FIVE LOUDSPEAKERS IN REVIEW

T was back in August 1979 that we first tried our hand at a multiple loudspeaker review. The eight units we evaluated on that occasion ranged in price from £65 to 1326 per pair and so we felt quite entitled to avoid too close comparisons in a batch of such varied pretensions. This time we are reporting on five loudspeakers which are more obviously aimed at a particular segment of the market—the lower mid-price. They range from £110 to £170 per pair and are either compact or positively minuscule.

Designing loudspeakers of small dimensions, and with a definite price restriction, will always be a matter of compromise. Faced with the plain impossibility of optimizing all parameters, each designer will go for a different mix of desiderata. A small loudspeaker will of necessity be deficient in bass, so how much treble should we roll off to balance this? It will also be limited in power handling capacity, so how can we soften the tendency for non-linear distortion to rocket upwards when the voice-coil amplitude exceeds a certain value? Contrariwise, it will be inefficient, so how can we boost the apparent loudness remembering that budget loudspeakers will most often be teamed up with budget amplifiers?

Individual preferences in such subjective matters as bass-to-treble balance, loudness, coloration and even distortion will always range widely. We have tried to keep our own idiosyncrasies and prejudices under a tight rein by making our subjective listening sessions as scientifically objective as possible. We kept our sights on the proposition that any loudspeaker with 'high fidelity' aspirations should deal faithfully and musically with the signals fed to it, and introduce no characteristic contributions of its own. We used ancillary equipment that we knew well basically, a Linn-Sondek LP12 turntable with SME Series III arm, B & 0 MMC2OCL cartridge and Quad 44/405 amplifier. Occasional checks with an alternative system based on the Naim 32 preamplifier and 25 power amplifier were enough to reassure us that any odd effects we encountered on the way were related to the loudspeakers rather than the source.

We had a wide selection of records and tapes to hand. Key discs used included the Concert gebouw/Haitink recording of Debussy's Jeux and Nocturnes (Philips 9500 674, 11/80—this year's winner of our "Best Engineered Recording" Award)—to check articulation, spacial fidelity and lack of muddiness; Beethoven piano sonatas played by Bernard Roberts (Nimbus D/C902, 1/81)—to check transient response and fullness of tone; the organist Bengt Berg playing Buxtehude, etc. (Proprius PR0P7742)—to check extreme bass and power handling capacity; and Supertramp's "Breakfast in America" (A&M AMLK63708)—to check everything else, including ability to cope with high levels at very high and very low frequencies. We also used white noise and male speech which, as always, constituted such critical tests that they revealed limitations on loudspeakers which seemed quite passable on music.

In accordance with well-tried scientific principles, we frequently compared the sounds during our listening test with 'control' loudspeakers having good reputations for neutrality. These included the Quad Electrostatic, B&W 801 and—particularly where matters of scale or shelfmounting were important—the diminutive Rogers LS3/5A. Objective tests included a plot of impedance against frequency (see Fig. 1) and room plots of frequency response with thirdoctave bands of pink noise—which were extremely useful to us in pinpointing cause and effect, but which we are not reproducing here as they would of course differ from one room to another. Sensitivity was checked by feeding in 1 watt (2.83 volts into 8 ohms) and using a B&K 2206 sound level meter to measure the acoustic level on white noise at one metre.

B&W DM22

Manufacturer: B&W Loudspeakers, Meadow Road, Worthing, West Sussex BN11 2RX.

THE new DM22 model comes into the B&W range at the budget conscious end, and replaces the earlier DM11. This company's flair for innovative appearance design shows itself in the rounded lower edge of the grille. Three pushstuds hold the grille in place. It is made of brown, acoustically transparent weave on a substantial wooden frame. The cabinet is walnut veneered on the side, front and back panels. As a further stylish departure from convention, the top panel has a covering of the grille fabric material and bevelled edges carrying the B&W logo at the front.

The sealed enclosure is made of rigid 18mm particle board with extra bracing. The internal volume is 22 litres and the system resonance has been set at 72Hz. Like all the speakers in this

B&W DM22 review, shelf mounting will obviously appeal to many users. However, B&W recommend a purpose mounting away from walls. Accordingly the DM22 base panel is inset and there is a special stand available.

