Laurence Dickie was the man behind the B&W Nautilus with it’s instantly recognisable design. Janine Elliot takes a look at the Vivid B Decade loudspeakers retailing at £18500 also designed by Dickie.

One of the most important speakers of all time was the distinctive B&W Nautilus. Where almost everything before was a square box, Laurence Dickie and the team at B&W looked at speakers from the ground up, with form following function in order to create the nearest to a perfect speaker with the lowest distortion. The end result, after five years development, was the distinctive snail-shaped Nautilus structure.

Much of what was learnt in creating the iconic Helix Aspersa was passed down to later B&W 800 series loudspeakers, such as rear mounted drivers so that the speakers are disjoined from the front baffle, something I cited in the revised “a” BBC LS3/5, though this time there are no screws at the front. Also passed down from the Nautilus are the tapered rear ends of the tweeter. What became clear when designing drivers was that as well as general worries over resonance and reflections from the drivers, cabinet resonances now needed to be dealt with as well and tapering the rear of the tweeter is a way of absorbing the rear sound emissions. Originally B&W came up with the idea of just a long tube filled with a fibrous filling, but the length would need to be really long, around 10 times the diameter of the driver, so the next thing was to taper it down, meaning it could be a third of the length – hence that famous external tweeter housing appearing in B&W Nautilus and 800 series.  Think of a horn made of paper; if you shout through the small end the sound is amplified at the other, but if you reverse the cone…well you get the idea. This reverse horn philosophy has now been adopted in both the tweeter and midrange units in Vivid loudspeakers.

Laurence Dickie might have left B&W with an award winning monster, but he has for more than twenty years been evolving and refining the Nautilus at his own company, Vivid Audio. The top of the range Giya series has the tapered rear-ends of the tweeter and midrange speaker positioned either inside the shaped cabinet, or as in the G3 and G4 an art-form protruding into the beautiful circular design, the speakers looking like giant earring.

Vivid use aluminium rather than Kevlar diaphragms, and neodymium magnet powered drivers rather than the ceramic magnets in the Nautilus. As well as Dickie there are two other major players at Vivid; Robert Trunz, a majority shareholder in B&W until 1996, and Philip Guttentag, who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and who met Dickie whilst in Durban, joining the other two players in a venture making loudspeakers.  Vivid Audio is often thought of as a South African company (indeed, their top model the ‘Giya’ means a type of Zulu dance), but whilst ideas and personnel (Trunz & Guttentag) and manufacturing is based in Durban, it is actually a British company with the base in West Sussex, where you’ll find Ray Rowles (himself an ex stalwart of B&W) who works on UK sales, and more often than not, Laurence himself. Delivering the two speakers in coffin sized boxes for my review was Ray and the enthusiastic Arif Huseyin representing Vivid Audio in the UK, with his background at KJ West One, Audio Lounge and Devialet.

Dickie has a lot in common with me; both born in the same year, and both took an interest in taking things apart to see how they work at a very young age. I remember being thrown across the room playing with the HT unit in an old valve TV. That scared me off for a while. Whilst he built his first loudspeaker driver at the age of 10 and his loudspeaker enclosure at 11 I didn’t try loudspeaker cabinets until woodwork lessons in Year 7.  He went on to great things, working at a Nottingham company  to work in electronics design making, including amongst other things, turntable drive system. In 1984 he joined B&W, taken on to develop MOSFET based active speakers and contributing to the lattice structure “Matrix” system inside the speakers which support and strengthen the interior, including damping of sound inside the structure. He went on to work on professional B&W products, but when boss Robert Trunz left and he was requested to move back to domestic hifi, he decided to quit, first setting up Blast Loudspeakers Ltd, developing the D26, D50 and C125 drivers that would then appear in Vivid  Audio, a company he later set up in 2004.

FIT, FINISH AND TECHNOLOGY

The Zulu shield-shaped B1, part of the “oval range”, was the first speaker marketed by the company. The B1 Decade, being reviewed here, is a 10 year anniversary celebration of the company and an overhaul of their first product. This model might be related to the original B1, but it isn’t just a Mk2 version. There are very many differences. A three-and-a-half way loudspeaker, it retained largely the main cabinet shape, but with some changes to the original. For example, the front and rear baffles of the B1 Decade are now slightly convex allowing for better diffraction, with the drivers themselves now slightly recessed in the front and rear baffles. The lower-midrange and woofer drivers are different, with differently shaped ports, and also a revised crossover. There is a port front and back, meaning you can see right through the unit, just as in the original B1. Looking like something out of a science fiction movie, the upper half of the loudspeaker is now made of a vacuum infused mixture of glass fibre reinforced resin sandwich with a balsa core (as used for the top-end GIYA series), rather than the mineral resin filled composite, which was in the original B1 and now the choice for the lower (stand) half of the Decade. The point at which the two halves join is brilliantly disguised. The choice for the composite material is because it has a high resonant frequency, meaning cabinet resonances are even less likely to be heard. The bi-wireable binding posts are at the bass of the unit, meaning unsightly wires can be kept out of sight, and out of the teeth of my cat.

The B1 Decade, launched at the end of 2015, is a Limited Edition, Oval, 3.5-way 4 driver speaker, ported front and back. Being a cross between a stand mount and floor-stander, Vivid have here quite a unique product, though at a full-size price of £18,500, with a limited run of 400; half of them in piano black and the other 200 in the Rosso Red that I review here. Any other colour is available with a premium of an additional £2000. Whilst the product might be financially out of the reach of many audiophiles, its looks could easily be considered as a work of art, or else perhaps a creation of H.R. Giger. Visitors to my house during the review all thought it was like nothing they had ever seen. If only I could have been reviewing the Giya G1; that iconic floor-stander is no less than 1.7 meters high and considerably more expensive. If, though, you consider the B1 Decade as a floor-stander, then that price appears much less daunting. It comes with an attractive magnetically attached metal grille, rather than the cloth type included in the original B1.

With a Frequency range at –6dB from 34 to 36,000Hz and a nominal impedance of 4 ohm, it comprises the D26 1″ (26mm) aluminium alloy dome tweeter (which has its first break up mode much higher at 44,000Hz, making for a very clean sound), D50 2″ (50mm) aluminium alloy dome midrange and two coupled C125d 5″ (125mm) aluminium alloy cones as the front and rear bass drivers. These new drivers have their magnet moved from the rear, as in traditional drivers, to surround the voice coil, improving efficiency and increasing magnetic reluctance around the voice coil, claiming to improve upper frequency performance. The rear woofer operates below 130Hz, whereas the frontal woofer works crosses over with the midrange at around 880Hz. The tweeter and midrange drivers are attached to the aforementioned energy absorbing tapered tubes which in turn are connected at the rear of the speaker enclosure with a single bolt.  The front and rear woofers are connected to each other with a thick metal rod, creating a force cancelling effect, holding them together securely and independent of the cabinet,  reducing resonances from reaching the cabinet. As a final means of decoupling all of the drivers, a silicone ‘O’ ring is positioned between the drivers and cabinet, ensuring chassis vibrations are not transferred to the cabinet. The unit comes supplied with selection of spikes or rubber feet and cotton gloves, all arriving in two coffin-size boxes. The cabinet itself is designed with no sharp edges or areas for re-radiation of waveforms; just as the curvy 1970’s USA B1 bomber has a ‘radar signature’ just one per cent of that of its more conspicuous predecessor the B-52.

SOUND

Whilst I shouldn’t compare Vivid with B&W, where the latter could have a distinctive “separation” of sound between the drivers making (for me) a less than single-point vertical soundstage, the Vivids have an excellent correlation between the drivers, giving a musical performance that got my interest right from the start. Where the original B1 that I heard many years ago had deficiencies at the extremes, giving a more than slight upper bass and midrange ‘sad face’ waveform, a Decade has given me the chance to turn my own expression into a big smile. That bass end is so much better, with no interaction with the cabinet, giving a tight and extended frequency response.

Kitaro’s “Live in America” is an especially moving and atmospheric performance recorded in 1990. The bass end from the through-ported B1 Decade was exceptionally clear and extended now, with the distant drum beats being crystal clear and the even more distant audience applause giving me a very ambient image of me lying in a field on a star lit evening gazing up at the stars with a bottle of chardonnay whilst listening to the Japanese ensemble performing on flute, drums and Tangerine Dream inspired synthesisers. Recorded at the amazing open-air Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, I might just as well have been.

The Big Band Spectacular, The Syd Lawrence Orchestra (Chasing the Dragon, Mike Valentine) had power and authority that made me wonder if my Music First passive Baby Reference preamp had a Loudness button hidden inside the autotransformer. Whilst bass oomph was spectacular (and switching to spiked feet from initially listening without spikes or rubber feet  brought more accuracy and behaviour in the bass), I did find that it took away some of the tidy ride cymbal rhythms from drummer Dave Tandy. What is noticeable, though, were the clean lines of the brass section, influenced by the low harmonic distortion, quoted at 0.5% for second and third harmonics. Indeed, whilst I found that width of sound was reduced, compared to my choice Wilson Benesch and particularly my Chartwell LS3/5a, the amount of detail drawn out is exceptional. The rear bass enabled the music to fill the room, though could sometimes interfere with precise instrument placements, but moving the speaker forward from the wall did improve things somewhat. Where I was perhaps apprehensive about reviewing Vivid in the past due to that upper-bass emphasis, the amount of improvement in all aspects of sound and enjoyment level warranted the 50% price increase on the original B1. This was far better than I could have imagined. Bass was excellent, and detail from the aluminium drivers was as polished as the metal fronted drivers themselves.

Sibelius Symphony No 5 (Berliner Philharmoniker, 24/192) was very engaging and showed the originality of this composer that Sir Simon Rattle so brilliantly shows off in anything he conducts. This set of recordings was made to celebrate the 150^th year since Jean was born. The positional space between instruments was clearly defined and each phrase of music was allowed to breathe, giving a truly musical encounter into the austere Nordic folklore it portrayed, and I felt close to audio Valhalla.  Whilst this recording itself has a significant mid-range emphasis, the Vivid speaker was careful not to make it OTT.

Moving to Wagner Preludes and Overtures (The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Kriezberg 24/192) and the ‘Rienzi Overture’ the Vivid’s gave all they could from the quiet recessed start to the emotion and build up in various points during this very flamboyant piece. The B1 Decade sounded quite forgiving as well as a determined speaker when needed, particularly at the end of the piece. Where Wagner could often give me a headache, I found the Vivid was accurate and entertaining and I just wanted to keep listen, which is always a good sign.

As a final test Bach BWV565 Toccata and Fugue in D minor (Helmut Walcha, Archiv 2565 002) is an excellent recording, and the bass pedal ‘D’ at 33Hz showed no signs of lacking. Very impressive!!

Turning to Muse Drones, the power and determination of ‘Dead Inside’ gave these speakers a chance to show their meat and their delicate precision at the same time. These speakers were carefully worked out to offer an accurate and entertaining musical expedition that on most speakers is hard to get this good.

CONCLUSION

£18,500 is never going to be a cheap price for any pair of speakers, but considering that you get many hours of craftsmanship, good looks, and design philosophy and heritage, plus a fully detailed soundstage from lows to highs, then this makes the B1 Decade even more special.

With distinctive looks this is a fully fledged and great sounding limited edition. Ten years have given Dickie time to learn considerably more about speakers, and the Decade owes much of its design to the Giya and is therefore a big improvement on its predecessor.  With that in mind, the B1 Decade is not so expensive after all.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality: Beautiful solid build quality and looks to kill for

Sound Quality:  Accurate, full frequency sound with excellent bass

Value For Money:  At £18,500 this is not a basement price offering, but bearing in mind the heritage and intense design philosophy, the full-band detailed soundstage that is not attainable without serious outlay. And this is a limited edition of just 400 pairs.

Pros:

Excellent bass
Detailed soundstage covering all frequencies accurately
Effortless musicality

Cons:

Looks might be too advanced for some square-box-loving audiophiles

Price: £18500

Janine Elliot

SPECIFICATIONS

Nominal impedance: 4Ω

Frequency range (Hz): 6dB points: 34 – 36,000Hz

Frequency response: 38 – 33,000Hz +/- 2dB on reference axis

Harmonic distortion: < 0.5% over frequency range (2nd and 3rd harmonics)

Cross over frequencies: (Hz) 130, 900, 3500

Power handling (music program): 300 watts rms

Loudspeaker dimensions: 1095mm (H) x 265mm (W) x 375mm (D); Base: 420mm (D)

Net weight: 36kg.

John Scott is a fan of integrated amplifiers and so when Hungarian manufacturer Etalon asked Hifi Pig if we would be interested in reviewing their new SuprA integrated amp he was the obvious man for the job. The SuprA is a dual mono class A/B design outputting a nominal 70 watts per channel Into 4 ohms and retails at €1980.

UNBOXING AND APPEARANCE 

The Supra was delivered in an ordinary cardboard box, well- protected internally by slabs of polystyrene and with a smattering of those little packing “peanuts” to fill any gaps.  Seasoned Hifi Pig readers will no doubt recall the occasion on which my illustrious colleague Dominic Marsh carelessly impaled himself on the supporting spikes of an Etalon DAC while unboxing it.  This was, unsurprisingly, at the forefront of my mind as I reached inside the box to remove the unit from its snug surroundings.  I need not have worried though; rather than spikes, the amp rests on a trio of rubber feet – two at the front and one at the rear – and so no blood was shed.

The first thing that struck me about the SuprA was its build quality; its metal casing exudes solidity and at 12kg it is a weighty beast. My second impression was that it is deeper than the typical shelf mounted amplifier. Measuring 360 x 100 x 470 mm, it is deeper than it is wide and the front and rear feet only just fitted on my shelf, slightly overhanging at front and back.  If it is at all possible for Etalon to move the feet even slightly inwards then this might be worth considering.

The amplifier is faced in a rather lovely slab of solid wood.  This will not be to everyone’s taste but in my opinion it adds a touch of class and sophistication and very much enhances the feeling that this is a quality product.  The wood facing is available in a range of colours and Etalon can produce additional colours on request.  The review model came in Walnut and, luckily, fitted perfectly with the furnishings in my listening room.

Accompanying the amplifier is a good quality power cord and a rather generic remote control.  I need to say a quick word about this.  The remote is perfectly serviceable and is certainly far from the worst I have seen bundled with a bit of kit.  It is a pity though that the remote does not mirror the quality of the amp.  László Sallay, Etalon MD, told me that he was keen that purchasers to get the best sounding  amplifier for the money and that providing a more expensive remote control would simply increase the cost to the customer with no corresponding audible benefit.  While this is understandable, and admirable, I do feel that potential purchasers would consider a remote that reflects the SuprA’s own aesthetics to be added value and would probably be prepared to pay a premium.  I have to stress, however, that the supplied remote is definitely not a deal breaker.  In fact, if you can control volume through your DAC via a tablet or smartphone as I did, then you will hardly ever use it. It’s also worth mentioning that the SuprA has no controls on the unit itself so if the dog buries the remote in the garden you will have to buy another one to replace it – another remote, not another dog – although if a dog interfered with my hifi it probably would find itself getting replaced.

SETUP 

You wouldn’t expect an integrated amplifier to present any difficulties in setting up and so it proved with the Supra.  It was simply a matter of connecting the power cord, the speaker cables to the high quality binding posts and my DAC to one of the four sets of inputs, powering up and we were good to go.  The Supra has no phono stage so turntable users will have to provide their own. 

SOUND 

I was advised to give the SuprA at least 100 hours of burn in time, which I did.   Naturally, though, I couldn’t resist having a quick listen straight away and my initial impressions were extremely favourable.  Following burn in, the serious listening begun.  And went on, and on, and on.  The SuprA is so involving and engaging that whenever I sat down to listen I simply didn’t want to stop.  In fact after a few weeks when László emailed me to check if I was having any problems I had to confess that I had done loads of listening but very little writing.  I partnered the Supra with a variety of DACs and streamers and the basic qualities of the amp remained unchanged.  The sound is warm when warmth is required but never unfocused, almost a valve-like quality.  The soundstage deep, open and solid.  This is important because the Supra has been designed to be as simple as possible, any elements that might interfere with the signal have been removed so there is no balance control and no tone controls.  The sound of the amp, therefore, needs to be intrinsically right, and the Supra is.

In the wrong hands Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks album can be muddled and a little shrill.  On Madame George, the Supra placed the backing instruments into their own positions with Van taking centre stage in front of them and it was clear to hear that Van’s vocals had been recorded in a different acoustic environment to the backing musicians.

In France They Kiss On Main Street from Joni Mitchell’s Hissing Of Summer Lawns Album is a track I know really well but I felt that the SuprA revealed more texture in Max Bennet’s bass and the whole song just hung together and made more musical sense than in previous listenings.  This ability to get to grips with the various element of the music and then present them cohesively is the SuprA’s key strength.

With almost every track I threw at it I came away with some fresh insight, whether it be in the details of the recording or the complexity of the interplay between the musicians. From the swaggering rock of Led Zeppelin’s Since I’ve Been Loving You through the laid back country soul of Amy Speace’s Nothing Good Can Come Of This to the delicacies of Khatia Buniatishvili’s solo piano rendition of Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition, the SuprA lays the music out in front of you as it was recorded.

CONCLUSION 

The Etalon Supra gives you everything you need from an integrated amp.  Well, everything except a phono stage. Oh, and tone and balance controls, but you really shouldn’t need those anyway. Its classy, elegant appearance is more than matched by its revealing, euphoric sound and I would highly recommend that if you are looking for an integrated amplifier then the SuprA should be added to your shopping list.

AT A GLANCE 

Sound Quality: Transparent, open and detailed.

Build Quality:  Solid, stylish and elegant.  Perhaps a little old fashioned for some tastes. 

Value For Money: A great sounding amp for the money but if you are looking for bells and whistles, this isn’t the amp for you.

Pros:

Great sound

Good looks and build quality

Cons:

The remote control lets the side down a bit

No phono stage

Price – From €1980.00 depending on finish 

John Scott

SPECIFICATION 

4 line inputs, RC volume control, DC output protection, metal cabinet, wood front

Channel balance: 0,2dB

Nominal output power: 70W at 4 ohms load

Frequency response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz +/- 0,2dB at 30W output

Input sensitivity: 0,7 Vrms at 30W output

Input impedance: 10 kohm

Remote control code: 155

Cabinet size:  360 x 100 x 470 mm (W x H x D)

Mass: 12 kg net, 13 kg packed in standard paper-box

The Baby Reference V2 is the latest incarnation of this British company’s TVC preamplifier and costs £6120 in standard form. Stuart Smith tries it out for Hifi Pig.

First of all I should stress that this is my own personal unit and not a unit that has been sent out solely for review purposes. I bought the V2 on the back of being loaned the V1 unit for a couple of months and have had opted for the 31 position volume control over the standard 24 position control – a 46 position control is also available. I also opted for remote control on the unit that controls just the volume.

FIT AND FINISH 

The Baby Reference V2 arrives well packed in a plastic Gator case. Taking it out of the box the unit looks and feels well finished. I’d opted for the front panel to be powder coated a burgundy red to match the loudspeakers in our system but you can have other colours. The preamplifier has a good weight to it and sits firmly on the rack even with lots of heavy cables coming out the back.

You can specify the inputs and outputs to an extent and I went for four unbalanced RCAs and two balanced XLR inputs and one of each for the outputs. There is a pair of switches for ground lift and an input for the remote control power supply.

Round the front there’s the volume knob and source selector switch. At 25cm width the Baby Reference V2 is less wide than a standard hifi component but it looks great on the rack. Simple and understated elegance is how I’d sum up the appearance. The knobs on the front feel solid and purposeful. Looks-wise there’s not a lot of difference, if any, between the V1 and V2. 

The V2 designation uses RX63 transformers from Stevens and Billington who have been making audio transformers since 1963, indeed Jonathan Billington is the owner of Music First Audio. There’s a new shielding can and combination of lamination materials, a new system of vibration isolation and “improved left/right channel isolation”.

I took a look inside the box and everything is nicely laid out with neat and very tidy wiring throughout.

£6000 seems a lot to demand for what is essentially a volume control and source switch, but there’s clearly a hell of a lot of work goes into the winding of the transformers and the actual putting together of the unit which goes a long way to justifying the pricepoint. The Baby Reference is a frill-free component that is simply there to do its job… though the remote control is a useful feature I feel.
Regular readers will know I’m not all that interested in the science or engineering behind a product – they either do their job in the system or they do not. If you want to know more about how TVCs work then the internet is your friend. 

SOUND 

For the last few months since the Baby reference arrived I’ve been using it with a pair of Merrill Thor Class D power amplifiers, our Avantgarde Duo XD loudspeakers with the front end being the Lampizator Big 7 DAC being fed by files from the computer. Cables have been a mix of Tellurium Q, Vermouth Audio and Chord Company, with power conditioning via a Lab 12 gordian unit.

My needs are a little different to the normal audiophile in many ways and what I am looking for in the reference system is transparency so that I can put new gear in there and hear what its effects are immediately and this is where the combination of the Baby Reference V2 and Class D power amps really come to the fore. That said, we do a LOT of our listening purely for the satisfaction of listening to music and whilst the reference system needs to be a tool, it also needs to be enjoyable and musical.

My previous preamplifier was the excellent Coffman Labs G 1A, a valve based pre which, whilst being a great performer, certainly added a healthy dose of its own flavour to proceedings. I remember when I first reviewed the Thors that I said I was pleased to have something that added a little of its own character, but then once I hooked up the Baby Reference I realised I’d been missing out on a whole layer of detail and accuracy that is there in the music.

With acoustic instruments and simply recorded music the baby Reference V2 allows the music to flow with a naturalness that is uncanny. There is a real feeling for the recording space and a depth to the soundstage that is organic, precise and uncoloured. If you are looking for a preamplifier that adds fireworks, bells and whistles to make it appear like it is doing something special to your system, then you need to look elsewhere I’m afraid. The Music First preamplifier is one of those products that slots into your system and just lets the music flow through it without adding or taking anything away.

