May 11, 2022

RECORD STORE DAY 2022 - RETURNS WITH A BANG

May 11, 2022/ Audio T Swansea/ Swansea

Record Store Day has been a favourite annual event at Audio T Swansea for many years. A day where we join Derricks Music to celebrate independent record shops around the UK and the relationship we have had with Derricks for decades!

The worldwide events of the past couple of years have been extremely difficult for everyone, and as independent retailers both Derricks and ourselves had missed doing what we enjoy most in welcoming customers into our stores and having a chat about all things music and Hi-Fi. As we entered 2022 there was hope on the horizon that Covid restrictions would continue to ease, and we would be returning to some sort of sense of normality and start seeing peoples’ smiling faces once again.

In the lead up to Record Store Day the list of limited edition releases is published late February, and the conversation started as to what we would be able to do this year. Would we be able to do the usual display of a Rega Hi-Fi, our goodie giveaways and the prize draw to win the Rega RSD turntable? As time moved on it was all looking as if we would be able to give it the full monty once again.

Each year, fabled UK Hi-Fi manufacturer, Rega Research release a limited edition Planar 1 turntable, and this year was no exception. To celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the first Record Store Day, Rega released a stunning RSD edition Planar 1 featuring an exclusive RSD mat, RSD lid badge and RSD silk screen logo. So once again we were going to be giving away one of these in our free prize draw.

The day before RSD we headed down to Derricks to set up the system and product display, we would be using the Rega System One comprising of the Planar 1 turntable, IO amplifier and Kyte loudspeakers. Christos and the gang at Derricks were busy getting all of their preparations done with deliveries of RSD releases arriving right up to the last minute. Their phones were red hot with enquiries of arrivals - it really was starting to feel like the pre-covid buzz was back and we were getting very excited!

So… with everything set up, it was back to the usual question: What’s the plan of action for tomorrow??

Something we had pondered was if the usual queue of dedicated music lovers would be back in full force as per pre-covid times to which we could only just wait and see.

That evening at home I had great fun in picking the albums that I would be playing on the Rega system. I mainly picked some of my favourite previous RSD recordings to play, as well as a few rather obscure recordings to test the nerve of Christos who is (as most of their customers are all too well aware) Mr Prog! We have a bit of a standing joke with Christos, Sian and Jon at Derricks as to what will be the album that will tip Christos over the edge…. we will have to wait and find out…

Doors open at 9am, and as they say… “Let the games begin!”

The day had arrived, and I took my usual quite early morning walk across town. The council workers were clearing up from what looked like a busy night in Wind Street, then through the almost empty Quadrant centre with just the shop workers getting everything ready to open up for another busy Saturday. As I made my way onto Oxford street, trying not to be drawn in by the smell of the bakeries and indulge in a last minute pasty, I could see the queue which was already to the end of Oxford Street and around the corner heading towards the Kingsway! (For those of you not familiar with Swansea, that’s about 150yds).

Arriving at Derricks, it was big smiles all round as it was clear this was going to be a cracker and boy we had missed it. The doors opened and the first batch of customers were let in, the first of which had been camped outside since 9pm the previous night!

The time was flying by, what a difference it makes when you can actually see the unbridled happiness in people’s faces without being covered by a mask. Competition entries for the Rega RSD turntable were mounting up, especially when they saw the actual turntable they could win playing in the store.

Our giveaway goodies were also going down very well - especially our fabulous Audio T Record Bags. When choosing who to giveaway a goodie bag to, I tend to pick an album at random, and whoever asks for it next will get a bag. It wasn’t long before we had happy winner!

Our fabulous record bags went down a storm!

We did have one highlight of the day, which I’m sure the person in question won’t mind me talking about. Every year I comment that you can never guess what music choice someone will ask for just by looking at them, and this year was probably the best example. Possibly the most requested recording for RSD 2022 was Taylor Swift - The Lakes - 7”. Lots of people were asking for it but sadly the first few in the queue snapped up the only copies available. Later on in the morning, with the queue still heading out the door, there was a young lady attentively waiting in the queue. It was mentioned to her that if it was Taylor Swift she wanted, that they had all been sold. The look of sheer horror on her face was hysterical… “Good God No” she replied…. “I want The Cure!”

Luckily, we all saw the funny side of it…

The day was marching on and it was time for us to pick our lucky winner of the Rega RSD turntable. I made the phone call but was sadly met with an answerphone… It wasn’t long before we had a call back from a delighted winner. We arranged a suitable time for us to hand over the prize and then it was time for us to pack up and reflect on what a day it had been.

Christos, Our lucky winner and myself (Nic - Manager at Audio T Swansea)

RSD 2022 was once again the mad and exhausting day we had all hoped for, with so many happy customers chatting all day about everything music and Hi-Fi. And of course one very happy chap with another Elvis recording to add to his collection…

It goes without saying that we could not do this without the wonderful support from Derricks Music and really appreciate that they love having us there to cause chaos and play our music for the day. So, thanks again for a wonderful day.

Oh…. and what was the record that tipped Christos over the edge and plead for some “proper” music? It was Thelonious Monk, whose music had been described as: “Monk's compositions and improvisations feature dissonances and angular melodic twists” - just what a Prog fan needs!

We have a couple of Limited Edition Rega RSD Turntables still available, which you can order Here.

Thanks for reading.

Nic, Chris and Ade - Audio T Swansea

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

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

Rega can be found at the following Audio T stores

March 23, 2022

JOIN AUDIO T SWANSEA FOR RECORD STORE DAY 2022

March 23, 2022/ Swansea

RECORD STORE DAY 2022 is fast approaching, and hopefully we will be back to the pre-covid days of doing something special once again down at Derricks Music.

**THE INCREDIBLE WALL PAINTING AT DERRICKS - TAKE A LOOK NEXT TIME YOU ARE OUTSIDE**

As many of you know from previous Record Store Days we always try and make it a special event with a very nice system playing for you to listen to as well as having some goodies and a prize give away. Sadly, the last couple of years have put the dampers on the event and not allowed us to have our normal fun, chatting about music, playing some of your RSD purchases and talking all things vinyl.

So this year, we hope we will be back to actually seeing smiling faces beaming after spending silly amounts on gorgeous new pressings!

WILL THERE BE A COMPETITION THIS YEAR I HEAR YOU ASK?

We will of course be keeping the tradition going of giving you the chance to win a Rega Turntable in our free prize draw on the day.

This year to celebrate the 15th Year of Record Store Day - Rega have announced their RSD22 limited edition turntable. These will retail for £299.00 and be only be available to participating stores, so make sure you see us at Derricks on the day to get your entry in to be in with a chance of being a lucky winner. Images of the RSD22 turntable have just been released and it looks a cracker!

50 turntables will also have a secret voucher inside to win one of 50 artist signed books.

If you are like me you have already read the list of releases for RSD22 about ten times and amended your shopping list over and over again, it happens every year but we never learn! What starts off as just a few soon turns in to too many - but that’s half the fun of it I think. Over the years i’ve been chatting to people about the records they have bought while we are doing the competition entries or just general hi-fi chat and have ended up buying more records on their recommendations.

To have a look at the list for RSD 2022 - click here.

If you have read any of our previous blogs or posts from yesteryear at Derricks, you will know that some serious collectors will start queuing at midnight to be sure to get their first choices, so…. you have been warned - get there early if there is something you really really want.

To reward everyone for getting in line so early - Audio T will have some goodies to give away as well. We will let you know what they are closer to the day (but yes - there will be some of our famous record bags for those first in line).

Below you’ll see just a few of our lucky prize winners over the years…

Keep an eye on our social media pages over the coming weeks as we post more about what we will be doing for you at our favourite event of the year.

Thanks for reading.

Nic, Chris and Ade - Audio T Swansea

Be sure to keep an eye on what’s happening in the Swansea store by following us on instagram and Facebook.

Rega can be found at the following Audio-T stores

February 16, 2022

MONITOR AUDIO & ROKSAN TAKEOVER AUDIO T ON BRISTOL SHOW WEEKEND

February 16, 2022/ Audio T Swansea/ Swansea

Sadly, with the Bristol Hi-Fi Show has had to be cancelled for the second year running. But the great news is that Audio T has invited a selection of the best manufacturers of Hi-Fi and Home Cinema to takeover our stores and showcase the latest and greatest from the industry. Here at Swansea we are very pleased to be welcoming Monitor Audio and Roksan to showcase their wonderful range of loudspeakers and electronics.

