Acoustic Energy AE300 Series. Great Sound. Great Look. Great Price!

Over the past week we have been playing with some new speakers from Acoustic Energy. The AE300 stand mount and the AE309 floor standing loudspeakers. They are available in three high standard finishes a Black or White Gloss finish and a Satin real wood Walnut veneer. There is also a centre speaker available, the AE307 for home cinema use.

The new 300 series offers some big upgrades from the entry level 100 series in both performance and aesthetics. The new mid bass drive units have been designed together to achieve a seamless tonal balance and the aluminium dome tweeter features wide dispersion technology which provides a greater sweet spot in your room making placement within a room easier.

Internal bracing inside the cabinet improves rigidity and reduces colouration of sound, and in the case of the AE309 (Gloss Finish and £1099 for walnut) they come mass filled which greatly improves stability and gives solidity allowing for a cleaner and more open performance. There is also a slot shaped port at the rear as found in the 100 series which allows for greater bass control and the ability to position them closer to a wall than most rear ported loudspeaker designs.

We thought we would use the same electronics for both speakers to keep a level playing field and we opted for the Rega Planar 3 with the Rega Elex-R integrated amp. Of course the AE300 at £599 for the Gloss finishes and £649 for the walnut are not strictly the right speakers within that system but we wanted to see just what they could do so we put them on the Custom Design FS104 stands mass filled and dug out a record. We kicked of with the second album from London Grammar, ‘‘Truth Is A Beautiful Thing’’ and played it all the way through side one. Impressed… they handled Hannahs powerful vocals and the some time ridiculous bass London Grammar like to employ. They sounded very present in the room without being forced and still allowing plenty of space around the vocal, giving loads of depth to the soundstage an offering a really enjoyable listen. I have a feeling that the AE300’s will work really well with anything within reason.

Next of course we moved up to the AE309. The extra drive unit and cabinet provided far greater bass extension and presence. In some cases when a stand mounted speaker sounds so good the first floor stander in a range can sound a little bloated, uncontrolled and can lose clarity. Not a bit of it. The AE309 just sounded bigger, as you might expect, all the improvements you would hope for when moving up in a range were apparent. We have since had them running in the foyer of the shop, a far bigger area, and they do not shy away.

In short they are hugely versatile and fun to listen to, We really cannot fault them at their price point and we look forward to playing with them in the future.

Remember, if you would like to borrow them for a home demonstration we can arrange that or simply get in touch with us and we will set them up in store for you.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Nick Joe and James - Audio T Portsmouth

Acoustic Energy loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T:

Brentwood, Bristol, Cheltenham, Online, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Swindon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch this space. It will soon be here!

Alan, John and Wayne - Audio T Southampton

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

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

Spendor A7 Floor Standing Speakers Are Dynamic Open And Exhilarating!

Hello blog readers!. We held back from doing this blog for a while because from fresh out of their boxes these Spendor A7 compact (by some comparisons) 2-way floor standing speakers sounded really rather good and so we began to wonder what they would be capable of when properly run in!

Well we have done that (that Dedmau5 CD is good for something!) and I can tell you that they are one amazing pair of loudspeakers. They have had plenty of hours playing time and the sound has really opened up. Bass especially is impressive being deep and articulate with an overall sound that is open and detailed with a lovely left to right imaging capability!

Spendor proudly boast that they are calibrated and matched to broadcast reference standards and use their brand new design EP77 Polymer cones! They are slim, compact and worked well in our demo room relatively close to the rear wall. This is due to the rather nifty use of what Spendor call a FlowPort which means that the loudspeaker has less effect on the room boundary placement!

We had them playing with the brand new and equally lovely Arcam CDS50 SACD Player and SA20 Amplifier coupled together with a Rega Couple phono to phono cable and the sound they make together is actually rather exciting.

I played a variety of different CD’s and SACD’s through the system among them an SACD copy of Dark Side of the Moon which sounded so open and agile that I had to listen to it all the way through and I was certain that I could hear things deep in the mix that I had never heard before and that’s always good!

Then craving more of that lovely natural sound and glorious sense of soundstaging I played As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays from the album of the same name. This album has that typical lush 1970’s ECM sound with a wide open soundstage that you can just fall into. Listening through the Spendor A7’s was a delight and a revelation delivering a level of detail, definition and information that I didn’t even know were there. I just love it when that happens. This track is twenty minutes and forty two seconds long and it was totally mesmerising with not a dull second. Never has the word gorgeous been so appropriate!