Signal connections are via standard 4mm sockets on a recessed plastic moulding. Realizing that relatively inexpensive amplifiers might be used with this loudspeaker, B&W designed a new bass driver with a deliberately higher impedance 26mm diameter coil and a 160mm composition fibrous cone impregnated with a pvc compound giving good sensitivity. The tweeter is B&W's successful TW26 which has a critically damped polyester weave dome, having low mass and wide dispersion. The crossover employs five elements to give third-order high and low pass filtering (18dB/octave), the capacitors being reversible electrolytics and the inductors ferrite cored to minimize series DC resistance.

First impressions were of unusually high sensitivity (confirmed as about 2dB higher than specified) with some boldness in the middle register. However the bass and treble balance remained natural when we turned down the volume to our standard listening level. Overall sound quality was rated as respectable, without being exceptional, any coloration being minimal and associated with the bottom half of the spectrum. Extreme bass was noticeably missing, compared for example with B&W's more sophisticated DM12 and DM14 models, but dispersion from the vertically aligned drive units was usefully smooth and wide ranging in all planes. The impedance plot (Fig. la) confirms the fairly high value, never falling below about seven ohms and with a peak confirming the 72Hz system resonance. Our frequency plot revealed unusual smoothness over the entire middle and treble register. Adequate, if not spectacular, power levels could be sustained.

At its modest price, the DM22 should do well in showroom demonstrations with its high sensitivity and reasonably clean reproduction. It should make a handsome and tolerant partner for amplifiers having ratings anywhere from 10 watts up to, say, 50 watts.

Coles Nimbus

Manufacturer: Coles Electroacoustics Limited, Pindar Road, Hoddesdon, Herts EN11 OBZ.

THE Coles company acquired the acoustics products of STC Limited in April 1974, and so continued to market the moving-coil and BBCdesigned ribbon microphones which they had been manufacturing for STC previously, as well as a range of speaker drive units. About a year ago, while still supplying drivers to other manufacturers, they decided to market a number of loudspeaker systems of their own design, and the Nimbus is one of these.

Unusually four-square in dimensions, the Nimbus is the largest enclosure in the present batch under review but relatively easy to accommodate for all that. The drive units are vertically aligned at the centre of the black baffle-board

Coles Nimbus when the cabinet is standing upright. However all five other surfaces are nicely veneered, to allow horizontal or vertical mounting on a deepish shelf or elsewhere. The black fabric grille is acoustically transparent and stretched over a plywood frame which has four push-studs for fixing. The sealed plywood cabinet has bitumous damped panels and a lining of acoustic foam to reduce internal standing waves. The input panel is recessed and employs a new kind of spring-loaded terminal to clamp bare wire-ends. We have met this type of fixing on several new loudspeakers and found it slightly fiddling to use since the bared wires must fit properly into a rather narrow hole. We would recommend great care to ensure a proper metallic contact, with no loose strands.

Coles make both the drive units, their CE2000 200mm bass/midrange unit having a bextrene cone in a glass loaded nylon frame. The CE3100 25mm tweeter has a soft white nylon dome with good dispersion and transient performance. The crossover has seven components, including their own wound inductors giving second-order (12dB/octave) low-pass filtering and third-order high-pass.

Listening tests were distinctly encouraging. We found the piano reproduction impressively natural though with the treble just a shade too bold. We tried the tilt control on the Quad 44 control unit, introducing a slope of about +1dB at the bass end and —1dB at the top. This gave a very acceptable balance but we were left wondering if a step in the response would have been better still, indicating that the tweeter relative sensitivity was perhaps a shade high. This is all very much a matter of taste, of course, and much more important were our discoveries that the Nimbus could handle loud organ music very comfortably, and that orchestral detail and balance were excellent. Speech was well reproduced with just a slight crispness and white noise was smooth, showing good integration of the units. Dispersion was maintained over a useful angle, though angling the speakers inwards might be preferred in some room layouts.

The impedance curve (Fig. 1 b) is smooth enough and does not dip low enough to worry 'difficult' amplifiers. Our frequency response measurements did reveal a dip around 6-8k Hz with a fair rise to around 12k Hz, which might explain the slight brightness observed on music and speech. Sensitivity was about average and more than adequate loudness could be expected with amplifiers rated at 20 watts or more. The squarish appearance may not appeal to everyone but the natural quality of reproduction makes this reasonably priced loudspeaker a firm recommendation.

