CYRUS XR - COMING SOON TO AUDIO T SOUTHAMPTON

In the brief respite between Lockdowns 2 and 3 (remember that?) and just before Christmas (remember that?!) we managed a sneak preview and listen to the new range-topping Cyrus XR products.

Cyrus is a long established brand in store here, going right back to the original Cyrus One and Two in the 1980’s in our previous guise as Hampshire Audio. I’m old enough to remember how distinctive and important these innovative and mould-breaking amplifiers were back in the day, overturning overnight the notion that amplifiers had to be big and macho and adorned with tone controls, equalisers and the like in order to produce real hi-fi performance. The shoebox form factor which evolved into the now classic alloy casework has been Cyrus’s signature for many a decade now.

Speaking of Signature, this was, until recently, the top range of Cyrus separates, that is until XR was announced.

Jason from Cyrus showed and played us the two new integrated amplifiers, i7-XR and i9-XR. We were immediately impressed by the improved finish with the control panel now matching the casework perfectly, the sharper display, solid metal rotary encoder, and the slicker touch sensitive controls replacing clunky switches. The sound quality didn’t disappoint either. Both sounded open and detailed with a sweeter presentation than previous Cyrus amplifiers. Unsurprisingly the i9-XR had substantially more authority and depth, with a lot more power on tap.

We then listened to the top of the range Pre-XR, which replaces the long established DAC XP Signature. It’s a completely new design from the ground up, with much lower noise floor, greater dynamic range and broader bandwidth capable of 32 bit/768k and DSD files. There are five analogue inputs, including MM phono, plus a headphone output, two toslink and two coaxial digital inputs as well as USB. This much higher specification was matched by the tremendous improvement in performance. The Pre-XR effortlessly presented music, intricately unravelling the most complex passages so every individual strand can be followed whilst remaining a coherent whole. It really is outstanding.

We were so impressed that we have ordered all five of the first release of Cyrus XR products:

Cyrus i7-XR 52W integrated amplifier

Cyrus i9-XR 91W integrated amplifier

Cyrus CDI-XR integrated CD player

Cyrus CDT-XR digital CD transport

Cyrus Pre-XR digital/analogue preamplifier

We can’t wait for them to arrive! So good to have something positive to look forward to during lockdown!

As soon as our XR demo stock arrives we will run it in and put it through its paces, so check in again soon for an update.

Alan and Wayne - Audio T Southampton

P.S. As if that isn’t exciting enough, coming later will be the all new high end PSU-XR power supply, which will massively enhance the performance of any Cyrus XR product!

Cyrus can be found at the following Audio-T stores

• CARDIFF

• ENFIELD

• MANCHESTER

• SOUTHAMPTON

• SWINDON

What's new at Audio T Southampton?

We are delighted to say that we have been extremely busy since we reopened after lock down. A big thank you to all of our loyal customers for your continuing support.

Now that things have calmed down a bit we would like to update you with some of the new product arrivals in our store.

We are long term fans of B&W speakers here, with 700 series amongst our favourites, so we were very excited when 700 Signature arrived.

B&W 705 Signature

B&W 702 Signature

Both models look stunning in the exclusive Datuk Gloss finish and the crossover and drive unit improvements, derived from 800 series (also on demo here), have raised performance to even greater heights, with more detail but a much sweeter treble, better imagery and deeper and more articulate bass.

Listening to some of Acoustic Energy’s current models made us realise what we were missing so we now have a few AE speakers on demo.

Acoustic Energy AE109

The slimline AE109 floor stander is a remarkably refined speaker for a very reasonable £499 in walnut, £549 in satin black.

Acoustic Energy AE500 and Reference Stands

Moving up a bit in price, the AE500 is a very worthy successor to the iconic AE1. It’s a very articulate but relaxed performer, which is easy to drive and locate and the finish is very good on both the speakers (£1000) and the excellent matching Reference stands (£350). What’s not to like?!

Acoustic Energy AE509

For those with a larger room to fill with sound, the AE509 has the same refined open top end with a weightier, but very controlled, bottom end. The gloss black finish is every bit as good as the satin white or walnut options. It’s a lot of speaker for £2300.

Ruark R3

If your requirement is for a more compact solution, rather than a sizeable pair of floor standing speakers powered by hi-fi separates, the Ruark R3 ticks a lot of boxes. For £629 it provides DAB/DAB+/FM radio, CD playback, wi-fi streaming with support for Tidal amongst others, analogue and digital inputs, bluetooth, walnut (as above) or soft grey finish, and of course, it sounds great.

