Table of contents for Issue 365 in Sound + Image

This is a slightly unusual issue of Sound+Image; we usually stuff our pages with reviews of the latest and greatest new products and devote about a third of our space to news and features. This time the ratios are reversed, because of two rather large features which dominate our 100 pages this time around. The first is an A-to-Z of Australian audio. I've been wanting to put this together for a good many years, although I anticipated it might work best in our sister magazine Australian Hi-Fi, given their name, and the obvious fit. But it always seemed such an ambitious project that nobody ever got further than making initial lists, and when I happened upon one of those lists earlier this year, I thought perhaps its time had come.…

Denmark's Gryphon is celebrating its 40th anniversary with the release of a suitably vast and heavy amplifier, the new Gryphon 40 Integrated. Built upon the uncompromising foundation of the critically-acclaimed Diablo 333, it brings significant mechanical and exterior differences, not to mention exclusive packaging including a luxury leather-bound owner's manual, a personal 40th anniversary letter and a hand-signed sketched drawing of a design idea (they don't say of what) from company founder Mr. Flemming E. Rasmussen. There's very little information on exactly what the changes are — it's been described as a “reinterpretation”, but we can assume it shares the Diablo 333's true dual-mono configuration and zero global negative feedback, and with something akin to the Diablo's 333W per channel into 8 ohms, doubling to 666W into four ohms (and…

The Kaleidescape movie-serving system came officially to Australia last year — even though Australians have been quietly and unofficially subscribing to the service almost since the company launched its first products in the early 2000s. Kaleidescape is not a cheap system, partly because it uses industrial-quality storage to keep your movies safe once downloaded from the Kaleidescape store. So the newlyannounced Mini Terra Prime server is a useful addition to the range, Kaleidescape's most compact ever movie server, yet still delivering the full Kaleidescape experience. The Mini Terra Prime promises the usual rapid downloads and high performance playback, here with 8TB of internal solid-state storage, enough to store approximately 125 high-bitrate Kaleidescape 4K movies, remembering that Kaleidescape's movie files are typically ten times larger than streaming movies, retaining lossless audio…

A couple of years ago, Musical Fidelity reinvented the classic A1 Class-A amplifier‚ and one of our first questions to the company was: when are you going to do the B1? For hi-fi fans building a first system at the end of the 1980s, the B1 was as much a legend as the A1 had been to higher-level listeners, as the B1 entered the UK market at £199 — an affordable hi-fi amplifier from a serious hi-fi brand. Yet it was also controversial, as our Editor relates in a column overleaf. The company's recent A1 re-release was a real tribute to the original; it was not quite a reconstruction, as the original design had been wildly quirky, but the company was certainly aiming to recreate its key qualities, as the…

Atlas Harmonic is based in Bondi, Sydney, under the leadership of mechanical and electroacoustic engineer Atlas Gouverneur, who has been designing speakers for over a decade — including his founding of The Speaker Project, which encouraged everyone and anyone to build their own speakers. It was “about democratising the joy of this hobby,” says Gouverneur, who began designing speakers after a personal hi-fi revelation in front of a pair of Sonus fabers. The company launched a few years ago as Atlas & Hurd, its launch model the 42cm-high Tempest, a two-way standmount speaker with a solid oak outer layer, intended to “honour the golden era of hi-fi — 1960s through the 1970s — with warmth and character, while adopting the greatly improved technology of today.” This year the rebranded Atlas…

Dellichord speakers have been fully designed and manufactured by the Australian manufacturer under Andrew Hutchison, also proprietor of hi-fi furniture and cabinet maker company Stereotech, and recently also the presenter of the ‘Not An Audiophile’ podcast. Hutchison is a clear enthusiast as well as a speaker designer; he details his collaborations and inspirations on the Dellichord website, describing the Dellichord sound as “new tech, old school BBC with a sprinkle of modern Linn (isobaric) thrown in”. We had spoken with Mr Hutchison for this piece, but then only days later we received news that both Dellichord and Stereotech are for sale, premises not included. He explains that he is pulled for time between the various businesses, and particularly his repair business (always much to be applauded) via ‘Hifi and Stereo’.…

