Rega Aria phonostage touches down in Manchester....

Our very own demonstration Rega Aria Phonostage has arrived and is warming up nicely and our Brighton store have unboxed theirs, take a look at the blog right here.

Meanwhile we thought we would take a closer look around the back and under the bonnet.

As you can see there are various capacitance, resistive load settings and gain settings to match a variety of moving coil cartridges.

Terry Bateman, Rega's head designer likes to personalise the equipments pcb's with little quotes !!

There is definitely something poignant about this one !!. Nice one Terry !!

 You're the real bobby dazzler here chromy....don't you worry.

 

Our own experience of the Aria phonostage comes from the Manchester Show back in March this year. Dave Mac & Paul Darwin used it in the Audio-T room. 

Having a weekend of continuous listening and impressing the public, the Aria excelled with all genres of music.

Give us call on 0161 8398869  if you would like to listen to the Rega Aria at the Manchester store. 

For more information on the Rega Aria Phonostage you can visit the official website here.

Rega Aria Phonostage Arrives In Store!

Unveiling of the new Aria in store...

The Aria is housed in the Rega R series casework to match with their existing Apollo CD Player, Brio Amplifier and Dac and available in a black finish

The Aria is a moving magnet and moving coil phonostage in one neat box. The moving coil stage includes adjustments for resistive input loading, capacitive loading and gain enabling matching for the moving coil cartridge you use.

We were lucky enough, along with some of our customers, to have a sneak preview of this on our vinyl day here at the shop with Diverse Vinyl and were suitably impressed, so we could not wait to get our hands on our demonstration one to put it fully to the test.

So time to plug it in and spin a few records, so we will report back soon with our conclusions.

In the meantime don't just wait for our report, come in and try it for yourself and don't forget to bring your favorite album.

Update

on 2013-06-21 10:55 by Brighton

Now having had the chance to put the Aria through its paces a little more on some of our tried and trusted records, I'am pleased to say we were more than a little impressed.

Using an all Rega system composed of RP6 with Exact cartridge, Brio R amplifier and RS3 loudspeakers, we added the Aria phonostage and started to listen, we felt the performance of the Aria in this system was quite remarkable.

The Aria had a sense of space around all the instruments, enabling you to follow the tune and become immersed in what was being played. It coped incredibly well with surface noise giving an almost inky blackness to the background with no distractions from the music, with its even handed balance, great sense of timing, whether we were listening to Falla - Three Cornered Hat, a 1960s' Decca recording, through different eras and genres all the way through to the current Low - The Invisible Way album, every record just sang as if you'd recently just bought it.

The Aria has a performance you'd expect from phonostages of a much higher cost, so if you're in the market for a significant upgrade to your record playing system, we'd suggest this is a very good place to start.

Don't just take our word for it come in and have a listen for yourself.

Im Baaaaack

Yes it's true, after a few months in the weird and decidedly wacky world of VERY high end audio I'm back "home" at Brentwood. It will be good to see, or talk to, you all over the next few weeks and months.

This of course means the team supreme of Paul and Danny are ready to sort out all your HiFi and AV needs, I will be focussing mainly on 2 channel and Danny mainly on AV but of course we can both deal with either (I think that made sense!)

Good to be back and see you soon

Paul

Unboxed, The New Ruark MR1 Active Bluetooth Speakers

Just arrived in store today are the eagerly awaited Ruark MR1 Active Bluetooth Speakers.

Hand-crafted wood enclosures and available in a choice of finishes, soft black, soft white or walnut to compliment any decor.

Using the latest Apt-X technology and custom designed drive units ensures CD quality audio from all your Bluetooth devices.  Streaming music wirelessly from your phone or i-device could not be simpler.

Most modern TV's from the likes of Panasonic or Sony also have Bluetooth built in, so these can be used to greatly enhance the sound of your latest flat screen. A sub woofer output on the back will allow you to enhance the sound even further, turning these little speakers into a superb 2.1 system. A 3.5mm jack will also allow to to connect a CD player or any other device with a line output.

With a power output of 20W, remote control and manufactured by a well respected company who are fanatical about sound quality and famous  for their award winning range of DAB radios and loudspeakers we guarantee you will not be disappointed. However, don't take our word for it, pop in and have a listen.

The Ruark Audio MR1's compact, multi-purpose loudspeakers. We shall now plug them in, run them in and report back soon, so stay tuned for the review.

New arrival: ARCAM BDP300 Blu-Ray Player!

