New Rega DAC-R

We have recently received and tested the new A synchronous Rega DAC-R, what an improvement!

The new DAC-R fitted superbly between the Rega Saturn and the new Rega Elex amp via a digital coax, connected to which where the PMC Twenty23.

We played a variety of music from Mozart, Phantom Limb to Creed. The detail resolution is greater in comparison to its predecessor, which was pretty astounding in its own right, and it quite happily bounced along with what ever we played. The DAC-R is very transparent not favouring one genre of music over another.

 

If you are looking for a relatively inexpensive yet profound upgrade to your system the Rega DAC-R is worth serious consideration.

If you have an existing system Home Loans are available as well as demonstrations in store. We can even give you various cables to try if you want to make a night of it.

REL UK Tour arriving in Portsmouth

Proudly presenting REL Acoustics in our Portsmouth store on Decemeber 4^th

The only way to truly understand the impact a REL subwoofer has on your entire system, is to hear it first hand. We guarantee you’re going to love the way it sounds.

We will be running two separate demonstrations throughout from 11am – 6 pm.

 

Firstly, showcasing the REL Gibraltor Sub Bass System in a Hi-Fi setting & demonstrating the benefits of using LongBow wireless connectivity and Bassline Blue cables, using PMC loudspeakers.

 

Secondly, using REL Serie S Sub Bass Systems in a Home Cinema setting featuring Dolby's stunning new Atmos surround sound technology, giving a true multi dimensional experience.

 

Representatives from REL will be available throughout the day as will light refreshments & free car parking.

Please contact Nick, Joe and James to book your space. We look forward to seeing you & hope you enjoy the Sub Bass experience!

Forget about Santa!... Diverse Vinyl is coming to town!!

Don't forget, On the 6th December Diverse Vinyls & Pro-Ject Audio come to Audio T Swindon with vinyl records & Signature turntables in tow...

As some of you may be aware Diverse Vinyl have been holding a record pop up shop at various locations throughout the Uk over the last few months and on the 6th of December it's our turn!.. 

Diverse Vinyl will be bringing a vast selection of bestselling and new release records including 180g Audiophile pressings for you to thumb through and purchase on the day.

Now, If Diverse Vinyl coming to Swindon wasn't a good enough reason to stop by, we will also have one or two of Pro-Ject audios flagship turntables spinning the black stuff.

We already have their stunning £7k Signature turntable fitted with awsome £5k Ortofon MC Anna cartrigde. Making this a £12,000 turntable & cartridge combo!

So if you're looking to buy someone a new Lp for Christmas or maybe one or two new Lps for yourself, Be sure to stop by the shop on the 6th of December!

                           

We look forward to seeing you all then! 

Audio T: 01793 538222

Don't forget, You can now follow us on Twitter - @AudioTSwindon

Dolby Atmos arrives in Manchester.

Dolby Atmos arrives at our Audio-T store in Manchester...

...but first, here is a quick diary of our trip to Dolby Labs in Soho, London.

After a quick 2hr's and 9 min train journey from Manchester to Euston, I arrive at Dolby Europe in the heart of London. 

Spot the Chrome Trooper..??

The famous Ray Dolby even has a lounge named after him. Did you know Dolby was actually founded in London in 1965.

After tea and biscuits we enter Dolby's custom built cinema.

In all honesty, from personal point of view, I think its probably the best cinema sound I have ever heard.

Dolby Atmos creates an "atmosphere" around you that simply envelopes you and pulls you into what is happening on screen

as well as letting you know what is happening off screen. Truly convincing, Clever stuff!

More so than anything else out there, á la DSP modes found on most surround amplifiers.

The exclusive movie clips that were played to us demonstrates exactly why there is such excitement around this great new format.

Chromey actually got his own private viewing...show off!!

And now!! how to bring this wonderful format to the home, well...

...introducing the all new Pioneer SC-LX88 Dolby Atmos enabled surround receiver.

It's coming back with me, to Manchester.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and back in Manchester we are up and running with our KEF in ceiling CI160 QR.

We have 4 of these installed in the ceiling, giving us the true Dolby Atmos experience.

