PMC Cor Integrated Amplifier - The Heart Of A Hi-Fi System

PMC’s integrated amplifier, named Cor ( which means heart in latin ) has arrived here with us in Swindon. PMC, known as a speaker manufacturer of many award winning speakers , launched the Cor last year as their first stand-alone domestic amplifier.

Designed and hand-built in the UK, the Cor is an analogue Class A/B amplifier that produces 95W per channel (which rises to 140W into a 4ohm load ) and it is very well built indeed.

On the front panel it has a large volume control knob, a headphone socket and buttons for input selection . There are controls for bass, trable and balance and these are operated by motorised slider switches. Each of the switches has a led in the middle and they turn white when dead centre or red when adjustments have been made. You press the bypass switch if you don’t want to use tone controls.

A nice metal remote control is supplied with the Cor.

There is an on/off switch on the back and when switched on, the PMC logo on the front panel turns red, meaning it is in stand-by. Touch the logo to turn the amp on and it turns white.

On the back, there are 5 line-level inputs and a single balanced XLR input. A pre-amp output if you want to connect the Cor to a power amplifier of your choice and direct in sockets for integration into a home cinema, leaving the Cor to power the two front speakers.

This Cor is a neutral sounding amplifier that doesn’t add or take away anything from your music. This heart of a music system offers control and it is pure fun to listen to.

We have connected various speakers and sources here in the shop and it sounded superb.

Please bring some of your music and come in for a listen. Coffee and tea will be provided.

For more specification please click this link —> PMC Cor

PMC Hi-Fi products are available from the following branches of Audio T: Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Enfield, Manchester, Portsmouth, Southampton, Swindon

Sleek Stylish and Scintillating New SONOS Amp

The new SONOS AMP has arrived and it is a thing of beauty.

This AMP is an exercise in industrial design, sleek looking, lovely soft touch finish and touch sensor controls on the front edge.

When we look round the back of the AMP it has the same elegant and minimal approach. There is a pair of phono sockets for analogue in, an HDMI socket for interfacing with your TV, a subwoofer output for traditional subs and a couple of Ethernet sockets. The speaker sockets are 4mm banana type and plugs are supplied in the package.

This is definitely the best AMP SONOS have produced sounding wonderful streaming Woodkid -The Golden Age from our library on a pair of Dali Zensor 5 floorstanders. It handles the intricate percussion of this album with ease and manages to reproduce the scale of the production effortlessly. On more intimate material like Chris Jones - Roadhouses and Automobiles there is real delicacy and resolution

The AMP also adds a lot of flexibility to an existing SONOS system, use it to connect an external source into the SONOS chain like a turntable or CD player, it will also integrate into SONOS surround systems with its HDMI input. It has Airplay 2 and a healthy 125 W per channel unlike the old Connect amp which is 55W.

All in all the new SONOS AMP is a big hit with us here at Audio T Brentwood.

Come in and hear for yourself!

Paul, Francis, Jason, and Boswell

SONOS is available from the following branches of Audio T: Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Online, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Change The Record And Keep It Clean! Pro-ject VCS MKII & Record Cleaning Accessories

OK, so you either you bought yourself or you’ve been gifted that lovely new turntable and you’ve been busy buying up lots of lovely new records to play on it. Now what if you discover that your recent purchase is in less than perfect condition?

Well you could of course go down the route of buying yourself a dedicated record cleaning machine. The one that we always keep on coming back to is the Project VCS Mk2. Hailing from the same company who are world famous for producing top notch turntables this cleaner is built like a tank and is super easy to both set up and to use! The VCS Mk2 has the remarkable ability of being able to rescue some of the crackliest sounding second hand purchases, making them sound and look like they are fresh out of the shop!

Sometimes even brand new and shiny looking LPs can suffer a little from stray clicks and pops caused by specs of dust that have managed to embed themselves deep in the records grooves and here a quick spin on the VCS Mk2 can reap rewards. We have two local second hand record stores who have both invested in this miraculous little machine and both of them swear by it and use them daily!

Now what if those dusty records have clogged up your brand new stylus with a little ball of tricky to remove fluff? You need one of these rather nifty little stylus cleaning brushes imaginatively named Clean-it!

The brush boasts a pad of short carbon fibres and all you do is run the brush down the cantilever and over the diamond stylus. This will remove dirt deposits and stray fluff from the stylus tip. And remember removing dust, dirt and fluff from the stylus not only prolongs the life of you cartridge but will also improve sound quality and most importantly of all protect your records from wear. And hey…..they are not expensive!

Logically it follows that the best way to stop your stylus from fluffing up at all is to give your records a good clean up before playing them. For this very purpose comes the carbon fibre bust that Project call Brush-it. I sense a theme here! This is every vinyl lovers’ essential piece of kit; a brush specially designed to keep your precious vinyl in optimum playing condition, free from atmospheric and residue blemishes.

As the record is spinning you simply drag the brush lightly from the inside to the outside and it will drag any dust out with it. It is also genius at reducing static charge in the vinyl too!

And talking of reducing static charge I come on to the phenomenon that is the anti static inner sleeve! Our preferred brand is the Nagoaka.