I’d like to talk about sparkling highs and beautiful midband tones, but that would be missing the point I think. What you are hearing is what is coming out of the DAC (which does add a little of its own flavour it has to be said) and little more.

I plugged in the hORN Mummy speakers we have here and played loads of different genres from Jazz to Techno and again the effect of the Baby Reference is to add nothing. Bass is reproduced as it is on the recording and that is really what I’m looking for in a product.

On poorly recorded or reproduced music you certainly know about it.

I could bang on about a million different tunes we listened to and how they sounded with the Baby Reference in place, but I don’t think I need to as I’m sure you’re getting the general feel for this preamp from what I’ve outlines thus far. We do listen to music a lot here at Hifi Pig Towers and it seems that we’re listening to an awful lot more purely for pleasure since the arrival of the new Baby. And that’s the crux of it really I think; If a product connects you with the music and the musicians on a level that is emotional and inspiring then you know you’ve found the product for you. Being so transparent, quiet and open allows you to fall into a recording and experience the full effect of what the musicians and engineers are trying to get across and whilst it may sound that I’m saying that the Baby Reference V2 is cold and analytical that’s to miss the point a bit. The preamp is just letting through what your source is putting into it and feeding that through to your amplifiers.

CONCLUSION 

This review could have been a lot longer, but it doesn’t need to be to get across to readers what the Baby Reference V2 brings to the table. Imagine looking through the windows in your home. Yes you can see the landscape and everything that is going on out in the garden, but now clean the windows inside and out and whilst there is still the same things out there, the view is better somehow…and that’s sort of what this preamp does. It allows you to experience the finer details in a recording like no other preamplifier I’ve yet heard.

I’ve mentioned the Class D amps we use in this review quite a lot and I reckon that the Baby Reference V2 with this technology is a match made in heaven, though there is no reason it will not work with other classes of amplifiers.

£6000 or so is a lot of money for a preamplifier of course, and especially one that is so basic in its functionality, but if you are looking for a preamplifier that opens up your music collection and allows you to experience the full intention of the musicians then I can’t think of a better one. Music First Audio will offer you a 30 day trial too.

Stuart Smith

Sometimes the simplest things are the most beautiful to use and look at and, for me, that is what the Music First Audio Baby Reference V2 is all about. Essentially, all it has to do is be a switch and a volume control for your amplifier(s) and that’s what it does. Perfectly. It has the classic ‘form follows function’ kind of styling that I love in electronics.

Simple to use, it has a very satisfying feel to it. Quality components, put together well, by someone that wants everything to be as it should, delivers a high quality product. The only frills I guess are that you can have it in a range of colours or a shiny chrome finish so that your Baby looks good on the hifi rack.

When you put the Baby V2 into your system its a bit of a ‘new glasses’ moment. It does nothing to alter your music so you hear exactly what you are meant to hear. This may sound like a simple thing to achieve but we have all heard systems that make things sound just wrong. As Stuart said, with our Merril Audio Thor Class D amps and super-sensitive Avantgarde Acoustic Duos the baby V2 works wonderfully. There is no colouration of the music at all and when things are meant to be silent, they are completely silent, no hiss, no hum, nothing!

Yes, £6k is a lot of money but, to be fair, with the revealing quality of this little Baby, you are not going to put it with anything other than high quality equipment of a similar or even higher end price band.

The Baby Reference V2 is thoroughly deserving of its Outstanding Product Award for doing exactly what it is supposed to do, perfectly.

Linette Smith 

AT A GLANCE 

Sound Quality: A highly transparent tool that lets you hear the recording as it was meant to be heard without adding a flavour of its own 

Build Quality: Good looking on the rack and well enough put together. This is a no frills design where the emphasis has been put on the sonics and internal components rather than the box they come in 

Value For Money: Not at all cheap by any stretch of the imagination but pound for pound sonically it offers good value 

Pros:

Transparent

Adds little or nothing to the sound

Silent 

Cons:

Not cheap

Needs suitable partnering equipment before and after the pre 

Price : £5100 GBP plus VAT, $6885 USD plus local taxes

SPECIFICATIONS

Weight: 5Kg 

Width: 250mm

Height: 96mm

Depth ( inc connectors ) = 300mm

4 pairs RCA inputs

2 pairs XLR inputs.

2 pairs outputs. Any combination of RCA and XLR

Ground lift switch

31 position volume switch 0dB – 60dB of attenuation plus mute

Attenuation unit RX63

Optional remote control and headphone output

The Baby Reference V2 is the latest incarnation of this British company’s TVC preamplifier and costs £6120 in standard form. Stuart Smith tries it out for Hifi Pig.

For the last few months since the Baby reference arrived I’ve been using it with a pair of Merrill Thor Class D power amplifiers, our Avantgarde Duo XD loudspeakers with the front end being the Lampizator Big 7 DAC being fed by files from the computer. Cables have been a mix of Tellurium Q, Vermouth Audio and Chord Company, with power conditioning via a Lab 12 gordian unit.

Read the full review. 

Creek Audio Systems have recently introduced their Evolution 100 range and here we have two of the line-up for review – namely the Evolution 100CD (£1350) and the 100P (£1350) which Lionel Payne will review for Hifi Pig.

The Evolution 100CD is a multi-faceted unit incorporating a CD transport, a digital to analogue converter (DAC), a digital pre-amplifier and also included is a headphone amplifier so you can use it as a preamplifier as well as a CD player…which is very convenient and keeps box numbers down. The 100P is a power amplifier which matches the Evolution 100CD in looks and proportions although it’s brushed aluminium fascia carries only one button – for on/off duties. The Evolution 100CD, on the other hand has the on/off button and a further 9 soft-touch buttons plus a volume dial, quarter inch headphone socket, OLED display and a slot for loading your compact discs. It also comes with the requisite remote control unit which will also control other units within the range.

The units both come in black pressed steel cases with brushed aluminium fascias in a choice of black or silver. My units arrived, double boxed, in the black variety and I would describe their appearance as having an understated elegance. They both have identical dimensions and are a standard width of 430mm and a depth of 280mm and a rather diminutive height of only 60mm. Placed onto the top two tiers of my 5 tier Mana Acoustics amp stand they looked particularly attractive. The OLED display on the 100CD is very impressive. It can be dimmed or completely turned off and even someone like myself with less than ideal sight can clearly see the information provided in both dimmed light and daylight.

The 100P has two pairs of speaker terminals and inputs for unbalanced RCA connections and balanced XLR connections. There is a small button on the rear which you can use to change the inputs on the fly.

Creek Evolution 100CD

When I first hooked up the Creek Evolution 100CD with my system I was mildly impressed but far from blown away. Some players that arrive for review will do this and some are “growers” – i.e. they grow on you throughout the audition process. Others may impress you immediately but often this is a short-term thing where what initially impressed can become tiring over the longer term. The Evolution 100CD definitely grew on me throughout its time with me and I will be sorry to see it depart. 

I have listened for many hours to both the CD and my Windows 10 PC streaming Tidal in hifi quality through the USB port to the unit’s DAC and the differences in sound quality between the two are fairly insubstantial. If I had to pick out one area that the 100CD really excels in, it would most certainly be the way it deals with voices. It has an uncanny ability to get the very best from all singers of either sex. Listening to Eva Cassidy’s cover version of Sting’s Fields Of Gold produces a silky rendition of organic quality which equally captivates and thrills. However if you move over to some classic rock – namely Deep Purple and Child Of Time from their studio album Deep Purple In Rock, Ian Gillan’s delivery is captured with every nuance and the performance is equally captivating. Changing over to Bob Marley’s simple but superb Redemption Song left this reviewer in awe of the great man and so impressed with the voicing of this player.

Time after time not only the voicing but also the tonality of the recordings that I was listening to would really strike me to how the 100CD was portraying the perfect harmony of sound where all the instruments can be followed individually and each sounds perfectly correct. Indeed the reproduction of pianos, drums, violins, cellos, clarinets, flutes, etc. are all recreated with great authenticity. This is no easy feat but one the 100CD achieves with aplomb.

Of course the Evolution 100CD  is not just a simple CD player, it’s a whole lot more too. It is also a DAC of excellent quality and my attempted description of the sound quality of the CD player stands true for the DAC too, with the variation of the quality of digital input of course.

There are two coaxial inputs via RCA connections plus two optical inputs via Toslink as well as a USB type 2 input all supporting up to 24Bit 192kHz conversion. I briefly tried the Bluetooth connection which was a doddle to install and link to my Samsung S7. I was suitably impressed that the sound quality was pretty much identical to the streaming quality I could get from my PC and the USB connection, both of which were utilising Tidal Hifi quality. I should also mention that as I use a PC I had to download the additional driver software, but this was an easy process and I was up and running in minutes.

Listening to my Denon TU-1800DAB tuner through a digital connection to the DAC was also a joy. On Radio 6 Music I found Iggy Pop introducing some of his favourite David Bowie tracks and the DAC definitely improved the overall sound and again highlighted how good its mid-band was, especially reproducing Iggy’s tremendously gravelly voice with true veracity.

I also had a late evening session listening to one of my all-time favourite live albums with my Audio Technica AD1000 headphones. I know this double CD probably as well as any in my collection – it’s Gil Scott-Heron And His Amnesia Express and my previous comments about the 100CD stood perfectly true while listening through this medium. All areas of the sound were extremely true to life – so much so that I ended up going to bed a lot later than I anticipated. I’m not going to tell you that I heard new things in the mix, but that night I was astonished at the clarity and extreme low noise floor that I heard. Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Bottle” includes a couple of solos, allowing his band to show off their respective talents and the track kept my head bobbing and toes tapping right the way through. The solos of the bass player and the percusionist were a joy to behold. I think it’s probably the best presentation I’ve ever heard of this track and I’ve heard it many, many times. The following day I couldn’t wait to play the same track through my speakers and the result was equally sublime.

Creek Evolution 100P

Unlike the Evolution 100CD that slowly grew in my affections, I fell under the spell of the Evolution 100P almost immediately. Hooked into my system and driving my Impulse H2 loudspeakers I was beguiled by the speed, clarity and precision that was portrayed before me.

I auditioned the 100P mostly on its own within my system, but also with the 100CD as the source and preamplifier. The 100P performed consistently well throughout the auditions giving an even-handed approach to whatever I threw at it. Listening to Sting’s excellent Live In Berlin CD with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra really showed how good the amplifier is at painting a realistic soundstage, as well as reproducing so many different instruments within the orchestra with such veracity. The tracks with Branford Marsalis playing saxophone were a real stand-out, although the CD as a whole really impressed, highlighting the excellent work Deutsche Grammophon carried out in the recording process.

Playing Dead Can Dance In Concert is a good work-out for the lower registers and the 100P showed it can do bass with the best in class. Children Of The Sun is a track that needs firm control from an amplifier to not allow the bass to become overblown within the mix and the 100P passed with flying colours. The bass is quick and controlled, if a touch dry, and  overall,  the densely layered track is driven on wonderfully with the clarity of vocals from Brendan Perry never getting congested even when I dialled in extra volume to concert levels.

The 100P has a smooth and detailed top end which has not a hint of grain. There is no suggestion whatsoever that this amplifier would become tiring in the longer term. It had me reaching for one CD after another to feed into the slot-loader, and it never failed to impress and entertain. Much like the 100CD I would say its outstanding characteristic is the way it is voiced. Bands and performers that I have played regularly for years have had their lead singers thrown into a brighter spotlight, to the point where I have felt I could almost reach out and touch them.

Everything sounds so natural that it seems petty to look for any drawbacks at all in this price range, but the one area that I feel could be improved is the amps detail retrieval. That is not to say there is anything greatly amiss with the detail offered, but I have heard better, albeit from amplifiers costing far more than a measly £1350.

Conclusion

Ever since the early eighties when Mike Creek brought the legendary Creek 4040 integrated amplifier to market, Creek Audio Systems have been known for producing items with innovative design and good value for money.  The Evolution 100P power amplifier is certainly an innovative design with its class G topology and also represents excellent value for money. It has the ability to conjure a wonderfully deep and wide soundstage and has that great ability to simply sound natural.  I can heartily recommend it to any prospective purchasers. It also makes an excellent partner to the Evolution 100CD which, to me, is the star of the show. I have completely enjoyed my time with it and have been thoroughly impressed with, not only its CD playback qualities, but also its abilities with everything directed through the DAC .

It even has an excellent built-in headphone amplifier to boot.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality: Solidly built and surprisingly small for such a big sound. They have a sleek under-stated elegance.

Sound Quality: Both have very special voicing abilities and sound natural and unconstrained.

Value For Money: Very good indeed. Both units have to be pushing towards the top of any potential purchaser’s list at this price point.

Pros:

Excellent voicing and natural un-forced sound

Powerful sounding power amplifier

Excellent OLED display readable in all conditions

Cons :

Perhaps a lack of analogue inputs to the 100CD

Not much else

Price :

Evolution 100CD £1350

Evolution 100P costs £1350

Lionel Payne

SPECIFICATIONS (100CD)

Digital Inputs: 2 x SPDIF, 24 Bit 192 kHz, transformer isolated. 2 x Toslink, 24 Bit 192 kHz, optically isolated. 1 x USB, 24 Bit 192 kHz

No additional software drivers are needed for OS X

Windows PCs require additional drivers

1 x Bluetooth input

CD Transport: Custom designed, ICE quality, CD slot-loader, externally clocked

SNR:  > 110dBA unbalanced

Digital Output: 1 x SPDIF and 1 x Toslink optical output, pass-on all input signals

Digital Filters: Optional digital filters are selectable via the remote

Analogue Output: 2 x RCA un-balanced, 2.0V RMS. 2 x XLR balanced 4.0V RMS

Headphone Output: 1 x 6.35mm or ¼” Jack socket Output Impedance

Output Impedance:  47 Ohms

Power Supply: 30 Watt toroidal mains transformer with 3 separate secondary voltage windings, with multi-cap power supply decoupling and multiple ultra-low noise discrete power supply voltage regulators.

SPECIFICATIONS (100P)

Power Output: >110 Watts into 8 Ohms

Power Output: >170 Watts into 4 Ohms

Continuous Current: >8.5 Amps (sine wave)

Max Current : >26 Amps, current burst into 0.5 Ohms

Output Impedance   <0.05 Ohms @ 1KHz

THD: < 0.02% 20Hz – 20KHz

SNR: > 102dB

Frequency Response: 10Hz – 100KHz  +/- 2dB Line

Gain: 33.3dB (x46)

Input Sensitivity: 650mV

Crosstalk: – 80dB at 1KHz

DC Offset: < +/- 10mV

Slew Rate: > 30 V per uS

Inputs : RCA unbalanced – XLR balanced

Outputs: 2 pairs of binding posts

Operating Voltages: 110V / 230V Switchable

Consumption (at idle): < 20 Watts (no standby)

Consumption: 500 Watts (at full power)

Weight: 9kgs

Dimensions    W/H/D: 430 x 60 x 280mm

A somewhat sceptical Stuart Smith takes a listen to his kit sat ontop of the Quadraspire X Reference hifi rack costing £1000 per level. 

I’ll be honest here and say that the whole concept of reviewing a rack really doesn’t sit well with me at all. I remember a few years ago watching a video made by a Greek audiophile group in which one character says “The rack is 50% of the sound” (or words to that effect) and oh how I chortled. A rack is a rack is a rack, but recently we were given a very heavy rack for our listening room and it really killed the sound we were getting and I’m sure that this was down to the combination of a heavy rack being used on suspended wooden floorboards. Somehow the rack was having a negative effect on the overall performance of the system. So, when the guys at Quadraspire offered us the opportunity to have a play with their X Reference rack, I thought why not.

Build 

The X Reference is 720mm wide and 590mm deep and will hold 120Kg per shelf. The one we were given to play with had bamboo shelves but you can get wooden veneered shelves too. The main body of the rack is made up of an X shaped shelf that supports the actual shelf your kit sits on. Each of these “inner” shelves (essentially the SVT Bronze Upgrade) has bronze feet which sit in little brass locaters on the main rack. Now, the bronze is very important we were told, but I remained very sceptical indeed!

You can order as many levels as you need, with the spacing columns between levels being available as 20cm, 250cm, 30cm and 35cm, so you can choose the rack to fit around your system and build it accordingly. Each of the levels on which the shelves sit on has a large hole in the middle on the X Reference.

Fit and finish are very good indeed, but this is very much a rack that is designed with the audiophile in mind – it’s not going to appeal to everyone’s taste at all and is pretty big by conventional standards. However, it appeals to me and looks like it means business in a techy kind of way.

Sound 

The review process went like this. We placed our DAC on a conventional SV2T Quadraspire rack along with all our other kit and then placed one of the shelves with SVT bronze upgrade (these are the inner shelves of the X Reference) onto the rack and popped the DAC on that. We then moved the X Reference into place and put the DAC onto that. The idea here was to supposedly demonstrate a path of improvement to overall sound as you move up the food chain. Again, I need to reiterate that my expectation was that there would be nothing to be heard, no improvements or otherwise and that at £1000 a level, the X Reference would prove to be a bit of a white elephant.

I was wrong and somewhat perplexed to say the least. Adding the SVT bronze upgrade to the conventional rack made audible improvements to the sound, particularly in stability of the soundstage. Hats appeared to be crisper and bass more solid. We put the DAC back on the normal shelf and back again several times and every time we heard the same results.

The next step was to place the DAC onto the X Reference and again there was an immediate, if somewhat baffling change in perceived sound for the better and again the most obvious improvement was with stability of the stereo image and better (read sharper) detail in the music. The perception here is that because of this sharpening you can hear more fine detail in the music you are listening to. The best way to describe this is to say that at each step up the ladder it felt as though we were getting more definition and coherence to the music and less of a smearing effect – as if everything tightened up a bit and became more focused.

Conclusion

I remain perplexed as to how and why a rack can make the slightest bit of difference to the performance of a hifi, but it did. There is a clear and demonstrable improvement in the sound quality when you add the SVT Bronze upgrade shelves and then another improvement when the X Reference is brought into play. Playing with different bits of kit on the different shelves saw similar improvements, but the biggest effect was heard with the DAC.
£1000 a level is pricey by anyone’s reckoning for a rack on which to place your hifi, but if you are looking to squeeze the last ounce of performance out of your system then the SVT Bronze upgrade will give you a step up and the X Reference another step up.

This is not the same level of performance improvement you will notice when upgrading loudspeakers, source or DAC, it’s a more subtle, but definitely observable, tidying up of soundstage and instruments within it, leading to a more solid sound and stereo image with more detail apparent.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality: Very nicely put together and finished

Sound Quality: An overall sharpening of the stereo image enabling more fine detail to be heard

Value For Money:  Not cheap

Pros:

Excellent fit and finish

Tightening up of the stereo image leading to more detail being heard

Cons:

Not cheap

X Reference is physically big and definitely “audiophile” in the looks department but I quite like it

Price:

£1000 per level for the X Reference and £400 for the Bronze Upgrade

Stuart Smith

Studio Connections are based in the UK and produce a wide range of cables for home audio use. In this review Dan Worth and Dominic Marsh take a look at the company’s Carbon Power cables retailing at £190 for 1m. 

Studio Connections takes a radically new approach to making cables by centring the design process on how the brain perceives spatial and positional information with sound. They first delved into the biology of how sensory receptors deduce position, distance and depth.

In developing the products, designer Michael Whiteside draws from a BSc in Electronics and over 30 years of recording music, manufacturing cables and building studios that have included recording and mix studios such as the BBC, EMI Abbey Road and King’s College, Cambridge.

“The technical result for our cables is that they have very accurate timing across the broad, high frequency spectrum that is essential for our ability to interpret spatial awareness. The musical result is that the cables deliver faithfully, allowing us to hear incredibly natural sound and stereo with realistic dimensions” says Michael.

System Efficiency and General Implementation

High performance power distribution is not just about providing energy to components in my opinion, but also bonding components together to form a single, cohesive system. This demands providing a stable common reference ground͛ between components and preventing stray voltages and noise occurring between different parts of the system.

All electronic and electrical circuits create electromagnetic fields and noise. If these are not managed in a system then they will propagate throughout the system and cause disturbances. Most equipment and power conditioners use filters to reduce noise emissions. However, noise is rarely nullified into non-existence, and usually residual noise is reflected or sent to a ground connection or to a chassis.

There is an assumption a system ground has the infinite ability to absorb noise; in reality it is a wire network. Because it connects chassis together, it can minimise noise voltages between components, but it equally transfers noise energy between components as eddy currents͛. An increase in noise levels always degrades stereo image.

The only way to truly remove all noise from a system is, instead of trying to hard block͛ it or send it somewhere else, is to ensure there are no circuit loops that current can travel around and all the components share a common reference ground. To ensure any interference is dissipated as heat.

Installation

As mentioned in the previous paragraph strapping the earths to a common location is essential in appraising any power cable and really obtaining the best electrical solution for the components. Known as star earthing, designers have been implementing this technique for many years now within their electronics and distribution mains blocks. My own system a period of time ago consisted of two separate radials for front and back end equipment, with each having a balanced power supply and a filtered block for the front end and a passive for the amps.

Although the sound was terrific and all the equipment fed by seemingly capable and competent products, I could from time to time find myself with a soundstage that didn’t produce as accurate an image as I believed should have been presented to me. I had instances of overtones in higher frequencies that had a lack of body and lower notes which felt crumpled and crushed.

As Michael Whiteside, owner and designer of all Studio Connections products is as obtainable to the public as he is to industry personnel and is responsible for really honing down the wiring of some of our best known studios and theatres, I gave him a call with my concerns and he was as always ready and willing with advice.

