Of course, I also get to play with all the best toys, too. This time, products like the exciting Neodio NR One CD player from France, the sublime mix of Pure Sound A30 amp with Border Patrol power supply and the exciting new (if poorly named) HRT Streamer and Streamer+, that deliver audiophile sound to a whole new audience. Hopefully. And then there¹s aural wonderment from AudioSmile, Cairn, Guru, Renaissance and more, all of which have blown away our reviewing team.

A change in editor will naturally entail changes to the magazine, but I¹m keen not to shake the tree just for the sake of making my presence felt. I have intimated my feelings on Hi-Fi Plus and its future direction on pages four and six of this issue, but this is just a jumping-off point. I welcome your comments and opinions about Hi-Fi Plus good and bad. It¹s not possible to please everyone, and if your dearest wish is that Hi-Fi Plus campaigns to bring back 8Track, I¹m sorry but your dreams are likely to remain unfulfilled. But maybe, just maybe, together we can build a better magazine. Or at least one with less cliché.