Our configuration is a true 7.1.4 or a 5.1.4 speaker setup. Click on the links to be directed to Dolby's website. 

Our ever faithful KEF R Series make up the fronts and rears in our set up.

The most excellent Sony VPL-HW55ES projetor takes care of our video duties.

Et voila!! The brand new Pioneer SC-LX88 and Pioneer BDP-LX58 now sit proudly in our demo room working their magic with Dolby Atmos.

Pioneer have gone back to their high end roots with the beautifully built BDP-LX58.

We were also given some dedicated and exclusive footage by Dolby for use in our Dolby Atmos demo room.

Dolby's Silent animated short was made exclusively for Dolby to demonstrate the new Dolby Atmos format.

It's great fun and it's definitely worth popping in to experience it.

There are several Dolby Atmos clips to get your teeth into.

And some informative shorts telling you about how the whole "object based software" helps the Dolby engineers

to get the mix just right.

This is how Dolby explain it on their website.

Here is a small excerpt.

"The limits of channel-based audio"

There’s no question that channel-based audio can produce great sound. But the format is fundamentally limited because it is created to play back on a specific type of speaker arrangement and doesn’t have the necessary information to deliver a fuller, richer sound if you expand your system.

If a movie is mixed in 5.1, for instance, it has just the information it needs to play back to five speakers, set in predefined locations, and one subwoofer. There’s no point in adding more speakers because the 5.1 mix doesn’t know what to do with them. If you don’t place your speakers in the “right” locations, your movies won’t sound quite right.

The fact that it’s object based makes Dolby Atmos much more adaptable because it’s not locked to a certain number of speakers. Instead, the object-based nature of Dolby Atmos gives the soundtrack a wealth of data about the sound in a scene.

In Dolby Atmos, each sound in a movie scene—a gunshot or a woman’s scream, for instance—can be an object. Filmmakers can precisely specify where those sound objects should originate and how they should move.

 

So there you have it, the rest, as they say, is down to you popping into Audio-T Manchester and trying it out for yourself.

Munir (me), Mike, Kevin and Dave will be on hand to give you a demonstration of Dolby Atmos,

in what we believe is the only store in Manchester to have true Dolby Atmos up and running.

See you soon.

New Naim Wall and other November news

We are delighted and grateful to Naim for installing our new wall.  It was well worth the wait.  As you can see it focuses the eye on a prominent shop front position dedicated to showcasing Naim products.

The system running above sounded great on both vinyl using Rega's RP10/Apheta and Aria or streaming via Naim's NDX and DAC.

Both sources were fed through a Supernait 2 driving Focal Aria 926 speakers.

There was no shortage of drive, dynamics and sheer musicality with this set up and it highlighted the merits of the best of analogue and digital music playback.

The arrival of the Naim wall coincided with the much anticipated appearance of our demonstration Naim mu-so.  Having lived with it for a few weeks now we are still marvelling at the room filling ability of this most elegant and discreet wireless speaker system.

It really sounds like a full sized hi-fi system running a decent size pair of speakers.

mu-so is on permanent demonstration in store.  Come and be amazed.  The mu-so app is very intuitive but once you've handled the very tactile control you won't be able to leave it alone!  It's very slick!

Also new in store is Quad Vena.  A compact high quality integrated amplifier with AptX Bluetooth and a good range of digital and analogue inputs packaged in retro style casework harking back to Quad's classic past products, Vena is a very appealing and capable amplifier at a very reasonable £599.95.  

Lancaster grey is the standard finish with piano black or white or wood veneer available for an extra £100.  We look forward to running in this exciting new product and putting it through its paces.

Finally, we are very pleased to now have the new Pioneer BDP-LX58 Blu-ray universal disc player on dem.  We have been awaiting a reference quality disc player from Pioneer for some time, one that matches the performance and build quality of their high end AV receivers.  

BDP-LX58 certainly fits the bill.  It's a reassuringly heavy 9.9kg with an iron chassis and rigid quiet drive mechanism designed to eliminate vibrations. 

The brushed alloy front panel is particularly classy and uncluttered.

