Top 5 Affordable Hi-Fi Upgrades

These are our top 5 upgrades for a Hi-Fi system without breaking the bank.

1. Mains Cables

There are some products that make a good difference to the sound of a hi-fi system that seem to defy logic, and fancy mains cables are one of those products. However trust us, they make a worthwhile improvement to almost all systems and these are our two favourites under £200.

Chord Company Power Chord (IEC style only) 1M £175

Audioquest NRG-1.5 (Figure 8 style) 1.8M £145

2. Analogue Interconnects

It's an obvious one but upgrading your interconnect will make a big difference, even if it's a decent one from a few years ago the technology used keeps moving forward. Our favourite mid priced lead at the moment is the Chord Company Anthem Reference. It's not cheap at £450 for a 1M but the price will be going up on the 1st April, and it represents excellent value for money at the moment.

3. USB and Ethernet Cables

This is another controversial one, and only for those who have embraced the newer computer based music streamers and storage. Like the mains leads, some will argue that they can not make a difference, however we will happily refund customers who buy them and do not hear a worthwhile improvement. These are our favourites.

Audioquest Cinnamon RJ/E Ethernet 1.5m £79

 

Audioquest Carbon USB 1.5M £145

4. DAC

Getting a good quality DAC can make a massive difference to the performance of your Hi-Fi. They are especially good if you are taking music directly from a computer, but can also be good as an upgrade to an older CD player or Sonos. Please remember to budget for decent cables as well! Our current favourites are:

Arcam irDAC £399

Naim DAC-V1 £1295 (Price increase 1st April)

5. Cartridge (Plus service)

For those into vinyl, or getting back into vinyl. If your turntable is a few years old having your turntable serviced and changing/upgrading the cartridge will pay dividends. These are our favourite cartridges without spending a fortune.

Ortofon 2M Red £85

Dynavector DV 10X5 £379

More Glowing Delights thanks to Ming Da

Following on from the Unson Research Sinfonia we now have the Ming Da Dynasty Cadenza Grande warming up (in) the dem room

This is a true beast of a valve integrated amplifier switchable between 110W in ultra-linear mode and 50W in triode operation.

Using KT120 output valves and equipped with a remote control and wonderful retro VU metres this amp will drive almost any speaker. And it sounds magnificent. We've had it running with the new B&W CM10 S2 which is a very happy combination, the soundstaging is expansive and the detail and resolution superb. 

there is a cover for the valves in perspex should there be any equiring fingers, or paws, that need to be kept safe, and also options for an internal DAC and for electronic bias control. Oh and it weighs a ton!

Definitely one to hear, so try to pop in while we have it here.

Any one for humble Pi ?

Can a raspberry Pi be used to reliably stream high quality audio ?

The Raspberry Pi.

This question really has two parts.

One, can you stream audio to the raspberry Pi reliably and without any dropouts?

Two, can you output the audio to a quality DAC maintaining the integrity of the high quality file being streamed?

The USB and ethernet ports.

I have been playing around with this part time for a couple of years and now that the Pi 2 has been released I thought I'd better write it up before it's completely out of date!

All of this has been done as an enthusiastic amateur with no real computer experience to speak of, so please don't judge me for using incorrect terminology or going about things the long way round.

The answer to part one is a resounding yes. Audio can be streamed to the Pi with no problems whatsoever. This can be done using ethernet or wi-fi, although wi-fi is obviously signal strength dependent. The wi-fi is achieved via USB.

USB wifi dongle.

There are a number of specifically designed operating systems for the Pi which allow you to do this.

At various times I have used Volumio, previously RaspyFi, and Rune Audio. I switched between these for reasons of DAC and audio card compatability.

The Runeaudio web controller.

Part two gets a little more complicated.

Audio can be passed from the Pi to a USB DAC fairly easily and there are a good selection of high quality DACs that will work out of the box.

I have tested Volumio 1.4 edition with the Rega DAC, Naim DAC-V1, Chord Hugo and the Cyrus DAC 6 and 8 amplifiers.

The ever popular Chord Hugo DAC.

There are however limitations related to how the Pi processes all this data.

The USB and Ethernet ports are processed through the same bus which means that if you are trying to stream 24bit audio into the Pi and output to a USB DAC, you may experience audio dropouts to the point that the music is unlistenable.

