Record Store Day 2018 Was A Blast!

Record Store Day just gets bigger and better every year, and as is now the tradition, we team up with Derricks Music on Oxford Street for the day.

Derricks kindly give us some floor space to play some of our Rega turntables and let me play my music all day, and once again we were giving away one of the RSD Rega Turntables to one of the lucky RSD customers in a FREE prize draw.

On the day it was once again an early start for the staff at Derricks, in at the crack of dawn to get all the stock ready and prepare for the customers. But - the customers themselves were far keener to get to Derricks and be at the front of the queue with the first customer being outside at 1.30am!

I arrived a while before the store was due to open and the queue was already heading down the street

9am sharp and the doors opened, shortly after the day turned into a blur.... the atmosphere in the shop was fantastic, all sorts of people buying all sorts of records. I was doing my usual job of playing a variety of my own records and winding up Christos the boss by refusing to play any prog (like taking a dummy off a baby!) Time was just flying by but the queue just seemed to stay half way down Oxford Street well into late morning.

We also gave away a few of our Audio T record bags which went down very well..

Dome customers were lucky and managed to get a lot of what they wanted..

Still lots of rummaging going on until later on in the afternoon....

As close of play approached it was time to draw the winning ticket for our prize draw, I always enjoy making the phone call to the winner and this time it was even better as the reaction I got from the winner was hilarious. I can't repeat what he said when I told him, but let's just say he was very pleased!

One happy prize winner....

Nic Forbes on the left, our lucky winner David Mayes and Christos on the right.

Once again we have to say a huge thank you to all at Derricks for such a great day and already looking forward to 2019.

Derricks is celebrating its 50th year this year so no doubt we will get involved in whatever Christos has planned.

Thank you to all that took the time to stop and have a chat and enter our competition.

When you're looking for you next record player or Hi-Fi upgrade to enhance your music listening pleasure, then why not pop in and have a chat with us at Audio T Swansea.

Record Store Day 2018 At Derricks Music Swansea Is Just Around The Corner

April 21st is the day for the 2018 Record Store Day and once again we will be teaming up with Derricks Music just down the road from us.

As has become a tradition for this event at Audio T Swansea we will be giving away a
limited edition Rega Record Store Day turntable worth £265 as part of our RSD FREE prize draw. As usual just come and visit Derricks Music on the day where we will be demonstrating the 2018 RSD turntable with some other Rega electronics and fill in the competition entry form - it's as simple as that! Come and spin some of your RSD purchases!

This years RSD turntable looks very smart indeed being built on the base of the Rega Planar 2 turntable and featuring a white platter which sets it apart from the offerings in the standard Rega line up. Read more about the RSD turntable on the Rega website here

Here some ore images of the 2018 Rega Record Store Day turntable:

And once again there is a huge amount of vinyl being released for Record Store Day, I've already read the list several times and will try and not spend too much money this year!

View the full details of recordings being released.

Last year the queue was around the block when I arrived at Derricks at 8.30am with the first in line arriving at 4am! Hopefully we will see lots and lots of you there again this year.

Nic, Chris and Adrian - Audio T Swansea

Ahhhh....Oh...Woah! The Qutest Thing.

The new Chord Electronics Qutest DAC, marketed by Chord Electronics as a HUGO2 minus the headphone amp and battery, the dinky Qutest also manages to shed £600 from it's price tag. This has proven very popular indeed with us Audio T staffers.

Such an animal was suggested when the original HUGO was released, so I'm claiming full credit here! This means we can now enthuse about the Chord Electronics HUGO2 headphone amplifier and DAC performance to those customers who think that £1800 is too hefty a price tag and had no intention to take a DAC out into the wild - so why should they pay for stuff they'll never use anyway?

I'm happy to report that you don't have to. The Chord Electronics Qutest DAC is terrific.