Rega IO

Staying small, the new baby amplifier from Rega is a stunner. It’s minimal in features, with just two line inputs plus MM for turntable, but we are yet to hear another amplifier to beat the Rega IO for sheer musical enjoyment at anything near the bargain asking price of £379 of this giant beater.

Chord Electronics Huei

Last but by no means least, our smallest newcomer is this wonderfully crafted piece of hi-fi jewellery. Polychromatic balls embellishing an ingot of aircraft grade aluminium leave no doubt that the manufacturer of the Huei MM/MC phono stage is Chord Electronics. The exquisite build quality is matched by exceptionally transparent audio and imperceptible noise floor, breathing new life into even the most familiar vinyl. £990 seems a very fair price to rejuvenate a record collection!

Please give us a call or email if you would like to demo or home trial one of these new products, or anything else we have in store. We are currently open to appointment for booked demonstrations 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Saturday.

We hope to see you soon,

Alan, John and Wayne

Much Anticipated Arcam SA30 Wireless Streaming Amplifier Arrives At Audio T Southampton!

We have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new top of the range Arcam SA30 wireless streaming integrated amplifier for some time. It’s definitely been well worth the long wait!

The attractive full width casework is barely taller than Arcam’s SA10 and SA20, and no deeper, but packs a hefty punch at 120W per channel into 8 ohm and a massive 220W into 4 ohm speakers. The features list is very comprehensive too. Musical performance is always the priority for Arcam but this is by no means a minimalist product and it’s great to be able to offer a British designed amplifier which ticks so many feature boxes without compromising sound quality.

The five analogue inputs include a phono input which is, unusually, switchable for moving coil (MC) as well as moving magnet (MM). Four digital inputs (2 optical, 2 coaxial) feed the integral 32 bit Sabre DAC. There’s also an ARC input for TV sound via HDMI and the SA30 is a uPnP wireless streamer incorporating GoogleCast and AirPlay 2 as well as being a Roon endpoint.

Like Arcam’s AV receivers, the SA30 wireless streaming amplifier is equipped with Dirac loudspeaker set up and room equalisation, enabling tailoring to speaker characteristics and removal of adverse resonant room frequencies. Individual Dirac Live curves can even be stored for different inputs. A calibration microphone is supplied for use with a PC or MAC to set up Dirac.

The Arcam SA30 wireless streaming integrated amplifier is a great addition to our range of stereo amplifiers in store, with a stunning set of features and very impressive power output. We can’t wait to put it through its paces!

Check back later to see how SA30 performs in our dem room, or call to arrange a listen or just pop in and see us at Audio T Southampton (Chandlers Ford).

See you soon,

Alan, John and Wayne

Arcam Hi-Fi products are available at the following branches of Audio T: Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Oxford, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Bowers & Wilkins 800 D3 Series Update!

We are thrilled to announce that our B&W 800 D3 speaker range is now complete!

Here is 803 D3 in our demonstration room looking ravishing in rosenut and sounding equally magnificent powered by the PMC Cor amplifier.

And now for the icing on the cake…..

The totally stunning 802 D3 looking glorious in their flawless deep gloss black finish. Despite their substantial stature we have been amazed and delighted with the sheer clarity and scale of sound achieved in our modest demonstration room. The PMC Cor has proven itself more than capable of taking full control of 802 D3 to create a totally convincing and beguiling musical experience. Many’s the time we have had to drag ourselves away from extended listening sessions to deal with more mundane duties!

Give your ears a treat and give us a call to book a demonstration in store. All of the 800 D3 speakers are brilliant so don’t forget we also have 805 and 804 in store.

See you soon!

Alan, John and Wayne - Audio T Southampton.

Bowers & Wilkins 800 loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T: Bristol, Southampton.

All other B&W ranges are available the following branches: Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Diamond News! B&W 800 Series Arrives At Audio T Southampton!

We are thrilled to announce that we have been appointed stockists of B&W’s legendary 800 series speakers! It is a great honour to be one of the elite retailers entrusted with this flagship range, which are quite rightly lauded as amongst the finest speakers in the world.

800 D3 is the latest incarnation of these no compromise speakers, taking everything B&W learned from previous generations, and further refining to achieve even higher levels of transparency and musical performance. Nothing is left to chance. B&W’s fifty years of design development and engineering has resulted in a truly outstanding range of speakers, each capable of bringing music to life like no other.

In store, we already have the Prestige version of 805 D3, finished in simply stunning Santos Rosewood.

We also have the magnificent 804 D3 available for demo immediately.