We sketched out the systems wiring and immediately his suggestions were to remove the use of one of the radials in the circuit along with one balanced power supply. ‘Less is more in this case’ Michael stated. I naturally hesitated at this prospect as I believed that keeping the two balanced supplies in place would in fact eliminate crosstalk. Our first step in this case was to take a preliminary approach by strapping the two grounding points inside the balanced supplies to each other. This did not yield any ground breaking results (excuse the pun).

So next I went with Michael’s initial plan and removed one of the balanced supplies and negated one of the radials.

The new chain of power was one radial feeding one balanced power supply, two feeds from that supply, one to the front end filtered extension block and the other to my all star wired (neutral and live lines included) passive block for the amps the results were really staggering. Phase and timing was considerably more accurate and instrument tone and timbre was more natural, fluid and dynamically true.

Bring in the Carbon Mains Cables 

The installation of the Carbon Screened Mains Cables into my system began as straight forward as any other power cable review. I initially added one to each of my Reference Mono blocks. My first inspection on the sound was that over my previous far more expensive cables from various companies the sound gained solidity in the bass. I felt that initially I was hearing more bass, but during more intense listening it wasn’t the levels of bass which increased but more so the timing and accuracy of the bass line which had better energy and more natural dynamics allowing me to ascertain better separation of kick drums over bass and the extension of lower bass was freer and more substantially apparent.

I then proceeded to replace my existing cables back into the amplifiers and changed the one in the DAC for a SC Carbon. Most notably I understood the vocals better. What I mean is I could feel more emotion and realism in the artist’s rendition of the given music. When watching a live band, eye contact from the singer is essential in conveying the emotion that is felt in the lyrics, but we cannot have that with Hifi, as we strive to ascertain the emotion from the description of the vocal and with  the SC Carbon in place in my DAC I really felt a good connection with the singer. Not to degrade my other cables at all I could say that at a staggeringly cheap cost I felt that I was retaining a palpability that I had worked so hard to achieve which cost a great deal more previously.

Leaving this cable in place and adding another to the Paul Hynes power supply which keeps my modified Mac sustained. I actually achieved what was a more fleshed out and rich top end. The combination of the two was marvellous and the previous cable in this position being an all silver design was chosen as it gave a fantastically airy feel to the upper registers that I preferred over copper variants previously. The SC Carbon did two things for me, one it gave me a denseness to the frequency extremes in the top end allowing them to become more prominent and articulate and secondly the more natural timbre suddenly exposed to me that the top end previously was in fact over airy and almost overly dispersed. When listening for acoustic air and space in live venues I felt that the sound I was hearing was definitively truer and more representative, almost as if the other silver cable was a bit artificial in its sonic approach.

Of course the next step was to combine the results with the power amplifiers and the front end. Accuracy was at the forefront of the characteristics I was now presented with, accuracy in terms of tone and timbre, with a soundstage which produced dynamic depths and stage placements that made terrific sense. I had achieved a lot of this previously by honing down the grounding and layout of the power circuit chain but this was some time before having the ability to work with several of the SC mains cables. Energy, tactile responsiveness and subtlety combined for a ponderous listen and it was a good 10 days to a week before I remembered that I had yet not installed one of Michael’s power cables in the preamp. Up until now I haven’t found any faults with what I was hearing and my listening joy had taken on a different dimension which was extremely satisfying.

Placing another Carbon cable into the preamp had similar results to adding one to the DAC initially, I felt that from the upper mids to the upper bass I had more dimensionality to the soundstage and band member placement was more sustainably accurate. Dominic popped over for a listen and immediately said that he felt that there was more presence to the overall imaging and that I had achieved a richness in tonality that only comes from good copper cabling which he felt may have always been overshadowed by the flaws of my ceramic tweeters. We swapped different power cables of his and mine in and out a few times and although pronunciations of certain frequencies were adorable with some of the other cords used we both agreed that the full internal loom of the SC power cables had an unforced and naturally energised sound that didn’t highlight anything in particular but rather lent its hand to overall frequency expression and simply great timing, which I’ll add I didn’t think could be achieved by a power cable and especially one at this price.

I contacted Mr. Whiteside again and briefly told him that I was achieving some favourable results from the power cables he had sent me, as we like to keep our reviews close to our chest until release and asked him for some additional cabling which could be hard wired from the balanced power supply to each of the mains blocks and for another from the wall to create a full loom.

On arrival of the extra cables for the full loom, I had my engineer reconfigure the balanced supply to incorporate the additional cables, one for the passive amp extension block and one for the front end filter extension. Results were very favourable indeed. I did lose a little punch in the upper bass in comparison to the previous cabling, but what I lost in punch was substituted with great extension in the bass and better spread of lower waves throughout the room. Better, well, a bit of give and take really, things were slightly different.

The entire loom made complete musical sense to me and flow and sculpture of the soundstage was fantastic, leaving nothing in the mist of background hashes, with ambient harmonics retaining great stature throughout the soundstage and micro details, maybe a little more rounded but contacting the music and the listener with full ranged articulation. I do like a bit more of a slapstick sound overall, but arguments could easily be raised for both alternatives, especially when concerning myself with the wide range of musical taste I have.

The ever crucial midrange in my system which for me needs to project vocals with absolute tonal balance and clarity, with plenty of transparency and spacial awareness took on a very slightly more natural role in the mix. The upper midrange with female vocalists was a touch calmer and the chestier deeper tones of a males vocal had more grunt and body with the very lowest of their range being slightly more tempered due to the rounder upper bass characteristic of the additional cables in this particular place in my system. 

Conclusion

An F1 car is a piece of engineering greatness ,but it’s the culmination of its smaller parts which allows the whole unit to run at its very finest and extract each little piece of performance gains from the overall package. Cabling is very much the same; a good system with poor interconnecting cables will not reveal its true performance and like the F1 car, if all the component parts are not just right, overall performance is degraded. Using the Studio Connections Carbon Screened Power Cables in my system hasn’t dramatically changed its ability but it’s made the whole package more tactile, has better handling of frequency extremes, has increased image performance extremely naturally and has defined the tonal balance of the overall music in a way that comforts me greatly.

In any high-end system all the small tweaks we make for the better usually add a little bit here and a little bit there to the overall sound and when describing these tweaks and changes it can be perceived that some may overstate the claims. We have to be realistic and understand that a review such as this needs to always be kept in context. Yes, but what is context in today’s age of high-end audio, a power cable that costs £3000 or more that adds definition, clarity and body to the sound or a cable that does nearly as well that costs £200, so you decide.

Dan Worth

SECOND REVIEWER’S VERDICT GIVEN BY DOMINIC MARSH

I was also called upon to evaluate these Studio Connections Carbon power cords for Hifi Pig and was supplied with enough cables to completely wire my system from wall socket to all IEC inlets throughout, including the input socket to my MS Audio 6 way mains distribution block.  Usually we only get submitted to us a single power cord to review, so it was both refreshing and indeed very welcome that Studio Connections made available a whole set which gave a sort of “completeness” to the review, rather than a mere snapshot in total isolation of one cable alone.

Dan hasn’t mentioned the Studio Connections power cord’s appearance so I will here.  It is a refreshing change to see a power cable’s outer coat that isn’t the ubiquitous expandable mesh sleeving, or some form of squashy rubberized jacket, instead we see what is undoubtedly designed in-house and not bought off any peg, being a smart “candy stripe twist” design in black and silver, so it is instantly recognisable as a Studio Connections product.

Sound

As Dan has already done a pretty comprehensive breakdown of the specifications and build parameters, I will take the opportunity to crack on without further ado to give you my perceptions of how these cables performed.

As with any power cord evaluation, my first task is to listen out for any boom or bass overhang that poorly specified and built power cords are prone to.  After many hours of listening with real bass heavy music selections I couldn’t detect either bass boom or overhang at all, so that tells me there is sufficient gauge of wire within the cable to meet transient current demands.  I then focus my attention on the treble regions for noise floor problems, hiss and smearing because that again is a signature trait that poor power cables demonstrate.  Treble was clean, clear and free of any congestion or smearing, in fact with these cables installed it made listing to Fink’s “Wheels Beneath My Feet” live album a real pleasure because the venue ambiences distinct within each track that was recorded in different venues during one of Fink’s many European tours and there was no ambiguity at all that was embedded into the recording of this album and delivered with sweet airy crispness.  I listen very carefully to the drummer’s rim shots on the snare drum and in addition to the sound of wooden drumstick to the ‘skin’ of the drum, the body or shell should also be heard in true fidelity – it MUST sound dynamic and taut with natural reverberation decay, which is very hard for a system to be faithful to.  With these cables I found Fink’s enunciation a good deal more lifelike, with a distinct gruffness to his voice.

Any level of noise floor to me trashes any musical nuances to a large degree and also clouds up the imaging, taking away width, depth and spacial placement qualities of artists and instruments within the sound stage.  I am pleased to inform you that I found a very low noise floor which didn’t intrude into the musical performance, the width, depth and placement rendered accurately and silently.

Of course, just like Dan I too have a boxful of other assorted power cords to compare with and that gives me an idea where in the great scheme of all things power cord they fit into the marketplace and what competitors if any are there to rival it, so I can form an idea on whether or not they offer good value.  At circa £190.00 for a standard 1 metre cable I couldn’t find any cable that could directly compare with the Studio Connections Carbon power cord, in fact I was looking at close to four figure priced products that even came close.

To prove that point then I took out all the Studio Connections power cords and fitted a right old mish-mash selection from the spares box, ranging from a £40 cable to a £1,500 cable and it was very obvious the ensemble I put together just didn’t have the crisp organic fluidity to the sound the Studio Connections power cords complete set had imparted.

Conclusion

The Studio Connections Carbon power cord set has acquitted itself very well, with honour too I might add. They are still to this day installed in my system and I am in no rush whatsoever to uninstall them, because for the first time in many years I have a set of power cords that I don’t feel the impetus to ask questions about and simply let them get on with the task I have set them, happy in the knowledge it would cost a lot of additional cash for any kind of tangible improvement over what these cables do, so they really are a fit and forget product so my spare cables box will have an emptying session soon.

I concur wholeheartedly with Dan that these cables offer tremendous value for money considering the returns in sound quality they provide, so I herewith add my endorsement to them.

Dominic Marsh

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality: Unmistakable external appearance, well built

Sound Quality:  You would have to spend considerably more to best them

Value For Money:  At £190.00 for a 1 metre cable it really is a no brainer purchase

Pros:

Unforced natural sound

Excellent detail retrieval

Very quiet noise floor

Very flexible and visually very appealing

Price to performance ratio is fantastic

Terrific sound quality, an exceptionally low noise floor and great with fast transients.  Great performance at sensible money(DM)

Cons:

Very difficult to fault at this price or even multiples of it

Price at time of review: £190 + £30 every additional 0.5m

I spent a very long time in thinking of an “against” argument, so let’s just say I drew a complete blank here (DM)

SPECIFICATIONS

Conductors: 1.5mm cross sectional area, 47 x 0.22 strands ultra high purity Nordic Copper.

Insulation : Brown, Blue, Green/Yellow

Insulation diameter: 3mm over dielectric

Bedding and Primary screen : 100% coverage, semi-conductor loaded

Outer Jacket: Clear PVC

Drain element: 0.46mm cross sectional area, 3 x 9 x 0.147 strands tinned copper wire

Resistance: Each core: 6.98 ohms/km

Capacitance: Core to core: 100pF/m

Inductance: Each Core: 26mH/km

Rated voltage: 500Vac

Overall diameter; 9.75mm

The Peak PT1 turntable has a natural slate plinth and comes complete with an arm for £599. Ian Ringstead takes it for a spin for Hifi Pig.

Peak Hifi who make this new turntable have been around a few years and was formed in 2004 by owner Shaun Daniels. I recently went to see Shaun in order to collect the PT1 to review as they are only based forty minutes drive from me near Barnsley, on the edge of the beautiful Peak District. I always like to talk to the manufacturers/designers at length if possible about any product I review, and if I can do it face to face then that’s even better. I spent a very pleasant couple of hours talking to Shaun and his wife at their beautiful home which also doubles up as their business premises. Shaun does a wide range of quality hifi components from the budget to the serious audiophile enthusiast kit to suit all tastes and pockets. 

Shaun’s background was originally and for many years in high quality engineering in Sheffield and when the opportunity arose for him to change direction and semi-retire he was only too glad to pursue his passion for music (he has a great collection of electric guitars on the wall of one of the dem rooms) and start a bespoke hifi business from his home. As an engineer Shaun wasn’t content to just sell other manufacturers products, he inevitably wanted to produce his own and turntables were an area where his expertise could come to the fore.

The resurgence of vinyl in recent years has seen a plethora of new turntables arrive on the market from the budget to the eye wateringly expensive super models. Shaun is involved in SMD Acoustics who make superb idler drive turntables costing from £5900 for the real enthusiasts with deeper pockets, but the PT1 came about as a serious attempt to provide a quality budget and easy to use turntable for the wider market of newcomers to hifi or those with limited funds.

DESIGN

The PT1 benefits from a superbly machined real slate plinth. Back in the seventies I had a JBE slate turntable which at the time was unique in having a slate plinth and was highly regarded. (What let the JBE turntable down was that the finish wasn’t half as good as the Peak PT1, but cnc machining wasn’t around then). Slate is a natural material and every plinth has its own unique markings. Slate is also a great audiophile choice for a plinth as it is high mass and naturally damped due to its multiple layers.  The Peak PA1 tonearm is a hand assembled, precision made component with low friction levels and minimum mass and performs well above its price point (note the PA1 not available separately and is only available on the PT1). Four genuine Sorbothane feet for improved decoupling. The motor has an advanced decoupling system to minimise transmitted vibrations and the main bearings and motor all benefit from oversized aluminium mounts to provide stability in the drive system. All the electronics are bespoke Peak Turntable components and hand assembled and soldered in the UK. 

The bespoke switch is an attractive feature of this British made turntable and the high quality dust cover (optional extra) is made from 4mm thick acrylic, with high quality cnc machined hinge sockets. I have to say I don’t normally get excited about the look of budget end products, realising that manufacturers have a tough job when budgets are limited to provide quality, but Peak have done a fabulous job of manufacturing an elegant design. The fit and finish is first class with the cnc machined slate plinth a work of art with a faultless finish. The optional lid is well worth buying as not only will it protect the PT1 from dust and possible little fingers, but is superbly made and with the Peak name proudly embellished on top and really sets the deck off with nice friction hinges.

The PA1 arm is an OEM design (based on a Rega RB250 I reckon) made to high tolerances and worked flawlessly. Shaun kindly supplied it with an Ortofon 2M red, a great little budget moving magnet cartridge that sells for £89.

The PT1 sits on four sorbothane feet that along with the natural dampening properties of the slate do an admirable job of suppressing vibration. The deck is compact and with its clean simple design looked very smart on my wooden equipment rack. The setup is extremely quick and easy, and I had music playing in minutes of unpacking. (as slate is a heavy and fragile material if dropped, Shaun has designed superb strong packaging to protect the PT1 fully whilst in transit. A nice touch and not to be underestimated).

A good easy to understand instruction manual and cartridge alignment protractor are supplied just in case you need to make any adjustments or change the cartridge. Mains is supplied by a plug in DC wall wart of good quality and speed change is manually done by lifting the outer platter off the subplatter and moving the belt on the stepped motor pulley for 33 or 45. Operation was very easy and quiet with the power switch feeling assuredly smooth, and the noise level from the PT1 whilst rotating was very quiet. (a sign of good motor isolation and the slates damping ability).

The PT1 comes with a simple felt mat that worked well and although I would have liked to experiment with other mat types, the fixed height of the PA1 arm meant this wasn’t really possible without affecting the cartridge’s stylus rake angle too much, so I kept it simple with the supplied mat.

SOUND

So how did it sound? Once I had let the Ortofon 2M red run in for a few hours I set about some serious listening. What really impressed straight away was the noise floor of the PT1 was very quiet. Of course you had the records surface noise, but with a good quality pressing the results were surprisingly good for a sub one-thousand-pound package. Music had great detail and all the musicians could easily be picked out in the sound stage.

Nils Lofgren’s “Keith don’t go” from his Night after night double live album was portrayed really well and showed what a superb guitarist he is. I saw him do this live at the City Hall in Sheffield back in the seventies and I was taken back to that time.

Jazz, progressive rock, classical, female vocal all sounded vibrant without being wearing on one’s ears. I spent a whole day auditioning the PT1 through some Ophidian P2 floorstanders at £4000, and the PT1 did not disgrace itself. My resident Pro-ject Extension nine deck with Ortofon Quintet black moving coil definitely has the edge in performance with better detail and depth of sound stage, but given that as a package this is three times the price of the PT1 one cannot help but admire the PT1’s performance. As the PT1 can be upgraded with the aluminium platter and a moving coil cartridge the results would have been even closer.

CONCLUSION

I could go on and on about the different records I tried, but that would be boring and I played so many on the PT1. What we have here is a cracking budget turntable that deserves to be auditioned by anyone interested in a new sub thousand-pound turntable, or who want to dip their toes into the water to find out the magic of vinyl.

AT A GLANCE                                                                      

Build Quality:  Superb fit and finish with quality parts throughout.

Sound Quality:  Detailed and well controlled sound that for the money is excellent

Value For Money:  Excellent and strong competition for turntables up to £1500

 Pros:

A simple to use quality product that looks great

Clear musical sound with a good low noise floor thanks to the slate plinth

Can be upgraded with the aluminium platter and a moving coil cartridge

Cons:

Fixed arm height makes cartridge choice a little limited, but spacers can overcome this issue.

Price:

£599 without lid or cartridge

Optional Extras

Dust Cover £60

High Mass Aluminium Platter extra £150

Cartridge (choice from £35 upward).

Ian Ringstead

Key Features:

Real solid slate plinth

12″ platter (choice of steel or aluminium)

High quality tonearm

Quality motor with suspension system

Rounded drive belt for reduced resonance

Robust motor and bearing mountings.

British Made

Technical Data:

Speed: 33,45 RPM (Manual Speed Change)

Wow & Flutter: +/- 0.12%

Speed Drift: +/- 0.80%

Signal to Noise: – 65dB

Effective Arm Length: 9″

Power Consumption: 2W

Outboard Power Suppy: 16V/500mA AC

Dimensions (WxHxD): 415 x 120 x 320mm – Optional Lid Closed

Weight: 12.5kg

Notes:

If using a moving coil cartridge Peak Hifi recommend that the aluminium platter is selected.

The PA1 does not have adjustable VTA and is designed to work with cartridges having a dimension from stylus tip to the top of the cartridge mounting of 18 – 20mm (virtually all Ortofons) if your cartridge varies significantly from these dimensions you may need to use a spacer. 

The £3785 Naim Superuniti is an all in one box streamer, DAC and amplifier, but is it a Jack of all trades and master of none? John Scott finds out for Hifi Pig. 

After thoroughly enjoying Naim’s all-in-one Mu-So player at the end of last year, I thought it would be a good idea to try out their Superuniti streamer/DAC/amplifier combo.  The Mu-So is a great piece of kit but it’s not quite a replacement for a “proper” hifi setup.  The Superuniti, however, does set out to provide a high quality system in one box – just add your own speakers. I had heard the Superuniti doing its stuff in a couple of shop demos in the past and had been pretty impressed and so I was keen to put it through its paces at home.

UNBOXING AND APPEARANCE

The Superuniti arrived well protected in a large Naim branded box.  As a previous owner of a Naim 250 power amp, I was unsurprised at the weight of the box but I was grateful that I did not have to carry it far before laying it gently on my living room floor.  Accompanying the Superuniti inside the box were a power cable, wifi and Bluetooth aerials, a comprehensive instruction booklet and a remote control.

If I was asked to sum up the appearance of the Superuniti in three words, those words would be: solid, understated and classy.  It is available in a Henry Ford choice of colours – any colour you like as long as it is black – and that is just as it should be.

The Superuniti weighs in at 12.8kg.  Its front panel is reasonably minimalistic; the left hand side features a large, smooth volume control, mini toslink and USB inputs and a headphone output.  The centre of the panel contains a Naim logo which glows green when the unit is powered up and functions as a mute button when pressed.  Immediately to the right of this is a small multi-function display, featuring green text and this is flanked by an arrangement of 9 backlit – guess which colour –  buttons that control input and a host of other functions. While the display panel and the buttons provide flexibility in allowing the user to control the Superuniti from the front panel, as well as from the remote control and an iOS app, I personally never found the need to use them and arguably the Superuniti could be made to look even more classy if they were omitted.

The back panel is where all the action is with more inputs and outputs than you can shake a stick at.  These are listed in the specifications below so I won’t go into great detail here but they include S/PDIF, RCA, and toslink.  HDMI is not catered for, however.  Other outputs include a preamp out so that the Superuniti can be used with a separate power amplifier and a subwoofer out.  Aerial connections for FM and DAB radio are also provided. Surprisingly, there is no phono input.

The supplied remote control is Naim branded and clearly designed to be specifically used with the Superuniti.  It is intuitive to use but, for me, was rendered redundant by the iOS app.  As this is the same app that controls the Mu-So, I was already familiar with it but first-timers will get to grips with it quickly, and it will soon become your default means of controlling the Superuniti.

If you have read my Mu-So review you will know that it was a piece of cake to set up.  Unbelievably, the Superuniti was even easier.  All I had to do was connect my speakers, plug in the Ethernet cable and the power cable, switch it on and use the app to select the UPnP input and we were off and running.

