System Synergy! Creating A Great Sounding Home Hi-Fi System Using Naim, Rega & Acoustic Energy

According to Wikipedia, Synergy, is the creation of a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts. At Audio T we have a wealth of knowledge and experience gained from working over many years, with a multitude of different Hi-Fi manufacturers and their products. This collective knowledge means we can suggest and created great value, balanced and musically satisfying home audio systems. We also know that partnering a series of 5 star award winning products doesn’t always make for a great sounding Hi-Fi system!

So, with that in mind, we thought it would put together a complete mid-level Hi-Fi system for small to medium sized rooms, that would cope equally well with reproducing vinyl, but also introduce the option of entering the world of high quality music streaming. We wanted to put together something that would straight away get to the heart of the music and the artists performance, in a thoroughly enjoyable way.

To meet our brief, we have put together some new outstanding products with an old but good favourite. So what have we lined up?

·      Naim Nait XS3 amplifier

·      Naim ND5XS2 streamer

·      Rega Planar 6 with Exact moving magnet cartridge

·      Acoustic Energy AE500 bookshelf speakers

The talented individuals - but do they excel as a team?

Naim Nait XS3

The new Naim Nait XS3 amplifier makes a simple, elegant and powerful music playing solution. The amplifier is all analogue, with a wide and flexible range of inputs; the moving magnet phono stage is a new introduction for this model to reflect the resurgence of vinyl. It makes a great low-box pairing with the matching ND5 XS 2 streamer

Sideways glance..

Naim ND5XS2

The ND5XS2 uses the latest innovative new streaming platform from Naim with an expanded feature set. This is a versatile player giving access to a full range of streaming options including Tidal, Spotify, Internet radio etc. Naturally you can additionally install a server should you wish to stream local files; ripped CDs, Hi-Res downloads etc. It’s also Blutooth and Chromecast enabled. The Naim software can be operated from a mobile phone or tablet. The ND5XS2 can form part of a multi-room setup with other Naim streaming products too. The quality and versatility of the Naim streaming app is very good indeed.

Rega Planar 6 and Exact MM

The Planar 6 benefits from the trickle-down technology derived from ongoing research at Rega. It follows the Rega design ethic of a low mass but rigid structure, to minimise unnecessary distortion. It comes with an advanced anti-vibration motor circuit powered by a separate NEO power supply, tuned to each individual deck. Regas’ attention to rigidity is further enhanced by a double brace between the tonearm and the hub pillars to further accuracy in playback. It is clear that a lot of thought and engineering detail had gone into this simple but elegant package.

Planar 6, Exact and Aswad!

Acoustic Energy AE 500

The AE500 is a new compact stand-mount loudspeaker from the flagship AE 500 Series. It features a newly developed carbon fibre tweeter and mid/bass drivers, to enhance musical power and accuracy, but with improved self-damping for a smoother, more transparent sound. It is an attractive speaker, well put together and surprisingly heavy, given its size!

Showing the carbon drivers

Well, the important bit is how does the system sound?

It sounds very balanced and dynamic, able to easily convey the depth, richness and dynamics available from vinyl. The voicing and phono stage of the XS3 amplifier and the Rega combine to provide a very convincing and immersive sound.

The ND5 XS2 benefits from classic Naim engineering and fastidious attention to detail ensuring that it delivers natural, engaging sound quality from all streamed digital sources. Its musical and technical performance is highly satisfying and informative.

Throughout all this the XS3 provides a solid, powerful and musically coherent, tonally accurate foundation, to allow the system to really breathe and unleash the music.

The AE 500’s more than hold up their end of the bargain being rich, dynamic, insightful and faithful to the intensity of the performance. Given their size they cannot defy the laws of physics and produce prodigious bass, but they nonetheless give a very solid foundation to the music.

Together, it is a great system that makes you forget what kit you are listening to and instead become immersed in the musical performance. Everything works well together to produce an exceptional result. That is true Synergy.

If you are looking for a system built around compact speakers, you need to have a listen to this!

All items are available for demonstration at Audio T Reading.

Rob - Sales Consultant.

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

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

Acoustic Energy HI-Fi products are available from the following branches of Audio T: Bristol, Cheltenham, Enfield, Online, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Swindon

The Deconstruction (No pun intended) Of Queen's 'Somebody To Love' Used By A Customer Choosing His New HiFi.

The other day, we had a customer, who happened to be a both a huge Queen fan and an ardent drummer. During conversation, he admitted that when listening to music, he always tuned into and appreciated the drums. if the drums weren’t doing it for him, then the system didn’t either!

