audioXpress.com - The Most Popular Stories of 2018

2018 was another record-breaking year for audioXpress.com with visits and users doubling the figures compared to our record year in 2016. Want to know which of the topics and stories published online in 2018 were the most popular? We looked at the most-read articles of 2018 in audioXpress.com (which also includes selected articles from Voice Coil magazine), and we created this Top 10 list of news stories and online articles. Here are the results!

Over the years, audioXpress and Voice Coil magazines have published several company profiles on speaker manufacturers. In 2015, a book was published to celebrate 100 years of the loudspeaker and, in particular, the remarkable contributions of the Danish loudspeaker industry (audio and electronics industry in general is the fourth largest exporting industry in Denmark). This is a valuable book that anyone interested about the loudspeaker industry needs to read.

Just as it has been quietly doing with its other brands, Primacoustic, Jensen Transformers, Hafler, and Dynaco, Radial Engineering has launched its new website at www.radialeng.com. The new much improved website front has several features to make the user experience better, while maintaining the information rich content that Radial users have come to expect and rely upon. New 'personas' on the Home page are just one of several features improving user experience.

Previewed in 2016, and originally scheduled for Spring 2017, Dynaco (a division of Radial Engineering Ltd.) announced the ST-70 Series 3 tube amplifier is now shipping. Since acquiring the legendary Hafler and Dynaco brands in 2014, Radial Engineering has been carefully working on the Dynaco ST-70 Series 3 tube amplifier, in an effort to create a truly worthy successor of one of the most successful tube amplifiers of all time. The result is finally available!

To understand more about the Hafler revival, we delve into some of Hafler’s history and the companies associated with it. In this article, Gary Galo reviews the new Hafler PH50 (designed for moving magnet cartridges) and the PH60 (moving coil) Phono Preamps, as well as the Hafler PH44 Moving Coil Step-Up Transformer. All products come from Radial Engineering, the owner of Jensen Transformers and the Hafler and Dynaco brands, which it bought in 2014. This article was originally published in audioXpress, April 2017.

audioXpress May 2017 is a very strong edition for all tube and audio electronics aficionados in general. This month we bring an exclusive R&D Story on the revival of the Dynaco brand and the development project of the new Dynaco ST-70 Series 3 stereo tube amplifier. Next up, we jump straight into the future of tubes, with an overview of the Korg Nutube 6P1. For hands-on experience, we feature great projects about Circlotron amplifiers, the Kismet 5 amplifier - 20th anniversary edition, and four gadgets for tube enthusiasts. In addition to the tube focus, you can read about the new ETAL Anaview ALA0080 Class-D module and the quality of streaming music with Sonos and Deezer.

Following a preview at the 2016 High End show, in Munich, the relaunch of the Dynaco ST-70 Series 3 tube amplifier is now confirmed for Spring 2017, with the official launch already scheduled for High End 2017. Since acquiring the legendary brands Hafler and Dynaco in earlier 2014, Radial Engineering has been carefully working on the project, considering all the options to create a truly worthy successor of one of the most successful tube amplifiers of all times.

Recently, I got bitten by the nostalgia bug and picked up a pair of old factory-wired Dynaco ST70s in pretty nice condition. On one of the Dynaco ST70s, I installed a new 6GH8 driver board instead of dealing with the rare 7199 issue, and I designed a small (3” × 3”) PCB to combine the bias supply and added the LED bias-setting circuit. This article was originally published in audioXpress, April 2013.

The Dynaco SCA-80Q was an integrated amp that combined a preamp based on the PAT-4 with a power amp based on the Stereo 80. The combination was dubbed the SCA-80 Integrated Amplifier. At some point, the Dynaco Quadaptor function was built in, and the result was the SCA-80Q. Now Dynaco fans have a reason to rejoice. Updatemydynaco announced a kit to replace and upgrade the power amplifier section of the SCA80Q. Building the kit is much easier than trying to repair the original modules, and the result is much improved sound.

At the 2016 High End show in Munich, and as advertised, visitors could experience the relaunch of the Dynaco ST70 Series 3, stereo tube amplifier, together with the prototype of a new integrated Dynaco ST-1 amplifier. The return of the Hafler and Dynaco brands was signaled in Munich with the return of what is, without question, the most successful tube amplifier of all time. And the new advanced design was sounding great already.