The importance of this long-running brand is often forgotten, although the prestige certainly remains for its legendarily accurate time-aligned loudspeakers. We last heard their Princess model playing at an Australian Hi-fi Show in Sydney (pictured) on the end of a Dohmann/ Halcro system, while current proprietor Kiat Low was also collecting a Sound+Image Lifetime Achievement award, honouring his work and career first at Orpheus Loudspeakers and more recently at Duntech. Duntech's design is founded on what it calls the ‘Duntech Design Prime Directives’, as laid down by its founder the late Mr. John Dunlavy, who moved from Texas to Adelaide in 1981, although not initially as a loudspeaker builder. John Dunlavy was an antenna expert for NASA, his company Duntech designing and building almost all NASA's ground-based antenna systems for…

Elementi Water The wait for Elementi's Atmos speaker range is over, with the new availability of three models. The Slipstream is designed to be a match for an Elementi ‘Air’ home cinema, since it features a matching tweeter to the Solano speaker, along with a 6.5-inch neodymium-backed woofer. While intended for use as an Atmos speaker, it also gets a recommendation for multiroom applications, Elementi describing it as “incredibly musical when used as stereo system in high-end multi-room audio systems”. The other two Water models, Maelstrom and Tsunami, are designed to be a match for ‘Fire’-based Elementi systems; they vary by output power, with the Tsunami being described as “the highest output ceiling speaker in the industry, with unmatched dynamics, featuring extremely high output neodymium magnets”. Infrasonic sub and sub…

The designs of Adelaide-based HulgichAudio are the result of collaboration between Argentineborn industrial designer Nicolas Hulgich with ‘audio scientist’ Göran Niréus of Sweden's AudioExcite Loudspeaker Design on a series of loudspeaker models which “combine countless hours of technical testing with exhaustive listening sessions to ensure that the speakers achieve the elusive combination of technical expertise, musicality and emotional connection to the listener.” Pictured is the flagship Duke MKII model, its name paying homage to Duke Ellington, and its design bringing together the key in-house technologies and philosophies in a 114cm-high three-way two-box design, an upper sealed cabinet for the 30mm ring-dome tweeter and 6-inch Egyptian-papyrus paper midrange driver, with a ported bass cabinet for the 9-inch driver with hard-paper cone. Nicolas explained to us that the design process behind HulgichAudio…

Kyron has just launched this 2.1-channel system priced wildly more affordably than previous Kyron systems, starting at US$9990 plus options. As a desktop, office or ‘secondary’ system, the Kyron Palleon is also rather easier to accommodate than six-foot Gaias, comprising a pair of satellite speakers just 225mm (about 9 inches) high, together with a horizontal woofer unit some 50cm wide, and a separate DL100 High Resolution USB DAC which doubles as control unit, connections hub, and headphone amplifier. Connectivity options are impressive, though digital only: USB-C, one coaxial digital, one optical S/PDIF, and a very useful HDMI ARC for playback from a TV. A Bluetooth antenna adds wireless playback with excellent codec support: SBC and AAC but also aptX, aptX HD (up to 576kbps) and LDAC (990kbps under ideal circumstances).…

Founded in 2018 in Western Australia, March Audio's first products were power amplifiers, and these remain at the core of the company's offerings. They are all black and purposeful amplifiers, handbuilt to strict quality control and an extensive testing regime, which seems inevitable given Alan March's UK background at Rolls-Royce, much of it spent in aircraft engine test sites collecting data on vibration, temperatures, pressures, stress and strain (and then developing digital recording systems to do it better). What's that got to do with audio? “Well a lot of the things that we were recording were audio frequency signals, very low signal levels, like a vibration transducer,” Alan explained to us years ago when launching his first amps. “So I've been analysing and acquiring and recording audiofrequency signals for decades,…

CEDIA is the global association for smart home professionals, with its CEDIA Expo held annually in Denver (‘The Ultimate Event for Smart Home Professionals’), while in our Asia-Pacific region we have the CEDIA Tech + Business Summit, in 2025 held from Oct 28-30 in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, hosting an expo, product showcases, and industry education through both CEDIA-led sessions and exhibitor-driven training. It is such ongoing education which marks out CEDIA-member professionals as being up to date in all the latest developments that are driving the future of smart-home technology. CEDIA's Sunshine Coast event also included the unveiling of the winners of the 2025 Smart Home Awards Asia Pacific. The event was hosted by CEDIA Australia & New Zealand's Paul Skelton, alongside Wendy Griffiths, CEDIA's Senior Vice President…