Anyway after all the fun stuff comes the fact bit……. They Spendor A7’s cost £2995 (grilles are extra though at £195 a pair). Don’t let this put you off because they sound a lot more musical than many a speaker I have heard at two and three times the price. They come in Black Ash, Dark walnut, Natural Oak or Satin White to special order at £300 extra.

Well as it says in the heading of this blog the Spendor A7’s are dynamic open and exhilarating and I will leave the last words to Spendor’s head man Phil Swift who says “they will add a whole new dimension to your listening pleasure!”

We encourage you to come and have a listen to these speakers at Audio T Cheltenham.

Spendor loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Cardiff, Cheltenham, Portsmouth, Swindon

Yamaha RXA 3080 Home Cinema Amplifier Arrives At Audio T Oxford

The latest flagship multi-channel home cinema receiver from Yamaha has arrived, the new RXA 3080. This 11 speaker channel, Atmos / DTS:X enabled AV amplifier will up convert via HDMI to 4K and analogue video up to 1080p.

If the thought of running speaker cable to the rears has previously been a deterrent in considering a 5.1 (or more) home cinema system, this receiver has the ability to use the latest two of the MusicCast 20 or one or two MusicCast 50 speakers as a wireless surround option.

WiFi and Bluetooth enabled, Spotify Connect, Tidal and Deezer are supported. It is also compatible with Alexa voice control assistants.

The digital signal processor is what really sets this apart from the previous generation: Very clever electronics can create phantom front and rear height effect speakers.

The other unique feature is the ‘Artificial Intelligence’ mode. This adjusts the DSP parameters on the fly by choosing the most suitable DSP mode, dependant on the movie content as it plays.

I played the Blu-ray of Fury, switching between the AI and DTS Master, while watching the scenes involving the battle against the field guns and the battle with the Tiger tank. While the differences were by no means night and day, the dialogue was definitely cleaner with the AI function on.

If you would like to hear the Yamaha RXA 3080 (or indeed the Yamaha RXA 1080) please call us 01865 765961 to arrange a demonstration.

Thanks for reading: Chris, Jon and Andrew - Audio T Oxford

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

ATC Entry Series Loudspeaker Range At Audio T Bristol

ATC have been involved in professional and later domestic loudspeakers for nigh on 50 years. Based locally near Stroud, they set up to make drive units in 1974. They were instantly successful as their 12” drive unit (PA75-314) were able to produce sound with less distortion at higher sound pressure levels than the competition.

Two years later they started to produce their very special soft dome mid-range unit which was used by many third party professional monitor manufacturers. A decade later they started making complete speaker systems, which are used widely in the professional world by engineers producers composers and artist including Pink Floyd, Kate Bush, The Killers, Lenny Kravitz, The Rolling Stones, Calvin Harris, Beck. The list goes on and is pretty much a who’s who of music industry icons.

Taken at our recent trip to the ATC factory

So why would you consider an ATC speaker? Well ATC seem to have found the right balance between what is required by the professional world, such as accuracy and reliability, and what is required from a domestic speaker which is totally beguiling sound. When listening, you can immediately get why they are so popular with musicians and engineers as the detail especially in the mids is extraordinary.

ATC SCM7

The ATC SCM7 is the smallest of the range. Small it may be but pick one up and you might raise an eyebrow as each weighs 7.5kg. Listening to them you will hear that they are very agile. They keep pace with the music really well, never tripping up and allowing, exactly what we want, musical engagement. The bass, whilst not going deep, is very accurately reproduced with no overhang whatsoever.

The next speaker in the range is the SCM11. It’s a bigger monitor than the SCM7 incorporating a 150mm bass/mid rather than 125mm of the SCM7. It is also heavier at almost 11kg. It pretty much performs the same as the SCM7 except that the scale of the music you are listening to gets larger. They will also go louder than the SCM7 (108db rather than 103db).

Up next comes the SCM19. It is the biggest stand mount in the range and weighs a hefty 17.5kg, 9kg of that comes from the bass/mid which features a short-coil/long gap motor assembly and integrated 75mm soft dome mid. The SCM19 is the only speaker in the entry range to have ATC’s coveted SL driver technology. SL stands for Super linear and drive units built to the SL standard reduces 3rd harmonic distortion between 10 and 15db. The results are obvious as the midrange gains extra clarity giving even more insight into the music.