They will soon be joined by 803 D3 and 802 D3. We can’t wait, having been bowled over by the remarkable effortless musicality of their smaller siblings in our dem room!

Watch this space for further updates. In the meantime, do call us to book a demo. You won’t be disappointed!

Alan, John and Wayne

Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T: Bristol, Southampton

Bowers & Wilkins other speaker ranges are available from the following branches: Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Audio T Southampton Film Night 30th May Featuring The Matrix in 4K UHD

We are delighted to announce that, following detailed discussions (and restraining John), we have decided the movie to be screened at our forthcoming Film Night will be The Matrix.

Newly remastered in 4K with Dolby Atmos soundtrack we are sure this classic movie will be ideal to showcase the performance of the top notch home cinema system we are putting together with some of our key suppliers.

Pioneer’s flagship UDP-LX800 will spin the discs.

Arcam will provide their AV860 processor and multiple power amplifiers.

KEF are supplying an £11000 R series speaker package.

REL will rock the foundations with a dual subwoofer system.

A top quality 4K projector will supply the images.

The entire system will be wired throughout with Chord Company cables.

This £60,000 AV system is designed to thrill, so do give yourself a treat and come along to The Stables at The White Horse Hotel, Romsey at 7pm on Thursday 30th May. We know you won’t be disappointed!

Free car parking is available in Lortemore Place just off Latimer Street, SO51 8DF, directly behind the hotel.

Here’s a link for free tickets. They aren’t essential but useful for us to gauge numbers.

A FREE to enter prize draw for attendees provides further temptation with the chance to win a £399 Arcam rPhono MC/MM phono stage, £200 Chord Shawline Power cable or a £180 KEF Muo Bluetooth speaker!

Representatives from most participating manufacturers will be on hand, along with ourselves, to answer questions and offer advice at Movie Night.

We look forward to seeing you all at The White Horse Hotel, Romsey on 30th May.

Alan, John and Wayne - Audio T Southampton (Chandlers Ford).

Audio T Southampton's (well John's) Top Ten Home Cinema Demo Movie Scenes!

Our resident Home Cinema fan John has some personal favourite movie scenes which he uses to set up and calibrate AV systems. We thought we would share a few with you in case you want to put your own Home Cinema through it’s paces.

Are you ready? Here’s John’s top ten! (His choices…)

Straight in at No.10 is Battleship, scene 15 running into 16. I would just like to make it clear at this point that artistic quality is not a factor here. This is just a dynamic visual and audio extravaganza which tests dialogue coherence (but sadly doesn’t improve content!) during action sequences.

No.9 is another movie which majors on automotive action rather than subtle characterisation… Fast and Furious 8 (is that all..?), scene 17, will give your system a thorough work out, although the language is a bit fruity.

No.8. Iron Man 2, scene 16. Not an Art House film, although there’s a bit more acting and dialogue here, but being John’s choice, it is mainly gunfire and explosions… again. Good surround effects though, from the laser sequence.

No.7. X Men Apocalypse, scene 14. I think you get the picture, as it were, by now. Not exactly cinema verite, but this scene includes some clever slow motion CGI and very effective Dolby Atmos accompanied by the Eurythmics backtrack.

No.6. Terminator 2, Judgement Day., scene 4. A bit of a classic now, albeit not in the same sense as Citizen Kane, for example, but these are John’s selections…This is a well filmed vehicle chase sequence with an excellent soundtrack. The Harley sounds convincingly throaty on a good, well set-up system.

No.5. Top Gun, scene 1. Stepping even further into the past, John has gone with the opening scene with it’s full throttle soundtrack providing a test for anyone brave enough to turn the volume up to 11. WARNING! John has damaged speakers doing this so please do exercise some caution. Top Gun top tip is to play the DTS soundtrack to avoid audio disappointment.

No.4. Back to the Future III, scene 15, the duel. Guns again… However, central to John’s selection this time, is the atmospheric sound and musical soundtrack during the gunfight. It’s a fair cop.

No.3. Jeff Beck Live at Ronnie Scott’s, scene 11. At last we can do away with guns and pick up an axe instead. Well, listen to Jeff play his Fender Stratocaster anyway. This welcome musical break from action movies shows how a concert video can be enhanced by a well recorded DTS surround soundtrack, perfectly capturing the intimate atmosphere of Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club

No.2. The Greatest Showman, scene 8. Keeping his focus on music now instead of pyrotechnics, John likes the gripping soundtrack in this scene which draws one’s attention to the spectacular choreography on screen, if you like musicals…

And at No.1. Bohemian Rhapsody, scene 23. A masterful recreation of Queen’s 1985 performance at Live Aid. John would have loved to have been there, if only he wasn’t five, but this movie gives him more than a taste of the real experience with Dolby Atmos providing the requisite acoustics in order to suspend disbelief.

