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Techradar |
- In Depth: 20 bits of Hi-Fi kit for audio perfection
- Brit Week: 10 years of Sky+ - the boxes
- Buying Guide: Hard drive upgrade: what to buy and how to fit it
- Review: Samsung R540
- Brit Week: Arcam MD sees lack of support for Brit manufacturers
- Review: HP Pavilion dv6-3046sa
- Review: Image Audio IA 8/5/C
- Buying Guide: RAM upgrade: the complete guide
- Review: Teufel Columa 100
| In Depth: 20 bits of Hi-Fi kit for audio perfection Posted: 08 May 2011 01:00 AM PDT With all the exhibition space sold there was a buzz about the 2011 Bristol Sound & Vision show before it had even started. A buzz which rose to fever pitch when the massed audio enthusiasts burst into the Marriott foyer on the first day. This show has grown in importance to the point where it is the most popular in the hi-fi events calendar. The driving force being the array of key manufacturers showing their latest wares. This year's theme was clearly affordability. There was definitely some high-end exotica in action at Bristol, but even more keenly priced components and accessories. Three cable manufacturers revealed radically revised designs with one coming straight out of left field. Speaker makers, meanwhile, have been revisiting the sub-£200 sector with renewed enthusiasm, which has to be good for newcomers to the pursuit. Computer audio solutions were clearly in the ascendant and there can't be many electronics companies left that don't offer a USB input on their DACs. Several, including Cyrus, Electrocompaniet and XTZ, have gone a long way to provide a hassle-free, sonically rewarding result. So expect some review surprises soon. Here's our pick of the best gear that was at the show. 1. Chord Co. VEE Plug
Chord has made a breakthrough with its phono plugs that is so dramatic that it has applied it to the entire range, save for the very top-end cables. The new plug, dubbed VEE for 'vibration eliminating enclosure', is made from ABS plastic and replaces the metal outer casing on both digital and analogue cables. The connectors within are still silver or gold-plated with Teflon insulation, but the difference between the standard and VEE casings was nothing short of dramatic in Chord's demo. 2. Chapter Foreword
Chapter Electronics is a British company that made its name with high-end switching PSU-based amplifiers. With the Paperback series it is trickling down this high-end technology to a more affordable level. The Foreword CD player is a slot-loader with a multi-input DAC and Chapter's ultra low-phase noise clock and a balanced output stage, it also has a volume control and costs £3,995. The range also includes two-, three- and five-channel Paperback class D power amps each delivering 200 watts per channel. Prices start at £2,995. 3. Cyrus Streamline
Cyrus has taken the streaming plunge with three RF-controlled, net radio-receiving components. Streamline (£1,600) is the all in-one Naim Unitiqute competitor with a 30-watt power amp, five digital inputs and a USB connection. Like its range-mates it can stream wired or wirelessly up to 24-bit/96kHz and incorporates a second-gen XP preamp. These can be hooked up to a NAS drive and run from an OLED display n-remote for full streaming operation without a Wi-Fi network. The Stream X (£1,400) is the minimal list option with no volume control and only digital output, while the XP is the £2,000 range- topper with high-quality DAC and second gen XP preamp onboard. 4. Wilson Benesch Geometry
Sheffield's foremost audio technologist Wilson Benesch has developed its own tweeter dubbed Semisphere. This drive unit benefits from experience the company has had with the Murata Sphere supertweeter and because it's made specifically for WB's Geometry range, the designers has managed to reduce moving mass by a third compared to the Scanspeak used previously. It has side ventilation rather than rear-ward ala Bowers & Wilkins and output extends beyond 30kHz. The Vertex (£4,500) and Vector (£7,800) Geometry speakers combine this tweeter with WB's Tactic II main driver(s) in standmount and floorstanding monocoque composite cabinets. 5. Dali ME9
Scandinavian speaker-meister Dali followed KEF's footsteps by showing a concept project at Bristol, a speaker built purely to show what the company is capable of with no holds barred. The ME9 is a very curvy and high-tech floorstander with a two-part composite construction and a curved front baffle that aims to focus five drivers at the listener's ears. Dali has built all the drivers specifically for the ME9 and these include a 45mm treble dome and a ribbon supertweeter, alongside two ten-inch bass drivers and a pair of six-inch wood pulp mids. 6. Ken Ishiwata With Boston A Series
Hi-Fi guru Ken Ishiwata has been working with speaker wunderkind Karl Heinz Fink on Boston's new entry-level A range. This 'European' input was chosen to give the speakers a worldwide appeal according to KI who showed us three bookshelf models starting at £169 for the A23 and two floorstanders that culminate in the £599 A360. The range uses polypropylene main drivers for their consistency alongside softdome tweeters. The range's subtle styling is courtesy of industrial designer Kieron Dunk and you can have any colour you like so long as it's black or white. 7. Acoustic Signature Barzetti
Sounding Italian, but hailing from Germany the £1,749 Barzetti is the latest and most affordable design from Acoustic Signature. Supplied complete with a Rega RB301 arm this superbly finished turntable has a six-kilo aluminium platter and is available in gloss black or white. The motor is run by an S Alpha electronic controller which is said to isolate the drive from variations in the mains. The bearing is hardened and polished steel in a sintered bronze shaft with a Tidorfolon base. We've not seen a tidier turntable for less. 8. Chord Chordette Maxx
Chord's cute Chordette range has been supplemented by a newcomer called Maxx. This £800 (plus £140 PSU) DAC receiver manages to cram two channels of 40-watt class A/B power, a Bluetooth APTx receiver and digital-to-analogue convertor into its 160mm width. Chord is excited by Bluetooth APTx being incorporated into the Android operating system and the likelihood that conventional Wi-Fi networks will be replaced by this system in future due to its considerably greater efficiency. 9. Exposure 2010S2 DAC
For reasons unknown Exposure has never made a standalone DAC until now. The 2010S2 is a six-input, Wolfson-powered convertor, which will cost around £700. Unusually, it eschews RCA phono coaxial connections in favour connector is a proper 75-ohm interface and thus is the right way to do things, especially as the matching 2010S2 CD player has the same socket. It also has digital volume control, headphone output and a USB input. 10. Spendor A3