At long last the eagerly awaited Arcam BDP300 Blu-Ray players arrived with us on Wednesday. Already having customer orders for the players we were lucky enough to have one that we could open up for demo....

 The player was planted straight into our cinema demo room which has a system comprising of Anthem MRX500 amp with PMC Twenty series speakers and REL subwoofer....

Needless to say we were isntantly impressed!. The first thing we played was Avatar, the improvement in picture qaulity was quite surprising (we were using a Pioneer LX55). The very fine detail just was staggering bust most surprisingly was the improvement in the depth of the image, the sense of scale and depth of the opening scenes showing space and then the forested area was so much better that we rewound the disc and watched it again!..

But from my point of view the best thing about this player is the sound quality. Most people that know me are aware that my views on home cinema hinge on the sound quality, I feel that the picture quality of a vast majority of most player screen/projectors are simply fantastic but there are so many systems that fall over on their sound quality. I watch a lot of live music concerts and sadly a lot of blu-ray players can sound awful even through very respectable amp and speaker packages. When testing new players I will head for my favourite Joe Bonamassa Blu-ray and play one of the acoustic tracks, so many players can sound falt and dull or even messy and aggressive it surprises me, as if manufacturers are going all out to improve picture quality and neglecting the sound qaulity. But not with the Arcam.....all I could think was: WOW!!!!!

When you hear a player that has very good sound quality you then realise how much of an influence it has on movies just like Avatar. Ignoring the dialogue you realise how the sound track is subliminally setting the mood for the film, a good example is the old film "7" where the detectives are just about to come across the serial killer and are in an appartment block with guns at the ready... there is hardly any dialogue but the sound track makes it terrifying!

I've only played a couple of music concerts and CDs on the player but already it has proved to be absolutely brilliant!

 As with the last Aracm Blu-Ray the set-up menu is very simple and easy to navigate so you can get it up and running very quickly....

If you would like to read more about the player in detail here is the link to the Arcam product page: http://www.arcam.co.uk/products,fmj,bd-players,BDP300.htm but my advice would be to come in and have a good listen in the demo room... feel free to bring a few of your own discs in....

A bit of Jeff Beck next I think....

Heed Obelisk

After a succesfull Heed event at the shop we thought we should mention their shining star in our blog.

Heed has made quite a splash of late especially with there integrated amp the Obelisk. If you have around £1290 to spend on an amplifier you would be doing yourself an injustice not to try it. This amp just gets on with it, being able to drive most speakers with ease without displaying a hint of aggression. It's very versatile with optional extra's ie a dac card for digital input or the phono card to allow you the use of a record player without additional box's. You can also upgrade the amp with a dedicated power supply the X2, this gives it even more power and musicality.  Stay tuned for our thoughts on the full range of Heed products or come and hear for yourself.

Iphone5 docks arrive.

B&W have expanded their range of airplay devices with the new Z2. A compact yet powerful little unit that can be used as a dock for the iphone5 or as an apple airplay unit for many other apple products. The have also refitted the classic Zeppelin Air with the new lightning connection and in true B&W tradition both units sound awesome.

New KEF home cinema speakers are amazing !!

KEF E305. A stunning new home cinema speaker package that just oozes with quality. These little speakers look stylish and fresh and come in deep black or pure white. The sound quality from what appears to be small speakers is amazing, reaching a fullness and depth that has to be heard to be believed.

New Sony KDL46W905

Sony KDL46W905. Sony’s latest smart TV is a real eye opener. The new “Triluminos Display” delivers an amazing picture straight out of the box. With wireless internet, tablet and phone connectivity it makes sharing your photo's and other media a breeze and it is quickly become our favourite screen.

Free Phone Offer. Sony are celebrating the launch of the new W series televisions by offering a free Sony Xperia Z smart phone with every purchase. This offer runs until 14^th July.

 

Sunny Day Out At The Chord Company!

Yesterday we spent a very enjoyable day as guests of The Chord Company at their factory near Amesbury.

I must admit that the rare event of early morning sunshine yesterday was suggesting a visit to the seaside more than the thought of spending a day in a factory.  The usual traffic chaos on the M3 didn't help either but we soon arrived at The Millsway Centre and were warmly greeted by Chord's cable guru Nigel Finn.  It was immediately obvious that Chord Company House was a great place to work, light and spacious and everyone there was welcoming, relaxed and enthusiastic and any desire to escape to the beach instantly dissipated.  