This is the first speaker in ATC’s range of speakers where they offer a passive and active version. The active version becomes a floor stander with active filters and a class a/b 182 watt bi-amplifier and retails at £4990. Just add a pre-amp and away you go.

The final speaker in the entry range is the SCM40. It is the first passive floor stander in ATC’s range and just like the 19 is also is available as an active speaker. It is the only speaker in this range that has a dedicated soft dome mid. The hype about ATC’s mid range unit is completely justified and is evident as soon as you listen. The mid range clarity is astounding and leaves you in no doubt about the quality of ATC speakers.

ATC SCM40 and SCM7s

We have tried all the ATC speakers with many amplifiers. As long as it is quality amplification you won’t have any issues, but as we always recommend try before you buy, so come on in and have a listen. In store now but please call us to book a demo as they are in high demand.

Thanks for reading. Martin, Max, and James - Audio T Bristol

ATC Loudspeakers are available at the following branches of Audio T: Brighton, Bristol, Cheltenham, Portsmouth

Chromey Has A Sit Down With SolidSteel Stands.

Solid Steel Stands, is one of the oldest Italian brands in the Hi-Fi with 28 years in the business. It is very rare that we find a speaker stand interesting enough to decide to blog about, the SolidSteel stands really have caught our attention with their industrial look and charm.

Solid Steel has a background in professional grade welding, this reflects in their products with their seamless and unmatched welding techniques. Their history entailed welding vehicle parts for Ducatti motorcycles. With such a prestigious background and high level of demand for workmanship, which meant making loudspeaker stands was like a piece of tiramisu. (Bad cake joke - Ed)

Above we have the SS-Vintage stands in black and raw steel.

The construction of the stands are of a tripod design, meeting at the top is a base plate, decoupled by mounting perfectly on polished ball bearings on which the speaker sits. The Weld spots are seamless with almost a hint or artistic flare. It is interesting to spare a thought for the time, effort and skill spent to infuse different pieces of metal in such a way that is acoustically isolated and has an artistic element in mind.

To hear a significant audible difference in the stands would be no exaggeration, instantly from the offset, bass was tighter and the midrange ever so slightly cleaner.

If you want to have a listen and appreciate these stands in the steel (flesh) come along to Audio T Manchester.

All the best from the Dave, Mike, Munir, Simon and Haden.

The Quad Artera Solus Makes Us Sit Up And Pay Attention

Here at Audio T Cardiff we have many opportunities to listen to to some great Hi-Fi but every now and again something new will come along that makes you sit up and listen. The Quad Artera Solus all-in-one was just one of these!

What is a Quad Artera Solus you may ask? The Solus takes elements of the existing Artera range and shrinks them down to a single box unit. It continues along the classic Quad Hi-Fi lines but with a modern touch and enters a market where the one box hi-fi system has a lot of interest.

The Quad Solus is fitted with all the things you would would expect on a modern day all-in-one system.

You get five digital input, two coaxial, two optical and a USB-B connection. The USB-A socket you see on the rear panel is just for software updates. These are partnered with both an optical and coax outputs. All the decoding is handled by a ESS Sabre DAC. You then get an additional two RCA line inputs and a line output.

Taking a look at the front panel here you will see the Quad veers slightly from the norm. in place of an internet radio or network streamer you have a CD mechanism on a slot loading transport. Quite a smart move we think as although we are told that CD sales are in decline there are many of you out there with a vast CD collection. Add this to the versatile USB-B socket that is compatible with a variety of networked attached storage (NAS) drives, the Apt-X Bluetooth, you have quite a versatile system.

There is also a streaming platform in the pipeline that will only add to the impressive features already on-board.

The Amp delivers a beefy 75W RMS into 8ohms backed by an equally impressive 15 amps of current, so not much of a struggle here with most similarly priced loudspeakers. It’s a class A/B design with the pre-amplifier also being completely analogue and constructed of mainly discrete components. This puts the Quad in good stead as your choice of speakers will not be limited.

As for the design, the Solus is quite unlike anything else on the market. There are no visible controls apart from the power and eject buttons. The indented solid metal chassis with its removable glass plate that is flush with the top only adds to the elegant look of the unit. A silver finish is also available. The supplied remote control is also good quality with direct command buttons for all functions and is logical and easy to use.

We have the Solus on demonstration at the moment hooked up to a pair of Spendor A4 loudspeakers. So come in and have a listen we can assure you, you will be in for a treat.

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

We Compare The Naim NDX 2 To The NDX - Is It Worth The Extra?