Coming in packs of fifty, not only will these prevent the build up of a static charge which can manifest itself as random audible clicks and pops that can interfere with your listening pleasure, they also provide a huge degree of protection from scratch damage when taking records from or putting them back in to those hideous cardboard inner sleeves that most record labels seem to deem adequate protection for their shiny new slices of vinyl (that happens to be one of my pet hates that one!) These sleeves are also an essential item for when you have just given your record a rejuvenating spin on the VCS Mk2 record cleaning machine!

Pro-ject turntables & accessories are available at the following branches of Audio T:

Brentwood, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Online, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Swansea, Swindon

Riders On The Stream! Marantz NA6006

If you've been contemplating how best to incorporate streaming into your existing system, without throwing the baby out with the bathwater and starting again, we may just have the perfect solution.

Allow us to introduce the Marantz NA6006. A stand alone network audio player that offers everything you need to enjoy the vast array of title's that streaming services, such as Tidal, Qobuz and Spotify offer, and all without leaving the comfort of your armchair.

A nice, bright, clear display and straight forward front panel controls in matching Marantz casework, a thing of beauty.

Derived from the outstanding ND8006, the NA6006 boasts improved Digital to Analogue conversation, via the ESS Sabre 9016 chip set, offering high resolution audio up to 192kHz/24 bit and DSD 5.6MHz. The DAC, coupled with Marantz’s unique HDAM - High Definition Amplifier Modules are designed to lower the noise floor and provide a wider bandwidth. It starts to sound like an exciting prospect.

The rear panel.

The NA6006 is compatible with Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant, as well as Apple Airplay 2, the Marantz also offers Bluetooth for connection from a phone, tablet or PC.

Control is delightfully straight forward via the free HEOS app, Simply download it to your phone or tablet and you're away. The vast array of Internet Radio stations are readily available via Tune In, and if you have a network attached storage (NAS) device on your home network, your music can be searched, selected and streamed, all from within in the HEOS app. Popular streaming services such as Deezer, Spotify and Tidal all work within the app, ensuring a smooth selection of your chosen artist without frustration.

In addition there are two optical connections, one input and one output (should you wish to use an off board digital to analogue converter (DAC). There are fixed and variable RCA outputs allowing volume to be controlled via the amplifier or via the app. But if you prefer to keep matters simple the NA6006 also comes with a dedicated remote control.

A good, old fashioned remote control makes operation a breeze.

We are are big fans of the Marantz 6006 range here at Audio T Oxford. The amplifier and the CD player both offer a superlative performance, that belies their respective asking prices and after some critical listing it appears that the NA6006 is no exception. 

Marantz NA6006 with Rega’s sublime Brio integrated amp, if Cheeky Mouse had thumbs, he would definitely show his approval

With our evaluation, we choose to use matching Marantz electronics in the 6006 range, coupled to pair Bowers and Wilkins 707 S2’s (an outstanding pair of speakers), priced at £800.  We also used Chord Clearway speaker cable at £10 a metre and the entry level C-line interconnect, also from Chord (just £40 for a 0.5 meter), to deliver an improved performance over the "in-the-box" cable. We started with the Marantz CD6006 SE and then selected the same track via Tidal and what we heard was a tighter bass presentation and a definite sense that the presentation sounded fuller , various elements of the recording we more firmly fixed in the soundstage, it was a genuinely nice surprise. After listening to a few track, we took the opportunity to try another one of our favourite components and swapped out the Marantz amplifier for Rega's Brio. The improvement in presentation was immediately apparent; this is clearly a component that will work well when connected to more exotic equipment.

We have the Marantz NA6006 on display at the Oxford store and we are always pleased to offer a demonstration at your convenience. Contact on 01865 765961 and ask for Chris, Jon or Andrew.

Marantz Hi-Fi products are available at the following branches of Audio T:

Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Online, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Time For A Little ZEN Courtesy of Innuos

Just arrived into Preston store we have the all new Innuos ZEN mini MK3. With all the all the CD ripping convenience of the MK2 but with added upgrades to make it even more appealing to home digital music streaming enthusiasts.

As before the ZEN mini is available with 1/2/4/8 Tb internal storage, we opted for the 1TB at £899.

Innuos have made connectivity upgrades by adding a custom motherboard to include two Ethernet ports for network pass through to other network devices that are close by, this helps with audio playback performance.

The ZEN Mini MK3 now incorporates analogue/coaxial and optical outputs, we have used these in store and partnered it up with the Cyrus One HD and used the Neat Iota Alpha speakers and we were blown away with how it performed, whilst being so neat and compact.

As for controlling the ZEN simply type my.innuos.com into your browser and up it pops!

Taking around 5-10 minutes to copy an album (depending on which ripping mode is selected), all you need to do is pick the file format you require supporting DSD, FLAC and WAV, we tend to stick with FLAC as it takes up less space.

All the album artwork is found making for easy navigation of your collection.

If you want to control the ZEN from a tablet we have found a great free app for Android called Squeezer, if your using an Apple IOS product iPeng can be purchased for £8.99.