Matt, our friendly Chord representative, guided us around the factory and we saw the care and skill which goes into assembling Chord interconnects and cables.  This was soon to become even more apparent as we were next given the opportunity to make some interconnects ourselves, ably assisted by Mike. The time consuming attention to detail in the construction of Chord products was highlighted by our attempts to assemble leads.  It's safe to say that customer orders would take somewhat longer if we were the in production instead of the highly skilled Chord team!  Thanks to Mike and the rest of the team for correcting any errors in our work and for turning our attempts into useable products!

After an excellent lunch provided by Chord we spent the afternoon in their excellent demonstration room with Matt taking us through most of the Chord interconnects and speaker cables with differences being clearly demonstrated between products all the way through the range.  Highlights were the new Chord Signature Digital Tuned Aray (£400 for a 1m RCA-RCA) which was a revelation and the newly released Epic Reference speaker cable (£125 per mono metre) also sounded fantastic, open, coherent and transparent.  Everything sounded great at it's price point but we were reminded how much really good cables can transform a system, turning hi-fi sound into real music.  The better the cables got the more the speakers and hi-fi disappeared allowing the music to fill the room unhindered.  Once we'd reached the dizzy heights of Sarum Tuned Aray mains cables, Sarum Tuned Aray digital interconnects, analogue interconnects and speaker cables the music was a solid three dimensional presence in the room.  It would be churlish to talk about price at this stage but for those who can afford it and want to experience the full emotional impact of music in their home Chord Sarum Tuned Aray is the way to achieve it.

We had a fantastic day at The Chord Company and would like to thank everyone there for making us so welcome and making it such an enjoyable experience, and, to top it all, the sun was still shining when we headed home!

Full Metal Jacket.....

Musical Fidelity EB-50 headphones. 

Beautifully machined from military-spec aluminium. The light weight design also make the EB-50's a joy to use and very comfortable when in use. 

Now just in case you may be wandering how good the EB-50's actually sound, we think they sound great. Detailed with clean bass lines comes to mind. They are also very easy to drive, suiting almost every portable device out there. 

Don't believe us? Why not pop in to Audio-T Manchester and have a listen for yourself.

For more information on the Musical Fidelity EB-50 visit the official website or you can read a glowing review from Av Forums right here.

Thanks for reading

Munir

Audio-T Manchester

Neat Momentum 4i

We do love our speakers here at Oxford, so you can imagine how delighted we were when we rediscoverd Neat Acoustics last month after a gap of nearly 20 years. I can hardly overstate how great these speakers sound.

We will be keeping a representation of three ranges but at the moment the top model that we hold is the Momentum 4i: Click here to read the Hi-Fi World and Audioreview reviews.

This is a 2.5 way floorstander that is unusual in having integral iso-baric bass units. An 'Ultimatum' bass/midrange drive and Titanium tweeter complete the driver line up.

If you are looking for a fast, detalied, dynamic speaker with wonderful bass then please contact us for a demonstration.

Vinyl Roadshow Coming To Reading Audio T June 29th 10-4pm

I'm delighted to announce that the next "stop" of the Audio T Vinyl Roadshow is here in Reading.

Our good friends from Diverse Vinyl will be here with a huge selection of the best and latest LP re-issues for you to browse through and buy, don't tell my wife!!

The day will also be in conjunction with Rega Research who are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year and we'll have all their latest goodies including RP1,RP3,RP6 & RP8 turntables, the new Elicit-R integrated amplifier and Aria phonostage as well as the full Reference CD, Phonostage, Amplifier and Speakers!

Why not bring a well known record with you or one that you have bought on the day and hear what we can do for you?

The event takes place on Saturday June 29th between 10am and 4pm.

Test Sonos At Home

Get your SONOS test pack from us today.

Just buy a Sonos Play 3 and we will give you a FREE bridge for a wireless set up. You will also get 60 days FREE subscription to Napster and a 60 day money back guarantee, so you've nothing to lose. If you are not completely satisfied, just return the items back to us for a full refund.

Call in to the Cardiff store today and pick up your kit. Don't miss out on this wonderful opportunity to experience the wonders of Sonos in you own home with access to all the music you could ever hope for.

Promotion ends 30th June.

Arcam rBlink Bluetooth DAC Sounds Blinkin Good!

We have been mightily impressed with how good Arcam's baby rBlink Bluetooth wireless DAC sounds!

We have our diminutive box set wired into our Heed Obelisk Si Integrated & X2Power Supply connected to a pair of Spendor SA1 Loudspeakers. We use our iPad mini and iPod Touch to stream the music to the rBlink.