We and our customers have been most impressed with both the video and audio performance of the BDP-LX58 through the SC-LX88 AV receiver in our Dolby Atmos dem room.  Atmos soundtracks really come to life and the picture is vivid with superb motion tracking making movies totally absorbing.

If this is what Pioneer can achieve with a £600.00 Blu-ray player we can't wait to see and hear the flagship BDP-LX88 when it arrives very soon!

Naim Factory Tour 28th November

We are organising a factory visit to Naim to give you an opportunity to meet the people behind the scenes and see the production facility first hand.

You may be surprised at just how much attention to detail goes into each product produced, so if you would like to see how your equipment is made and have a listen to some wonderful sounds please let me know.

They will be a opportunity too listen to the Statement system at the end of the tour.

The plan would be to meet at the factory in Salisbury on Friday 28th November at 10 am finishing at approximately 4.30 pm.

Lunch and beverages will be included.

Numbers are restricted so please contact us to reserve your place.

Tel: 01793 538222 or swindon@audio-t.co.uk

Dolby Atmos demonstrations now available.

Our demo room has now been configured for Dolby Atmos and I have to say that it sounds amazing!

We are running the new Yamaha RXA 2040 and RXA 3040's, using the latest B&W CM series, along with the addition of four discrete in-ceiling speakers and wow! It sounds so much better than I would have thought possible.

If you would like to hear what all the fuss is about, then please get in contact and we will give you a demonstration that may, quite literally, raise the roof!

Nytech Audio is Back and it's Made In Wales

Nytech Audio, world renowned in the 70s and 80s for producing quality British HiFi at affordable prices with a ‘musical’ sound, is back in business thanks to Phil Balaam, a former Nytech Test Engineer.

The original Bristol-based Nytech Audio went out of business in the late 80s, and it's now their aim to follow the core beliefs of the original company by manufacturing quality HiFi products at affordable prices, achieving good sound quality by careful design, attention to detail and years of experience.  

They are proud of their no assembly line approach, with all equipment being hand built from start to finish by the same engineer.

Nytech Audio believes in good customer service and offer continuing support not only to any new equipment purchased, but also to that built by the original Nytech Audio and Ion Systems.

Nytech Audio is based in Ystrad Mynach in South Wales.

An original CA252 integrated amplifier many of which are still in use today around the world.

Audio-t Cardiff are excited to be associated with Nytech Audio and we are happy to report that these little new amplifiers have a great deal to offer. It only takes a few minutes to forget that you are listening to a Hi-Fi system and just immerse yourself in the music. 

The CP132 pre-amp is the heart of the system. It simply switches between line level 4 analogue sources, adjusts the volume, and switches the power amps on and off.

The four inputs can be renamed to source names of your choice (16 characters max). 

The CP132 pictured above with its matching power supply

It can also be used to power ancillary equipment like the CDP112 phono stage or CHA101 headphone amplifier (both coming soon)

The CPA401 Power amplifier is a mono power amplifier (so you will require two for stereo).  Power is controlled by the CP132 pre amp or other Nytech control systems.

A special input lead is also available for users who wish to use the CPA401 with other equipment, it turns the power amp on whilst connected overriding the power control.

Rated at 40W RMS into 8 ohms - 75W RMS into 4 ohms these little amps are happy to drive most loudspeakers. We paired them up with some Spendor A6R floorstanders for some magical results giving a strong, spacious open and musical sound. This charming little package certainly gives you a taste of high end at mid-fi prices.

We have these on demonstration at our Cardiff store, so why not pop in and have a listen.

STOP PRESS : Meet the Manufacturer Day at Audio-T Cardiff.  Nytech Audio will be at our store on Saturday 13th December, so pop along and have a listen to these fine products and have a chance to meet and chat with Phil Balaam

REL Acoustics / Project Turntable Open Day

On Thursday December 11th we will be holding a REL Acoustics and Project open day. Representative of both companies will be on hand to answer any of your questions.

We will be demonstrating the benefits of a REL sub woofer in a conventional Hi-Fi system in our upstairs demonstration room. The REL Subwoofer will be using the Long Bow Wireless transmitter. This offers wireless connectivity with no compromise in sound quality.

