Bristol Hifi Show 2016

Bristol was reassuringly busy this year and there was a very promising vinyl presence too. A few years ago virtually every room was taken up with Home Cinema, which now seems very much in the minority (one room in fact)

There was certainly a bit of a Star Wars theme going on ... our friend Dennis from Atacama/Nordost was dressed in a full Storm Trouper outfit ... unfortunately we didn't manage to get a photo.

 Star of the show for us was the new version of the Rega 3 ... Rega have reverted back to the original Planar 3 name, which is a great idea. The new deck is a real thing of beauty, high gloss finish and an upgraded RB303 arm.

In the Wilson Benesch room we found Nigel Crump, importer of Stax, Lyra, Kiseki .. and many others. And were introduced to Peter Madnik, the designer of a new range Nigel is bringing into the UK called 'Audio Alchemy'. You may remember this ground breaking brand from the late 1980s. Well the 21st Century incarnations look very interesting  .. so watch this space.

We were hoping to get to speak to Max on his very busy stand ... but every time we passed there seemed to be a queue :-) But then Townshend do have some fascinating products.

No a great photo. REL were demonstrating the benefits of adding twin subs to a stereo system. Now this can work extremely well .. or extremely badly depending on the system and room, but if you do get it right subs can add a level of coherence to music that just isn't attainable from a conventional speaker. I think REL were a little unlucky with their room acoustics. The Harbeths they were using in the with /without dem were already overwhelming the room with bass .. so the the subtleties were a bit lost.

 An absolutely vast pair of Mono Blocks in the Icon room

Quite a nice sound in the PMC / Bryston room ... though not brands I'm generally that into really

Other highlights : Sound Fowndations demonstrating the DS Audio cartridge which uses an optical system instead of magnets. It sounded very good indeed ... even with Chris Green from SF dancing in the corner. Ophidian speakers ... tiny, but room filling sound. We may need to look into these further.

And finally, one of the best sounds at the show .. Our friend Dave Sprake from DSE demonstrating a Rega CD and Amp with a £300 pair of Tannoy speakers and  around £20000 of cables and accessories ... which may have been a mad thing to do ... but proved a point

Until next year ...

New Product - Project VC-S Record Cleaning Machine

Project VC-S Record Cleaning Machine

Exciting news from Project, a fully featured Record Cleaning Machine for under £300.

Dust and dirt are common problems with vinyl playback as the stylus tries to navigate through the grooves coming across debris causing undesired noise and potential groove and stylus damage.

The VC-S by Pro-Ject is the most effective and efficient way of keeping your records clean without breaking the bank. Designed to penetrate deep dirt within your records, the VC-S uses a double strategy of cleaning fluid to loosen the dirt along with a dual brush and vacuum combo to remove the dirt and dry the record simultaneously.

The included record clamp keeps the record label dry while holding the record in place during the cleaning process and easily screws on and off for quick record change over.

The VC-S Package includes the VC-S System, Record Clamp, Goat-Hair Brush and Wash-IT fluid.


Link to Project VC-S

For more information, call us on 01270 580734

Naim Audio Hi-Line for sale

We have just put a Naim Hi-Line interconnect onto EBay

See the listing here 

Link to Ebay

Stax SR-L700 customer review

The overwhelming level of interest in the new Stax models took, even us, quite by surprise. We ordered probably twice the number we thought we needed ... but before they arrived, every one had sold ... not only that but the entire UK allocation from Stax had gone too.

Stax SR-L700

We are expecting another batch soon, but here is an evaluation from a good customer (a bit of a Stax collector) against his pair of Stax SR507

" Hi,Philip:

   I am well impressed by the L700's! Even against the 507's,the clarity,delicacy,and bass response are outstanding and make one wonder about the sound of the 009's. Lottery win notwithstanding, even at their present price, the 700's are something of a bargain,IMHO,                                                                                                                                                           John"

We could tell that the new range were going to be something special, we even got a phone call from Nigel whose company Symmetry have been the UK importer of Stax for as long as we can remember, saying : 

"The new 700s are the best Lambda by a huge margin, astonishingly good"

To see the range, go to : http://www.cheshireaudio.co.uk/acatalog/Stax-.html

On the Jig today - Elite (Townshend) Rock and Excaliber

We've got a bit of a classic on the Jig at the moment, also one of our all time favourite record players too. This particular Rock came in to be recommissioned after a long period of storage. Even though it's easily 35 years old, all the parts and service items are still available.

