Cheltenham and the Acoustic Energy Corinium

/ Audio T Cheltenham/

The anticipation regarding the release of the new Acoustic Energy flagship loudspeaker had been reaching fever pitch in the weeks running up to their release earlier in the year. Our pair are now well and truly run-in and sound sooooo lovely, I thought I just had to shout about them a little via our monthly blog…

looking rather gorgeous in British Racing Green

Matt Spandl, who is the resident genius, chief designer and general loudspeaker whisperer at Acoustic Energy has been working on the Corinium project for three years now, squirreled away in his secret laboratory on a converted farm in deepest darkest Tetbury on the edge of the Cotswolds. Helped out in no small fashion by a certain James Luce, who is responsible for the funky design work, the two of them have produced one of the best loudspeakers we have ever heard. And that goes for both looks and sound!

Blue meanie digs our demo pair of coriniums

this colour is called Tectona…that’s posh speak for teak!

Why the name “Corinium”? Well, Cirencester (in the beautiful English Cotswolds) was hometown to Acoustic Energy for more than 25 years and also happened to be an important outpost in Roman Britain. In fact it was the most important town outside of London and the Romans named it Corinium Dobunnorum because they knew that at some stage in the future, someone from Cirencester would need a funky name to call their new statement loudspeakers!

Nothing has been left to chance here. Every component, every curve, every position point of the drive units and their precise specification has been painstakingly researched and refined over three years and the result is the best Acoustic Energy speaker that I have ever heard, and that includes the legendary AE1 from back in the eighties.

Build quality is reassuringly rock solid and included are super stable spiked bases designed to dump cabinet vibrations out of the speaker (where it would adversely affect the drive units) and into the floor.

super stable spiked bases

Speaker cable connections are provided via a a single pair of binding posts/banana terminals. Acoustic Energy believe it’s possible to obtain optimum results using a single pair of high quality speaker cables rather than two pairs of lower quality cables… And it avoids the unreliability of bridging links.

super chunky speaker sockets/binding posts

The Coriniums offer superlative performance at their price and are a massive upgrade over the company’s previous ‘flagship’ floorstander, the AE520 which is pretty much half the price, but the Coriniums are more than twice as good.

this colour is called black

Matt and James’ aim was to make the high end more affordable and boy have they delivered on that. Now that our demonstration pair are nicely run in (and that does make a difference) they are proving to be a proper jaw dropper. On the end of a suitably capable amplifier the Coriniums could well just be the perfect loudspeaker.

I have recently been streaming the Hi-Res 24 bit 96kHz ECM Records playlist on Qobuz with which the Coriniums have been making wonderous noises. With music such as this it is often not so much a case of the actual performance as the space around it, within which the individual musicians react to and bounce off each other. I think that music that is recorded this well finds its perfect match with the Coriniums.

and a white pair

Amongst all the beautiful ECM music that Qubuz was streaming at me these two sounded particularly lovely. Firstly Gesualdo by Erkki-Sven Tuur and Brett Dean.

And then the even more lovely Silent Light by Dominic Miller.

Through the Coriniums I was experiencing a level of detail, sound staging and bass depth that is as good as many bigger and more expensive loudspeakers. They have the ability to wring out the power, the emotion and the scale of whatever music they play.

Acoustic Energy have been making some of the world’s best loudspeakers since 1987 and these are definitely their best to date! They must be very proud of themselves.

Never before from a cabinet of this size have I heard a stereo image so wide, so deep and so high that you feel you can reach out and touch the performers. Looking at my notes from the listening session the word “real” was written large and in capitals across the middle of the page.

dID I MENTION THE BRITISH RACING GREEN PAIR

If you would like to know why these new speaker stars are kicking up a bit of a fuss in the hi-fi world there is a rather good and in depth Q&A about the development of the Coriniums with Matt Spandl on the Acoustic Energy website so pay it a visit here. More importantly perhaps get yourself a demo at one of our Audio T Stores… You will be impressed.

There is an absolute avalanche of great reviews for the Coriniums and the accolades are coming thick and fast…

 

Many thanks for reading.

Andy, Jon and Farid - Audio T Cheltenham Store.

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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Audio T Swansea and Record Store Day 2024

/ Audio T Swansea/

ANOTHER FINE DAY IN THE WORLD OF VINYL

The annual Bristol Hi-Fi Show had finished, and it was time once again to focus on another day that is firmly etched in the diary here at Audio T Swansea, which is of course Record Store Day…

For those new to our blogs, or who may not have heard of Record Store Day - it’s a day celebrating the independent record shops with lots of limited edition vinyl releases of previously unheard recordings as well as re-releases of golden oldies, 12 inches, 7 inches and the odd cassette believe it or not!

This year there seemed to be quite a buzz about RSD in the run up, there was a lot of talk about it on both local and National Radio stations. As it happened Radio 6’s Huw Stephens was broadcasting live from Tangled Parrot - a small Indie Record & Coffee shop is Swansea (we were very grateful for the shoutout live on air for loaning them a Rega turntable for the afternoon).

As usual we collaborated with Derricks Music on Oxford Street (Swansea) for the day, and were once again grateful for the opportunity to take down a Rega system and play our own records. In a change to previous years I decided to take down some of the bigger guns as it were for this year, instead of the Rega Planar 1 and Brio I decided to take down the Rega Planar 8 with Fono MC phono stage and the ELEX MK4 amplifier and Acoustic Energy AE500 speakers on IsoAcoustics Aperta Isolation Stands. My main reason for this is that I use the AE500 at home on the IsoAcoustics platforms with my Planar 10, and having spoken to so many customers about how good small cabinet speakers can be on these platforms- we couldn’t ask for a better opportunity to actually have them playing for the day. Friday afternoon and off to set it all up…

The one dilemma I face every year is what records to take with me for the day. As you may be aware from previous RSD blogs, Christos the boss is firmly planted in “the Prog” as I call it as well as “old men in denim”, in stark contrast to my “bloody women and guitars” as he calls it! Do I take some very well known albums or do I take slots of my weird stuff???

So… With the record bag finally packed, it was an early start and the usual trek across the town from the car park to Derricks, with the fine mix of people you can always expect on a Saturday morning in a City centre. Some rushing to work, some tucking into a famous Greggs breakfast and some that could join a circus with their ability to stay vertical seemingly still two sheets to the wind shall we say.

The same question crosses my mind again as I approach Derricks: I wonder how long the queue will be? And… No surprise to see it heading way down the road and around the corner.

As Christos, Sian and Jon are just getting the final touches ready to the shop, I have got the system warming up then nip outside to help Big Phil hand out the amazing cookies supplied by The Crazy Baker to the dedicated shoppers patiently waiting for the doors to open.

9am strikes and we hear “let em in!”. Our first customer tells us that they were first in line at 11pm the previous evening with the next in the queue arriving just after 1am! How lucky we were to have a fine night and day once again. Amazingly we have always had a sunny day for RSD.

One of my favourite things is to watch the customers come to the counter with their wish list and try to guess what they are going to ask for, and as usual I get it completely wrong. One fine example of this is when a customer asked for Super Furry Animals, so I was then expecting some sort of rock album, how wrong could I be… Scott Walker! we burst out laughing - that is seriously eclectic!

Once the customers had their chosen LPs I had the chance to have a chat with them about the system playing an answer any questions they may have about their system. And as usual we have lots of lovely giveaways to hand out in the form of the limited edition RSD slip mat (only had 10 per store), the fabulous miniature Rega Naia keyrings, Rega bags and a couple of our big Audio T record bags.

One little addition I took to Derricks almost stole the show though - the Degritter Ultrasonic Cleaner. As one customer who was transfixed watching it do it’s bubbly cleaning job said “This is better than the telly!”

It was probably around 11am before the queue had died down and people were spending longer in the shop looking at all of the RSD records that hadn’t already been snapped up, which meant they had longer to chat with me about hi-fi and music.

I was having a great time playing some of my favourites albums, and so many people were commenting on how amazing the system sounded considering it was perched on top of a display cabinet. Partly this was down to the Rega being able to perform on almost any surface but also the IsoAcoustic stands under the speakers, it was amazing the difference when the speakers were taken off and just sat on the cabinet - “Yep - this is why I use them myself at home- it’s not smoke and mirrors!”.

And…. no sooner had it started but it was now late afternoon and time to pack up. What a fabulous day! I have to say a big thank you to everyone that took the time to stop and chat with me and also a massive thank you to Christos, Sian and Jon at Derricks Music for making it such a fun packed day.

The only thing left for me to do was to go home and play my RSD purchases.

Christos - Please Note: No women with guitars!!!

Thank you for reading!

Nic - Audio T Swansea

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to contact us

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Modern Hi-Fi 101 - A beginners’ guide exploring the Basics of Hi-Fi Setups in 2024

/ Audio T Swindon/
Modern Hi-Fi 101 - A beginners’ guide exploring the Basics of Hi-Fi Setups in 2024

For many of us, investing in a quality home Hi-Fi system has become more challenging than ever in the current world climate. However the desire for a form of escapism or the pure enjoyment of sitting down and immersing yourself in music is still very much prevalent and maybe even more important than before. 


Whether it’s winding down after a long day’s work or hosting some friend’s & enjoying memorable albums and having a system that brings out a rich, immersive and captivating sound is the power of a quality Hi-Fi system. Bringing the listener closer to the original performance. 

Below I will be discussing the considerations to be had when looking for an up-to-date complete Hi-FI system (without breaking the bank!). If you are just starting your journey in high-fidelity sound and looking at building a complete setup or simply enjoy high quality sound with an outdated system and want to be able to explore the current options with more understanding, this post will hopefully help in some decision making when building your personal audio system without compromising on quality.

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AYAaaa!!! How you doin'?? - A look at the Rega AYA Floor Standing Speakers

/ Audio T Manchester/

Rega AYA

Hi-Fi loudspeakers may not be the first thing you think about when you mention the Rega name; their class leading turntables have dominated the hi-fi market for nearly two generations for very good reasons; the company's high class engineering has left competitors in their wake. But for thirty years now, Rega has offered full hi-fi systems, amplifiers, at one time a tuner, and even CD players; all with their unique design and cleverly engineered twist. This also applied to their speakers too. Fast, lightweight cones, easy to drive, and offering a really incredibly open sound...

An Interesting Cabinet!

As usual, Rega have taken a unique approach to the new AYA floor standing speakers, one glimpse of the tall slim cabinet tells you that tale!

The cabinet has taken a great deal of research and co-operation with a third party concrete specialist, it is actually a construct of concrete lightened with glass fibre. The material is unfinished, and smooth to the touch. Each cabinet will have its own little unique pattern of micro air bubbles. The cabinet looks very sculptural, and is certainly a talking point in anyone's room.

Compared to a standard wooden box, it is much more rigid, and a far better acoustic enclosure. The base is terminated in a three legged arrangement, which offers perfect floor coupling, and gives the speaker the impression that it is floating in space. The drive units are open and exposed, grills are optional. The tweeter has inbuilt protection from inquisitive fingers, but other than that, they stand naked, at 258 x 871 x 215mm (10.2 x 34.3 x 8.5in) .

Rega aya! a step up from the rest

It Tweets and Thumps!

Rega list the drive units as the ZRR tweeter, MX-125 five inch mid bass, and RR 7.8 seven inch bass driver. No crossover points are given, but the design is described as a 'two and a half way'. In practice, this means that both the five inch and the eight inch driver handle the lower bass frequencies, with just the upper frequencies rolled off the larger unit.

Both units appear to be of doped paper construction, and both are fitted with phase plugs in the centre. Both units share the same space in the cabinet, with an acoustic resistance unit splitting the cabinet in to two sections, the drive units in the top half, with tuned bass port in the lower.

Not a space port chromey, for the umteenth time!! Bless him

What Drives Us?