We will be hosting a Movie Night at The White Horse Hotel Romsey on 30th May. The movie being screened is yet to be selected but please rest assured that John won’t make the final decision without supervision. Perhaps you would like to email us with some suggestions?!

Don’t forget to check out our store blog for Movie Night updates closer to the date.

That’s all Folks!

Alan, John and Wayne

Chord Electronics Prove That High End Digital Audio Is Simply A Matter Of Scale!

Firstly, a big thank you to all of our wonderful customers for keeping us so busy throughout the festive season. Our successful campaign against ongoing Brexit gloom didn’t leave us time to post blogs for a while, but far be it from us to complain about buoyant business!

Now the decorations are packed away we have finally had the chance to pay more attention to some recently arrived new products. One which has really grabbed our attention is the Chord Hugo M-Scaler an utterly amazing digital audio upscaler capable of taking standard CD 44.1kHz resolution all the way up to 705.6kHz and an even more impressive 768kHz from 96kHz input when used with Chord’s dual BNC DACs, Qutest, Hugo TT 2 and DAVE.

We are fortunate enough to have a demo DAVE DAC in store so linked it up to our new M-Scaler.

The music streaming source was an Auralic Aries Mini, connected to M-Scaler with a Chord Shawline USB cable, giving us access to high resolution music files from both Tidal Masters and Qobuz Sublime.

Using Chord Shawline XLR cables, we hooked DAVE up to our mighty Chord SPM1050 Mk 2 power amp.

We currently have a pair of Reference 1 speakers on loan from KEF for evaluation and thought this system would be ideal to put them through their paces.

We were right! Even from cold, with both M-Scaler and KEF speakers requiring running in, this system sounded stunning. Actually, the system itself disappeared, leaving just the music, alive and tangible in the room. There was no hint of edginess or harshness. Digital has never sounded this good, or so analogue! Digital designer Rob Watts has been chasing 1 million tap length filters for many years, believing that this was what was required to reproduce 44.1kHz audio properly with accurate transients. M-Scaler with DAVE achieves this. Having heard the results we have no reason to doubt Rob’s thinking.

This system plays music effortlessly. It has all the attributes of a high end vinyl based system with none of the downsides. The initial purchase costs aren’t trivial but long term ownership would be less fussy than an esoteric turntable and cartridge with minimal maintenance by comparison. It’s food for thought…

We love great music, whatever the source, and really want to share the musical nirvana this fantastic system provides.

Just call or email us to book a demo. You won’t be disappointed!

See you soon,

Alan, John and Wayne - Audio T Southampton

Chord Electronics Hi-Fi is available from the following branches of Audio T:
Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Enfield, Manchester, Online, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Much Like Buses, You Wait Ages For A High End Blu-ray Player and...

Then two come along at once! Not only has the long awaited Panasonic DP-UB9000 arrived, but we also have the eagerly anticipated Pioneer UDP-LX500 too, and, the flagship UDP-LX800 is due in store any day now!

Both Panasonic and Pioneer disc players are beautifully built with elegant alloy front panels and a luxury feel befitting their price points.

Panasonic’s DP-UB9000 is the slimmer of the two but still weighs in at a reassuring 7.8kg. Equal attention has been paid to video and audio performance with exceptionally detailed images and fluid motion on all material. Upscaling of 1080P discs is handled impressively too.

Balanced outputs and separate analogue power supplies ensure that audio performance is up to the highest standards too. A mightily impressive machine easily justifying the asking price of £849.00.

And in the red corner… we have the Pioneer UDP-LX500. It’s more of a heavyweight, hitting the scales at 10.3kg and substantially chunkier than the Panasonic, albeit with an equally pretty face!

The capacious casework allows for a double layered chassis incorporating a 3mm steel plate which provides an inert and stable platform for the disc drive, thus minimising errors. Power supply, drive, digital processing and analogue audio sections are partitioned to further eliminate mechanical and electrical interference. Every effort has been made to maximise both audio and video performance from all types of media. It’s a tremendous universal disc player for £999.00!

So ladies and gentlemen, all is not lost now that Oppo are no longer in the ring. We present two strong contenders from Panasonic and Pioneer. You are welcome to come and judge the winner for yourselves, or maybe you would like to wait for Pioneer’s top of the range UDP-LX800?

Watch this space. It will soon be here!