Used in between an Arcam rPlay streamer and an Arcam A39 integrated amplifier, with Dynaudio Special 40 speakers, the presentation is wildly improved. AC/DC's Malcolm Young's repetitive rhythm guitar riff on "Thunderstruck" is way more thrilling (I want to turn it up!), deadmau5's synth bass on the track "SeeYah" is faster, tighter and forms a 3D solid roller of sound across the stage. Any digital hardness entirely gone. Initially the presentation appears quieter, then one realises that it's the absence of amplified noise. Norah Jones' voice on "Cold, Cold, Heart" is soft, dusky and alluring. It's no longer a voice in space, it's etched in place and sounds as if it's issuing from a human face (if that isn't too weird). Jones' piano playing is shown to be remarkably gentle; you can feel her just touching the keys rather than striking them. Glorious.  The spacial information in the Scream Team Remix of Massive Attack's "Teardrop", rather than being out to the sides and above the speakers a bit, now envelopes you in sound. Music behind you from just the two speakers? Oh yes. I've only encountered that before in some very serious kit indeed.

On demonstration right now at Audio T Swansea.

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

Bowers & Wilkins 705 S2 Series Stand Mount Speaker Stunners!

When B&W announced that they were replacing their popular and classy CM range, we were pleased and intrigued as to how they would develop an already successful product.

B&W 705 S2

The more expensive CM models had the tweeter placed in a discrete housing on top of the cabinet, decoupling it from the main enclosure. This looks a bit odd, but has the happy effect of providing a much more open and airy soundstage by placing instruments firmly in a solid stereo image. This is direct trickle down technology from the imperious and top of the range B&W 800 Series. Curiously, we found them more difficult to drive than the non-discrete enclosure versions that required much more capable amplification. However the demanded increase in amplification (and source) quality was always rewarded well. 

Tweeter without the Monkey Man

The Bowers & Wilkins 700 range has strong echoes of this former glory, in that the top of the range floorstander the B&W 702 and standmount B&W 705 (picutred) have an advanced version of the trick tweeter housing on top of the cabinet, plus a whole host of developments, not the least of which is the ‘Carbon’ tweeter itself. Colour choice remains the same at Satin White, Gloss Black and a very handsome Rosenut.

With the need for quality amplification in mind, we thought we’d set Naim’s £2k Uniti Atom one-box media player/amp the job of driving our 705s. We were very pleasantly surprised. The music sprang rich, solid, full and remarkably clean from the speakers, with a much bigger soundstage than we were expecting. A bit easier to drive than the outgoing model, so it appears, plus sweeter sounding and better timing. Insightful with instruments and vocals locked in space, lets acoustic music wash over and melt you into the sofa. If you’re in the mood for something more aggressive, you’ll be leaping about the lounge like a crazy lounge leaping thing! They're a lot of fun too.

Would I have these in my home? Yes. In white please Father Christmas.

Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers are available in the following branches of Audio T: shops, Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Enfield, Manchester, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Southampton, Swansea and Swindon. Bowers & Wilkins 800D3 series are only available from Audio T Cardiff.

Return Of The Black! We Take A Closer Look At The New Arcam irDAC II DAC And Headphone Amplifier

We take a closer look at the Arcam irDAC II digital to analogue converter and headphone amplifier. With the current revival of high quality headphone listening, it was with interest we learned that Arcam's replacement for their much admired irDAC would sport the headphone output stage from their £4000 FMJ A49 stereo amplifier.

Handily, the digital out socket has been replaced with variable output analogue RCA phonos. This enables the unit to be used with a power amp or a pair of active loudspeakers which are often the choice of the desk bound audiophile. We also lose the USB-a port but keep the asynchronous USB-b port and Bluetooth functionality. It's also worth noting that the Arcam irDAC-II is capable of DSD128 replay.

Arcam were the first company to launch an outboard DAC way back in 1987 (with the revolutionary Black Box) and they re-entered the DAC market with the rDAC a few years ago. The brief for this unit was to produce an enhanced design that would raise performance and improve ease of use by a significant margin over the existing rDAC. Arcam tell me that their engineers have worked hard to isolate the digital and analogue stages and develop ultra low noise power supplies to reduce digital jitter to vanishingly low levels.

All of the inputs can be controlled through an IR remote control that will also give you transport control of a PC or Mac USB source.