Spendor has reduced the entry level for a floorstander by £400, with the sub-compact A3 at £1,295. This two-way comes in real-wood veneer and sports a 110mm main driver and 22mm-wide surround tweeter. It's joined by the latest variant on Spendor's long-running bookshelf, which is called the S3/5R2 (£850). The main driver here has been re-engineered with a new magnet and phase corrector. It also has the wide surround tweeter and, thanks to its sealed box nature, can be wall or shelf-mounted. 11. Pro-Ject Experience V Pack
Henley Designs showed two variants on the theme of the Pro-Ject Experience turntable. Both have an acrylic plinth, but are differentiated by arm and cartridge. The V Pack has the latest Evo carbon fibre arm and an Ortofon Vivo Blue moving coil cartridge for £1,050, while the Two Pack has a 9cc carbon fibre arm in place of the older 9c and an Ortofon 2MM moving magnet for £775. The latter matching the price of the standard cartridge-less wooden plinth Experience. 12. Van Den Hul 3T
Van den Hul has completely revised its interconnect range up to the £1,000 price point. It's 3T, or true transmission technology, involves combining five types of metal and one non-metal conductor in a precise combination that is claimed to offer considerably improved long term stability compared to single metal designs. The 3T cables have a higher impedance than usual, but are said to offer greater flexibility, strength and resolution after a short burn-in time. The range starts at £240 for the Valley and includes a single unscreened model dubbed The Cliff. 13. Tannoy DC6T
Tannoy has added two new models to its Revolution range, the DC6T (£820) features a six-inch dual concentric driver for mid and high frequencies, with a titanium dome tweeter, which is allied with a multi-fibre pulp cone bass unit. The cabinet is trapezoidal in shape to avoid parallel surfaces and stands 950mm high. The DC6 standmount (£560) has the same dual concentric in a 365mm tall trapezoidal cabinet. Both models come in a finish dubbed Espresso, which suggests that no trees were harmed in its creation. 14. Vertere Pulse
Touraj Moghaddam is the creative force behind Roksan, but clearly has too many ideas for one company and created Vertere in order to 'address weak links' in the audio chain. His first product is the Pulse range of cables, Touraj doesn't give much away about their make-up, but his samples reveal separately insulated multi-strands within each lead and these are terminated in custom-machined, copper alloy RCA phono plugs. Several variations exist including the handbuilt Pulse interconnects for tonearms, as well as dedicated line level out and pre-out models. Entry level Pulse-B interconnect starts at £890 for a one-metre pair. 15. Elipson Music Centre and Planet L
Elipson has been making spherical loudspeakers in France for over 70 years and following its purchase by Inovadis, it now has its sights on the design-conscious British audiophile. The Planet L is a 29cm, ported glass-fibre enclosure that houses a 6.5-inch coaxial driver, which can be mounted on a pole stand, wall bracket or hung in a hoop from the ceiling. Elipson's circular Music Centre is a DAB+, FM and CD player with 2x 120 watts of Bang & Olufsen class D, ICE amplification. It has a receiver for an iPod/Phone Kleer wireless transmitter. 16. XTZ MH800 DSP
XTZ makes a range of loudspeakers and electronics in Sweden and at Bristol the company launched its MH800 DSP system. This is a computer audio set-up based on Dirac HD speaker optimisation software, which operates much like a soundcard on a computer, sending a signal that's phase optimised to the speaker and amplifier that are part of this €450 package. The speakers themselves have a forward firing three-inch aluminium driver and a downward-firing 5.25-inch woofer. These are driven by an aluminiumcased, 40-watt ensemble sounded remarkably good for the money. 17. Electrocompaniet PD1
A better established Scandinavian brand, Electrocompaniet brought its latest offering to the convertor table in the form of the £1,250 PD1. Electrocompaniet's angle is the EMS-1 – a dedicated Wi-Fi transmitter (£250) that connects to your PC's USB output and sends a signal to the built-in receiver on the PD1. This avoids the need for a Wi-Fi network and a soundcard. The DAC has five inputs, including USB and the company was demonstrating it with an Apple iPod Nano in a PURE digital dock to good effect. 18. Leema Elements
Leema showed examples of the three components in its forthcoming entry-level Elements range. With pricing under £1,000 they have the company's high-quality metalwork and LIPs control system alongside more volume controls than most. The CD player has a Quattro DAC, an analogue volume control and two sets of balanced outputs, so that you can run a bi-amped system without a pre. The integrated amplifier has both digital (inc USB) and analogue (inc balanced) inputs with a 45-watt output, while the DAC has seven digital inputs and one analogue-in via 3.5mm jack. 19. PMC PB1i Signature
Having given the treatment to its FB1i and TB2i PMC has brought the Signature touch to its PB1i floorstander. The process has involved PMC's designer Pete Thomas reworking the 24dB crossover with higher-quality components, a process which has resulted in greater transparency. The drivers remain the same: 27mm soft-dome tweeter, 75mm midrange dome and a pair of 170mm bass drivers, housed in one of the company's transmission line enclosures. The signature finish is rose palisander veneer with goldplated fixings and each comes with a serial number plate and ten year warranty. 20. Acoustic Energy NeoV2-4
Acoustic Energy has beefed-up its Neo range with the biggest floorstander in its catalogue, the 1.2m tall NeoV2-4. It gets its name from the Neodymium magnet that powers its ring radiator tweeter and promises high SPLs without the need for massive power, thanks to a healthy 91dB sensitivity rating. Its cone drivers consist of two six-inch aluminium bass units and a five-inch aluminium midrange. At £700 the walnut finish is not real, but it looks the part. Round-up The rapid growth of computer audio resulted in a wide array of great sounding approaches on demo at Bristol. Companies like Naim had their own systems in action, but the majority were using third-party solutions, such as the ripNAS or laptops of both Mac and PC persuasion. The exciting thing is that this approach is bringing both great usability (thanks to the iPad) and great sound as a result of the various systems that companies like Cyrus, among others, are creating. There was a clear trend for streaming systems that operate without a computer or wireless network. These keep noise at bay and should make set-up a doddle. Traditional formats are still being supported, of course, but the download revolution has clearly gripped the industry's imagination and this, combined with the expanding range of hi-res software, means that digital files represent the future for high-fidelity. 