Rega speakers of the past have been famed for their ease of drive, and the new AYA follows this established pattern. A modest 6 ohm nominal load is 50% higher than the currently accepted 'norm' of 4 ohms, and is easier for an amplifier to drive.

In addition, the Rega AYA is well above average when it comes to sensitivity. Sensitivity is essentially how efficient the speaker is at producing acoustic power from the amplifier's power in watts; the AYA will play very loud from as little as 20 watts, even 10 watts in smaller rooms, yet can handle well up to a 110 watts, enough to fill a very large space.

Room Friendly.

The low coloration and non resonant cabinet enables the speakers to be used in many different positions in a room. All speakers require a little space to perform at their absolute best, but of course they have to fit both physically and aesthetically in to our rooms. But this is one speaker that will work reasonably close to walls.

The port at the front affords you the ability to place close to the wall

The Music Matters!

If you have heard a Rega speaker before, you will hear the clear family pedigree in this new design, with an open and liquid midrange, excellent stereo image and precise sound stage.

The speaker responds well to more budget oriented systems, as well as the much more High-End. On arrival in store, we ran the new AYA up on around £15,000 worth of Naim pre-power-streamer system. The AYA did not disappoint. Skipping through a few tracks, the classic 1972 track by The Temptations, Papa Was A Rolling Stone popped up. On this song, each of the vocalists are positioned in a different location within the mix, and on a good system, you can hear quite clearly this splendid stereo effect. And again, on a good system, the different vocal characteristics of the singers shows clearly, and the Rega AYA excelled on this track.

Another 70s special, Bob James and the track, Angela (more familiar as the theme tune to the cult TV show Taxi). Bob James' Fender Rhodes electric piano sounded really clear, the midrange is really a stunning part of this superb speakers design, which as with The Temptations track, human voice is handled aplomb.

Sticking with the 70s vibe, some rare grooves from Camille Yarbrough and Take Your Praise (famously sampled by Fatboy Slim) which has low down sassy vocals and a solid bass line, the AYA did a fabulous job rendering this track, as they did on the more funky Hit or Miss, by Odetta. The piano, bass and drums sounds of Vince Guaraldi, and the recently remastered Black Orpheus soundtrack further proved the AYA's exceptional stereo imaging and life like qualities.

Jumping forward, and back in to the 21st century, the speaker had no problems with more modern programme material, as well as our classic choices. The treble is clean and fast, not bright and splashy, but smooth and controlled. The speaker's efficiency dictates that the bass end is never going to be thunderously deep, but they do go deep, and have a nice warming punch, that in no way effects the gloriously open and spacious midrange.

Chromey takes a stance on good feet and sits down on Aya’s feet.

How Much??, Give Over!!

Even on a much more modest Rega Brio amplifier accompanied by the Rega Planar 3 turntable, the fidelity remains top notch. One thing we haven't mentioned yet is the new AYA's price.

Despite the unique bespoke and rather clever cabinets, the handmade drive units and rigorous testing, the AYA costs a modest £1,499*. On a value for money note, there are few speakers that come close to the AYA on its liquid midrange, its openness, ease of drive and ease of use. A speaker that is at home in a High-End system, as much as a more budget friendly one. The unique looks might be a bit of a 'marmite' issue. But if you are in the market for a speaker at this price point, it is really hard not to give this excellent new addition to the Rega range an audition in store.

Our Rega Aya are on display and ready to demonstrate at our Manchester store. Please feel free to come along to the store and seek out the Rega Aya and see “how they doin’ "

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

Thanks for reading

Haden (Photos by Munir) - Audio T Manchester

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

Naim and Dynaudio create sonic magic at Audio T Portsmouth

/ Audio T Portsmouth/

A very special day was had by all attending the Naim & Dynaudio listening event we held at Audio T Portsmouth on 18th April. Customers who signed up to the event were treated to an exclusive demonstration of the superb Naim 300 series and Dynaudio’s awesome Confidence 50 speakers.

Star turns

Jason Gould, from Naim, and Bill Livingston, from Dynaudio, had star billing and led three sessions throughout the day.

They kicked off each session by telling our guests a little about the products and then guiding them through a structured listening session.

Jason Gould, Naim

Jason talked guests through the quality of sound delivered by the Naim Uniti Core music server which makes bit-perfect rips of your CDs allowing for better-than-CD quality streaming.

This fed into the Naim NSS 333 streamer and then into the Naim NAC 332 pre-amp. Amplification was supplied by a pair of NAP 350 mono block power amps.

Naim 300 series

Bill then explained some of the history, philosophy and process behind the design of Dynaudio speakers, including the Confidence 50.

The Confidence range are the result of a ground-up process that saw Dynaudio rethink, redesign and retest every component for optimum performance at the price point.

Bill Livingston, Dynaudio UK

Then the serious listening began.

Our guests first heard tracks played via the Naim Uniti Core into the NSS 333, NAC 332 and the NAP 350s.

Big sound

The sound through the big Dynaudio was as expansive, revealing and weighty as you might expect from a system with a combined retail price north of £60,000.

Jason then added a Naim NPX 300 power supply to the NSS 333 streamer and guests listened to the same tracks.

Jason about to add an NPX 300 into the mix

The music immediately sounded more textured with better presentation of microdetail and also enhanced tonality of the voices and instruments. We not only heard more of the music but also more of the space around and between the voices and instruments.

The next step was to add a second NPX 300 to the NAC 332 pre-amp.

Next level

With almost £12,000 of power supply now feeding the streamer and preamp this now £70k-plus system took another step towards musical nirvana.

What was striking about the system was the immediacy and intimacy of the presentation. The music sounded alive.

Singers were virtually present in the room, their voices rendered in all their glory, their imperfections, their strengths and their vulnerabilities. Instrumental tonality became three dimensional, for example what seemed like a single solid bass note was clearly revealed as two, while the snappy rap of the snare drum regained so much of the bite it would have in reality.

Hearing is believing

It is easy to wax lyrical about the way high-end systems reproduce music but, in reality, no amount of words are adequate substitute for listening. Hearing really is believing.

The Naim 300 series remains on demonstration along with the Confidence 50 speakers at Audio T Portsmouth. So, if you missed our event and want to hear for yourself what this incredible set-up sounds like, then contact us and we will happily arrange a demo for you.

For more on the Dynaudio Confidence 50s read our blog from August 2023 below.

Thanks for reading.

Alan - Audio T Portsmouth

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us

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This time it's personal - the Naim Uniti Atom HE

/ Audio T Brighton/

Hi folks, and welcome to this month’s article from us here at Audio T Brighton. We’re in for a bit of a headphone journey this month because the streaming DAC/pre-amp in question is something I use personally on a daily basis. Let’s dive in and let you know my thoughts on this little marvel. Welcome to a review of the Naim Uniti Atom HE.

Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition...

naim uniti atom he

Released as an addition to the Naim Uniti Atom during the lock-down in 2020, the Naim Uniti Atom HE is a useful alternative package for the personal listener, without foregoing flexibility to the budding audiophile when playing back through some speakers, with the addition of a power amp or active speakers, of course. More on that feature later.

HE is very well connected...

At a glance, the Naim Uniti Atom HE looks virtually identical to the standard Naim Uniti Atom, so let’s summarise the similarities/differences because the retail price of both units are the same.

Naim Uniti Atom v Naim Uniti Atom HE

  • Ethernet/Wireless - Ethernet/Wireless

  • no phono stage - no phono stage

  • 3.5mm headphone input - 6.35mm input, 4.4mm & XLR balanced

  • HDMI eARC input - N/A

  • 40W/ch into 8ohms amp - Discrete headphone amp (1.5W/16ohm)

  • Both feature 2 x Toslink, 1 x Coax inputs, 1 x analogue RCA input, 2 x USB storage

If your primary listening is through a pair of loudspeakers, then the Naim Uniti Atom is a unit that performs superbly at the price, really looks the part, offers a good headphone output, connects to your T.V. and only needs a turntable and phono stage to be added separately to finish off a quality stereo system you’ll be happy with for many years. However if your raison d’etre is towards personal listening via a pair of headphones, then the Naim Uniti Atom HE really comes into its own.

Armed with 3 headphone outputs; a standard single-ended 1/4 inch jack on the front of the unit allows playback through the majority of cans, or if you’re more serious about your headphone playback, then two balanced connections are available; a 4.4mm Pentaconn on the front panel and a 4-pin XLR on the rear of the unit. The two outputs on the front automatically mute the pre-amp outputs on the rear, useful if you have a power amplifier connected to speakers. The rear balanced XLR output doesn’t mute the speakers, so you’ll have to use the headphone/preamp selector switch on the top-left of the front panel to make your choice. However, you can also make your output selection with headphones connected to one of the two jack sockets on the front panel if you wish, the switch usefully lighting up with a headphone symbol when connected to the headphone output.

Balanced or single-ended headphone output?

Balanced inputs/outputs are a hot topic in the hi-fi world at the moment, so let’s briefly discuss their pros and cons. Before we start though, we need to sing the praises of the DIN connections that Naim have used on their systems for a number of decades. The noise and grounding benefits of DIN are such that Naim still recommends their use on sonic grounds, where possible, but they are not widely used around the world which limits connectivity across brands when mixing and matching hi-fi components. Naim have opened the doors of compatibility across the world by incorporating balanced connections on their new products in the Naim 200 and Naim 300 series released in 2022/23.

naim uniti atom he with focal clear MG headphones

So why use the balanced connections on the Naim Uniti Atom HE?

The main reason is one shared with the professional audio industry. Noise is an unfortunate by-product of electronics, wi-fi and long cable runs - just ask any guitarist! Unfortunately, as well as sending a signal along a copper cable, the cable often acts as an antenna for RFI and EMI noise. Proper shielding and balanced connections can help reduce noise, especially over a longer cable length. For shorter lengths, like those often encountered in domestic use, single ended RCA connections may be better, as advocated by companies like Linn, but your mileage may vary depending on how noisy your electrical environment is.

Personally, I run a longer length cable (5 metres) so I can sit or lie down on my sofa when late-night listening. I also like the uncluttered look on the front fascia and robustness of the 4-pin balanced XLR connector in the long term, so I chose a balanced cable termination, but that is just me!

HE, HE, HE, this thing is no joke...

The Naim Uniti Atom HE is a diminutive device, only occupying a half-width profile, meaning placement is somewhat easier than for a full-scale system. A small table or shelf near a mains outlet, along with a good pair of headphones and a cable of a decent length is all you need!

The original Naim Uniti Atom had a respectable headphone performance but the Naim Uniti Atom HE’s headphone outputs really do play in a different league! Detail, separation and staging of instruments in the mix are far clearer, with dynamic contrasts superior in both macro and micro-dynamic domains, especially with a pair of headphones that can do the Naim Uniti Atom HE’s discrete headphone stage justice.

Focal headphones are a suitable match, such as; Clear MG, Celestee, Stellia and Utopia. This is only to be expected as Focal and Naim are now sister companies and developed many of their product ranges in tandem. Other headphones that will work well are the Meze 109 Pro, Meze Empyrean 2’s.

Whatever headphones you decide to pair with the Naim Uniti Atom HE, you are sure to be mesmerised by the sound it produces, whether they be open or closed-back headphones. Naim’s engineers have clearly spent time fettling the amplifier section and it will drive both low and high impedance cans comfortably, quoting 1.5 Watts into a 16 Ohm load, so there will be few headphones that won’t be able to be driven by the Atom HE.

Naim Uniti Atom HE as a streaming DAC preamplifier...

In all the hullabaloo about the Naim Uniti Atom HE as an excellent headphone amplifier for personal listening, we may forget a major use case for our budding audiophiles. It also happens to be an excellent streamer/DAC/preamplifier!

The Atom HE has both single-ended RCA outputs and balanced, stereo XLR outputs in the preamp section. The ability to add a power amplifier of your own choice is a major bonus to this device, allowing the user to tailor their power amplifier choice to loudspeaker and room requirements.

