Ebay, Nordost, Stax etc

Just put a few bits onto Ebay

The AR Legend record Player - really good condition ... all original packaging

A brand new ( or at least minimal use ) Nordost Blue Heaven 0.6m interconnect ( the old version )

Another minimal use .. again just a couple of hours..New type Nordost Red Dawn LF 1.5m interconnect

Also just in, a Stax SRM252II energiser ... mint condition with box


Have a look and put some bids on :-)

Memories 3

Some years ago I went to the Linn Products factory at Castle Milk in Glasgow for a two day course on product set up ... Had a great time there, amazing factory and the renowned 'Linn demonstrations' ...amplifier volume at threequarters ... stylus hits record ... 4 seconds of music .... stylus lifted manualy usually with accompanying 'brrrrrrt' ... process repeated ...change made to improve system and then same four seconds again ... this time with all the Linn staff dancing around the room! We had the 'why you shouldn't wear a digital watch' dem ... the 'only one set of speakers in the room' dem  etc. etc....all very interesting.

I was quite amazed to hear that, if they came across any old 'inferior' versions of their equipment they would quite often destroy it ... while I was there a fairly good condition pair of early 'chipboard cabinet' Isobariks were being modified with a sledgehammer .... I can see the logic of this as the Iso's develeloped a lot over the years and they wouldn't want prospective customers views to be blurred by inferior examples ... still thought it was a shame though.

Interestingly though we were told about a prototype model speaker which had been intended to fit between the Sara and the Kan ... this was basically a none Isobarik Sara ... it was referred to by the staff as the Linn Tin ... probably due to the sound it produced. The few examples that were made were not destroyed, but given to local restaurants and pubs to use... an early example of product placement I suppose .. and a few free meals for the guys at Linn

http:/www.cheshireaudio.co.uk

Memories 2

One of the most dedicated customers I've had, lived in a fairly large Bungalow .. and as his Hifi started to outgrow his listening room decided to redesign the house to accommodate it better ... I turned up after the 'modifications' to find that he had knocked down all the internal walls to create a huge room in the middle of the house and had created four small box rooms at the end of the house for the family to live in ... the only 'normal' room left was the kitchen. His system grew so large that even the new room started to struggle with it ... the last set up I saw there included four Krell reference Monoblock amplifiers which he had to switch on (very carefully) in sequence, leaving a gap of a minute or so for the mains to recover from the start up surge .. the lights of the house dimmed as each amp was switched on .. and if he rushed things the main circuit breaker would trip!!... Strangely considering his obsessive love of Hifi, he only had three LPs ... A madonna album, a Chinese Pop album and a BBC sound effects record!

Memories

I was speaking to an ex collegue recently and started to realise what an accumilation of memories we had between us, funny or otherwise ... Hifi tends to attract the eccentrics (including myself) sometimes the obsessive lengths that people will go to in pursuit of better sound is quite astonishing... I remember a chap in Liverpool who had one side of his Naim NAC12 preamp balanced on matchboxes because it sounded better sitting at 45 degrees .. another ( in Liverpool again strangely)... who experimented with all sorts materials underneath a huge pair of Infinity Kappa 9 speakers ... and settled in the end on 4 inch thick foam squares ... he underestimated the stability issues somewhat and I got a frantic phonecall one morning to say that one of the speakers had fallen in the night and smashed his fireplace!

Slightly more dangerous .. my collegue had a customer who could no longer accomodate a pair of Quad Electrostatics ... and came in a picked up a pair of conventional Monitor Audios to replace them. Later in the day he got a phone call to say that the guy thought his amplifier had gone faulty as it wouldn't switch on ....When he went round he was a little disturbed to see rather a lot of cables around the back of the speakers .. and after having a closer look found that the guy had connected the speaker cable correctly to the amplifier .. but also cut the IEC plug off the old Quad mains leads and connected them as well ( to the mains!!!) the resulting jolt had blown all the drive units in the new speakers .. including the crossovers and also taken out the amp! ... which is why we generally prefer to install equipment ourselves! ..

I might have a think and come up with some more of these ... however old it makes me feel

http://www.cheshireaudio.co.uk/

Transfiguration Cartridges

I may have a new favourite range of cartridges ... up to now I have swayed between the high end Lyras and the mid to high end Ortofon series ( Ortofon are often overlooked due to their more 'mass market' range... but there are some real gems further up the catalogue)

I came across Transfiguration a number of years ago ... probably 20 when I think about it ...!. At the time I heard them mainly used on slightly obscure combinations such as Oracle Delphis or Sondek/Zeta, so it was quite difficult to make a true evaluation. Something special was obviously going on. There didnt seem to be any of the thickness of sound presented by lower end Koetsus or the unrelenting top end of Kisekis and MC5000s .. just a naturalness and presence that made you want to sift more deeply into your record collection.

After disappearing from the markerplace in the UK for a number of years they have again got distribution here ... and by all accounts are doing extremely well!

I've had chance now to properly play with a couple of models and I must say, the memory from all those years ago was correct....clear and natural, with an extended but unflustered top end, rhythm and weight without bloom...excellent!

Best of all, all models are pretty much available of the shelf .. no more 12+ week waits for a Lyra

We will also part exchange your old Moving Coil if it's in good working order!

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

Nordost Speaker cables

We have for some time offered bespoke termination of speaker cables. I think we may be fairly unique in offering this with Nordost cable. Most dealers shy away from the fiddly nature of the coating, but we have been reterminating their cable for years ... even in the early days when Nordost was sold in the UK with a Chord badge.

We can offer configuration changes ... e.g. Biwire to single wire ... or shortening and retermination using Nordost 'Z' plugs. Recently we have been asked to reterminate using upgraded plugs such as WBT and had some really good results.

Give us a call for a quote ... if you are shortening a longer length we may even buy the excess from you.

email here

http://www.cheshireaudio.co.uk/

End of line and secondhand stock

Just been having a sift through our stock, we have a small number of bits that could be sold off to make space for new stock:

1. Nordost Valhalla Speaker cable 2x2m Shotgun singlewire config w/spades ( secondhand ) - £2500 (was £6300)

2. Acoustic Research Legend / Linn Basik / Basik turntable - classic design, superb (secondhand) - £200

3. Isol-8 Minisub2 Mains Filter (new) - £450 (was £595)

4. Nordost Red Dawn LF 1.5m RCA interconnect (demonstration model) - £349 (was £395)

5. Isol-8 VMC1080 video filter (new) £149 (was £169)

6. Stax SR507 headphones ( need Energiser to work) ( demonstration model ) - £675 ( was £745)

Email if you want more information

link to Shop