To resolve this issue, I would recommend using a raspberry pi audio card. Such as the HiFiBerry DIGI or the Wolfson Audio card. These connect to the Pi using the GPIO (general purpose input output) pins, not the USB and therefore you can stream high definition audio through the Pi and output through a coaxial or optical connection.

This also allows you to use non USB DACs to convert the audio.

The Wolfson audio card, installed on the Pi in a custom case.

I chose to experiment with the Wolfson card which turned out to be a small error as the drivers haven't yet been incorporated to the main raspberry pi kernel, meaning I had to use specific operating systems.

This is where Rune Audio came in very handy as they have built a kernel for the card. The HifiBerry is much better supported as the drivers have been incorporated into the main raspberry Pi kernel.

If you are hoping to use internet radio on your Pi, then I would suggest installing Squeezelite on top of whichever audio OS you have opted to boot your Pi with. This will allow you to get internet radio through Tune In, meaning that the BBC streams won't stop working at random intervals.  

The Logitech Media Server Controller used for controlling Squeezelite in a web browser.

Now the important bit. Does it sound good?

The sound is quite impressive considering how it is being achieved.

However, if you compare to a proper streaming product, then there is no contest as to which sounds better. Having compared both the Naim UnitiQute 2 with the Pi + DAC-V1 and the Cyrus Stream XP2QX / 6 DAC with the Pi / 6 DAC, in my opinion the proper hifi streaming product sounds significantly better in both cases. As you would expect really.

A selection of DACs that can make the Raspberry Pi really sing.

In conclusion, I've had some fun playing with code and trying to get this to work and as a second system it really is very usable.

It is never going to replace your real hifi though.

The "Streaming Pi" in it's case.

A lot of the stuff I have used is community maintained or developed for free. If you find any of this software of use, please donate to the developers.

Hardware used

Raspberry Pi B rev 2 512Mb RAM

Wolfson Audio Card

Edimax Wi-Fi card

 Operating Systems and Sofware used

Volumio (formerly RaspyFi)

Rune Audio

Squeezelite. For the Raspberry Pi use the arm6hf download.

Thanks for reading.

Words: Mike

Pictures:Munir

Melco N1A Network Storage and more.

What does it do? First of all it brings your music back where it should be, that is, with your Hi-Fi where it belongs. It sits in your Hi-Fi rack together with your favourite bits of Hi-Fi kit rather than in another room as part of a computer system.

It comes with 4 USB sockets for one backup (USB 3) one for expansion (USB 3) one for import (USB3.0) and for convenience one on the front panel for import (USB 2). It's got plenty of space for your music as it contains 2 x 2TB hard drives (that can be used as a raid array).

In operation it is superb. Plug it in, power it up, and within half a minute it is ready to use. This product is built from the ground up for audio streaming and you can tell. In a blind test against our usual NAS I picked the Melco every time.

Recently it had an update which allows you to plug in a Dac for a complete solution. As I was writing this we received the new 2qute Dac from Chord electronics so out the box it came, we plugged it into the Melco and it worked flawlessly straight away (Stay tuned for an upcoming blog on the 2qute).

For me this is a game changing product as we can now, with confidence, sell you the complete streaming solution that works out of the box without getting bogged down with talk of computer periferals. Don't take my word for it though, come and have look and listen.

Linn LP12 springs back to life!

Over 100,000 examples of the iconic Linn Sondek LP12 have been produced in the forty plus years since it first appeared.

Many, like this one, belonging to one of our long term customers, and bought here many years ago, have been resting unused for some considerable time whilst CD has been the primary source of music at home.

It's all there, and working, just a bit tired and in need of a bit of TLC and a makeover.  Like many, this particular customer, is reconnecting to his record collection and rediscovering the joy of listening to vinyl. There really is nothing quite like it.

Having recently invested in a significant system and speaker upgrade, the goal was to breathe new life into this classic vinyl spinner rather than go down the costly path of fitting every possible upgrade.

This particular example, from the early 1980s, has the early dark tinted lid.

A new clear lid will sharpen up the appearance but first the turntable is placed in a Linn set up jig and powered up to confirm that the motor and Valhalla power supply are both working correctly.

The Ittok arm is also checked to ensure both the vertical and horizontal arm bearings aren't exhibiting any sticky points in their travel and the arm moves freely in both planes.

The Linn Karma cartridge is well past it's best and will be replaced as part of the overhaul.