We were very excited when the eagerly awaited Naim NDX 2 arrived a couple of weeks ago in Portsmouth. Despite our enthusiasm we took our time after unboxing and let the it run in the background before sitting down for a serious listen. We set it up with a NAC202 NAP250 DR and FlatCap with a pair of PMC Twenty5 24 speakers.

From top - NAC202, NDX2, Flatcap, NAP250DR, and NDX

On the third day we turned it up. As Naim fans we were expecting to like it, but we were unprepared for just how good it sounds. It is AWESOME, even considering the near £5000 price, tag approximately £1200 more than the NDX! But how much better is than the already fabulous NDX it replaces?

Naim System with PMC Twenty5 24 speakers

The short answer is the NDX 2 is easily worth the extra money over the NDX. It is not a subtle improvement. In a back to back comparison using Tidal as our source, the difference is immediate. It’s startling that so much more detail and realism can be extracted from the music streamed straight from the internet. Using one of our favourite demo tracks - Uncle Lucius - Keep The Wolves Away - the clarity of the guitar and the way the sound projects into the room makes it feel far more like watching a live act, not listening to a hi-fi system, which is exactly what any music fan is trying to achieve.

Naim NDX 2 Rear

After listening to the NDX 2 it’s easy to see why customers and manufacturers are moving away from CD and towards a streaming option - it sounds fantastic, setting up the NDX 2 to work with Tidal or Spotify is easy, and at £10-20 a month it’s not super expensive for a constantly updated record collection. Of course the NDX 2 can also be used with a UPNP source like the Naim UnitiCore, and has internet radio built in, but I suspect many will find the simplicity of a streamed service the most attractive option.

Naim Hi-Fi products are available from all branches of Audio T

The New Bowers & Wilkins 600 Series Range Of Loudspeakers Arrive At Audio T Preston

We love it when new products arrive, so we couldn't help but get a little excited when the new Bowers & Wilkins 600 Series speakers were delivered. What will the 6th generation of this multi- award winning speaker range be like? We are about to find out…

First we opened the B&W 606's, and were immediately drawn to the new look facia. B&W have removed the speaker grill pegs and replaced them with magnetic anchor points. They have also moved the bass port to the rear of the cabinet, giving the speakers a much cleaner and stylish appearance.

Another shocker is that after 40 years of service the iconic yellow Aramid Fibre driver units have been retired. They have been replaced with cutting edge continuum cone technology, a driver that was eight years in development and first used in the 800 series Diamond models.

The new silver driver units look great with the brushed silver finish surrounding the decoupled double dome tweeter.

Next, we unboxed the mighty 603 floor standers, standing at just over 40” high this is a speaker well suited for the larger listening room, while supplying that tight controlled bass Bowers & Wilkins always produce.

We have the full range in-store 603/607/606/ & HTM6 all ready to demo, straight out of the box this new range from Bowers & Wilkins does not disappoint and will continue to improve the more we play them.

We look forward to playing them for you soon.

Thanks for reading. Ian, Gavin and Andy. - Audio T Preston

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

ATC Loudspeakers Come On Song At Brighton

We are very pleased to have added ATC loudspeakers to our range as they are extremely good and complement our existing equipment perfectly. The Entry Series comprise six models and we have chosen to begin with the four passive loudspeakers.

All Entry Series loudspeakers use the New ATC designed and built 25mm soft dome HF unit with precision alloy wave guide. A sophisticated and beguiling high frequency driver whilst being revealing too.

There are three stand mount models, SCM7, SCM11 and SCM19 and a three way floor stander SCM40, all offering refinement and energy and a rather more interesting shape than is usual.

Well worth coming along and having a listen to.

Available in Cherry, Black or White finishes.

For our Naim ND555 roadshow we chose to use the ATC SCM50 from the Classic Series and they were extremely well received. Part of a pretty serious Naim 500 Series Hi-Fi system that performed admirably.

Call 01273 609431 or email brighton@audio-t.co.uk and come and have a listen.

ATC loudspeakers are available at the following branches of Audio T:
Brighton, Bristol, Cheltenham, Portsmouth

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

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.

A Shop Refit And A Major Hi-Fi Brand Coming To Audio T Reading Soon

For the last couple of months we have been rather busy creating a new look for our store. We thought it was time to freshen things up so as you can see, we’ve moved away from bright colours to a more contemporary white.