Also available is the new dual-linear power supply if want to get even more performance from the product at £499 or £449 if purchased together with the ZEN at the same time.

A great addition to any multi-room music system whatever the level your at. We look forward to demonstrating it for you. Ian & Gavin - Audio T Preston

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

Rega, QUAD and Spendor Hi-Fi System Focusing On Vinyl And CD!

We realise that not everyone wants to stream their music, some people like to keep it simple with CD and Vinyl. With this in mind we put together a quality mid range system (Under £4000 excluding cables) for a small to medium room that sounds great and focuses on more traditional formats.

Quad Solus, Rega Planar 3 & Fono MM

The honest shot showing the connecting cables!

Starting with the hub of the system, we have the Quad Artera Solus. The Solus is an amplifier / CD combo in the very high quality Artera casework giving it a really solid, hefty feel.

Quad Artera Solus

For our record spinner we chose the latest version of the iconic Rega Planar 3 with Elys cartridge and the Rega Fono MM phono stage. The Planar 3 is available in Black or White as well as the Red finish shown below, and without cartridge if you would prefer to choose your own.

Rega Planar 3 with Elys

Rega Fono MM

And last but not least, one of the most compact floorstanding speakers we have, the Spendor A2 in black. The Spendor’s are also available in Dark Walnut and Natural Oak. White is available at a premium. Grills are available as an optional extra.

We tried several pairs of speakers with the system and liked the Spendor’s the most. Although they struggle to fill a big room, the combination of subtlety and a very natural musical presentation won us over against some of their bigger rivals.

Spendor A2

Although this system is excellent with CD and Vinyl it does have potential to expand. The Quad Solus does have Bluetooth if you want to dip your toe into the streaming world. It also has digital inputs, and analogue outputs for the Quad Artera Power amplifier for a bigger room / speakers.

Quad Artera Solus Rear

Feel free to come in and have a listen. Thanks for reading Nick, Joe & James - Audio T Portsmouth.

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

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

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

New Ruark R5 Coming Very Soon!

Ruark have been hard at work and a super new model is being added to the range. We are expecting a full complement of features and the sound quality that Ruark have become renowned for.

To be launched at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show (organised by AUDIO T) 22nd to 24th February.

We would love to tell you more but we are sworn to secrecy until the launch date!

Ruark Audio

Available at
Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Online, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea

The Innuos Zen Mini Mk3 - Ripping Your Music CDs With Ease

My skepticism of high end ripping units has always been true but the Innuos Zen Mini Mk3 has swayed me to say the least. The simplicity of feeding it a CD and seeing magically appearing on your streaming platform can’t be underestimated.

Capable of storing up to a thousand CDs on even it’s smallest 1TB hard drive the Innuos Zen Mini Mk3 gives you ample room to grow your music collection.

Simplifying your music collection has never been easier

This is not to say that it doesn’t have the nerd out stats and control that many of us (including myself) desire. Simply type my.innuos.com into your browser and there it is, supporting DSD, FLAC and WAV at CD native bit rates.

USB External DAC Support

The Innuos Zen Mini Mk3 isn’t simply a music server, it competently takes on the role of streaming as well. Having both digital and analogue output makes the price tag very appealing and working with Squeezebox gives you access to Tidal, Spotify and Qobuz at hi-res with no limitations. It also has a Roon core built in as standard.

Built in 192kHz 24biti

DAC

The Zen Mini is built with fantastic precision having hardware that quite literally outperforms the very computer I’m writing this blog on! An Intel Quad Core with 4GB Ram is more than you could ever need.

The slot loading TEAC disc drive rips through a CD in about 5 minutes, getting you through your collection quickly. The auto metadata collection is accurate and foolproof. Any unrecognised albums are conveniently put under ‘quarantine’ for later review and manual tagging.

Considering it costs less than many streamers that exist today it’s a hard product to dismiss, killing two birds with one stone. I simply can’t find anything to improve being one of the easiest Hi-Fi products I’ve ever used and with excellent sound quality to boot!

if you’re in the market to digitise your music collection and de-clutter without compromising on sound quality, then we would certainly recommend giving the Innuos Zen Mini serious consideration. As always, we’re happy to give you a demonstration.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wow!

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

This Arcam SA20 amplifier continues to impress...

Thanks for reading. - Audio T Swansea.

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

A New R Series From KEF At Audio T Brentwood

We’ve just recently received our new R Series speakers from KEF and we’re loving what they do. KEF have revamped the R series with new components and a radical grille aesthetic and it really works.

The previous range was a hit but KEF have once again filtered down technology from their acclaimed Reference series to produce a winning combination of finish and performance.

Pictured below is the new R7 in walnut finish and is absolutely beautiful.

With its colour matched drivers and beautiful wood veneer the R7 really is a handsome beast.

There are actually 7 speakers in the R series but for the moment we are going to concentrate on the R7 seen above, the R5 and the R3.

They all use the familiar KEF UniQ drivers to give point source accuracy, an approach which has been continually refined over the years this, coupled with new cabinet technologies like Shadow Flare to reduce edge diffraction and flexible port technology, makes for a winning combination in the sound quality stakes.