The stripdown commences with the removal of the arm and outer and inner platter.

The power supply, suspension and sub-chassis and armboard can then be removed.

At this stage the top plate is checked to ensure the correct fit against the wooden plinth.  Any movement or rattles in the rear motor corner badly affect the performance of any LP12.  The main bearing is also emptied of old oil and inspected for wear whilst the sub-chassis/armboard assembly is separated from the suspension.

The suspension bolts are checked and adjusted using the Linn T bar tool to ensure they are totally vertical before reassembly.  Failure to do this makes accurate suspension set up very long winded if not impossible.

New springs, upper and lower grommets and lock nuts are used to reset the suspension.  Thirty year old rubber will have hardened and springs this old are about as fit for purpose on a suspended turntable as ancient shock absorbers would be in a car.

The next job, and often the longest on a Linn, is to level and reset the suspension to ensure free and smooth vertical travel with no sideways movement, both when static and with the platter turning.  This example is one of the easier ones and soon settles into a satisfyingly smooth and precise bounce.  The alignment of the armboard is checked with a Linn Kinky tool (yes, really!) to ensure the correct position of the arm pillar relative to the centre spindle.

The bearing is filled with new Linn oil, a new belt fitted and a new Dynavector DV10XV high output moving coil cartridge is fitted to replace the ageing Linn Karma, the arm balanced and tracking weight and bias set. The cartridge is aligned with a Linn protractor and the VTA (vertical tracking angle) of the arm is checked and adjusted.

The turntable accuracy is checked with a Linn strobe disc and speed checker.  All is now as it should be.

Finally, thirty years of oxidation and pitting to the platter rim are removed by the application of Brasso and a lot of elbow grease!  The newly polished finish is protected with a high quality car wax.  Similarly the wooden plinth is cleaned and has several coats of wax furniture polish applied to restore it's lustre.

A new clear lid and hinges finish off the makeover nicely.

 

 Job done.  A thirty year old Linn looking as good as new and ready to spin LPs for a few more decades!

If you have a Linn LP12 or Rega in need of servicing, overhauling or updating please phone me or email first.  I'm quite happy to offer advice or look at other makes and models of turntables but space, and time, are limited, and there's only one of me!  Please call me and book a slot before bringing in your pride and joy.

Alan

N.B. The blog is from our Southampton store, however majority of our stores can offer a similar service.

Rega Fono MM winner chooses Rega Headphone amp instead

Gary Chappell was the lucky winner in our Rega competition, and chose the Rega Headphone amplifier rather than the Rega Fono MM. Gary collected it recently from Audio T Brighton. We hope you are enjoying it.

New to Cheltenham - Nova Fidelity X40

New to the Cheltenham Branch is the Nova Fidelity X40.

The X40 is a high resolution music server, ripper and network streamer. Utilizing a world class DSD Sabre ES9018K2M reference DAC. The X40 supports a full range of high resolution audio formats including DSD64, DSD128, DXD, PCM up to 32 Bit/384kHz nad HD WAV/FLAC (24 Bit/192kHz).

Other Features Include:

Built in Phono stage; Play and Record directly to the X40 via the built in phono stage (Sample rate up to 192 kHz when Recording).

High Quality Balanced and Unbalanced outputs.

High Resolution Digital Inputs (24Bit/192kHz)

Stream and import music over the network - Import music from PC/NAS/I-Tunes over your wired or wireless network.

Stream music to systems such as Sonos.

Up to 4TB of storage available. (Our demonstration model has a 2Tb hard drive that is capable of storing up to 5000 CDs)

Exchangeable Hard Drives.

Internet Radio and FM Tuner built in.

Can be Controlled via Smart Phone or Tablet (Via free UPNP App)

Can be connected to the NET via wired (Ethernet Connection) or wireless via the optional USB dongle.

User Interface can be displayed on the front panel full colour screen or can be viewed on a conventional TV via the HDMI output.

Exceptional build quality.

Create and maintain playlists.

That's the technical bit which is all very impressive but what really made us take notice of the X40 was how simple it is to setup and use. 

CD playback is as simple as selecting the album from the graphic user interface. Simply select the album artwork and select play.

CD ripping is the easiest and most intuitive we have come across. Simply load the CD into the X40, select CD Ripping, Select the Ripping Format (We use WAV), Select where to get the art work from (We use Google) and press OK. It really is a simple as that.