JR Metro

Manufacturer: JR Loudspeakers, 114 Ashley Road, St Albans, Herts AL 1 5JR.

C INCE he sold out his electronics and loud%) speaker company to Swisstone Electronics a few years ago, Jim Rogers has been concentrating his designs for JR Loudspeakers on cylindrical enclosures. Now he has decided to make a really tiny rectangular model and he can have few misgivings about the success of this new design.

The Metro is diminutive by any standards and it makes itself even more inconspicuous visually by being covered in a matt brown 'Nexter coating which matches the grille fabric. Much has been

JR Metro done to eliminate the deficiencies inherent in so many small loudspeakers, namely cabinet resonances, and over-brightness emphasizing the lack of true bass. The sealed cabinet is made from a new resin bonded fibre with bitumous damping and foam packing to produce an amazingly inert box—as a rap with the knuckles will confirm. The 130mm bass unit, of British origin, has a rigid cone with roll surround and a long-throw voicecoil. The 25mm soft dome tweeter has been carefully damped to smooth out the cavity resonance. The six-element crossover produces 12dB/octave slopes. Signal inputs use screw fixing and spade terminals for crimping on to bare wireends are provided.

We were pleasantly surprised by the natural frequency balance and only just below average sensitivity of this tiny loudspeaker. Of course extreme bass is absent and we suspected that judicious rolling off of extreme treble was taking place by way of compensation. Listening tests on a book-laden shelf supplied a cost-free and trouble-free natural boost to the bass (as we found also with the LS3/5A and RCL's The Small Loudspeaker). Piano tone was a little clouded and a cloying, bottled mid-register effect was noticed on some music and a tendency to 'shout', i.e. emphasize middle frequencies, when we turned the volume up high. This resonance effect was less in evidence at a natural listening level and white noise sounded very smooth. Dispersal was wide, as might be expected from such a small enclosure, and it is worth saying again that it would be easy to imagine such well-balanced sounds coming from a much bigger box.

The impedance plot (Fig. 1c) shows a system resonance at around 80Hz and an impedance that climbs quite a bit above the nominal eight ohms. This will not cause amplifier problems but the Metro does need a reasonable minimum drive power for best results, and at the other extreme should not be overdriven, so the manufacturer's recommended amplifier power range of 20-60 watts is probably about right. At its low price, and where small size is a definite requirement, the JR Metro makes an elegant contender.

Mission 700

Manufacturer: Mission Electronics Limited, Unit 9A, George Street, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE18 6BD.

WE associate Mission Electronics with the more exotic end of the hi-fl market so far as their pickup arms, cartridges, amplifiers and loudspeakers are concerned. The Mission 700 loudspeaker is their most modestly dimensioned and priced system, and indeed the very low price of 110 per pair means that you are getting quite a lot of loudspeaker for your money. Therefore 'value for money', rather than 'super fidelity' may be the proper yardstick to apply in this case.

However, if there are any compromises in the design, they do not apply to the construction and finish. The 22-litre internal volume chipboard enclosure is nicely veneered and the front baffle has a silvered finish. The foam grille presses on to Velcro fasteners and has the virtue of transmitting sounds cleanly while introducing no cut-out edge

Mission 700 reflections. Very little attempt has been made to damp the panels, other than to provide a foam lining, though the cabinet is certainly strongly made. The drive units comprise a 205mm bass .432 .€.16 g8 g 420 E 32 8 a8 20 7,64 1,32 16 11 20 ril P•• 'gm