So how does it sound?
Well, very good indeed. We partnered it with KEF's revered LS50 stand mount speakers, Arcam's own very capable A39 integrated amplifier and rPlay music source. It was an immediate improvement over the DAC in the rPlay – itself no slouch. Spacial information was much more apparent, instruments were solid and punchy with a much fuller, fruitier soundstage. It didn't seem to favour any particular musical style, be it the finely etched Laura Marling “Soothing”, Fink's intimate live recording of “Trouble's What You're In” or the pounding beats of Gentleman's Dub Club.

It's on demonstration in our music salon as we speak. Why not pop over and give it a try? We'll make you a brew while you settle in and immerse yourself in the music.

Arcam Hi-Fi products are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Brentwood, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

The Arcam rPlay Music Streamer

With the current surge in popularity for streaming music (Sonos et al) we were pleased and intrigued when Arcam announced that they were bringing to market a dedicated music streamer.
After the success and positive feedback of the streamers in their AV amps and Arcam CDS27 CD player it appears to be a natural step for such a music first company.

The Arcam rPlay allows you to add network audio streaming services and internet radio to any system using DTS PlayFi, Apple Airplay or UPnP enabled music sources such as a Network Attached Storage (NAS).

As well as a co-axial (SP/DIF) digital audio output and a fixed line level analogue output, the rPlay also features a variable analogue output which uses the same volume control as their A49 flagship amplifier. This is really handy for connecting to a power amplifier or a pair of active loudspeakers; multi-room audio aficionados also should take note. The rPlay is very nicely built out of satin black aluminium and is a visual match for the other Arcam “small r” components.

At £399 it's fifty quid more than the unit it's going to be compared to - the Sonos Connect Zoneplayer.

So how does it sound? Very good indeed! It was an obvious improvement over the Sonos Connect. 'Solid' is the term du jour; the rPlay has way more body, depth and richness. Meaty and musical. Operationally it isn't quite as slick as the Sonos, but this is just a matter of getting used to the operating system (OS). The dramatic improvement in sound quality more than makes up for it, even using just 16bit (CD quality) files. The rPlay will play back 24bit (studio quality) files, lifting its performance again. By comparison the Sonos units top out at 16bit.

If you needed any more of a testimonial, both Nic and I have bought one. It's on demonstration in our music salon as we speak. Why not come in and have a listen?

Arcam Hi-Fi products are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Brentwood, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Southampton, 
Swansea, Swindon

KEF Reference Loudspeakers Now At Audio T Swansea

The eagle-eyed and bat-eared amongst you may recall that Arcam chose KEF Reference loudspeakers for their astonishing home theatre installation that toured the serious Hi-Fi shows of Europe, including our very own Sound and Vision Show in Bristol.

Nic, Chris, myself (Ade) and a number of the Audio T Swansea faithful heard them in action and were impressed enough to want to hear more. We persuaded the lovely Alex from KEF to lend us a pair of their delightful Reference 3s for evaluation. We were very reluctant to let them go, even though we did have them here for quite a while...*cough* (Thanks Alex!).

Hooked up to our Chord Electronics Dave DAC, CPA3000 pre-amplifier and SPM1200 power amplifier we bathed in their lush, glossy, even, wide and deep soundstage. Virtually every track we played we looked at each other puff-cheeked in admiration and realised we really had to stock them. Fast-forward a few weeks and we're the proud owners of a pair of KEF Reference 1s and a pair of KEF Reference 3s. (Yay!)

As you can see in the picture above and below, the Reference 1's look a million bucks in Gloss Rosewood with that brushed aluminium front baffle. Fitted with the latest iteration of KEF's speciality, the UniQ combined tweeter/midrange unit - here in 125mm (5 inch) - it's designed to provide a common point source for high and mid frequency sound. This gives us a better sense of integration, yielding a much larger sweet-spot and a more natural sound. The all-new 165mm (6.5 inch) alloy woofer that KEF is rather proud of, are beautifully finished and look very pretty too.

Around the back are what can only be described as luxury Bi-Amp/Bi-Wire terminals. In case you were wondering, the centre wing bolts connect the low and high frequency terminals together should you choose to single wire them. (We happen to be using Black Rhodium Encore Bi-Wire in this instance, so have them wound out.)