Obviously the most important aspect of the X40 has to be the sound quality. It is exceptional for a product of this specification and cost. We have ours running through a Naim NAC202 Pre Amplifier, Naim NAP200 Power Amplifier and a pair of Neat Acoustics SX1 Loudspaekers. It really is on par with high quality audiophile CD players.

One of the biggest benefits we have found is using the X40 as a NAS for our Sonos system. You just tell the Sonos to see the X40 as an external storage device and all the music Ripped to the X40 is available on the Sonos sytem. 

When it comes to Playing and Ripping CDs either directly to a hi-fi system or as a storage device to stream to a wireless music system it really is an excellent sulution.

Available in store for demonstration. We are really that impressed we would strongly urge you come in and have a listen.

 Jon & Farid

There's a glow in the Dem Room coming from the Unison Research

We've just been loaned the Unison Research Sinfonia valve integrated amplifier for a few days

Of course we couldn't wait to get this beauty out of the box and running

In the dem room with the  Michell Gyro SE, Orotofon Quintet Bronze, Project Phono Box RS and powering Focal Electra 1028Be speakers it sounds just glorious!

The Sinfonia is a dual mono, single ended output amplifier running at 25W output and provided the speakers are relatively efficient you're not going to want for volume or power

Just a few more pics to impress and of course Boswell had to get in on the act, plus the transformers are nice and warm!!

Just  a pity I can't get a good picture of that beguiling glow!!

NAIM HiCap DR On Demonstration in Cardiff Audio T

COMPACT BUT COMMANDING!

Naim HiCap DR power supply is now on demonstration in the Cardiff store.

Come and here the difference this upgrade makes to the Supernait 2.

The latest HiCap DR now features the DR circuitry, Discreet Regulator Configuration.

The HiCap was updated in 2012 after a two year project to develop a new discrete regulator for Naim power supplies. Improvements have been made to the wire routing, mechanical decoupling and the internal layout. These changes amalgamate to make the music more involving and without a doubt more enjoyable.

Offering two 24v power outputs and delivering Naim’s best ever standards in a compact, low-noise power supply, this is needs to be heard.

After many hours now of listening to the HiCap on the Supernait 2 we can safely say that this is a must if you are looking to make major improvements to delivery and musicality in your Naim system.

Its not just the Supernait2 that will benefit from this upgrade. When added to the NAIT XS, NAC 152XS, NAC 202, NAC 282, StageLine, SuperLine, HeadLine or NAT05 XS you should expect a big step in your HiFi performance. We guarantee this upgrade will get your foot tapping.

New demo discs, thanks to Hundred Records

A big thank you to Mark, owner of Romsey's new independent record store, Hundred Records, for generously supplying us with some great, and much needed, new demo vinyl and CDs!

The new albums include a couple on both formats for anyone who would like to compare the vinyl and CD versions.  

We supplied and installed a Rega RP1 and Rega Fono Mini A2D in Mark's record store this week so he can demonstrate the great sound of vinyl to his customers as well as keeping himself entertained!

The red mat is an option to personalise Rega turntables, also available in blue, yellow and purple.  RP1 comes in Cool Grey or Titanium as well as the pristine white of the one now residing in Hundred Records.

Mark's store has a great selection of music on vinyl and CD and music books so do pop along and have a browse or contact Mark if you want to order anything obscure.  Take a look first though as Hundred Records is well-stocked with a diverse range of all genres of music.  It's a much more pleasurable experience than buying music on line!

Don't hesitate to contact us if you want to hear how a new Rega turntable can enhance your musical enjoyment.

Things have moved on a bit since the days of the 78 rpm record below but we are still here to supply, service and upgrade turntables.

Mainsprings and steel needles are no longer required but we can supply and fit drive belts, motor and power supply upgrades as well as styli and cartridges!

Watch this space for news about Record Store Day on April 18th.  Rega are the official audio sponsors and Hundred Records and Audio T will be very much involved...

Rega Fono mm Prize Winner

Congratulations to Mary Dacey from Preston who won a Rega Fono mm phono stage following a recent promotion from our friends at Rega...enjoy

A Hi-Fi Widow's Search For The True 'Audiofilly'

The day the new iPhone6 went on sale, a photo depicting the scene outside Apple’s Covent Garden store made the rounds on social media. Its caption: “There is literally not a single woman in this iPhone6 queue”. I remember thinking at the time, that’s nothing compared to the wall-to-wall ‘Y-fronts’ you get at a Bristol Show. I’d say it’s an eye-opener for any female who’s never had a close encounter of the nerd kind before.

