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Ascendo Passive 7.2.4

System builders will love the cinematic sound of these on-wall models from Ascendo, says Mark Craven 1. The £ Passive 5 is Ascendo’s smallest on-wall speaker 2. Both the ‘5 and ‘6 can be bought in a white finish with grey (rather than black) fabric grille 3. Rear of the Passive 10 shows its keyhole fixings and VESA holes Speakers made for movies You might be familiar with the German audio…

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Neat Acoustics Mystique Classic

Mystique, c’est chic The last of Neat’s Classic trilogy has a more potted history than its siblings. EdSelley finds out if the Mystique is back for good. DETAILS FeatureSpecificationProductNeat Acoustics Mystique ClassicOriginUKType2-way floorstanding loudspeakerWeight10 kg eachDimensions (WxHxD)200 x 780 x 160 mmFeatures– Air Motion transformer tweeter– 134mm mid/bass driverClaimed…

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OePhi Transcendence 2

Out of this world David Vivian wonders if Danish brand OePhi’s Transcendence 2 standmount can possibly live up to the promise of its name DETAILS FeatureSpecificationProductOePhi Transcendence 2OriginDenmarkType2-way standmount loudspeakerWeight8 kg eachDimensions (WxHxD)185 x 350 x 300 mmFeatures– Aluminium dome tweeter with titanium voice coil former– 165mm Purifi mid/bass driverQuoted…

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Gershman Acoustics Grand Studio II Review

Upstairs downstairs Unusual, if not unique – does this Canadian company’s idea of stacking two speakers for each channel pay sonic dividends? Novel though it undoubtedly is, the idea of stacked speakers is nothing new. SME founder Alastair Robertson-Aikman was once famed for using double-decker Quad ELS57 electrostatics and the concept was even endorsed by the company which provided…

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WizTree 4.19 Review

WizTree has long been our favourite program for discovering which files and folders are taking up the most room on your hard drive, so you can delete them to free up storage. It’s impressively fast, free for personal use and makes it easy to identify space hogs using its colour-coded ‘tree map’. DRIVE SPACE ANALYSER https://diskanalyzer.com What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11 Previously,…

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Pro AV and home cinema collide

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, ISE is the show where AV gets very serious indeed. Steve May reports from a bustling Barcelona INTEGRATED SYSTEMS EUROPE, or ISE, celebrated its 20th anniversary in style this year, at its (relatively) new home of the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via. The exhibition, co-managed by the AVIXA and CEDIA trade bodies and offering a mix of professional AV,…

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Download free audiobooks and play them anywhere

Audiobooks can be expensive. They often cost as much as a hardback, even if they are a few years old. And because nowadays they are more often streamed and downloaded than sold on a CD, you can’t pick them up secondhand. Thankfully, there are many alternatives to buying an audiobook, as we explain here. Borrow an audiobook from your library Most public libraries let you borrow audiobooks using…

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American beauties

New speakers from the USA AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: WILSONAUDIO.COM ABSOLUTESOUNDS.COM UTAH’S WILSON AUDIO has just released a couple of new products. The Alida CSC multi-channel speaker is a wall-mount with a claimed frequency response reaching below 40Hz, which uses a 25mm Convergent Synergy Carbon (CSC) tweeter, custom in-house-built crossovers and a mounting bracket employing a…

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THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO… Coffee machines

While they might cost an arm and a leg, a bean-to-cup coffee machine is a huge step in the right direction if you’ve been on the hunt for that elusive perfect cup of coffee. Read our THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO… Coffee machines. —————–Words: Beth Girdler-Maslen Photography: Neil Godwin —————– In the current economic climate, many of us are looking to save some money, so your daily takeaway coffee is…

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HP Pavilion Plus 14 OLED Review

HP Pavilion Plus 14 OLED Sights and sounds There are several similarities between this and the Acer Swift Go 14, which we reviewed in Issue 677 and is our current favourite laptop (see page 30). They both have brilliant 14in screens OLED screens and powerful processors. However, the Pavilion Plus is cheaper to the tune of £ And there are reasons for this. Read our HP Pavilion Plus 14 OLED…

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French connections

New speaker range from across the channel AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: FOCAL.COM FRENCH BRAND FOCAL has refreshed its Aria series with the launch of Aria Evo X, a line of loudspeakers to follow the Aria 900 range. There are five new speakers: one compact bookshelf model (Aria Evo X N°1); three floorstanders (N°2, N°3, N°4) and a centre for home cinema setups (Aria Evo X Center). M people Features…

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Lenovo legion go vs rog ally vs CRKD nitro deck: Handheld consoles

Portable consoles have unlocked AAA-level gaming on the go. But which handheld comes out the best, hands down? Read our Lenovo legion go vs rog ally vs CRKD nitro deck. Words: Josh Russell, Rik Henderson, Sam Cross Photography: Phil Barker Once upon a time, AAA gaming was the preserve of living-room consoles and hulking PCs. No gamer worth their salt would buy a laptop for playing computer…

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How can I recover lost photos for free?

l’ve always hated how file-recovery programs claim to find lost photos, but then charge you to locate them. Is there software that actually does it all for free – with no sneaky hidden charges? Simon Lindsay There are several free photo-recovery tools, but our favourite is PhotoRec. It’s open-source, so is completely free with no hidden catches. It can recover all kinds of files (not only…

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PMC Prodigy 5 review

Special one Nick Tate auditions this interesting compact British floorstanding speaker that has nothing to do with fire starters… Read our PMC Prodigy 5 review. DETAILS FeatureSpecificationProductPMC Prodigy5OriginUKType2-way floorstanding loudspeakerWeight10 kg eachDimensions (WxHxD)165 x 905 x 237 mmFeatures– 27mm soft dome tweeter– 133mm mid/bass driverClaimed Sensitivity87.3dB/1W/1M (6…

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Is it safe to use Microsofts new PC Manager tool

Is it safe to use Microsoft’s new PC Manager tool? It aims to speed up your computer, but might actually make it slower. Read our Is it safe to use Microsofts new PC Manager tool. Microsoft’s PC Manager has finally launched. We first wrote about it in Issue 645, back in late 2022, after it arrived as a beta on Microsoft’s Chinese website. It looked promising – an official Microsoft tool to…

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Rega Aya Review

Concrete plays jungle The latest speaker from Rega isn’t simply all-new, it could be the template for future models too. Ed Selley listens in. Read our Rega Aya Review. DETAILS FeatureSpecificationProductRega AyaOriginUKType2.5-way floorstanding loudspeakerWeight14.1 kg eachDimensions (WxHxD)258 x 871 x 215 mmFeatures– 25mm ZRR soft dome tweeter– 127mm midrange driver– 178mm bass driverClaimed…

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Bowers and Wilkins 606 S3 Review

Gradual evolution The newest iteration of the 600 Series looks much the same as before, but Ed Selley finds small changes make a big difference. Read our Bowers and Wilkins 606 S3 Review. As a key player in Bowers & Wilkins’ range for the best part of 30 years, the brief for the 600 Series has been admirably simple. The speakers need to be able to take on the best that the competition has to…

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