The Rock was very innovative in it's day, most of it's competition were complex sprung designs which relied on isolating the record and stylus from medium to high frequency vibration. The Rock on the other hand addressed the issue of low frequency vibration by use of heavy inert materials and clever damping. The 'Trough' that can be seen in the picture was filled with silicone fluid and very effectively controlled resonance from the cartridge which normally would travel down the tonearm and reflect back, causing noise.

The sound of all the versions of the 'Rock' is extremely solid and stable (as the name suggests) the bass quality is quite uncanny and would be quite unattainable on any of the sprung subchassis alternatives.

We can supply Townshend Rock parts and accessories, give us a call if you are interested. They will be added to the website shortly

Call us on 01270 580734

www.cheshireaudio.co.uk

Atlas Analogue Terminators - review

We are always on the look out for effective accessories that will improve sound quality, preferably for not a lot of money. Atlas Terminators are quite new, though the idea has been around for a while, we had actually dismissed the whole principle as a being a bit far fetched. Yes, possibly an unused input may be susceptible to RF ... but surely not enough to effect the sound ... and how can this be eliminated by use of a plug?. Well hearing that Atlas had added just such a product to it's portfolio made us sit up and take notice. Atlas are a company run by proper enthusiasts ... if they think it's worth investing in, then be assured, it's going to be good!

Atlas Terminators come in two types, for analogue input and digital output. We ordered an analogue set to try.

The Analogue set includes four terminators, which are, as with all Atlas products, nicely packaged and beautifully made.

Connecting up couldn't be simpler .. though care needs to be taken not to plug the terminators into an output as damage may be done, so be sure you know which is which, as some amplifiers can have a tape output nestling amongst their inputs.

With our usual lack of foresight we didn't quite have enough terminators to plug into all our inputs .. but went ahead anyway. The pre amplifier used in the testing was a Tom Evans 'Vibe Plus' and using a Naim 555CD and Michel Orbe/SME IV/Lyra Skala as sources.

Normally when we do a testing session like this, products are swapped in and out a few times before we start to zero in on where the improvements are.. not in this case, the Terminators were fitted first and a few tracks played, it was obvious right away that something was radically different, taking them out immediately closed in the top end and somehow slowed the dynamics. With them back in, it was similar to adding a really high end mains lead or a very well sorted mains conditioner.

These simple little devices exhibited all that you would ever want from an upgrade, extra clarity and definition, more of what you like about your system already, but better detail and more convincing musicality.

A total bargain at £80 a set of four and we can't wait to try a full complement

If you would like to try a set yourself, give us a call on 01270 580734

To buy, give us a call, or go to the website : Atlas Terminators

www.cheshireaudio.co.uk

NAD 3020A in for service

Had a lovely NAD 3020A on the bench for service this week. I used to sell these and the original 3020 when they were new, they were always exceptional performers for the money. After a good clean up and check over we had it working like new. Surprising for a 30+ year old amplifier it was in very good shape, all caps etc in good condition ... the distortion and crackling it came in with cured with a generous dose of switch cleaner.

After putting it back together we gave it a listen ... these early NADs are quite superb, that renowned warmth adds real drive to the sound and makes the little 25ish Watt unit sound far bigger than it actually is.

An interesting comparison was against our Rega Brio-R, another 'budget' giant killer, the two were actually very similar in presentation. The Rega much more refined, but the scale and balance almost identical to the NAD. Both include an excellent Phonostage (though the NAD also has an MC switch) so ideal for a little vinyl based system. The Rega feels much better built and although half the size of the 3020 feels like it weighs more. The NAD only shows it's late 70s heritage with its use of spring terminals for the speaker cables, this caused us a few issues as in this case 4mm plugs didn't fit (some types will take them) so adapters needed to be made.

So we liked the NAD 3020A, possibly the first proper Audiophile budget amplifier .. and most customers we meet who love their music and now use High End equipment, started their hobby with a Rega 2 / NAD 3020 / Kef Coda system

..... and oh yes.. the dancing lights :-)

www.cheshireaudio.co.uk