But as the next show approaches, I do wonder why it is so male-dominated. You do see women there if you stare hard enough in a Where’s Wally? kind of way, although it’s often a wife or girlfriend wearing a far-away expression which comes from hours spent traipsing around hi-fi shops with their blokes.

It’s not that we girls don’t love music. A quick Google search suggests we buy CDs, attend concerts and listen to music in roughly equal measures. And considering women are supposed to have a better hearing range than men, you’d think we’d be the ones scrabbling, Dawn of the Dead style, through the doors of the Bristol Marriott on Sound and Vision weekend.

Hi-fi has featured strongly throughout my life, from the years I flat-shared with a fellow student who blew almost his entire grant on a top range system, to the two decades I’ve been married to an audiophile. Yet when my husband goes all geek on me about his latest Audio T purchase, my general response (after wondering whether we need to take out a second mortgage to pay for it), is still: “Er. It doesn’t sound all that different from your old one.”

 

‘Holy grail’
While it would be easy to put it down to the differences in the sexes, I don’t count myself as a typical girly-girl. I have a degree in chemistry, I know my way around a bass guitar rig pretty well and shoes and handbags leave me cold.

But I feel sure there are true ‘audiofillies’ out there, women whose knees go weak at the roundness of a sub-woofer and who can reel off its specs as efficiently as any male enthusiast. And in my quest to find one, I meet Serena Lesley. Serena has spent serious money building the sound she wants.

“Open, but forgiving,” she says. “Relaxed and not too much detail, or else it’s too spiky and brittle.” It’s like hearing a fine wine being described.Serena doesn’t have a technical or musical background. Her understanding has been racked up by trial and error, reading and learning from reviews, acquiring a knowledge which has taught her how to make tweaks for the best sound using blobs of blu tack or halved squash balls under the hardware.

“You understand from experience the importance of everything that your music needs to go through before it hits your ears,” she says, “and your 'holy grail' is a completely transparent-sounding interconnect, though you know that they're like unicorns, so you end up with one which colours the sound in a way which compliments your room, your stands and your separates and which allows you to feel more, rather than less, connected to the music.” Her explanations sound fascinating, well-informed and rather poetic and I’m beginning to understand why she devotes so much energy to her hi-fi.

“It’s a quality of life thing,” Serena tells me. “It inspires emotion, evokes memory, changes your mood. You can’t get this kind of emotional response from the clock radio in your bedroom.” And there’s another peculiarity. We women are meant, by nature, to be emotional creatures, so why aren’t we spending more time, money and effort building systems of our own?

‘Marketed differently’

"Serena has spent serious money building the sound she wants."Serena admits she’s never met another female audiophile quite like herself, but she believes there are many more women who appreciate good hi-fi than is evident.

“Perhaps if the perception of hi-fi as a hobby becomes less gender-specific, less driven by the technicalities and is marketed slightly differently, then society will stop assuming that it is generally not a 'female' interest,” she says. “And the women who love listening to high-quality music reproduction in their homes will become more visible, driving further female interest in this area.

“After all, the driving force of hi-fi as a passion is to get closer to the art which is music. Badly-reproduced art cannot inspire emotion, cannot draw you in, cannot fill you with wonder, cannot fully communicate what the artist means to convey. Good hi-fi brings you that experience as fully as is possible. And there's absolutely nothing gender-specific about that.”

Experts have been telling us for years that we’re wired up differently. There’s plenty of documentation and debate about the fundamental differences between the genders, some of it informative, some quite laughable (Anyone remember John Gray’s Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus?)

I can’t deny that my husband disappears into his listening cave from time to time just to sit and enjoy his music, while I’m more likely to treat my tranny as audial wallpaper while multi-tasking at several other things.

Perhaps ‘WAGS’ like me are a lost cause, but I think there are many other women out there who merely need to be ‘shown a starting point from which to grow an interest’, as Serena puts it.

