Vintage

When enthusiasts see a product from Crown it's perhaps natural to assume it has come from the American amplifier manufacturer of that same name. Yet this compact CD player from 1987, launched to bring the cost of portable players down to a more affordable level, bears the branding of another company called Crown – the Crown Radio Corporation of Japan.

The appearance of portable CD players in the mid 1980s presented buyers with something of a dilemma. Should they purchase a full-width model or one of the mobile machines, almost all of which could easily be connected to a full-sized system? A portable would be more versatile, but a large player would be expected to offer more facilities and better sound quality.

When Toshiba unveiled its lineup of new CD players in 1986 it was clear the format had come of age. Just three years after the first machines were launched onto the European market they'd gone from being exotic and expensive to something so accessible there was little point in any keen listener not owning one.

It certainly says something about the enduring appeal of a turntable when the company that made it buys up examples that are over 40 years old and sells them on to a new generation of buyers. It sounds remarkable, but this is precisely what Bang & Olufsen did recently with its 'Recreated Limited Edition' Beogram 4000c. Although offered as a revival of the Beogram 4000 [HFN Jul '14], it was actually the later Beogram 4002 that formed the basis of the project.

Hands up those who have seen a Bryan amplifier before, let alone heard one. Me neither – until I unpacked the Mark III Model 500/700 pairing seen here. The first 500 arrived when higher-power transistors were beginning to be used in quality audio, yet while the technology became universal, British brand Bryan sank without trace.

Almost all audio enthusiasts will know Goodmans for its range of loudspeakers. However, the company's other hi-fi products are less well remembered, despite the fact that more than one or two achieved considerable popularity among buyers.

How much power does your present amplifier produce? Expectations have risen over the years to the point that wattages in the three-figure range are no longer exceptional. But is this necessary? The Philips AG9016 seen here is rated at 2W per channel – not even sufficient to satisfy the fairly lax requirements of the DIN 45 500 'hi-fi' standard, which requires six watts.