Friday 25th & Saturday 26th February we will be showcasing a wide range of products from both manufacturers. We are offering personal thirty minute auditions throughout the weekend where you will have either one of our demo rooms to yourself to listen to your own CDs or LPs (we will have network players as well). We’ll also have a whole host of promotions and exclusive discounts on countless products in store.

Jon Bennet - Business Development Manager of Monitor Audio will be on hand all weekend to answer any questions and give you a guided tour of their product line up.

So…… what are you going to be able to hear?

Let’s start with the reference system that will be playing in our newly refurbished ground floor demo room:

Starting with the stunning Roksan Xerxes 20 plus turntable and Caspian CD as our main source components, they will be going through the Caspian integrated amplifier as well as the Caspian Power amplifier. This will be an opportunity to hear the difference between a single and a bi-amped system.

The loudspeakers will be the incredible Monitor Audio Gold 300 floorstanders, which as many of you will already know are one of Nic’s favourite range of speakers. The Gold series have always had a reputation for their flawless construction and finish. You can see from some of the images of the Monitor Audio range that the fit and finish really is industry leading.

RS_Xerxes-20-Plus_Lifestyle_2_RGB(1).jpg

In the upstairs demo room we will be playing the Roksan Blak CD and amplifier with the Silver and Gold loudspeakers. We will have the Silver 100 7G stand mount and Silver 2007G floordstanders as well as the Gold 100 stand mount and Gold 200 floorstander. We are often asked what improvements you hear between the same model but in the next range up, so this will be another great opportunity to hear it for yourself with either models.

On the ground floor we will be playing the all new Attessa Turntable and Streaming amplifier. The Attessa Streaming amplifier features the BluOS streaming system making it completely controllable from your smartphone. The Turntable is an all in one plug and play package including tonearm, cartridge and built-in phono stage. The Attessa is a beautifully designed system with very simple controls making it very easy to use. Some design features, like the turntable and amplifer having exactly the same size footprint also make the products look very elegant along side each other, so getting away from the “pile of black boxes” for the more contemporary look.

How to book your appointment…

You can call the shop on 01792474608 or email us at swansea@audio-t.co.uk or call in to book your appointment.

30 minute slots available in either demo room from 10am through to 4pm each day. (We would ask for two people maximum in each demo room if you were thinking of coming with friends at the same time.)

We already have a few appointments booked so don’t delay and get in touch as soon as possible.

For details on what our other branches are showing click here.

We look forward to seeing you for this special event.

Thanks for reading.

Nic - Audio T Swansea

Be sure to keep an eye on what’s happening in the Swansea store by following us on instagram and Facebook.

Monitor Audio can be found at the following Audio T stores -

Roksan can be found at the following Audio T stores -

January 27, 2022

'Is that a special track?' - Why we choose the music that we do

January 27, 2022/ Audio T Swansea/ Swansea

A question we’re often asked at Audio T Swansea is if the music we play when we demonstrate equipment is "special". The undisguised notion being; "Are you using some trick, extra-high fidelity recording to show off your gear that I can't access?" The answer is both yes and no. Yes – these are recordings with high production values, and no – it's all commercially available music you can buy or rent via streaming services a la Tidal/Amazon Music/etc.

We have our favourites of course, old reliables that sound decent on just about anything – that killer Seasick Steve LP, or Melody Gardot if I'm showing off a turntable. Royal Blood's eponymous first album, is a recording that has oodles of weight and power; it sounds better and better the more we move up the ranges of any quality turntable manufacturer.

Melody Gardot - My One and Only Thrill - Next to the Linn LP12 Turntable

If it's an amplifier demonstration I'm conducting, Royal Blood will serve us well again, as will AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck', although a cut of some complex jazz piano in full flight will shine a spotlight, if rock isn't your thing. The massed vocals of a choir will give you a large dose of the chills, if I'm doing my job properly.

Foy Vance - “Signs of Life”, spinning on the iconic Linn LP12 turntable

If it's digital electronics under review, expect something warm and organic from me. A female singer/songwriter playing an acoustic instrument will illustrate how this particular CD player isn't clinical and cold at all (honest 'gov). Expect some electronica like Goldfrapp or Yello too; crisp, rapid, multi-layered, textured soundscapes with lots of space between samples, does lend itself to making digital electronics sound impressive, after all.

For the most part, smaller speakers generally sound faster and more accurate than their floorstanding brethren, so expect me to play smaller scale works on them. Breathy vocals from Diana Krall, cheeky, clever folk from Kate Rusby and the soaring soprano of Kate Bush should elicit gasps of delight. The pipe organ from Birmingham Symphony Hall during Wagner's Ring Cycle or the improbable bass guitar of Bootsy Collins, will illustrate exactly why you should buy these particular floorstanders Madam, with maybe a side order of subwoofer, if you'll indulge me for a moment whilst I power it up...

Acoustic Energy and REL - Two favourites at Audio T Swansea

I must stress that customers are always encouraged to bring their own music with them. Something they know, enjoy and are expecting to be thrilled by, but also an album that has always left them feeling a bit short-changed. When I can make 'that' CD sound good....

One of the joys of this job is experiencing new music and revisiting forgotten glories. This was amply demonstrated last Friday afternoon, when the gent who was evaluating a new streamer/amp/speakers/large subwoofer system for his very large kitchen/diner/family room, asked me to play Lorde "Royals", a favourite of his. Fans of this store will recall we played this track a lot when it first appeared in '06, but over the years other tracks have sidled into our orbit. How did that work out for me? Amazingly well. Shattering bass that can only be described as like standing in a warm river of moving air, the room pressurising and decompressing with each change of note. It’s a wonder our ears didn’t pop (Thank you REL S/510).

What my customer immediately exclaimed won't be repeated here (this is a family show after all), but he did ask "Does it all come in gloss black? (Yes it does) and "Do you take Mastercard?" (Yes we do) "Can you install it for me?" (It will be my pleasure Sir.)

My colleagues have their own favourite recordings, but you'll have to ask them about that...

Thanks for reading.

Adrian - Audio T Swansea

Be sure to keep an eye on what’s happening in the Swansea store by following us on instagram and Facebook.

Linn can be found at the following Audio T stores

Acoustic Energy can be found at the following Audio T stores

REL can be found at the following Audio T stores

August 28, 2021

MUSIC’S FINEST CONDUCTOR & THE ORCHESTRA - AUDIO NOTE FACTORY TOUR

August 28, 2021/ Swansea

As you may have seen on some of our latest social media posts, or if you have called into the shop recently – we have been giving our old Cinema room a major refurbishment to get it back to its former glory and feature high-end two-channel systems. Of all the brands we stock, Audio Note is top of our list to feature in the new room. So with that in mind we were invited down to the Audio Note factory in Brighton to see how it’s all made.

Seven of us from Audio T arrived in Brighton on the Sunday afternoon to be greeted by Peter Qvortrup, founder and owner of Audio Note, Peter’s son Daniel and Peter’s right hand man, Micky Seaton.

Quickly we were split into two groups and whisked off in seperate directions, so off we went with Micky and Daniel to start our tour –

Stop 1: The infamous Audio Note “shop” where it all started…

The “shop” window - peter is proud the inside has never been cleaned!

We pulled up at a small row of shops at the end of a terraced road with a corner shop and a run down shop front next door, hang on….. there’s an Audio Note sticker on the door? “Here we are!” exclaims Micky, while the rest of us look at each other with dumbfounded faces -

On closer inspection the shop window featured some very old electronics. Some vintage radios along with valves of all shapes and sizes that clearly have not been touched in a very, very long time.

Micky opened the door and it was quite literally a “Narnia” moment! There in front of us was a vast collection of vinyl from floor to ceiling and a stunning system set up in the middle of the room.