Initial listening is pretty encouraging as the soundstage is wide open, but they clearly need running in. After a couple of hours they'd fleshed out a fair bit, but are nowhere near their potential yet. We're going to give them a run overnight and report back in the morning. We need to get them singing soon as we've had our first request for a home demonstration - that didn't take long!

KEF Reference loudspeakers are available from Audio T Swansea and Audio T Preston

Audio T Swansea Celebrates The 10th Anniversary Of Record Store Day On 22nd April

Record Store Day is now less than a month away, and with it being the 10th Anniversary we will once again be teaming up with Derrick's Music of Swansea to make it the best event yet.

The 22nd April will be the day where we once again see hundreds of people descend on independent record shops across the country to snap up some very exclusive and rare recordings that have been published on vinyl just for this one day.

The master list of LPs, 12" and 7" singles that are being produced was published this week, yet again after browsing through it I realise that I am going to have to raid the piggy bank again!

To see the full list on the Record Store Day website click here.

World renowned manufacturer of turntables and Hi-Fi products Rega Research are once again producing a very limited edition version of their Planar 1 Turntable, which we will be giving away to one lucky customer at Derricks Music on the day in a FREE prize draw.

We will also be giving away a copy of the new book by Rega "The Vibration Measuring Machine"

As we get closer to Record Store Day we will be posting more about what goodies we will be playing etc, so keep an eye on the Audio T Swansea Facebook page.

Here's last years lucky winner receiving his new Rega RSD turntable.

QUAD Artera And Z Series Loudspeakers Make For A Modern Hi-Fi System Classic

Almost every Hi-Fi aficionado will know the manufacturer QUAD Electroacoustics and the old amplifier and speaker combination of 33/303 or 44/405 with the famous ESL electrostatic loudspeakers.

Quad have now got what could well be a modern classic in the range, a classic brand name with a modern twist. The "Artera" range of electronics and the "Z" series loudspeakers offer a stunning performance at a reasonable price.

We first heard the Artera system around a month or so ago and thought it was something we really should have available in the store, so shortly afterwards we placed our order for the demonstration pieces. It is a rare thing nowadays to have a manufacturer offer a complete system that performs to the standard that this system can offer. Often, the electronics from a manufacturer will work together but get used with a different brand of loudspeakers. It is great to be able to once again offer a complete QUAD system.

The first thing we have in the line up is the ARTERA PLAY CD/PRE-AMP

The Pre-amplifier also features a DAC that can be used from external sources as you would expect from a modern digital player, featuring USB, optical and co-axial inputs. The styling and quality of finish is stunning.

Quad Artera CD Player & Pre-amplifier

The ARTERA STEREO Power amplifier harks back to the looks of the old 606 and 909 power amps, sticking to the classic QUAD look with a modern design. The ARTERA STEREO is a brand new ground up design featuring QUAD's current dumping technology which in sonic terms gives the system an effortless sound even with very demanding dynamics.

Quad Artera Stereo Power Amplifier

With the design of the case work and glass top plate it looks great when placed alongside each other or on top.

Quad Artera CD / Pre & Power Combination

We chose the QUAD Z1 series standmount loudspeakers in the stunning Piano Rosewood finish. The "Z" series feature Quad's unique sandwich formation ribbon tweeter design giving them such a smooth and tonally detailed sound it has to be heard!

We have given the system a few days to run in so far, the system sounded great from brand new but after about 40hrs use it really came on song. We have thrown all sorts of music at it and have been amazed. Perhaps the most surprising thing is the quality of vocals, it is simply fabulous! I listen to a lot of folk and blues so have tried a lot of acoustic guitar based music and have been amazed at the tonality of the system - you can hear so much more tonal information of the instrument and strings it is quite different to any other system. But, going back to what I have previously said, it is an amazing performance from a one make system.

Other products in the ARTERA range to follow are the "ARTERA LINK" which will be the CD player/Pre-amplifier with added Network Streamer, and the "ARTERA ONE" integrated amplifier.

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

Yamaha MusicCast - Music Everywhere Quite Literally!

We have had Yamaha MusicCast compatible products in the shop for a while and have found that the capability and options offered from the range of the products is about as comprehensive as you could imagine.

