Author: Ashley

I founded Audio Appraisal a few years ago and continue to regularly update it with fresh content. An avid vinyl collector and coffee addict, I can often be found at a workbench tinkering with a faulty electronic device, tweaking a turntable to extract the last bit of detail from those tiny grooves in the plastic stuff, or relaxing in front of the hi-fi with a good album. A musician, occasional producer and sound engineer, other hobbies include software programming, web development, long walks and occasional DIY.

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Connect a Turntable to Active Speakers for a Compact Vinyl Replay System

Who said a proper vinyl-based system had to be large and cumbersome? It is possible to assemble a compact vinyl playback system which won’t break the bank, won’t damage your records and will sound a million times better than virtually every self-contained, all-in-one solution currently on the market.

Pro-Ject Primary USB Turntable Review

Pro-Ject’s primary is a great value budget vinyl spinner with an enjoyable sound, fuss-free setup quality build and clean looks. Opt for the USB model and you get a capable phono stage and a USB interface too. If you’re starting out or need a turntable to spin some old favourites, this could well be it. Highly recommended.

Arcam A29 Integrated Amplifier Review

Arcam’s A29 packs some clever tech, useful features and bags of power into a sleek, slimline chassis. There are no digital bells and whistles here – only pure analogue goodness with cracking headphone and phono stages onboard to boot. With the ability to seamlessly interface with Arcam’s rSeries components and more analogue inputs than many will ever need, the A29 can form the basis of a system that is as complex as you want it to be. It’s a lot of amp for what is – in hi-fi terms at least – little money. But is it any good?

Build a DIY Hi-Fi Rack using Ikea Lack Tables

I was recently in a position where I needed to replace my existing hi-fi rack. I began looking at my options but it soon became clear that if I wanted a rack to meet all of my requirements, I was going to have to shell out for it. A lot. Anywhere from £700-1700, the price of a new component or a huge pile of records. Having been down the DIY route with previous racks I decided to do so again.

Tannoy Mercury 7.4 Review

a pair of Mercury V4s formed the basis of my first true hi-fi system, at the time fronted by Yamaha amplification and a vast array of source components. Components came and went, though the V4s remained the one common denominator for many years. The mercury 7.4 takes everything that made the Mercury range great and improves upon it in every area.

Will A Cheap Turntable Damage Your Records?

Shopping for a turntable? You’ll have undoubtedly seen the surplus of budget-priced models from the likes of Crosley, Ion, GPO and many others, sold by high street retailers and online retailers such as Amazon and eBay. Many claim that these sub-#100 turntables will cause irreparable damage to the vinyl they play. Wanting to offer some conclusive evidence either way, we purchased a GPO Stylo and conducted an experiment to see what it really takes to damage a vinyl record.

The Original Technics 1200, a history and review

In October 1972, The Matsushita Electric Company, more commonly known today as Panasonic, launched a new mid-priced hi-fi turntable under its Technics brand. Its specifications could be matched only by the SP10, the world’s first direct drive turntable introduced just 2 years earlier by the same company, a turntable that had quickly become the standard for broadcast and recording applications. This turntable was, of course, the Technics 1200. Beginning with the MK2 iteration introduced in 1978, the Technics 1200 was the turntable that played a definitive roll in the birth of the modern DJ, extended disco mixes and the development of hip hop.

Audio-Technica AT150SA Review

If you’ve been holding out, waiting to see whether the 150SA attains the awards and commendations of its predecessor, look no further. If you’re desperately searching the market in an attempt to uncover an AT150MLX, I’d suggest you simply opt for the AT150SA instead. The AT150SA may just be one of, if not the best moving magnet cartridges on the market. Highly recommended.