THE SOUND

Before I really get into how the Superuniti sounds, indulge me, if you will, while I get all philosophical for a second or two.  It is a well established truism that hifi equipment needs some time to run in before it sounds at its best – indeed the instruction manual that accompanies the Superuniti states that this is the case. When the Superuniti arrived I was informed by Naim that this particular unit had been run in and aside from a short period of settling in should be good to go.   So, I left it switched on for a day and when I did listen to it, it sounded horrible. There was an unpleasant stridency in vocals and the soundstage seemed non-existent.  I retired to bed with a headache and exactly the same thing happened the next night.  This was worrying and was completely at odds with the sound I had experienced on the other occasions that I had heard the Superuniti do its stuff.   What I need to point out now though is that at this particular point in time I had just recently recovered from a bad bout of man-flu and although I was feeling to all intents and purposes okay, I did have to wonder whether the fault lay with the Superuniti or with me.  I had certainly been feeling run down but did I now need to be run in as well? After all, if hifi products are extremely complex then hifi reviewers – and  other normal humans – are infinitely more so. I’m glad to say that within the week the Naim or I – perhaps a bit of both – had got back “on song” and the Superuniti was sounding much more like I had expected it to.  So the next time your hifi isn’t thrilling you the way it usually does, stop and think for a while: is it maybe you that needs a bit of a tweak?

PRAT is a term that is often used in relation to Naim equipment – it has occasionally also been used in relation to our esteemed Editor [Oi, I do read this stuff you know – Ed.] Where Naim is concerned, it refers to Pace, Rhythm and Timing.  Throughout the time I spent with the Superuniti, I found that my feet and fingers were constantly tapping along to the music and that I was moving in my seat.  If I were the kind of person who gets up and dances, I’d have got up and danced.  This sense of rhythmic engagement is where the Superuniti really shines.

Some systems are edgy and exciting but result in fatigue after an hour or so of listening. The Superuniti is not one of those.  Hour after hour of enjoyment is guaranteed.  And it’s not just about excitement: While Diana Ross’ Love Hangover is like an  edge of your seat white water raft ride as the tension builds relentlessly, Shelby Lynne’s Just A Little Lovin’ is like luxuriating in a warm bath as her vocal envelopes and caresses you.  There is bags of excitement when the music calls for it but plenty of elegance and refinement as well.

I paired the Superuniti with my own Linn Keilidhs as well as a pair of  Audio GE Sincerus 80 floorstanders  that I had for review.  Both speakers retained their individual characteristics while sharing an open, detailed soundstage.  Playing Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring (Antal Dorati, Mercury Living Presence), with my eyes closed, it was easy to imagine the orchestra spread out in front of me and all of that pace, rhythm and timing was out there in full force.  Whatever kind of music you throw at it, the Superuniti opens it up for rediscovery.

CONCLUSION

Paired with a good pair of speakers, the Superuniti really does offer high-end hifi as a single box solution. The absence of a phono stage is a missed opportunity though and maybe something that Naim should reconsider given the vinyl resurgence since the unit was originally released.  You won’t get a lot of change out of £4000 so it’s by no means a cheap option but if space, aesthetics or just personal preference dictate that a collection of boxes and wires are not for you then the Superuniti needs to be on your short list.

AT A GLANCE

Sound Quality: The trademark Naim sound is present and correct with pace and excitement to the fore.

Build Quality:  Reassuringly solid and built to last – it’s a Naim, and that says it all.  

Value For Money: Not cheap by any means but could you put together a separate streamer, DAC and amplifier system of this quality for less? I don’t think so. 

Pros:

The precise, lively and dynamic sound you expect from Naim, without the hassle of individual components

Anything easier to set up would be hard to imagine

Understated good looks ooze quality

Cons:

Would be even better with a phono stage

Not a con as such but this is not one for the box swappers – if this is right for you, you might never need anything else

Price – £3,785

John Scott

Specifications:

Audio Inputs

– 1 x coaxial BNC – up to 24bits/192kHz

– 1 x coaxial RCA – up to 24bits/192kHz

– 3 x optical TOSlink – up to 24bits/96kHz

– 1 x front panel mini-TOSLINK – up to 24/96kHz

Analogue –  2 x RCA, 1 x front panel 3.5mm jack (combined optical), 1 x DIN

USB – 1 x front panel Type A socket

Input Sensitivity – 270mV at 47kΩ

Wi-Fi  – (802.11 g or n at 2.4GHz), F type (plus PAL adapter)

Antenna – 802.11 b/g at 2.4GHz

Spotify Connect, Tidal ,Bluetooth (SBC, AAC and aptX Classic, aptX Low Latency)

Audio Outputs:

Digital (S/PDIF) – 1 x BNC (75Ω)

Analogue – Speaker output, preamp output (RCA)

Power Output – 80W per channel into 8Ω, 120W per channel into 4Ω (0.1% THD both channel driven)

Frequency Response – 10Hz-20kHz, +0.1/-0.5dB

Signal-to-Noise Ratio – W85dB A-WTD ref 1W 8 Ω

Output Impedance – 22Ω

Load Impedance – 10kΩ min

Sub Output – 1 x RCA pair

Headphone Output – 1 x 3.5mm jack

Remote Control – Infra Red (RC5)

Audio Formats         

WAV (up to 24bit/192kHz)

AIFF (up to 24bit/192kHz)

FLAC (up to 24bit/192kHz)

DSD (single rate DSF64 & DFF64 only)

ALAC (up to 24bit/96kHz)

WMA (up to 16bit/48kHz) must be WMA 9.2

Ogg Vorbis (up to 16bit/48kHz)

M4a (CBR and VBR up to 320kbit/s)

MP3 (CBR and VBR up to 320kbit/s)

Playlists – (M3U, PLS)

Internet Radio Provider – vTuner 5* full service

Internet Radio Formats: Windows Media-formatted content, MP3, ACC, Ogg Vorbis streams and MMS

Multiroom    

Master: Will stream WAV, FLAC and AIFF (up to 24bit/48kHz), ALAC (up to 16bit/44.1kHz), AAC and MP3 (up to 16bit/48kHz) files only as MP3 320kbps quality.

DAB Tuning Range – Band III and L Band, F Type

FM Tuning Range – 87.5 – 108MHz, F Type

User Control

Handheld remote handset included and optional Naim app for iOS and Android.

Power Supply Voltage – 100V, 115V, 230V; 50 or 60Hz

Power Consumption – 400VA (max)

Dimensions (HxWxD) – 87 x 432 x 314 mm

Weight –12.8kg

Janine Elliot cuts a rug with the Black Rhodium Quickstep loudspeaker cables costing £400 for a 3m pair. 

I have always enjoyed listening to Black Rhodium products, having sold them as well as using them in my systems, particularly the now discontinued Rhapsody. Their clear portrayal of the music got me inspired, particularly the higher frequencies, and use of silver making them particularly good on my valve gear. Set up by Graham Nalty, he has been involved in the design and development and marketing of audio products since 1975 including amplifiers, cables and now components. The Black Rhodium factory is set in Derby where they use selected components and materials with a proven record for sound quality enhancement.

The name Black Rhodium itself was originally a stereo interconnect in which the wire was plated in rhodium, but the name Black Rhodium was arrived at when a particular wire turned black with oxidation, but remained a shiny finish where it had been plated in rhodium. The new Black Rhodium Quickstep loudspeaker cable was inspired by their Thunder cable and uses the same conductor as Foxtrot but is now fitted with the gorgeous looking Graham Nalty Legacy Range GN-1 straight Line Contact rhodium plated plugs (the Foxtrot uses their gold plated Z plugs). Indeed, they developed Quickstep and Harmony due to a customer telling them that whenever they tried any other cables they always went back to Thunder. That got Graham thinking that Thunder had special properties that the others did not;

“I isolated the differences between Thunder and the other Black Rhodium cables and built a test cable using these features. I then used the same principles to design Quickstep and Harmony, plus a number of other cables”.

On paper, Rhodium might not have such good conductivity as copper or silver, but Graham chose it because he believes it gives the best sound quality, reproducing the speed of the music better and making the music more exciting and dramatic, and revealing much more of the music. In my tests, that speed, excitement and detail of information was certainly profound.  Graham once tested interconnects in which the same wire was plated in gold, palladium, ruthenium and rhodium. Rhodium came out best, with palladium and ruthenium about the same, and gold last. To coat the whole of Quickstep with rare metals would be extremely expensive, and therefore silver-plated copper is used, and which works extremely well. Today’s value rhodium is about $650 for troy ounce (it hit $10,000 at one point in 2008), whereas silver is $19. Incidentally, copper is around $4500 for a tonne!

Build and Tech

Black Rhodium products have always been keenly priced, showing that excellent quality of build and audio quality can be obtained without selling the house. At £400 for a 3-metre version of Quickstep this is highly competitively priced both in terms of the looks and sound quality achieved. What immediately got me interested in the Quickstep was the flexibility of the cable itself, something that is vital for the orderly homeowner. For two pounds extra the cable braid is also available in white, yellow, red, green or blue if black doesn’t match with your furniture. A lovely thought. Designed to reject RFI and EMI interference as well as vibrations, the cable worked adequately surrounded by all the other cables in my set up.  The construction includes the use of two separate and complementary materials to effectively dampen mechanical vibrations. The science of cable making is very complex, not just about the metal or dielectric, and more than just scientific equations concerning L, C and R. I still wonder why some people can still say that all cables sound the same. With all else being equal the lower the capacitance the higher the inductance, and in a crossover capacitors block low frequencies and let high frequencies get through. The Quickstep having conductors further apart has an excellent low capacitance at around 80pF for the 3 metres, but the bass is still surprisingly tight and full, and the treble extended and fast. Indeed, cables can work much like your crossover, so it is essential that that you select one to work best with the rest of your equipment. The Quickstep has excellent details and speed particularly in the higher frequencies. Bass was surprisingly detailed and quick. ‘Transient Phase Distortion’ and ‘Proximity Effect’ distortion are reduced by using thick insulation which effectively increases the distance between conductors, as well as the braided cable design which reduces the magnetic field created by the two wires. The conductor itself comprises of 16 x 0.2mm diameter silver plated copper wires with silicone rubber insulation. Understanding the design of the cables helped me to back up my audible observations, and whilst, yes, the low capacitance and choice of materials meant the top end would be better, there was no loss of bass.

Sound

Using my Class-A Krell set-up initial listening gave a brilliantly clear and exciting soundstage playing the Polish Classical brass album “Trombastic Tutti Virtuosi” from For-Tune Productions.    Silver works well on brass instruments, and this combination gave an exciting and lively rendition of the music.

Whilst the bass wasn’t over pronounced it had a sense of energy that many speaker cables are unable to convey well. Imaging is also very detailed and tightly placed within the soundstage, with all music played without stress. David Bowie’s “The Next Day” is a real test of detail. This is not my favourite Bowie album but I now felt I wanted to listen to more of it. I always find there is too much compression and limiting in this album with all instruments competing for supremacy and some cables can just exacerbate the situation and make the whole muddy and complex. Quickstep was like cleaning your glasses after they have been covered in finger marks. Everything just opened up and I really began to enjoy these cables.  Track 4 “Love is Lost” was particularly well defined and more human, though I did miss some of the “edginess” that gives the track the emotion and pain that I felt was being portrayed in this track.  Listening to the new 180g Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald (Clare Teal, The Syd Lawrence Orchestra) opened up the sound significantly, particularly in terms of separation of the instruments within the soundstage, as well as improving transients of the brass instruments.

Conclusion

Quickstep is keenly priced at £400.00 for a 3m pair complete with the GN-1 Straight Line Contact rhodium plated plugs. For sound per pound this is an excellent choice for the audiophile offering a detailed soundstage with exceptional speed, and a sound that was very open and effortless. Well worth listening to.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:  Excellent construction and good looking GN-1 straight Line Contact rhodium plated plugs 

Sound Quaity:  Very controlled and extended top frequencies with an effortless but exciting portrayal of the music throughout the full audio range

Value For Money:  An extremely good set of results for the price. This is exceptionally good value, though if the price is too high then the cheaper Foxtrot uses the same cable though different plugs

Pros:

Excellent speed of top frequencies.
Openness
Effortless portrayal of the music
Excellent quality of build

Cons:

Some may find the bass is not prominent enough.

Price:

£400.00 for a 3m pair

Janine Elliot

Specifications

Outer diameter of cores 6mm

16 x 0.2mm diameter plated copper cores

Silicone rubber insulation thickness: 1.2mm

Capacitance of 3m length: 80pF

The Axis Voicebox S loudspeakers are an Australian design, collectively envisaged and implemented by two Aussie engineers John Riley – the creator of the concept and brand, along with Brad Serhan. Dan Worth checks out this $(US) 2500 standmount loudspeaker that incorporates a 50mm metal ribbon tweeter. 

John collaborated with Brad in respect of integration of a mid/bass driver for a small box design loudspeaker which would compliment his choice of 50mm metal ribbon tweeter. Fortunately Brad had spent time just recently with a 5.25″ Peerless Nomex paper cone driver which he felt would make an excellent addition to the ribbon John wished to use. The overall compliment resulted in a crossover point at 3khz utilising a fifteen element linkwitz Riley fourth order crossover and the Voicebox S prototype was born.

Initial testing of the design concept proved to be very satisfying and the company’s goal was to produce a speaker that was a clear statement, a unique sound which had all the presence of great British designs of the past giving excellent vocal performance and presence.

Cabinet construction is top rate, a deep lustrous piano black finish, rear ported, with a pair of binding posts which sit one above the other to one side of the rear of the cabinet. It was evident from the designs overall size of 7″ x 12″ x 8″ and completely solid and inert cabinet (with use of the knuckle wrap test) that these speakers were not going to produce large amounts of bass, but eluded to the reproduction of extremely controlled low frequencies. The small bookshelf speakers also come with some very pretty magnetically attachable metal grills which are not advised to be used during critical listening due to their mass, they are simply provided for an aesthetically pleasing layer of protection whilst not in use.

The VB-S’s frequency range is stated to be 60hz – 20khz at +/-2db but with their density at 5Ohm and nominal impedance of 83db take some real power to truly get going as I found out.

The speaker cabinets are built and fitted in China and John being a stickler for perfection makes regular trips to the Far East in order to check on quality control and overall build parameters. My pair were sent directly from China at a time when John was actually there overseeing the subcontractors at around the time of the Chinese New Year. Delivery of the speakers was very swift from the point of dispatch and I must say the packaging is very effective, simple and well thought out. So many times I’ve had speakers arrive which are packed with more than adequate materials for packaging but the design of the internal protection has been overlooked and instead of transferring vibration around the product it actually transfers it directly to the item causing load damage. 

Knowing our own rooms very well, we all have the ability to judge how a speaker should be initially placed in relation to front and side walls and of course to each other, so I made the usual calculations for a speaker of this type and size and sat back to listen. The initial listening showed to me that I could be a little I fussy about exact placement as I moved them around a little due to the incredibly wide dispersion of the sound. A little closer to the front wall, just under a foot away helped the bass a fraction, although these are not to be used for organ replay they really do get going with some good watts up them.

Sound 

When confronted with a speaker such as the VB-S one is immediately focuses heavily on the immensity of the detail produced, I can fully understand the choice of mid/bass driver to the metal ribbon and memories of Proac Tablettes Spring to mind, however, treble response and transients were clearly more articulated and full of integrity, combining huge agility with the drive unit. These are clearly attenuated in the bass but in their respective response I struggle to find a comparison to really express how engrossing the sound is within the designs parameters.

The tweeter is an absolute star, making Nils Lofgren’s strings sound just so naturally well defined, in fact I’d say I haven’t heard a top end to produce these notes so well. The decay of notes just floats and fades into the darkness with so much realism. I could hear nuances that hung around the soundstage for a time period I really wasn’t used to. My own Accuton tweeter has been carefully integrated into my redesigned crossover to take away its sharpness and when this is achieved correctly they are an absolute treat, but I’ve always been ever so fond of true ribbons and the VB-S’s top end is everything I want personally from a tweeter.

In relation with the drive unit of the VB-S, coherence and timing is absolutely on the money, I flooded the speakers with numerous vocalists and one of my test tracks is ‘I Can Explain’ from the wonderful Rachelle Farrell, a record holder for her vocal range. Although piano notes were a little thin on the ground at lower volumes Rachelle’s voice was absolutely pristine, giving depth of tone, clearly controlled upper mids and dynamics that were bang on the money, conveying the true magic of her tones. In fact the sound is that good it just left me screaming ‘I want more the bass!’ to fill out the bottom end to engage with me a completeness from top to bottom that could only be imagined to be obsessive in its entirety.

If the VB-S’s were a lesser speaker I don’t think my comment would have been supplemented from brain to mouth but they are that engaging I want to hear this plus lower frequencies in a design that could be so advantageous that it’s implementation will truly set new standards.

Recently a British design company has been working on an extension to the famous LS3/5A. A pair of bass cabinets which act as stands for the monitors and also produce the backbone to the sound, adding lower frequencies which will match the speed and sonic signature of that speaker. I remember Neat Acoustics did this with the first Petite, manufacturing a pair of additional units called ‘Gravitas’. I’d strongly urge Axis to consider this, or a floorstanding design with split internal cabinet design in order to really make a mark on the market. If I had a seriously accomplished sealed subwoofer here at the time of this review I would have integrated it with the little VB-S’s but anything less than seriously impressive just will not stand up to the astonishing ability of this design within its own boundaries of frequency response.

Back to what I have here for review then…

The soundstaging of the Axis is equally as impressive as its natural detail retrieval, a small speaker by its very nature will image very well but the Axis VB-S manages to produce an image that seems beyond the boundaries of what the ribbon should be capable of, with extended depth that has a true encapsulation effect, with micro details floating mysteriously around the listener. Small acoustic venues and live events were particularly engaging, allowing for a real feel of the venue. Vocalists and musicians were clearly defined at the forefront of the performance while crowds applauded or made remarks of excitement.

With the sheer amount of detail the VB-S is able to convey and in such a controlled manner, I was intrigued to hear how lesser quality recordings would effect the stability of the sound. This really could go one way or the other as detail intense speakers tend to become grainy and well controlled treble can act almost as a filter for the overflow of this grain. I’m pleased to say that although the performance was reflective of the lesser quality music from say Spotify, the seesaw was better balanced than I expected and more towards what I hoped for. The VB-S seem to reproduce the top end to the point where its limit is reached and then say stop, that’s it, without ever sounding constrained, blunted or even boisterous through attenuation.

A few weeks later I took these over to Dominic’s place, he has a smaller listening space to me which we believed to be perfect for the Axis. I have brick walls and a concrete floor where he has plasterboard walls and floorboards. The suiting for the VB-S was more complimentary in the bass with added extension from the cavities in his home. Whether this is a true and effective response for the speakers could be debated as I still feel that they respectively require a specific design to lower the frequency range, but it was great to hear the upper frequencies shine as much as they did in my larger room, proving their implementation to again be a real triumph in differing setups and situations.

I’ve spent a great deal of time and emotional attachment to the Axis Voicebox S, they give a sense of freedom to the sound that is very hard to achieve and can only be found in few speakers. They have a complex crossover which is implemented in such a way that they sound as if they have none. The VB-S don’t limit themselves by musical genre, nor do they shy away from complex material. I could see these speakers in a floorstanding format and even an active playback studio monitor (not a monitoring speaker). Vocals are simply stunning and the top end is exquisite, I’ve really enjoyed my time with these speakers and commend John Riley on having the balls to produce a speaker of such capabilities that has such a high cut off point, but my God they work!

Conclusion 

The Axis Voicebox S loudspeakers from Australian company Axis are an absolute eye opener, although I wish I had more bass to compliment the maturity of information presented within their design boundaries, in the size of room I use as my listening space. In smaller rooms with adequate amplification and quality components, they are an experience I feel honoured to have had and I’m already considering the metal ribbon over the ceramic Accuton for my own speakers, which I have now ordered some even better crossover components for after hearing the VB-S’s top end performance.

The VB-S deserves the best associated equipment that you are able to pair with them.

They are tactile, agile and dynamic detail enriched small standmount speaker which can handle and prefer some good power up them. They are able to achieve good authority at louder volume levels, whilst at lower levels at night still have an insight to the music that is undeniably addictive and magical. This is how a high-end, small speaker is done – period.

AT A GLANCE 

Sound Quality: The Axis Voicebox S has a magical grip on the listener, presenting masses of detail that never border on analytical and strike an impressive balance between information and musical accuracy. 

Build Quality: Fit and finish is truly high-end, they look like they sound good! 

Value For Money: On audition one can appreciate value for money and simply fall in love with their captivating charm. 

Pros:

Intensity of natural detail

Super strong vocals

Imaging is exceptional

Communicative and exciting 

Cons:

Overall size limits bass 

Price:

$ (US) 2500 

Dan Worth

Specifications:

Type: Two-way, bass-reflex

Drivers: 50mm metal true ribbon, 5.25″ Peerless Nomex paper cone.

Frequency response: 60Hz–20kHz +/-2dB

Sensitivity: 83dB

Nominal impedance: 5 ohms

Dimensions: 7″ x 12″ x 8″

Weight: 14 lbs.

Westminster Lab makes no claims as to how good it is, rather just invite you to enter into their ‘new dimension’ of music experience. According to them words are totally futile. But that would make for a short review, so, not known for keeping quiet, Janine Elliot wanted to tell readers about this unique amp costing £32 000.

Background and Build

The name WestminsterLab is a result of 29 year old boss Angus Leong and his two friends meeting in London to discuss starting a company making exotic hifi and the name they chose seemed to fit very well; Westminster has old school architecture but inside is a high-tech centre of the UK. This is an apt description, too, of his Unum power amplifier up for review here; with a minimalist mono-block design that could easily sit in the Tate Gallery and which hides considerable high-tech engineering ideas inside it. Angus took GCSEs, A-levels and appropriately both a Bachelor and Master degree in architecture whilst in Britain, though he is Hong Kong born from where the Unum is handcrafted and designed; only the cables department of the company is in the UK.  He started listening to music at the age of 12 and soon realised he couldn’t afford the high-end products he loved so started making his own gear. Much later he met some friends and started making cables, and now he is manufacturing both the Unum and a variety of cables, some of which I used in this review.