Alan, John and Wayne - Audio T Southampton

Pioneer Hi-Fi products are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Online, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Panasonic Hi-Fi products are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Online, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

PMC enCORe (Did You See What We Did There?!)

At the risk of banging on about the PMC Cor again and saying we told you so...  Well, we told you so... or rather here is what one of our customers wrote to PMC after reading all about Cor on our store blog:

"Just ordered the Cor amp from Audio T Southampton after a home trial. What a stunning piece of kit. I knew my PMC Fact8s were capable of more but never thought I would be able to afford an amp good enough to really make them sing. As soon as I saw their blog about it I was straight over!!

The review in The Ear told me it was wonderful. It just ISN'T THERE.!!!!  IT'S MAGIC.

Both CD and FM are transformed. Don't know what the wait time is but it won't matter as it is incredible.

Hope you sell lots of them. At the price they should fly off the shelf 'cos they beat anything else in that price bracket out of sight."

- Mr. F, United Kingdom

Mr F didn't have to wait very long and is now the very happy owner of a brand new PMC Cor amplifier.  Our demo Cor is back in store, ready for anyone else wanting to experience the magic, either here or on a home trial.  You really won't want to miss out on this one!

See you soon,

Alan, John and Wayne

Cor! The PMC Integrated Amplifier Is Here and It's Awesome!

We are delighted to announce that our long awaited and much anticipated PMC Cor integrated amplifier has finally arrived!

It is currently warming up (just what we need in this weather!) and running in nicely in our demonstration room.  The unlikely looking system we have set up for this purpose may not be the most harmonious visual match, but sounds absolutely stunning.

Punching way above it's diminutive size, and very modest price, is the Auralic Aries Mini Wireless Streamer, supplying high resolution music from Qobuz Sublime and Tidal Masters.  The USB digital output is linked via a Chord Shawline USB cable to the magnificent Chord Electronics DAVE DAC.

We have heard nothing that comes anywhere close to the sheer musicality of the Chord Electronics DAVE DAC.  Any digital signal input emerges sounding totally engaging and the high resolution music such as those from Qobuz Sublime sound, well, sublime.  Digital doubters really need to hear DAVE...

DAVE is connected to our PMC Cor with a ChordMusic RCA analogue interconnect.  Well, we weren't going to take any chances, and you can't get anything better than ChordMusic to let the music flow, totally unimpeded, hence it's name.

PMC Cor has sounded every bit as good as we remembered, even from new and cold, so can only get better and better as it runs in and components warm up.  It just sounds effortless and capable of dealing with the most demanding music into any speaker at any volume.  Fortunately it doesn't run hot, a definite bonus in the current climate!  

To complete our Cor running in system we have a pair of our most popular speakers, the PMC Twenty5 23.  Compact and slim enough to guarantee domestic harmony they deliver enormous clarity and PMC's Advanced Transmission Line guarantees agile deep bass which belies the unimposing cabinet dimensions.

We are having a ball listening to this system.  Playing Diana Krall's album 'Turn up the Quiet' 192Khz/24bit from Qobuz Sublime, it's as if she is in the room and piano and double bass sound so solid and real. It really is magical!

Just give us a call if you would like to listen to any, or all, of the above.  

See you soon,

Alan, John and Wayne - Audio T Southampton

PMC Hi-Fi products are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Enfield, Manchester, Portsmouth, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Cor Blimey Governor/ness. Do We Have A Cracking New PMC Amplifier For You!

We may have been quiet on the blog front for a while but only because we have been so incredibly busy in store, so busy in fact that there are now slightly more than two and a half of us with Wayne joining our team for three days a week!  Enormous thanks to all of our loyal customers, both new and old, who have contributed to our success. It's been our best year for a very long time and goes to prove that it needn't be all doom and gloom in retail!

We are delighted to announce that we will very soon be taking delivery of our PMC Cor integrated amplifier.  When Tom from PMC first brought his demo model in for us to hear we were totally amazed.  The Cor simply blew away any other integrated amplifier we had heard previously.  It just delivers the music effortlessly and never runs out of steam!

We took our first Cor order whilst we had the early demo model on loan and knew instantly that we just had to stock this magnificent amplifier.  It is the perfect partner to the PMC Twenty5 series range of speakers which we have stocked in full, and been massive fans of from day one, and is especially well-suited to the top model Twenty5 26, but equally at home driving any high quality speakers.

Interest in Cor is likely to be high because of the initial limited build, so please let us know if you would like us to contact you when we are in a position to book a demonstration, or arrange a home loan over a weekend.

We look forward to seeing you very soon.