We’ve found the Naim Uniti Atom HE pairs particularly well to the latest iteration of the Naim NAP 250 power amplifier.

Another benefit of separating the preamp from the poweramp is the ability to upgrade the components individually when you’re ready to do so, along with the inherent sonic benefits of doing so. A Naim NSC 222 streaming pre-amp would be a good partner for the Naim NAP 250, opening the door to better units further up the range, including the Naim NSS 333 streamer and Naim NAC 332 pre-amplifier.

From there, the sky really is the limit!

naim uniti atom he shown with a pair of focal clear mg’s

As always, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so get in touch to book a demonstration.

Thanks for reading.

Ade, John and Paul - Audio T Brighton

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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What sounds better: streaming or CD?

/ Audio T Portsmouth/

It’s a good question and one we are often asked. And, as with much else in hi-fi, the answer is (you guessed it) not straightforward. We’re leaving vinyl, and its particular sound qualities, out of this blog (one for the future perhaps).

Ultimately, as with any hi-fi component, it boils down to what sounds better to you. And for that you need to listen to products before you buy. This is why Audio T stores are all equipped with demonstration rooms and we are more than happy to set-up listening sessions for our customers.

portsmouth demo room

That said, perhaps we can help shed a little light on streaming versus CDs without, hopefully, becoming too bogged down in the science…

On the face of it…

The first, most obvious, thing to note is that while standard CDs are limited to 16-bit/44kHz, high resolution (or high definition if you prefer) music is commonly streamed at 24-bit/96kHz or 192kHz.

In general terms, the more bits the greater the dynamic range. The sample rate at which the music was recorded is measured in kHz. So, 44kHz is 44,100 samples per second. A sample simply being the readings that the analogue to digital converter in the studio takes to produce a copy of the music. In general terms, the more samples the more information in the copy.

So, on paper, a high res stream will contain more information and have greater dynamic range than music played at 16-bit/44kHz. This does not necessarily mean it will sound better.

A poorly recorded or remastered track will still be a poorly recorded track regardless of the number of bits or the sample rate. In fact, a poor recording can sometimes sound worse played in high res on a good system simply because you’re hearing more of that bad recording!

Ripping

First, let’s look at streaming a CD that you have ripped to a hard disc drive, either in your computer or network attached storage drive (NAS).

Jason Gould, Brand Ambassador for Naim Audio, explains that CD players work on a system of real-time data retrieval, using error correction where required to reconstruct the digital information accurately.

If you make a bit-perfect copy of a CD then, in a quality machine like the Naim Uniti-Core, the Innuos Zen Mk3 or the Bluesound Vault 2i the streamer will not have to contend with real time data retrieval using error correction.

NAIM uNITI-cORE

“The answer relies on certain parameters being in place, but the short answer is that streaming a properly ripped CD is superior,” Jason says.

“It provides a bit perfect data package with all of the guess work taken out of error correction. The net result being a much more faithful rendition of the given music programme.”

So, says Jason, depending on the quality of the components being used you are better off making bit-perfect copies of your CD and playing via a quality streamer than using your CD player.

Streaming

But what about music played via a streaming service (e.g. Tidal or Qobuz) vs CD replay? Theoretically, a 16bit/44kHz CD is sufficient to capture all the information and frequencies that a human ear can detect, and beyond.

In this scenario it seems that a good CD player may have an edge over streaming via streaming service at 16bit/44kHz. And a good CD player may even compete well against high res streaming.

Nick Clarke, Managing Director at Cyrus Audio, says: “All things being equal then there would be no difference between a CD and a streamed 16/44 audio track. However, in the real world, not all things are equal.”

Nick explains that streamers get their data in blocks or packets that are passed over the network which is a possible source of noise. These packets are placed in a buffer for decoding. Finally, the uncompressed audio is pulled from the buffer as a continuous stream of data

“By contrast, a high quality real-time read-back CD player, such as the Cyrus Servo Evolution engine (as found in the Cyrus CDi), extracts the data from the CD as a continuous bitstream with no timing breaks,” says Nick.

Cyrus Cdi

“This is an inherently less noisy process than the block processing required in all streamers. Even higher resolution playback can be affected in this way.”

“Not all CD players operate like that”, adds Nick. “Some use a computer USB drive and treat the disc as a data file, and work similar to a streamer, bringing with it the same noise and timing issues. The advantage is that this process allows the player to read lower quality or heavily damaged discs as there is sufficient time between the block processing to inter-populate the missing information.”

Other factors

Of course streaming comes with huge benefits in terms of sheer convenience and being able to explore a vast library of music. Then again if you subscribe to a streaming service you will never own the tracks and albums, unless you buy the music. Added to which, for many, choosing and listening to a CD while reading the sleeve notes is more of a musical occasion, akin to playing a record.

Ashton Wagner, Electronics Design Coordinator at Rega Research Ltd, sums it up well: “Assuming we are starting with the same 1s and 0s then, the only other way we can get any changes is in how we treat the 1s and 0s on their way to our ears.

“But a big part of the hi-fi hobby for me is collecting, listening to, and cataloguing different versions of albums, both on vinyl and digital (I’m a hoot at parties, I swear).

“The subjective differences in sound quality are sometimes subtle and sometimes considerable. Restricting oneself to either CD or streaming often removes options.”

Wiim Pro

Conclusion

The advent of CDs in the 1980s was widely thought to spell the end for records. And yet 40 years later, vinyl not only remains popular among hi-fi enthusiasts but has undergone a resurgence in popularity, including among younger generations.

There is little reason to think that, even as streaming technology and equipment improves, streamed music will mean the end for CDs any time soon. Indeed, according to recent reports, CD sales rose in 2023 for the first time in two decades.

CDs offer a different listening experience and, in the real world, a good CD player can more than hold its own against music streamed at 16-bit/44kHz, and even give high res streaming a run for its money.

Ripping your CDs and streaming them bit perfectly may offer some sonic advantages over playing them live, as it were. Storing your CDs digitally may also make playback more convenient and will allow you to declutter.

Streaming a well-produced track in high res 24bit/96kHz, or higher, via a good quality streamer will tend to provide more musical information than the same track streamed at 16/44 or played on a standard CD.

Audiolab 6000N play

You may be able to hear that difference. But whether it sounds ‘better’ is another matter.

Jason, at Naim, says: “The caveat to this is that 44.1 and high res, is best listened to, when downloaded from the chosen site, Qobuz and Tidal, for example. Bit rates aren’t always consistent when streamed on the ‘fly’.

“When engaging in 44.1, we believe that ripped compact disc is still best and typically native high resolution recordings favoured over remastered versions of earlier recordings.”

Options

Streaming is becoming ever more popular in the hi-fi community, driven in part by the number of quality products available on the market.

If you’re just starting out with streaming then check out the Wiim Mini, Wiim Pro, Wiim Pro Plus or a Bluesound Node 3 or Audiolab 6000N Play. Great options for a streamlined streaming system include the Wiim Amp and the Bluesound Powernode 3, in both cases you only need to hook up a pair of speakers.

Bluesound Powernode 3

There are many other great streaming products available and you can check these out on the Audio T website.

If you want to audition any of our streamers then please call us on 02392 663604 or email us at portsmouth@audio-t.co.uk

Thanks for reading.

Alan - Audio T Portsmouth

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

“Spin The Black Circle” - The Vinyl Revolution

/ Audio T Cardiff/

Matt from Audio T Cardiff takes a deeper dive into his passion for vinyl records and why there has been such a resurgence in the format and its effects on both the turntables and Hi-Fi industries in general.

With yet another great Bristol Hi-Fi show done and dusted, it’s a great time to reflect on the year’s activities as well as our own setups and systems. And I must say, Wow! What a show it was. With it being my second year working at the show I had a better idea of what to expect, and was mentally prepared for the sheer scale, and it was great to see and meet many of you there again. Some of us took the opportunity to grow our record collections with the numerous vendors at the show, others used the show as the perfect excuse to plan upgrades, and some younger attendees even taking the leap and buying their first ever turntables, with numerous customers starting their journey with the award winning Rega Planar 1. I know I came home from the Bristol Hi-Fi show with another three records and a continued desire for the Rega Naia, which is on many people’s wish lists.

All of this talk of turntables has no doubt got us buying yet more vinyl. Oh the addiction continues!

When we talk about the resurgence in vinyl collecting, I see this as a great thing, encouraging younger generations to get immersed in music and not just listening to it streamed (which is still a great way to listen to music and discover new bands) but to enjoy an album from start to finish. It is incredibly enjoyable.

In my opinion there’s nothing like walking into a record shop and discovering that album, getting it home, opening up the gate fold, putting the record on and looking at the album artwork as we listen to the music. In my eyes, it’s the perfect way to listen to music and I feel that it’s a great thing that record companies are reissuing old albums, giving new younger generations the chance to listen to the classics as they should be, as well as listening to new artists of the day.

pearl jam vitalogy lp

You might be wondering about the title of this blog “Spin The Black Circle” which is a song by Pearl Jam on their ‘Vitalogy’ album. Eddie Vedder wrote this song about his love for vinyl. I highly recommend listening to this album.

Where The Magic of Vinyl Started

Let’s go back in time a little, not as far back as the gramophone but the age of popular music in the 50s. This was a time when our only access to new music was either listening to the radio or going to the local record store and listening to the new singles of the day. Music styles change over time and artists evolve but to me, the big changes started to really happen in the late 60s with the rise of the guitar heroes such as Clapton, Hendrix, Beck and Page, to name but a few.

As consumers, we bought their singles and then their albums as this was the way they were released at the time. Many of us still buy music this way, although sadly there’s very few listening cubicles in record shops these days, but in saying that, some of the small independent record shops out there will put a record on if you ask!

The Vinyl Time Machine

For me, records hold memories and emotions, new, old, good and bad. For instance, this takes me right back to when I was a lot younger, queuing outside Spillers Records in Cardiff when an album was released. I remember nagging my dad back in 1987 to take me to my local record shop to get Guns ‘n’ Roses ‘Appetite For Destruction’. Opening that gate fold and looking at the album artwork while listening to the record and thinking ‘this is a cornerstone in the sound of rock & metal’.

Moving on a little later, I remember queuing up for Metallica's ‘Black’ album in 1991… Yep I was once one of the long haired band T-shirt brigade. Not much has changed apart from getting older and my hair being a lot shorter now! It’s fair to say my listening habits haven't changed. The funny thing is, I will still wait in line for a record even now. It’s memories like these that tie us to the music that we enjoy.

All this talk of music brings up an important question. Why have Vinyl LP sales been increasing year on year for the last 16 years? The truth is, vinyl never went away, despite new technologies coming along such as CD players and then streaming. The turntable seems to be stronger than ever right now. Why? Is it a trend, a fad or a passing craze? The truth is that turntables and vinyl collecting has always been here and the wonderful, magical analogue way of listening to music has never completely ceased. When mainstream record labels opted for digital formats, independent labels, especially those specialising in Punk and Metal really leaned in to vinyl and pushed limited edition coloured variants to encourage sales.

The great thing is that as well as people rediscovering their love for their record collection; younger generations have discovered vinyl for the first time and started their journey into collecting. This discovery/re-discovery of the format has piqued a great interest in new turntables and good quality Hi-Fi to complement it. With customers looking beyond the basic turntables sold in the high street shops it’s no surprise really… Why play a £30 record on a £100 all-in-one player? We all know vinyl can sound so much better!

The Ultimate Vinyl Sound?

A big question asked in store is “can vinyl sound better?” The answer is a big resounding “YES” and the other question is, “Do I have to spend thousands to accomplish a great sounding turntable?” The answer is “No”, you don't have to spend thousands. A great example of a turntable to start with is the Rega Planar 1 Plus teamed with a Wiim streaming amplifier and a pair of Dali Spektor 1 speakers, a fantastic starter system. This system takes care of the vinyl as well as streaming, so you have the best of both worlds. The only thing is, there’s always a way to make things sound even better.

wiim streaming amplifier

One Giant Leap For Vinyl

The possibilities are endless with so many manufacturers out there, it can get very confusing. The great thing is that all of us at Audio T are here to help and guide you. Although my own system is very good I can still see ways of improving the performance, as we say “there’s always room for improvement”!