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| Brit Week: 10 years of Sky+ - the boxes Posted: 07 May 2011 08:12 AM PDT With the arrival of Sky+ back in 2001, the satellite broadcaster managed to bring the PVR to the British consciousness in a way that others had not managed to do. The technology (and a hefty marketing campaign) got people talking, and no doubt attracted many to the service, and a Sky+ box under the television became a familiar site. As we celebrate the best in UK tech for our Brit Week on TechRadar, we're taking a look back at a decade of Sky+ boxes. 2001/2 Pace box
2003 Pace box
2004 Kath Kidson design - the first 'designer' Sky+ Box
2005 - Football team-branded boxes
2005 - LuLu Guiness designer box
2009 Amstrad box
2009 HD box
2011 Sky+HD 1TB box
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| Buying Guide: Hard drive upgrade: what to buy and how to fit it Posted: 07 May 2011 05:00 AM PDT Hard drives - or non-volatile storage devices, to give them their proper name - have long been essential for computing, but you could be forgiven for thinking that the HDD's days are numbered. If you believe the cloud computing fundamentalists, we'll be living and working in a browser soon, accessing applications on a North American server farm and maybe storing data elsewhere. This style of computing has its advantages, but we're great fans of owning our own applications and controlling our own data. Given this philosophical position, we're going to need somewhere to store all our data and - despite technology's constant evolution - there's little better than a humble hard disk. The current market is split roughly in two. On one hand are the traditional mechanical hard disks, with spinning platters and flicking heads. On the other are solid state hard disks. These have forgone magnetism and mechanics in favour of flash memory. Once the stuff of fantasy, SSDs are now a financial reality if your pockets are a bit deeper than average. The question is, which do you choose? The answer, as we'll see, isn't quite as straightforward as it might seem. If you're after a silent PC that goes like the clappers then an SSD might seem like the natural choice, but there's more to it than that. Sure, SSDs have come down in price lately, but even so, traditional hard disks still offer a cost per gigabyte that's enough to make an SSD blush.
There are also certain situations in which mechanical hard disks will outperform their more technically advanced brethren. We'll explore these later. Don't get disheartened, though - there's a smart middle ground that lets you enjoy the inherent benefits of both technologies: why not fit both types of drive into your PC? It's perfectly feasible to install a small SSD as your main boot drive. This should ensure that your OS and a few key applications boot quickly. Alongside this, you can then install a cheap yet capacious mechanical drive for your games, MP3s and videos. This might seem like an overly complicated procedure, but if you want to create a well balanced system then it may be the perfect compromise. However you choose to upgrade your machine, the following pages should prove invaluable when you're considering how to store your data. What's the best form of storage right now, and what will it be in a year?
Storage is currently in a state of flux. Given technology's relentless march, it might seem as though disk manufacturers are always changing this and upgrading that, but some fundamental shifts really are taking place at the moment. Mechanical hard drives, and to a lesser extent SSDs, are now undergoing significant alterations that are changing the capacity and speed the technologies can offer. The most immediate of these shifts is happening in the hard drive space, and it's another instance of hard drives smashing through a capacity limitation that only serves to highlight the legacy protocols modern computers are built on. The 2.19TB limit of the 32-bit Master Boot Record (MBR) is compounded by the standard PC BIOS limitation of not being able to boot from a drive that's larger than 2.19TB. Solutions to both limitations already exist, but you'll need a modern machine if you want to use new, larger drives without having to rely on an expansion card. Windows 7, and indeed Windows Vista, offer support for the replacement for the MBR, namely the GUID Partition Table (GPT). The replacement for the BIOS has been a long time coming, but the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) has finally made an appearance with the release of Sandy Bridge. It's supported by motherboards that boast P67, H67 and H61 chipsets. Before Sandy Bridge landed, Western Digital launched its first drives to have broken through this limit. The 2.5TB and 3TB Caviar Green models might not have set the world alight with their relatively slow 5,400rpm spin speeds, but the capacity on offer is a hint at what's coming. Importantly, when these drives were released, Western Digital included an AHCI daughter card that provided full access to their capacities on machines hobbled by the ageing BIOS. Now that Sandy Bridge is out there in the wild, we can expect other hard drive manufacturers to follow WD's lead and release models larger than 2TB. With these limits smashed, the focus will return once again to increasing the density of the data packed into a magnetic platter. The areal density, as it's called, has turned into something of a point of obsession among disk makers. Two technologies are currently in development that will further increase the storage capacity of hard drives - heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) and patterned media. The differences for the SSD market may seem less profound, but we could see both costs and speeds improving within a few months. On the price side of things, the relatively high margins to be had from SSDs are now starting to attract more manufacturers, and we can expect to come across plenty more companies selling drives this year.