Audio T Southampton - Alan, John and Wayne

A Big Thank You to Everyone Who Made Our Naim Uniti Event a Great Success

We had a great time at our Naim Uniti Roadshow event at The White Horse Hotel on Tuesday evening.  

Thanks to all who attended and much gratitude to Naim for making the event possible, especially Daniel Raggett (against the wall) for helping us to ensure everything went smoothly, Naim guru Phil Harris for answering technical questions, and most importantly, Naim brand ambassador, Jason Gould (by the left speaker) for his entertaining and informative presentation of the new Uniti range, all the more remarkable considering how jet lagged Jason was, having just got off the plane from Rocky Mountain Fest!

The Stables event room at The White Horse, as ever, looked great and, I'm sure all who attended will agree, that the sound was superb, even the baby Atom making a tremendous job of driving the PMC Twenty5 26 speakers.  It's not the usual pairing; compact £2000 system with large £7350 floor standers, especially given the scale of the room with vaulted ceiling, but it's testament to the capabilities of the new Uniti range and explains why the products took a bit longer than expected coming to market.  It was well worth the wait.  Unsurprisingly, the bigger Uniti Star and Uniti Nova sounded even more effortless with their enhanced control of the big PMCs.  A Uniti Core CD ripper and server provided the music for all three Uniti systems.

Those who didn't make it to our Naim Uniti event, and missed out on the chance to win a Naim Mu-so QB,  are welcome to join us, once again at The White Horse, at 7:30pm Thursday 9th November, for a spectacular Arcam Cinema event, also featuring PMC speakers, Sony projector and Chord cables.  We will be showing a full length movie for an authentic cinema experience and you might even win an Arcam rPlay music streamer worth £399.00!

See you soon,

Alan and John

Film Night Featuring Home Cinema System From Arcam PMC And Chord Co Cables

Hot on the heels of our Naim Uniti roadshow we are delighted to announce that we will be hosting another exciting event at The White Horse Hotel, Romsey on Thursday 9th November.

We are very proud that our store is designated a Centre of Cinematic Excellence by Arcam. 

This will be a unique opportunity to experience a truly high end Cinema system featuring Arcam's awesome amplification.

powering a potent PMC theatre speaker package.

The system will be fully wired with The Chord Company cables...

with 4K HDR picture provided by the stunning new Sony VPL-VW760ES 4K SXRD projector...

We plan to make the most of the splendid, spacious venue of The Stables at The White Horse Hotel and run a full length feature film to showcase just how totally immersive the experience of a top notch Home Cinema system can be.  

We can't promise ice cream and popcorn but there will be an intermission for refreshments from the hotel bar and plenty of opportunity to chat to us or company representatives.

Special offers will be available exclusively at the film event as well as a prize draw to win an Arcam rPlay worth £399. (No purchase necessary).

Arcam rPlay worth £399 in our free to enter prize draw.

If you are planning a home cinema it's an ideal opportunity to get technical advice about screens, projectors, speaker and cable choice, set up and positioning plus Arcam's AV solutions and DIRAC room calibration, as experts from Arcam, PMC, Chord and Sony all plan to be there.

Doors open at 7.30pm on Thursday 9th November. 

A limited number of free tickets available, so to be sure to reserve your place click here.

We very much look forward to seeing you there,

Alan and John

Experience The New Naim Uniti Range At The White Horse Hotel, Romsey On October 10th

Summer is still with us, just about, but now is a good time to make a note in your diary for an Autumn evening audio extravaganza on October 10th.

We are delighted to announce that Audio T Southampton will be joining up with Naim Audio to host a roadshow launch event to showcase the new Uniti range of music streaming systems.

The venue is The White Horse Hotel,  Market Place, Romsey, SO51 8ZJ

The event is in The Stables at The White Horse and starts at 6.30 pm ending at 9.00 pm.

It's too early for full details of products to be showcased but rest assured you will get the opportunity to see and hear at least Atom and Core and have the opportunity to speak to Naim representatives.  Naim technical staff will be also be on hand to answer any network questions, etc.

A limited number of FREE tickets are available now here so why not book now to secure your chance to see and hear the stunning new Naim Uniti all-in-one music players.  Refreshments will be available and there might even be the chance to enter a prize raffle!

We look forward to seeing you on the 10th October.

Alan and John

Panasonic TX-55EZ952B OLED - Plasma Is Dead Long Live OLED!

John and I have both been eagerly awaiting a new TV which would persuade us to upgrade our now ageing Pioneer plasma screens.  

The new Panasonic TX-55EZ952B OLED precisely fits the bill.

