Review: Mark Craven

There’s an easy way to understand the hierarchy of amps in the Hegel catalogue, be they pre, power or integrated. The higher the number, the ‘better’ the specification (you might think this would be the only way to go about it, but some rival companies – I’m looking at you, HiFi Rose – beg to differ). And so it is that the Norwegian manufacturer’s new H150 integrated, priced £2750, takes up a middle-of-the-range position, above the entry-level H95 [HFN Oct ’20], and below the H190v, H400 [HFN Oct ’24] and H600 [HFN Oct ’23].

In high-end hi-fi, it’s common to see the phrase ‘two-man lift’ applied to heavyweight loudspeakers, amplifiers and subwoofers. Yet the top-of-the-line InPoL Legacy from Italian manufacturer Pathos goes one (well, two) better. This integrated amplifier, priced £51,995, arrives in a purpose-built wooden crate on wheels, along with two metal ‘pull-up’ bars that slide underneath the chassis once the crate has been disassembled. It’s then a four-person job to lift the bars and manoeuvre this 140kg beast into position.

When we first saw MoFi Electronics’ SourcePoint 888 floorstander [HFN Jan ’25], its sheer size, at the £5599 price, raised an eyebrow. But designer Andrew Jones (ex-ELAC, TAD, KEF) hasn’t stopped there. Selling for £8800, the company’s new flagship takes the style and shape of the ’888 and scales it up, resulting in cabinets measuring 1239x394x505mm (hwd) and weighing 72.6kg.

With its latest integrated amplifier, German marque T+A says it is offering a ‘bold look to the future of audio’ as well as a nod to the company’s near 50-year past. And the Symphonia, yours for £7990 in silver or black finish, certainly has a styling that’s unusual, if not unique. The busy front fascia, with crisp monochrome OLED display and hand-built analogue VU meters, continues the kind of retro-modern aesthetic seen on other recent models from HiFi Rose [HFN Jul ’22] and Yamaha [HFN Jul ’23], plus T+A’s own series 200 separates [HFN May ’22 and Feb ’23].