thanks for heads-up re rankin’s time at hi-fi review - i enjoyed the magazine and remember reading some of rankin’s reviews - and yes it did lead to an lp12 - which i still have and after a sevice / minor upgrades still going strong 40 odd years later.
James - interesting article, thanks for that! Hi-Fi Review and then Audiophile magazine were my favourites back in the day so this was a nice trip down memory lane.
I used to work alongside Ian for a while in the early 1990s when he was assistant editor to Malcolm Steward on Hi-Fi Review and I can confirm he’s a really nice guy.
Back in the day, Chris Frankland’s “The Flat response” magazine had morphed into “Hi-Fi Review” and I used to shoot the front covers. Malcolm was the editor and Ian his assistant. As a long term mate of Malcolm’s and fellow Linn/Naim nut, I was asked to shoot the covers and worked alongside Ian, who was a big Linn Kan fan.
I remember the evening at an industry awards do in London’s Park Lane, Ian telling me he was going to leave the magazine and become a writer…didn’t he do well.