SSD transfer speeds are expected to jump yet again as well, spearheaded by the new SF-2000 controller chip from SandForce, with the other brands no doubt following suit. SandForce is a key player in the SSD market, having shipped a million controller chips in 2010. Intel is still a company to watch when it comes to SSDs too. OCZ 240GB IBIS
It's fashionable among the technologistas to grumble about the quality and performance of solid-state drive controller chipsets. But controllers aren't the only problem with SSD performance; increasingly, storage interfaces are creating a bottleneck. Enter the OCZ IBIS HSDL 240GB, an ultra-high performance SSD designed to sidestep performance issues related to the SATA I/O interface. The OCZ IBIS HSDL 240GB does this courtesy of its own unique storage connection. Out goes SATA, in comes OCZ's proprietary High-Speed Data Link or HSDL for short. In simple terms, HSDL is a four-lane PCI Express link. PCI Express 2.0, of course, supports 500MB/s per lane. Potentially, therefore, HSDL can manage a massive 2GB/s of raw storage bandwidth. This first incantation of HSDL is PCIE 1.1 and thus half that speed, but on paper it's still a fair bit quicker than SATA. Verdict: 4/5 Read the full OCZ 240GB IBIS SSD review Seagate 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11
Seagate's 11th generation 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11 hard disk was the first 1.5TB disk to market, and although it's been around for a while, it's still a very capable and popular drive. It's easy to see why, with its combination of performance, capacity, price and fairly low power consumption. It's a reflection of just how far storage technology has come in a relatively short space of time that a drive that was state of the art just over a year ago - 7,200RPM spindle speed, Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) technology, a compact disk density of 375GB, Native Command Queuing (NDQ) - is old hat among the 2.5TB and 3TB monsters available now. The ST31500341AS uses four platters to get to its 1.5TB capacity, backed by a 7,200rpm spindle speed and a 32MB cache. Despite having been around for a while, the ST31500341AS offers an even better sweet spot for price versus capacity now than when it was launched, especially considering hard drive prices are now as cheap as they've ever been. Verdict: 4/5 Read the full Seagate 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.11 review Crucial 64GB RealSSD C300
Solid state drives are definitely coming of age. Not only are they increasingly the norm for mid-range laptops and pre-built gaming systems, but we've seen huge leaps in performance lately. From Kingston's SSD Now V+ series to the SandForce-powered Agility 2 and Vertex 2 from OCZ, things are looking good for SSDs. Crucial's latest realSSD C300 drive is available in three sizes, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB. Inside the drive, the memory chips naturally come from Crucial's parent company Micron, and the controller is by way of Marvell. There are two things that are really interesting about the realSSD C300, though. First up, it's reasonably priced - a little bit more expensive than Kingston's perhaps, but a lot cheaper than OCZ's offerings. Secondly, it's one of the first internal drives of any flavour we've seen that make use of the new 6Gbps SATA standard. SSD read speeds have been getting very close to the limits of the older SATA 3Gbps bandwidth cap. Does changing the interface let them off the leash? Verdict: 5/5 Read the full Crucial 64GB RealSSD C300 review How to install a new drive Modern hard drives are easy to install. Connect the power cable and the SATA data cable and boot the machine to make sure the drive works. All being fine, screw the drive into place. If you've gone down the SSD route then you'll need to use a mounting bracket to secure the 2.5-inch drive in a 3.5-inch drive bay. Beyond fighting with the power cabling from your PSU, and the strange way that manufacturers can place the drive connectors in the middle of the cables, that's about as complex as it gets when it comes to physically installing a drive. Things get a little trickier when it comes to laptops, netbooks and all-in-ones, because there's not generally enough room to have two drives in the machine at the same time. This means that you'll need to replace what's currently there and usually reinstall Windows anew. It's worth checking the connection standard used by your current hard drive in your laptop before buying an upgrade though, as not only do PATA still pop up from time to time, but manufacturer-specific interfaces are also known to rear their ugly heads. The Serial ATA standard stipulates that there's only one device per connector, which means the problems of clashing master/slave settings with the old PATA standard are a thing of the past. Indeed, there's little reason to touch a PATA drive these days. Even if you're looking at upgrading an old machine, we'd recommend getting an affordable SATA expansion card that will bring you up to date. Either that or buy a brand new motherboard. Realistically, the only thing that can really go wrong with a modern drive installation, other than you having a faulty drive, is a dodgy cable. Even now, SATA cables are still prone to popping out of the connectors, despite there being various clips and springs designed to keep them in place. Also, the plastic shields on the connectors can perish as you're trying to push them into the socket. The tiny size of the connectors can make slotting them home pretty frustrating as well. Indeed, the toughest part of installing a new hard drive is working out how to integrate it into your current configuration. Should you install Windows from fresh, or copy your current installation across using the likes of Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image? We'd generally recommend installing Windows from new, if only for the opportunity to start again and get rid of all of that software you never use anyway. Troubleshooting drive installation problems 1. Check the BIOS
Your BIOS (or EFI if you have a newer motherboard) should pick up the hard drive without problems. Even so, it's still the first place to check if Windows is refusing to play ball with the new hardware. It should be listed in the hard drive section of the BIOS. If it isn't, try plugging the drive into a different SATA port, or use a different cable. Put simply, if you can't see it in the BIOS, you won't be able to see it in Windows. 2. Administrative privileges
The next stage in troubleshooting your missing drive is to use the Administrative Tools, which can be found in the Control Panel. Select 'Computer management | Storage | Disk management' to see a list of all the drives attached to your system. The drive should be here. If it's refusing to cooperate, you may have to remove any existing partitions, create a new one, format it for use and assign a drive letter. 3. Upper management
Windows may still not present the drive in Explorer, though this is generally down to a driver issue or confusion in the device manager. The easiest fix is to open the Device Manager (hold [Windows]+[Pause/Break] and then click 'Device Manager') and remove the drive entry from the Disk Drives list. Scan for changes and the issue should be sorted. Failing that, check the drive works in another machine before continuing. 