What do I look at first? We strongly believe source first. This brings the turntable back into the equation as this is the voice of the system. My advice will always be to listen to at least three options of turntable, for instance Rega Planar 2 to Rega Planar 3 or other brands such as Linn and Michell. The other part of your turntable to look at is the cartridge, from moving magnet to moving coil options we supply brands such as Audio Technica, Ortofon and Dynavector. As we know every cartridge has its own sound and is a very big part of the character of your turntable. The proof is in the listening and we can offer you the chance to hear what sounds right to you, as I always say there are no wrong answers.

Taking Care Of Business

One of the only annoying things about vinyl is noise, snap, crackle and pop and not in a good way. So how can we help with this annoyance? How do I look after my turntable? And just as important, how do I look after my vinyl? Fear not, there are multiple ways of looking after your new turntable and keeping your prized possessions such as your vinyl in good shape.

Let’s start with the tools of our trade.

  1. Record brush

  2. Stylus brush

The record brush: Static can be an LPs worst enemy and a good quality record brush can reduce static build up. We offer solutions such as one of our favourites the Audio Technica AT 6013A record brush which has two steps of carbon fibre bristles as well as a velvet pad which removes the dust particles from the record. While the LP is spinning on the turntable you gently hold the brush on the record and the dust will start to collect on the carbon fibre bristles, then proceed to pull the brush toward you off the edge of the LP. The carbon fibre bristles remain straight and can get deep into the vinyl groove. Also available is the Pro-Ject Brush-IT which does a job but our go to is the Audio Technica AT 6013A.

Vinyl & stylus cleaning tools

The next tool to have on hand is a stylus brush. The Pro-Ject Clean-IT is a fantastic little stylus brush for everyday use, again utilising very fine carbon fibre bristles for a safe and effective clean of the stylus tip. With the tone arm locked in the arm rest you offer the brush to the tip of the stylus and then gently clean the stylus by pulling the brush towards you. This brush gets rid of those little bits of fluff on the stylus and helps with the life of the LPs and the stylus itself. If the stylus is very dirty you may need to use a fluid or a gel to get rid of that ingrained dirt. The Audio Technica “Tacky Gel” AT617A is a simple yet effective way to clean the stylus tip, or for a deep clean the tool for the job is a stylus fluid. The Audio Technica AT607A stylus fluid should only be used when the stylus is particularly dirty and should be used sparingly.

Sill Not Sounding Right?

There are a few things you can check such as the tone arm set up. Tracking force, cartridge alignment and anti-skate set up. Wear on the stylus or even wear on the belt which can cause speed issues. If you don’t feel comfortable checking these things yourself fear not, we can help with this. I find there’s nothing more satisfying than getting a turntable playing and sounding like it should. Speaking of turntable setups, we can set up your new turntable for the first time when bought from us, also if you buy a cartridge from us we set up your tonearm and check the health of your turntable free of charge.

Cleaning Vinyl

There are multiple ways we can clean our vinyl collection and no it doesn't involve the dishwasher. On the odd occasion you might find a second hand bargain in a charity shop but the trouble with that is a lot of the time the vinyl isn't in the best shape giving you those unwanted crackles and pops and possibly extra stylus ware. There some great products on the market to clean your vinyl and get it sounding right.

The first method we recommend is record cleaning spray which works really well for manual cleaning. The cleaning method with the Tonar spray is really simple yet effective. A couple of light sprays on the vinyl then using the Tonar micro fibre cloth wipe around the record then wipe with a dry microfiber cloth.

The second manual way we recommend for cleaning your vinyl is a little more fun in the process the Project Spin clean Mk2 which comes with cleaning fluids and drying cloths. This cleaner is really simple but effective.

The third way we recommend cleaning your vinyl is even more in depth than the manual way of cleaning back to the Project brand once again with VC-E2 and VC-S3 cleaners both cleaners work their vacuum system to draw the cleaning fluid and dirt away from your vinyl into the machines inboard tank leaving your vinyl clean and ready to play.

degritter mkii

The fourth way we recommend is more intensive again and is now currently our favourite way to clean vinyl, the Degritter Mk2 ultrasonic vinyl cleaner. This vinyl cleaner goes even deeper again when it comes to how it gets into the groove of the record with its ultrasonic cleaning process. You can alter the cleaning time depending on how dirty your vinyl is. It also dries the vinyl for you and it’s relatively quiet. Although this is one of the most expensive vinyl cleaners that we sell, I feel it is definitely worth its price tag if you have a large vinyl collection.

All of these cleaning methods above don’t just clean the vinyl they can also help with static build up on the vinyl. The other thing we recommend to do after you have cleaned your vinyl is to use a new antistatic record sleeve, which again helps to keep your record in tip top shape.

Conclusion

Music is the thing that binds us all and brings us together because of the emotional bond we have with it. Listening to music still remains very personal, wether it’s vinyl, streaming or compact disc. Vinyl will always be the main listening format for me, that wonderful feeling I still get when I lower the tonearm and the stylus catches the groove, especially when it’s a new record I haven't heard before. If you would like to start your vinyl journey, or improve the system you have, why not pop in and see us and have a chat and a listen.

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

Thanks for reading

Matt, Nick and Kerrin - Audio T Cardiff

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Turntable and Vinyl cleaning products can be found at all of our Audio T stores.

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ProAc Response D2R, an unsung hero?

/ Audio T Oxford/

ProAc are a family owned manufacturer of high quality loudspeakers with over forty years of experience in the industry. Launched 12 years after the Response D2, the D2R incorporates a ribbon tweeter, as opposed to the dome tweeter of the earlier model. Whilst most attention tends to be garnered by the D2’s bigger brother, the D20R, the D2R should not be overlooked.

Construction

On the larger side of normal by modern stand mount standards, this two-way bass reflex design features a 6.5” glass fibre midrange unit with a distinctive copper phase plug. The aforementioned 2.75” ribbon tweeter sits above the driver off axis (to both improve phase alignment and sound staging). They are also front ported, making easier to position them in corners of a room.

The cabinet is constructed from a mixture of marine ply and high-density fibreboard. This mixture of materials is deliberate and helps with ProAc’s philosophy of minimising internal bracing.

The overall fit and finish is of the highest order, with materials of the highest quality used without.

Specifications

The frequency range is 30Hz to 30kHz. The impedance is 8 ohms, and with a quoted sensitivity of 88.5dB. In reality this means that these loudspeakers are not hard to drive and can be well partnered with many good quality amplifiers.

We drove the ProAc D2R with a Rega Elicit amplifier (an excellent match for these speakers), and the superb Innuos Zen providing streaming duties. Placement was 40cm from the back wall with a slight angle of toe in. Tweeters inboard. Standing on high mass stands it was now time to play some tunes:

Listening

One of my favourite artists is Shawn Mullins, and his best album (in my opinion) is Soul’s Core Revival. The acoustic version of Twin Rocks Oregon displays excellent transparency of both guitar and vocals and more so later when his band kicks in. Shawn’s baritone voice is conveyed in convincing style.

Moving onto Lady Blackbird (an artist introduced to me by a great customer called Paul a year ago) 2021’s Black Acid Soul album: For me the standout track is ‘Collage’. Buttery smooth and full of emotion; this track highlights the rich extended bass and deep wide soundstage; the location of each instrument is exact. It also displays the ProAc’s open and natural treble (not harsh as some ribbons can be).

Whilst these speakers do not plumb the bass depths to the same extent as the larger D20s (who go far lower than the plus 2Hz advantage would seem to suggest), the bass is taut and tuneful.

Conclusion

The ProAc D2R are fabulous loudspeakers, detailed and open but not too bright, possessing great imagery and a lovely, natural sounding bass.

These speakers are ideal for a small to midsize room; for someone who wants high end Hi-Fi without over egging the pudding by having too large speakers for the space available. For anyone looking at a high quality stand mounted loudspeaker, these should definitely be on their list for auditioning. Sometimes bigger, is not always better!

If you would like to have a listen please get in touch.

Thank you for reading.

Jon & Rob - Audio T Oxford

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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ProAc can be found at the following Audio T stores

The Wiim Amp - Easy to dismiss on a Whim, but Will Wiim Win?

/ Audio T Bristol/

Ask a bartender - serve a cheap whisky in a shot glass and it’s gone in an instant - in a heavy glass tumbler most customers coo about how earthy, peaty and marvellous it tastes. Suddenly, they turn connoisseur and ask about it’s single malt, sherry cask origins from the wild island 200 miles north of the Outer Hebrides…

Wiim’s Impact

The Wiim Amp has garnered many praises from reviewers. Darko Audio’s video review clocked 1.5 million views and with good reason. The Wiim is beautifully packaged and designed, if rather too similar to a fruity tech company, and an app that is a breeze to use with smooth setup straight from the box. That is the concern here, this feels too good to be true - A Hi-Fi product with modern design leans, small footprint, light weight and sounds great, All for an exceptionally reasonable £319.

But is this just a cheap whisky in a fancy glass?

Wiim Who?

Getting to the bottom of this young upstart in Hi-Fi felt like some sort of deep internet mining. The holding company is Linkplay Technologies, formed in 2014 - a consortium of Google, Broadcom, Inter Video and Harman with another 6 tech partners and a group of mostly Chinese Investors. Access to deep pockets will be needed, given the technology toes this new kid on the block is stepping on (to date a number of patent infringement charges filed, all won so far) It is almost comical that they chose an ambigram name like it’s closest rival.

Specifications

Having experienced the Wiim mini and Wiim Pro, the Wiim Amp follows the trend with an incredibly easy setup. From the moment you attach speakers to it and turn it on you are greeted with an audible welcome and instruction to download the Wiim App and follow the on screen steps. Out of the box it has Bluetooth 5.1, Spotify connect, Tidal Connect, Apple Airplay 2, Google Chromecast, Squeezelite, Roon Ready (awaiting certification - nearly there at the time of writing and should be in the next update), Alexa Cast & DNLA. Internet Connectivity is via 802.11 b/g/n/ac 2.4G/5GHz Dual-band or 10/100 Mbps LAN. Audio inputs are via HDMI Arc, Optical & Line In. The Amp is a Class D putting out 60W in 8Ω, 120W into 4Ω, plus there is a dedicated sub woofer output.

The remote control is a Bluetooth device, so no need for line of sight. It also has a microphone at the top of the remote to allow for voice control via Alexa, Siri or Google voice control.

You can output to speakers, a pair of Bluetooth headphones or a speaker or to an Airplay device. Need multi-room? No problem, grouping and setup is a breeze. You can even take a line input from a turntable and have it play to the other devices.

Put simply, there is no other product on the market at this price that does all of this. And looking at the product roadmap, there is more to come.

Setup & Listening Notes

As mentioned previously, from the moment you open the box, clear instructions, connect this to your speakers and switch on, there is an audible direction. The package has a QR code that you can scan and download the Wiim app. The app actually guides you through the setup with very clear instructions. It’s fast, checks and upgrades itself with a very realistic time and off you go. The exhaustive list of streaming services available is impressive. The manual is possibly one of the best written available, comprehensive and clear with no marketing fluff - refreshing.

The audio settings allow for EQ options. Choose from 24 preset settings, fine-tune with a 10-band graphic EQ, or dive deep with a 4-band parametric EQ. Plus, enjoy the freedom to set independent EQ profiles for each input source, be it HDMI, Optical, Line, BT, or Network. Craft your perfect audio landscape, room by room, source by source. There is also the Sub Out level and crossover frequency to tune in the sub to your speakers.

