All-In-One Systems

“A whole new thing”. That’s what a car magazine colleague called McLaren’s P1 hybrid hypercar when he experienced it for the first time. In fact, so frequently were his usual ‘supercar’ frames of reference being pulled out of shape or simply blown apart as he drove it round the Yas Marina Grand Prix circuit in Abu Dhabi, he couldn’t stop saying it (he was being filmed). It would make an apt strap line for Devialet, the Paris-based high-end audio brand.

In the round Elipson’s one-box Music Center MC1 is a striking piece of design. Ed Selley finds out if it has a well rounded sound to match its looks Our first introduction to the recently invigorated Elipson was via the remarkable looking Planet L speaker (HFC 350). Any manufacturer whose idea of a standmount speaker is a brightly coloured sphere the size of a bowling ball is unlikely to release its partnering electronics in an ordinary box and Elipson hasn’t disappointed us. The Music Center MC1 is, as the name suggests, an all-in-one system.

Billed as the ‘complete all-in-one super integrated amplifier’, Gold Note’s IS-1000 is an ambitious design to bridge the gap between a traditional standalone integrated amp and an all-in-one music system with network streaming in an almost imperceptible way. At its heart it’s an integrated amplifier with a Class A/B output section, claiming a healthy 2x 125W into 8ohm that doubles to 250W into 4ohm. The model reviewed here is priced at £3,820, but if your setup demands even greater power Gold Note offers a 2x 150W output version into 8ohm, taking the cost to £4,370. Connectivity is impressive and analogue sources are catered for via three inputs; one via XLR and two using RCA phonos.

Looking a little bit like a piece of furniture you might find back in a seventies living room housing a radiogram, JBL’s Authentics L16 is anything but old school. The design of this one-box audio systemis actually based on the company’s Century L100 bookshelf loudspeaker and utilises foam grilles similar to those found on the popular seventies model, giving the L16 a retro feel that is very much on trend today. Measuring over 800mm wide, the walnut-veneered unit is a thoroughly modern one-box audio system with more wireless connectivity options than you can shake a smartphone at, including AirPlay for iTunes and iOS, DLNA for Android and Windows devices and Bluetooth – although there’s no mention of the aptX codec. As well as extensive wireless options including Near Field Communication (NFC), the L16 also has two USB inputs beneath the removable top plate for charging devices – sadly wireless charging isn’t available on European models for Qi-compatible devices.

Marantz all-in-one blends modern features with more traditional functionality

The small system isn’t a new idea. Indeed, those outside the rarefied climes of separates hi-fi would probably regard it as the norm. After all, do we really need yards of pressed steel casework, acres of cables and multiple power plugs? For that reason alone, since the late seventies when Aurex sold its first microsystem, many folks wanting decent quality sound from a system taking up only a small space have eschewed traditional hi-fi. In the case of the new McIntosh, there’s an extra dimension – if you pardon the pun.

Myryad Mi - £1,295 Super user interface, neat packaging and great sound make this the star of the show The elder statesmen of the one-box system breed these days, the Myryad Mi has no way of connecting to a computer. It will, however, connect via its ‘M-Port’ to an iPod or iPhone Touch, which gives it some of the internet connectivity that some others lack. You can, for instance, use services like Spotify via an iPhone. It’s a mixed blessing; Apple products famously have a nice user interface, but you have to tie one up as a basic data-forwarding device when you could, with a fully Ethernet-enabled streamer, use that boring router box parked out of sight near your phone master socket.