Obviously we had to ask the story of what this place was all about. Micky told us of how this was the start of Audio Note with Peter working from the two small rooms. He regaled us with a story of how he had been walking past the shop one day and heard music coming from a slightly open door. Being a bit of an enthusiast himself and on a personal journey to upgrade his existing system, he was coaxed by his wife to knock the door and see what it was that was making the noise. From there, a busy Peter was sat at his desk and didn’t turn his head away from his work, and yelled to a bewildered Micky, “SIT DOWN, HAVE A LISTEN”… From here on in, Micky became a customer of Peter’s and bought into the Audio Note brand. It wasn’t too long after this that Peter had persuaded Micky to come and work for him. The company expanded and moved to its current location. However, Peter still rents the shop to this day, mainly as a more intimate demonstration facility. And the rest as they say is history…

We listened to a wide selection of vinyl and CD through the Meishu integrated amplifier and AN-E signature speakers, and it’s safe to say that it sounded fabulous. Even with Daniel’s avant garde taste in music, we all managed to hear something we like… And some questionable Japanese noisecore. Regardless, We could have quite happily stayed there all evening playing music and chatting, but soon it was time to go over to Peter’s house and join him on the second listening stop to see his system.

On arrival at Peter’s we were instantly made to feel at home, into the front room to be greeted by walls of Vinyl and CDs and “the system” in the bay window. Having a pretty good idea of the Audio Note line up of products I could see that this was pretty much the best of everything, and why wouldn’t you have it all at home if you’re the boss eh! Instantly my eyes were drawn to the Gaku-on power amps, having never seen them in the flesh before I had to have a closer look and as expected they are absolutely stunning.

So….drinks poured from Peter’s stunning collection, it was time to get some music on. The first record Peter played us was Bonnie Raitt – The Lost Broadcast, one of the very first recordings she ever did at a radio station. I know it was to be expected, but breathtaking was an understatement. As with subsequent tracks we heard it was almost hard to get your head around what you were listening to, almost to the point of not being able to explain how “in the room” the artists were – you would have to hear it to believe it.

Peter played us some really “out there” music at bonkers volumes and bass like I have never heard without the addition of a subwoofer. It was incredible what the system was capable of and instantly dispelled any misgivings we may have had about what a valve based system was about. Peter then took great pleasure in pressing stop on the CD player and exclaiming “8 watts!!” and laughing.

After the listening experience we were full of questions which Peter took the time to answer in great detail, it was an opportunity to pick the mind of a legend in the industry which we were not going to miss.

It wasn’t too long before we had to head off to the hotel and then out for dinner. We were whisked off to one of Brighton’s more eclectic establishments, an Indonesian restaurant with some fairly questionstionable karaoke. We had a great time chatting about music, Hi-Fi and Mercedes (Peter has a collection of old Mercedes which I was also quite excited to see).

On to the following morning and off to the main factory. On arrival we met Peter in his office, and to no surprise there were racks and racks of vinyl once again. The fine line between collection and obsession came to mind, but most of these were the AN Music records that are cut by Audio Note themselves and available on their website.

First stop on the tour was over to another building where a vast amounts of components are stored, along with a lot of Mercedes – For myself, kid in a candy shop springs to mind! Micky has his office situated in the upstairs of the building where he has a very nice system playing away while he works. At the centre of this workplace setup was the Cobra amp running his laptop as a streamer through one of it’s digital USB inputs. Hopefully this one of the products we will have for demonstration in the shop quite soon.

Back over to the main factory where we would see the build process from start to finish and also the R&D department affectionately known as the “ideas pit” where we saw the research going in to the Field Coil high frequency drivers that we had heard at Peter’s house the previous evening. Seeing the process and the amount of very expensive raw materials that go into making just one pair of these was giving me some understanding of how the product line up of the AN-E speakers can go from the entry model construction to the top of the range construction using what from the outside looks like the same “thing”. A pair of AN-E alongside another pair may look the same but certainly don’t sound the same. We then moved on to see the transformer and capacitor production. Again, seeing all of the different reels and grades of materials the system level approach all made sense.

Essentially there was the same production process, but the materials used to make the capacitors for example will vary dramatically in price and performance.

Silver wiring was another process I had not fully understood. Whereas with a very basic green plastic circuit board with tracks that we are all familiar with can be used in the base models, the silver wiring means just that – everything is wired with silver wire. Rather than plastic boards, their own ply type board is used and instead of thin solder tracks they use silver wiring to every component as you can see from the image.

Further down the process we could see things starting to take shape, from TT-3 turntables almost complete in their build stage to all sorts of amplifiers in late build stages. Some of the images below show the incredible quality and attention to detail that goes into each product. The Legend amplifier in particular was just stunning, and considering that what we could see was the underside and the end user will never see what is there made it even more special.

Perhaps the best part of the tour was to be shown around the valve stores. Thousands upon thousands of valves in very secure storage. Some very old and some very rare in very small quantities, and then there were some in their thousands! Peter admitted that sometimes he spends hours upon hours in there just sifting through them a bit like looking through his record collection. Aladdin’s cave on steroids you could say!

Last but by no means least was final assembly and packing where every product is meticulously checked and then packed ready to wing it’s way to a new home. Seeing where the pallets of products were destined for reminded us that this is really is a Global company.

Soon enough it was time for us to say our goodbyes and wing our way back along the M4.

We had a fabulous weekend and certainly an eye opener as to what actually goes into the research, development and production of some of the finest hi-fi produced world wide.

As many of you who would have read about Audio Note, Peter makes no apologies for saying that his Hi-fi is all about the musical performance and not about measurements.

Audio Note’s tag line is “ Music’s finest Conductor”, all I can say is that if Audio Note is the finest Conductor then the people that make up the Audio Note family are the Orchestra behind the performance.

Huge thanks to Peter and the whole team at Audio Note for such a warm welcome and fantastic couple of days.

Hopefully we will have some demonstration units in the new demo room very soon, so keep an eye on our social media and website for updates.

Thanks for reading.

Nic, Chris and Ade - Audio T Swansea

Be sure to keep an eye on what’s happening in the Swansea store by following us on instagram and Facebook.

Audio Note can be found at the following Audio-T stores

July 30, 2021

THE POWER OF TELEPORTATION - REL T5/x SUB-BASS SYSTEM & ARROW WIRELESS TRANSMITTER

July 30, 2021/ Swansea

One of the many conversations that has dominated in-store communication over the past couple of years has been one similar to "I like the sound of my Hi-Fi, I don't want to change its character, but can it give me more?" Our answer increasingly includes the phrase "Have you considered a subwoofer?" which very often is met with raised eyebrows and a slew of expressions on the theme of "Do I look like I spend my weekends listening to repetitive electronic music in abandoned warehouses?"

Hello handsome! The new REL T5x with Arrow receiver peeking over the top.

So bear with me for a moment whilst I explain what I’m talking about…

A couple of memorable subwoofer installations I've had in recent times have included a setup for an elderly lady who was partial to a bit of Wagner, but my favourite has to be a soon-to-be-retired nurse who listened to Choral and Baroque music. Not your stereotypical Bass junkies by any stretch of the imagination - So why did these customers choose to buy a subwoofer? Because the right subwoofer (or as REL Acoustics would have you call it, a “sub-bass system”) will keep the character of your existing system, but expand the range in which it operates, opening up the perceived soundstage to allow us to hear the performance as a whole.

THE PROOF IS IN THE LISTENING

The moment of revelation for our choir loving nurse came whilst demonstrating a REL T5x subwoofer and listening to the popular Welsh song, "Myfanwy". The CD was recorded in Swansea’s prestigious concert venue, Brangwyn Hall and performed by our very own Morriston Orpheus Male Voice Choir. This particular piece held a very sentimental place in our customer’s heart as it featured her own, dear old Dad.

The track opens with the huge, black silence of this revered venue, the choir take a first great breath, it reverberates in the space and in a heartbeat we're transported right to the middle of the Hall.

"Paham mae dicter, O Myfanwy, Yn llenwi'th lygaid duon di?"

("Why so the anger, Oh Myfanwy, That fills your dark eyes?")

The remarkable massed sotto voce fills the room and envelopes you in sound, like sliding into a warm swimming pool. Absolutely jaw-dropping stuff and if you're Welsh, you probably just found the room inexplicably dusty and you’re reaching for your handkerchief…

"Oh! you must think me a sentimental old woman", to which I replied - "No, no don’t worry; happens all the time."