It's another win for Wavetrain, this time for a ‘Serenity Cinema’ deep in the basement of this Australian residence. There is a quiet humility to this space: no grand gestures, no excessive theatrical opulence. The project began with an unusual brief. The client, sensitive to air quality, had inherited a poorly ventilated room that had previously served as a basic cinema. But it lacked proper acoustic planning, with little attention to proper airflow and thermal control. Mould had begun to grow. For a space intended to restore and entertain, it was doing the opposite. Wavetrain Cinemas, known for its full turnkey approach to cinema design and delivery, began not with technology but with air. The team developed a fresh air system that gently circulates filtered and dehumidified air throughout the…

ALSO WINNER: EXCELLENCE IN SUPPORT & MAINTENANCE FINALIST: EXCELLENCE IN DOCUMENTATION FINALIST: EXCELLENCE IN LIGHTING FINALIST: EXCELLENCE IN RACK BUILDING & DESIGN We start our coverage of CEDIA's Integrated Home finalists with the top category, Level III. And from the very beginning, this multiple category finalist and winner was clearly a home with ambition. Developer Lendlease wanted more than just luxury finishes and panoramic views for this penthouse: they imagined a residence that could respond and adapt to its occupants quietly, elegantly, and with intention. Technology would need to be seamless and deeply integrated, but never seen or heard. For Kayder, the smart-home integrator on the project, that meant designing not just a control system, but an experience. Lighting, shading, climate and entertainment all respond to a single unified system.…

ALSO WINNER: TECHNOLOGY MEETS DESIGN FINALIST: EXCELLENCE IN LIGHTING When a young family of five set out to build their dream home in Sydney's Double Bay, they knew exactly what they didn't want. No flashing touchscreens. No complicated controls. No technology for technology's sake. Just a refined, beautifully-crafted house that would respond to their lifestyle without intruding upon it. They partnered with Ryelec Automation, which approached the brief with care and creativity. Their goal: to design a home that felt effortless, where lighting, climate, shading, music and security all worked in harmony, quietly responding to the rhythms of family life. From the outside, the home is striking — low-carbon concrete, bronze details and thermally-treated timber soften its modern form. Inside, the same considered layering of materials carries through, with Interni's…

Here's another project where the pictures struggle to tell the technology story — because there's nothing ostentatious about Project Bianca. That's exactly the point. This is a home where elegance is measured in stillness, where ambient light moves with the sun, underfloor heating anticipates footsteps before they fall, and smart glass knows when to turn opaque. Set among rural Australian bushland, the home draws from Tuscan farmhouse traditions — rough stone, limewashed walls, iron fixtures — then quietly layers in an intelligent infrastructure that never disturbs the eye. For the clients, this wasn't their first experience with home automation, but it was the first time they sought something more profound. They wanted to live in a space where lighting, comfort, and security responded to them -not with clunky controls or…

The basement of a high-rise apartment in China is not where you'd typically expect to find a soaring creative statement. But for Sentiment HiFi, that constraint became an opportunity. Their client, a design-forward homeowner with a strong appreciation for both geometry and atmosphere, had a simple request: “Give me a space that changes with me.” The vision was ambitious. More than a media room, the client wanted a space that could morph — a cinema, yes, but also a karaoke stage, a quiet zone, a casual meeting room, even a wellness retreat. All of it had to feel considered, coherent, and completely intuitive. It was clear this project wouldn't be led by screens and speakers. It would be led by light. Inspired by Piet Mondrian's strict geometry and the immersive…

DanA is based in Concord in Sydney's Inner West, recently celebrating 25 years of speaker and amplifier designs under proprietor Goran Velimirovic. Among ranges of cables and isolation platforms, DanA has become particularly known for a wide range of active loudspeakers under the tag ‘act:eve‘; these are speakers which unusually incorporate both valve and transistor amplifiers directly powering the drivers, and active crossovers before the amplifiers, yielding advantages which, in addition to very short cable runs, help achieve DanA’ s noble goal of “accurate reproduction of any audio source, to provide distortion-free and uncompressed sound true to the original, whether it be relaxed, rhythmic, attacking, foot-tapping, floor-shaking, or whatever the artists intended.” We saw them last at the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2025 in Sydney, where one of the demonstrations featured…