At £32,000 for the basic Unum, £42,000 for the Unum Edition and £66,000 for the Unum Connoisseur these are by no means cheap, but the amount of hand crafting in these product puts most companies to shame, whatever their price. This is a 30kg block of 6082 aluminium, which is then machined down to 8kg for everything else to be tightly packed inside, taking the weight of the entry model to 21kg, rising to 23kg for the top Connoisseur model. Clues to the rise in weight relate to the addition of stainless steel, and improvements in design and components, which also put up the price.  In the £44,000 model, for example, there is a better power supply, better matching of transistors and resistors and a gold plated heatsink. Facilities in the more expensive models include things like 12v remote trigger.

The finishes included ‘Premium Rose Gold’ for an additional £4,500.00 and ‘Platinum’ for £5,500.00.  There are even options for further ancillary improvements to be made, such as replacing the gold plated copper heatsink with a dark glossy black DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) coated copper heatsink. This material is deposited onto the copper with a technology called Physical Vapour Deposition which offers, according to WestminsterLab, a durable surface which “enhances thermal and audio performance”.  On each corner of the unit there are huge machined brass grounding spikes which you can screw from above to alter their height and then place stainless steel finishing corner pieces over the top once the two mono-blocks are made level.

The looks and construction are a major part of the design of each of the 23.2cm x 7.2cm x 50.1 cm mono units, though care in design of the electronics is equally painstakingly thought out. Components in this Class-A/b design are sourced from a wide variety of manufacturers and types, carefully chosen by both performance analysis and listening experiences. 

Rather than simply being soldered onto a cheap printed circuit board (PCB), components are instead installed onto a plastic PEEK chassis. Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is a colourless organic polymer which comes from the polyaryl ether ketone (PAEK) family, which is used in engineering applications. Printed circuit board are of course the standard in the industry for their ease of use and low cost, as well as space saving qualities. In the good old days before PCB’s, components, as in my Leak Stereo 20, were connected directly to each other in what was known as a “point-to-point” construction, sometimes with terminal strips or “tag boards” or turret boards.  This meant that routes for the components could be shorter than that on a PCB, but because the components were themselves further apart the size of the unit would be bigger, something of an anathema to most manufacturers from the 70’s. Whilst PCBs would reduce the overall surface area of components, one of their drawbacks can be unwanted effects from this impure transmission route; a mixture of metals and bad contacts. Signals from a component have to pass through a soldering point with its soldering pad connecting to a thin flat copper layer taking it all the way to the next soldering pad and soldering point before finally reaching the next component. Since RoHS even the use of solder has meant changing from a low-heat lead solder to a higher heating silver based solder which costs more to buy and heat up, doing anything but help the universe, and can have the side effect of poor or dry joints.  I remember writing a piece in HiFi News when these changes first started, with some manufacturers noticing changes in sound quality, not just about effects of different solder, but also different materials in the components themselves, and even worries that the solder could come away from the PCB at low temperatures.  WestminsterLab’s solution is, as I mentioned earlier, to use a machined plastic PEEK chassis which provides excellent dielectric qualities, being a thick plastic with equidistant holes for inserting components which are then soldered to the next component in the circuit, a bit like the practice wannabe designers, like myself, using ‘perfboards’ created their prototype designs.

In the Unum there is no chance of knocking components loose as this amplifier weighs a ton, and all joints are mechanically joined with hooks to give even greater join. They had considered a PTFE board as the dielectric, but it is very soft, so may not have held the components securely enough.

Next, fasteners and bracing materials needed to be well thought about; metal creates magnetism and eddy currents, so they decide to go for Titanium screws, which have a higher tensile strength than common stainless steel screws. Similarly, to affix transistors to the brass heatsinks, rather than using metal screws, Westminster Lab decided to use PEEK screws, which they believe give a clearer, purer and more direct sound over metal screws. They found PEEK was hard, stiff and stable enough, as well as being an excellent dielectric, so no eddy current.

In designing the circuitry use of ears was considered as important as looking at computer simulations or technical readings. WestminsterLab wanted to produce a pure and clean sound, reproducing as close as possible the original sources. That then made them consider what internal shielding should be used inside the solid aluminium frame, and ultimately how internal wiring should be constructed. A detailed investigation by WestminsterLab looked at materials for the wire, the dielectric and even looking at what degree of twisting should be deployed. In summary, Carbon fibre is extensively used as shielding materials for both amplifier and cables, with cabling twisted at various angles depending on where it is deployed in the circuit. What they found out was that capacitance and inductance change depending on the angle it is wound at; a big angle will generate a bigger capacitance and lower inductance they say. In their tests a single angle gave a particular resonance to a particular frequency range which iwas not good for multi-frequency musical signal. To solve this, they decided there should be different angles, coming up with their own self-formulated ‘Vari-Twist’ design, whereby the signal cable is twisted at varying angles throughout the circuit. The inductance of the cable keeps changing in order to minimize the resonance with particular frequencies yet at the same time interference and the magnetic field are still minimized.  The art of cable design and manufacture is a big business, and in this review I also used WestminsterLab’s own mains and connector cables.

The unit itself has an off/on toggle on the underside below an etched out symbol next to the words ‘WestminsterLab’ which light up firstly red and then bright white when it is ready for listening to. It’s so nice not to see a simple circular hole for an LED to be inserted. To make the stencil they use an industrial process called EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) to mill out the complicated graphic shape. A lot of thought has gone into even the indicator of these amplifiers.

At the back are Neutrik XLR’s;  the male socket for input and a female for output ‘pre’ the amplification, so you can send the input to further amplifiers if you want to bi- or tri-amp. There is no need for labelling as the male/female XLRs tell you all you need to work out how to connect up. The loudspeaker binding posts are WBT. There is a slight dimple in the stainless-steel top corners of the Unum so they won’t slide about if put more than one unit on top of each other.

As the unit is quite shallow in size, fitting in a normal toroidal transformer is not easy, so they use an ‘O’ type transformer which is more efficient than usual toroidals, and, according to them, offers cleaner, purer and faster power due to its different iron-core design. Standard toroidal transformers are themselves very efficient, and Angus claims his USA made ‘O’ toroidal to be 95% efficient; with no leak from the core and low eddy current. A second toroidal is used for non-audio functions, such as controls, protection and the LEDs.

Power transistors are first mounted onto a single piece of copper and then mounting this piece of copper onto the aluminium chassis. Controlling their temperature through the clever heatsink helped keep the output sound more stable and dynamic, according to Angus. The power transistors are mounted close together inside a gold plated copper heatsink and then closed up like a sandwich; helping to keep them cooler and all operating at the same temperature. The body of the Unum is solid aluminium and this also acts as a heatsink. The whole amplifier was surprisingly cool in operation for a Class A/B product.

The amplification circuit itself was initially a total surprise to me in several ways. Firstly, the unit is quite shallow, kept very cool, and the amplification section only takes up a corner of the frame, so I assumed it was actually Class-D. Having a fairly small main toroidal power supply wasn’t what I expected either. This unit is actually Class A/B, though the Class-A first section only operates for around ½ Watt which is much less than I would normally like or expect; around 5 Watt would be a ball-park number for me. The Class-B section takes it to around 95 watts @ 8Ω RMS (around 190W peak). This is not a particularly big amp in terms of power, but what it really does well is control everything it plays.

I really did enjoy this amplifier more than I thought I could, and all was made even more enjoyable when using their cables. The Ultra XLR 1m interconnect is £3200, 2.5m Ultra speaker cable is £5,040 and their 1.5m Ultra mains cable is £3600.

Sound

The Oak and the Ash (The King’s Singers) is a very sparse recording and this amplifier gave the music all the space it needed to breathe, without any hint of pressure. Using my Graham Audio LS5/9’s as loudspeakers, the Minnesota Orchestra Pictures at an Exhibition, “The Hut of Baba-Yaga” Mussorgsky, had all the oomph needed to get the movement in full flow, but the mystery of the middle section had so much patience that it felt the music was slowing down. The kettle drum outbursts were clear and fast as they needed to be. Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony is my favourite of the nine, particularly – as a viola player – the second movement, which has a great solo for the instrument. This movement always gets me in floods of tears with its emotion and this performance from The Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra (Herbert Kegel) didn’t leave me dry. The saxophone in the Yuri Honing Trio “Walking on the Moon” was walking in air, contrasting with the urgency in the toms. Each instrument of the trio was positioned in their own well-defined space; the double bass and saxophone very forward in the soundspace; my Leak sends it all to the back in contrast, so I felt very much involved with the musicians.

My old favourite ‘New Orleans Bump’, Wynton Marsalis, includes trumpet, clarinet, banjo and drums, all carefully placed in the recording and this can sound a little rough using some amplifiers, especially the trumpet, but this amplifier kept it all under control and with no hint of bitterness. Wynton was born a year after me, but in his life as a trumpeter, composer, teacher, music educator, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City he has done so much to promote classical and jazz music, particularly to young audiences.  The drum solo in Cotton Tail (Dee Dee Bridgewater) was precise and fluid. The audience applause in this live recording actually sounded like an applause, something some amplifiers are not that good at. But at £32K-£66K this monoblock amplifier pair should be good.

Only in Rickie Lee Jones Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, did I find that the vocal was a little less clear than some amplifiers; her voice is not always clear, but I had hoped this amplifier could de-mist the vocals like it did so well to the accompanying acoustic guitar. The problem is that if the voice sounds too clear then you know there is some top-heavy EQ going on, so getting it just right is not easy. She should still sound a bit like she is yawning throughout the piece. The house Krell Class-A KAV250a gave a sound that was further back in the soundstage, and once I had swapped from the WestminsterLab to the Krell I immediately wanted to go through the backache of re-plugging it back in. What the Unum did do, though, was make her voice more real than many amplifiers do.  Whilst the Krell has a rather intimate relationship with the AC supply; a gigantic toroidal transformer, over 50,000 microfarads of filter capacitance, and a 2000VA rating, the WestminsterLab appears modest on paper with just 680VA.

This amp might be more Class-B than anything else but it was more in control and with less distortion than one would normally expect a Class-B amplifier to have. This amp had far more up its sleeve than its modest spec might suggest.  The Unum has control, fun, space, excitement, speed and good looks, to the point I really didn’t want to give it back.

At the moment there is no distributor in Europe, but if you have the cash spare to buy a Unum you can do so directly from the manufacturer with a “build time” of a week for each basic mono model, rising to a month for the Connoisseur.

There are a number of amplifiers out there in this price range, so do consider them as well, but what WestminsterLab have done is aim for perfection, which cannot be done cheaply.  Angus tells me “Over engineering is our game”.  Cost is not a consideration in the building of this amp, and they begin with the middle, £44,000 model, and then created the other two models from this starting point. What WestminsterLab has done is forget business and just work to create good audio. If you want a pair, then you will be entering into an exceptional members-only club of fine audio.

Conclusion

‘E Pluribus Unum’ is the motto of the USA; “out of many, one”. In a world of many amplifiers WestminsterLab want there to be no other amplifier like the Unum, and in many respects this is the case.

This is a very special amplifier, one that amazed me, not only in its Rolls-Royce build, but also its unfettered, accurate and musical performance, and not putting aside its technological claims. It might be tame in terms of facilities and power, but the age of powerful monoliths is a tad old hat some would say.

All the care taken in design and assembly of this mono-block make for a very clean and very accurate sound. If you want lots of grunt and an extravert sound then you’ll need to look elsewhere. This one is just plain honest.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:  Superb attention to quality of build 

Sound Quality:  Detailed and well controlled audio, covering all frequencies with ease. Exceptionally low distortion for the Class-B stage  

Value For Money:  At £32,000 for the base model this is a considerable outlay, but for this you will get an excellent sound quality and a clarity and speed of sound that is addictive 

Pros:

A unique product
Bass slam and speed
Accurate and musical performance
Low distortion
Impressive looks

Cons:

Modest Class-A side of 1/2W, but that Class-B stage is epic
Rather a lot of money

Price:

£32,000

SPECIFICATIONS

Power:
190 watts @ 8Ω
380 watts @ 4Ω
720 watts @ 2Ω

Power ( True RMS ):
95 watts @ 8Ω
190 watts @ 4Ω
360 watts @ 2Ω 

Frequency Response: 5 Hz to 75 kHz, -1 dB, 10Hz to 40 kHz, ±0.1 dB 

Distortion: (95 watts @ 8Ω) <0.1% @ 1 kHz 

Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 103 dB, A-weighted 

Input: 1 balanced XLR input 

Output: 1 balanced XLR output 

Input Impedance: 200 kΩ 

Output Impedance: 0.10Ω 

Dimensions: W232 x H72 x D501 mm 

Weight: 21kg

TAGA Harmony make a wide range of products and today Stuart Smith takes a listen to the company’s €2380 Platinum F-100 SE Loudspeakers.

We’ve looked gear from TAGA Harmony in the past ( here ) so I’m not going to bore you with their background other than to say they’re a Polish company whose products are designed and engineered in Europe and who have their own, dedicated manufacturing facilities in China.

The C word has had bad press in recent years with questions about build quality and reliability, but from the moment the two large boxes arrived it’s clear that TAGA don’t really fit that mould, and indeed I think in general Chinese products have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years.

Once you get the speakers out of their well packed boxes what you are greeted with is a gorgeous looking pair of very glossy, real rosewood veneered floorstanders that look very smart and classy indeed. Should you choose, you can also get them in piano black or white (these cost slightly less at €2250 inc VAT), or rosewood with a matt finish. They come with dedicated stands that bolt onto the bottom of the speakers and spikes that finish of the sophisticated look of these speakers.

The Platinum F 100 SEs are a three way design with a 1 inch (25mm) tweeter, a 5.25 inch (133mm) midrange driver and two 6.5 inch (165mm) bass drivers. They have a nominal impedence of 4 Ohms, sensitivity of 92dB and have a large front firing port.  The tweeter is a TAGA Pure Titanium Tweeter Dome (TPTTD-II) (TAGA like their anachronyms as you’ll see) whilst midrange is provided by the TPACD-II (TAGA Pure Aluminium Cone Driver) and the two bass drivers are TWCD-Is (TAGA Woolen Cone Driver).  The enclosures themselves are TLIE (TAGA Low Interference Enclosure) which is a rigid MDF structure with walls of 18mm – the knock test proves them to be pretty inert but not as “dead” as some.

There’s a grille included and this is firmly kept in place with eight doodads that are very tight ensuring there’s no rattle – indeed when trying to remove them first of all I assumed they were fixed in place, but they do come off and I much prefer to see a loudspeaker in all its glory rather than covered up. I do have a very minor niggle here that, in truth it’s being a bit OCD, but the branding on the driver surrounds is not centralised on any of the speakers other than the mid driver. I see why this has been done (screws are in the way) but it would have been nice to have them lined up…an inconsequential grumble indeed! Visually they have an air of being a cross between the Signature and Esprit range of speakers from Triangle.

Round the back of the speakers you get a nicely finished plate with the two pairs of good quality binding posts that will accept spades, bananas or bare wire. You can bi-wire or bi-amp if you like, but for the duration we used a single amp and a single set of cables.

There’s good sense in partnering equipment for review with gear that is commensurate with the kind of things a member of the public is likely to partner it with. I see little wisdom in putting this sub 2500 Euro speaker on the end of our reference system where the price of a pair of interconnects is almost equivalent in price. So, I put together a little system I felt would be in keeping with the kind of thing folks would themselves put together and this included the excellent little Clones Audio 25i integrated, the Leema Acoustics Elements compact disc player, wired with Chord Company’s Anthem Reference interconnects and their Epic Reference speaker cables. 

Sound

I have a bit of a liking for front ported loudspeakers in the main as they are usually pretty unfussy about positioning and for the duration we had them well out into the room and away from walls with a slight toe-in towards the listening position that itself was well out into the room. The speakers had come from a previous review and running in consisted of little more than a quick blast through a few CDs to blow away the cobwebs.

First up a bit of Miles Davis and Kind Of Blue. Initial impressions were that this speaker is a class act with a nice and detailed presentation, but without over-blowing scale and dynamics. Of course you can still tell that this is a box speaker, but the sound-stage expands well beyond the loudspeakers and has good depth and height to it. Musicians sit where they should and there’s a feeling that you are listening to a more expensive speaker than you actually are. It’s quite an “audiophile” sounding speaker that will appeal to those looking for a smooth, balanced and unforced presentation that is easy to get on with and very easy to get lost in. You may think I’m suggesting that the Platinum F-100 SE is a little polite and perhaps rolled off at the top-end, but it’s not; Davis’ trumpet has all the required rasp and bite you would expect and microdetail in the little snare brushes and the like are all there to give you a good representation of the recording and the recording space. Nothing really jumps out at you and suggests that the speakers are over emphasizing any particular frequency range, despite my initial thoughts that the aluminium cone driver would be a little harsh sounding…it’s just not!

Lyn Stanley is the darling of the audiophile community around the world and these speakers were crying out for her Interludes album to be slotted into the CD player. The album opens with Lyn singing the opening lines to How Long Has This Thing Been Going On? acapella and you immediately sit up and take notice. Her voice is elegant and refined and it suits these loudspeakers to a tee – unforced, clear and untroubled. But this is ‘audiophile music’ and to my mind it’s relatively easy to make a system shine with this kind of well recorded program  – that’s why it’s used so much at shows and the like and so without further ado it’s time to wake up the TAGA Harmony speakers, and perhaps the neighbours, with something a little less restrained and much more raucous.

And so onto Daft Punk’s magnum opus Random Access Memories. This is an absolutely fantastically produced record and a good physical workout for any loudspeaker. It’s one of those records that can sound good on a lot of systems but can also sound truly magnificent in the right system. What comes to the fore here is that at its price-point this should be a mediocre performer, but with this record you are getting a nicely rounded and grown up presentation. I know this record inside out and it’s one we always play at some point during a review. On Giorgio By Giorgio his spoken word is a little forward in the mix but once the music begins you are presented with a nice, tight and tuneful bass that isn’t overblown or over-exaggerated, perhaps a little light if anything. No, these speakers aren’t etching the mix out in front of the listener as you would expect with the best, but for the money being asked they do a sterling job – some may actually prefer this less absolutely truthful presentation, this is, after all, a loudspeaker for the home rather than a monitor/tool for dissecting a record to pieces… in short it’s very listener friendly. The track that for me defines Daft Punk is the final track on RAM, the absolutely spectacular Contact. It’s a track that really does separate the men from the boys in many ways and in absolute terms (and do keep in mind our everyday listen is the Avantgarde Duo XDs) there could be more dynamic punch and hit (particularly in the snares) and things could be more separated in the mix but (and this is crucial for a loudspeaker to get past this point) I still got the Pavlovian Goosebumps at 4 minutes.

At 92dB sensitivity it struck me that it would be remiss of me not to throw some valves at the TAGAs and so I plumbed in the Qualiton A20i integrated we have here for just such occasions. It’s a little Class A amp using Tung-Sol 5881 drive tubes that, as its name suggests offers up just 20Watts a channel. Mad Professor is the undisputed heavyweight champion of British dub reggae and his album Science and The Witchdoctor has been a firm favourite here for well over two decades. No, this is not the most refined of music, but it demands to be played loud. Twenty tube Watts up these and turned up to nice volumes really gets these speakers dancing. Bass is controlled and never bloaty and the spatial effects that make dub what it is are all there. I’ve mentioned being refined and classy previously, and this is important for many different kinds of music we’ve played earlier, but for me a speaker needs to be able to boogie and have that dance factor, and the right music turned up loud and these TAGAs do well.

Conclusion 

These are a pretty luxurious statement that will grace many homes and appearance-wise they look like a much more expensive loudspeaker. Thankfully this is carried through with their presentation and what you get is a really nice and elegant sound with lighter material that will please many who listen to this kind of music. They’re also not too fussy about where you sit and will sound good even out of the sweet spot which is a bonus for the kind of people I think these will appeal to.

They also boogie too and you can turn them up and get the party going with the proper music. I do feel that you need to really turn the volume up to get the very best out of them with this kind of stuff…but then that’s what it was made for!

In absolute terms there are better loudspeakers out there, but the €2380 TAGA are asking for these seems to be very reasonable, and if you have this money to spend on a floorstander then an audition is a must. Again, when compared to our much more expensive reference there are flaws – they can get a little confused with more hectic music and the stereo image isn’t as holographic and etched as some may prefer, but for the money you’re getting great looks and very, very acceptable sonics with good detail and a fatigue-free presentation.

The F-100s aren’t going to wow you with hifi histrionics and fireworks, but sit back with your favourite tipple, put on the music you love and let them take you with the flow.

I really enjoyed my time with them.

AT A GLANCE 

Build Quality:  Well put together and luxurious looking

Sound Quality: Sound more expensive than they are and have a laidback, and smooth presentation many audiophiles will love at lower volumes. They can also move air and party when asked.  

Value For Money: Excellent value for money package 

Pros:

Look great

Sound like a more expensive loudspeaker

Audiophile type presentation

Easy to listen to for long periods

Crank up the volume and they’re great fun

Cons:

Can get a tad confused with complex passages

That audiophile presentation won’t suit everyone 

Price :

€2380

Stuart Smith

SPECIFICATIONS 

Design: Floorstanding, 3-way, 4 drivers,

Bi-wiring

25mm MDF front and 18mm walls TLIE enclosure

Crossover points: 700Hz, 2.5kHz

High-Frequency Driver: 25mm (1”)

Midrange Driver: 133mm (5.25″)

Bass Driver: 2 x 165mm (6.5″)

Recommended Amplifier Power: 20-280W

Frequency Response: 28Hz-40kHz

Impedance: 4 ohm

Sensitivity: 92dB

Dimensions (H x W x D): 108.9 x 25 x 34 cm

Weight (net): 53.3 kg pair

These standmounters use a good few interesting design features and cost £1199. Ian Ringstead takes a listen. 