And let’s face it, from the retailer’s point of view, we are a huge untapped market, so maybe marketeers need to take a deeper look into our psyche, find out how to hook us, press our buttons without getting too tech-ey about the buttons themselves. Maybe then, we’ll see many more women enthusing about the finer points of a high-end amp or speaker and eventually, a greater gender balance at future Bristol Shows.

Guest Author Journalist & Blogger: Clare Banks 

Sennheiser Momentum On

These extremely comfy, beautifully built and superb sounding headphones are now £99. A saving of £30!

We have very limited stock of these, so don't delay!

Kef M500 Headphone Winner

Congratulations to Stephen Appleton who won a pair of Kef m500 headphones on attending our classic album evening in December...enjoy

Marantz NA6005 Network Player

If you have Marantz 6005 or 6004 series products this is the Network Player to match. It also does internet radio, Airplay, Bluetooth and Spotify so it ticks almost all the computer/internet music boxes.

So it is any good? In a word yes. It's feels reassuringly weighty and well put together like the PM6005 and CD6005 and comes with a decent remote. The sound compliments the other Marantz units perfectly and the Ipad app to control it is nicely designed and easy to use. It's handy to be able to operate the unit from the front panel as well.

 Basically it's a really nice Network Audio Player for £499.

Arcam sure can!.. With the NEW CDS27

Arcams NEW CDS27 is all things to all men... and women!

Arcam have been on a bit of a roll over the last 12 months with the launch of their awsome A49 stereo amplifier then followed up by the release of the A39 stereo amplifer. Now is the turn of the CDS27, a SACD player with a built in music streamer.

This is not just a Cd player with a streamer thrown in the box as an after thought, Oh no! the streamer is a good streamer in it's own right thanks to the audio playback being taken care of by TI/Burr Brown PCM1794 digital to analogue converters (DAC)!

We've had this little beauty in our shop for a couple of weeks now connected to an Arcam A39 and I have to say that the results are much greater than the £800 price tag would suggest!

I've found the wireless connection very reliable and a piece of cake to setup and I was playing music off our NAS drive within a matter of minutes.

The Arcam CDS27 really is one of those products where I think the manufacturer got everything just right from the sound quality to the price. Bare in mind that this is a SACD player as well as an UPNP music streamer, potentially making this one box wonder the only source you'll ever need!

So if your Cd player is getting a little long in the tooth and you've yet to dip your toe into the would of streaming maybe the Arcam CDS27 is the replacement player for you!?!

Please give us call to arrange your demo or maybe even arrange a home loan on TEL: 01793 538222  

The Times they are a Changin'

From the 1st of February we will be changing our opening hours

The late night on Thursday will be no more, and we will be opening from 9.30am to 5.30pm Tuesday-Saturday

Of course everything else will remain the same and we will have new delights arriving to tempt you over the next few weeks including the new CDS27 from Arcam ... a streaming CD player which works beautifully with the A19 and A39

We look forward to seeing you

Paul, Francis, and Boswell

Your next upgrade?

Coud this be one of the next upgrades you make to your system?

A recent chat with a customer got me to thinking about this. Whilst discussing possible upgrade paths to his system which was about ten years old it became apparent that he had not bought any new music in that time which amazed me.  It's no wonder that during that time the system would be getting used less and less. But was it really a case of the hi-fi needing upgrading as the customer thought, or just that he was bored of the music he had been playing all that time?

Realising that a worthwhile upgrade was out of his reach financially I suggested that he just goes and buys a few new albums. After about half an hour of playing some of the albums I had bought over the last few months I sent him off down to Derricks Music!

Since then I have been asking a lot of customers what their last music purchase was and it really surprises me that so many people have not bought any new music in such a long time.

The easiest way to breathe new life into your system is to buy some new music! Here's a few of my recent favourites i've bought

People often ask me "where do you hear new music". I have been listening to Paul Jones on Radio 2 on a Monday night for many years and it's cost me a fortune! Also, Bob Harris Country on a Thursday night is another great programme that I listen to and with the on demand service on line you can listen to it whenever and wherever you want.

The other big thing in the past few years of course is the resurgence in Vinyl. Sales of turntables has gone through the roof and we are seeing literally dozens of old turntables being brought out of the lofts which is fantastic as I am a big vinyl fan. The amount of new LPs being released is crazy! There are so many old albums being re-issued and artists going back through their old releases that were never released on vinyl the choice is staggering. 