The R5 is a slightly smaller floorstander seen here in the piano black finish.

Here you can see the ingenious terminal arrangement for the R5 with KEF’s integral link knobs for bi-amping or bi-wiring.

The R3 is another true three way design but this time in a stand mount configuration

Probably the best colour to show off the rather radical grilles which are perforated microfibre and feel like suede!

So how do they sound?

Well the good news is that across these three models there is definitely a family continuity.

Run with our new Primare I35 and CD35 this is a range which exhibits a beautifully even performance across the frequency range with lovely spaciousness o the sound and great imaging.

Steven Wilson’s album, To the Bone came across with great authority but also delicacy where needed and the highly intelligent (if somewhat racy) pop of Janelle Monae’s new album Dirty Computer really had a lot of drive and flow.

With a size available to match most rooms and systems we think this R series is going to be a huge success for KEF.

Why not come and have a listen! Thanks for reading. Paul, Jason and Francis - Audio T Brentwood

KEF Loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T: Brentwood, Bristol, Cardiff, Enfield, Manchester, Online, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Focal Headphone Triple Treat: Clear, Elear And Elegia Get You Wired For Sound.

The iconic Sony Walkman was introduced to the world in 1979, thus starting a revolution in portable music. Of course headphones were a key part of that movement. Suddenly people everywhere were seen wandering the streets and on subways wearing little discs on their ears.

Trapped in their own world (or even free to roam their own little audio heaven) people just loved music on the go. From then on headphones give us absolute control over our audio-environment, allowing us to privatise our own space. But it also represented a shift in our basic relationship to music.

And then of course came the Mp3/Ipod movement and then the high end music player market. As a result we (the industry) have had a year on year growth in headphone sales for the last decade.

But that's not the only reason for great headphone sales over the last decade or so. In 2014 GQ magazine had a headphone spread on its website and made this quote “The newest fashion accessory isn't a fashion accessory at all. It's head-swaddling high-style headphones ,that make as much of a statement as anything you're wearing”. So looking and sounding good is a must.

Enter the Focal headphones.

The headphone cable is covered with a braided-cotton sleeving to prevent any electrostatic charge. It looks good and will prevent our Chromey getting a shock!!!

The stamp “fabrique en Francais” make the team at Focal quite proud and create beautiful products.

Pictured above are The Clear headphones.

Clear are the brand new open-back high-fidelity headphone made by Focal. Continuing in the spirit of Utopia and Elear and using the best of Focal technologies, Clear offer the sensation of listening to your favourite music in a space that no longer has limits. Discover the emotion of music, thanks to Clear's ability to recreate the tiniest details of the recording.

20mm memory foam ear cushion covered with a perforated microfibre fabric.

Key points:

• Open-back design for use at home

• Exclusive full-range speaker driver with an 'M'-shape Aluminum/Magnesium dome (patent pending)

• Excellent performance when connected to an audiophile portable stereo

• A listening experience very close to that provided by high-fidelity loudspeakers

• Comfortable and ergonomic.

Pictured above are the Elear headphones.

Elear is an open back pair of headphones featuring numerous innovations from Focal, which are key to their outstanding acoustics performance. Elear offers the world’s first, full range and fully open back loudspeaker, built-in to a pair of headphones. Additionally, they are made from an Aluminum-Magnesium blend, in a formed shape, unique to Focal with the company’s brand new “M” shape dome. This new dome shape has originated from the research performed during the Utopia headphone project that will offer the highest quality sound, while avoiding potential avenues of distortion.

The acoustic quality of this exclusive solution allowed Focal to avoid the use of any crossover or passive filtering process in order to achieve a frequency response from 5Hz to 23kHz.

The result is thus impressively realistic, making the headphones virtually disappear and providing listeners with a truly unique high-fidelity audio experience. Elear also benefits from the R&D done on Utopia. With regards to mechanical design, the rotation traditionally included on the yoke has been moved into the headband to ensure the total purity of the design. The microfiber fabric, used on the cushions, offers a true comfort for all head shapes and sizes – a quality that is mandatory for long listening sessions.

Pictured above is the Elegia headphone.

Elegia is an audiophile circum-aural closed-back pair of headphones from Focal. The ergonomic design makes them incredibly comfortable and offers excellent sound isolation, making these headphones the ideal solution for long listening sessions. Continuing its headphone development programme, the Focal R&D team has introduced several new innovations, all with incredible audio performance in mind. The full-range 'M'-shape aluminium/magnesium dome speaker driver provides a very high frequency response, which is the basis for Elegia’s supremely dynamic sound. In addition, the frameless voice coil, which is lightweight yet incredibly stiff, reproduces the minutest details that adds to the convincing all-round performance. With its incredible tonal balance combined with long-term comfort, the Elegia is a key reference in the high-end closed-back headphones sector.

The leather and microfibre headband is a feature on all 3 headphones. (not perforated on the Elear’s)

Ok so that's the technical details out of the way. How many different specs could you possibly need before we all start to glaze over? What we really want is the music to start flowing, so without further ado, here are our deliberations.

