It’s come to our attention how turntables are no longer a marginal option in a home entertainment set-up. More and more people from all ages and walks of life recognise the joy of having a turntable in a much more casual manner. Where say only a year ago, we would have people pop into our store only every so often asking about a turntable. Now, it happens constantly and it’s no longer a thing solely reserved for the discerning active listening audiophile. 

It’s not a digital vs. vinyl choice either. People choose to have both. Yep, both. Because beyond the whole ‘warmer sound’ debate, vinyl is an experience.  

Ah, the romance….

Us Kiwi’s do outdoor entertaining like nobody else. We love spending time outdoors; whether it’s pottering in the garden, reading on the patio, or firing up the BBQ with a bunch of friends, outdoor speakers make total sense with our outdoor Kiwi lifestyle. After all, the fun shouldn’t stop at the back door. 

Outdoor entertainment is a bit of art on its own (I mean, there are no walls to start withJ), but just like with any AV set-up, planning is the word if you want to do a half decent job. 

Last week, we got asked the following question: ’Do audio cables go bad?’

Now you may find the answer to that question a very obvious one, fact is that when you type in this exact question in Google, it comes up with quite a long list of exact this question on forums. 

Clearly, it’s on a fair amount of peoples mind. And it is a question that actually has a short plain-and-simple-answer AND a long there-is-more-to-the story-answer. 

So let’s get cracking. 

There is no single thing that makes a good speaker. It’s a juggling act between so many things. Which is exactly why the design is done by highly qualified engineers. One of the contributing factors in the whole good speaker equation is tweeters.
So, what makes a good tweeter? Shape? Material?

It’s no secret that that last year Sony was sitting on a handsome share of the LCD projector market.  Fast forward a year and JVC has launched a cheaper version DLP 4K UHD projector and is waiting to land its answer to the Sony native 4K projectors: the DLA-N5, The DLA-N7 and the DLA-NX9

While the world was getting excited about the new JVC projectors, Sony threw a curveball and announced some new projectors themselves: Exit the VPL-VW260ES, the VPL-VW360ES and the VPL-VW550ES and hello to the VPL-VW270ES (replacing the 260), the VPL-VW570ES (replacing the 360 and 550) and introducing the VPL-VW870ES.

The Rapallo families have been on to it this year. You’re not going to believe this, but we have Christmas shopping largely sorted already. No, we’re not the sort of folks who put up Christmas lights before daylight saving and display the reindeer in the garden by mid-October. But we don’t enjoy the last minute Christmas craze either. Let’s just say we have been pretty well organised this year. 

So, the real question here is: how is your Christmas shopping coming along?  And as a result, can we help you with that, maybe? 

A couple of weeks ago, one of our clients came in for a demo of an amplifier. The wise man brought his own speakers in to see how they would match with the Yamaha he had his eyes on. The thing was, he wasn’t overly happy with his speakers, so he was tossing up between a new amplifier or alternatively tossing out the speakers and replacing those. Sadly, he could only afford one or the other. 

Until good old Deano showed him that his speakers weren’t that bad at all. There were was actually nothing wrong with them, all that was needed was some decent tracks to review the speakers with. If your source is bad, there is no speaker in the world that will make it sound good.

Which tells us something about how important tracks are; not only when you relax at home, listening to some music. But also when you audition speakers (or headphones) for a future purchase. 

And that brings us to the point: what tracks do you use when auditioning potential new speakers? 

It’s a common problem: due to hearing loss, some folks can’t hear sound in its full detail, contrast or richness. When we listen to music, frequencies are lost and nuances can’t be processed fully.

And when it comes to watching television, even at a decent volume, many people can’t quite make out the dialogue. Turning the TV full blast doesn’t help. And many more people seem to struggle with this than we realise. 

Luckily, when it comes to watching television or listening to music there a number of things you can do. 

We have a bit of thing with subwoofers. It’s because adding a subwoofer can be one of the most powerful upgrades you can make to your home theatre or stereo system. Yet, a lot of people are not convinced of their merits. With a good subwoofer it’s like you can feel the room breathing. I guess it’s one of those things you have to experience to realise. But also… one subwoofer is not the same as the next.

The best subwoofers add dimension, impact, excitement, and low-frequency extension without negatively affecting the overall accuracy and believability of your system’s sound. A big subwoofer can do this – and so can a small one. One of the misconceptions we want to address is that a bigger subwoofer isn’t necessarily better. For someone who’s not familiar with acoustics, the reasons for this may not be readily apparent.

I don’t know if it’s just us who have noticed, but it seems that the latest thing in loudspeakers world is to release new versions of previously iconic speakers.

I’m sure the right psychologist will come up with an explanation of some sort, but I wonder whether it ties in with the whole resurgence of vinyl as well. Like a bout of global audiophile nostalgia? Who knows…

In a short amount of time 3 different speaker brands that date back to the early Hi-Fi years, managed their way on to the Rapallo radar. Now, I don’t know about you, but when things pop up in threes, I pay attention 😉 The funny thing is that while all three speakers are undeniable speaker legends, the companies each approached the current day speaker re-release in very, very different ways.