Irtim11111111 MINH -MEM 50 100 A■ 200 500 1k 2k 5k Frequency (Hz) (a)B&W DM22 '11111113:12d1111■112. 111111111111111■11111 50 100 200 500 1k 2k 5k 10k 20k Frequency (Hz) (b) Coles Nimbus -Awn& Frequency (Hz) (c) JR Metro 10k 420 50 100 200 500 lk 2k 5k 10k 20k 0 32 liEriliMPIAUM IMP 1111111•11111111Millill 50 100 200 500 lk 2k 5k 10k 20k Frequency (Hz) (d) Mission 700 (e) The Small Loudspeaker Fig. I. Impedance curves 20k unit with a paper cone reinforced with plastic doping, and a 19mm soft plastic domed tweeter. There is a simple three-component crossover and electrical connection is through standard 4mm sockets. A protective 'quick-blow' fuse is fitted, but we did not feel inclined to test it to destruct- ion. Unusually, the bass unit is mounted above rather than below the tweeter. This, according to the rather hectoring leaflet, is quite deliberate. With the speaker mounted on a shelf or stand so that the bass unit is on a line with the ears, the tweeter will be set back by about the correct amount to make the acoustic centres equidistant and so produce a linear phase result. We wonder: also the tweeters are offset to form a mirror-image pair which is slightly less precise than a vertically aligned format from the stereo imaging point of view. The enclosure is a bass reflex design, with a cylindrical port opening out on the front panel. The result is above average efficiency, with a certain brightness imparted by the lightly damped enclosure. (Reflex cabinets need less damping than the 'acoustic suspension' sealed box or infinite baffle types.) There seemed to be a slight ring or overhang effect in evidence on sharp transients which could prove tiring on sustained listening. The forward sound will please some ears (indeed we have seen this speaker rated as a "Best Buy") but the lack of true bass coupled with high presence was not to our taste. Dispersion was less than ideal in the vertical plane, with cancellation of treble at certain angles. The impedance curve (Fig. Id) shows that amplifier loading should be trouble-free. While our frequency response measurements confirmed a presence lift in the 5-8kHz region, there were few other bumps or dips. Against our stated reservations must be weighed the low price, smart appearance and decent sensitivity. All we would suggest is that you audition before buying, and that would be good advice for any loudspeaker transaction.

The Small Loudspeaker

Manufacturer: Radio Components Limited, Unit E2, Bridge Works Industrial Estate, Bridge Road, Hunton Bridge, near Watford, Herts.

D A DIO COMPONENTS LIMITED are the

UK distributors of SEAS loudspeaker drive units and they have recently taken to producing speakers using these drivers. The Small Loudspeaker has certainly been given a truly descriptive name, and we were amused to see that the brochure is exactly the same size as the front panel.

Despite its small dimensions, this is a reflex enclosure, with a small port opening at the top of the front panel. The internal volume is only 3.4 litres and yet, as our impedance graph shows (Fig. le), the typical reflex double hump suggests a The Small Loudspeaker useful downward extension of response. The cabinet is rigidly constructed from two layers of different density chipboard and is nicely veneered. The brown foam grille has cut-outs over the drive areas, and presses on to six Velcro fasteners. The tiny drive units comprise a 110mm bass unit and 19mm dome tweeter. Signal input is via recessed 4mm sockets. Sensitivity was naturally not a strong feature of this loudspeaker but, aided no doubt by the reflex design, it still produced enough acoustic power to suit domestic requirements. Its small size made shelf mounting both easy and sensible, with the bass to treble balance surprisingly lifelike. If extreme bass was thin, treble was pleasant and clear; not at all edgy. Presence and orchestral detail were very much liked and, although the effects of cabinet resonance were in evidence, there was no sense of fatigue on extended listen- ing. Consonants were slightly hardened on speech but white noise was smooth sounding and disper- sion extremely wide in the horizontal plane. Our plot of frequency response showed about the smoothest middle and top performance of any speakers in this batch, with good matching between the pair. The low price is attractive and we have no hesitation in giving The Small Loudspeaker a big recommendation. Conclusions Though we did not set out with the intention of comparing all these speakers directly against each other, we were inevitably left with some definite conclusions. First these five designs, all British, must be welcomed as being well constructed, nicely finished and offering good value for money. We are quite convinced that really miniature loudspeakers need no longer be dismissed as toys alongside more normal sized bookshelf designs. They must necessarily be less powerful and generally less efficient, but good design can still produce a very acceptable balance with low distortion.

These conclusions are reflected in the favourable things we have been able to say about the JR Metro and The Small Loudspeaker, particularly the latter. However, as if to contradict this, our best listening experience was with the Coles Nimbus, which is both the largest and the most expensive of the group under review. It seems that in the under £200 per pair category, as everywhere else, you pays your money and you takes your choice—letting your ears be the final judge. JOHN BORWICK and GEOFFREY HORN.

Mitsubishi MC-8000 music centre

Manufacturer: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Japan. UK distributor: Mitsubishi Electric (UK) Ltd., Otterspool Way, Watford, Herts WD2 8LD. Price £411.00.