Initially, we demonstrated the Wiim Amp with a pair of Acoustic Energy AE100². That’s a complete and comprehensive Hi-Fi system for a shade over £550. Switching to Dynaudio Emit 10 and then the Emit 20, each setup progressively improving the speakers resulted in a marked improvement. With the Emit 20, there was great detail, but a noticeable sweet spot, after which things became a little strained.

Listening Notes:

  • Lots of body with great control in the highs, mids and bass.

  • Large, involving stereo imaging with great depth and latitude.

  • Engaging listening across most genres. Classical and Jazz did come across a little thin in our listening session.

In Summary

How does it compare with separates?

The closest comparative would be the entry level Rega IO (£420) with a Wiim Pro (£149). That’s close to twice the price of the Wiim Amp and yes, in my humble opinion it does sound better, but twice as good? The Bluesound Poweredge is possible, but this is at £599.

This could be a case of a company with deep pockets looking to disrupt the cosy world of Hi-Fi pricing for market share. Only time will tell if the young company will mature gracefully over the years to come.

If you looking for a streaming amp for a smallish room, a starter system, or perhaps even a second system. At this price there is only one choice. But, as ever, don’t take our word for it - book a demonstration and audition it for yourself.

Thanks for reading

Justin - Audio T Bristol

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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Look Mum – No Wires! The DALI Rubicon 8C Active Loudspeakers

/ Audio T Swansea/

Lads, lads, lads! Help me out!

Our tale begins, with a long-standing customer’s request that we look after a friend who needed a new hi-fi, let’s call her A-P. She had a particular difficulty in her room in that her piano, cello and extensive vinyl collection are at one end of her nine metre long music salon and the only place to sit speakers is at the other, in front of the sofa, which lies roughly equidistant between the boundaries. Oh, and we can’t run any speaker cables.

Hmmmm….

A couple of smartphone snaps later and we could see that apart from the ‘no wires’ rule, this will be a winning space for the right system, but it’s a jolly big space.

We’re going to have to go active.

Going active

Remembering the lovely Alex from DALI brought down their entry-level active Oberon 1C speakers last year, and thinking how rather good they were, I gave him a call. He recommended the Rubicon 8C for a room this size and reminded us that our colleagues in Audio T Cheltenham had sold a pair of 8C recently and thought very highly of them. A quick call to the boys in Cheltenham confirmed that to be the case.

OOOOO…MYSTERIOUS. AND SHINY.

Despite, at the time, it being very close to the Bristol Hi-Fi Show, Alex brought the monolithic Rubicons down himself and gave us a quick lesson in the DALI Equi ecosystem of active loudspeakers and preamplifiers.

that dali hub preamplifier looking all sleek and black.

The technical bit

At its heart is the DALI Hub, which is capable of streaming high resolution audio wirelessly to compatible active loudspeakers. Fitted with three digital and two analogue inputs you can also fit an optional HDMI module, which enables the user to connect seven speakers and a subwoofer to create a very capable home cinema system.

hub’s rear panel. you can’t really miss the link button used to set the mesh up, just as well..

The upgrade module we’re interested in here though, (music salon remember), is Bluesound's flexible BluOS high-resolution multi-room platform. The NPM-2i module enables high-resolution (up to 24/96) audio to be streamed to any DALI Equi speaker and will integrate with other BluOS-enabled devices to create a multi-room setup around the home. It’s also MQA certified, as are DALI Equi speakers, which is handy if you’re a Tidal customer – their 24-bit service uses MQA.

Eagle-eyed readers will recall that Bluesound products are one of our favourite “reasonably-priced” music streamers. Capable of excellent sound, easy to use and with a reliable platform and control app. We were more than happy when DALI announced they were partnering with Bluesound. Many Hi-Fi companies’ in-house apps are underwhelming in day-to-day use, and it makes sense to buy into a proven control app that benefits from regular maintenance to keep it running smoothly. In turn, this frees expensive digital engineers up from fixing app bugs, to creating even better Hi-Fi. Let’s face it, no-one likes bug-fixing…

rear of hub again - note the bluesound (Bluos) streaming module

Demo time…

A couple of days later, our excited customer was sitting on her own sofa in front of a pair of DALI Rubicon 8C in the stunning Piano Black finish.

Set-up is pleasantly straightforward - Connect the power cables, switch on the Hub, switch on the speakers, keep clicking the little grey button on the rear of one speaker until it displays an icon of where it is in the room, do the same with the other speaker, press the corresponding button on the hub, wait for the ethereal Scandi tones to issue from the cabinets... And Robert’s your mother’s brother.

Open the BluOS app, select players, select DALI Hub, select music source and… Browse.

It took me a touch under three minutes.

Miles Davis’ ‘A Kind of Blue’ is a firm favourite at Chez A-P and so we settled in to listen to the Rubicons warm up with (it has to be said A-P) a spectacularly lovely cup of tea. In between sips, I set up a Rega Planar 3 turntable with matching phono stage and connected it to the Hub’s RCA sockets. A-P is a cellist and a succession of cello tracks issued from the DALI as A-P quickly got to grips with Tidal.

“This cello sounds really good Ade – and that piano is bang-on. The timbre is great, very convincing, but the scale of it! It sounds full-sized. That’s... Impressive. I wasn’t expecting that at all. Wow.”

The Ted Talk…

Three 16.5mm woofers connected to a 250 watt amplifier in an 110 litre cabinet will give you scale in the way you would expect, but it’s nothing if the high end isn’t up to snuff. DALI have fitted a two stage ‘hybrid’ tweeter – a silk dome coupled with a ribbon. This is silky sweet, has a wide dispersion pattern and retains its composure even at distressingly high volume. According to DALI, the combination reaches down to 2.5kHz which manifests itself in a seamless presentation.

the hybrid dome/ribbon tweeter in all its glory. 6 1/2 inch woofers included for scale

A lower frequency crossover point between the midrange and high frequency drivers is desirable, because the larger cone typically found in a midrange driver will distort when it reaches into the high frequency range. Ribbon tweeters have much better dispertion than domes at very high frequencies and exhibit much better control in that register. A hybrid design should give us the best of both worlds - a silk dome to reach down towards the midrange and take the pressure of the midrange unit and a ribbon to soar into the troposphere.

All of that is moot of course, if the end-user doesn’t like the result. Fortunately A-P is very much on board, especially when I span up the Rega Planar 3 and she dug into the vinyl…

Meanwhile, back in the salon…

“The differences in recordings are quite stark. These old Phillips pressings are a bit... Thin compared to the newer Deutsche Grammophon ones, but they’re all enjoyable, so... Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome. Are we happy?”

“Yes, but do they come in a wooden finish? These black ones may match my piano, but they stand out too much against that yellow wall.”

“Walnut then ma’am?”

“Walnut it is.”

Coda

At the time of going to press, the Rubicon 8Cs are on dem in our ground floor salon, here in sunny Abertawe(Swansea) If the experience appeals, why not pop on down the High Street and give them a whirl….

swansea’s ground floor music salon at the time of going to press. ignore all the toys on the 2nd 3rd & 4th shelves. we’re only using the dinky silver and black unit on the top.

and those great big speakers of course ;-)

Thank you for reading, Nic, Adrian & Andy

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to contact us

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

DALI can be found at the following Audio T stores -

A Newcomer To The Oldest Hi-Fi Show In England!

/ Audio T Southampton/

As someone who is fairly new to the Hi-Fi industry, and who is also relatively young compared to the average audiophile, you could assume a prestigious event such as the Bristol Show Hi-Fi Show to be quite overwhelming for me, but it was quite the contrary!

In this article I will be taking a brief look at my first experience at the Bristol Show, along with what enticed me whilst there and what the whole show was like overall.

Linn’s Spectacular room at the show!

As many of you will undoubtedly know, the Bristol Show has been running for 37 years now, hosted by Audio T at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Bristol. This show is an auspicious opportunity for manufacturers to showcase what new and exciting equipment they have to offer. There are around 80 different exhibitors that come along for the weekend, anywhere from long-standing powerhouses such as Rega, Linn and Naim, to new and exciting first-time exhibitors like Advance Paris.

Rega’s room, showcasing the new ND7 cartridge and upcoming pre/power!

New to the bristol hi-fi show and audio t - Advance Paris.

As I previously mentioned, I am rather new to the world of Hi-Fi, and when I first heard about the show, I was both very intrigued and excited, but also quite nervous in a sense. Safe to say, I found the show to be a fantastic event with the rare opportunity of being able to see so many great brands and industry professionals in one place.

Left to right: Farid from audio t Cheltenham, James from audio T Bristol and myself, TIAGO, from Audio T Southampton

The Bristol Show was quite the eye-opening experience for me, giving me the ability to check out different makes & brands that I haven’t previously experienced and seeing what new and exciting things they had in store for the upcoming year.

The best part of the show for me though was being able to meet some of the minds that designed and built all of the fantastic kit being displayed, allowing me to pick their brains as to their thought process during the R&D end of creating all this equipment. Even though I spend my days surrounded by Hi-Fi and Home Cinema, I found the show gave me the opportunity to learn a lot of new things, and also a great opportunity to experience brands and equipment we don’t necessarily see in Audio T Southampton.

In addition to the array of incredible audio equipment on display, there are also several record vendors present, offering new and used LPs and CDs. The opportunity to browse through their selection added a unique dimension to the event. It's not uncommon for attendees, including myself, to leave the show with a few records in hand, ready to enrich their music collection.

Diverse Vinyl is a great stall to find a few records to fill your free tote bag

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the Bristol Hi-Fi Show, and I am very excited to go back next year! If you have any doubts about attending the Show, let me be the first to tell you that it is a very worthwhile experience for any music lover!

Thanks for reading

Tiago - Audio T Southampton.

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

The Bristol Hi-Fi Show will return - Friday 21st – Sunday 23rd February 2025

Audio T Cheltenham And The Neat Acoustics Classic Elite

/ Audio T Cheltenham/

Neat Acoustics have been suppliers of funky stuff to needy audiophiles for a rather large number of years now, and have become rather good at it too! Here in the Cheltenham store we needed something fun to do while the Gold Cup horse racing shenanigans had scared away all but the bravest (or foolish) of our customers. So we asked Bob Surgeoner, (the boss man and resident design genius at Neat), if he could send us a pair of the new Classic Elite floorstanding loudspeakers to give us something to look forward too and like he always does… He said yes!

The Neat Elite classic in satin black

In 2022, Neat launched the first model in its new Classic range with a new version of the legendary Petite. This giant-killing little speaker became an immediate success with a succession of exceptional reviews and awards, leading to a demand for a floorstanding companion for the mighty stand-mounter. So, looking once again to the company’s legacy products, it was deemed appropriate to revive the Classic Elite, a model last in production in 2016.

the business end of our demo pair

Like the Petite Classic, the new version of the Elite retains the outer dimensions of the original model, but with updated drive units and a completely redesigned crossover. Designed to work well in smaller listening spaces, this latest design brings a full-range performance without dominating the living room.

ready to play

The bass-mid driver is the latest version of Neat’s own R3 doped paper cone unit, the same as used in the flagship Ultimatum range, and the tweeter is the remarkable AMT (Air Motion Transformer) from the Petite.

These superb drive units are seamlessly blended by a minimalist crossover using carefully chosen components of the highest quality.

also in oak wood finish too

The staggered port tuning through the base and the rear of the cabinet contributes to the clean, defined and rhythmic bass response. Along with superlative treble performance from the Air Motion Transformer tweeter, the Classic Elite combines all the usual Neat trademarks of clarity, musical engagement and a convincing soundstage in a compact and elegant cabinet.

walnut wood

Available in a choice of oak and walnut real wood veneers (which look lovely) and satin black and satin white.

Tuned port venting downward at a precise space and spiked bases too

According to the blurb these speakers can reproduce bass right down to 25hz! so I chose to put that to the test with one of my favourite demo tracks, Hey Now by London Grammar from their first album, which is called If You Wait.