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| Posted: 07 May 2011 04:00 AM PDT Just because a laptop is low cost doesn't mean it has to be light on features, and the Samsung R540 packs some serious hardware into its sub-£399 frame. At the heart of this laptop is an Intel Pentium 2GHz processor which, although still lowly on the scale, outstrips the Celeron that powers the Fujitsu LifeBook A530. There's also 4096MB of memory, double that of the LifeBook, and a 500GB hard drive, again, twice the size. The Samsung's processor came out results in our lab tests, helped hugely by the extra RAM. In real terms, the extra processing power and RAM do wonders for the performance of the Samsung R540. Basic tasks perform noticeably smoother and faster, and you can even stretch to harder tasks like editing standard-definition video. Metallic chic The chassis of the Samsung is solid, and feels well built. The plastic top doesn't feel especially high quality, but the shiny metallic look will turn heads, and also evoke surprised noises from any stranger who finds out its price tag.
The Samsung's screen is sharp and bright, and is perfectly adequate for watching SD movies and viewing your pictures. At a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768 the panel isn't capable of 1080p, not that the laptop could play it back anyway. However, the Samsung R540 does come with a HDMI out port, so that you can connect it quickly to HDTVs, which makes it really easy to show off photos, or watch movies in the comfort of your living room. Battery life is also admirable with four hours of use away from the mains if you're out and about. If you are planning to be on the move with the R540, the 2.4kg weight is something your back will thank you for. While it's no ultraportable, students could easily take this to the library or lectures and work comfortably without needing to stop to recharge it. Benchmarks Battery life: 235 minutes Graphically, the Samsung is above average, but it still uses a weak onboard chip, rather than a dedicated GPU. This means that there's a lack of graphics memory which, like any other type of memory, negatively impacts on performance. The HP Pavillion dv6 is also around the £399-price point but features a dedicated graphics card and, predictably, it tears strips off the Samsung. This means that playing HD video will be a struggle and even simple games won't be as smooth. What's more, sharing large amounts of memory will impact on other parts of the system, further draining resources. At such a bargain price, the Samsung is an attractive proposition. If you're looking for a laptop for basic word processing, email and web browsing tasks, and are not worried about playing games, then you won't be disappointed. 
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| Brit Week: Arcam MD sees lack of support for Brit manufacturers Posted: 07 May 2011 04:00 AM PDT Arcam MD Charlie Brennan has told TechRadar that a lack of support for manufacturing companies is holding Britain back in the technology market, but that quality designers and skilled workers are still plus points for the UK. Arcam is one of Britain's best known AV brands, with its high-end wares attracting rave reviews and managing director Brennan pointing to "some of the best R&D in the business" as a key reason for success. But, with the British audience not prioritising UK brands over quality and price, and some short-sighted thinking on the half of the money men and politicians, Brennan suggests that the glut of talent is not being helped. Key problems "The key problems are the short-term views of the city, government and banks, shortage of "But, there are many advantages including speed to market, skilled workers and a good technology/design base." Brennan believes that a focus on sound quality, rather than a page-long feature list, is a key factor in competing on a global scale, and the BBC is a part of that legacy. "Generally we focus on performance not features, where most Far East brands do the reverse," he stated. "The heritage of BBC sound quality has helped UK brands focus on stellar sound quality which Tannoy's vice president Tim Lount suggested that the UK market has no in-built loyalty to British brands – in the same way as the US are urged to buy American, and Brennan agrees. "The British product needs to be Best of Breed and compete with anything," he said. "Many British buyers now only focus on price and origin is irrelevant." 
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| Review: HP Pavilion dv6-3046sa Posted: 07 May 2011 03:30 AM PDT Without doubt the HP Pavillion dv6 dv6-3046sa is one of the best looking laptops around and brings a touch of class where others at this price fail. The body is a beautiful textured white, as if adorned in carbon fibre, and offset by smooth black keys. It's an instant head turner and, on closer inspection, doesn't reveal a tacky plastic veneer like the Samsung R540. The dv6 is substantially thinner than the rest of the sub-£399 field and feels a lot more solid as well. Build quality is superb, which helps the keyboard and mouse to feel responsive and sharp. It's this quality that makes the HP stand out from the Samsung R540 and Fujitsu LifeBook A530. Battery life lasted a meagre 218 minutes of constant use, which is average at best, but still gives you over three hours of good use away from the mains. At 2.6kg, it's no lighter than others in its class, but it's substantially thinner, which makes it a little easier to carry. Inside the chassis is an AMD Turion II P529 dual-core processor, clocked at 2.3GHz. There's also 4096MB of DDR3 memory and a 500GB hard drive to boot, matching the Samsung pound for pound.