In our downstairs demonstration room we will be demonstrating the stunning new Dolby Atmos Home Theatre system (See Previous Blog) utilising two REL Sub woofers and nine surround speakers in Dolby Atmos 7.2.2 configuration.

The systems being used will be as follows:

Upstairs Hi Fi Demonstration Room

• Project Signature Turntable (£7K)
• Ortofon Anna Moving Coil Cartridge (£5K)
• Project Phono Box RS
• Primare I32 Amplifier
• Spendor S3/5R3 Stand Mount Loudspeakers
• REL S3 Sub Woofer

Downstairs AV Demonstration Room

• Pioneer SC-LX88 Dolby Atmos enabled AV Receiver
• Focal Surround Speaker Package
• 2 x REL T7 Sub Woofers
• Optoma HD30 Projector

Read more about Dolby Atmos

This promises to be a highly enjoyable and informative day.

Tea and Coffee will be in abundance (Maybe even biscuits)

We look forward to seeing you on the 11th December

Jon & Farid

New at Portsmouth - Naim, Ruark and B&W

We have had several new exciting products arrive in store recently. I'm not going to go into much detail in this blog, but we may have a more in depth look in another blog soon.

Firstly the fantastic Naim Mu-so streaming system. Highly anticipated but still managed to surpassed our expectations with it's stunning sound quality. Well worth the £895 price tag. You could even use it as a soundbar for your TV!

Secondly, another top quality one box system. The Ruark R2 Mk2 £399 is a real step forward from it's predecessor. It loses the ipod dock on the top but gains Bluetooth, also gains a better display, is more intuitive to use, and sounds better.

Lastly, but certainly not least the new B&W CM series 2 speakers. We currently have the CM1 S2 £649, CM6 S2 £1499 (stands not included) and CM8 S2 £1499 models. The CM6 S2 shown below with it's distinctive tweeter on top. The CM1 S2 and CM8 S2 are a more traditional design with the tweeter in the speaker cabinet. All the models are a good improvement over the previous version but we particularly like the CM6 S2.

Classic Vinyl Night No 14, 2nd December Pink Floyd's, The Endless River

Following the success of our thirteenth Classic Vinyl Evening, we are pleased to announce Classic Vinyl Night number fourteen, featuring Pink Floyd's New Album, The Endless River. The speakers we'll be using are KEF's brand new baby Blade II's. 

This will be on Tuesday 2^nd December and once again will be held at the Fusion Room restaurant, 80 Friargate, Preston, PR1 2ED, at 7pm 7.30 start.

Click the link to find where we will be http://www.fusionroom.co.uk/

The album we have chosen is The Endless River by Pink Floyd

The idea is simple... just turn up and listen to an album in it's entirety on vinyl with a short break to grab a drink half way in. If you are interested in joining us please email the store preston@audio-t.co.uk or call us on 01772 883958 to confirm your place

If you require any additional information, please feel free to contact us.

We look forward to seeing you

Ian, Gavin and Andy  

                              

Naim mu-so sets new benchmark in wireless audio.

Naim Audio have once again raised the stakes with a truly innovative product. As ever they bring us the pleasure of high end audio but this time in a stand-alone wireless audio system. I refer of course to the mu-so wireless all in one music player.

The mu-so is a high quality active streaming receiver. It can play music from your PC , Mac or home network. It can connect to Spotify , internet radio, Apple AirPlay or Bluetooth and even has a USB and digital optical input. It is compatible with MP3, Flac (regular and high res 24 bit), WAV, and Apple. In short, as wireless streamers go there's not a lot that it doesn’t do.

Beneath the surface, the mu-so houses six custom designed speakers, each driven by its own 75 watt amplifier bringing us a total of 450 watts of power using technology inspired by the audio systems that Naim build for Bentley Motors.

When we first opened the box and took the mu-so out, you could tell straight away that this was a quality product built to amazingly high standards. The look and design of the mu-so is superb elegant and simple. Its brushed silver anodised aluminium chassis combined with the illuminated touch panel control and rotary volume seem almost futuristic and yet, are intuitive and easy to use. The mu-so can also be controlled by the Naim app available on both apple and Android devices.