We started off with the Yamaha AV receivers that were MusicCast enabled but were controlling them on their own via the Yamaha AV Controller App (which is a lot easier to use than the handset especially when the room is dimly lit) but were not utilising the MusicCast function.

We have been selling a lot of Sonos products as you would expect but have found a lot of limitations with them as regards flexibility of playback methods and line up of products on offer.

While the Sonos is very simple to use and set up, we were getting asked about bluetooth and wireless speakers a lot more so really looked more into MusicCast and decided to get a few products in for demonstration.

Firstly we set up the Yamaha CXA5100 processor in the AV room, if your TV or projector is powered up (which is not necessary) you get great on screen menus

The next product we added to the system was the Yamaha WX030, a small speaker that would be prefect for kitchens, bedrooms etc. Once again it was dead easy to add to the room to the MusicCast app where you give the room whatever name you like and attach a picture so it's easy to identify when the app is on the home page.

Once playing, the app will show a very simple screen to show what room you are in, music playing and volume with easy access to other functions e.g. drop down menu for access to music server list or radio stations. For such a small speaker it packs a serious punch! 

The next product in the range we added is the Yamaha ISX-80. This is quite a different type of speaker system that will certainly be able to placed in a lot more locations due to the fact that it can be wall or shelf mounted and is very slim and stylish.

I would suggest this would be perfect for a bedroom considering its flexible placement and styling, but more so because of its clock display and alarm functions. Again quite a punch from a small speaker so if you do use it as an alarm then make sure it's not too loud!

The fourth product we added is the Yamaha WXA-50, and perhaps a product that could have the most permutations of usage. A very compact unit with a hefty 70W amplifier on board that is capable of running some very good loudspeakers (we have had great results from the likes of Q Acoustics all the way up to higher end Dynaudio speakers!). 

With digital, USB and auxiliary inputs you could quite easily see it in a bedroom with a TV, Blu-ray player or laptop connected to it making it a hub for one room. Another option for it is as part of a much larger multi-room set up. Many new builds that we install systems in will have one plant room with the electronics located in there with cabling routed to the relevant rooms, the WXA-50 can be rack mounted and be used on web-setup as it expands into a larger multi-room with more rooms.

You would think that this would be enough of a line-up to fill a house, but Yamaha have make almost every product they make MusicCast compatible. The line up is enormous...

4 x desktop speakers, 2 x compact wireless streaming amplifiers, 4 x soundbars and one sound base, 14 x home cinema amplifiers, 2 stereo amplifiers and 2 x cd players and 6 compact hifi systems.

And if that is not enough, the one big thing that sets MusicCast apart is the option of portable bluetooth device so you can use a portable bluetooth speaker out in the garden or bluetooth headphones anywhere!

As you can see, for a multi-room system that will suit the whole families needs, MusicCast is a product that should be seriously considered. All of the products shown above are permanently ready for demonstration in store so please call in and see what it can do.

Reflecting on 25 Years Of Service at Audio T

It only seems like yesterday when as a teenager I first set foot in Audio Excellence in Swansea to purchase my first Hi-Fi, and who knows that it would have led to this....

At 16 years of age I had saved all of my part time job money so that I could become the very proud owner of a new Dual Turntable, NAD amplifier and Celestion speakers. That is where (what was to be) my life long love of music and hi-fi began.

I had only bought a few LP's up until that point which I played on the family music centre which was very average at best! I had heard a friends system and I wanted one of my own. A few months later I had my system and had started buying a lot more music to listen to. This then lead to going to see the artists I liked in concert and more visits to Audio Excellence, although these trips were mainly to buy more anti-static record sleeves for my ever growing collection.