New Naim Uniti / Muso wall

This is complemented with brand new air conditioning, ceiling, lighting, and a dedicated Naim wall greatly enhancing the look and feel.

However we are far from finished; imminent changes to shelving and new carpeting (long overdue) will complete the storefront.

In progress right now however is a complete overhaul of our lower AV demo room. This is to become a solely 2-channel room dedicated to one completely new brand to Audio-T that we have been auditioning over the past 10 months or so, for this we are incredibly exited and are confident our customers will be too.

Work in progress; saying goodbye to green!

Still awaiting updated shelving

We are not quite ready to state which Hi-Fi brand just yet as we intend to make an official announcement along with a launch event in the near future, however visitors with a keen eye have spotted various goodies!

For everyone else in the meantime, here are some teaser shots. Feel free to pop in to take a closer look and maybe a sneaky audition.

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

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

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

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

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

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

- Mr. F, United Kingdom

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

See you soon,

Alan, John and Wayne

The Latest News From Audio T Cheltenham

This is a bit of a break from the normal specific product related blog as we're not blogging on one particular Hi-Fi topic! This time around the intention is to keep you up to date with a number of things that are new or about to happen.

The first thing is...........

Naim 555 Network Player Summer Roadshow

We are very excited to have the opportunity (alongside our Bristol store) to host one of the Naim summer roadshows to launch the amazing new ND555 Network Player/Streamer. Tickets are available to book from the We Got Tickets website and they are FREE!!

A not to be missed opportunity to hear what is being hailed as the best streamer in the world being put through it's paces by the guys from Naim in person! If you have any Naim type questions of your own this will be the place to be!

The event takes place at the Gables Hotel in Falfield on Thursday 6th of September at 7:00 pm which is just off Junction 14 on the M5.......it's got to be a fun evening!! I will not add any more except to advise you to read the previous two blogs from the Brighton and Oxford stores for lots of in depth stuff to whet your appetite. 

The second thing is...........

We now have the rather lovely Spendor A7 floorstanding loudspeakers in store and available for demonstration. We think they are the best thing Spendor have made for a while and that's really saying something!

The third thing is...........

We are rather proud to announce that we now have ATC loudspeakers in store! 

We have three models in total the little SCM7 the slightly bigger SCM11 and the floorstanding SCM40 all of which sound great and are running in nicely.... see the picture below....

The fourth thing is...........

We have totally redecorated our AV demo room and given the shop a fresh coat of paint. Our AV demo room now has a 9ft fixed frame screen and an Optoma UHD65 4K projector looking rather lovely, in fact the best picture we have ever had in our dem room! Come and see!! There is always something playing and it always looks great and sounds even better!!! By now you'll probably have noticed that I like exclamation marks!!!

And fifth and finally...........

One of those "you really must listen to this" moments. 

This is a fairly recent album by the Yes legend Jon Anderson and Flower Kings Guitar maestro Roine Stolte. It sounds more like Yes than Yes have done since the 1970's and I'm not making that up .......it's true!! This comes across as a companion piece to the work of genius that is Tales From Topographic Oceans and if that was ever your fave Yes LP then you will adore this one.  It is called Invention Of Knowledge and does not have a dull second on it. If you thought Yes were no more then think again!! There go those exclamation marks again!!! 

Well that's it for this blog ....I'm off to play this on the new ATC SCM40 floorstanders to put them through their paces properly. You are always welcome to bring in some of your favourite music too and do the same .... you will be forever smitten!!

ATC Loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T: Brighton, Bristol, Cheltenham, Portsmouth

Spendor loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T: Cardiff, Cheltenham, Portsmouth, Swindon

Audio T Cardiff's New 'Walk-in' Home Cinema!

A home cinema or theatre setup, is something that many people don’t have much experience of, but done well it can further enhance your enjoyment of TV and films. We love introducing people to home cinema sound and have decided to put together a ‘walk in’ home cinema on the shop floor, which can be experienced by anyone without the need to book an appointment!

In this month’s blog we will take you through the home cinema system we have put together and how it could be a perfect addition to your film and TV programme watching pleasure.