How do they sound?
Well The Clear are certainly the best of the bunch, sounding much more detailed with an openness and airiness that lends it self to the lightweight diaphragm in the Clear's which is much more responsive than the Elear and Elegia.

But to be fair, and this isn't a cop out, all three of the Focal headphones sound impressive for their respective price points, but don’t take our word for it, come and have a listen and decide for yourself!

£1399 for The Clear, £895 for The Elear and £799 for The Elegia. But in all honesty the proof of the pudding is in the listening. So get yourselves over to our store on Bridge Street Manchester, all of the featured headphones are on demo.

Mike, Munir, Dave and Simon (Haden on Sunday's) will be there to help you to turn on, tune in and drop out.

And remember, our Cliff can’t be wrong. As seen in The Guardian’s top ten worst video’s ever made.

Focal Hi-Fi products are available from the following branches of Audio T: Bristol, Cheltenham, Online, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Chord Electronics Prove That High End Digital Audio Is Simply A Matter Of Scale!

Firstly, a big thank you to all of our wonderful customers for keeping us so busy throughout the festive season. Our successful campaign against ongoing Brexit gloom didn’t leave us time to post blogs for a while, but far be it from us to complain about buoyant business!

Now the decorations are packed away we have finally had the chance to pay more attention to some recently arrived new products. One which has really grabbed our attention is the Chord Hugo M-Scaler an utterly amazing digital audio upscaler capable of taking standard CD 44.1kHz resolution all the way up to 705.6kHz and an even more impressive 768kHz from 96kHz input when used with Chord’s dual BNC DACs, Qutest, Hugo TT 2 and DAVE.

We are fortunate enough to have a demo DAVE DAC in store so linked it up to our new M-Scaler.

The music streaming source was an Auralic Aries Mini, connected to M-Scaler with a Chord Shawline USB cable, giving us access to high resolution music files from both Tidal Masters and Qobuz Sublime.

Using Chord Shawline XLR cables, we hooked DAVE up to our mighty Chord SPM1050 Mk 2 power amp.

We currently have a pair of Reference 1 speakers on loan from KEF for evaluation and thought this system would be ideal to put them through their paces.

We were right! Even from cold, with both M-Scaler and KEF speakers requiring running in, this system sounded stunning. Actually, the system itself disappeared, leaving just the music, alive and tangible in the room. There was no hint of edginess or harshness. Digital has never sounded this good, or so analogue! Digital designer Rob Watts has been chasing 1 million tap length filters for many years, believing that this was what was required to reproduce 44.1kHz audio properly with accurate transients. M-Scaler with DAVE achieves this. Having heard the results we have no reason to doubt Rob’s thinking.

This system plays music effortlessly. It has all the attributes of a high end vinyl based system with none of the downsides. The initial purchase costs aren’t trivial but long term ownership would be less fussy than an esoteric turntable and cartridge with minimal maintenance by comparison. It’s food for thought…

We love great music, whatever the source, and really want to share the musical nirvana this fantastic system provides.

Just call or email us to book a demo. You won’t be disappointed!

See you soon,

Alan, John and Wayne - Audio T Southampton

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

The Majik Of Linn Hi-Fi Products Are Now Available At Audio T Oxford

After an hiatus of 25 years, we are proud to announce that we are now an official Linn dealer at Audio T Oxford.

Linn, based in Glasgow is one of the oldest and most respected British Hi-Fi manufacturers. An engineering firm; building turntables, loudspeakers, amplifiers and digital network music players. Never one to follow the herd, Linn led the development of digital music streaming and network systems.

The iconic Sondek LP12 - (pictured above) has been in production continuously since 1973. Every single Sondek LP12 is made by hand and signed by the person who builds it. Every single Sondek made, has the capability to be upgraded to the latest specification. Our resident turntable Guru, Chris Henry, has been servicing, upgrading and generally fettling them for over 40 years!.

The three ranges are Majik LP12, Akurate LP12 and Klimax LP12.

We are stockists of the Linn Majik DSM, a true one-box two-channel music system (available in black or silver) with a powerful 90W per channel amplifier, 15 digital (HDMI, coaxial, optical ) & analogue inputs, a built-in phono stage (MM) for connecting a turntable, Tidal & Qobuz lossless streams are supported, streaming from a NAS and Internet radio.

The system can be controlled via both iOS and Android apps, a computer desktop option is available too. A remote control for convenience is supplied.

The Linn Majik DSM is a truly versatile system that allows you to connect a turntable, TV, set-top box or a games console - No problem. There are 3 optical, 3 coaxial, 4 HDMI and 4 analogue inputs (one of them for a turntable).

Linn have had years to perfect the control system and the Linn Kazoo control app is well designed and is a delight to use. Choose your source, select your music and play - That’s it.

This is a great music system, at a very reasonable price. Packed full of detail and rhythm. It will make you want to listen to more music. Whether that be your favourite records or to stream your music digitally it’s fantastic!

So come on in and have a listen to one of the best British Hi-Fi brands around!