This high end 4K Pro HDR TV is Hollywood tuned and equipped with Studio Colour HCX2 and THX certified processing to produce a full, rich and natural spectrum of colours.  The multiple HDR formats supported include Hybrid Log Gamma, the broadcast HDR format jointly developed by the BBC and Japan's NHK.

Panasonic have fully utilised their plasma experience to great effect with this TV, ensuring it is capable of incredible shadow detail and displaying the deepest blacks.  

These positive plasma attributes are enhanced by the many advantages of OLEDs such as higher brightness, natural colour rendering, much lower power consumption and elegant slimline design.

The high specification includes all iPlayers, Freeview Play, inbuilt Netflix and Amazon 4K. 

The supplied compact central stand avoids the cabinet overhang issues of many TVs and we both appreciated the ease with which we wall mounted our demo screen. It was far less stressful than the back breaking task we recall with our Pioneer plasmas many years ago!

Just phone or email to book or just call in to see the Panasonic TX-55EZ952B OLED with an awesome home cinema system in our Dolby Atmos equipped demonstration room.  We are sure you will be as impressed as we are with this brilliant TV!  

See you soon,

Alan and John

Panasonic TVs are available from all branches of Audio T.

Audio T Southampton And Hundred Records, Romsey, Celebrate RSD 10th Anniversary!

Just a quick reminder that Record Store Day 2017 is nearly upon us.  The tenth anniversary of vinyl celebration, supporting local independent record stores, is on Saturday 22nd April.

We are happy to, again, be linking up with Hundred Records in Romsey and encouraging all of our customers to visit Mark's store during his third (already?) Record Store Day.  Those who have met Mark will know that he is very passionate about music, especially vinyl!  If you haven't visited Hundred Records then RSD would be a great time to do so, with many exclusive, limited edition releases available only at Record Store Day participating stores.  Mark is extending RSD for the whole weekend this year, opening 11am to 3pm on Sunday as well as 8am to 5pm Saturday to give you even more chance of finding a rare vinyl release!

Don't leave Mark's store without an RSD bag, the contents of which will include an exclusive to Audio T Chandlers Ford (Southampton) RSD discount voucher, and our latest Music at Home Guide!

And what better way to enjoy your exclusive new RSD vinyl than playing it on a limited edition Rega RSD 2017 turntable!

Rega have pulled out all of the stops for RSD's tenth anniversary, producing an exceptional turntable at the same £250 price of a standard Planar 1.  The RSD17 is limited to a production run of 500, and combines the high quality plinth, glass platter, bearing and mat from the RP3 with the tonearm and cartridge of the P1, making this the best Rega limited edition RSD deck so far.

In the unlikely event that the performance, price, and great looks aren't quite enough to persuade you, around 40 of the 500 are signed by some great musical artists!

We are taking orders now for the Rega RSD17 now but they are going fast so best contact us to reserve one now and ensure that you can collect your turntable on Record Store Day as soon as you've bought your new vinyl from Mark at Hundred Records!

Good luck tracking down some vinyl rarities.  We look forward to giving them a spin here and helping you to get the very best sound from your precious albums.

See you soon,

Alan and John

RNLI Music And Hi-Fi Evening - A Big Thank You!

A big thank you to all who attended the RNLI Hi-Fi and Music Evening at The White Horse Hotel, Romsey on 28th February.  We are delighted to report that the evening was very well attended and a great success, raising over £1300 for the RNLI from ticket sales and the raffle.

Many thanks to all from Naim Audio, Dynaudio and The Chord Company for their enthusiastic support of this event, and to The White Horse for generously providing such a superb venue to showcase a stunning hi-fi system.  

It would have been impossible to set up this system in the limited time available without the skill (and muscle!) of all involved.  The Dynaudio Evidence Platinum speakers are over 6 feet tall and weigh nearly 150kg each!  Naim's Statement amplification is no lightweight either!  The multiple lengths of all ChordMusic cable variants was a significant contribution to the great sound, not to mention the £250,000 system value!

Thanks for all the positive feedback since the event.  It was always going to be an impossible task to cater for everyone's musical tastes but we hope we were able to give a flavour of what is possible with such an aspirational system, truly bringing music to life with realism and scale.

Nearly £500 was raised from the raffle, mainly due to the high quality of the prizes generously donated by Naim, Dynaudio and Chord.  Congratulations to the lucky winners of a Naim Mu-so QB, Dynaudio Xeo 2 and Chord Shawline especially!

We would also like to thank Mark Wills from Hundred Records, Romsey, for his enthusiastic support and donation of all record sale profits on the night to the RNLI.  Thanks Mark.  (Watch this space for details of our Record Store Day 2017 link up with Mark coming very soon!)