Markaudio Sota is a brand that is new to me so I was intrigued when asked to review one of their loudspeaker models the Cesti B. Scott Lindgren one of the design team based here in the UK kindly dropped the review pair off and we had a good chat about the company and the model under review.

What Markaudio Sota are aiming for with Cesti B is ‘simply’ to provide an attractive, reasonably priced, quality standmount which offers something a bit different to the norm in terms of its engineering design. They think it’s valid, and has advantages over the more usual approaches – but of course, ultimately that call belongs to the listener.

Cabinet 

The Cesti B enclosure is a bass reflex design with a moderately damped alignment and a slightly flared front vent to provide reasonable positioning flexibility in a variety of rooms. In most UK spaces you should find them good for a solid 40Hz. Construction is an MDF/HDF variant with piano lacquer finish (available options are black, red & white). The Sota 5, which is being used as a tweeter in the Cesti B, is an open-back unit, so is isolated from the bass driver in its own aerodynamically shaped sealed sub-chamber. There is a shallow waveguide machined into the front baffle -the speakers are supplied as mirrored pairs and can have this providing a very gentle bit of lateral dispersion either toward the sides of the room or toward each other. It gives a little extra positioning flexibility. Binding posts are a low-resistance 5-way type with good quality OFC copper internal wiring. Grills are standard and magnetically attach to the front baffle so there aren’t any peg holes etc. There isn’t a vast amount of difference in the sound whether the grills are on or off.

Drivers & Crossover 

Cesti B uses Mark audio’s Sota 11 and Sota 5 units (names come from their diameter in cm). These are actually all-range / wideband drivers; the Sota 11 will make < 40Hz depending on box design, and can cheerfully motor up to 23KHz or so. The Sota 5 is good for < 100Hz when run solo and can get up to about 30KHz. The drivers and crossover are really where the Markaudio are a bit different. They’re both custom designed and made in-house; the design is by Mark Fenlon, who developed the Alpair, CHR, CHP and Pluvia ranges of full-range drivers for Markaudio. Both have very long stroke suspension, and are extremely low-mass. Where things get particularly interesting from an engineering perspective is the cone design. If you look at them, you’ll see they have a very shallow profile compared to drivers of similar size, giving a very wide dispersion angle. It gets even more interesting, because the cones share the same profile, so their dispersion behaviour is almost identical, which is not the case for a typical cone midbass + dome tweeter. Makes using low order filters much more practical -in the case of Cesti B, 2nd order acoustic (and electrical), which as you know has less in the way of phase-rotation than higher order slopes. As a bald principle, lower order slopes in Scott’s view are preferable to steeper slopes, but that usually comes with a large bunch of caveats over power-handling, dissimilar dispersion behaviour, stop-band rejection etc. In this case, the Sota 5 has about 4x the radiating area of a typical 1in dome tweeter, about 5x – 6x the radiating area of a 3/4in dome, long stroke suspension & the same basic cone profile, so Markaudio are able to use them with more flexibility than is often the case.

As you can see Scott and the team of designers at Markaudio put a lot of time and effort into each model with every detail being meticulously researched and developed. On unpacking the Cesti B, I was very impressed with the fit and finish. I requested the piano black option and the finish was immaculate. I used them on my resident 28 inch wooden stands to great effect and they looked very smart in my living room.

Running in didn’t take long and Scott felt that this design was not fussy about long burn in periods. Being a decent sized cabinet the Cesti B had no trouble producing a good bass end down to 40Hz in my living room and had a very clear full frequency range as it was designed to. What impressed me most was when I got used to the presentation I could really hear the layering in the sound stage and really good depth. I can only put this down to the clever design of the full range drive units, crossover and that contoured front baffle. It was an effect that remained, being a characteristic of the Cesti B and Scott had said he felt the Cesti B was an unsung hero in the range.

I tried Audiolab’s 8300A amp and my Tisbury Audio passive pre / Meridian 556 amp combination and both worked seamlessly. The Cesti B’s doesn’t appear to be amp fussy and were easy to drive, but like any good design they should respond well to much more expensive electronics. 

Compared to larger floorstanders I am currently trying the Cesti B won’t plumb that lower octave, but still make a valiant attempt and don’t sound out of control like some other designs I have used or reviewed in the past. When you don’t listen to larger floorstanders for a while you soon forget their lower end advantage if designed properly and the human brain is fantastic at adapting. I recently got Christine and the Queens new album “Chaleur Humane” with the catchy single Tilted on it that has been well received. Recorded here in the UK, the album has some good low synth bass lines, and the quirky arrangements Christine likes worked well on the Cesti B and the recording techniques were easily picked out. As Scott told me with both drive units in the Cesti B being full range, they have a great ability to not sound limited or restrained to a particular frequency range and so blend seamlessly along with the crossover design. 

I could happily live with the Cesti B and along with a run of speaker designs I have recently had the pleasure to review modern designs have really got rather good. With a lot of clever design collaboration and excellent build quality the Cesti B are a welcome newcomer onto the audio scene.

AT A GLANCE     

Build Quality:  Excellent for the money.

Sound Quality:  Detailed, well layered sound.

Value for Money:  With a price of £1199 this is excellent value.

Pros:

Great musicality and detail

Look great in the piano lacquer gloss finishes

Unless you are a bass fiend plenty of low end for most people

Can handle power well

Good packaging

Cons:

None really other than the fact the drive units are delicate with regards to handling so don’t go poking them and treat with respect

Price: £1199

Ian Ringstead

The £950 Revel Concerta2 M16 standmount loudspeakers are the latest in a very long line of designs from the renowned American brand – part of Harman’s Luxury Audio stable, which includes Mark Levinson, Lexicon and JBL’s flagship Synthesis and ‘Project’ speakers. Dan Worth takes a listen for Hifi Pig. 

Having a sleek, curved appearance in high-gloss black and white finishes with no visible fixings, the M16s would be a great fit in any modern home.The M16’s system comprising a 1″ aluminium tweeter mounted in an Acoustic Lens Waveguide and a 6.5″ aluminium/ceramic (Micro-Ceramic Composite) mid/bass driver is built for any small to medium listening space, having a compact cabinet measuring 37 x 22 x 27cm (H x W x D). With a sensitivity of 86db and a 6ohm impedance, the M16 will represent a comfortable load for amplifiers 50-120wpc.

My review samples arrived in the very attractive gloss white finish. The curved design sweeps backwards from the glossy baffle, which is adorned with a finely sculpted tweeter waveguide situated above a neatly engineered mid/bass driver and surround. Both drivers are fixed from the inside and the grilles are attached magnetically to maintain the elegant styling.

At 2.1 kHz the crossover frequency is a little lower than you’d normally expect from a 2-way standmount. I suspect this is down to the waveguide providing a better match with the directivity of the mid/bass driver, blending the sound for a one-source effect – a little like the technique employed by Amphion speakers, if I remember correctly.

The Sound

In my listening space the first impression was of surprisingly extended bass, far belying the cabinet size. After further listening though I found it difficult to really hear the rest of the spectrum properly. Mounted on my trusted Monitor Audio Platinum stands, which are an ideal size for the M16s, the new Concerta design sounded, well, muddy. I’d heard how Revel goes to extraordinary lengths in optimising every aspect of its designs, meticulously evolving the sound on and off-axis using the most scientific test bench analysis backed-up by double-blind listening experiments on a giant mechanical turntable, purpose built at Revel’s development facility to fix the speakers in exactly the same position for every audition. Somehow the sound I was hearing didn’t square with the science. Further investigation had me perplexed: the cabinets seemed to be resonating, when, according to everything I’d read about the curved, fibre-board reinforced cabinet walls and strategic bracing, would suggest a highly rigid construction. In desperation I reached for my Soundcare Superspikes in order to decouple the speakers from the stands. The effect was profound, as if an entirely different loudspeaker had muscled its way into the room. Presumably this is why Revel has built a dedicated stand (at around £250 a pair) for the M16, and why all good audiophiles should pay particular respect to the importance of isolation!

Once decoupled, the M16’s cabinet and tuned rear port began to function in sync. All interactions between driver, cabinet and port now produced a sound which was smooth, detailed and extremely well chiselled. In my time I have come across very few speakers that display such a stark contrast in performance pre and post spikes, so be warned: I suspect the M16 will sound as good on most stands, provided the two are de-coupled.

When they’re allowed to work, the M16 signature is smooth, treble extremes are well extended and fatigue-free, which makes for incredibly long listening sessions, even at high volumes. Bass performance is a treat, layering the upper bass with a smoother more integrated and extended lower bassline that seduces the listener. Simply sink into your seat and relax in the ambience flooding around you.

Sound staging is really rather good. The integration of on axis accuracy and a well-controlled off-axis response produces an audio image far bigger than you’d expect: wide enough to reproduce live performances in large venues as well as intimate studio recordings. A true reflection of image height is a great attribute of the M16. During many listening tests I could ‘see’ the artist performing, and unpick individual instruments from complex passages – even poorly recorded ones. The M16’s phase accuracy and timing offered great insight and revealed just how much a precision-tuned system can contribute to the enjoyment of all the music I tried. This coherence coupled with the smooth sound of the M16 makes for a communicative listen, conveying depth and strong layering abilities.

I spent many evenings listening to the seductive M16s. I often find that a darkened listening space enhances the realism of venue acoustics and transients. So a speaker with the M16’s qualities is perfect for these occasions. Listening to the Concerta2 M16s is a journey of exploration: the more you listen, the more you discover. I put many hours on this pair, and the rewards are significant over time.

Many Loudspeakers at the £1000 price point are designed to be dynamically exciting and fast paced. With the Revels, the journey is more subtle; their copious wealth in tonal performance and cohesiveness arrives slowly and surely. Female vocals are given excellent expression without any hint of upper midrange forwardness, grain or hardness. The lower mid frequencies of male vocals are so well rendered, providing a sense of authenticity that simply draws you in.

I’d assumed that the Revel’s smooth character would mask the dynamics of pop and dance music, but I was in for a surprise. True, the upper bass seemed less punchy than that of other speakers of a similar pedigree, but replacing a pronounced upper bass was a ‘weight’ to the music, which was fantastically dynamic, robust and very well layered into the lowest bass frequencies. Once again the effect was non-fatiguing: there was less wham-bam impact but nevertheless the overall result was incredibly engrossing and surprisingly addictive.

The characteristics of the M16s can be tailored very easily. Isolation from the stand is an absolute must and afterwards a little trial and error will find a sweet spot for the room and listener. Trying out different classes of amplification will tailor the sound even more. The M16s are so controlled and even handed that even an aggressive sounding amp pack will be tamed. Neutral to warm sounding amplifiers will simply enhance the flavour of a speaker which is sonically mature and stable.

I had a few friends over one evening for an informal session involving a huge range of music, not for background listening but also not critical. After the initial comments about how good the M16s look and a good hour into playback with choices coming mainly from Spotify through smartphones to my Mac, a friend summed it up. He said ‘I love the fact that they don’t sound in your face but at the same time you can hear everything in the music and they sound a lot bigger than their physical size’. ‘You’ve hit the nail on the head, I said to my non-audiophile friend, ‘now try elaborating that into an entire review’, he laughed, ‘I don’t need too’.

Sometimes just a few simple words will suffice. Sometimes less really is more. That’s where I am with the Revel Concerta2 M16. Although my first impressions were not that favourable, I stuck with the speakers and discovered that when isolated they became a truly musical instrument. Over longer listening periods I was glad that the Revels do what they do. First impressions can be misleading. As in life, real substance and satisfaction arrive though dedication and patience and the Revels prove the point admirably. 

Conclusion

To some Audiophiles £950 is not a lot of money, but a thousand pounds on a pair of transducers is still a large investment to many. The Revel M16s are cohesive, smooth, forgiving and easy to integrate with equipment. They’re a safe bet. They can respond to, and deserve, the best equipment money can buy, but at the same time their tonal qualities will allow them to be a primary upgrade for any budget system.

When approaching your local dealer for a listen it is essential that you discuss a home demo. Take your time; the M16s will grow on you and could prove to be indispensable. I can imagine many people spending years of sonic bliss with these speakers and being ever so grateful that they had the patience to run them in. Find the correct isolation and stands and begin to build a system around them.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality – Modern looks and a great deep lacquered finish. The lack of visual fixings coupled with the design of the front baffle is very pleasing

Sound Quality – Smooth, weighty and communicative with a terrific soundstage that belies the speaker’s dimensions, an absolute fatigue-free listen

Value For Money – The Revel Concerta2 M16 is good value for money and the sonic wealth of the speaker befits its price point. It’s a real world speaker at a real world price

Pros:

Fatigue free

Large soundstage

Very engrossing

Great looks

Cons:

A little tricky to setup, but once right…

The matching stands are expensive

Price: £950 

Dan Worth

SPECIFICATIONS

CROSSOVER FREQUENCIES: 2.1kHz

ENCLOSURE TYPE: Bass-Reflex via Rear-Firing Port

HIGH-FREQUENCY DRIVE COMPONENTS: 1″ Aluminum Tweeter with Acoustic Lens Waveguide

NOMINAL IMPEDANCE: 6 Ohms

INPUT CONNECTIONS: Five-way binding posts

LOW FREQUENCY EXTENSION: 55Hz, 50Hz, 45Hz (-3 dB, -6 dB, -10 dB)

LOW-FREQUENCY DRIVE COMPONENTS: 6.5″ Aluminum Cone Woofer

RECOMMENDED AMPLIFIER POWER: 50-120W

SENSITIVITY: 86dB (2.83V @ 1M)

DIMENSIONS: 14.75″ x 8.6″x 10.76″ (37cm x 22cm x 27cm)

WEIGHT: 16 lbs

AVID Hifi is headed up by Conrad Mas and make a wide range of turntables to suit many pockets. Janine Elliot gets her hands on the British company’s £4000 Volvere turntable.

When I think of turntables and stunning looks one name, AVID, always comes to mind. With their precision build quality and great visual attraction, you can be sure they have rustled up a product worthy of a listen. When I first encountered them a number of years ago I thought they were a model range of a famous German company, until I was clear that that this was indeed a British audio company that could produce such high levels of engineering and design. Whilst CEO, Conrad Mas’s mother might have arrived from Spain and his father from Australia, Conrad is English born and bred, and very proud of it.

AVID started its life back in 1995, and in 21 years is now regarded as one of the premier turntable manufacturers in the world, recently extending their expertise into phonostages, loudspeakers, preamps, power-amps, cables, alignment equipment, racks – the list just goes on – and soon tonearms and cartridges. At their manufacturing base in Kimbolton, near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, not only do they make products under the AVID banner,  but also design and manufacture for other companies within the audio, automotive, medical and military industries.

Conrad Mas has had a history of engineering and hifi.  His interest in hifi stems from buying a Connoisseur BD1 plus Acos Lustre arm from a friend at the age of 16 and spending hours trying to improve it, which led eventually to him creating his first Acutos T turntable in 1995. His varied career in between included insurance and glazing, Musical Fidelity and Acoustic Arts in Watford.

Whilst the entry point AVID Ingenium is a very able machine at only £800, the Acutus Reference is at the other end of the scale, and quite simply stunning in both looks and performance. However, whilst the Acutus range starts from £10,000 rising to £25,000, it is nice to see that many of their ideas have been filtered down into the Volvere, up for review here, ranging from the design philosophy to the bearing, clamping and suspension.  This is a similarly well-built and equally good looking mid-range turntable but at the much lower price of £4,000.

Set Up and Tech

The Volvere is a belt-drive, two-piece turntable with 3-point sprung sub-chassis that is fairly easy to assemble, especially with the instruction booklet with great photos; something other manufacturers could learn much from. Even pictures of what the internal packaging looks like makes assembly that much easier. Reviewing several products a month means taking hours unpacking, reading manuals and then attempting to re-package it all to send back, and is not something I look forward to. I just want to listen to music.

Taking the lead from the more expensive turntables the Volvere comes in two defined levels; the sub chassis on top of the main chassis is reinforced with a ‘W’ brace so that it has built in rigidity in the important areas with crumple zones like on cars so that the energy can be dissipated where it is not needed. The arm is fitted to this sub chassis, meaning the very critical set up can be done before connecting to the main suspended chassis. This unit has three legs which fit into the suspension cups of the main chassis. There are lateral suspension O-rings around the top of the feet of the main chassis which are stretched and clipped onto the underside of the sub-chassis. This converts undesirable rocking modes into the vertical plane, and because the frequency of suspension is lower than that of the arm and cartridge (at around 3.5Hz), when the suspension moves the cartridge moves with perfect linearity. The platter is a solid aluminium beast with brass centre point at the spindle, and with a fixed cork layer on the top rather than being loose as on some turntables. This is a welcome sight, meaning better linkage between the platter, record and record clamp.

Once the sub-chassis is inserted, levelling of the turntable can be done using the supplied Allen wrench. Also, the suspension joints can be adjusted so that they work at the same frequency; bear in mind the weight of the arm will mean the balance of the sub chassis on one of these feet will be heavier and therefore of a lower frequency, so the other feet need to be adjusted to match, usually by the retailer or AVID when adding the arm.  Think of three different sinewave signals joined together; at certain times in the cycle the added total will be a higher point, meaning a repeating peak. This is the basis that piano tuners use to tune pianos, listening for audible beats each second when playing two notes a 4^th apart to know that the interval between the two notes being tuned is correct. Most turntables will be repeatedly bouncing and then wobbling as these frequency variations coincide. Simply having a system on the turntable that levels the deck won’t on its own correct the frequency differences. External vibrations are also isolated by this unique AVID variable frequency suspension system. Another important factor is the vibration caused by the stylus on the record. Rather than going to the arm or absorbed into the platter, vibrations are transmitted to the sub-chassis directly through the main bearing via the mat and clamping system. Conrad explained;

“The mat acts as a mechanical impedance mismatch, thereby keeping the vibration in the record which is then coupled to the main bearing via the central brass fitting which acts as a mechanical grounding point for the vibration to be transmitted to the sub-chassis”. 

Many years ago some manufacturers promoted felt mats to be placed under the record. This simply meant that vibrations would just stay there rather than being dissipated or removed.

The Volvere in its SP guise now includes a varispeed DSP controlled signal-generating power supply, and improved mains transformer, which totally removes the inconsistency of speed caused by the unpredictable household mains. Motor stability and vibration is also improved, because a better mains improves the ability of the motor to work at its best, and hence noise, vibration etc is reduced. There is no insertion of distortion or harmonics into the signal. The modified 24V ac synchronous Crouzt motor attains 55mNm, which means there is exceptionally high torque, something usually found only on direct drive motors. AVID have always used motors from this French company. Attaining full speed is done within a second, with no belt slipping but a noticeable noise, beating most of the competition at the starting gate. This formula 1 motor is no slouch at the traffic lights and then is silent when it really matters. On the AVID Volvere Sequel SP turntable the refined power supply is taken from the Acutus (adding another £1500 to the cost) with a whopping 140mNm torque, giving even better control of speed stability. The introduction of twin belts keeps that regulation even more precise and aids getting the record to full speed in a very short time after switch on, as well as removing the chances of slippage from a single belt.  Like thick tyres on the back of a car it gives more control and improves belt life as there is less strain. However, having twin belts connected between the sub-platter could mean setting up the turntable would require considerable dexterity with the fingers were it not for the clever belt fitting pin;  The belts are fixed around the sub platter and stretched past the pin that is screwed into the underside of the platter, which means the belt protrudes beyond the motor when the platter is placed on the turntable spindle, and then after revolving the platter a smidgen to line up with the indents of the motor capstans, the pin is then removed making it easy to get the two belts in the right place. It is bad enough trying to get a single belt connected to a motor that is hidden under the platter and much harder if there are two belts, so this simple device is a clever and welcome addition. Just remember to unscrew it after setting up! The turntable has a revised stainless steel bearing which has further improved the platter dynamics plus tungsten carbide/sapphire thrust point. This requires no lubrication, though careful set up including fitting of the platter would be advised and expected with this thoroughbred.

The Sound

Listening to favourite albums my immediate observation was the control this turntable had on the music. Whether through my Manley/Krell system or via the Entotem Plato Class-A amplifier, the music was in charge. London Grammar ‘If You Wait’ is an exceptionally recorded and mastered album on 45rpm. “Stay Awake” was very moving and bass was extended with Hannah Reid’s voice calm and controlled; a mixture Florence and the Machine, Judie Tzuke and Goldfrapp.  The trio produce a scarcity of music structure, but with plenty of reverb and effects over her gentle voice and the Benz Silver cartridge on the SME 4 arm gave a very detailed and painless performance, allowing all detail to last to the very last millisecond, with no hint of floor noise or rumble, showing just why vinyl cannot be beaten. “Wasting my Young Years” was released as a single in 2013, reaching number 31 and this track gave a clear and extended bass response and clarity in the top that was infectious. 

The standard Volvere power supply is deceptive in use; the big knob on the left turns the unit off and on, and press “speed” control to change between 33 or 45. Finite speed adjustment is carried out by pressing the “play” and “speed” buttons simultaneously and then pressing either to alter in small increments. I initially thought the big knob would have an indented normal speed centre point and turning left or right would decrease or increase the speed. That would be too simple! The LED next to the speed button changes between green and yellow for 33 and 45 respectively, though these and the red “play” LED are not easily distinguished if the unit is in direct sunlight.

In use I found the power supply unit gave a very accurate check on speed of the modified 24v 55mNm ac synchronous motor, allowing the Benz Micro Silver cartridge to just concentrate on making the music. Playing the 180g 2015 Rox Vox remaster of Rush “Xanadu” there was a very definite hum at the start of the track at 15Hz recorded on the album that the cartridge and arm faithfully portrayed with no sign of turntable anxiety; a faulty lead at the live recording in Kiel Auditorium, St Louis Missouri in 1980, must have gone unnoticed. I didn’t need to play my Ortofon test disc test-frequency tracks to realise that this turntable/arm combo was now set up to perfection and that likely stylus bounce was out of the question.