We start off our home cinema experience by looking at Panasonic's brand new 55” OLED 4k television, the catchily named TX55FZ802. This is the best TV screen Panasonic have made and is one of the most affordable OLED screens on the market. Anyone yearning for the old days of plasma need look no further as OLED is finally delivering on its promise with Panasonic really at the forefront of this new technology. Panasonic consulted experts in Hollywood while the set was in development to make sure the result was as close to the vision directors have of their films as possible and you can tell! The colours are rich, detailed and realistic with some of the most incredible blacks we have ever seen. This is because of the new Studio colour HCX2 processor which Panasonic describes as ‘the pinnacle image processing expertise’, tuned to show off the best quality colours, blacks and brightness. The set has multiple high dynamic range (HDR) support - HDR has been developed to offer greater picture quality by allowing more contrast - and has no problem with the various standards that are around at the moment.

It is a smart TV as is standard these days, so comes with all the online services such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, YouTube and many more. Finally the build quality and design of this set is exceptional, the incredibly thin screen takes up the whole of the set with very little bezel either side. This TV really does give you an experience you really don’t want to miss out on.

Connected to the Panasonic via HDMI we have the new Denon AVR-X2500H AV receiver as the central hub of our setup. We were huge fans of its predecessor the X2400H and Denon have made it ever better! This new offering retains the myriad of connections and features of the model before it while adding even more. On the front panel you have your volume and input selector knobs alongside buttons for basic functionality as well as a headphone output, input for the setup microphone and handy HDMI input. The back presents you with a huge amount of options including eight HDCP 2.2 equipped HDMI inputs, optical and coaxial digital inputs and your old school analogue inputs.

The x2500 is marketed as a 7.2 channel receiver and while this is accurate it hides the amount of options that this gives you, after your front speakers are sorted you have two extra pairs to have as either rears, sides or both. You could have a pair of height speakers for Dolby Atmos or assign a pair to zone two to use as a stereo pair in another room; this versatility is exactly what you want in an AV receiver. The amp is capable of powering a large range of speakers so you can really customise your setup to the way you want it.

There aren’t many formats that the Denon will struggle with, as we mentioned it can handle Dolby Atmos but also DTS:X and DTS Virtual:X when it comes to audio as well as Dolby Vision, HDR, HLG and naturally 4k up scaling. The Denon has multiple ways of streaming audio; it has Bluetooth and WIFI streaming for services such as Spotify, Tidal and Amazon music. As it is part of Denon’s HEOS range you can also multi-room it to other HEOS devices such as stereo amps or powered speakers to have both your TV sound and music in different rooms in your house simultaneously. The build quality seems to be even better than Denon's already high standards, it seems more robust and solid somehow, an all round excellent AV receiver for the money.

The AVR x2500 is capable of powering a huge variety of speaker setups and of course as it is running on our shop floor we can easily and quickly swap speakers out if any of our customers wish to hear something specific, however on a day to day basis the speakers we have chosen to have running in our little cinema are Dali’s Zensor range. Specifically Zensor 7 floorstanders at the front either side of the Zensor Vokal centre speaker, the stand mount Zensor 1’s at the rear and the E-12 F subwoofer with its 12” driver. This setup can be purchased as a package which is why we chose although you could easily swap out any of the pairs of speakers for the larger Stand mount Zensor 3 or the smaller floor standing Zensor 5. We have reviewed the Zensor series before on this blog so we won’t go into too much detail here except to say that the whole Dali Zensor range is absurdly good value for money and provides you a fantastically fun listening experience for both movies and music.

The important question of course is what is the result of all of this equipment put together? We have been using Oppo’s excellent UDP-203 4K player as a source to watch and listen to a huge variety of films and music and nothing has failed to impress. One of the greatest joys of a surround sound setup is watching well mixed concerts and one of the best is Hanz Zimmer’s recent ‘Live in Prague’. Featuring one of the most talented set of musicians you will ever see, the system takes you right into the music as if you were sitting on the concert hall yourself. It is an unforgettable experience and everyone should have the chance to hear the theme from the movie ‘Gladiator’ in a 5.1 setup, the word epic doesn’t do it justice. Another must when it comes to music is to experience Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ in surround sound, the intro to ‘Time’ being a particular highlight.

The system takes you right into the action when it comes to movies with dialogue being crisp and clear, action scenes being huge and involving and movies that are particularly well mixed for surround sound such as the Morten Tyldum directed ‘Passengers’ use the medium to their advantage so much so that you will think you are in outer space! Our party piece for showing off how good the Panasonic television is has got to be the BBC’s ‘Planet Earth’ which is simply breathtaking in its vivid colours and detail and shows you everything that OLED technology has got to offer.

There nothing like experiencing a system like this in person and we have it running continually while the shop is open, all you need to do is pop in, no appointment necessary, have a seat on our comfy sofa and see what all the fuss is about. We look forward to seeing you!