“One of my favourite things is to play music for people — it drives my family and friends crazy!” says George Moraitis, Döhmann Audio's Director of Sales & Marketing, in a statement with which many of our readers will empathise. “To have an opportunity to create analogue systems that take music reproduction to new levels of realism is rare, and exciting. I am driven to give our customers the same joy that I feel when dropping the needle at home.” Our usual ‘go-to’ for commentary on the company's technology is Mark Döhmann himself, the company's Director of Design and Systems Architecture, the designer of their legendary Helix turntables and before them of the almost equally legendary Continuum Caliburn turntable. “To have an opportunity to create analogue systems that take music…

While there are fine hi-fi companies all around Australia, there is a noted hub of high-tech audio and loudspeaker development in South Australia. Solid longstanding brands like Krix and VAF Research, legends like Duntech, and high-end achievers including Döhmann, Halcro and Kyron are all part of Adelaide's world-class hi-fi cluster, a rarity for a city of its size. Yet this was no accident, rather the result of Cold War defence spending, ambitious state planning, and a few brilliant, even obsessive, individuals. One key attractor was Adelaide's position as as a centre of defence research, which ensured an availability of highly skilled physicists, electronic engineers and technicians. During the Cold War, the Australian government invested in bodies like the Weapons Research Establishment (now DSTG) in Salisbury, SA, initially for rocket/missile development…

Elementi is an Australian brand of speaker systems which reimagine the conventional layout of home cinema audio, in dispensing with the distant power of an AV receiver and instead giving each speaker its own dedicated amplifier to be mounted close by. Many advantages accrue, whether that be thermally, or in delivering a cleaner electrical signal to the speaker. The amplifiers are also modular and so expandable to deliver the power required for the speakers based on the SPL requirements of the project. Further advantages come when running digital audio direct to the amplifiers: simple Ethernet cables replace costly speaker or signal cables, and advantage can be taken of the individual digital DSP and crossovers that precede the high-flow Pascal amplifiers. Despite all this technology (and also the sheer scale of…

Halcro builds the Eclipse power amps in two versions: this monobloc power amplifier, and the stereo version, either of which can now be paired with the recently-released Eclipse preamplifier. Other than the obvious fact that you need two monoblocs for stereo, Halcro's new owners say that the Eclipse Mono and Eclipse Stereo use similar circuitry but differ in their power output capabilities, with the monoblocs being more powerful, at a rated 550W into 4 ohms, versus 350W into 4 ohms for the stereo version. The specifications for THD, IMD and TIM in the stereo version are also just slightly higher than for the Eclipse Mono, though still vanishingly low. Indeed these three distortions are lower in the Mono even than those of the original Halcro dm58, an amplifier independently proven…

South Australia's Krix recently celebrated 50 years since founder Scott Krix built his first loudspeakers in a garage in Loxton, three hours east of Adelaide. His company was also early into cinema sound, in 1980 outfitting the ‘Capri’ cinema with speakers and inventing the world's first ‘Infinite Baffle Wall’ around them in the process. Krix has straddled the hi-fi and cinema worlds ever since, outfitting professional cinemas around the world, providing integrated home cinema solutions, and still maintaining a range of more traditional hi-fi and AV speakers. In recent years the company's home cinema solutions have been led by a modern miniature version of that infinite baffle wall in the company's ‘Real Cinema at Home’ philosophy, popularly called the ‘wall of sound’ (pictured above). The original MX-20 has just been…

The $1399 Series 6plus Merlin standmount brought both a new tweeter and a different bass/midrange driver. The 25mm-diameter neodymium-powered soft-dome tweeter is distinguished by the shiny edge trim around its mounting plate, while bringing “improved sensitivity, a lower resonance frequency and double the power-handling ability, resulting in a new level of clarity and engagement.” This is, in fact, the same tweeter in the larger and more expensive Wizard S6plus and Wizard 6SE models. Its bass/midrange driver is almost exactly the same as the one used on the Wizard as well, though with a 4-ohm voice coil rather than the parallelled twin 8-ohm coils in the Wizard. These cones use a unique pulp that is a mix of paper, hemp (unsmokable), kapok, wool and engineered chemical fibre that's made extremely stiff…

In recent years Melbourne-based SGR Audio has found success with its ranges of ingeniously modular hi-fi equipment racks with multi-layered isolation solutions, but when we contacted CEO Stuart Ralston to catch up on the latest, we were delighted to hear that the company is back to a full focus on its active loudspeaker systems. Indeed Stuart's update was so detailed and eloquent that we can best serve the information by quoting him in full. “Yes, I never intended for the racks to become such a large part of the business,” he tells us, “and it still amazes me that we've shipped so many of them! But these days we're very much back to our roots with a focus on active loudspeakers. We're still quite unique in the market with our…

