the little audio company

04/06/2026

Pre-order the new, improved Acoustic Energy AE1 Active loudspeakers at the little audio store, or hear them at our Solihull showroom.

29/05/2026

The new album has been on repeat all day today, and of course, I had to order all the formats! Been a little busy today though, so much of what I've heard has been background music rather than a serious sit down and listen.

Mixed views initially, as the whole album structure is a little different than usual (more "normal"), and while I've been wishing for decades that their music was a little cleaner sounding to be able to use at shows, now that this has happened with Inferno, I'm sort of wishing it was more like their previous albums in this respect!

One thing that struck me though - I would love to hear any of Boards Of Canada's albums remixed for Atmos - I think they're perfect for a multi-channel experience.

23/05/2026

Messing about yesterday deciding what to do with this space small in the showroom. It was previously just shelving, but decided to move the shelving behind this pic, creating a very small listening space - about 2m x 2m. Auditioning a system in a space that in no way reflects your own will tell you nothing. So we thought we'd provide a listening area to prove the speakers we offer really do work well in tight spaces. And you won't get much smaller than this! Smallest listening space on offer in the U.K.?

The Kallax unit was handy and just used for testing, and will be replaced with something more suitable so that small floorstanders can be used as well. The exercise did prove one thing, which was something I experienced almost 35 years ago at the first audio retailer I worked at, and is something I've always argued against naysayers on forums over the years, who will tell you it's pointless spending any decent money on a system in an acoustically challenged space. Sure, there will always be unavoidable bass issues, but the quality difference on offer from the better loudspeakers, and their ability to deal with the room is a different ball game. The budget speakers performed very well, but couldn't match the depth of bass on offer from the Amphions.

We will have more speaker options ideal for this type of space available very soon - stay tuned!

18/05/2026

05/05/2026

03/05/2026

Review of the AVID RELVEO turntable - available for audition at the little audio company

03/05/2026

The first review of the new Amphion Argon 3X stand mount loudspeakers. A room friendly design now improved with the X HF unit and updated crossover.

The Argon3X is the new replacement for the popular Argon3S from Finnish speaker experts Amphion. Does this stand-mount have the same star quality as its predecessor? Steve Dickinson thinks so.

23/04/2026

We have a bargain for anyone looking for a high quality 5.0 system in a gloss white finish. The system comprises of a pair of Rubikore 6 floorstanders, a pair of Rubikore On-Wall speakers, and a Rubikore Cinema centre speaker. The package price would be £8900 - we are offering this for £4500 delivered!

No splitting, unless someone wants the Rubikore 6s and the Cinema centre speaker for £3800 (still saving £2500).

These are all in excellent condition (a few minor hairline marks here and there, as with any gloss finish product) and come complete with their grilles, original boxes, and packaging, so can be shipped.

23/04/2026

The long anticipated announcement of new music from Boards Of Canada broke this week (finally!), much to the delight of fans everywhere. This will be their 5th album in 28 years, and is especially exciting for an audiophile/musicphile like myself.

Why?

It's not the sort of music you'd use to show off a good hi-fi system's capabilities at an audio show, as BoC's music is far from pristinely recorded and produced. But what sounds on first listen like fairly simple, repetitive music, presents itself as very densely layered on repeated listening, revealing more and more information over time. You almost hear something new every time you listen to it. A good hi-fi system is key to fully enjoying BoC's hazy, wavering, almost dreamlike electronic music. And there's a huge rabbit-hole waiting for you if you want to delve into the meaning behind each album or track, and the manipulated samples you hear during some of them. In this respect, they're probably the most interesting alternative artist to appear since Art Of Noise.

I'll also add that their music is quite a different experience on vinyl and digital - hence, I've ordered both... :)

If you've never experienced Boards Of Canada, start at the beginning - Music Has The Right To Children, which was released this month 28 years ago. This is one of my all time favourite albums, with one of the tracks a regular play by the late John Peel.

08/04/2026

As fresh as the day it was released 30 years ago…

30 years ago today, Moseley Shoals hit the record store shelves 💥