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Hi Fi world

Yank said:
So will World Audio Design be going too?
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I believe it was sold off long ago when the mag pulled out of DIY.

Sad news about the mag, my wife bought me a subscription for Xmas. I had recently returned to the fold after getting fed up with the subjective only approach elsewhere. I first started reading it back in the 90s. It does seem to have had a rotating door of staff and definitely lost its heart when DP and AS moved on. It was the last magazine still doing measurements on reasonably affordable gear, the others aren't now interested in anything below £5k.

It's thanks to HFW that I have a 301 and it was probably the first magazine to recognise that some older equipment still had merit.

According to companies house Noel is 74 so retirement must beckon.
 
davidsrsb said:
Sadly HFW is/was the only UK magazine actually measuring equipment
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Forgetting Hi-Fi News here?

chartz said:
due to outrageous taxes on imports. As I said, €9 each issue in France,
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So far we have escaped this absurdity in Belgium, so my HFN subscription is still reasonably affordable. But for how long?

I also have digital subscriptions to Stereophile and TAS, very very cheap. But I never read them ... prefer the paper.
 
Fuller said:
Pretty sure the first edition of HiFi World came out in February 1991 after the demise of HiFi Review at the end of 1990.
I had that first copy and it came with a free cd if I recall.
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I found a pic of the first edition of HiFi World on their own website, and it came out in March 1991, sure it was launched at the Bristol HiFi Show in the February and cost £2.00
The free CD was "Special Delivery" and was music from Topic Records, mainly folk artists from around that time including Richard Thompson, Rory Block, Clive Gregson & Christine Coliister amongst others.
I've just dug it out and I'll give it a spin soon, first time for many a year!
The Mary Black sampler, which I also have, was free with the April 1992 edition, I found that info on Discogs.
I bought all the Mary Black albums up to that point after hearing the sampler, including two of her early ones on vinyl which sound fab.
My favourite CD of hers is Babes in the Wood.
So HiFi World lasted nearly 32 years, not a bad effort.
Alan Sircom and another young chap I remember speaking to at one of the shows were early writers for the mag if I recall?
 
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davidsrsb said:
The cover date is a compromise because of international distribution. The August issue only appeared yesterday in KL and that is earlier than usual.
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Yes, I know about the 'optimistic' cover dates. But when I posted I thought I was starting a new thread. ... only today to realise it must have had the same name as an existing one I'd missed.

Shame if the mag has gone. I find reading online mags a PITA and it is hard to archive them for years. I liked HFW because it had a wider remit than HFN and covered more lower-cost items, etc. But did keep being irritated by Noel's presistent comments about LPCM that would mislead readers. Hope something like it can re-appear in print.
 
I first came across HHW after Hifi Review folded and I bought/subscribed to every copy since. I liked that Noel came from an engineering background and could explain the tech side in accessible way. It did start to go downhill a it after Dave Price and others left but I found it was an enjoyable read compared to other mags.
 
Haven't read it regularly for years, but in its heyday it was a very decent magazine, especially in its championing of vintage equipment.
 
Accuphaseman said:
I still have every issue and supplement since it started. I’m not surprised it’s finished. The reviews were just getting boring. Who wants to read about cheap Bluetooth speakers. The review a couple issues ago about the £130 lenco turntable that only got 2 globes and was spread over 3 pages was a real low point.
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People complain that magazines only publish reviews of ‘good’ kit and never print anything about poorly performing stuff. Here’s the reason why: nobody wants to read it.
 
Shame as this was a mag I really enjoyed and bought regularly in the 90's, I am sure I even had a subscription at one point.
The 00's and most of 10's I was just surviving in life so Hi-Fi was not a priority,

The mags sadly disappeared during a house move but I still have at least thirty of the pull out DIY section and the free CD's; The Special Delivery and Mary Black are still played often.
I investigated and purchased a lot of the music from their reviews and music used within equipment reviews.
The dipole active sub for the ESL 63 was so tempting from the first issue If I remember and the review of the Exposure V Active Crossover and system was the impetus for me to go active with my SBL's.

Great days, Great memories.
 
I purchased my first copy a bit off Trafalgar Square while visiting London with my sister (she starting studies and needing lots of English text books, where better to buy them than in Englishland?)

It was the issue with the Naim CDI and Sircom's review of the Pink Anni.
 
Seems a shame but no one seems interested in Mags or Books these days. Friend recently died and had to give hundreds of Paperback Novels and hundreds of pounds worth of Hardback Reference books to Charity Shops. Like wise have been trying to give away near a 100 copies of Hi Fi News and over a 100 Hi Fi + for over a year and absolutely no interest.
Only kept the ones with reviews of my own equipment to assure me I'm not cloth eared:) Tried gifting them to Local Dealers to pass to customers, again, thanks but no thanks. All gifted to me and only read for the laugh at the Ludicrous prices but loathe to skip them all. Then the wife subscribes to the Sunday Times.lol, talk about wasting money!
 
theadmans said:
Was Hi-Fi Answers related to Hi-Fi World?

Seem to remember the mags bore a similarity.
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The magazine you are thinking is Hi-Fi Review. Noel Keywood did technical features and reviews in the magazine. Hi-Fi Review went bust & Noel started a new mag Hi-Fi World
Hi-Fi World used a number of staff & printers from HF-Fi Review.
 
clivem2 said:
Mostly what was involved in building valve amp kits, speakers….stuff that was in line with DIY supplement. Even a write up of a trip to Akihabara.
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Sadly Akihabara has significantly changed. It’s now all plastic figurines. I also went down to see Noguchi Transformer (in 2019) and saw the shops in the basement being packed up :(

What also struck me is the sale of fun varieties of mobile phones designs are now gone, and now the same as anywhere else.

Andrew
 
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