I can’t Wait

This album is beautifully recorded and is pressed up over four sides each playing at 45 rpm for extra dynamism and it works too! As part of a system with the Rega P8 turntable with the Ania Pro cartridge feeding the Rega Elicit amplifier it was obvious right from the start of the track that something really rather good was about to happen and when at the 1 minute and 20 seconds point the bass drops in it is astonishingly subterranean. But here’s a thing that took me totally by surprise, the whole sound was beautifully airy and open with the delicate shimmering guitar in the background coming over like I had never heard it before (and believe me I have heard it many many times…) Hannah’s vocal soars out of the boxes and floats in the space created between the loudspeakers, a goosebumps moment! This was levels of bottom end combined with detail retrieval not normally associated with speakers this small or at this price level. Very cleverly that deep deep bass never gets in the way of the rest of the performance. everything remains clean and open with that rare ability to let you follow every little nuance that is going on in the music all at the same time…which is just wonderful!

Hey Now

To sum up all I can say is that the Neat Classic Elites are shockingly good value for money. They are easy to drive and so sound good on more modest amplification, however, if they are properly driven with a top quality source and a good amp they really spring to life like no other speaker of this size that I know. They take a bit of running in (200 hours as recommended by Neat) but persevere with this and you will be rewarded with a truly sensational sound! The Neat Elites are definitely ones to put on your demo list.

Many thanks for reading

Andy, Jon and Farid - Audio T Cheltenham Store.

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

Neat Acoustics can be found at the following Audio T stores

Chromey yearns for Jern, Rupert loves them too - Jern Loudspeakers

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Full Metal Jacket

Chromey and Rupert are truly awed by the jern 11.

In the grand scheme of things, JERN Loudspeakers are a relatively new company, but stem from a long pedigree of Danish engineering and consulting. The Danes in general don't have a bad rep when it comes to speaker design, well known brands like DALI and Dynaudio for example. The raison d'etre for this little design is the superb cast metal enclosure. Not just any casting mind, but a high graphite content cast iron. Although the use of metal for enclosures is nothing new, dating back to the 1950s with the Goodmans Stereo Bowl for example; and through the generations, there have been plenty of metal cabinet designs. However, none have been in an inert cast graphite iron form. Danish JERN, pronounced 'yern' in English, are quick to point out the strong sonic advantages of the material. This, combined with the unique shape, and the rest of this speakers technology have, of course, a huge influence on the overall sound signature of the speaker.

JERN are always going to be a small bespoke manufacturer. Casting a heavy iron cabinet is never going to be something for the mass production mass market.

vibration kill chromey, Don’t panic!!! it’s just a patent

The technical bit…

The Model 11 stands just about 12” tall. It may be small, but they are mighty; they are over 12 kilo mass (each!) and make the speaker feel like it defies gravity, feeling a lot heavier than that! They come in four finishes, Polar White, Casting Grey, Nordic Black and Danish Red. It's shape has been carefully crafted, after the early pioneering work of engineer Dr Harry Olsen.

Olsen carefully measured the effect a cabinet had on sound resonances, and the cast cabinet of the JERN closely follows the ideal. Across their range of speakers there are differing qualities of drive units. The 11 starts the ball rolling, no pun intended! There is a clear synergy across the models. All feature simple 1st order crossover designs, famed for their flat phase response and transient speed.

Try not to get absorbed along with any diffracted sound chromey!

The tweeter is a 22mm Wavecor model with a textile membrane and a foam ring on the mounting plate to help absorb diffracted sound, providing a clearer and more pinpoint sound.

The mid/bass driver has a 146mm chassis and a woven glass fibre cone, the centre pole of the large magnet structure is ventilated to aid dispersion of heat, increasing power handling. The shape of the cast cabinet aids time alignment of the unit. That is to say both the voice coil of the bass unit and the tweeter are aligned, this with the first order crossover allows the two drive units to seamlessly integrate. The design is a sealed infinite baffle type enclosure. It does not have a bass port. All bass ports add some 'colour' to the sound, but at such low frequencies most of us feel it, rather than hear it.

the doughnut will hold you in place chromey.

To aid mounting of this heavy speaker, JERN can supply a couple of round 'doughnut' style rings to help locate and possibly protect any furniture you might like to place your heavy little JERN speakers upon. There is a matching stand available too, at a premium. The base of the speakers is flat, so some experimentation with different speaker stands is possible. The majority of speaker designs are designed to give their most accurate frequency response in a 'free space', that is to say well away from walls or corners. The JERN have huge immunity to coloration, thanks to the inert cabinets, and they are designed to be placed close to a rear wall. Much more convenient than most speakers. Connections are via a high quality set of binding posts / 4mm sockets. The speakers in room response is quoted as 45 hz to 20 Khz, sensitivity is on the low side, at 86dB per watt, and a nominal 4 ohm impedance, does dictate the use of fairly 'punchy' powerful amplification.

lets get ready to rumblllllllllle!!!!!!

Demonstration

With that in mind, the JERN speakers were hooked up to a NAIM NSS 222 streamer/preamp and latest NAIM NAP 250 power amplifier, located on a NAIM Frame lite, Chord Company Epic XL speaker cable and stands from Solid Steel. Our Manchester audition room is fairly large, and with quite huge bass absorbing windows. If any room can test a speaker’s performance, it is in here!

From the onset this speaker truly impresses, with its lack of colouration from the cabinet. Listening was started on George Benson's classic 1976 album Breezin' and the title track. This laid back smooth jazz track is impeccably recorded at the hands of engineer Al Schmitt at the world famous Capital studios in Hollywood. Played back on the JERN this track sounded immense. The sense of space and and openness was just incredible. Benson's guitar just floated in to the room, with real sonic realism. Trying to catch the low bass out, I upped the funk to a track by 'The Headhunters', God Made Me Funky. This track was played in a cinematic way, with a literally huge sound-stage, the bass lean, tight, fast and accurate.

Playing John Cage's latest album 'Solo', featuring Cage playing a retrospective of his past 50 years of work on the grand piano. A simple recording, it is superbly engineered, these little speakers really conveyed a grand piano in our listening room. The sound from both speakers converged so well, they actually manage that rare trick of actually disappearing, and the piano sound genuinely appearing in front of you. Playing various tracks from the ECM label, with their signature reverb sound was just utterly beautiful.

Whatever music was played, whatever genre, there was an underlying sense of accuracy and space. Flicking through a Frank Sinatra compilation, spreading across the years, each track had its own sonic personality, these little speakers providing the widest window on the sound available.

Those that value stereo image should really seek this speaker out. The imaging was just incredible, especially for a sub £1,500 speaker. Put your hand on a cabinet while playing, and there is no sense of vibration from it. The presence on vocals and wind instruments like saxophones is very impressive. The bass, although soufflé light, can convey textures and tones beautifully; rather than a muddy undercurrent to the tune, the bottom end displays real accuracy, individual strings have an open touch that few designs can match.

job well done boys!!

The speaker is not perfect, no speaker is. But very few speaker designs at any price point come with this sense of accuracy space, pace and absolute clarity... they are so radically different in looks sound and build, a unique, bespoke hand made speaker, refreshingly clean. Do not let the unconventional looks put you off. These little loudspeakers from Denmark are highly recommended.

Be sure to pop along to the Manchester store to view the Jern 11 in the flesh and experience the incredible sound they offer.

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

Thanks for reading

Haden, Munir, Dave and James - Audio T Manchester

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

JERN Loudspeakers can be found at the following Audio T stores

Our New Demonstration Rooms - Audio T Reading - Swallowfield

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A warm welcome everyone from Audio T Reading and wishing you well from our new leafy abode in Swallowfield. For more than 25 years at our old premises in Reading town centre, it was a pleasure to welcome hi-fi enthusiasts to the old shop and offer them the opportunity to audition a range of high-performance equipment – from fantastic starter systems to pretty pieces of bespoke audiophilia – in the comfort of our demonstration rooms. During that time, we were thrilled to have an outstanding main demo room, one of the best sounding rooms across the land for assessing and enjoying music reproduction. When the time came for us to leave town to our new home in Swallowfield, we were somewhat moved and reluctant to switch off the lights and close the door to our old demo room for the last time…

reading’s old demo room with room treatment - on dynaudio’s confidence event night 2022

TRADING PLACES – QUEENS WALK TO SWALLOWFIELD

But with fond memories aplenty, gracefully close that door we did (eventually) and firmly in our thoughts from then onwards has been to focus our efforts on designing a new main demo room; one that would honour the attributes of the outgoing facility while taking big steps forward to enhance the auditioning experience for our visitors to come. But what would those advancing steps look like? Would the best way, to some extent, involve trying to replicate the studio-esque room acoustics we had at Queens Walk, Reading? For example, in our new demo room, should we proceed to redeploy the multitude of room treatment panels that unmistakably adorned our previous listening chamber? Or would it be best to draught in certified room-analysis experts to acoustically measure the properties of the room and suggest a sonic treatment plan to best fit? And so on...

audio T Reading’s new demo room in swallowfield 2024 - sans room treatment

SILENT TREATMENT – KEEPING IT SIMPLE

Well having considered the aforementioned possibilities and many more, we decided for the foreseeable future to proceed without any of the more extravagant sonically room-beautifying options. Instead, we took aim at making a “real” room… one that when built (which, hooray, it now is!) would still be class-leading yet, on balance, would show up its flaws as well as its strengths. Why have we chosen this particular pathway? Well, a key reason is that the vast majority of us consume our music and audio in environments that are non-ideal and often double up as our living quarters. Our home listening rooms may not be the perfect shape and build for audio reproduction; They may have ceilings that are very low or exceedingly high. Modern homes tend to have internal stud walls that are thinner and form enclosures that resonate more than traditional solid walls. Older abodes may possess lovely but acoustically awkward structural features such as bay windows or grand chimney breasts, the likes of which can create added sonic effects like lingering echoes and other audible distortions. Given all of this and more, we decided it would not be truly representative of our customers’ home auditioning settings to offer a demo facility that is close to acoustically perfect.

taking the mic - the focus position for lyngdorf’s room optimsation

WABI-SABI – DISCOVERING BEAUTY WITHIN IMPERFECTION

This leads us to another important reason for auditioning within a real room with its own vices and virtues; It provides us with an opportunity to assist you not just with expertise on the excellent equipment that we offer, but to demonstrate the knowhow we have developed for setting up optimally performing hi-fi systems in less-than ideal room conditions. We can show you the positive effects of placing your loudspeakers favourably in challenging spaces to obtain stunning sound, and we can illustrate how to make stepwise changes within a sub-optimal listening room that may not even require you to reach for specific room treatment items – simple tweaks that can make a rewarding difference and actually cost you nothing but your time. We can show you the mechanics of how to position yourself relative to the speakers, which should always be one of the first resorts to achieving good sound. And we can demonstrate how to sonically work with your room instead of fighting against it. As an additional sharing, in our perfectly imperfect new demo room, we can elucidate the sonic virtues of room optimisation; for example, ‘Room Perfect’ is a proprietary room-correction feature of Lyngdorf’s TDAI-1120 and TDAI-3400 advanced audio players. We can also show you how ‘Space Optimisation’ works on Linn’s Majik DSM and Selekt DSM digital music systems – the latter being fully customisable, e.g. with a choice of Linn DAC plus other tailored options.

lyngdorf’s tdai-3400 media player featuring room perfect - atop of Lyngdorf’s cd-2 cd player

FUTURE PLANS – AUDIO T READING IN SWALLOWFIELD

Our new main demo room not only serves as an ideal setting for auditioning sensational hi-fi equipment, but it also provides a great opportunity to learn about in-room system setup and gain knowledge about listening rooms in general. Ongoing plans will soon see our main listening space evolve into a state-of-the-art audio-visual demonstration room, with four studio-quality in-ceiling speakers – Dynaudio’s S4-C80 – already installed for Dolby Atmos and sounding awesome. And as part of the next phase of development here in Swallowfield, work is underway to construct a second, smaller, demo room that will have its own unique sonic character and provide further opportunities for audition and optimising audio systems within a smaller room setting.

the most important part of your system… is you! - just ask bowie

As we bring this web log to a close, it’s clear that there is plenty of chatter within our hi-fi circles just now putting ever increasing emphasis on your listening room, even suggesting that this is the most important part of your hi-fi system. To a large extent we concur that there is truth to this, but despite all of our sharing here about listening rooms, we believe that the most important part of any hi-fi system is you! Please do come back here soon for a deeper dive into this…

Thank you for reading, Rishi and Gareth – Audio T Reading

Our new Swallowfield store is accessible via the 600 bus route from Reading town centre and is very easy to reach by road with the A33, M3 and M4 all nearby. On arrival you’ll find ample free parking right on our doorstep, perfect for those rainy days, and our showroom and demo rooms are all on ground level. Our picturesque surroundings provide many places to enjoy a countryside walk, a riverside stroll, or a picnic. Plus there are local sites of interest to explore such as the Blackwater River, Wellington Country Park, Siren Craft Brewery and a host of cute village pubs with gardens. Why not come and make a day of it!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook to stay up to date with what’s going on in store.