A Rega Brio for scale - it’s neat bit of kit

Press pause, switch off the sub, settle back, restart the track and......nothing. The choir breathes in and starts to sing. And where's the Hall? Where's the drama, the scale, the sensation of space? The tension? All of it has simply disappeared. Desolation. Was it really ever there? Is this some trick?

Pause again, switch the REL T5x back on, sit down, take in a meaningful glance from the customer - (clearly I'd better return 'it') - start the track again... a heartbeat… and we're spirited back to Dad and the boys in the Hall, all those long years ago…

"Do you mind if I hang on to your subwoofer until mine comes in? Sorry to be cheeky Ade bach*, but I don't think I want to be without it now..."

*“Bach” being the Welsh for 'little' or “small”, used mostly by the older generation as a term of endearment, especially towards a younger person.

The business end. Arrow draws it’s power from the T5x which helps cut down on cabling considerably.

The latest version of the REL T/x Series subwoofers has far greater scale and presence than before, rather like the effortless character of the flagship S Series. In fact, i would go as far to say that they are far more like a smaller S series than a supercharged T/i series; a great improvement without a huge inflation on cost.

The T/x Series retain the extremely useful and easy-to-use optional wireless connection kit, the REL Arrow, which enables effective placement without the worrying logistics of how to hide a cable all the way around the room. During this demonstration I realised that my own personal T7i is starting to look somewhat undergunned...

If you're worried about wireless reliability and sound quality - as Rob from REL said to us: "Did Prince worry when he used wireless tech performing in front of 20 million people during Super Bowl XLI's Halftime show?" Well, quite!

Look at all the spaghetti you won’t have to deal with! As you can see, Arrow will ship .1 LFE as well as High Level (full range) audio.

CONCLUSION

I think it’s safe to say that for those of you out there that assume a subwoofer’s sole purpose is to bring hard thumpings lows to your set-up, you’re mistaken. The right subwoofer has the ability to help replicate a real world listening experience that is almost impossible to achieve with just stereo speakers alone.

We have the entire T/x series available in Swansea for demonstration right now. Why not book a demonstration and experience what all the fuss is about?

Thanks for reading.

Ade, Nic and Chris - Audio T Swansea

Be sure to keep an eye on what’s happening in the Swansea store by following us on instagram and Facebook.

REL can be found at the following Audio-T stores

July 01, 2021

RECORD STORE DAY BACK WITH A BANG!

July 01, 2021/ Swansea

RECORD STORE DAY DROP 1 - 2021 was back with a bang once again! Restrictions meant that it was not going to be the usual open house affair with a system playing away, thankfully that did not deter the crowds and RSD was a cracker!

As with previous Record Store Days, the excitement really starts to ramp up in the days leading up to RSD when stock starts to arrive in stores, and it’s no different at Derricks Music. Photos of the limited edition releases start to appear on their social media, our posters advertising our fabulous free prize draw to win a Rega Turntable start to plaster the walls. Customers calling in our store start asking what records I’m hoping to get and vice versa. Of course there is another Elvis on my list - Anyone who knows me could have guessed that one!

So….. as per usual, a few days before hand people start asking the question of what time the doors are opening and how long do we expect the queue to be. We had been hoping that the restrictions would have been slightly eased by the time of the first drop but there was no need to worry, as come the morning of RSD it was clear that the support was still there and as strong as ever.

The morning had arrived and I made my way down to Oxford Street (Swansea) to be greeted by the queue that was already halfway down the road at 8.30am (past Reeds Bakery if you know it) so we knew we were going to be in for a busy one once again. Doors were to opened at 9am and it was all systems go!

I have to say that I was a bit gutted that we couldn’t stop and chat as we always have done, but it was necessary to keep the flow of customers in and out of the shop to allow for proper social distancing. We had anticipated this might be the case, so instead of the old pen & paper method of entering our giveaway, we had managed to get a very quick QR code scan for entry into our competition which worked a treat. Definitely how we’ll be doing things in future.

As always, we had some of our Audio T Record Bags to give away at random, but how to decide who gets one? I hatched a cunning plan…. Being a huge Prince fan myself, I told the crew of Derricks Music (Christos, Sian and John) that the next person to ask for the Prince album would get one. Low and behold, a few minutes later the shout went up “WE HAVE A WINNER!”

Normal service resumed, with lots of people managing to get hold of what they had been patiently queuing for. Luckily the weather held up for the day!

We approached the end of the day and it came to the time for us to pick our prize winner at random. The name was chosen and I made the phone call… Straight to answerphone! This is in fairness the first time we haven’t gotten an answer straight away, but literally a couple of minutes later we had an ecstatic return call. It’s always such a pleasure to hear the surprise in the winners voice every time, let’s face it - it’s a brilliant prize to win!

As I’ve said; it was a shame that we were restricted as to what we could do on the day and were not able to spend time chatting all things music and Hi-Fi but it really didn’t dampen the day at all. It was great to see so many faces we know and meet lots of new friends. Once again we have to say a huge thanks to all at Derricks Music for having us along for the day and having such a blast. RSD drop 2 is just around the corner so no doubt we will be seeing lots of you again in store.

To find out more about Record Store Day 2021 click here.

Thanks for reading.

Nic, Chris and Ade - Audio T Swansea

Be sure to keep an eye on what’s happening in the Swansea store by following us on instagram and Facebook.

Here’s a couple of my own RSD purchases along with our very happy prize winner receiving their Rega Planar 1.

Record Store Day is official partners with Rega and Bowers & Wilkins. Both manufacturers can be found at the following Audio-T stores -

May 17, 2021

RECORD STORE DAY - THAT'S NOT ELVIS!

May 17, 2021/ Swansea

Record Store Day is less than a month away, and once again we are looking forward to spending the day at Derricks Music on Oxford Street. We are hoping to see lots of you there again this year and some new faces no doubt.

What is Record Store Day all about and why do we enjoy it so much?

Record Store Day is the one day of the year (or actually two this year) when over 200 independent record shops all across the UK come together to celebrate their unique culture. Special vinyl releases are made exclusively for the day and many shops and cities host artist performances and events to mark the occasion. Thousands more shops celebrate the day around the globe in what’s become one of the biggest annual events on the music calendar.

Having a close relationship with Derricks Music for many years, we came together with the idea of making RSD a little bigger by partnering with them on the day and doing a little something special for our customers.

For the 2014 event we were lucky enough to have the vacant upstairs of Derricks available, so we decided to take down a really nice system to play vinyl all day and maybe try to coax customers into playing their brand new purchases. In the weeks leading up to the day, the buzz had started that this was going to be a rather special Record Store Day. Lots of our customers were unfamiliar with the event and once they had learned all about it they were quite excited about the opportunity to get hold of some rare and special recordings.

Record Store Day publishes the list of forthcoming releases every year approximately two to three months in advance just to whet the appetite. But with some recordings having as low a pressing number as 500 it can be hit and miss if you will be able to get what you want on the day.

It’s the day before RSD2014 and time to set up our display. We had been lucky enough to get lots of goodies from Rega, including tonearms in various states, from the original bare casting through to the finished product along with a cut away tonearm showing all of the internals. We had motors and power supplies, basically everything that goes into making the turntable that you cannot see with the finished product.

With the Hi-Fi all set up and singing along and everybody happy, it came down to the plan of attack for the day. Christos (Mr Derricks) said “I think we’d better make an early start – there’s gonna be a big queue!”. It was agreed that I would be there for 8.30 am ready to open the doors at 9am. At home that evening I had great pleasure in picking a selection of my own records to play to show off the system.

The day had arrived, I headed in early to get parked up and walk across town. As I made my way down Oxford street, the main street through the City centre, I could not believe the sight that greeted me! We had expected a queue, but to have a queue that went out of sight and quite literally around the block was amazing. Christos opened the door to me, I pointed at the queue and said “look at that!”, “that’s not it” Christos replied “it’s almost up to the Kingsway”. We knew right then that this was going to be one busy day.