Panasonic and Denon products can be ordered at all branches of Audio T.

Dali Products are available in the following branches of Audio T: Brentwood, Cardiff

Naim ND555 Network Player. Welcome To A New Dimension!

Those fortunate enough to enjoy the extraordinary new ND555 network player at home will be rediscovering their music collection in a more profound and fundamental way than we had anticipated. So great is the advance that Naim have brought to this discipline of music replay, that we salute and thank them sincerely.

The coherence and authority are a joy to behold, with more of everything that makes music special and rewarding. The engagement is palpable and intoxicating.

The undeniable improvement in timing will improve your dancing; if you dance to your music at home that is! To say nothing of conducting skills or air guitar virtuosity...

The ND555 is supplied with a HiLine interconnect and requires a 555PS power supply.  Upgrades to the standard configuration would be the Super Lumina interconnect and addition of a second 555PS power supply.

Our in store demonstration system on Naim Fraim comprising on the left from top ND555, NDS for comparison, NAC252 pre amp, NAP300 power amp, and on the right from top, 555PS DR, NAP300 power supply, Supercap DR.

Comprehensively specified to play your music in many ways. Explore the ND555 here.

A true tour de force and labour of love, the ND555 delivers in spades.

Join us at our

NAIM ND 555 ROADSHOW

BRIGHTON: Jurys Inn - Brighton Waterfront

THU 13TH SEP, 2018 7:00pm click for tickets.

We are planning to compare the ND555 with the outgoing NDS, using the NAC552 pre amp, NAP500 power amp and ATC SCM50 loudspeakers.

Call 01273 609431 or email brighton@audio-t.co.uk to arrange a listen to this fabulous player.

How about that for attention to detail...

Naim Hi-Fi products are available from all branches of Audio T.

The King Is Dead, Long Live The King! We Welcome The New Naim ND 555 Network Streamer

The ND 555 is the first product launched in the 500 Series by Naim Audio in more than a decade and effectively replaces both the now discontinued CD 555 and NDS, as the source of choice.

The ND 555 has no internal power, requiring either one or two separate 555 PS DR power supplies. Like the rest of the 500 Series, it places great importance on PCB isolation and vibration control, with the circuit boards for conversion and amplification resting on high mass brass spring board platforms, to de-couple the PCBs from any vibration above 10Hz. Thirteen of Naim’s own DR voltage regulators feed the power supply! Add to this two laser-trimmed, selected PCM1704U-K resistor ladder DAC chips and a fourth generation SHARC chip for DSP, filtration, and buffer wrangling. A Naim Power Line mains lead and a Hi Line Din to Din is also included.

Designed to perform to higher sampling rates than its predecessor; up to 32-bit, 384kHz PCM, and DSD 128. The ND555 is Roon ready, supports gapless playback, Tidal, Spotify Connect, Apple AirPlay and Google Chromecast. The ND 555 features a five-inch TFT colour display and four hard-buttons.

So how does it sound?

In a word: Astonishing!

We have played numerous tracks, CD rips and 24 bit downloads from the Naim Core as well as Tidal CD quality streams. The Naim ND555 sounds so much better than ANY other streamer that we have ever heard. Scale, detail, dynamics, resolution, cohesion, it’s as near to perfect as you can imagine. Some streamers can struggle to convey the emotional content in music, not so the ND 555.

OK, so it will cost you £20,000 to own one, but for the performance it offers, it could just be considered a bargain! 

Come and have a listen and be prepared to be smitten or join us at our exclusive launch event at the Shillingford Bridge Hotel on 27th September at 7pm. Click here to read more and reserve your place.

Naim Hi-Fi products are available from all branches of Audio T.

Neat Iota Xplorer - Preston Explores The Latest Loudspeakers From Neat Acoustics

Brand new into the Preston store, we have the new Neat Acoustics Iota XPLORER, and we have to say we love them.

The bigger brother of the award winning and ever popular Iota Alpha, the Xplorer's are twice the size but use the same basic configuration as the Alpha's. The top section is sealed off from the lower and acts as a two way infinite baffle loudspeaker.

Situated in the base of the cabinet is an Iso-baric subwoofer to give this speaker some real depth with the lower frequencies.

We have found them to be a well balanced speaker that works well with a wide variety of electronics and are equally as forgiving with placement in any room environment to get a stunning sound.

The offset tweeter enables you to place the speakers with the tweeters either further apart from each other for a wide open soundstage or for a more concentrated image you can place the speakers in the room with the tweeters situated closer together.