A few years later and I found myself being made redundant and making daily visits to the job centres around the area, until one day I saw an advert for an electrical retailer with the hours Tuesday to Saturday. I instantly knew who it was, so I grabbed an application form and headed off to a friends workplace to fill it in as it was on the way to the shop. Once filled in I carried straight on straight to Audio Excellence to hand the application form in and was lucky enough to have a preliminary interview straight away. A few days later and it was off to the Cardiff Head Office for an interview with Tony Revelle. This is one day that I can remember very well indeed as I drove up in my Vauxhall Viva that was not in the best of running order, but not having money to fix it I arrived at Cardiff a little oily due to several maintenance stops. Laying on the floor under the car greasing the ball-joints in your best clothes somewhere near Bridgend was not the best of things to doing but the car got me there. I remember not being able to shake hands with Tony as I had dirty hands, but once we had started talking about the car while I freshened up it put me at great ease and that's where the story began...

A few silver whiskers and beard hairs these days!

25 years later I still have the same feelings about music and hi-fi, to the point that I could write exactly the same things on that application form as I did over 25 years ago; "I love listening to vinyl, I love listening to live music and love getting the best from my hi-fi".

So what has changed in all these years? Well I guess I'd have to say that why we do what we do hasn't changed at all, we still want to make sure that people get the same enjoyment from music as we do. People often ask me if I am still into "the gear" and I have to reply that "it's the music I love", and if you want to enjoy music to its fullest then there is simply no substitute for a well set up hi-fi and helping other people to get the same enjoyment has always given me great pleasure.

Thinking about how the methods of listening of music for so many people has changed over the years it did make laugh to think that as a teenager I was very excited about coming in to listen to my first turntable based system and I am now demonstrating the very same things to teenagers myself! Who would have predicted that one eh?

The cable guy...

Also, to think that I have worked at the Annual Sound & Vision - The Bristol Show for over 20 years is amazing. Again, I remember most of these as if they were yesterday although there are some days that are a little fuzzy but nothing to do with too much to drink.... obviously!

We recently celebrated Audio T's 50th Anniversary with a great evening at the shop, and 2017 also sees the 10th Anniversary of Record Store Day which is one day of the year I really look forward to. We hope to do something very special this year to celebrate as we were one of the first shops to team up with our local Record shop and make it a big day for us.

As you can imagine; I have made some wonderful friendships over the years with colleagues and customers alike, which makes me feel very lucky. Here's looking forward to the next part of the story......

Audio T 50th Birthday Party Featuring Chord & Dynaudio High End Hi-Fi Systems

On Friday 11th November we will be celebrating Audio T's 50th Birthday with a musical evening at the Swansea store.

For such a special occasion we only thought it fitting that we show off some very special equipment. Supporting us for the evening we have Chord Electronics, Dynaudio Loudspeakers and Chord Company cables.

Chord Electronics will be showing their new and most advanced DAC to date: the
"DAVE".

Chord Electronics Dave DAC

The amplification we will use will be the SPM1400MKII Mono amplifiers, which in Hi-Fi News magazine were quoted as "offering spectacular insight into music".

Chord Electronics SPM1400MKII Monoblock Power Amplifier

But perhaps the most exciting thing for the evening is the Dynaudio Loudspeakers. Dynaudio have gone to great effort to be able to bring along the famous Evidence Platinum speakers. When I say they have gone to great effort, after seeing them in the flesh you will realise what I mean. They are very big and twice as heavy!

At a cost of £50,000.00 a pair it will be something not to be missed.

Dynaudio Evidence Platinum Loudspeaker

This system will be playing on the shop floor, but we will also have some recently launched equipment from Chord Electronics playing in our recently refurbished upstairs demo room.

Along with the Chord Electronics Hugo TT, the brand new TToby power amplifier will be playing along with Dynaudio Contour series speakers. The Hugo/TToby combination offers unbelievable performance considering it's size.

We will be kicking things off at 6pm and most likely finish around 9pm. Refreshments will be available with a glass of something bubbly on arrival.

Please feel free to bring along a cd or album that you would like to hear a track or two from.

Also celebrating its 50th year is the CMA Country Music Awards, so i'll be playing some recordings from the 1966 CMA winners which could have been music that some of Audio T's very first customers may have played.

This will be a very rare opportunity to hear such a system so please come along and help us celebrate our Birthday.

Friends Festival Lecture A Great Success

We had the great pleasure of working the Swansea International Festival 2016 at the Friends Festival Lecture in the stunning Lord Mayor's Reception Room at The Guildhall in Swansea last night (11th October).