The difference in specs is clear to see, but the differences weren't quite so tangible in our labs. When performance was tested side by side with its rivals, the dv6 didn't exactly blow them out of the water. The AMD-based HP Pavillion was significantly slower in benchmarking tests than the Samsung, which we found extremely disappointing. If there is a lesson to be learned about not choosing a laptop based on raw numbers then this is it. Benchmarks Battery life: 218 minutes General performance Despite falling short in benchmarking tests, you're unlikely to see much real-world impact on performance. Complex tasks will be performed slightly slower than the Samsung, but for general web browsing and emailing, there's little tangible difference. However, there's a bigger difference in graphics power, which helped the HP stand out from the rest of the sub-£399 crowd. The HP Pavillion features a dedicated graphics card. This comes in the form of an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 chip. While most other laptops at this price point use a graphics chip that is built into the motherboard, the HP has plenty more power. The result is a laptop which can handle high-definition (HD) video properly, and even stretch to complex browser games, or even older titles such as Half Life 2. If you're looking for a great looking all-rounder, but not something really portable, then the HP dv6-3046sa is a top choice, and well worth its £399 price tag. 
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| Posted: 07 May 2011 03:00 AM PDT I cannot begin to understand those people for whom actual visible speaker cabinets – enclosures with loudspeaker drivers in them – are anathema. Personally, I love huge veneered boxes, shiny piano black monoliths and tweeters in sexy tapering tubes stuck on the top. But sadly, there is the issue of sharing a film with others. It's like love-making versus self abuse; the former is far more fulfilling and one tries to please one's partner. Well, so I was told… WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) therefore remains of huge importance in the speaker industry. So, while any Trekker worth his salt knows the 'laws of physics never take a holiday, Jim!', and that really superbly potent and sexy speakers require the lebensraum of cavernous boxes, we also find whole categories of speakers that try not to obtrude. There are funny little things with a cross-section no bigger than a slice of Battenberg cake; skinny towers to match sylph-like tellies; blade-shaped stumps on wall brackets; and flattened speakers hidden behind prettily printed canvas, so they don't appear to be speakers at all. The Image Audio IA 8/5/C set here fall into the latter category: wall-mountable flat panel speakers covered in a designer grille. You choose the images you want from the company's wannabee Ikea selection, or you can pay an extra £25 per frame to use your own image. Easy to hang Called the 5, 8 and C, Image Audio's speakers have simple two-way designs and are ported cunningly. The boxes look basic yet are as clever as weasels. For one, they have two-piece, spring-steel wall brackets. One bit goes on the wall, the other is well-fixed to the rear and as the two marry up when you hang them, they use the weight of the speaker itself to secure the box really firmly onto the rear Neoprene gaskets that isolate them from the walls. Inside, they are well braced, and have some splodgy secret that absorbs the massive back wave from the driver (where it is so very close to the woodwork) and stops any bad effects from there.
More importantly, the drivers are crafted by Morel, a company which makes some of the very best in the world and are universally acclaimed. These run on passive crossovers using sexy capacitors of the sort adored by hi-fi nutters. Image Audio's designer was not aiming at merely AV, he was aiming at studio monitoring, as he has done his whole career. So as R&D progressed, Image Audio went ever further into the zone, while perhaps never realising just how unique this made the product, or just how bonkers high-end the sound it was getting. Or maybe IA simply thought that was the only standard to go for. Upon audition (at Image Audio's UK headquarters), any lingering preconceptions I had entertained about hidden wall-mounted speakers were quickly and thoroughly dispelled. I was played a clip from Spielberg's War of The Worlds and sat slack jawed. I was prepared to make allowances for the cabinetry, but the sheer levels of detail, resolution, clarity and purity were just astonishing. As the Martians ray-gunned the place, the voices in all directions, be they querulous and quiet or distant and shouting, were all presented with accuracy that was hard to credit. Not only that but the two weightless droplets of water coalescing in front of Jake Sully's face as he wakes from Cryosleep have never 'plipped' with greater delicacy and rarity.
It was a great precursor to the hugeness and epic scale of Cameron's opening sequence for Avatar – which the Image Audios played without breaking sweat. I should point out that for sub-bass we used a 10-inch MJ Acoustics Reference 100. This was crossed over pretty low, as the IA 8s reached down well below the regular crossover point of an active subwoofer with ease. It must be love These Image Audio speakers are easy to love. I found myself comparing this delicious experience not with other panel style speakers, but with true high-end offerings in big boxes, designed with clever baffles and sculpted sections. The drivers in these boxes and the cleverness of the IA design, has added up to a virtuoso home cinema product. So, I'll take Stonehenge in a ruddy dawn for the rears, and monochrome Liberty, Eiffel and Big Ben for the fronts, please... 
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| Buying Guide: RAM upgrade: the complete guide Posted: 07 May 2011 03:00 AM PDT Not too long ago, a memory upgrade was one of the most effective, easiest ways to boost your PC's performance. High memory prices meant that new machines often shipped with the bare minimum, yet everything from multi-tasking to gaming lapped it up. Bandwidth-critical image and video editing showed huge changes, especially if you upgraded to faster, lower latency memory. With all this in mind, you'd be daft not to consider a memory upgrade. These days, you'll find that even the most modest of systems comes with 4GB of DDR3 RAM as standard, and if you're building a machine from scratch, there's no real incentive to start out with anything less. Does this mean that memory upgrades are a thing of the past, though? Not at all - it simply means that if your machine has a decent amount of memory already, the post-upgrade improvements are going to be far more subtle than before. If you're looking for specific numbers, 4GB should be seen as a minimum for most modern applications. In turn, this dictates that you'll need a 64-bit operating system to use all of the available capacity. 8GB has quickly become the norm for the more advanced enthusiast systems, while capacities of 12GB and higher are no longer the exclusive reserve of video jockeys, high-resolution image tweakers or programmers. With the likes of the Intel X58 chipset boasting support for an addressable limit of 24GB, there's now plenty of scope for memory upgrades on the very latest machines. As ever, you need to match any potential upgrade to your system's capabilities. With more recent systems, that means matching it with your processor. Modern CPUs have many of the features that were once reserved for the motherboard, and the most important one when it comes to the picking and upgrading of memory is the integrated memory controller in the processor itself. Here, we'll cover everything you need to know to make the best decisions for upgrading your computer's memory. We'll start by considering the current state of the memory market and which technologies are on the horizon, then go on to highlight the best budget, performance and all-round kits that are out there right now. Finally, we'll show you how to get the top performance out of any memory kit you do buy. The road ahead The most recent change to the memory landscape has been the slow but inevitable transition from DDR2 to DDR3. The former is still around for older systems and laptops, but DDR3 is the future. This makes the process of upgrading memory a lot simpler, because there's now only one standard to consider. The only question is, how many sticks do you need to buy?