I made my way upstairs, got the system nice and warm and laid out my collection of Joe Bonamassa albums (just to wind up Christos, who is not the biggest fan shall we say) and awaited the opening of the doors. The buzz outside was fantastic, lots of people eager to get their hands on their wish list. The doors opened and the young man at the head of the queue was on his way to the counter. Managing to get all of the records he had wanted was just reward for the 3am start to be first in line! The stream of customers picking up their RSD goodies then coming upstairs to see our set up didn’t stop for hours, I nipped back down stairs at eleven o’clock and the queue was still down the road. It would be early afternoon before we could take a well earned tea break, the boxes and boxes of RSD records had been decimated to just a handful being left on the counter. Safe to say the day had been a roaring success.

The collection of Joe B’s albums has grown quite a lot since then!

After such a fabulous day, playing and talking music and Hi-Fi to lots of lovely people we were obviously going to keep this day in the calendar for the next RSDs.

Fast forward to 2015, plans in place to take some of our wares down to Derricks for the day. There was an extra special treat in store for the attendees this year. Rega had announced that they were going to make a limited edition RSD turntable based on the famous RP1. So, we thought what better way to reward all of the dedicated music lovers, some of which will be queueing up from the early hours of the morning than to give them a chance to win one of the RSD Rega turntables in a free prize draw. It wasn’t too long after that when we had our promotional posters up detailing the special prize and the buzz had started once again.

The day went off as predicted, a huge queue with lots of happy customers introducing each other to new bands and music and entries piling up for the chance to win “the Rega”. We were going to make the draw at four o’clock in the hope that we could get the winner back to the shop before closing time to be able to present it to them, and so it was soon time to pick the winner…...

We asked one of the customers in the shop at time to pull the lucky slip out of the box and it was up to me call the winner.. Ring… ring…. “hello”…… “it’s Nic here down at Derricks”… the next reply is not suitable for printing but let’s say the winner was very very pleased! We were all creased laughing at the reaction, made all our work and effort worth while. It seemed that the prize draw was going to be another fixture for Record Store Day that would continue, and it still does…

For 2016, another limited edition RSD turntable from Rega. The press release read: “The artwork on the Rega RP1 turntable has been designed by iconic Sheffield artist, Pete Mckee, most well-known for his work with Oasis, Teenage Cancer Trust, Warp Films and Arctic Monkeys. The turntable will go on sale in Record Store Day participating stores and Rega dealers on Saturday 16th April. Only 500 RP1s with the ‘Club Rega’ design have been made, making it a very limited and much-desired collector’s item.” This was definitely going to be a fabulous prize for one lucky person!. After the success of the 2015 event, the word was getting out about what we were doing, so much so the local newspaper ran an article about the upcoming event.

As we had come to expect, the day was a roaring success. Another fun packed day with hordes of people, panic set in at one point as we had run out of our competition entry forms! Perhaps one of the funniest parts of the day was when I threw a curve ball with my music choice. As I mentioned, Christos is not the biggest fan of my taste in music but very generously gives me free reign as to what I play through the day, as he would say “not another woman and a guitar!”. It was around about 2pm and we could see that Christos was getting withdrawal symptoms from his old men with Les Pauls, so…. sneakily I put on a Shirley Bassey record…… “THAT’S ENOUGH” Christos shouted! as he scrambled to find one of his choices to put on before he had a meltdown. Then the penny dropped that it was a set up, Sian and myself had planned it all along - it wasn’t nasty …. honest.

Some images of the day..

On to 2017… and by far my favourite Record Store Day to date.

This was going to be the 10th Anniversary Record Store Day so we felt big plans were needed. After the success of the 2014 system upstairs at Derricks, the plan was to do the same again but with a monster system with the flagship Rega RP10 turntable as the star of the show and play my own RSD records from previous years. The now expected start of the day was the manic rush of eager beavers queueing from silly o’clock in the morning, smoke coming from the till and boxes of records emptying at a rate of knots and all to the sound of music from upstairs, beckoning people like an ice cream van to a six year old!

Having played quite a few of my favourite RSD purchases from previous years, I thought it time to give Elvis a whirl. A 2016 release I purchased was “Elvis – I’m Leavin’” - This special Record Store Day release includes masters from Elvis’ sessions at RCA Victor’s Studio B in Nashville in May 1971, a period in which several folk writers’ material surfaced spontaneously amid gospel and holiday recordings, plus others with similar provenance: from Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is A Long Time” in 1966, to then-contemporary pop-folk such as “Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues” in 1973, this is Elvis in an introspective mood, masterfully creating definitive versions of iconic compositions that resonated with him for his friends in the studio – and for us. Limited to 5,000 copies.

After the first play of it in 2016 I was amazed at the voice I was hearing, it sounded like nothing you would hear on the radio of his, I guess it’s much like the current Tom Jones recordings of songs that the artist really loves rather than songs the record companies pushed upon them.

After playing only a couple of tracks on the big system a few people came upstairs asking who it was that they could hear from downstairs, and after I had told a few that it was Elvis and seeing the surprise on their faces I decided to put the cover out of sight and give the volume a bit more grief. Some more people came upstairs with the same question … “who is this?…. it’s great”, so I told them to have a guess and nobody guessed correctly! I showed them the album cover and the reply was “that’s not Elvis!”. Another Elvis album that had the same effect was the 2015 RSD release of “Elvis - Sings”, a collection of songs written by various other artists and perhaps the best “that’s not Elvis” is his version the Ray Charles classic “What’d I say”. Roy Orbison was the most popular guess at that one! This became a theme for the day as it was such a crowd puller so to speak, every time I played it the same thing happened, and from there on in it has been known as the “That’s not Elvis day”.

My Elvis RSD release colelctin so far. More to come this coming RSD fingers crossed.

Of all the RSD days I have had the pleasure of at Derricks this really is the stand out day for me. The fact that what people could hear drew them upstairs to come and hear more and find out who it was spoke more to me about why we all love music so much, and to a greater extent why I got into the Hi-fi industry in the first place. Hearing something that suddenly makes you want to hear more and find new artists (even though the artist wasn’t exactly new) is what I love to do, I have always said that I could not bear to hear the same record over and over for thirty years. We often get people calling into the shop and asking me to play them some music that they may not have heard before, and ask where I heard it. Mainly I get to hear the majority of new music on the radio, especially the late night Radio 2 shows like Bob Harris and Paul Jones. But, the other great thing is getting to know the lovely people in your local record shop -your hi-fi will thank you for it!. Chris and Sian at Derricks have a standing joke with me now - “there’s a new album by a woman playing a guitar, do you want it”, or I may walk in - and from behind the counter appears a new album by an artist they know I like knowing I will want it. Perhaps the best example of this was quite recently when there was a release of “Prince-One nite alone” on vinyl had been released that I didn’t know about. As I walked in Christos pointed to it and said “be wanting this then” - uh…….ooooh yes! So, wherever you live please make sure to go check out your independent record shops, they are often cheaper than the mail order people and big shops and what’s better than having your new LP in your hand and not waiting for the postman?

As RSD 2021 approaches (June 12th) we really hope that this one will go with a bang once again. We will of course be offering a Rega P1 turntable in a free prize draw and have some goodies to give away on the day to some lucky customers. With the possibility of Covid restrictions still being in place we may not have the chance to have a big system playing again but we will be there to take all your competition entries, answer any questions about your systems and of course talk about Elvis.

To find out more about Record Store Day 2021 click here and we hope to see you at Derricks on June 12th. You never know - you may be the lucky winner of a Rega P1 turntable.

Nic, Chris and Ade - Audio T Swansea

Be sure to keep an eye on what’s happening in the Swansea store by following us on instagram and Facebook.

To finish, here are some images from previous years and some of my own cherished RSD records.

April 21, 2021

REGA PLANAR 1, IO & KYTE - THE SINGLE MANUFACTURER VINYL SYSTEM BUNDLE

April 21, 2021/ Swansea

It isn't very often that we get to review a single-make system that isn't a smartspeaker or exotica from Linn, & certainly not a vinyl-playing one.

Beer Budget

Much to our delight, our chums at Rega have furnished us with their brand-new Kyte loudspeakers, which means we can blog about a single-manufacturer vinyl system for around the £1100 mark, instead of a rig with an extra zero on the end, fun though that may be.