The products featured here can be found or enquired about at the following Audio T stores:

Dynamic Dynaudio - a closer look and listen to the Dynaudio Contour 30i

/ Audio T Brighton/

Hi folks, and welcome to this month’s article from us here at Audio T Brighton. We’ve certainly been treated to some quality gear coming through our door in recent months and our March blog continues this tradition with another special loudspeaker - the Dynaudio Contour 30i floor standing loudspeakers. Let’s delve in a bit deeper!

Dynaudio Contour 30i floorstanders...

dynaudio contour 30i’s in gloss black with our naim 300 series system

The latest iteration of the Dynaudio Contour 30i are our most recent acquisition here at Audio T Brighton , and they have numerous technical improvements over the original Contour 30 model. A 2.5 way design, using two larger 18cm Magnesium Silicate Polymer bass/midrange drivers with a tuned 2nd order bass crossover frequency of 300Hz to integrate the bass drivers and a separate tweeter crossover at 2200 Hz.

Quoted frequency response is 32Hz up to 23kHz at -3dB. Sensitivity is quoted at 87dB/1W. IEC power handling is rated at 300W and impedance quoted at 4 Ohms.

dynaudio contour 30i in nordic silver looking elegant in a domestic setting.

Dynaudio refine the design of their drive units periodically and the Esotar 2i tweeter now incorporate the Hexis inner dome to deal with back wave resonances and give superior sound with lower distortion figures. Our Dynaudio representative, Bill Livingston, was keen to show us the bass drive units in a recent visit to us, explaining how their choice of aluminium in the voice coils, instead of the usual copper, improved speed and dynamics owing to the reduced mass of such material. Other improvements to the asymmetric spider boast superior acoustic response. As you will read shortly, our listening tests certainly seem to support the claims made.

dynaudio contour 30i’s features

The crossovers in the Contour 30i are chock full of high quality Mundorf capacitors and air-core inductors, enabling Dynaudio to simplify the 2nd-order crossover, enhancing performance further. Dynaudio go to great lengths to get their speakers sounding right, with some of the most advanced testing facilities in the industry.

dynaudio’s advanced factory testing facilities

Dynaudio Contour 30i variants...

The Dynaudio Contour 30i are available in Gloss black, Walnut and Nordic Silver. As can be expected of speakers in this price category, the fit and finish are exemplary. According to Dynaudio, each cabinet takes over 90 minutes to turn on a five-axis CNC machine, the lacquering process takes 40 hours to cure, and 16 pieces of sandpaper are used in order to finish the speaker to Dynaudio’s standard.

So how do they sound?

As a previous owner of several Dynaudio speaker models, including the Dynaudio 42 and Dynaudio Focus 110 standmount speakers, plus my personal experience of the current range of Dynaudio Evoke 10, Evoke 20 and Evoke 30 we have on demonstration here at our Brighton Audio T shop, I have become accustomed to the family sound Dynaudio speakers exhibit. Refinement and added detail become more apparent as you move up the range; they all have the “bounce” and fun sound I associate with the Dynaudio in house sound, without losing technical quality in the process.

dynaudio contour 60i in walnut

Once you get to the Contour range, things definitely go up several gears, with models in the Evoke range only hinting at what’s to come sonically. My first experience of the Contour range came when I had the pleasure of listening to the Dynaudio Contour 20i on the end of a Naim Uniti Nova, )available to read in my blog here). To say I was bowled-over with their performance would be somewhat of an understatement, such was their refinement, musicality and fun-factor.

The Contour 30i take the scale and bass extension to another level and although not that hard to drive, quality electronics are almost a prerequisite to get the most out of them. Our resident Naim 500 series system consisting of ND 555 streamer, Naim NAC 552 preamp and Naim NAP 500 DR power amp fronted by a Linn Klimax LP12 with a Urika phono stage and Radikal 2 power supply really pep things up Guardiola style! Let’s put it this way, if there were a footballer called Dynaudio Contour 30i in the squad at Manchester City, I’m sure Pep Guardiola would have his name on the team sheet early on!

dynaudio contour 30i

As always, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so get in touch to book a demonstration.

Thanks for reading.

Ade, John and Paul - Audio T Brighton

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

Tape's Not Dead!

/ Audio T Cheltenham/

The sole purpose of this month’s blog is to gently guide your collective attentions to a rather wonderful book that I was recently gifted by some like minded friends from our Monthly Music Club!

Yes!….I can read!!

The book in question goes by the title of “High Bias…The Distorted History Of The Cassette Tape” by Marc Masters (no….me neither). Now I have been variously called a “Tapehead” or “Tape Pervert” for a number of years now and even as I sit here now writing this blog I am sitting behind what can only be described as a wall of various different types of cassette tapes. And if you, like me, have even a remote or passing interest in the format then you will love this book.

I love that clever subtitle

Various chapters take you through the early development and birth of the revolutionary cassette tape in the 1960s to the Walkman inspired domination of the format in the 1980s. Cheap, portable and reusable, these small plastic rectangles changed the course of music history in so many ways.

a close up of the chapter titles

Each chapter tackles a different aspect of how far from killing music, home taping was actually responsible in so many ways for keeping it alive! The influence of cassette tape rippled through myriad scenes that the giant corporations just couldn’t control. For so many people tapes meant freedom to create, freedom to invent and perhaps most importantly, freedom to connect both with other like minded people and cultures.

the comeback has begun…chapter seven says so!

Bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden got started with self-distributed tapes, and many others followed. Over time, the recording quality improved. Bruce Springsteen’s classic album Nebraska was recorded on a four-track tape, and he famously could not make it sound better when he tried to recreate it in the recording studio. The emergence of hip-hop also owed much to the cassette. The enduring legacy of The Grateful Dead grew courtesy of the tapers that the band allowed to record their concerts and swap tapes.

With this book Marc Masters brings vividly to life the tape artists who thrive underground. The concert tapers who trade bootlegs; mixtape makers who send messages via cassette; tape hunters rescuing forgotten sounds and music; and comes bang up to date with today’s labels that reject CD and streaming and sell their music on cassette. Their stories celebrate the cassette tape as dangerous, vital and radical.

With energy, insight, and wit, Masters provides a welcome examination of an often overlooked format and cultural turning point. Go on give it a go….I loved it!

‘We Are Rewind’ in all their retro glory

Have you got a load of tapes sat at home and nothing to play them on? Or perhaps you’ve bought the latest Harry Styles or Taylor Swift albums on new cassette release? Well look no further! You can rekindle your love of the format with We Are Rewind and their series of contemporary portable cassette players. Housed in a durable and stylish metal chassis, the cassette player features an audio input to record your own tapes, a 5.1 Bluetooth output to connect to speakers or headphones, and a built-in rechargeable lithium battery that provides 12 hours of continuous playback. Available in 3 colors: Orange (SERGE), Blue (KURT) and Grey (KEITH), you can find out more Here.

Many thanks for reading…

Andy, Jon and Farid -

Audio T Cheltenham Store.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

Audio T Oxford contemplate the IsoAcoustics zaZen isolation platforms.

/ Audio T Oxford/

According to Wikipedia (so it’s bound to be correct), “Zazen” is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition, more informally to include all forms of seated Buddhist meditation. IsoAcoustics zaZen platforms are therefore aptly named as their function is to bring a sense of ordered calm to the product that sits upon it, and therefore create an enlightened musical experience.

Rega P10 in situ on a zaZen

Many of our customers consider music to be a meditative and restorative process, regardless of their musical preferences. So, this article is about whether these accessories can bring actual improvements to your existing kit or proposed purchase, and transport you deeper into the music…

What is a zaZen platform?  

Naim Uniti Star looking and sounding good on a Zazen 11

The zaZen is a black lacquered high-density fibreboard platform that has dimensions of 43x38x3cm, with a foot attached underneath at each corner. It comes in two sizes:

· zaZen I - 38mm in height has a weight capacity of just 11.3kg

· zaZen II - 42mm in height can handle up to 18.1kg.

Showing the zaZen 1 and 11 with isolating feet

Underneath the platform is a set of four IsoAcoustics patented isolation feet that are partly recessed into the body of the block. This combination aims to reduce vibration, lower the noise floor, and increase available information heading towards your ears. The feet act as isolation, preventing most ground-based vibrations from passing through to the platform itself, thus reducing the potential feedback from loudspeakers back into your system.

As well as being designed for noise and vibration elimination the zaZen’s actually look pretty cool under most equipment!

So, how do they how fair in practice?

We tested both the Isolation Platforms across a range of equipment. What we found was:

Low frequencies – Turntables are especially well catered for by the zaZen; bass presented previously as rounded instead becomes more controlled, it remains deep – but you get greater insight into the bass shape and depth and subtlety of playing; it is faster with more impact, without reduction in mass.

Valve equipment - The zaZen imparts an enhanced mid-range and high-frequency clarity thanks to the reduction of microphony in the valves from the speakers. Bass is tighter as mentioned above.

Generally - it’s surprising just how many products do benefit from that vibration reduction, streamers in particular seem to benefit from the sense of space brought by the platforms, along with headphone amps, phono stages and solid-state amplification in general. The zaZens do bestow a sense of calm upon all the products they support, the lower noise floor allowing important aspects like voice (midrange), detail, interplay, and soundstage to become more intelligible.

A cumulative effect - There is a positive additive effect of two or more platforms, so you can add more as you go along and get an increasingly more insightful sound.

Summary

IsoAcoustics zaZen range help reduce ground-borne vibration and give you a significantly greater insight into your music. Clearly a lot of engineering nous and expertise has gone into these lucid sounding products. They do exactly as advertised and have a very positive effect.

They are simple to use - you put the zaZen on a shelf, put a product on the zaZen. Aside from some care in selecting the right model for the weight of the product, the job is done.

Visually and sonically, they complement many existing equipment racks and the equipment that sits on them; or if you are the kind of person that loves good sound but finds high-performance audio furniture at odds with the design ethos of your home, a zaZen under each device on your domestic furniture make it sound a great deal better.

What’s not to like?

Not sure what IsoAcoustic product is best for your equipment? Use the handy “Product Selection Wizard” Here.

Thank you for reading.

Rob & Jon.

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

Seventy years and counting, Saul Bernard Marantz's legacy continues.

/ Audio T Manchester/

In the early days of audio recordings, records suffered from inconsistent recording characteristics. In 1952, unhappy with equipment available at the time, music lover, freelance graphic artist, and amateur musician Saul Bernard Marantz, created what was for the time, a revolutionary pre-amplifier. The Audio Consolette was equipped with every equalizer curve necessary to handle erratic recording characteristics and immediately struck a chord with his friends. As a result, Saul established the Marantz Company in 1953 and opened a factory in Woodside, Queens, New York.