There was a plaque on the wall of Whatmough's listening rooms when last we visited, which showed a picture of the company founder Colin Whatmough, who died in 2011, alongside the following quote: “My objective was to create a speaker that was as close to flawless as possible, and I am truly thrilled with the final results. This has been a long-term personal project, and I would love to share the results with you.” This friendly approach to perfectionism summarises Colin Whatmough nicely, although the former computer programmer did eventually also bring his skills to bear on more affordable models, including the long-lasting 502/505 series and the popular Performance series. But it was the flagship Paragon (the outer pair in the image above), the result of an intense three-year research…

ALSO WINNER: BEST HOME CINEMA – GLOBAL FINALIST: EXCELLENCE IN DOCUMENTATION Regular readers will recognise this home theatre: we featured it in detail last issue, not then knowing that it was about to win not only CEDIA's top home cinema prize for the region, but also this year's prestigious ‘Global Best Cinema’ Award. The home is set deep in regional Queensland, so the project highlights an ability to work far away from home for Sydney-based design and installation company Wavetrain Cinemas. And this room is more than a mere home cinema: it's a masterclass in immersive design, responding to the homeowner's imagining of a space that might extend the home's tropical theme, to create the feeling of a secretive island retreat as depicted in the several Bond films set in…

This winning ‘Veluxa Cinema’ was never going to be a conventional project. The clients — a young family in Australia — approached Sydney's Luxor Integration with a firm budget of A$100k and a clear goal: to transform their spare bedroom into a cinematic space that could also function as a live music venue for family karaoke. The room itself, measuring just 3 × 3.8 metres, posed serious spatial limitations. But rather than scale back the ambition, the team used the constraints as creative fuel. A structural cavity beneath the room became the project's secret weapon. By recessing the projector into this subfloor area and enclosing it in a custom hushbox, Luxor Integration avoided the need for short-throw optics while still achieving a large-format image. The result was a 116-inch 16:9…

Set on Queensland's Gold Coast, this is a grand family home built for modern living, though with a distinctly provincial character. Designed by August Homes and styled by Highgate House, the residence is defined by its soft elegant interiors — arched doorways, decorative mouldings, and carefully layered finishes that speak to a refined old-world sensibility. The challenge was not to modernise it, but to make it effortlessly intuitive, without changing what made it beautiful. Bridger Automation was engaged early in the process to deliver full home technology solutions that would remain invisible to the eye while enhancing everyday life. The client had lived with smart-home features before, so knew the value of convenience, but this time the aesthetics mattered just as much as performance. The brief called for intelligent lighting,…

There was no client for this home, so no personal wishlist, no Pinterest board of styles. Instead, ‘Riverdale’ was born from a builder's ambition to create a polished and technically-refined residence that would define the company's reputation within a highly competitive property market. Bridger Automation joined the project early, tasked with making the home feel both luxurious and effortless. Their brief was simple but ambitious: everything must work seamlessly, feel intuitive, and disappear into the design. That's exactly what they delivered. Across the three levels of the home, lighting is soft, adaptable and scene-based, shades adjusting automatically depending on the time of day. The temperature in each room can be fine-tuned without fuss. Whether you're hosting friends, returning from the beach, or winding down with a film, the house responds…

For a young Australian family, holidays are about switching off. But for this new beach house on the coast, the owners wanted the opposite — a home that would switch on even before they arrived. Designed by Slater Architects and brought to life with quiet precision by Luxor Integration, this home is a lesson in how technology can enhance design without disrupting it. The brief was focused: a light-filled coastal home that could run itself when empty and come to life at the tap of a phone screen. It needed to be secure and sustainable, yet seamless. When approaching and entering the home, the technology is all but invisible: there are no noisy intercom panels or chunky light switches, instead small white keypads sit flush with the walls. All speakers…