With its varied functionality there are a few different ways to connect and set up the mu-so all of which are logical and straight forward. We soon had ours sat happily on our wi-fi network and playing from our music library. The music reproduction is amazing. For a relatively small product the sound that it delivers is super smooth with crystal clear clarity and jaw dropping bass, and its not shy when it comes to volume either.

So come in and have a look, have listen and you'll soon be adding a Naim mu-so to your Christmas list.

The New Ruark R1 DAB Radio Has Arrived

The 3rd generation R1 has arrived and it is gorgeous! Now with Bluetooth connectivity and a simplified 'rotodial', the best table top radio in the world has just got better.

Also equipped with FM, DAB and DAB+ The feature set includes:

Twin alarms.

Snooze and sleep functions

OLED display with adjustable brightness.

All this for £199.

Please feel free to come and see for yourself.

The gorgeous Naim mu-so wireless music system

Mu-so exudes quality in every way possible.

Superb design and build quality, mu-so looks, feels, operates and above all sounds special.

Some tonal adjustment along with a clever and intelligent loudness control, allow you to customise the sound to suit the room position and your taste.

Its advanced yet simple to use connectivity includes AirPlay, UPnP™ streaming, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth (aptX), iRadio, iOS and Android app control and multiroom capability, along with a digital input, analogue input and USB connection.

Give yourself a treat and come along to experience the fabulous Naim mu-so.

(For anyone who thought Bose offered something special...!)

Find out more about mu-so

REL & PMC Day!

Listen with us on the 27th of November as we partner REL sub bass systems with PMC speakers for the ultimate in cinema & HiFi systems.

We will be getting up close & personal with PMC's Twenty 21's. Although the smallest speaker in the range, there's simply no question over their ability to convey transparent, controlled & detailed performances, which makes it even easier to forget about the speakers and listen to the music. We will also be seamlessly integrating REL's compact S2 subwoofer to offer even greater dept without masking or shadowing the 21's natural character and effortless detail.

PMC's Twenty 22's will be playing on our shop floor, showing that great sound can still be achieved in a real world, untreated & highly reflective environment, which is made to sound even better with the help of REL's T9 subwoofer.

PMC's Twenty 26's, Centre & 24's will be used in our main demo room whilst we use REL's S range subwoofers to lift & underpin the entire system. We have opted to use a REL S5 on each of the front left & right 26's, a S2 under the Centre, and a S3 on the rear 24's, to achieve a "REL 3D" setup! Dolby Atmos may also be shown in this system. We simply can't wait!

Listen & be amazed this 27th of November, the fun begins 3:00 until 8:00.

Myself, John, Jason, Tom & Kevin all look forward to welcoming you to the brilliance of PMC speakers & REL subwoofers.

Best Wishes

Simon

Audio-T
159A Chase Side
Enfield
EN2 0PW
Tel: 0208 367 3132
Email: enfield@audio-t.co.uk

Dolby Atmos is here, and it's amazing!!

I have just been to Dolby's European headquarters in London to hear the new Atmos system at work, and it is very impressive indeed!

Pioneer had arranged an introduction to Atmos in the wonderful 60 seater cinema at Dolby HQ which I have to say is the best sounding cinema I have ever heard (plus the HQ is a lovely buiding as well)

As I'm sure many of you are aware, Atmos is the next step forward in surround sound, although it is probably better described as fully immersive sound. The new processing allows the soundtrack mixers to place sound "objects" accurately in a three dimensional space, and to move them wherever they need to within that space.

The result is a remarkable immersive experience, one clip being in the middle of a thunderstorm with the thunder literally overhead while the rain falls around you, and although it has been used in cinemas for a while it is now available for the home cinema as well. With an Atmos equipped receiver and as little as a couple of extra speakers the home cinema experiece quite literally takes on a new dimension.

Pioneer are as always at the forefront of this new technology with their receivers, including the award winning SC-LX58. They also unveiled two new BluRay players with superb construction and performance.

We have the SC-LX58 on dem in Brentwood and ready to play some Atmos soundtracks for you, so come along and see (and hear) what all the fuss is about.

Upcoming November Events in Brentwood

We're having a few fun musical events/ open days in Brentwood during November.