MOST people's first reactions when they see the Mitsubishi MC-8000 vertical music centre are either disbelief or scepticism. Well I had my doubts too, but a couple of weeks of living with the machine and putting it through a full test programme have made me think again. You have to believe it, this music centre standing on edge really works surprisingly well. As for scepticism, it does have a gimmicky look, of course, but I can see that this format could prove very useful on a narrow shelf or where space is limited. Normal turntables with a swing-up dust cover often need a very deep shelf to accommodate them.

The trick, if you want to play records in the vertical, is to have a platter which is firmly fixed on to the centre spindle by means of a locking nut (spanner supplied). Then the record to be played is simply placed over the spindle and held in position by the spring-held disc clamper. After the first few discs, anyone will find this operation complete child's play. It could even be argued, I suppose, that less dust will fall on the record surface than usual. Where gravity does have a very positive part to play is in the pickup arm balancing. The unit employs a radial tracking arm, which we know has the advantage of zero tracking error and skating force. In this case, the arm is hanging straight down from its pivot, and so gravity acts to keep it in proper alignment, allowing the groove walls to produce the necessary Mitsubishi MC-8000 inward drive. The tracking force has been set by adjusting the (forward) setting of the counterweight above the pivot bearing—easy. Lateral balance can be assumed, as most cartridges have their centre of gravity at their physical centre, and this is plumb below the pivot.

Recognising that this one-piece music-centre will have its main market amongst non-dedicated users. Mitsubishi have made the turntable fully automatic and the beautiful way this worked quite won me over. With the record safely clamped on, and the dust cover folded down if preferred, one simply has to tap the Start button. Immediately the electronic switch sets the platter into rotation at the correct speed for the record in use (33irpm for a 30cm disc, 45rpm for an 18cm one). The arm lifts off its rest, motors smoothly over to the record, lowers gently into the run-in groove and starts to play. If a 25cm (10-inch) record is to be played—which will bamboozle the optical sensors beneath the platter mat to identify 30cm and 18cm discs by viewing a special light beam—you simply keep your finger on the Start button until the pickup has moved over to the grooves of the disc and then release it. A tap on the Lift/Cue button will cause the pickup to lower on to the disc. This is the procedure to be used also for starting a record at any desired point other than the beginning. Intriguingly, the arm moves quite quickly over to the record edge, and then slows down to help you to locate your cue more accurately. (If there is no record on the deck, the arm will refuse to set down.) In the same way, if you find you have overshot your chosen mark (there are two logging scales, one on the armclamp and one on the arm carriageway cover), you can press the Stop button to control backtracking at the same slow search speed.

At the end of a record, the arm lifts and returns speedily to its rest while the motor is switched off. Of course play can be discontinued at any time by a short tap on the Stop button, or interrupted temporarily using the Lift/Cue button. There is also a Repeat button to give repeated playing of a whole record side, until cancelled. Odd 30cm 45rpm records, or 18cm 331 rpm ones, can still be played by using the Speed Selector button to defeat the automatic sensor. And transparent records (if you have any) can be played by using one of the black discs provided to mask the light sensing prisms.

The cartridge fitted is the Audio-Technica AT71 with a recommended tracking force of 2 grams. I used a Correx gauge to check this, and it had arrived correctly set at 2g. Indeed, as the Table shows, this whole music centre performs close to its specification. Figure 1 shows the pickup frequency response and crosstalk, left channel, all the way through to the speaker outlets. It is not spectacularly flat, but more than adequate as music centres go, and it sounded good with no mistracking. The belt-drive motor, notwithstanding the novel vertical arrangement, displayed the kind of low values of both rumble and wow and flutter which would not disgrace a good quality 'transcription' turntable of a few years ago.

The receiver

Coverage of the standard VHF/FM, medium and long wavebands is included, though sensitivity is only about average and so an outside or loft aerial is recommended in unfavourable reception areas. There are terminals/sockets for both the 75 and 300 ohms types of FM aerial, and for AM. Selection of the three main sources— tuner, tape or phono—is by means of a threeposition key with illuminated diagrams showing the source in use. A separate switch replaces the tuner input with auxiliary when required. Manual tuning is straightforward, using the 220mm-long tuning scale. The pointer actually glows bright red at the optimum tuning setting for each received station, and there is a stereo beacon lamp and stereo/mono switch for FM. Six preset buttons allow quick selection of FM stations. These are pretuned by screwdriver presets at the side of the cabinet, aided by a frequency meter and that glowing pointer. A tiny screwdriver is even supplied, which can be stored in a special clip holder.