ALSO WINNER: EXCELLENCE IN NETWORKING WINNER: EXCELLENCE IN RACK BUILDING & DESIGN HIGHLY COMMENDED: EXCELLENCE IN DOCUMENTATION FINALIST: EXCELLENCE IN SUPPORT & MAINTENANCE For the owners of this superyacht Vertigo, technology should support the experience, not interrupt it. So when it came time to refit the yacht, the brief was clear: no clutter, no complication — just seamless control and a better way to live on water. Liquid Automation was brought in to deliver just that. Despite having only four months to complete the overhaul, the team replaced every element of the outdated system with a clean and streamlined solution that works equally well for private escapes and luxury charters. Now the yacht adjusts itself with a single touch. Lighting, music, blinds, air conditioning, even the camera on the mast:…

Tucked between sandstone cliffs and native bushland in a New South Wales ‘village’ south of Sydney, this holiday home is nestled in the kind of place that feels untouched by time. For one family, this is where summer holidays have always unfolded, and where an old home — affectionately named ‘Back of the Moon’ — has now been brought gently into the present. The brief was simple but deeply personal: create a home that feels effortless to live in, no matter the season, no matter who's staying. With the help of MHN Design Union and Lawless & Meyerson, the family restored the house with natural materials and a warm earthy palette. Ryelec Automation was invited to tie it all together with a smart-home system invisible to the eye, but deeply…

Epson's latest release is an ultra-shortthrow 4K laser projector, the breed designed to sit up front and project up onto a screen from below, while sitting just inches from the wall. The EH-LS670B is priced at $4199, designed to project on to screens up to 120 inches diagonal, with the Epson Setting Assistant app using a mobile device's camera to automatically correct any projection distortion for an optimal display fit. As has been the trend of USTs designed to replace TV systems, this is no mere projector — it comes with built-in streaming sources and a ‘Sound by Bose’ speaker system. The streaming is based around its built-in Google TV interface, which can connect to the network using Wi-Fi and includes support for Netflix, while there are multiple HDMI inputs available,…

Pro-Ject is such a huge player in the turntable market that its electronics are often forgotten — but the company professes a desire to work with all types of physical music, and it already has some five CD players and/or transports currently on the Australian product list. Now the Austria-based brand has added the CD Box RS2 Tube CD player to its flagship RS2 (Reference Series) range. This builds on the RS2 ‘T’ CD transport by adding a built-in DAC and a fully balanced tube (valve) output stage, alongside the aluminium SUOS DM-3381 Red Book CD drive. There's a supplied full aluminium remote control in addition to the control buttons on the front, while the big RS2 LCD display is simple but clear. This drive is built around a robust,…

It's been more than 10 years since Samsung set up what it calls the ‘LA Audio Lab’ in California under Allan Devantier, who is now Vice President and Head of Samsung Audio Lab, but was formerly a respected speaker designer with Harman, working on brands including JBL (notably the M2 Master Reference Monitor) and Infinity (the Prelude MTS). With this background, Devantier modelled Samsung's LA Audio Lab in part on the work of the legendary loudspeaker guru Floyd Toole, who had been a mentor to Devantier at Harman. Toole was behind the legendary listening and audio facilities of Canada's National Research Council, which include a listening room where speakers can be whisked away and replaced almost instantly on hydraulics, allowing rapid comparison while retaining a single-speaker listening space. Devantier's Los…

Welcome to a celebration of Australian audio — a feature article focused on our local skills in hi-fi design, and specifically the homegrown hi-fi companies which bring world-class products and skills to our own market, and often far beyond. The goal here was to include information on every operating Australian hi-fi company which designs and/or manufactures hi-fi here in Australia. I doubt we've managed this entirely successfully, because we don't know what we don't know, so early apologies here for companies we've missed. We did have a few key criteria — it's domestic hi-fi only, not commercial or music gear. And we didn't include companies which make only cables, accessories or kits, partly to avoid things getting out of hand, but also because these are sectors in which Sound+Image does…

It's impossible to talk about DEQX without first mentioning how founder Kimbal Ryrie previously changed the world of music when he invented the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) in 1979, along with his thenschoolfriend Peter Vogel. From Kate Bush to Madonna, the Fairlight CMI and its intuitive implementation of sampling changed the way that music has been made ever since. DEQX started as a side project, attempting to overcome the inherent problems of loudspeakers being mechanically prone to much higher levels of distortion and non-linearity than other components in the hi-fi (or production) chain. So while DEQX is a sophisticated processing system designed for system calibration, it is unique in separating first speaker correction, then room correction, and finally any preference equalization. DEQX's technology is now in ‘Gen-4’ stage’ after…