On the 20th REL will be visiting with some BIG subwoofers to show how much can be gained by adding those lower registers to both HiFi and home cinema systems. We'll also have the projector room set up with a Dolby Atmos system for your delight and delectation. This will run in store from 12 noon until 8PM, be sure to come along and prepare to be impressed.

Then on the 27th we will have systems from KEF, The Chord Company, Chord Electronics and Project running again from 12 noon until 8PM. Chord Electronics are promising some meaty amps (alongside current favourites like the Hugo and Qute DACs) to drive the Blade 2 from KEF. There will also be some new KEF Reference speakers, Chord Company Tuned Aray cables and one of the top flight Project turntables for some vinyl delights.

And speaking of vinyl delights don't forget our Vinyl Saturday on the 15th with the guys from Diverse Vinyl

We're looking forward to seeing you and tempting you with some wonderful sounds and equipment....and maybe a bargain or two!

See you then

Paul, Francis, and Boswell

Chord Company Demonstration Event on Saturday 22nd November

We are pleased to announce a fun filled Chord Company cable demonstration day on Saturday 22nd November. Matt from Chord Company will be present to help answer any questions you may have as well as lending a helping hand with both of our demonstration areas.

The main rolling demonstration will be held in the storefront and here we will be highlighting the importance of improving the quality of your Ethernet cables - Crucial in these days of streaming content!

 

Our main demo room will be given over entirely to the pleasures of Analogue and Digital interconnects plus of course the all important speaker cables.

If you would like a demonstration of a specific interconnect or speaker cable then please get in touch at least one week prior to the event and we will do our utmost to make it happen for you!

If you have any questions or would like to request a specific cable for demonstration then please get in touch via Email Here or call us on 0118 958 5463 - We look forward to seeing you on the day!

Dolby Atmos is Here!

 

Conventional Dolby 5.1 and 7.1 surround has always had the restriction that the sound is mixed into channels to create the sound track. An example being that if the starship Enterprise flies from the front bottom of the screen and goes over you head the sound can only be mixed into channels to give you the impression of front to back movement.

Dolby Atmos is the first audio format to be based on objects rather that channels. In Dolby Atmos any sound (e.g. The Enterprise) can exist as an independent object free from channel restrictions. It can be placed anywhere in the room including overhead.

This is achieved with the use of a Dolbt Atmos enabled receiver and multiple surround speakers. Dolby Atmos is compatible with 5.1 and 7.1 systems but it really does come into its own when used with multiple speakers.

In our demonstartion room we are using the system in 7.1.2 configeration. This equates to:

7 - Font Left/Right Speakers, Centre Speaker, Rear Left/Right Surround Speakers and Rear Left Right Back Surround Speakers.

1 - Sub Woofer

2 - Left Right Centre Middle Height Speakers. (A pair of in Ceiling Focal Custom IC108)

We are using the Pioneer SC-LX88 AV Receiver and a Focal speaker package with a REL S2 Sub Woofer.

The sound experience we are creating in our demonstration room is beyond anything that we have experienced before.

At present we are using a Dolby Atmos demonstration Disc, But Atmos encoded discs are immanent and should be with us soon.

We really would recommend that you come into the shop and experience this amazing ground breaking movie experience.

Chord Company tuning workshop with very special guest Kudos Loudspeakers.

The Chord Company will be coming to the Bristol shop on the 13^th of November to conduct a workshop which will demonstrate how their wonderful cables can enhance the investment you have made in your Hi-Fi. What better speakers to reveal those differences than Kudos. Mat from Chord will be bringing those special runs of cable with an array of terminations including RCA, XLR, DIN. He will also demonstrate how digital cables can enhance your system including cables for streaming. Toby from Kudos will bring the brand new Kudos X3 speakers which are a welcome edition to Kudos's outstanding range of speakers. It's a floor stander featuring drivers specially made for Kudos by SEAS, high quality crossovers and coincidently Chord Sarsen internal cabling. As with all Kudos speakers the clean sound marries perfectly with the super clean lines of this elegant speaker. We will be using Naim and Sugden in the demonstrations together with the X3's and Super 20's. The event will run from midday to 8pm.

Look forward to seeing you there.