One of our customers commented afterwards: 

"Thank you for the excellent demo on 28th Feb. It was the best set up I have heard and it was good of you both to give up your time - the contributions from Dynaudio , Chord and Naim were much appreciated".

Finally here's a list of key contributors to the success of the RNLI event on the day, with apologies to anyone overlooked:

Chris Green (RNLI Romsey and District Chairman and event organiser) and RNLI volunteers

Daniel and Mark Raggett (Naim Audio)

Bill Livingston and Kala Lingham (Dynaudio)

Alan Gibb, and daughter Angela, Matt Peddle (The Chord Company)

Staff of The White Horse Hotel

and us at Audio T Southampton (Chandlers Ford).... Alan and John, plus John's brother in law, Mike

Thank you

RNLI Music Event update

With just a few days left until the Music & Hi-Fi Evening at The White Horse Hotel, Romsey on Tuesday 28th February we are delighted to say that there is now another very good reason to attend this unique event.

Not only will you get the chance to hear a £250,000 hi-fi system featuring Naim's awesome Statement amplifier, Dynaudio's magnificent Evidence Platinum speakers and The Chord Company's spectacular ChordMusic cables, but thanks to Naim Audio's generosity you will now have the opportunity to win a Naim Mu-so QB!

The Naim Mu-so QB is a deceptively compact cube packing a 300 watt punch and a whole host of features including AirPlay, Bluetooth/aptX, Spotify Connect, TIDAL, UPnP, Internet Radio and USB, analogue and digital inputs, all fully controllable via Apple IOS and Android App.

This magnificent prize, worth £650, could be yours!  Raffle tickets will be on sale only at the event with all proceeds going to the RNLI.

Other prizes may well be available on the night, subject to confirmation. There's still time to buy tickets from Audio T Chandlers Ford, Hundred Records, Romsey, or direct from RNLI Romsey, tel: 01794 323602, email: romseylifeboats@yahoo.co.uk so come along, give your ears a treat with this unique opportunity to hear a truly aspirational hi-fi system, whilst supporting the RNLI.  Surely the most noble of causes and an essential charity.  Tickets are just £10 each...

You might even go home with a superb raffle prize too, maybe a Naim Mu-so QB!

We look forward to seeing you at The White Horse Hotel, Romsey on the 28th February.  The event starts at 7.30pm but you are welcome to arrive an hour earlier to meet representatives from Naim, Dynaudio and The Chord Company, ask them questions, and admire the music system!

We are very much looking forward to this event and will both be there!

Alan and John

P.S.  More great news!  The Chord Company are supplying a Shawline Analogue Interconnect worth £200.00 as a raffle prize at the RNLI event.

Yet another good reason to come along on Tuesday!

Not wanting to be left, out Audio T will contribute three of our 50th Anniversary record bags worth £50 each to the prize raffle too.  Just what you will need for the new vinyl you can buy from Mark from Hundred Records during the event!  Mark is also generously supporting the RNLI with contributions from record sales so please don't forget to bring your wallets!

RNLI Music & Hi-Fi Evening

We are very proud to announce that Audio T Southampton will be assisting the RNLI to host a charity music & Hi-Fi evening with support from key manufacturers, Naim Audio, Dynaudio and The Chord Company plus local independent record store Hundred Records.

The Hi-Fi system for the event will be of the highest quality with Naim's now legendary Statement amplification providing more than adequate power!

Dynaudio's stunning Evidence Platinum will be the suitably elegant speakers to match Statement and to ensure that the venue is filled with perfect sound.

Linking it all together The Chord Company's high end ChordMusic cables and interconnects will ensure that this £250,000+ system will really sing!

A wide range of streamed music and vinyl will be played with demo albums generously provided by Mark Wills from Hundred Records in Romsey.

What better way could there be to spend an evening? This will be a unique opportunity to hear a truly awesome esoteric Hi-Fi system in a comfortable and spacious venue whilst supporting one of the most vital and highly valued of all charities, the RNLI.

Tickets are now available for £10 in store at Audio T, Chandlers Ford and at Hundred Records, Romsey and from RNLI Romsey, tel: 01794 323602

Details of money raising prize draws and raffles are still being finalised so please check our store blog regularly for updates.

We look forward to working with the participating Hi-Fi manufacturers, Hundred Records and The White Horse Hotel, Romsey, who are generously providing a superb venue free of charge, to ensure that a great evening is enjoyed by all and, most importantly, that it is a very successful fundraising event for the RNLI. 

Alan and John