Linn Hi-Fi Products are available at the following branches of Audio T:
Brighton, Bristol, Manchester, Oxford, Swindon

Cute KEF LSX Wireless Speakers

After the success of the wireless LS50, KEF have released a smaller, less expensive model called the LSX, and at £1000 they are a very attainable price.

KEF LSX Red

Available in a range of funky colours including Red (pictured above) Green, Blue, White and Black.

KEF LSX Rear

They have most of the functionality of the LS50 wireless but have the advantage over the LS50 of not needing the ethernet cable joining the two speakers, making them wireless other than the mains cables.

You have the option of directly connecting other devices via an optical or analogue cable, and you can also add an active subwoofer for extra bass if you wish. The wireless options include Bluetooth, Tidal and Spotify streaming and playing from a UPNP hard drive.

KEF LSX input sockets

You use the same combo of apps as the LS50 wireless. The KEF Control app is for setting the speakers up and changing inputs, and the Stream app for playing UPNP, Tidal or Spotify.

KEF Control App

KEF Stream App

The LSX sound surprisingly full, especially considering their compact size. Why not come in and have a listen and judge for yourself.

KEF LSX next to a 12” record

Thanks for reading. These and KEF loudspeakers are available for demonstration at Audio T Portsmouth and the following branches of Audio T: Brentwood, Bristol, Cardiff, Enfield, Manchester, Online, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

2018 Record Recommendations And Ortofon Cartridges to Play Them On!

In 2018 the Danish Cartridge manufacturer Ortofon celebrated its centenary. Yes you read that right. One hundred years and still going strong! Still making some of the best reproducers of music that your vinyl will ever give up its information for! And guess what? We love them!

Whether you decide to go for a moving magnet type from the 2M range or a more expensive option from the moving coil ranges such as Quintet or Cadenza your vinyl will be reproduced in such a way that you will hear way more of those tiny details, more space around all the instruments and a more open soundstage with music coming at you from further outside of the speaker cabinets than ever before!

2M Red

Of course the Cadenza range will be the logical port of call for those with a higher quality turntable and arm combinations and will eke out so much detail that you will be playing all your vinyl all over again because it will sound so amazing!

Cadenza Bronze

Of course the range we sell the most of are the 2M, which is a great range to pick from if you have something like an entry level Rega or Project deck and are hankering after a nice upgrade from the supplied cartridge (we will even fit it for you free of charge too!). The Ortofon 2M red is the place to start!

The Ortofon Bronze with its nude (ooh err!) fine line stylus is a great tracker and will help to reduce record wear and groove distortion. The body being made from a newly developed Noryl plastic/glass combination giving precise and accurate retrieval of the information. Designed by Ortofon former chief engineer and cartridge genius Per Winfield the 2M range really do punch above their weight!

Over the past year we have been using various of the Ortofon cartridges to play a selection of our favourite albums from the past year. Here are a few recommendations all of which sound amazing and all of which will help to show off just how good that new turntable can sound. So in no particular order, here goes………

Equinox Infinity

This was Jon’s pick…..Equinox Infinity by Jean Michel Jarre. This one really is a welcome return to form from the French Synth wizard and quite possibly his best piece of music since the original Equinox. This one uses themes from the first Equinox but weaves them into lush undulating soundscapes of analogue synthiness that will make your hifi really come to life!

Riverside

Next we have Farid’s choice cut of the year in the form of an album titled Wasteland by Polish prog rockers Riverside. This is their first album since the untimely death of their guitar player Piotr Grudzinski and it has a distinctly melancholy feel to it. Again it is superbly recorded with a lush expansive open soundstage and features a great set of songs beautiful in its bleakness and exquisitely played. wasteland features some of the most gorgeously painful moments any band has ever committed to vinyl.

All Traps On Earth

Andy’s album of the year by miles and miles and miles is the very lovely thing that is A Drop of Light by All Traps on Earth. I have mentioned this one in a previous blog so will keep it short! A double album in a gate-fold sleeve beautifully packaged and even more beautifully sounding. This is proggressive rock of the highest quality and is one of those that just keeps on getting better every time you listen to it. This is basically what the band Anglagard have become and features twisted rhythms of astonishing virtuosity and has some of the deepest bass you will ever hear on a rock music album. And they have not one but two Mellotrons! Nuff said!!

GoGo Penguin

A (very) honourable mention goes to this one ….. A Humdrum Star by GoGo Penguin. The bands fourth album and second one for the BlueNote record label finds them mixing electronic sounds with jazz rock elements and wickedly good interplay between acoustic bass grooves and wonderful rolling piano melodies (the drummer isn’t too bad either!). Another one of those albums that genuinely is of demo quality. Many thanks to Red House Records in Swindon for the recommendation.

You genuinely will not be disappointed with any of these and if you have any Christmas prezzie money burning a hole in your pocket……….well you know what to do!

See you again in the 2019 for more bloggy loveliness.

Andy, Jon and Farid - Audio T Cheltenham

Ortofon cartridges are available at all branches of Audio T.