The DAC has excellent detail retrieval and doesn't sound too digital or harsh. It has a warmth to the presentation offering a sound akin to a good analogue turntable. It's impressive and offers a true Hi-Fi audiophile sound with the added convenience of allowing you to be able to control your music from the comfort of your armchair using any device that has Bluetooth.

It's simple to set up too! Just turn on Bluetooth on your phone / tablet and with one press of a button on the R-Blink you are connected.

It's even converted our very own Farid Beheshti who like Jon Finch is a died in the wool analogue Hi-Fi purist. It's that good it has converted Farid to the digital world and he has just bought the rBlink and a shiny new iPad mini!

Drop by have a cuppa with us and be converted!

Introducing Libratone, Funky Sizzling Danish Portable Wireless Loudspeakers.......

We like the sound of these very quirky but extremely fine sounding wireless loudspeakers.

Sizes, shapes to fit in with your home furnishings. Works with airplay... and allows you to stream your tunes to the Zipp or any other Libratone speaker from your computer, mobile phone or tablet.

To quote a famous Danish beer commercial, probably the finest wireless loudspeakers in the world........

Libratone Product Family from Libratone on Vimeo.

£50 Chord C-Power Surprise

Upgraded mains cables have always seemed like a bit of Hi-Fi voodoo, and when they look like a standard mains cable given free with all products, one can not help but be sceptical. When we were first shown the thin, black, Chord C Power with it's molded plugs we thought it was a joke. However, after a fair amount of encouragement and explanation about the product we gave it a try, and had to admit that Chord have produced yet another excellent product.

The C-Power is manufactuered in the UK by a company that specialises in military grade cables which is why it is no frills. We tried it with a Rega Apollo CD Player, Arcam A19 amp, and KEF LS50 speakers and the difference with the C-Power just plugged into the CD Player was immediate, and very positive, giving the system a more open, detailed and cleaner sounding presentation.

There are not many worth while system upgrades you can do for £50, but if you have a little spare cash and want to make an improvement to your system give the C-Power a listen.

Say Hello To My Little Friend..........

The New B&W P3 in Blue.

The Bowers & Wilkins P3 headphones are now available in Blue,Black and White

We have had the White P3's in stock for a while now and have been mightily impressed by the sound quality from these small over ear headphones.

Just like the B&W 685 speakers these little headphones are ready to party. Kudos to B&W for getting so much bass and masses of midrange from a small drive unit.

B&W P3 Blue

Come along and have an audition at Audio T Manchester.

Thanks

T: 01618398869 E:manchester@audio-t.co.uk

We've Cracked Open The New KEF Eggs! The E305's Now On Demonstration

   Take a closer look at the KEF E305's at Audio-T Enfield. 

The 301 satellites contain KEF's Uni-Q driver array which houses the tweeter in the middle of the mid/bass driver (which helps give a wider voice to the speaker). (we recommend QED silver micro speaker cable to use with these)

The E301c centre speaker is simply the same E301 satellite just on it's side which helps create a seamless soundstage from front to back & side to side. (All speakers wall mountable)

  The E-2 Subwoofer uses a 8" bass driver, although small to some equiped with a 250W amplifier gives it the ability to energise our demo room with smooth controlled bass. We found to get the best out of this sub it pays to use a good quality subwoofer cable like The Chord Crimson VEE3 for a tighter response & more controlled bass notes. (less boom / more bass)

Listen in comfort & isolation from noisy shop floor environments in one of our purpose built demonstration rooms. Find out just how good the new KEF E305's really are.

We would describe the satellites as"Open, wide and detailed sounding"

And the E2 subwoofer to give a "coupled-to-room" bass response, creating "seamless & smooth" sounding bass.

Book a demo today!

Audio-T Enfield

Tel: 0208 367 3132

Email: enfield@audio-t.co.uk

JVC, Sony, Epson Projector Event Not Long To Go!

Only 4 weeks to go until our projector event!

I'm already getting some positive response's from customer's and passer's by who will be attending the event and are like me extremely excited about it!

Whether you have a projector or not and are just curious at what the differences are between a £750 projector or a £13,000 projector then this is where you will find out all the information you need.

Even better if you are looking to update your old 720p unit to a full HD 1080p or even Sony's 4K model then this is the place to do it! There will be deals and offers over the course of the 3 day event both on projectors and everything else you need for the rest of your system such as amplifiers, speakers, cabling, screens and much more!

If you have any questions on the event or need any help with directions and parking then contact us on 01277-264730 or brentwood@audio-t.co.uk

Also don't forget we have cake!