Technics 1200 turntables

Just had a couple of Technics 1200 mk2s in for repair ... new arm assembly on one, both need a rewire ... plus both need new cueing lights. Not difficult, but very time consuming

The 1200 has always been looked down on in Audiophile circles, which is a shame as they are actually quite decent sounding decks. They are designed with a totally different set of criteria ... rapid start up, resistance to knocks etc .. all things that are pretty irrelevent for a great sounding turntable. But even so they manage to sound quite punchy.

Technics 1200

Picture shows first deck on the Linn Jig ready for disassembley.... a couple of mm too wide hence the adapter board underneath

Guru Speakers

We've been watching Guru for a while ... very interesting designs, a little remeniscent of 80's Royd speakers in sound (which is a massive compliment)



A few days ago we were approached by Guru and given a pair of Guru Juniors to play with

Review to follow

Rega 'upgrade' drive belt

If you have a Rega turntable and it's due a new belt ( 5 years is about as long as they work to spec) for a little extra you can upgrade to the higher performance 'Upgrade belt'. These used to be called the 'white' belt, but an early life improvement in spec, due to a change of manufacturer, resulted in more of a cream colour... which hasnt quite got the same ring to it.

Suitable for all Rega turntables ( except one version of the Planar 78....and according to Rega the original, and very rare 'Planet', though I'm not certain why this wouldn't work as it takes the same standard belt as the other models)

The sound improvement is quite obvious, more dynamic and musical and well worth the £21 price (only £9 more than the standard)

click here to see Rega Turntables and spares

Rothwell Attenuators

We now have the 'Source' versions of the Rothwell In-Line attenuators in stock

Until now these were only suitable for connecting into the amplifier end when used between source and amplifier .... which limited their use with certain amplifiers, such as Naim. The 'Source' version has the correct directional alignment to be connected at the CD end

Rothwell

Dont forget, the attenuators are not just for systems with too much gain, they can enhance the sound of any system, by allowing the preamp to work further up its range (where it is more accurate)

Buy a set here ..... send them back if they they dont work for you

http://www.cheshireaudio.co.uk/acatalog/Easy_Tweeks.html

Nordost Norse Bi-Wire Jumpers

This is a nice little upgrade

A few years ago there was a trend towards Bi-Wiring speakers ... the theory was that a bass driver will put a certain amount of EMF back into the crossover and this signal could get into the treble element and blur the sound. Separating the crossover into bass and treble with independant inputs and running a cable to each was the solution. This did work quite well with lower end designs, but with higher end systems with better designed crossovers and amplifiers with more bass control, Bi-wiring could actually sound worse. As is the way with trends though, manufacturers felt obliged to offer biwirings twin sockets on their speakers.

Most Biwirable speaker use 'Bus bars' to link the treble and bass inputs when being used with a single cable

These look very substantial, but are not actually particularly good conductors.

Swapping these for short bits speaker cable does improve things, but this can be very fiddly and hard to get a good connection.

The solution is to buy a dedicated high quality link like Nordosts Norse Jumper Link. Quite expensive for a short bit of cable, but they do make quite a noticable improvement which is more than worth the money

We have a loan set if you want to give some a go ..... ring to book a set on 01270 580734

Link to Nordost cables page

Grado Prestige cartridges

Grado have been around for a long time. I remember when I started in Hifi, one of the favoured budget cartidges at the time was the Grado GT Super. Compared to its peers (A&R C77 and the Nagaoka MP11) The Grado was punchy, yet refined too, which at the price was quite remarkable.

Over the years Grado slipped off the radar, I came across them again when I took on Grado headphones a few years ago .... they were on the listing so I added them to the site. They didn't seem to have changed much, the same body design, with Grado's unusual stylus fitting, I must admit I dismissed them as old fashioned and overpriced.

This week though I have had chance to revisit the range ... I have traded in two fairly new Grados. A Prestige Blue and  Prestige Gold ... I always run trade ins for a couple of days to check them out and I must say I was quite bowled over with how good the two models were. The Blue is very natural and open, with a tuneful bass. The Gold was the real star though, very dynamic with a superb extended bass and detailed and refined top end ... I tried a few of my awkward recordings but the Gold never sounded flustered .... and this is a £160 Magnet ... I'm tempted to leave it where it is for a bit

See the range here :

http://www.cheshireaudio.co.uk/acatalog/Grado.html

Synergistic Quantum fuses

Coming soon!!

We have just ordered a batch of Synergistic Quantum fuses to try....

After the demise of Furutechs range of mains fuses we need something to fill the gap left by the popular T13a

A test report will appear here shortly

WBT silver solder

For any project, good quality solder is a must .... the very best available is WBT silver solder. Available in reels as small as 42g, the difference in connection quality is quite audible on cable terminations and interconnects. If you are building your own amp the improvements would be quite  dramatic.

WBT silver solder
 

see it here

http://www.cheshireaudio.co.uk/acatalog/WBT_Solder.html

Nordost cables - Price rise

Nordost have announced a price of around 5% across the range. This takes effect as of the 1st March 2013 ... which has already passed

We will need around 2 weeks to update our pricelists and upload them to the site, so any orders before this time will be at the old price.

So be quick!

Nordost Purple Flare .... 5% more expensive - very soon

 

http://www.cheshireaudio.co.uk/acatalog/Nordost2.html