I took this picture on my last visit to Derricks. A great example of whats available, from Frist Aid Kit (a relatively new band from Sweden) to old classics like Bob Marley Legend, Pink Floyd and Kraftwerk. Four albums that would be a great evenings listening!

So... if you think your system needs something new, often it can be something as simple as discovering some new music.

If you want to hear some new music then feel free to call in and ask us what we have heard that's new and i'd be glad to hear what new music you have found of course.

After all, it's all about the music!

Announcing the all new Rega Apheta 2 Moving Coil Cartridge

The first new product from Rega for 2015 is their Apheta 2 moving coil cartridge.

Outwardly at first glance it looks identical to the original but close inspection reveals that every component including the beautifully machined aluminium body is new. This is now a one-piece design removing the separate part to which the magnet assembly is affixed. The purpose of this is to eliminate unwanted resonance between the 2 parts. 

From their site:

Conventional MC cartridges utilize a steel suspension system (tie wire) which creates a high amplitude H.F. resonance (normally around 8-12kHz). Such resonance is unacceptable and is usually damped by a rudimentary piece of foam rubber.

However, the foam rubber deteriorates with age and cannot prevent the complete structure from vibrating and "ringing".

The specifics and adjustment of the tie wire and damping determine whether the cartridge is under damped (bright) or over damped (warm and bass heavy).
A happy medium is rarely achieved.

This encouraged Rega to pursue a new direction inspired by modern materials and the basic laws of magnetism. The Apheta 2 contains neither a tie wire nor a foam damper.

Moving coil aficionados will all recognise the long search for super clear, high frequency combined with firm, tight bass.

Apheta 2 retains the same non tie-wire design that made the original such a unique design. The removal of the tie-wire (which is highly resonant and requires the use of a rubber damper) 

The magnet is now a super powerful neodymium type. The coils are meticulously hand wound on an iron cross 50% smaller than before. This results in a lower moving mass for even better tracking. The output is thus lowered from a rather beefy 500mv to a more useable 350mv, which will be easer to match with some phonostages.

The one part carried over is the stylus, which remains a Vital line-contact type, nude mounted.

Outward appearance may appear much the same but the sound is not. Brand new out of the box our rep’s new demo unit, upon first needle drop became our demo one.

This has to be one of the most refined cartridges I’ve ever heard. Gone is any trace of brightness or ‘sizzle’ that the original could be provoked into on some discs whilst not loosing any detail or high frequency information. In fact there is now so much more to listen to without any loss of musicality. Nowhere was this more apparent than voices. Sibilants are rendered totally natural, eerily so. 

What also struck me was the almost total lack of surface noise. Indeed on the new reissue of Jethro Tull's Warchild I turned up my amp close to max during a very quiet passage and was amazed by the almost CD-like quietness. Also seemingly absent was any end of side distortion. All this should mean it's great for classical music lovers not just old rockers like me.

Bass is full, taught and powerful the like I’ve never heard from a Rega cartridge before. In fact, so taken was I with its performance I took it home to play on my set-up. By 2 am I had to force myself to go to bed!! Enough said.

It gets better. Rega now bundle the Apheta 2 with both the RP8 and RP10 and has lifted the respective performances to another level for just a mere £100 increase.

The Apheta 2 retails at £998, up from £920 and to me represents a real bargain in high-end moving coil cartridges, my home demo is testimony to that and I foresee many on non-Rega turntables. I suspect supply will be very short as I’m informed, due to finer manufacturing tolerances after major investment in high definition magnification equipment, maximum output will be 3 per day for the entire world supply.

On permanent demo on the ‘house system’ for any impromptu listen. Bring a record in and prepare to be amazed.

Simon

Apheta 1 left,  Apheta 2 on the right.

New local independent Record Store! Hundred Records

We are very excited that our customers now have a nearby independent local record store to cater for all their musical needs!

Hundred Records in Romsey opened last November and offers a wide range of music on both CD and vinyl!

This is great news for the increasing number of customers who have bought turntables from us and are either re-engaging with the unbeatable sound of vinyl and wanting to add to their album collection or those new to LPs and starting from scratch .... as it were!

Take a look at the store website www.hundredrecords.com and pop along to Hundred Records, 47 The Hundred, Romsey, SO51 8GE.  

Browsing through LPs and CDs is a far more pleasurable experience than buying on line and you are sure of a friendly welcome from Mark.