This looks familiar

The observant amongst you will recognise the Rega Planar 1, probably the most popular item we sell & deserved of it's cult status in teenage bedrooms across the planet. Acting upon feedback from customers that a Brio amplifier at around £600 was possibly a touch salty for the average Planar 1 owner, Rega developed the IO amplifier (a compacted Brio with fewer inputs – but crucially still fitted with a tidy MM phono stage) as a suitable partner for under £400. The Secret Squirrels did a great job, the IO is characterful, enormous fun and I'd choose it over something mainstream any day of the week.

Gosh, you've been busy, you’ll be needing a sit down.

Not wishing to rest on their laurels and surprising the hell out of all of us, Rega announced the Kyte compact loudspeakers last year. Alas Covid-19 starved many manufacturers of components (Rega included) and so production was pushed back until quite recently. They are deserving of a blog post all their own, such is their design. Rega have invested considerably in their technology, going so far as to partner with another British materials development company and they are very proud of their results; they should be, these Kytes are really enjoyable.

That all sounds fine, when's my turn then?

This system is playing upstairs in our dem room as I type and it sounds great; there's enough go in it to rattle your jewelery and shake you all night long*. If you want to hear it for yourself (and why wouldn’t you?), you can arrange an appointment for a demonstration by calling Nic, Chris or Ade in Swansea on 01792 474608 or by emailing us via swansea@audio-t.co.uk

Oh and bring some records.

*with profound apologies to John Lennon and AC/DC

Thanks for reading

Ade, Nic & Chris - Audio T Swansea

Be sure to keep up to date with what’s going on in-store by following us on Facebook and Instagram.

Rega can also be found at the following Audio-T stores

January 14, 2021

DYNAUDIO SPECIAL HERITAGE - THEIR PARTS-BIN MUST BE A GOLDMINE!

January 14, 2021/ Swansea

Attentive Hi-Fi buffs may well remember the well-received, well-reviewed and well-loved Dynaudio Special 40 that made landfall a couple of years ago. They were a delight and everyone was très désolé when that model came to the end of its limited production run.

Emboldened by their success, the engineers at Dynaudio decided to turn their attention to drivers that “became available” from higher up in the canopy – specifically the brand-new Confidence range tweeter, the Esotar3 (but with the previous model’s mounting plate) and the Bass/Midrange unit from the outgoing and shatteringly expensive Evidence Platinum (a mere £80k!)

Dynaudio designed the cabinets to house them in are heavily overbuilt, veneered American Walnut, which reminds me of the classic Contour range from a decade or more ago. This is no bad thing. Limited globally to 2500 pairs, Heritage Special is tipped to sell out quickly.

After a loooonnngg... period of running-in, they opened like a rose to reveal a huge, marvellously wide and deep soundstage. With a bass response that had me wondering about pints, quarts and changing the laws of Physics (Captain). The insight they provide is remarkable - every breath and held breath - brilliant. They need muscular amplification and a quality source to give of their best, but these speakers are simply glorious and I would certainly want some! I know that certain staff members in sister stores have already placed orders for theirs…

If you're looking for a serious speaker for a modestly-sized environment then these must be on your shopping list; they're terrific and I want a pair. I may have said that already.

Nic, Chris & Adrian - Audio T Swansea

Dynaudio can be found at the following Audio-T stores

October 07, 2020

ROTEL TRIBUTE SERIES - THE LAST LEGACY FROM A LEGEND

October 07, 2020/ Swansea

Industry leaders, Rotel, have launched the A11 and CD11 Tribute series amplifier and CD player (respectively), redesigned in collaboration with the late audio legend Ken Ishiwata. Very sadly Ken passed away before seeing the final finished product.

Both the CD11 CD player and A11 amplifier feature significant changes to internal components as well as changes to the chassis design over the standard entry level versions of the cd and amp. Ken Ishiwata was famous for his work with Marantz, and as this proved to be his last manufacturer collaboration it was aptly named “Tribute” by Rotel. Ken’s knack was to take an already well performing component and take it to another level without a huge increase in price. i’m sure lots of you reading this will have owned or listened to many products that he had performed his magic on.

The Rotel A11 and CD11 Tribute fall into the same price bracket as the well established and award winning Marantz 6000 series, which we have been fans of for many years in its current and previous models. It is safe to say that these now have very stiff competition from these new Rotel models.

From setting them up from new out of the box it was clear to see that these are extremely well put together components for the price. Even perhaps a more reassuring build quality than its competition.

The first CD we played (Eric Clapton - Session for Robert J) was very impressive even from stone cold. Sounding very articulate with a tremendous sense of space and focus of the individual instruments in the laid bare live recording. Partnered with the Rotel were the Bowers and Wilkins 607 on the dedicated B&W STAV stands, and at an overall system cost of just over £1500 it really does rock along.

Curious to hear the comparison with our established go-to product it was time to set up the Marantz CD6007 and PM6007 amplifier alongside. My initial thoughts about the Rotel were reinforced in comparison to the Marantz. It would be fair to expect, as from previous Ken Ishiwata tuned products, things like the accuracy in tonality of separate instruments, and focused sound stage to be improvements, and this is certainly the case with the Rotel.

To question if the Marantz is now still top of the tree and the entry level would be a very fair discussion, certainly from what we have heard so far, the Rotel will appeal to a lot of people. So, if the Marantz is on your list to audition then you must add the Rotel Tribute to that list!

If you would like to audition these with us, please remember that during the current Covid restrictions we are still able to offer in store demonstrations by appointment. If you are unable to travel to Swansea due to local lockdown travel restrictions please get in touch with us to discuss a home demonstration.

Nic, Chris & Adrian - Audio T Swansea

Contact your local Audio T Store to listen to Rotel products

August 11, 2020

Quart* From a Pint Pot: The New Arcam Solo Uno.

August 11, 2020/ Swansea

Arcam Sales Manager: "We're bringing Solo back!"

Audio-T Swansea staff: “…?”

Arcam: "No, not *that* Solo - the little all-in-one stereo we used to do? We’re doing a new one."

Swansea: "Oh I seeeee.... OK.” “Tidy mun.” “Look forward to that."

*Cue our stores closing their doors and the staff placed on furlough.*

Three months later...

...we're no longer as furloughed as we once were** and we have our expectant palms on Arcam's new design of the Solo - the Solo Uno.

Not much bigger than a modern smartphone, it's a network audio player and stereo amplifier all in one curvy, dinky, shiny box, with a couple of pretty lights on the front (they tell you when it's powered up and connected to your network.) The two-tone, two texture metallic fascia is about as minimalist as I'd like it; just a solid power button, volume +/- and mute. Reassuringly weighty in the hand (the traditional indicator of quality gear) this is a remarkably small box.

Featured here with a Samsung S10 smartphone for scale. Small isn’t it?

It has one external input - a 3.5mm analogue socket (vinyl anyone?) Connection to the internet comes via Wi-Fi (hence the aerial) or ethernet cable. Speaker terminals are solid, quality units and you can connect a subwoofer via the RCA socket should you require it (and who doesn't?) it's that simple. Roon ready, but all you really need is an app to drive it (GoogleCast, AirPlay 2, UPnP Streamer) and broadband. And a pair of speakers.

It even decodes MQA files. Look.

We tried the charming and inexpensive Acoustic Energy AE100 loudspeakers (~£220) first and thought that it sounded just fine. We added the IsoAcoustic Aperta desktop stands (£199 - more about which in another blog) under the AE100s and thought that it sounded very credible indeed - quite lovely actually, with a “big” sound to it. About a grand for that level of performance? Yeah, we'll take that.

Nic suggested "What about KEF LS50s? People have got LS50s. People like LS50s".

With meaningful glances at each other and everyone else thinking "It'll never drive these", I hooked them up.

Good grief.

Norah Jones soared, Melody Gardot introspected, Alison Goldfrapp got up, got down and boogied. How on Earth is it doing that?

The Solo is never going to fill Madison Square Garden, but it'll fill a bijou lounge or your kitchen/diner with aural loveliness. Come on over and give it a try. Just give us a call first.

*a smidge over a litre for those of you under forty.

**at the time of publication we're in 4 days a week each. Happily, normal store opening hours still apply.

January 25, 2020

The Arcam SA30 Wireless Streaming Integrated Room Correcting Amplifier At Audio T Swansea

January 25, 2020/ Swansea

Eagerly anticipated since Arcam told us about it in late 2019 (they do enjoy a good tease in Cambridge) the SA30 Intelligent Wireless Streaming Integrated Amplifier has finally washed up upon Swansea’s golden shore. (Yay!)