The revised bearing design improved platter dynamics, giving a greater depth and gusto to the music than I could have hoped for with such a modest cartridge as the Silver, but there was also a clear bond between turntable, arm and cartridge to produce a musicality that is hard to achieve at £4000.  This Volvere wasn’t reproducing the music, it was literally playing it!

Conclusion

I love reviewing turntables; always seeing how different manufacturers employ different methods to get the best portrayal of the music. If only all manufacturers could get together to make the definitive player. But, like peeling potatoes, there is more than one way of doing it.

Coming in silver or black finishes, the AVID Volvere is a breath of fresh air in terms of pairing physics with musicality. There is no need to quote signal to noise or wow and flutter figures as numbers don’t enter the equation when I am enjoying music as much as this.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:  Clever use of mixing technology, science, maths and music in a solid, well built and good looking product

Sound Quality:  Well controlled capture and performing of music, with no hint of stress or angst

Value For Money:  With many ideas from the £10,000 – £25,000 Acutus, this £4000 mid-priced turntable performs with admirable aptitude. No wonder Avid turntables are finding their way into so many rooms at hifi shows

Pros:

Well-built, and good looking design
Not influenced by external vibrations
High torque motor reaching playing speed in around a second
Excellent instructions to get set up in a short time

Cons:

Not sure about that big knob on the power supply
Nothing else at £4000

Price: £4000

Janine Elliot

SPECIFICATIONS

Drive: Twin Belt drive

Speeds: 33.3 and 45.0 RPM

Platter mass: 6.7 Kg

Bearing: Inverted stainless steel

Thrust point: Tungsten carbide/Sapphire

Suspension: 3 point, springs in vertical, o-rings in lateral frequency, vertical 3.2 Hz (variable), lateral 4.5 Hz

Tonearms: Std. cut for SME (adapters to order)

Motor: Modified 24v 55mNm ac synchronous

Power supply: DSP Vari-SPeed control unit

Voltage input: 100-240vac 50/60Hz 20 watts max. (depending on region)

Dimensions: Turntable (overall) 425 x 370 x 205mm (WxDxH)

Net weight: 12.5Kg turntable, 2.2Kg psu

Five Year Warranty – Upon Product Registration

Fotex is a name many will associate with home and pro studios. Here Janine Elliot takes a listen to their TE05 (£89) and TE07 (£189) In ear Monitors. 

There has been a big rise in sales of headphones and IEMs in recent years. Each offering new technologies or perhaps new looks. Fostex have been producing some good products in recent years, a name I first heard in the 1981 with their A8 eight-track reel to reel recorder (Had one in the studio – Ed) the precursor to many a personal recording studio that included cassette and then digital portastudios.

The history of Fostex actually dates back to the Foster Electric company making loudspeakers from 1949, and Headphones and IEMs have been a part of the company’s portfolio for a long time. Their 6301 active mini monitor has graced recording studios since 1981. So, with their TE05 and TE07 IEMs I should be in safe hands.

Fostex TE-05

There are so many ear and headphones flooding the market that it important that you choose carefully before parting with your cash. As well as technical specification this includes ‘fit’. These two are big enclosures which were my first concerns. Being used to the diminutive and excellent Flare R2’s anything that stuck out my ear was going to cause me concerns, especially if walking or running. These headphones are fairly heavy, but managed to stay put after a certain amount of pushing. Both IEMs have similar dimensions the cheaper black with conventional 3.5mm plug and the more expensive TE07 in silver and ‘L’ shaped 3.5mm jack and with colour-coded left and right colour coding on the enclosures, making them far easier to direct to the appropriate ear. The cheaper TE05 wasn’t so easy to identify; having a minute protruding R and L word moulding could never be easily seen, especially in the dark.

Sound

For the test I used three players; iPod, Fiio X5 and the Questyle recently reviewed by me in HiFi Pig. Both had their distinctive Fostex sound of highly musical midrange, and slightly rounded top end.  Classical music worked well. Simon Rattle’s Sibelius Symphonies offering from Deutsche Gramophone was forceful and accurate.  All was there. I actually preferred the bass on the cheaper TE05, which was more extended. Both have removable and anti-tangling cable though did find the cable could be noisy when it rubbed against my clothing, something only a few manufacturers have successfully cured; the 6N cable model ET-H1.2N6 cable in the TE07 can be updated for the TE05, should you wish.  The IEMs also come with a handy leather case. Both are efficient at 92dB/95dB for the 05/07 respectively. Both are made from aluminium and come with 4 size ear tips (XS, S, M, L) for matching to your ears.  Both pairs are significantly better than the TE03, the baby of the family. Whilst the bass is less boomy than my fun £17 JVC Xtreme Xplosive, I did in some respects prefer the JVC XX’s for excitement and involvement. These IEMs are dressed to impress, where the Fostex are recessed and controlled. If anything I felt the sound was a little like an upturned “V”, with most of the work happening in the midrange. A/B testing is always a bad thing as you can be affected by what you have just heard, so I made sure I auditioned them without my reference Flare R2Pro  infecting my aural observation.

Fostex TE-07

The more I listened to the Fostex the more my ears adapted to the sound and I found them more and more impressive over my initial observations. The sound from both is fast but it is very exact and allows music to open up so I could hear facets I was hitherto unaware of in my FLACs and WAVs. The mid-range is the most important part of the music, as LS3/5a historians will atest to. Those speakers might have little bass below 100Hz and were designed for 400-20,000 Hz nearfield studio operation, particularly spoken word, but the sound is still special 40 years later, and once you get used to the lack of bass, everything else makes up for it, and it doesn’t seem to matter. With the 05’s and 07’s the detail in presentation of the music stops you worrying about the recessed bass and the tad harshness in the top end – especially in the TE05’s. The TE07’s have more control in the top end, though it is less pronounced, but the bass is better in the cheaper TE05’s.

Hmm. Lots to think about then. At £89 and £189 respectively both are good value and the sound will depend much on what player you use them with. The bright sound of the Questyle QP1r “Current Mode Amplification” made the best match. Both IEMs worked best with Comply foam tips, allowing more of the bass to get through. Ultimately, your ability to listen for a long time on that train or whilst exercising will factor greatly in your decision to buy, and something these cans did more than many is allow you to listen for a long time without fatigue.

Tops and bottoms were all there, just not so ‘in your face’ as many IEMs like to have them ; Iver Kleive’s organ interpretation of ‘Bridge over Troubled Waters’ (96/24, HD7041888514725) had a deep bass end that was all there but very well managed, and the top end in Karl Ristenpart’s  JS Bach four concertos for harpsichords BWV 1060-1065 (192/24) was  clear enough to hear the mechanics of the plucking strings, but again, not sticking out so that you have to notice it. These headphones were becoming more addictive the longer I listened, and I actually preferred the cheaper TE05 once I got used to the slightly tizzy top end.

Conclusion

I suggest you listen to these with your DAP of choice before deciding to buy, and make sure you listen for at least a few minutes. If you want a smileyface response with excessive bass and treble, then these won’t give you that. But Fostex was primarily a company for the wannabe sound engineer when it was formed in July 1973, and that is very important here. These IEMs give you a modest and honest sound engineering especially of the important mid frequencies that many earphones and headphones cannot do at any price.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality: Both units are well made and feel solid

Sound Quality: Excel in the all important mid-band but could be seen as being bass and treble light

Value For Money: At £89 and £189 these offer good value for money

Pros:

Detachable cabling

Upgradeable cable

Fashionable leather case

Excellent mid-range

L-shaped plugs in the TE07

Cons:

Bass and treble light

The TE05 left and right identification not easy in poor light

Price:

TE05 – £89

TE07 – £189

SPECIFICATIONS

TE05:

Type: Dynamic
Frequency Response: 10Hz – 25kHz
Impedance: 13 +/-5% ohm
Sensitivity: 92 +/-3dB (at 1kHz, 1mW)
Maximum Input: 5mW
Plug: 3.5mm, 3P mini plug
Cable Length: 1.2m
Accessories: Spare ear tips (XS, S, M, L) and Leather Carrying Case

TE07:

Type: Balanced armature
Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz
Impedance: 33 ohm
Sensitivity: 95 (at 1kHz, 1mW)
Maximum Input: 5mW
Plug: 3.5mm, 3P mini plug
Cable Length: 1.2m
Accessories: Spare ear tips (XS, S, M, L) and Leather Carrying Case

David Robson continues his Chord Company “Cable Doctor” series of reviews, where specific cable combinations are recommended for his system by Nigel Finn of Chord. Previously he has focused on the entry level C Line and Clearway cables but now moves up to the new Shawline series interconnects and digital cable, along with the Epic Twin speaker cable. 

Earlier this year I was asked to do a series of articles based around Chord cables and interconnects. This “Cable Doctor” series was to start with the lower end of the cable market and slowly work up to improving my system sound. I thought what a great idea, to do within a few months what most of us do over several years. Unfortunately the system I started this series with has changed a little due to a slight accident (don’t ask! The lady of the house is still scowling). So I have lost a little in the way of consistency for the articles, but the front end is still the same.

Chatting to Nigel Finn from Chord we decided to put a slight twist to the Cable Doctor idea, that to push my hifi system with the use of the upper levels of cable performance, and a price point that people don’t normally go to in relation to the equipment cost.

Chord Shawline Digital 1m (£200)

The Chord Shawline Digital is built to Chords high standard or workmanship and finish. The bright red nylon woven outer sheathing terminating in shrink wrap, and their Chord VEE 3 RCA connectors which are all silver plated and have the directionality of the cable printed upon the sheathing.

I have found some of the better sounding cables have been made with metal free outer RCA plug. I don’t know if this is just by accident or manufacture process, but better it has been.

The new range of Shawline cables have been designed on the same principles as the top specification Sarum cables utilising the Tuned ARAY methods in their manufacture and design. This design theory has been created to carry as much information that is available with as much accuracy as possible; this gives the DAC less work to do, thus improving the sound, or so goes the claim.

Having had this Digital cable running in for some days the initial sound, which had a slight fuzzy edge to the treble making cymbals fizz a little, completely relaxed and bedded in and lost that unnatural sound. Once the sound had smoothed out and settled, it began revealing a rounded warmth with plenty of detail coming through to my Russell K Red 50 Speakers.

To kick off proceeding I put Fleetwood Mac’s album “Penguin” into the CD draw. The smooth bluesy “Revelation” sprang to life with a good organic and natural sound; the finger drums (I think) are clearly defined. Bob Welsh’s lead guitar hunts out from the speakers, and John McVie’s basslines are clean sounding and tight, and hold the music together with a clear confidence. The following track “Did you ever love me?” has steel drums panging out; the detail in their tone and metallic skin has good resolution with Christine McVie’s silky vocals not being interfered with by anything else going on with the music, the Shawline Digital carrying enough information for the system to keep everything separate and in its correct place.

What I have noticed using the Chord cable is a slight lift in the higher frequency range, this does not come through as sibilance, more a lengthening to the decay of the sound in the upper reaches. This is apparent on Diana Krall’s “Wallflower” album. The recording I have on CD has always left me a little cold, as it comes across a little dull and lifeless. The slight rise in the higher tones gives tracks like “Wallflower” some extra detail and life. The piano in “I’m Not In Love” makes for a more believable reproduction, and what seemed like Miss Krall had been using a cardboard microphone had now a bit of vocal sparkle. These are not huge differences in a night and day fashion, but a very subtle difference between an album that once made me quickly skip tracks, to one where I just let it play through. The duet with Bryan Adams “Feels Like Home” has the pair’s vocal talents separated well within the soundstage, Krall’s deeper female tones keeping Adams gravelly voice in good company. This is possibly the best I have heard Bryan Adams voice. The qualities in the Shawline cable allowing a natural rendition of the singer’s talents and the smooth flow of the music come out to play.

Next up a bit of Phil Collins, “In The Air Tonight” has been in my CD collection from the early 80’s, and although Phil’s music has quite a lot of people split and either love or hate it Marmite fashion, I quite like the varying styles within the album. ”The Roof Is Leaking” starts with atmospheric Cricket chirping sounds, the Shawline Digital enabling the soundstage to wander into the listening area and the chirping sounds giving a surround sound 3d feel. The track then blends in to the next one, “Droned” has an African beat to it, an instrumental, drums are defined and rhythmical and have a nice realism and feel, probably again due to the slight improvement in detail due to the raised high frequencies. There are no real downsides to the Shawline cable, I usually find one or two things that are a negative, but this Chord cable really doesn’t seem to add or leave out anything that isn’t already on the recording. The Album features quite a lot of drumming and drum lead tracks, which you would expect from Mr Collins being a successful drummer himself. They all seem to kick and have the right tightness attributed to them. Other finer details too are not left out of the recordings either. As drumming goes, the title track, which was recently featured in a chocolate advert being played by a Gorilla and is well known in its own right, comes across as  a very “Live”  performance; it has a very atmospheric presentation and as Mr Collins tears at the skins you can feel like your “There”!  time to turn down the lights, and turn the volume up!

Pros.

Great detail and resolution, uncoloured sound, represents good value for money and does exactly what it says on the tin

Cons.

Nothing of note

Chord Shawline RCA 1m (£200).

Having tested and reviewed the Chord Shawline Digital RCA previously, I was looking forward to a similar sound and sonic experience from the Analogue RCA. I swapped around my own Digital Cable for the previous Chord test cable and replaced my own reference RCA cables for several days before then replacing my cables for the Shawline RCA set. Who needs Yoga when you get a full workout messing with the cable monsters!

Like the Digital cable before, the Shawline is virtually identical in appearance, having the Chord VEE 3 RCA plugs which have PTFE insulation and are fully silver plated inside the connector housing, thus giving a very good connection between the cables and equipment. The cables are also marked for direction of signal path. Even on cables that do not have these directional marking, it’s my belief that consistency is always a benefit within cabling and I always mark one end just so I can always have the cable facing the same way. Like the high-end Sarum cables the Shawline uses the Tuned ARAY conductor geometry.

As this “Cable Doctor” series progresses from the lower end or starter “C” series to this the Shawline range and onto the Epic level, this Shawline is probably the type and level of standard that would be consistent with the rest of my system, and be a reasonable cost against performance. Those who frequent Facebook groups will know the ongoing battles between the believers and none believers on the cable debate. Having been lucky enough to try several types of brands from very reasonable to expensive handmade exotica, it’s my belief that most Hifi enthusiasts should be looking to push their equipment performance via use of cables and mains supply products. Asking your local dealer to loan out a small bundle is the key, even to hear a worse sound so that you at least know the differences in sounds and what changes can occur with a simple cable change. If you have a group of friends or a good local dealer, why not set up a “Cable Bank”? where for a deposit you can take away some cables and then bring them back if they don’t suit, or pay the balance and keep?

Anyway, on with my testing.

One of my favorite test albums is The Eagles and “The Long Run” the title track has a bouncy bass line and fine guitar backing. The Shawline has a great positive effect on this type of music, giving a rhythmical and tight portrayal of the track. The RCA doesn’t ever sound congested or cluttered and separation on the sinister “Disco Strangler” which builds from a single guitar riff to the full set of The Eagles crew is excellent. Bass, Cymbals, Drums and Tambourine all clearly separated within the soundstage. Like the previous Shawline Digital Cable there is a very slight rise in the upper frequencies, which is actually an enhancement in quality as it brings even more detail and resolution into the sonic picture without it becoming harsh or frosty and yet remains smooth. This gives the cable good dynamic range as the RCA balances on the warm side but never sounds dull. It has a very accurate sound to my ears.

Going to a similar style of music, but not as well recorded I put “God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise” by Ray LaMontgne. The self-titled track has a wide and atmospheric opening. Electric slide guitar protruding from the silence with a big drum accompaniment then Mr LaMontagne’s husky vocals leaving the speakers with good emotion attached, the Shawline RCA allowing the drums to extend outward, giving a feeling of space and depth to what feels like an outdoor rendition of the song. It’s a pity that some of the finer details in the recording are not as well recorded as some cymbal sounds are lost, this is inherent the recording though. What is great on this album, and the Shawline majors in, is the detail and realism brought out from the recordings. “Are We Really Through” is played very simply with Guitar and Vocal. Ray’s voice plays out with a liquid and smooth honey like texture sprinkled with a little grit. I’m waiting for the feeling of his breath on my skin, such is the inflection and nuances the cable provides. “Beg Steal Or Borrow” has a faster tempo to the track, the Audiolab CDQ usually majors on timing and the this is borne out by the added Chord cable. The foot tapping country music has carried the tuneful verve to the tips of my toes.

Moving genre to rock, Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree fame gets an outing. “Hand. Cannot. Erase.” This album has come across a little congested in the past. This annoyed me greatly, and it reminded me of Freeform Jazz (A little pet hate). Playing this album from the beginning for those not familiar with it, track 1 is an instrumental and flows prog-like into track 2. “First Regret + 3 Years Older” the sound effect of a children’s playground moves to a crescendo of guitars and drums firing out of the sound-space between speakers.  There is an extra level of grip on the music that doesn’t castrate or strangle the track, nor does it allow it to arrive at your listening box in a big hit of mush. Each strike or pluck of a string is held in its own company. This seems to make the pieces of music flow and become enjoyable. Track 6 “Home Invasion” starts like what could be described as the intro to some epic Sci-Fi film or a high octane spy thriller. The Chord Shawline cables manage to catch and convey the tension and drama of the piece perfectly, the driving bass drum and rhythms, slap of sticks on the skins crack out with menace and yet doesn’t cloud the delicacy of the cymbals in the background tinging away.

Chords goal for this range of cables was to design a cable that does “Nothing”, this has always been a goal for Hifi enthusiasts and manufacturers alike. To have a cable that does nothing but carry the signal without adding or taking away anything from the original. Well I’m convinced that the engineers have cracked that target. I doubt that Sherlock Holmes would find anything missing from the original recording. I really can’t find anything to criticise, these Chord Shawline RCA cables seem to do exactly what the engineers designed them for, “Nothing”!

Pros.

The very small differences between these cables and my reference ones do add up to provide a great all round performance. The nice warmth and extra little details provide a relaxing and entertaining presentation that I think would benefit most systems.

Cons.

Nothing, just what the doctor ordered

Chord Epic Twin Speaker Cable. 3m. Factory Terminated. (£400)

This speaker cable sits in the upper middle of the Chord range of cables. Price wise it is around that 10% range of my system value, which is spoken about as a ball park figure as a reasonable amount to spend on system cabling compared to cost of your main system. This Cable Doctor series of reviews will later allow me to push past that 10% figure to see how far you can reasonably push performance with regards to various cabling options.

The Chord Epic Speaker Cable arrives in a very nice custom made circular black nylon bag, the cable inside is separated by 3 nylon leaves allowing for 4 cables to be carried at the same time and tagged with cable type, length and termination option. This is a nice touch and the presentation gives you confidence that these hand-made cables you have purchased are a high quality product.

Inside the brown/grey cable the main conductors are 12awg silver plated twisted Oxygen Free Copper and are sourced from Chords Oddyssey cable. Information taken from Chord’s database tells me that the conductors are spaced with a PVC jacket for mechanical damping before a foil and metal braid shielding is applied.  Outer jacket is translucent PVC to provide further mechanical damping. The cable is relatively stiff and is assembled to a high standard. The banana plugs are the single plug with a single sprung bar. These are not always the easiest to fit as the speaker wire that enters the plug is slim and getting a good grip isn’t easy. One (why is it always one?) refuses to go in. It takes a little fiddling with a pair of pliers but it eventually slides home. It’s no big deal as at least you know you have a good solid connection to the amplifier’s speaker terminals.

After running the cables for several days and getting a couple of hundred hours of music through them, I settle back to fully finding out how they fit into my system.

Going to an old favourite The Eagles classic, “Hotel California”, the familiar sound of the lead Guitar and bass initiate with accompanying crisp cymbals followed by the thud, thud of drum. Throughout the song what strikes me is the way the bass guitar is tight and defined, the sound is clearly being transferred well from the CD to the speakers, there seems to be an extra little level of detail from the metallic lead guitar too. In fact there is another guitar that I really don’t think I’ve heard before from the left channel at about 1m43s. Maybe it has become a bit more forward with these Epic cables? I have heard the soundstage a little wider and deeper before with this track, I have also heard a bit more projection from the vocals. Although the track doesn’t seem boxed in or two dimensional either. “New Kid In Town” has a metronomic cymbal tick from the right hand side, with poor cables this is just that, a tick, The Chord Epic has a properly defined metal transient to it. There is only one little niggle for me, some of the drum sounds including the bass has a slightly soft edge to its presentation. It’s not a deal breaker by any means and it doesn’t seem as apparent on the following “Life In The Fast Lane” and “Victim Of Love”; the drums in these kick out like a stung mule, and the punch in your gut feeling tells you it is all there. Separation of instruments is good, with the speakers having that “disappeared” mode to them and music being out there and not too confined between the speakers.

Swapping CDs to some “Ella and Louis” on the Verve label, an album which has re-written my views on “old” recordings. If only all recordings could be preserved this well! “It’s A Lovely Day” has Ella Fitzgerald’s vocals sublimely laid out, and held fixed in the air forward of the speakers. There are fine nuances in that voice, which produces good emotion and feeling. Mr Armstrong’s throaty rumblings seem more closely recorded on the microphone and the Chord Epic allowing the music to portray this technique. Louis’s voice carries and extends the SSSSSSS sounds, again this can sound like the scraping of chalk on a chalkboard with other cables but the Chord Epic has it more like a hot poker being dipped into cold oil – it has a more natural presentation. I do think these speaker cables have a slightly elongated treble that glistens and makes for a more involved sound. I usually shy away from bright sounding equipment as I find it a bit tiring, but with the Chord and I’m happy to listen and relax.