Rega record players are available at all branches of Audio T

Pro-ject record players are available at the following branches of Audio T:
Brentwood, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Online, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Swansea, Swindon

Primare And The Wonderful Prisma Technology Arrives At Audio T Brentwood

We’ve just received our new stock of Primare equipment and we’re mightily impressed! This Swedish company has been making exceptional Hi-Fi products for over thirty years and always with a beauty of style and sound. They have now launched a new “connectivity and control technology” called Prisma which can be incorporated in their new modular range of separates.

Firstly they’re beautiful!

And the fit and finish is exceptional.

The first two models to show are the 35 range comprising I35 integrated amp and CD35 integrated CD player or DD35 CD transport. They sound gorgeous. Appropriately we put a CD of Eivor into the player, the album Slor, and the sense of scale and imagery through the Bowers and Wilkins 805 speakers was breathtaking. The addition of the Prisma technology takes them to another level adding app control, Bluetooth, Airplay, and Spotify Connect. Prisma also has Chromecast built in allowing you to cast from your phone or tablet direct to the Prisma module.

The I35 has analogue (balanced and single ended) and digital inputs as well making it a truly versatile and comprehensive performer.

Down from that is the 15 range comprising the I15 integrated amp and DD15 CD transport

These are equally beautifully built and can also be equipped with the same Prisma technology as their bigger siblings.

Sticking with the Scandinavian theme, we put some of Bjork’s most recent Utopia album on playing through the equally Scandi Dali Oberon 5 speakers. This album has an incredibly wide dynamic range which just sang through the speakers being driven by the little I15 (they’re only about 2/3 width).

We are really looking forward to getting to know these lovely components better, why not come in and try them for yourself.

We would like to thank all of our customers this year and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Paul, Francis, Jason and Boswell

Primare Hi-Fi products are available at the following branches of Audio T:
Brentwood, Bristol, Cheltenham, Manchester

Michell My Belle! Customer Upgrades His Gyro Turntable With Michell Techno Tonearm

Christmas arrives a little early for one of our customers as he has treated himself to a new tone arm on his Michell Gyro turntable. He had an ageing Rega RB300 previously installed on the turntable that was starting to become troublesome. With our advice the customer chose the obvious choice, the Michell Techno A tonearm in black to match the existing finish of the turntable.

Michell Gyro with new Techno A arm fitted

At the same time we have also removed the old acrylic plinth and lid giving the deck a much slicker look and feel. This was achieved by adding the Michell Gyro Spyder kit as shown below. The old deck is dismantled and the feet are removed from the plinth and threaded on to the new Spyder.

Michell Gyro Spyder kit

Techno A arm unboxing

New arm mounting plate

The old arm mounting plate needs to be replaced as it is the single mounting point plate. The new mounting plate is seen fitted in place above. The new three point mount all ready for the new tone arm.

Tonearm mount from top

Techno A arm fitted

Next we need to fit the cartridge to the tonearm. Our customer decided to go for the Rega Ania MC cartridge as shown below.

Rega ANIA MC cartridge during fitting

Rega ANIA MC cartridge

Now we need to adjust the height of the tonearm to make sure the vertical tracking angle is correct for the cartridge installed. This is achieved by the clever Michell thread at the mounting of the arm. In this case no adjustment was needed so the three mounting screws can tightened to fix the tonearm in place.

Tonearm height adjustment

Michell Techno A arm Scallop counter weights

Two different weight scallops are supplied depending on the weight of your cartridge. In this case the larger of the two has been used.

Scallop counter weight in place

Checking tracking force

Above we are checking the tracking weight using Project Measure IT stylus balance gage.

Ready for the first play

Cue up ready……”drop the needle on the record”

Michell HR power supply + Nytech CDP122

Above is the is older Michell HR power supply (this has now been replaced with a more modern looking box and case work) alongside the Nytech CDP122, our weapon of choice at the moment when it comes to supplying moving magnet or moving coil setups.

Final pic of the completed setup

Thanks to Steve for his permission to blog about his latest audio upgrade. In the pic above we have the front of his home cinema setup. The classic Pioneer plasma, Arcam AVR550, REL S3, Oppo UDP-203 & the now discontinued Bowers & Wilkins 683S2 teamed with the HTM61S2 center speaker. He finishes off his surround system with two B&W M1 speakers on the rear and B&W CCM665 in the ceiling for Dolby Atmos, creating a very impressive 5.1.2 system. Michell Techno A arm and Rega ANIA MC cartridge is available from all branches of Audio T.

Michell Engineering turntables are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Brentwood, Cardiff, Manchester, Southampton, Swansea

Thanks for reading: Hefin, Nick (blogger) and Kerrin Audio T Cardiff.

New Linn Majik LP12 + Majik DSM Seasonal Offer until 29th January

Linn have surprised us here at Audio T Brighton by introducing a new Linn Majik Tonearm that will initially be included as part of the Majik LP12 combination, making this an even more attractive proposition as the price remains the same. The tonearm will become available separately in Spring 2019.