In February 2026, Döhmann will be releasing a version of the Mk3 turntables that feature a vacuum hold-down system: the Helix One Mk3-V and the Helix Two Mk3-V. And as per that upgradable promise (see main story), vacuum system upgrades will also be available for all existing Döhmann Audio users. “We have been working on this project for many years,” George tells us.” But the ever-decreasing noise floor of our turntables meant that we could not use traditional vacuum systems, because you can hear their operation.” Now they have developed what he describes as a revolutionary new vacuum system, “based on rotary feed through technology never before seen in audio applications”. Not only is it claimed to be operationally silent and highly reliable, it is totally frictionless and does not…

Elektra is a well-established company making preamplifiers and amplifiers that are 100% Australian designed and manufactured. But you won't find a website for them, as the proprietor Arthur Rappos sells entirely through dealers, though he says that may be changing as he works to scale up production of Elektra's product lines, which have been evolving over some 30 years. We spoke with Mr Rappos to hear the company story… although he's an interesting guy, so we digressed quite a lot. “So in essence, I make products which are technically very good,” he explained when we were back on track, “but they have listening tests done on them, and there are parts that we vary to improve the sound quality of them. Basically that's my design criteria in essence: they have…

Encel takes its name from Alex Encel, the Melbourne hi-fi legend who is believed to have given the first public demonstration of stereo in Australia, having previously been inspired by a desire to create true-to-life musical reproduction — apparently for his then-girlfriend, as much as himself. Today, Encel the company takes its cues from the next generation, with Sam Encel leading the development of the modern Encel range with its slim ‘Brains’ amplifier (pictured), the ‘Gelati’ standmount speakers which shine in unique lacquer and woodgrain cabinet finishes like Birch Black, Vanilla, Caramel Walnut and Pistachio, then complemented by 12 magnetic grille options on offer in shades like Eucalyptus Green, Ocean Blue, Lemon Yellow and Coffee Brown. There is the Encel S turntable with its 8.6-inch S-shaped aluminium tonearm, and there…

Anthony Holton started building amplifiers in the 1980s, he tells us, but things took off in 1994 after one of his designs was published in Silicon Chip: he sold more than 1000 kits on the back of the power of magazines! Then, when he put up his first website in 1997, it was pulling 100,000 hits a month, vast traffic for those days. Holton began selling kits to DIY hi-fi fans around the world. More designs and commercial built designs followed in the 2000s, with a move in the 2010s into power boards, cables and power conditioners using DC blockers and balanced oscillation conditioning. For complete hi-fi, Holton's main focus is power amplifiers, including the One-Zero-One R4 dual mono (centre, above) and the latest flagship, the Gambit R1.0 monoblocs (flanking,…

They call it “holographic 3D audio technology”, a phrase which may sound like a bunch of buzzwords, but which will ring true to anyone lucky enough to have sat in front of a Kyron system, perhaps during one of their several ‘Best Sound in Show’ demonstrations at hi-fi events. This company, another from the Adelaide cluster of high-end hi-fi brands, has developed unique world-class loudspeaker systems that are designed for the ears, but which also look pretty impressive to the eyes, having abandoned traditional cabinet design in favour of its ‘no-baffle’ technology (NBT). “Loudspeakers without an enclosure behind the drivers sound more natural,” explains Kyron, noting that while enclosed speakers can achieve louder bass with less power, there is a cost to accuracy. “We have analyzed this loss in efficiency…

Microphase Audio Design (M.A.D. to its friends) combines its Australian boutique craftsmanship with French audiophile heritage thanks to JeanMarie Lière, an engineer whose career bridges the golden age of French high-fidelity with the modern era of home cinema and smart homes: when still in Europe he was founding president of CEDIA's European operations. Lière grew up in a musical family and he trained in electronics, becoming immersed in the vibrant Paris audio scene, where he was inspired by the research of Elipson's Joseph Leon, while becoming averse to the mass-market Japanese speakers of the 1980s. This all led him to launch the original Microphase SAT (satellite) in 1984, with custom-modified drivers from Audax; it proved a commercial and critical success in France both for domestic hi-fi systems and recording studios,…