Armed to the teeth with the Network Audio Player from Arcam’s range of exciting and excellent-sounding AV amplifiers, plus that whale of a killer app; Dirac Live Room Correction.

The Arcam SA30 has the same handsome fascia and build of it’s junior siblings the SA10 and SA20, power output has been uprated to 130W into 8 Ohms (200W into 4 Ohms) This should be sufficient for most reasonably priced loudspeakers on the market. Supporting the extra hwyl* and gusto is an HDMI ARC input for your TV, four digital inputs, three line-level analogue ones and a phono stage capable of supporting moving magnet (MM) and moving coil (MC) cartridges.

For your added convenience, the handset is a learning model, full home automation integration is available via the RS232 socket and one can disable all digital functions by pressing the DIRECT button, turning the SA30 into a vanilla analogue amplifier - especially comforting when listening to your latest vinyl cuts.

The Arcam SA30 in currently running in our first floor music salon. Why not come down for a gander and fill your ears with sublime sounding music?

Noun: *hwyl (in Welsh use) a stirring feeling of emotional motivation and energy.

Thanks for reading and we look forward to welcoming you in store soon!

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

November 29, 2019

Soundboard Music Awards A Great Success!

November 29, 2019/ Swansea

Celebrating 50 years of Music in Swansea, the Soundboard Magazine Music awards recently took place at the National Waterfont Museum in Swansea.

Soundboard Magazine celebrates original music and art across South Wales and promotes original music; past, present and future!

The awards recognise the best in Music, Live Music and Venues and Audio T were very pleased to be able to sponsor the award for “Best Single”.

An amazing line up of music started with the Fiddlesticks String Orchestra before the ceremony got under way., followed by Steve Balsamo.

On to the awards… We were very pleased to present the Award for Best Single to Who’s Molly? for “Until I Found You” Who also won awards for Best Band and Best Live act!

Mike Kennedy of Soundboard Magazine, Who’s Molly? and our very own Nic Forbes.

The next band to play was “The Stray Pursuit”, a fantastic group of young lads that have only been together for a year or so and deservedly won the award for “Best New Act.

The evening was finished by a solo acoustic performance from Who’s Molly?

The winners…….

We would very much like to thank Mike Kennedy and all at Soundboard Magazine for giving us the opportunity to support such a wonderful evening and very much look forward to next year’s event!

Pictures courtesy of @HELENLOUISEBANHAMPHOTOGRAPHY

July 05, 2019

Private Home Cinema Anyone? Audio T Swansea Installs A New Home Cinema System

July 05, 2019/ Swansea

We recently completed the installation of a home cinema system in a modest-looking house in the centre of Swansea. A period property whose interior has been lovingly modernised, whilst keeping the original outer character intact. In petrol-head terms it's something of a sleeper. In media terms it's something of a Tardis.

Our brief was for a compact first floor cinema, near-invisible speakers and projection system, but retaining high impact sound and picture quality. Local carpenter Steve of Full Focus Building & Interior made an impressive start hiding the old fireplace and sound insulating the party wall. Hidden illumination and a trick starlight ceiling complete the effect!.

A dedicated mains power supply using screened cable was installed under our instruction, running from the consumer unit to the bespoke equipment cabinet (Thank you Steve!), complete with a ventilation system integrated into the doors. Screened power cable runs up to the projector too.

Our customer is a serious Sci-Fi fan and so we recommended Panasonic's range topping UB9000 Blu-Ray player for his movies, extensive(!) collection of box sets and 4K Netflix content, to be stored here. The projector is housed in the ventilated top-centre console. Visible are the spaces for the rear surround speakers built into decorative columns. Similar structures are present for the surround channels.

The heart of the system is Arcam's AVR550 Dolby Atmos home cinema amplifier. One of our favourites, the AVR550 is graced with the exceptional Dirac Live room correction system. We recommended Bowers & Wilkins in-wall and in-ceiling speakers and our client happily accepted our advice.

CWM Cinema 7 front left, centre and right, Four CWM663s reproducing surround and surround back channels, plus a pair of CCM664SRs in-ceiling speakers for Atmos effects.

Interestingly, the Arcam has 7 channels of amplification and so we required the use of a Project AmpBox S micro power amplifier to run the in-ceiling speakers. It performs admirably and required no special attention.

We used a REL T7i subwoofer to enable us to run the centre channel full-range via it's high-level input and a REL T9i to provide LFE and augment the front L&R speakers, so they can be run full-range too.

We've gone to The Pictures, so what about the picture? An Optoma UHD65 4K HDR DLP video projector squirts its image onto a 92" Grandview Cyber acoustically transparent (AT) fixed screen. It has an extruded aluminium frame and tensioned cloth fabric to keep it's images clean and sharp. Using an AT screen allows us to place the front speakers right on top of the action for supreme accuracy of dialogue and effects. By happy coincidence it also yields a crisp-looking room.

Providing a convenient and easy to operate home for the client's music collection is an Innuos Zen Mini 2TB server. Plug an ethernet cable into its bottom, power it up and feed it CDs

The wiring loom is almost worthy of it's own blog. High quality Audioquest HDMI, USB, ethernet and power cables plus two Niagara mains conditioners hold the electronics together. Our client also runs a SkyQ unit and an Xbox One console. (I've never seen an Audioquest Carbon HDMI used on a games console before!)

We deliberately specified shielded Chord Company loudspeaker cables (Clearway on the surrounds and Shawline X on the fronts) to ensure the cleanest possible audio.

I am reliably informed that a discrete refrigerator and a popcorn maker are being installed this weekend. It's pure coincidence that I'm due to complete calibration next week, when the system has had time to run in.

If you’re interested in learning more about a home cinema system for your home, then please call in for a chat and a no obligation quotation. You could bringing films to a whole new level for you and your family.

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

Innuos servers and rippers are available from the following branches of Audio T: Brentwood, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Online, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T: Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Enfield, Manchester, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

REL sub bass systems are available from the following branches of Audio T: Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Optoma Projectors are available from the following branches of Audio T: Swansea, Swindon

Chord Co cables are available from all branches of Audio T

AudioQuest cables are available from the following branches of Audio T: Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Online, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea

March 14, 2019

Record Store Day 2019 at Derricks Music In Swansea Featuring The New Rega Limited Edition Turntable

March 14, 2019/ Swansea

Record Store Day 2019 on Saturday 13th April is set to be another cracker in Swansea! We will once again be teaming up with Derricks Music on Oxford Street Swansea to play vinyl on some great sounding Rega (official sponsors of RSD) Hi-Fi.

With the success of our previous years prize draw we will again be giving away the limited edition Rega RSD turntable. All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning the turntable is call in to Derricks on RSD and fill in the entry form, and we will pull the winner out of the hat at 5pm as usual.

Last year in particular was the best phone call we made to let the winner know the good news. The phone was answered and the news delivered, but the winner was in the pub and already a couple of sherberts in. It took about five attempts to tell him that it was not a prank, it was hysterical!

We managed to present the prize the following week…

As usual we will be playing vinyl all day, this year we will be playing the very turntable that you can win!

There will be a few more goodies and offers that we will have with us on the day, so keep an eye on our Facebook page as we get closer to the day.

If you’ve not yet seen the list of RSD releases for 2019 you can find them here

We look forward to seeing you there….

January 23, 2019

Don't Be Afraid to Catch Feels (Again): The Arcam SA20 Amplifier

January 23, 2019/ Swansea

Those of you who read our previous blog post about the Arcam SA20, mostly with regard to its performance with a Rega Planar 3 turntable, I’d hinted at the SA20's DAC but postponed elucidation to a later blog; this one!

To recap, the Arcam SA20 has two co-axial and one optical digital input, with a sophisticated 7-step filter selection which is fun to experiment with. I left it in position 3, Arcam’s default.

A long-standing customer of ours (he knows who he is), brought his Bryston BDP-3 network audio player in for me to update and set-up. It has no DAC of it's own, so to check its function (and get a sneaky audition), I connected it to the SA20 that was warmed up in the dem suite with a Black Rhodium Rondo coaxial digital interconnect. (One of our favourites.) The speakers were the Monitor Audio Silver 200s I had connected for the Rega Planar 3 turntable demo earlier.