New Linn Majik Tonearm

The Linn Seasonal Promotion 2018 is an outstanding offer of Majik LP12 + Majik DSM for £5000, a saving of £425. Simply add speakers and you have a fine system for playing records and streaming. This offer runs until 29th January 2019.

A beautiful new Linn Sondek LP12 in Rosenut with Majik Tonearm and Adikt Cartridge pictured above. This customer chose to upgrade from Majik LP12 specification with the addition of Lingo 4 Motor & Power Supply, and Kore Sub Chassis taking the turntable to another level of music making.

Linn Majik DSM Network Music Player and amplifier in one box with analogue and digital inputs.

Linn Hi-Fi products are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Brighton, Bristol, Manchester, Oxford, Swindon

Winter Sale Now On! Christmas Hi-Fi Stocking Fillers from Arcam, KEF, Rega, Bowers & Wilkins

If you are finding it hard to find to that perfect gift or stocking filler, DON'T PANIC, here at Audio T Preston, we can help with a few ideas for any Hi-Fi or music lover in your life.

WINTER SALE NOW ON!

First up we have the Arcam mini-Blink at just £99 this is a great stocking filler that will fit into any amplifier and let’s you Bluetooth sound from your phone/laptop or tablet.

Very easy to set up and use, this Bluetooth DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter) sounds so much better than connecting through the headphone output even when using a good quality cable, more output and much more dynamic.

The Arcam mini-Blink comes with all the cables and power supply included, so you can be up and streaming in no time. We recommend downloading the Tunein radio app via the Apple app store or Android Playstore, to give you access to internet radio.

Keeping it Bluetooth we have the KEF Muo portable speaker.

At just 21cm wide and 0.94kg this little rechargeable speaker, packs a punch and is perfect for the listener who is on the move.

The Muo has a battery life of up to 12 hours when fully charged (3hours charging time) and 10m Bluetooth range.

Available in gold/silver/blue and grey at £150 it's a great option.

It's been another great year for turntables with sales overtaking CD players again, a great place to start is the Rega Planar 1 at just £249.

NOT SUPPLIED WITH PINK VINYL.

This is a great plug and play record player is easy to set up and it can be up and running in no time, the only thing to check is to make sure your amplifier has a designated phono stage.

NOT SUPPLIED WITH PINK VINYL.

If you don’t have a phone stage, fear not! The Rega P1 Plus has one built in and all you need to do is connect it to any line level input on your amplifier.

Both available in black or white.

If your looking to make that daily commute a little more enjoyable we have the award winning Bowers & Wilkins PX headphones.

These noise cancelling Bluetooth headphones even have their own app to perform updates and settings to match your environment, they are a closed back design so do not leak out sound and annoy your fellow commuters.

With a 22 hour battery life they are perfect for that long haul flight and can be wired, just don't forget the adaptor.

The PX's can be folded up for easy transporting and are supplied with a carry bag/usb charging cable & 3.5mm wired cable.

Available in black or soft gold.

These are just a few suggestions, please call in and we will be happy to chat about other options that would make a perfect gift, especially as our Winter Sale has just started!

On a different note (no pun intended ed) a big thank you to all who attended our Classic album evening on 20th November. Having not done one in a long time it was great to see a few familiar faces...and a few new ones too. Thanks for coming along and supporting the event.

We look forward to seeing you all over the festive period.

Have a great Christmas and New Year!

Ian and Gavin.

Rip, Serve and Play - The New Innuos Zen Mini MK3 Music Server Has Arrived At Audio T Swindon

Innuos, a company that was founded in 2009, offer an easy solution to store your CD collection to its internal hard drive. This can be done by either ripping your CD’s or importing an existing music library via USB. Internal disk storage is available from 1TB up to 8TB.

We were really impressed by the previous model and this new Innuos Zen Mini MK3 is even better.

Innuos Zen Mini MK3 Music Server

Innuos Zen Mini MK3

The new Zen Mini MK3 now features analogue and two digital outputs (coaxial & optical) so it can be directly connected to an amplifier. Another option is to connect the server to a USB DAC via one of the four USB sockets - Nice. A second low-noise Ethernet socket to which one can directly connect a third party Roon Ready / UPNP music streamer.

Set-Up and Connecting it:

We connected our Zen Mini MK3 via an Ethernet cable to our network, applied power to it and switched it on. It was found on the network within seconds.

Once switched on you will see a menu bar and we go straight to settings.

In there, we set the ripping file format to either WAV or FLAC and left the ripping speed set to Quick Mode (and it is quick!) - That’s it We are ready to rip our first CD.

Not long and the correct artwork and information has been found and the Zen Mini MK3 starts ripping the first CD.

Very useful: Missing artwork and CD information can be added or edited if necessary.

As mentioned before existing music libraries can be imported .

For those who have a have a Tidal, Qobuz or a Spotify account, just add your log-in details and the services will be available via the control app.

All in all, the new Innuos Zen Mini MK3 sounds great and is easy to use.

Please get in touch with us here in the shop and we will be happy to give you a demonstration.

Thanks for reading. Stefan & Andy Audio T Swindon

Innuos products are available from the following branches of Audio T

Brentwood, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon and our Online Store