Onkyo TX-8150

David Price looks back to a simpler time as he auditions Onkyo’s ultra-modern take on the classic stereo receiver, the TX-8150

Ah yes, the stereo receiver, how quaint! The last time the breed was really fashionable, many of us were wearing flared trousers and dreaming of buying our first Ford Capri. Once upon a time, receivers sold like hot cakes from dealers’ showrooms. Audiophiles generally regarded them with derision because some were pretty poor, but others were simply the same circuitry used in a company’s high-quality separates, put into a single, neater-looking package. Beyond the rarefied world of seventies hi-fi magazine reviewers, they had really wide appeal.

Tannoy Mercury 7.2

David Price auditions the latest in a long line of extra terrestrial Tannoys, the Mercury 7.2 stand-mounting speaker

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Britain’s most long-established speaker company launched a range of affordable, high-performance boxes called the Planet Series. This proved a big hit in the early eighties, especially the entry-level Tannoy Mercury, which offered an unexpectedly big sound from a medium-sized box. Despite its low cost and modest construction, it had an uncanny ability to get to the heart of the music – I should know, I owned a pair.

Ming Da Dynasty Duet 300 Plus

Chris Ward samples the latest integrated valve amplifier offering from Ming Da and discovers a sweet and dynamic sound

Ming Da has been producing valve amplifiers for over 22 years and is gaining fans worldwide. Furthermore as with this example here, after the amp’s arrival in the UK, Malvern Audio Research upgrades key internal components, swaps in higher quality valves and adds a three year warranty. Taken altogether, this China/UK partnership feels highly compelling and without compromise.

Scan 3XS LG15 Vengeance G-Sync

Scan’s LG15 Vengeance is presented in a big, Clevo-manufactured chassis. The main external surfaces (excluding the plastic underside) are metal, and resting on this material is comfortable, although it also smudges easily and the edges are a little sharp. This laptop is also both the heaviest and thickest machine on test, although it’s still a far cry away from standard, beefier gaming laptops.

PC Specialist Defiance II

The Defiance II is the joint least expensive laptop on test, but in this case you get a GTX 970M, whereas the Cyberpower only has a GTX 960M. While the Cyberpower has a fast NVMe SSD, though, PC Specialist’s SSD only supports SATA 6Gbps. However, you get almost double the capacity (240GB vs 128GB), with both laptops also having a 1TB hard drive. At this price, PC Specialist’s approach makes more sense – it will be hard to tell the two machines’ speed apart in most 2D tasks, but the 128GB of storage in the Cyberpower will quickly limit you once a few games are installed.