Giving Annie Lennox’s “Diva” an outing which can trip up some set ups I’ve run. This early 90’s album which has deep electronic bass and digital instruments can sound a bit strained and a little too fake at times. What is silkily powerful is Annie’s voice. Track 5 and “Cold” has her vocals held in check centrally at 12 O’clock. Muscular deep noted pulsing away, I feel her performance is a little withdrawn into the rear of the soundstage; it’s also a little warm, which is surprisingly opposite to what I was expecting. It’s possible that the speaker cable doesn’t mask any recording flaws, and this is what I’m hearing. Moving on to “little Bird” which has a big heartbeat and sweet vocalisations, and I think showing Annie Lennox’s pedigree at it’s best. The track is still a little confined, but it’s a better rendition. The music takes more of a centre stage to the proceedings and has strong verve and pace. The Chord Epic does like a bit of a party and pulls no punches with overly processed recordings.

Conclusion

Pros

A sweet sounding cable that’s well engineered. It brings added detail to the overall sound and this helps the Chord Epic to give a great lively performance, with the rhythmical and deep bass this cable really likes to Party

Cons

It’s possible for the top end to go slightly over the top with some recordings and poorly recorded bass can be a little rounded

Chord Shawline Loom and Epic Speaker Cable

Having looked and listened to the Chord Shawline Digital, RCA and Epic speaker cables in isolation, I now have the task of seeing how these cables work as a loom.

In the past, I’d always be reluctant to stick with one cable manufacturer; it just wasn’t in my blood to do it. I’m talking early on in my hifi hobby! Back then the better end of the cable market was out of my reach financially so trying to cobble together cheap cables that sounded well together became a bit of a game. Now I’m in the fortunate position to try out what was once beyond me for real.

I’m not going to go into a track by track review, you have probably had enough of my CD collection by now, what I will say is these cables together work hand in glove with each other. What may have seemed a little foible in isolation seems to be overcome when partnered. The heightened details, fine tempered midrange and rhythmical bass come together to produce a relaxing and musical rendition of your favourite tracks. There is no hiding place though, what comes off your record collection ends up at your ears and your best will sound great, the poor, muddy or scratchy stuff will remain just that. In a market where technology is giving us better and better value for money, these Chord cables are playing a good game, they are a must listen or demo to those who may be looking for an upgrade from the £20-£100 cable bracket. They seem at this price point not to have any compromises that lower priced or lower specification cables have.

The Digital or RCA don’t to my ears impregnate the sound with any voice or fingerprint of their own, they just seem to let the music flow out as it was meant to be. That may be that these cables have the right synergy with my mid-price system. On a very high end Hifi you may be able to detect more, but it’s horses for courses for me, and these work.

David Robson

Trafomatic is a realatively recent addition to the high-end hifi fraternity and perhaps best known for the £100,000 Elysium monoblocs. This is a Serbian company that exudes quality, detail and perfection.  The Belus power amplifier up for review here might not be as expensive as the Elysium, but at a more attainable £3250 this is no less a product says Janine Elliot.

When I hear the words “Hybrid” I think of conventional looking cars with electric engines and petrol backup; cars that say they have impressive consumption levels, but in reality are never quite as good as you would hope for. So to be sent a Serbian Hybrid amplifier I expected perhaps a Class D plus valves to make it more musical. This amplifier is instead more straightforward Push-Pull (class AB) but with the surprise of a single C3m valve working as a single ended class A voltage gain in triode mode for the first stage.

Exicon ECX10P20 transistors and EXC10N20 MOSFETs are at the output, two pairs per channel, working as four transistors per channel in a mini-paralleled push/pull array.  The 100 watt into 8Ω power amplifier (140W/4 Ω) works as pure Class A for the first 5-6W and then A/B for the rest. Power is provided by a 400VA toroidal with 8 smoothing capacitors per channel.  

Before starting to make amplifiers the company Trafomatic Ltd, set up in 1997, began by making toroidal transformers and electronics for industrial use. From around 2000 they began to make output transformers, only beginning amplifiers in 2007 as Trafomatic Audio, a venture of friends and hifi lovers Saša Čokić and Milorad Despotovic. So, the toroidal transformer and the two high-current chokes in this design are all made in-house, with great knowledge of design, which greatly impact on the sound that this £3250 amplifier produces.  Indeed, this amplifier was packed to the hilt with the transformer, coils and capacitors, with the MOSFETs tightly screwed to the heatsinks at the side.

It is so good to see manufacturers today moving away from the usual ECC83’s, 6550s  and 300Bs. Saša Čokić really likes the C3m valve (along with the similar C3G) and he is presently working on another product using these tubes. This tube has a good life span, guaranteed for 10,000 hours, which would mean 5-10 years if using them for a reasonable time. The C3m is a vacuum pentode looking unlike normal valves with its black metal cover, rather than the usual glass. Whilst I love looking at valves lighting up through the glass covered vacuum, they will always suffer microphony, so a metal cover reduces this making this one of the lowest sufferers and one of the quietest tube you can buy. And, if you don’t like the metal cover you can remove it to show the glass tube, though because the tube is hidden inside this solidly built and heavy metal topped amplifier with side-fins for the MOSFET heatsink, there won’t be much point.

Made by Valvo and Siemens, the C3m tube was intended for the German telephony system which required audio travelling long distances, so they needed valves with high output and low noise. These were never made for general sale, so the Belus uses NOS tubes. The power amp has a gain switch on the back to adapt to any speaker system; ‘normal’, ‘low’ and ‘high’, all derived from different negative feedback values. So, at the ‘low’ setting 22dB of gain is available (with -9dB of negative feedback and 1.2Vpp input sensitivity), and gives the best signal to noise ratio of the three settings, at 90dB. At the medium setting there is 25dB of gain (with -6dB of NFB, 0.9Vpp input sensitivity) and 89dB S/N ratio, and at the ‘high’ gain setting produces 28dB of voltage gain (with -3dB of NFB, 0.6Vpp input sensitivity) and 85dB S/N. Output impedance at 100Hz is 0.01Ω for low gain, 0.0116Ω for normal gain and 0.085Ω for high gain.  I chose to use the unit at the medium setting for the review. The Belus is available in two colours; either black, or silver which has a contrasting brass coloured face plate.

This amplifier looks anything but a valve amplifier; just like those electric hybrid cars looking nothing like I’d expect an electric car to look like. Not that it bothered me in the Belus. This was industrial grade build, something I really liked.

Belus was, so I am told, the son of Poseidon and Libya, one of the demigods and rulers of Egypt. Being half human and half celestial therefore this is an appropriate name for a hybrid amplifier. As Saša told me; “It’s half tube (as God) and half Mosfets (as human!)”. From that I can guess which end he likes best!  Mosfets can have a bad temper and be unpredictable, just like humans, though in the Belus they were very much in a controlled, solid state.

The Listening

I always make sure that I am not influenced by looks and weight; both of which with this product are first-rate. After all, how many times does a good looking meal appear to taste better than a bad looking one! But the quality of work in the Belus was certainly food for thought; I really was impressed by the detail of build in this model. It even arrived in a wooden crate with handles, all screwed up on each side.

First impressions on listening were of class. This was a smooth operator with guts and reserve. Music sounded very real and that valve really fed an honest sound, but perhaps it was just too honest. There was nothing that, through my Graham LS5/9s, sounded radical or risky.  Connecting to hybrid speakers, in the form of the Eminent Technology LFT8b ribbon, planar and 8 inch woofer speakers at £2500, which I was reviewing at the time, gave a quicker sound whilst still maintaining full frequency and excellent noise floor.  Similarly using the appropriate cables was important, too. Ecosse SMS 2.3 give excellent bass and a huge soundstage, so these well-used cables worked well in conjunction with the LFT8b’s.

Rush’s live recording at Kiel Auditorium, Missouri, 14^th February 1980 has been remastered on a 180g RoxVox vinyl. A Canadian band set up in 1968 has produced a number of famous tracks that include a myriad of styles and instruments culminating in a progressive rock of occasionally grandiose height – a mix of Led Zeppelin, Cream and King Crimson. This amplifier played it all with musicality and care, though lacked a certain amount of pizazz that I wanted to hear. This amplifier is more on the cautious side of great; a bit like that boy or girlfriend that you sometimes wish would actually start an argument with you, rather than agreeing with everything you say or do. Whilst still full-bodied, sometimes the music was just too tame for me, though listening to London Grammar gave it a chance to show just how good that C3m valve is in focusing everything. “Stay Awake” from their superb album ‘If You Wait’ (vinyl, again) kept my attention with solid bass and a gorgeous voice. Each individual line of script was perfectly formed and jelled to form a uniform whole. There was a density to the sound that made this amplifier feel it wanted to give its soul to the music.

Listening to the remaster of Dvorak’s Symphony No 9 “From the New World” (Herbert Von Karajan, Berlin Philhamonic, HiQ Supercuts) recorded in the Winter of 1957-8 gave me a chance to test out a very mid frequency emphasised recording, which many amplifiers would give off a very “tranny” sound and rather limiting soundstage. The brass can sound very brash, but this amplifier toned it down to be surprisingly musical and easy to listen to. Similarly “La Maja de Goya” by Granados for three guitars (Opus 3 records, on my aged Ortofon 1980’s Pick Up Test Record) gave a very mellow and pleasing listen, particularly with the guitar’s nylon strings. Similarly the next track on the album of Telemann’s Sonata in C Major first movement for recorder and harpsichord gave a fluid performance, but perhaps just missed out slightly on the gusto that some amplifiers have shown to this piece.

Listening to Dire Straits Brothers in Arms “So Far Away from Me” wasn’t actually so far away from where I really wanted this amplifier to be; detailed and showing no sign of stress, one of the reasons I like MOSFETs in the right setting. But in this Hybrid I did feel that actually the tube was the selling point, those bass thumps and vocal lines and guitars were detailed and performed with an ease and musicality. That C3m tube really does improve things! “Your latest Trick” and “Why Worry” (track four and five) were so laid back I just drank coffee and enjoyed.

Conclusion

I really did enjoy playing this amplifier in the few weeks I had it connected up, and in some respects it reminded me of an iconic amplifier I modded a few years back; full weighted and meaty sound with lots of class. This amplifier is extremely easy to listen to, at both low and high sound levels, and works well with all types of music, only perhaps just a tad too slow for some. However, this does mean this amplifier is epic for long periods of listening, something that cannot be said for many amplifiers.

For £3250 this is actually extremely good value and well worth trying out.

AT A GLANCE

BUILD QUALITY:  Excellent, industrial quality build including even a wooden box to deliver it to you in. 

SOUND QUALITY:  Low distortion and very quiet amplifier offering 100Watts of full-bodied sound, working well at all volumes.

VALUE FOR MONEY:  At just £3250 this is an extremely good valued offering

Pros:

Accurate but slightly laidback musical performance
Low microphony and long-life of C3m tubes
A well thought out design
Works well on all types of music
Solidly built and with good looks

Cons: 

Might be rather slow performance for some; some might prefer a brighter and faster sound.

Price: £3250

Janine Elliot

SPECIFICATIONS

Output power: 2x100W (8Ω)

Class of operation: Push-Pull
(class AB)

Tubes complement: 2x C3m

Inputs: 1xRCA, 1xXLR

Speakers DC protetcion

Input sensitivity: 0.6Vrms , 0.9Vrms , 1.2Vrms (selectable by toggle switch at the back side)

THD %: 0.03% – 1W/1KHz, 2% – 100W/1KHz

Frequency bandwidth: 10Hz(-1dB)-40KHz( -1dB)

S/N Ratio: 88dB

Input inpedance: 100K

Power consuption: 300VA

Input voltage: 230VAC-50Hz /115VAC-60Hz selectable at back side

Size: 360 x 300 x 100 mm

Weight: 15kg

SYSTEM-1 from Code Acoustics is a high quality 3-way active speaker, with off-board electronics module including crossovers and amplifiers. It is UK made and costs £6350 direct from the manufacturer. Ian Ringstead turns up the volume and puts the SYSTEM-1 though its paces. 

The first I had heard of Code Acoustics was at the recent National Audio Show. Code are a company founded by an enthusiastic Ceri Thomas, whom I talked to at length at the show. Ceri has a background in automotive design engineering, having worked for some of the UK’s most prestigious automotive firms, such as McLaren, Williams and Jaguar-Land-Rover. However, his first love has always been audio and speaker design.

Ceri’s philosophy is that he wants to offer an alternative design approach and personal service to his customers, so he decided to sell direct and therefore retain excellent value for money rather than go through dealers.

SYSTEM-1 is a high quality 3-way active speaker, with off-board electronics module. It consists of ‘TOP-1’, which reproduces the mid and high frequencies plus ‘BASS-1’, which of course covers the bass region. Then there is ‘CONTROL-1’, which contains a 6-channel DSP crossover, pre-amp and 6-channel power amplifier. Just add a source, such as a CD transport, turntable with a phonostage, music server, laptop etc. and away you go!

Now the concept of an active system is not new and there are several ways that this can be achieved. In my retailing days, I sold active systems from companies such as Linn and Naim, Arcam, Meridian and Nytech Audio. The reasoning behind active systems is that the electronics are tailor made to match the loudspeakers and that the crossovers are electronic and designed to match each drive unit perfectly. That’s the theory, but it takes a lot of careful design and understanding to achieve good results. With matched amplifiers and dedicated electronic crossovers, compatibility is not an issue unlike a passive set of loudspeakers and an amplifier. The designer is therefore making life easier for the listener to do just that, listen and not worry about mismatches. Also, distortion figures can be lower so improving the sound quality.

Ceri has designed the SYSTEM-1 to be very easy and straight forward to set up. He personally delivered the review system and showed me how to set it up. The speaker system consists of four boxes, two per channel of course made up of a BASS-1 and a TOP-1.

The BASS-1 is a heavily braced speaker, deep route veneered enclosure made of mdf with four internal voids for sand and with extensive use of sound deadening panels and melamine damping foam. They weigh 28Kg each when loaded with sand. The drive units are made by Volt and are 8 inch connected in parallel.

The TOP-1 contains a 1 inch Scan Speak Classic tweeter and 4inch Scan Speak Illuminator mid-range unit. These are both excellent units from a renowned manufacturer with a fine pedigree. Again, there is extensive use of sound deadening panels and melamine damping foam in the smaller 3Kg cabinets.

Each cabinet can be isolated by using the dedicated isolation brackets which are X shaped metal plates with four sorbothane feet. The bracket is bolted to the bottom of each cabinet using the dedicated bolts into the relevant bushes. They allow the TOP-1 speakers to be safely mounted on the BASS-1 and for the BASS-1 to be isolated from the floor without damaging it. I like this idea as it worked well with my hardwood floor and the lack of spikes meant I didn’t have to worry about protecting the floor.

Speaker connection to the amplifier is via Neutrik Speakon connectors wired with Van Damme 4mm Black series cable of 2m lengths or up to 6m if required. The TOP-1 requires 4 pole connectors because of the tweeter and mid-range units in them, whilst the BASS-1 use 2 pole connectors. The Speakon connectors make for a very simple, safe and relatively fool proof way of connecting the speakers to the CONTROL-1 and although purists may wish that standard 4mm terminals had been used, in the context of this system I feel Ceri has made the right decision. Like the brackets the speaker cables are an additional extra supplied by Code Acoustics and I think they are well worth having for a fuss free life.

The CONTROL-1 is a remote controlled digital pre- amp, 6 channel DSP crossover and 6 channel power amp all in one unit. There are 4 balanced analogue inputs on XLR and 4 digital inputs giving a choice of AES/EBU, optical, SPDIF and USB. Outputs are AES/EBU and SPDIF. Power amps are 6 Hypex class D modules giving 180w into 4 ohms. The power supplies, one per channel, are Hypex switch mode 1200w peak modules. The DSP is a Hypex 6 channel module with a sample rate of 24bit/96 KHz. The unit is housed in a smart looking wooden case which contrasts well with the extensive metal work of the panels and heat sinks on each side of the unit. It is neat and compact weighing in at 5Kg, so it is easy to accommodate on a shelf or unit. The controls are minimal with the front panel sporting an illuminated power button on the left, a central display panel and to the right 4 control buttons shaped in the form of a diamond. The control buttons are used to control input selection and volume up and down. The display is quite small, so from a distance can’t be read easily, so a minor bugbear for me. Power connection is by a dedicated powercon cable that is supplied. The remote control is a simple, small plastic unit supplied by Hypex that controls volume, standby and input selection.

Sound

As you can see the SYSTEM-1 is quite complex under the skin, so how does it sound? After initial set up and a bit of tweaking with positioning Ceri and myself sat down to assess the overall sound as Ceri wanted to be sure I was happy before he left me to play for a few weeks. First impressions were very good with a good tight low end response that didn’t dominate the room given the size of the bass units and their quality – testament to the Volt driver’s excellent reputation and build quality. The mid and top end were open and smooth, again down to the superb quality of the Scan Speak units which don’t come cheap, but are certainly worth including in this design.

Ceri kindly let me borrow his iPad and an Auralic streamer to try out digital high resolution music files as I use CD and turntable, being a traditionalist and stuck in my ways. The streaming worked well with the system, but I must say I was more than happy with the results I got from my Sony CDPXE3000ES using the SPDIF input. The turntable was more of a challenge if only because the analogue inputs are XLR rather than the standard RCA phono sockets, which meant I had to obtain some Neutrik XLR to RCA adaptor plugs. Once acquired my Project Extension 9 and Ortofon Quintet Black via the Tisbury Audio Domino phonostage worked a treat with no hum or level issues.

Many CDs were tried and I put on Paul Simon’s “Concert in the Park “(Central Park New York) from August 1991 as I am going to see him soon here in the UK, and so wanted to remind myself of his classic songs. As live concerts go this is a good recording and all the detail of the band’s musicians and singers were clearly portrayed on stage with the very realistic sound and ambience of the crowd and their rapturous applause at the end of all the songs. The line-up of musicians is stellar with the likes of Steve Gadd on drums, Michael Brecker on sax, Chris Botti on trumpet, Richard Tee on keyboards and a host of African, South American and US musicians and singers. The influences of Paul Simon’s fascination with third-world country rhythms is abundant and blends beautifully with his original folk background of the sixties and his development in the seventies and eighties. With such a wide range of instruments and vocals on offer this CD was a joy to listen to on the SYSTEM-1 as it was very capable of bringing out all the different nuances in the performances of the artists and the songs. Detailing was first rate with all the subtle touches the musicians add easily picked out, something you would miss out on in poorer systems with inferior resolution.

Another album I had to try was Livingstone Taylor’s CD “Ink” recorded on the Chesky label which is a lovely recording that on a good system allows me to shut my eyes and imagine I am in the recording venue. Suffice to say, this CD sounded sublime, especially in the evening with the curtains closed and the lights turned down low. It has sounded great on other systems, but somehow had the edge through the SYSTEM-1.

When I tried the turntable, it was a pleasant surprise that a mainly digitally focussed system worked so well with vinyl. Steely Dan are a favourite band of mine that I grew up with and their debut album from 1972 Can’t Buy a Thrill brought back many memories. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are sticklers for perfection and sound quality, and even on this early record it shows. The clarity is spot on with tight rhythm sections, superb musicianship and clever vocals. Do it again and Reelin’ In The Years are probably the best known songs from this album, but all the tracks displayed excellent playing ability and really made me want to dance or tap my feet. I particularly noticed how clear the cymbals and tambourines were on several tracks. Now I’ve listened to this record many times over the years on many systems in my home, but I don’t recall the top end detail being so good before.

I dug many CDs and records out during the time I had the SYSTEM-1 and they all performed well. They weren’t all audiophile recordings by any means and some I hadn’t listened to for a long time.

Finally, what impressed me was how good the dynamic capability was of the SYSTEM-1. Usually when I listen to many systems there seems to be a point in the volume level when the system suddenly comes to life and starts to sound more interesting. I talked to Ceri about this phenomenon and he agreed that a lot of ported speaker systems can have this loudness affect where the port is fighting against the air coming out of the cabinet (turbulence) and so affects the sound. The SYSTEM-1 seemed to manage the trick of sounding good and holding my attention at whatever level I tried, especially lower levels where many systems seem to sound flat or uninteresting. I suspect a combination of excellent drive units, careful cabinet design and electronics all play their part.

Class D amps have now become far more popular than they were a decade ago and it shows how they have come on when companies like Jeff Rowland and Audio Research use them in some of their models. I had a Flying Mole CAS-10 amp for some years which I enjoyed, as did a friend of mine who borrowed it, and we were both impressed by its clarity and detailing. Not everyone agreed, but that’s hifi for you. Hypex are a popular choice with manufacturers and designers and I can see why Ceri chose to use them in his system. They are compact, very efficient and powerful, so ideal when you need 6 of them.

Conclusion

At £5850 for the main system and another £500 approximately for the isolation brackets and speaker cables, which I feel are essential, you are looking at £6350. This is not a cheap system, but when you factor in the build quality and components used and the fact Ceri sells direct with a 30-day money back guarantee if not satisfied, then this is a system for those who want superb sound without bankrupting themselves, with only your sources to add.

Finishes are cherry, oak or walnut in high quality veneers.

Shipping is by arrangement with Code Acoustics and starts from £65 for UK mainland. Elsewhere please ask for a quote.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:  Very good with a nice blend of wood and metal for both the speakers and control unit.

Sound Quality:  Well controlled tight dry bass with a very clear detailed sound stage and smooth top end.

Value For Money:  £6350 for the whole package isn’t cheap, but then quality never is.

Pros:

Well built, and good looking design that is easy to use and set up

Relatively neat and compact which would blend well into many rooms I would say

For an active system, compared to the competition this is very good value

Excellent component quality for the drivers and electronics

Cons:

The display is basic and small with a simple remote, but not a deal breaker I feel as the unit functions perfectly well

Inveterate system upgraders won’t be interested, but this is a great fit and forget system to enjoy

Price: £6350

Ian Ringstead