I’m a big fan of radio or TV programmes that ‘dissect’ classic (normally) rock tracks and I love to hear how they were created and assembled. It occurred to me, that it might be a useful exercise to listen to how exactly Roger Taylor plays the drums. It is, however the only time that I have listened to one such piece as part of a customer demonstration

Christian James Hand is a Californian DJ who does just that. He runs a whole series of radio programmes that analyse classic rock tracks and one of these looked at the composition of ‘Somebody to Love’ (Freddie’s favourite Queen song). We listened, in isolation, to Roger’s hard hitting, repetitive bass drum beats, ending with that great crescendo and used this as a reference point for when listening to the track as a whole.

We started off with a mid-price Japanese separates system but this just wasn’t cutting the mustard. After a couple of changes, we decided to up the budget and focus on a system that really majors on timing: Settling on the new Naim Nait XS3 amplifier with the Naim ND5 XS2 Network Streamer as a source, accompanied by Dynaudio Evoke 30 speakers.

Wow! suddenly the separation of each instrument became clear, but with all of them (along with Freddie’s amazing voice), both gelling and timing perfectly. For the customer, it was a revelation, and one that he could not do without. The system is now ordered and waiting to be installed in his home.

Whether you are a musician or not, you may well find Christian Hand’s programmes interesting. Please click on the link to hear how the song that we used, sounds, when it is stripped down to its very bare essence.

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

Dynaudio loudspeakers are available at the following branches of Audio T: Brighton, Bristol, Cheltenham, Manchester, Online, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Join Us For A Delicious Day Of All Things Vinyl With Two New Products From Rega & Diverse Vinyl

Join Manager Andy Day and an as yet unspecified special guest from Rega on Saturday 2nd November for a very special musical event showcasing two exciting new Rega products.

The long awaited Aethos amplifier, that we are presently awaiting the arrival of with baited breath……..and the new Rega Planar 10 turntable which will be coupled with the outstanding Rega Aura reference phono-stage; we expect the shop to sing, and swing, like never before!

Click the image to reserve your place or come along on the day!

We have had our new demonstration Rega Planar 10 on constantly since it arrived, just over a fortnight ago and beleive us, it sounds even better than it looks. And it seems, reading our other branches recent blog posts that the concensus is unanimous, so rather than add another superlative review to the an already crowed field we decided our time was better spent just listening to the deck!....But please check out our other branches blog posts and discover just how good this fantastic turntable is - a great way to whet the appetite before paying us a visit on Saturday 2nd November; without wishing to mix the metaphors too much.

In addition, we will also be hosting our good friend's, Diverse Vinyl, who will be bringing more vinyl treats with them than you could possibly flick through in a single afternoon, who will be operating a "pop-up" shop at Audio T, Swindon, just for the day, so you can browse and by the latest and greatest releases on vinyl.

We hope you can join us for a fantastic day of music and Hi-Fi showcasing two exceptional new products. We look much look forward to seeing you then - Andy & Andrew - Audio T Swindon.

Stop it You're Kiln Me! The New Rega Planar 10 Turntable With Ceramic Platter And Brace.

Sorry, we just couldn’t help that pun, but it was well intended. More to the point though, we have now received our spectacular new Rega Planar 10 record player.

We are also pleased to announce an official launch of the Rega Planar 10 on the 19th October 2019 at our Manchester store on Bridge Street. Click on the poster below to reserve your place or come along on the day!

And if that wasn’t exciting enough for all you vinyl heads, Diverse Vinyl will be bringing their pop up vinyl store to Manchester on the 19th too. So you can peruse the record store after you have demonstrated the some of the best turntables on the market.

And now we are thrilled to introduce the new Rega Planar 10.

Here’s a series of unboxing photos for those of you that are curious and can’t wait for our official launch event!

What’s in the box???

Take a quick shot for Instagram.

DB Technology (Double Brace Technology)
“Mass absorbs energy - lost energy equals lost music.” A super lightweight plinth combined with a ceramic top brace and phenolic resin bottom brace mounted specifically where the increased rigidity is required (between the tonearm mounting and the main hub bearing) forms a structurally sound, “stressed beam,” assembly.

Ceramic Platter
The P10 uses a custom ceramic, flywheel effect platter. The platter is produced from ceramic oxide powder which is compressed, fired and diamond cut to ensure perfect accuracy and flatness across the surface. The latest platter features a modified construction with improved coupling to the sub platter.

Aaaahnd relax….

