ANALYSIS: RETRO REVIVAL Home Entertainment
Philips Moving Sound The Ringo Duo on-ear wireless headphones.
Left: Philips MS60 “The Roller” portable speaker from the Moving Sound retro range.
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Bring heritage into home cinema Another brand high on heritage is Wharfedale. Its Heritage Series has been a consistent performer, and the long awaited introduction of the Heritage Centre speaker, with a ticket of £649, addresses a longstanding omission in the range. Designed to partner Linton and Denton models, it finally allows buyers to finally put together a coherent multi-channel system, without compromising tonal consistency. Peter Comeau, Director of Acoustic Design, confirms that the project was driven by customer demand: “The Heritage Series was originally conceived purely for the enjoyment of stereo music, but the speakers’ richly expressive sonic qualities lend themselves perfectly to other forms of AV entertainment.” The centre’s three-way design incorporates a 50mm fabric dome midrange driver for vocal clarity, a 25mm tweeter with damped rear chamber, and dual 165mm Kevlar bass drivers. The cabinet construction, combining MDF and particle board with damping layers and internal bracing, is pure Wharfedale precision.
The addition of a matching centre channel simplifies system design, particularly in heritage- themed interiors where visual consistency is as important as performance. Now if only we can convince Wharfedale to offer an upfiring Dolby Atmos speaker module as well!
Wild boys
At the other end of the spectrum, cassette specialist We Are Rewind continues to capitalise on renewed interest in physical media. Its WE-
001 portable player is now available as a Duran Duran Special Edition, and comes with a new cassette edition of the band’s tenth studio album, Pop Trash. “When Pop Trash was originally released, the internet was in its infancy and streaming really wasn’t a thing. Who knew that 25 years later, a cassette player would be a fitting way to celebrate its anniversary?” says Andrew Day, Duran Duran creative art director, designer and photographer. “The team at We Are Rewind bent over backwards to make sure this wonderful collaboration with the band was a truly fitting one. The result is something that’s a lot more ‘Pop’, and a lot less ‘Trash’.” The WE-001doesn’t just play tapes. It can make its own analogue recordings, via the mic input or a 3.5mm line source, and support Bluetooth headphone connectivity. A built-in lithium battery delivers up to 12
hours of playback, so no AA batteries are required.
The player itself has an impressive aluminum alloy casing, with a sparkly finish. It’s a great impulse/gift buy at £149. So what’s our big design takeaway? For one thing, the past, it seems, is not being revisited for its own sake. It’s increasingly being reworked, refined and repurposed. Most importantly, it’s doing this in a way that resonates on the shop floor. Shoppers are buying into it. Retro, it seems, isn’t yesterday’s news.
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