Bloomfield (and later Gulftown) Core i7 processors boast a triple-channel memory controller. You'll need to populate all three channels on your X58 motherboard to get the most out of this chip. This means using a minimum of three memory sticks and, depending on the capabilities of your motherboard, could make for some rather tough upgrade decisions. Many of the more affordable X58 motherboards boast three or four memory slots. For those with three 2GB sticks, the jump to 12GB is going to be significantly more wasteful, not to mention pricier, than for those users who are trying to hit the same capacity using a motherboard with six memory slots. The decision is easier for Intel's more recent Core i5/i7 processors and AMD's latest chips. In both cases, dual-channel DDR3 is on the respective roadmaps for the foreseeable future. All that's left to consider is how much you get, and at what speed. Operating frequency is less important here than latency - faster responses to memory requests outweigh the benefits of just running the memory ever faster. This fact is keenly represented by the price of memory - low-latency memory costs more. Prices continue to tumble, though, and even if you can afford the cash for your memory upgrade, you'll still find you're getting something of a bargain. However, this price slashing has had a knock-on effect within the memory market, with many manufacturers blaming low margins as they pull out of production or downscale their operations. The current low prices we're seeing may not last forever, though. Successors to current memory standards are some way off too. We don't mean from a technological point of view - Samsung has already shown DDR4 modules at the Consumer Electronics Show - but any new ideas are hampered by the fact that there's simply no need for replacement technology yet. DDR3 will be with us in some form for a good while yet. Part of the problem can be pointed at Intel's door, since it included an integrated triple-channel memory controller in its first Nehalem processors. That third memory channel boosted the available bandwidth to the point that it simply wasn't a factor in normal operations anymore. The subsequent decision to drop back to dual-channel controllers in the latest mainstream platforms shows that the world simply isn't ready for ever-faster memory standards. Three top RAM choices Corsair Dominator GT (4GB (2x 2GB) 2,133MHz)
£140 is a lot of cash for a dual-channel 4GB memory kit, even one rated at a lofty 2,133MHz. In fact, look a little closer at the Corsair Dominator GT 2133MHz's specifications and the pricing looks even more preposterous. After all, timings of 9-10-9-24 are nothing special, even taking into account the flighty frequency. However, that would be to disregard a number of benefits that come with this DDR3 kit. For starters, it's made by Corsair, and that means it's about as impeccably hewn and physically desirable as they come. There's nothing flashy or adolescent. It's just quality engineering and it bodes well for operating at high frequencies. You also get Corsair's Xtreme Cooling System which involves a twin-fan cooling attachment that clips on top of the DIMMs. With all that in mind, the extra £4 Corsair is demanding compared to Geil Evo Two 2000MHz actually looks pretty reasonable. Verdict: 4.5/5 Read our full Corsair Dominator GT review Crucial Ballistix DDR3 (4GB (2x 2GB) 1,600MHz)
Crucial's Ballistix range of high performance DDR3 memory modules are well known amongst the overclocking fraternity offering faster clock speeds and lower latencies and in some instances fancy LED displays, than the standard Crucial product range. The latest addition to the family line-up, is a 4GB memory kit of DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) modules, carrying the part number Ballistix BL2Kit25664FN1608 if you want the full nomenclature. The new modules also bring a change in module design to the product line and a new feature which some overclockers will find very useful. The small discrete heatsink covers found on the rest of the Ballistix range have been replaced by the high profile finned heat spreaders favoured by most of Crucial's competitors on their high performance memory modules. Verdict: 3.5/5 Read our full Crucial Ballistix DDR3 review Kingston HyperX (8GB (2x 4GB) 1,600MHz)
Kingston is a stalwart of the memory game, and it's ranges like HyperX that keep it so relevant when it comes to both performance and excellent value. Unlike the other two kits mentioned on this page, this isn't a 4GB package but a pair of 4GB modules, totalling 8GB. That's an incredible amount of storage for surprisingly little money. With latency timings of 9-9-9-27, there are certainly speedier options around, but unlike much of the competition, there's some room for a little overclocking. With a base frequency of 1,600MHz, that latency certainly isn't as bad as it could be. If you're tempted to overclock these modules, you'll need to tweak the voltage in order to maintain stability. The low-profile head spreaders mean that they'll fit into any chassis you can throw at them, and with 8GB of space on offer, it's a flexibility that's more than welcome. Only hardcore overclockers may feel a little constrained - everyone else will be delighted. Verdict: 4.5/5 Memory is easy to install, but getting the best performance out of it takes a little more effort