The volume control is the usual ganged type and it has a concentric balance lever with centre detent. Bass and treble controls give a sensible maximum of about 10dB boost and cut. My measured results are shown in Fig. 2 along with the overall frequency response using the auxiliary input. Power rating is a modest 20 watts per channel into 8 ohms and, though I found I could raise this to about 26 watts before visible or audible clipping occurred, this music centre is not the outfit to use to provide music in your local town hall. In domestic conditions, however, I found that volume was perfectly adequate so long as excessively inefficient loudspeakers were avoided. Distortion and inherent noise were low.

The cassette recorder

The built-in cassette deck is front-loading, well everything on this unusual music centre is frontloading! Metal tapes are catered for, along with the usual ferric ('Normal') and chrome or chrome equivalent ('Special'). The instruction folder lists about 40 tape brands with their recommended settings. I ran the BASF standard ferric and chrome calibrated test tapes and, again measuring at the loudspeaker outlets, obtained the respectable curves shown in Fig. 3. There is a fall-off at high frequencies, of course, but —6dB at around 14kHz and 16kHz for the two types is quite acceptable—and a better result with these European test tapes than I can get on many Far Eastern decks.

For all other tests I chose three grades of TDK tape which were mentioned first in the instruction sheet and certainly seemed to match this deck very well. The record/replay curves are shown in Fig. 4 and confirm that a smooth response can be obtained with each type. Dolby was switched off for this test, but the curves with Dolby on were very similar. Signal-to-noise ratio was 46/49dB unweighted, using metal tape, with Dolby off/on and wow and flutter measured 0.12% weighted. Interestingly, I found the distortion for a signal at 0 VU was only 0.9%. Therefore, since up to 3% on music peaks is a fairly usual cassette working standard, users could easily widen the available dynamic range by peaking up to, say, +5dB. I tried this during trial recordings and obtained sound quality which closely resembled the original, without serious distortion or compression. As might be expected, the ability to handle peaks on high frequency components in the music was better with chrome tape than ferric, and better still with metal.

Fig. 1 Pickup response and crosstalk

Fig. 2. Frequency response and tone controls 20 50 100 200 500 lk 2k 55 Ok 20k _L 5413

Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 3. Cassette playback response 1411111 Normal (TDK 001 111111PLMMIIIIIMIMMUS:

Special (MK SA-X)111.

161191411•111111111NME!"""1

AIIIIII Metal (TDK MA) 20 50 100 200 500 lk 2k 55 10k 20k

Frequency (Hz

Fig. 4. Record/replay response

SPECIFICATION AND TEST RESULTS MITSUBISHI MC-8000 MUSIC CENTRE

Operational controls were the common keytype for all running modes. I liked the feel of the Pause key particularly and the damped motion of the cassette compartment Eject control. In the recommended recording procedure, one first presses the Pause key then the Record key, holding the latter until the Play key lowers itself automatically, the Record indicator lights and one can use the twin VU meters to rehearse the correct setting of the recording level concentric controls. Then a tap on the Pause key starts the recording. As well as the usual 3-digit tape counter, there is an MPSS (Music Programme Selector System) to give automatic searching for the gap before the beginning of individual recorded items. To begin playing at the third item on a tape, for example, one taps the Set button three times, when a large figure '3' appears in the programme display panel: then the Fast Forward and Play keys are pressed simultaneously, the tape winds to item 3 and starts to play. Moving back a required number of items is similarly keyed and programmed by pressing the Rewind and Play keys simultaneously. I found that the system worked very well on prerecorded musicassettes, and there is a Record Mute button which can be used to ensure the necessary few seconds of silence before each item on one's own recordings.

Conclusions

The Mitsubishi MC-8000 music centre has a technical specification and operational facilities well suited to its most likely market, the first-time hi-fl buyer or ordinary music lover. Radio reception is good, without being specially sensitive, cassette performance is very good and operationally attractive, and the record player is well engineered with fully automatic operation. tion. The vertical format, which Mitsubishi have also adopted in their LT-5V belt-drive turntable (£199), introduces no handling difficulties and produces technically very acceptable results. Where the space saving is an important factor, and even where it isn't, this system at its very reasonable all-in price should find many satisfied customers. JOHN BORWICK.