Ultra-lightweight plinth
The Planar 10 is the third Rega turntable constructed using our latest technology the ultra-lightweight Tancast 8 polyurethane foam core (a material developed for the aerospace industry). This material is sandwiched between two layers of HPL (high pressure laminate). HPL is exceptionally thin and extremely rigid. This new construction makes the new Planar 10 skeletal plinth 30% lighter than the original RP10 while offering increased rigidity over the previous model.

The Planar 10 features the new RB3000 tonearm fitted with an improved, low mass, precision bias housing.

The beautifully machined bias adjuster.

The Rega Apheta 3

Make a note of Saturday 19th October in your diary. Records,refreshments and turntables are the order of the day.

We look forward to seeing at the store. The Rega Planar 10 will be on display and playing and we hope to have the new Rega Aethos amplifier available for you to listen to as well!

Come along and ask Dave, Munir, Mike, James and Haden at Audio T Manchester and we will more than happy to spin you some vinyl.

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

Bowers & Wilkins 800D3 & New B&W Formation Music Evening At Audio T Bristol

Join us on Thursday 24th October at 7pm at Audio T Bristol and hear Bowers & Wilkins legendary 800 D3 Series, one of the most iconic and revered loudspeakers in the world today!

The sleepy coastal town of Worthing might not seem to be a hot bed of Hi-Fi innovation, but in the 1960s one man lead the way - John Bowers. For over half a century Bowers and Wilkins has been at the forefront of music experience - to savour every nuance and detail in its purest form as the artists' intended. Then again Worthing defined from the Old English personal name Worth (meaning "valiant one, one who is noble", so maybe destiny was at work…

The iconic 800s series is the flagship class that stretches back to the late 1990s beginning with incorporating nautilus technologies, the separate top mounted tweeter housing and the synonymous yellow Kevlar woven speaker cone.

Change, evolution and relentless innovation in acoustic design and engineering are the cornerstones of B&W and today's 800 series diamond have gone further than before with B&W embarking on one of their most ambitious R&D projects ever undertaken - to re-imagine an icon from the ground up, while expanding the range and maintaining the musicality. Starting with the 805’s two way bookshelf, 804’s three way floorstanders, with material quality, cabinet finish, driver size, frequency response and overall sound stage performance rising through 803’s, 802’s & the top of the range 800’s

B&W product range continues to grow, with their audio expertise finding it's way into BMW, Maserati and McLaren cars, headphones and their Formation range, a whole home audio meshing solution.

At the Bowers & Wilkins 800 D3 Music evening at Audio T Bristol you will also be able to experience the new Formation wireless speaker range from B&W, bringing high level speaker innovation, seamless synchonisation with allowing to play your music from whatever source you have digital or analogue. The product line that began with the award winning Zeppelin has now evolved into an array of wireless solutions providing minimalist multi-room musical bliss.

For some people it's enough to hear music, but for some it's a life long journey an all encompassing hobby, others have just never heard the difference. Join us on THURSDAY 24TH OCTOBER FROM 7:30PM at Audio T Bristol with Matt from B&W as he guides us through the Formation series and 800 range and enjoy an evening experience new levels of music performance.

Click here to reserve your place at this not to be missed event or come along on the day.

We look forward to seeing you. Max, James & Justin.

Essex Appeal! The New Rega Aethos Amplifier Arrives At Audio T Brighton

Hot on the heels of our Rega Planar 10 turntable fitted with the new Apheta3 cartridge, comes another new product from those clever and ingenious people from Southend-on-Sea.

Rega Planar 10 with Apheta 3 cartridge

Rob Noble and Phil Freeman from Rega arrived on Saturday 5th October with the shiny new Aethos amplifier and what an amp it is!

Rega Aethos

The newest amplifier in Rega’s range has been designed to fill the gap between the Elicit R and the Osiris

Rega Aethos rear view

This is a serious amplifier and went down a storm with all who attended on the day and was demonstrated with our Planar 10 turntable and the Saturn R CD player

RB3000 tonearm with Apheta3 fitted

The biggest disappointment of the day was having to put it back in its box to continue its journey to some of our other branches for more lucky customers to hear it.

Regas’ new addition to the family has arrived

Our demonstration model is due in the next 6 to 8 weeks at which time we can do a more in depth review but for now we’ll have to make do with the memory and look forward it its arrival in due course.

Keep an eye on our blog or the Audio T website and as soon as you see it, we should have one available here for you to take a listen to, we know you’ll not be disappointed and we will look forward to demonstrating it to you.

We look forward to seeing you soon. Julian, John & Paul - Audio T Brighton.