We tried various types of music on them using the Naim  Nova , Rega Elicit and Quad Artera electronics and all worked well but all giving a different presentation. The Neat Iota Xplorer's give fast and accurate soundstage but the separation between instruments has to be heard to be believed, they certainly brought a smile to our faces.

Supplied in the box are instructions, floor spikes, floor protection discs and a pair of magnetic grilles, we chose the American walnut finish but they are also available in Natural Oak, Black Oak and Satin White.

We look forward to playing them for you.

Ian, Gavin & Andy - Audio T Preston

Neat Acoustic loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Brighton, Cheltenham, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading

JVC LX UH1 4K Projector Arrives At Audio T Enfield

Here at Audio T Enfield, we love our movies. No normal sized TV can beat the grand scale of watching films on a large projector screen at home. So, if you think your 65" TV is good, you really ought to see how films are meant to be experienced on the big screen. 

With the above in mind, we know that not everyone has deep pockets, so if you are looking for a fantastic value for money solution, we present to you the brand new JVC LX UH1 4K projector.

NICE AND COMPACT JVC POWERED UP IN OUR DOLBY ATMOS DEMO SUITE

This small and compact projector, has the power to bring your movie watching to life. It's a 4K compliant Home Cinema projector that accepts UHD sources such as 4K Blu-Ray and SKY Q. It is equally at home with HD sources such as Sky HD. 

The JVC LX UH1 is small enough and light enough to be installed anywhere. Shelf, ceiling or table top. Attach your HDMI lead into the HDMI input on the rear and you're in business. 

NICE COLOURS FROM THE JVC UH1 

Having fantastic images is key on any display, however one of the most important features to look for when choosing a Projector is lens shift. Why is this important? Lens Shift allows you to position the JVC LX UH1 and gives you flexibility for where you position the unit. 

We have our JVC firing onto a 105" Grandview Screen and are very impressed with the results. Whilst it is not as good as our reference JVC DLA X595900BE projector, this dinky little unit will do nicely for people who want to watch movies on the big screen with a more modest budget.

A BIT OF LENS FLARE - JJ ABRAMS STYLE......

As with any home cinema equipment, proper set and calibration is key to get the JVC LX UH1 looking at its best. The combination price of the JVC LX UH1 and our Grandview Fixed Frame 106" 16:9 ratio screen is £3220. That is 50% of the price of a 77" OLED TV. 

however you will be very surprised at what we have been able to achieve watching 1080p content. Just check out these screenshots!

Naturally the best source for watching movies on the JVC LX UH1 is UHD Blu-Ray and 4K content

So if you fancy seeing what your favourite films look like AND sound like in our Dolby Atmos 5.1.4 equipped cinema room, bring them into Audio T Enfield and we'll show you whilst you sip a nice cup of tea or coffee. No sales pressure, just good old fashioned service by people who love what they do.

THe JVC UH1 IS 4K AND HDR COMPLIANT

Cleaning Up Mains Noise With The Audioquest Niagara 1000

We have recently added the new Audioquest Niagara 1000 to our arsenal in store. Filtering noise out of mains supplies is no new thing and we have been championing it for years but this Niagara 1000 is one of the finest examples we have used.

It is large and very shiny! The Niagara 1000 has 5 standard mains outlets and one high current output for hungry devices. An LED lets you know it is operational and there is a red warning LED for over voltage.

Now there is a lot of technical jargon associated with mains filtering devices (and if you would like to read that have a look at the Audioquest website) but we tend to value our ears and put it to the test with a Rega system comprising Planar 6 with Ania cartridge, Elicit-R, and a pair of B&W 705 speakers. The differences with the Niagara 1000  were marked. There was a much greater sensation of space, coupled with greater dynamics and "quieter quiets" Sarah McLachlan's voice just hovered in space in front of us, while Kraftwerk's staccato rhythms were very precise and forceful.

As the Niagara 1000 is a 15 amp device we used it with one of Audioquest's Thunder 15A mains leads.

Audioquest make a huge range of mains cables from the humble, but very effective, NRG range to the very high end Dragon.

We have really been very impressed with this range from Audioquest. Why not come in and see what some help with the mains could do for your Hi-Fi system? Try it in store and then perhaps try it for a few days in the comfort of your home using our home loan service.

We hope to see you soon.

Paul, Francis, Jason and Boswell - Audio T Brentwood

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