Another Aussie hi-fi brand we found on the edge of retirement is Redgum, whose Ian Robinson and Lindy Gerber announced last year that no new production of Redgum models will take place, ending more than 30 years of production for their highly-regarded high-current MOSFET amplifiers, notably (though not universally) fronted by those distinctive fascias of glowing redgum timber and unusual ‘ignition key’ power switches. Lindy tells us there are some few remaining Redgum models to sell, but “once the pallet is bare, then that deems the end of the line, as every model is reliant on specific hardware”. While there may be ongoing news on the Redgum website (redgumaudio.com), the place to hunt down those remaining Redgums is eBay (look for “thewizardfromaus”). We wish Ian and Lindy a long and…

When Mr. Chen first contacted Miro Sound & Vision, a Chinese installation and distribution company based in Shanghai and Hong Kong, his ambitions were modest: he simply wanted a surround sound system in his living room. But with each conversation, his vision evolved. By the end, the plan had grown into something far more daring: to create a standalone home cinema that would rival and in many cases outperform the experience of a commercial theatre. The design brief was no longer about convenience; it was about clarity, immersion, and control. Miro Sound & Vision proposed a dedicated space where new technologies could take centre stage without ever intruding on the visual character of the home. Working alongside Grassroots Design and Decoration, the team claims to have delivered the first residential…

Long before the slab was poured, Wavetrain Cinemas had been brought in to design a very different space. The brief focused on ‘atmosphere’: the client, who had spent many years living in high-rise apartments in Hong Kong and Singapore, wanted a room that didn't feel like a normal home cinema, but would rather evoke those night-time skyline views, right down to the softness of curtain sheers and the subtle glow of distant city lights. Built as part of a project home in Australia, the shell of the room needed to conform to some strict limitations. Internal linings were installed during the construction phase, then the room was sealed and left untouched for five years while the client remained overseas. When the project resumed, Wavetrain Cinemas was re-engaged to complete the…

ALSO FINALIST: EXCELLENCE IN LIGHTING FINALIST: EXCELLENCE IN RACK BUILDING & DESIGN Over to New Zealand for the third finalist in this category, where the owners had a clear goal for this newly-built home on a quiet stretch of coastline north of Auckland. They weren't looking for a high-tech playground or futuristic control room: they wanted a home that worked for them — quietly, intuitively, without getting in the way of its architecture or lifestyle. Their brief to Liquid Automation was simple in concept but demanding in execution: make sure everything ‘just works’. From the lighting and music to the security and heating, the house needed to feel as though it were responding to the rhythm of daily life. To bring this vision to life, Auckland-based Liquid Automation used Crestron…

The owner of this coastal Australian home had lived with basic home automation before, but for their next chapter they wanted something more — more control, more comfort, but with far less visual intrusion. Their request was for a home that felt elegant and restrained, yet quietly aware, one that could respond to the rhythms of daily life without constant input. For integrator Kayder, and architect Samuel Mok of EM BE CE Studio, that meant pairing technical intelligence with architectural subtlety. The home's systems — lighting, climate, security, audio-visual, and shading — are all unified under a single platform. But rather than showcasing this technology, the design conceals it. Motion sensors and touch panels are colour-matched to their surroundings. Heating sensors are integrated into joinery. Wi-Fi points were carefully hidden…

The ‘single room solution’ category recognises projects that serve multiple purposes within a single adaptable room, such as a media room, games room, kitchen, or bar. This winning example might be termed a media room, though it's also a kind of office, while in entertainment terms there's a clear focus on hi-fi playback as well as cinema performance. After moving into a new North Shore home in Sydney, the client approached Denote with one clear goal: create something better than they had before. They had worked together previously on a highly technical AV build, but this time there was an added layer of trust: the client wanted performance, yes — but also personality. The house itself posed limits. Built into a sandstone cliff, it offered no spare space for a…

Historically cited as the song David Bowie gave away to an ailing Mott The Hoople, little knowing it would rapidly acquire the accolade of glam's greatest anthem, ‘All The Young Dudes’ could never have packed its irresistible punch in the hands of its author. While tailor-made to slot into the loose concept of Bowie's The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust album (the ‘news’ the dudes ‘carry’ was, according to Bowie, the same news delivered by the weeping newscaster in Ziggy's ‘Five Years’: news of imminent quinquennial apocalypse), ‘Dudes’ also carried a degree of menace. While inarguably glam to its core -Bowie wrote its lyric upon hearing Lou Reed's ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ demo — the way Ian Hunter sells it, with braggadocio swagger, an assured gang-leader's sneer, he…