We'd hazard a guess you know how to fit more memory to your PCs, replacing the current sticks if necessary. The mechanics of fitting a stick of memory into place haven't changed much in the last 10 years. For laptops, it's simply a case of sliding the SODIMM into the slot and pushing the card into place until it clicks. There's nothing more to it from a physical perspective. The process for desktops isn't much more taxing. Start by making sure the memory is the right way round, so that the notch lines up with the socket correctly. Then, slide the memory stick in firmly until the clips on either side flip into place, and that's it - you're done. Installing memory is usually far more straightforward than working out what your upgrade options are, or configuring it for optimal performance. It's taken some time, but motherboard manufacturers are finally cottoning on to the fact that graphics card slots are often in the way of memory clips, and some of them are now using clipping mechanisms that only have a clip at one side. This means that you have to slide the memory stick in and rotate it into place, but at least you don't graze your knuckles on the back of the graphics cards. The most crucial changes have happened in the Serial Presence Detect EEPROM that resides on each memory module. The SPD contains the timing information for the module, but due to the way companies traditionally erred on the side of compatibility above all else, getting the best performance out of a module was left to overclockers. This changed when Nvidia and Corsair decided to use the spare capacity of the SPD to define performance at different speeds to the standard JEDEC settings. Most manufacturers now use 256-byte EEPROMs for the SPD, while the specification only defines the first 64 bytes for timing information. Known as Enhanced Performance Profiles, or EPP for short, the extension to the SPD for DDR2 modules meant this unused space could be used to store faster memory settings than those defined by JEDEC. With a compatible motherboard, this meant the memory could be configured to run painlessly at faster speeds. Intel followed this lead with its own profile extensions for DDR3, Extreme Memory Profiles, using the unused EEPROM space to the same effect. This is how memory brands can sell kit rated above JEDEC specifications, yet users can still exploit the faster speeds easily. To check you've got your memory configured optimally, see the walkthrough below. Optimise your RAM 1. Check your settings
When you install memory, the BIOS should get the timing information from the SPD on the modules. The only potential problem is if you've got two types rated at diff erent speeds. CPU-Z lets you check memory settings within Windows. You'll need to run RAM at the slowest latency settings supported by all your machine's modules or you'll have memory misses, which will slow operations down. 2. Going extreme
The JEDEC memory profiles err on the safe side, so even if your memory is sold as running at 1,600MHz, it won't operate at that speed by default. Enter your BIOS configuration screen, go to the memory settings and elect to use the XMP (or EPP) settings instead. Set the speed at which the memory should operate, and the actual timings are all done for you. Check that the changes have taken effect with CPU-Z. 3. Overclock it yourself
Most recent memory modules will overclock further than even the XMP defines, though you'll need to experiment a little to get the best performance. Enter your BIOS and increase the memory speed up to the next stock frequency, checking it still boots. Rinse and repeat until the machines stops working, reset the BIOS to the frequency you know works. Benchmark the performance increase to see if it's worth it. 
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| Posted: 07 May 2011 02:30 AM PDT Compact bookshelf speakers are all well and good if you don't have much space, but for bigger, bolder home cinema thrills you've no choice but to make room for a decent set of floorstanders. While that would normally mean upping your budget, Teufel's new Columa 100 speaker system can be yours for a wallet-friendly price. Columa 100 is the baby of the range, which also includes the £490 Columa 300 and £1,060 Columa 900. This set comprises four identical 109cm-high speakers for the fronts and rears, the CL 100 C centre and a powered sub that kicks out 100W of bass. If you get a last minute pang of guilt over how much space the columns are taking up, you can substitute the fronts, rears or both for shorter 35mm-high satellites. But we're going for the Full Monty column system here. FeaturesThe design of the titular columns is a break from the norm, thanks to the seductive gloss-black finish and a curvy back end that provides an elegance missing from some of Teufel's high-end speakers. At 8.6cm deep, they're a lot shallower than your average floorstanders, and when mounted on the oval bases they really are a sight for sore eyes. Don't expect the same tank-like build quality as Teufel's pricier packages, but at this price we're not complaining. On the back you'll find gold-plated binding posts, but their location inside a small recess makes it quite tricky to feed cables into the holes. Inside each column is a pair of all-new Klippel-optimised 2.75-inch mid-range drivers and a 0.75-inch tweeter, with an optimised crossover pulling the frequency strings. The same drivers can be found inside the CL 100 C centre.
The best part of the sub is the front-mounted power button, which could be a blessing if it's installed with its back to the wall, although with Auto power on board you shouldn't need to use it. A couple of controls are provided on the back to get the sub singing in harmony with the other speakers – a volume dial and a switch that flips the phase 180 degrees. On testIn action, Columa 100 delivers the sort of sound you'd expect for the money – an enthusiastic, detailed performance that warms the cockles, but can't muster the power, insight and evenness provided by sister systems. During Inception, the opening scenes are a riot of well-placed effects such as the crack of falling timber and the rush of flood water. But there's a hint of brightness behind some of these effects at loud volumes that betrays the budget price tag, such as the clink of shells discharging from a gun or glass hitting the floor as Ariadne smashes the mirror. It's better than the vast majority of all-in-one systems, but still unpolished. Meanwhile, the centre channel's dialogue handling is assured and easily cuts through busy action scenes, but the star of the show is the sub, which delivers the sort of punch and agility you'd expect in a much pricier package. With a bit of tweaking, it blends with the columns beautifully, working its magic without grabbing too much attention. And the rear speakers' ability to express subtle ambience and project louder effects creates an open, engaging rear soundfield. Columa 100 also has a keen ear for music, with a crisp, rhythmic presentation of CDs and SACDs. That, along with the generally enjoyable movie performance and good looks, makes Columa 100 well worth a look. 
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