The Lecture "Drama in Song" was given by David Jackson, Artistic Director of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. David played and discussed recordings of some of the greatest singers of recent history, and examined what makes a great dramatic song or Lied, and equally importantly, what makes a great vocal performance.

When were approached by Lyndon Jones, Artistic Director of the Festival to ask if we would be happy to provide a suitable Hi-fi for the Lecture we jumped at the chance, and once we saw the room it was going to be held in we got quite excited. We took with us electronics by Chord Electronics and Dynaudio Contour series loudspeakers.

We arrived at the Guildhall around 4pm to start set-up for the evening, and as soon as we hit play on the first song to check the system out it was absolutely stunning! I had hoped that the system would sound good but it was a lot better than I expected considering how large the room is. Not long after we had set up we even had people coming in the room that had heard the music travelling down the corridors and had followed their ears as it sounded so good.

David Jackson having a listen to the system just before the evening got underway

Having everything ready and the DJ duties left to Lyndon I could join the audience and enjoy the Lecture. I could have listened to David for hours as it was so interesting hearing the story of what music was about to be played and the reasons why he had chosen each piece. Several times I caught myself about to clap after each song they were so good, which was obviously why they had been chosen.

David's last choice of song was Schubert: Der Erlkonig, sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in which the singer must portray four parts, the narrator, the Father, the boy and the Elf King. I had never heard this song before and found it simply amazing, I've already been playing it in the shop again today!

If you would like to track the recording down that David had chosen, the recording is by EMI - catalogue number CDM769 503-2 TRACK 21.

I have to once again say a huge thank you to Lyndon for inviting us to help with the evening and to David for such an enjoyable Lecture.

Swansea International Festival 2016

Swansea International Festival runs from the 30th September until 15th October, and Audio T are very glad to be helping with one event in particular this year, which is the Friends Festival Lecture at the Lord Mayor's Reception Room on Tuesday 11th October.

This should be a very interesting event and is a free ticket event so well worth coming along.

David Jackson, Artistic Director of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, gives an illustrated lecture called Drama in Song. Playing and discussing recordings of some of the greatest singers of recent history, David examines what makes a great dramatic song or Lied, and equally importantly, what makes a great vocal performance.

We will be providing the HI-Fi for the event which will consist of Chord Electronics amplification and Dynaudio loudspeakers. If you would like to get a ticket for this event please click here

The event starts at 6.30pm so we will hopefully see some of you there.

Breathing New Life Into An Old Michell Focus One Turntable

The Vinyl resurgence over the past few years has seen an enormous amount of old turntables being dragged out of the loft or garage, once cherished but now in a terrible state and left to gather dust. Sadly many of them can only ever head towards the landfill site, but every now and again a gem comes out of the woodwork.

A couple of weeks ago a customer called in with a turntable in a bag asking if we could have a look and see if we can get it going again. It had not seen the light of day many many years apparently. Opening up the bag we were amazed to see one of the all-time classic turntables - the Michell Engineering Focus One! Launched in the late 1970s it was Michell's first entry level turntable, shortly before the famous Gyrodec was produced.

With a very quick dusting it was clear that this was going to be quite easy to get going again. That thought was short lived. With a new drive belt fitted it was clear that there was a slight problem somewhere as the speed was nowhere near accurate. Further investigation revealed that the bearing and the bearing guides was in a very poor state indeed. A quick phone call to Michell and it was off in the post to see the doctor. It now looked in quite a sorry state but I knew it could be back to working order and looking great again in a matter of days.

Serious clean up needed!

A few days later the re-worked bearing arrived in the post in beautiful condition!

And whilst it was in as a dismantled state it gave me a chance to give it a spruce up.

Re-fit the bearing.......

It was now time to fire it up.......

As soon as the motor switch went to the on position it fired straight up to speed, I was certainly glad to see that! The bearing repair had worked a treat and everything was spot on. Considering it has a very modest cartridge fitted it sounded fantastic.

And now for the best part which is calling the customer to tell them that it is ready to go home.

Michell Engineering Hi-Fi products are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Brentwood, Manchester, Swansea