Our Mr K remembered how fond I am of Norah Jones, so he brought in a 24-bit download from HDTracks of 'Come Away with Me', plus Diana Krall's 'Turn Up The Quiet' for good measure. (What a nice man.) All in all, about £6k for the system, with an unusually high 2/3rds of the budget given up to the front end.

Wow!

What initially grabbed our attention was the soundstage. Just before Lee Alexander starts playing bass on "Cold, Cold Heart", it pops out, almost holographic. Norah's delicate piano playing and delicious, breathy vocals (steady now - ed) firmly held in their own space, the swing of the bass washed over, melted us into the sofa and had me longing for a glass of something restorative.

This Arcam SA20 amplifier continues to impress...

Thanks for reading. - Audio T Swansea.

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

October 25, 2018

Don't Be Afraid To Catch Feels: The Arcam SA20 Amplifier

October 25, 2018/ Swansea

Arcam aficionados and Hi-Fi buffs with good memories will recall Arcam's previous series of amplifiers (the A29, A39 and A49) had a clever output stage design (Class G), whereby it ran Class A for the 1st 20 watts or so, then kicked in Class A/B when more power was required; the cannon and kettle drums at the crescendo of the 1812 Overture, to use a worn-to-the-point-of-transparency example. This gives it a generous soundstage, and a very solid, clean, open, grown-up sound.

The Arcam A-series of amplifiers was so well received and successful, that they've kept the design idea for the new HDA range, (currently 2 amplifiers and a disc/network audio player) plus given it a thorough re-working. So much so, the current baby model - the SA10 now has better performance than the old A29 and our eponymous hero the SA20, better performance than the old A39. In addition to the considerable performance upgrade, Arcam have added a very useful DAC (I shall expand on this in a later blog) derived from their work with the famous irDACMk2. Taken with the moving-magnet phono stage, this is very much the modern amplifier.

Customers demand lots under the hood these days.

That's all well and good, shiny toys for all the good boys etc, so what?

Well; I recently had a gentleman walk in with a couple of LPs tucked under his arm and ask me
about suitable turntables for him. After a bit of chat (*highly* skilled sales technique surely?-ed), we settled on the Rega Planar 3 Elys2. It's a cliche for a reason - there's not much to touch it at the price.

"May I have a listen?" says he, raising his vinyl (very nearly an armful*)

"Of course" says I, "Can you give me a minute to take it up to the demo suite?"

"Please take your time" (What a nice man.)

Casting about for an amplifier with a phono stage, my eye settled on the SA20: nice amp,
got a magnet phono stage, not terribly expensive, will drive these Monitor Audio Silver 200s I've got upstairs already, it’ll put the Planar 3 under a microscope, chap's got M.A. speakers at home, happy days.

*couldn’t resist

We settle in with a cup of tea (thanks Chris!) and after a couple of piano concerto snippets (all very nice, the recordings aren't exactly brilliant but it doesn’t diminish our enjoyment) things are going pretty well. After twenty minutes and everything's warmed up, my gentleman pulls out an album featuring Yo-Yo Ma (hey! I've heard of him) and the pianist Katherine Stott....

...and he asks me to play Le Cygne (The Swan) by Camille Saint Saens.

Wow!

Four bars in and I turn to look if he's getting what I'm getting. He's all glassy-eyed and pulling a tissue out of his jacket pocket, whilst I notice my throat has gone a bit thick.

"Ieusu Mawr" he says, "That's got me where I live"

I nod in agreement and mouth the word "Fantastic".

Thanks for reading. You’re all very welcome to pop in anytime for a listen and chat - Nic, Chris and Adrian (blogger). Audio T Swansea.

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

September 04, 2018

Believe The Hype! Audio T Swansea Review The Chord Electronics Blu MKII CD Transport

September 04, 2018/ Swansea

We've waxed lyrical about Chord's DAVE DAC in the past, probably boring the pants off you with the inevitability of it all; talk of digital sound with us, DAVE enters the conversation and promptly ends it. Here we go again then...

Launching the Blu MK II transport, Chord have not done anything as predictable as move the goalposts; they've picked up the ball and run, inventing a new game to play. This progenitor, this alpha, this improvement over the original Blu (no slouch by any means), is the addition of something called an M Scaler.

The output from this transport to a DAC, (ideally a Chord Electronics DAVE) is via single or twin AES sockets and single or twin BNCs. Twin BNC is the only way to get the full-fat (or is that phat?) 705.6kHz up-sampled data stream into your DAVE.

Despite being billed as a CD transport, the Blu MKII has digital inputs (x1 USB B and x1 BNC S/PDIF) enabling the user to access the M Scaler technology from a variety of digital sources. This makes us very happy indeed.

This is the best we've ever heard from CD by a country mile and its treatment of external sources is sublime.

So what does this partnership do? Everything you'd want. Deep insight, accuracy, speed, remarkable timing and a sense of solid, unflappable control; that calmness you experience with an exceptional vinyl replay system.

But what does it actually do though?

Music.

Come and have a listened and we know you'll be hooked. Thanks for reading. Nic, Adrian, and Chris 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, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon - check with stores for availability as not all products are available from every store.

June 15, 2018

Audio T Swansea Staff Systems - Bluesound Powernode 2 & Bowers & Wilkins 686

June 15, 2018/ Swansea

Something of a personal blog today. I'm going talk about the Bluesound Powernode 2 and B&W 686 system I use in my kitchen diner. Most of the cooking in our home is done by me and I have to share a lounge with my significant other and the home cinema system. Therefore, most of my home music listening is done whilst I'm slaving away in the galley, so it makes sense to have something enjoyable to use which lets me whistle while I work. I also work in the toy shop, so, ya know...

Bluesound Powernode 2 and B&W 686 System

I originally used a Sonos Connect (£349) and an old Rega Brio amplifier to drive my Bowers & Wilkins 686S2s (£349) - which sounded great – and lived happily on top of the fridge freezer. Then the packed up; boo!

We bought a shiny new fridge freezer which turned out to be somewhat taller than the old one. Sadly for my diminutive darling honeybun, we discovered she could no longer reach the amplifier controls – cue Grumpyface Emoji.

Something had to be done...

We've had the Bluesound brand for a little while now in a number of Audio T's, but we hadn't evaluated it here in Swansea, that's until young Kris from Anatech Distribution came down with a few toys for us to play with just before Christmas.

Appraised in our reference system, we immediately thought that the Bluesound Node 2 streamer (£499) was a winner and sonically superior to the Sonos Connect, even when by-passing the on-board DAC and using our favourite* one by Chord Electronics. With 16-bit (CD quality) files the Node 2 was quite a lot better, much less grain, a far more open and solid sound. Switching to 24-bit and MQA (Meridian Quality Assured) files via Tidal Masters and it ate the Connect for breakfast.

Historically a strong product for us has been the Sonos Connect Amp (£499). Essentially a Connect with on-board amplification, we've used it in a number of multi-room installations to good effect, the only caveat being it's inability to drive large rooms, or zones with outdoor speakers, (it just hasn't got the horsepower) so I was interested to see how the Bluesound Powernode 2 (£799) would perform.

We connected it up to a pair of B&W 684S2s (compact floorstanding speakers at £799) and let her rip. Wow! You can tell NAD designed the amplifier section – solid, clean, musical, exciting, tons of power and a lovely sense of scale, way more grip than the Sonos Connect Amp and loads more meat on the bone. We like it, we like it very much indeed.

The control interface is similar to Sonos is logical and is easy to use. Volume, Pause Play and Track Forward Back are placed on the top of the unit for convenience, plus analogue and digital inputs appear on the rear, which is very handy for those wishing to squirt the audio from a telly into it. Also you can if you want add a subwoofer. Fortunately m'darlinghoneybun doesn't read Hi-Fi blogs, so I can confirm that I'm planning to sneak a wireless-equipped REL T5i into the system soon. (There's space behind the cat basket, she'll never know...)

Six months later, Adrian's fridge breaks down...

"...so I don't have to stretch up to turn the amp on any more?"

"No dear."

Cue Smileyface Emoji.

Bluesound Hi-Fi products are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Manchester, Online, Portsmouth, Swansea, Swindon

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