This was over 70 years ago, and the story of the Audio Consolette is worth a deep dive into for another blog, and because it involves RIAA curves I’m going to have to tap into Haden’s mind for some more knowledge on this.

Did you know! Saul Marantz built the very first Audio Consolette at his kitchen table..

I also can't help but feel a bit guilty about not covering Marantz's 70th Anniversary last year with a blog or acknowledgement of how they have contributed so significantly to Hi-fi over the past seventy-plus years. Watch this space for a separate story on that.

For now though, we would like to take quick look at the brand new 50 series combo from the Marantz Hi-fi collection…

I think that’s too casual chromey, our readers want a little more focus please.

The Marantz Model 50 amplifier and the CD50n (CD and network player) both fall in the middle tier of the Hi-fi range from Marantz. We'll run through some of specs and features here.

The CD50 Network streamer and the Model 50 amplifier

Marantz Model 50

A high-current, dual-device A/B amplifier, rated at a healthy 70 watts into 8 ohms and 100 watts into 4 ohms. This will partner a wide range of speakers from floorstanders to difficult to drive bookshelf speakers too.

The amp feels hefty because of the double layer bottom plate, which keeps the chunky power supply and thick metal front plate in place without any flex. Always a good sign for your engine room.

As regards to the styling and the new look from Marantz, which is all encompassing across the range, including the new AV surround amplifiers, I like it!

The wave ripple effect on the front fascia looks great in my humble opinion, Certainly not boring, reminds me of radio waves. Also, just like the Audio Consolette from 70 years ago we have bass and treble tone controls.

Around the back you have six analogue inputs including upgraded connectors for CD and phono, the most commonly used inputs. The moving magnet phono stage uses a new circuit without distortion-inducing coupling capacitors.

And as you can see the chunky binding posts let you connect 2 pairs of speakers to the Model 50, so you can, if needed, stick another pair in a different part of the house like the sun room for example and enjoy your music in there.

it says Marantz chromey, not massage.

Marantz CD50N

Marantz's combined CD player & network player, things start to get a bit more interesting.

The CD playback comes courtesy of a 32bit/384 DAC that gets those digital bits converted. The mechanism for the drawer is super smooth and so quiet, and if you're wondering “what's the big deal” well, it feels like an age since we have had CD players that can hold a candle to our regular British brands that tend to use manual drawers that you open by hand, pressing a button and having a drawer present a CD to you in this fashion, seems pretty cool again.

Marantz CD50n

The CD50's streaming credentials are underpinned by HEOS. A now established streaming platform that can claim to hold its own against other tried and tested platforms by Naim, Yamaha and Linn.

Within the app you can control streaming services from Tidal, Deezer and Spotify with the potential for more in the future.

You can also stream music from your own server to access music you may have previously stored on your computer or NAS drive. There's access to a tuner via the HEOS App, opening up thousands of radio stations for your perusal.

Ahh, a close inspection of those wonderful copper screws that hold everything in place

Two aerials on the back of the CD50N give you Bluetooth and Wifi, you can then stream directly from your phone to your hi-fi, podcasts, radio shows, YouTube even audiobooks. The addition of Airplay 2 affords you the ability to stream directly from your iphone and ipad too.

Aerial acrobatics coming up from chromey (alley-oop)

Another feather in the cap of the CD50N is the addition of digital inputs to the rear panel, you have a USB DAC for a direct PC/MAC connection for asynchronous file playback. An optical input and a coaxial input make up the rest.

More importantly, as regards to inputs, the CD50N has a HDMI ARC input. So if your stereo speakers are positioned on either side of your TV, you can connect a HDMI cable from the TV via the HDMI ARC and TV sound now extends to your wonderful Hi-fi speakers.

Around the back.

The source

And talking about wonderful speakers, we connected our Dynaudio Evoke 30s to the Marantz combo for an audio workout. So, firstly, we tried out the CD playback courtesy of that wonderfully smooth mech.

And to be fair, we were quite impressed, the DAC in the Marantz CD50 is from a lineage not to be sniffed at. Our Ali Farke Toure, Niafunke CD sounded great, a nice open sound that wasn't harsh like a lot of cheaper CD players can be.

The streaming playback followed suit, accessing Tidal through the HEOS app was a breeze.

And 24bit playback, again sounded smooth and refined, there is never a sense that the CD50 is shouting at you, but just gently talking to you with dulcet tones.

Now, to be honest, we didn't get to try out the HDMI ARC option on the CD50, however, we were quietly confident that the 32/384 DAC would do a way better job of being honest to one of Jools Holland's guests than a soundbar.

The final touch of super convenience for all, is the Airplay 2 and the Bluetooth function.

Everybody's phone connected seamlessly. We have a mixture of Android and iPhones in use at the store, and they all connected with little fuss. So YouTube audio here we come.

Ok, so to the engine room.

Everything we have spoken about regarding the CD50's sound wouldn't qualify were it not for the Model 50's handling of the Dynaudio Evoke 30's. The 100 watts into 4 ohms is more than ample for the speakers to sing along at loud volumes without missing a beat. Lower volume control is also great, which is always a good indicator, when the volume needs to be dropped for late night listening the sound stage is still full and rounded.

We tried some German electronic music from one of our faves Robag Wruhme, just to put the amp through it's paces, and sure enough, it didn't disappoint, The track Thora Vukk sounded huge with bags of bass filling our listening room, without sounding slow or wallowy.

So to wrap up. combined and individually, the series 50 from Marantz are a great new addition to Marantz's range, purchased together or as addition to an existing system, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Our Marantz 50 series pairing is on demo at our Manchester store, feel free to give us a visit.

Thanks for reading

Munir, James, Haden & Dave - Audio T Manchester

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The New Acoustic Energy Cor(inium) Blimeys!

/ Audio T Bristol/

Acoustic Energy have been busy. First seen at the Munich Hi-Fi Show in October 2023, the Corinium floorstanding speakers, which have been a three year project spearheaded by Acoustic Energy Managing Director Matt Spandl, have arrived in store with much anticipation on our part…

The Balancing Act of Price, Performance & Aesthetics

The brief for the project was simple and ambitious - to create the most dynamic, live sounding and musically involving loudspeaker Acoustic Energy have ever created.” This represents Acoustic Energy’s first speaker that lands them in the mid to high-end Hi-Fi experience. Many brands take aesthetics way beyond price/performance and into the realms of luxury interior design and fine furniture - with designer brand appeal a central part of their products. There is a convergence point that Acoustic Energy are very aware of - price/performance with a conservative competent nod to aesthetics, and the achievement here is very much on brand.

Corinium Design

Standing at 1100mm high, they sit between the AE509 and the taller AE520 and are slightly wider and deeper. The Corinium use the same 500 series Resonance Suppression Composite (RSC) cabinets, but these have a lovely curve to them, reminiscent of the 2009 Acoustic Energy Radiance series, and further acoustic suppression by having a minimum cabinet wall thickness of 22mm rising to 50mm on the top and bottom plates, The front baffle is in two parts - a 25mm MDF and mounted to a 6mm single piece aluminium to create a flat inert surface. Where floorstanders gain in lower octaves sound reproduction over stand mount speakers, they can lose in transparency, speed, mid-range and high frequency detail. To overcome this the tweeter and mid range drivers are housed internally in a separate cabinet to the two bass woofers.

Tweeter

Acoustic Energy searched for a new lighter stiffer material than the carbon fibre used in the 500 series and researched the possibilities of TORAY TETORON™ - a Japanese manufactured polyester with similar properties to silk, but with greater stiffness. The 28mm tweeter, mounted to the aluminium front baffle, has lower colouration, greater speed and detail in transients than the 500 series. Interestingly, the crossover point is very low at 3400Hz. Most tweeters cross from mid range driver to tweeter around 1800Hz to 2600Hz. 3400Hz is similar to the SH25-76S in the ATCs and Esotar in the Dynaudios .

Mid range

Carbon fibre is the choice for the midrange, as in the 500 series, but these are the next generation. This driver handles five of the eight octaves in musical reproduction and is crucial to the overall mid-range tonal character of a speaker. Visually comparing the AE500 series to the Corinium, this driver has a steeper cone angle and is sunk in the cabinet more with a steeper wave guide.

Bass

With a crossover of 260Hz, these all new 140mm drivers, two in each speaker, are used to deal with “…Most of the important bass weight and speed“. Housed in a separate area to the mid and tweeter arrangement, their sole purpose is to support that mid-range and come alive when needed.

Cabinet and Finishes

This new Acoustic Energy Corinium comes with a premium flagship colour of Aston Martin Racing Green as well as standard Black, White and a gentle Tectona Teak finish.

Acoustic Energy are rightly proud of their new addition, and they have a dedicated sister website about the Corinium development here, which is well worth a read, and they are featured in this quarter’s Audio T Music at Home+ Magazine.

Setup and Listening

Cirencester, being just up the road from Bristol, allowed for a visit from Paul Burnip and Wayne Davis from Acoustic Energy to hand deliver our new Coriniums. We had already setup the new Naim 300 series (Naim NAP 350, NAC 332 pre with NPX 300 power supply, NSS 333 streamer) system ready to go.

Firing up Qobuz on the Naim app I went straight to the 141 track Audio-T Bristol playlist - https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/2438053

The Coriniums excel at timing across all frequencies. The 4 degree speaker rake really helps lift the sound stage with an ethereal quality and are not as rakish in the flesh. The detail and transparency are exquisite.

Compared with the AE520s, these are a more forward presentation with a little more top end. Although, that top end never becomes harsh and brittle. The mid range is quite sweet and very much like a Harbeth or Sonus Faber Olympica Nova. Limit to your Love, James Blake bass notes extend and are very textural with the finger clicks sharp and easily placed to the left of the airy vocals.

Female vocals and sibilance are well handled, Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell really very insightful. Acoustic guitar of Canadee-I-O - Penguin Eggs, Nic Jones -Poor Boy, Bryter Layter -Nick Drake and Over The Hill - John Martyn have attack, snap and sparkle without being too tinny. Classical and Jazz pieces are where these speakers really show what they are capable of, with the reproduction far exceeding other Acoustic Energy speakers and putting it in the realms of higher end speakers.

Qobuz Audio T Bristol, Selected from Playlist:

  • Veto, Tremours - SOHN

  • Sailing to Philadelphia - Mark Knopfler

  • Limit to your Love - James Blake

  • Hey Now, If You Wait - London Grammar

  • Both Sides - Joni Mitchell

  • Witchita Lineman - Glen Campbell

  • Poor Boy, Bryter Layter - Nick Drake

  • 5:15, Quadrophenia - The Who

  • Canadee-I-O, Penguin Eggs - Nic Jones

  • Kora - GoGo Penguin

  • Natten - Bremer/McCoy

  • Passing Ships - Andrew Hill

  • Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.14 in C-Sharp Minor Op.27 - Murray Perahia

  • Over The Hill - John Martyn

Conclusion

In High End Audio there is the law of diminishing returns - the point at which to secure truly better Hi-Fi performance a lot more needs to be spent for the final percentages of absolute performance gain. And this is completely understandable as the research time, manufacturing materials, component selection and engineering become more expensive, more time consuming with longer development and build times.

What Acoustic Energy have created here is a speaker that balances on the knife edge of price/performance and aesthetics. Acoustic Energy could have followed the pattern of many other manufacturers of tweaking or releasing a 500 MkII or a 700 series signature range and such like.

Instead, they tore up the rule book, hunkered down, got to work and crafted a luxury High End sound performance with great design and a sound that punches well above the £6,000 asking price - a considerable step up from the 500 series and a very serious proposition up against any speaker in High End Hi-Fi.

Justin, Max & James - Audio T Bristol

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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