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

The Rega Has Landed! NEW Rega Planar 10 with Apheta 3 At Audio T Portsmouth Now

Ladies and Gentlemen, the wait is over. You can now come in to our Portsmouth store to experience the new Rega Planar 10 with Apheta 3 cartridge ahead of the dedicated launch event next month.

The Rega planar 10 on display in the portsmouth store

The eagerly awaited Rega Planar 10, inspired by the Naiad, possibly their most definitive turntable, is now with us.  Rega decided early on that instead of an evolution of the previous RP10, the new Planar 10 was to be developed and engineered to encapsulate the essence of the Naiad at a more affordable price.

The PL10 boasts a new RB3000 tonearm which implements an enhanced, low mass, precision bias housing, complimented by a central hub bearing assembly with improved mechanical integrity. All of this brought together by the new Apheta 3 cartridge using Rega’s most advanced "Fine Line" diamond profile.

Apheta 3 cartridge

…But don’t take our word for it…

Should you want to come down and talk to the fine folk from Rega as well as peruse the latest offerings from Diverse Vinyl, the official launch roadshow will be in our store on Saturday 16th November

Click here or the poster above to reserve your place or come along on the day!

We look forward to seeing you in store!

Brad, Nick and Joe - Audio T Portsmouth

Be sure to keep an eye on whats happening in the Portsmouth store by following our Instagram and Facebook

Rega products are available in all Audio T Stores.

Exclusive Rega Planar 10 And Aethos Amplifier Product Launch & Vinyl Event At Audio T Cardiff

If you love your music played on vinyl, then this is an event not to be missed! We are proud to be hosts for the exclusive launch of the NEW Rega Planar 10 turntable and Aethos amplifier.

The Date : Thursday October 10th here at Audio T Cardiff.

Also joining us will be Kellys Records with a pop-up shop. They are Wales’ largest vinyl store, so they will have a great selection of LP’s for you to browse and buy.

To reserve your place click here or come along on the day. Either way, we hope you can join us for what promises to be a fantastic day of music and Hi-Fi from 10:30 am until 5:30 pm.

We look forward to seeing you!

Hefin, Nick and Kerrin - Audio T Cardiff

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

"We All Need One Of These 'Suckers!" ProJect VC-S2 Alu Record Cleaning Machine

Over the years there have been so many record and stylus maintenance products brought to market; record cloths, stylus brushes, sticky rollers, carbon fibre record brushes, anti-static guns etc, these ranged from just a few pounds to £50+ with varying degrees of success.

Pro-Ject VC-S2 Alu shown with optional Carbon fibre stylus and record brushes

Alongside these relatively affordable items lurked a number of quite exotic and in some cases hideously expensive record cleaning machines (RCM); many extremely complex in design and difficult to house. Since the ‘vinyl revival’ more and more such products have hit the market, some quite outstanding in performance but beyond the means or needs of many.

However, such products display a distinct advantage over the cloths and brushes, they actually remove all the contaminants from the record rather than merely redistribute them more evenly around the surface of the disc giving one the visual impression of a clean record. Sure, the larger fluff particles are mostly lifted by carbon brushes and their daily use is to be encouraged but such fluff is pretty benign in terms of record and stylus wear.

The real damage is caused but much harder particles of dust, grit and metal. Metal? Yes metal; especially true of new records. How’s that, one may ask? Well you only have to look at a moving coil cartridge under a microscope to see attached to the bottom is what looks like grey dust. This ‘dust’ is actually tiny shards of metal swarf (remember those old toys whereby you rearrange metal to put a beard on a face using a magnet?)

MC cartridge caked in dust and metal swarf.

My MC, arrow marks the ‘bridge’ location

So where do these metal particles come from? Well actually the only possible explanation is the factory where they are pressed; probably created by the machinery itself, which means that the most important records to clean are new ones. It’s not only the record and stylus wear that’s exhibited either. My personal and very expensive moving coil cartridge started to produce horrible distortion in low bass notes on just one channel. The distributor found upon examination that such shards of metal had formed a ‘bridge’ like some species of ants do, from the coils on the armature to the yoke impeding the movement of the assembly. Clearly this is bad news for both record and stylus, indeed many will opine that a well looked after stylus and record collection will mean it’ll be the cartridge’s suspension that will deteriorate before the stylus actually wears out; here’s the solution;

Some years back, Project identified a market for an affordable and compact RCM and thus the VC-S was launched later to become the VC-S Mk2, ironing out a few niggles in the original design.

Switch gear.

Now the design has gone through a serious makeover to make it easier to use, quieter in operation and built to last longer whilst looking sleeker too.

Here then is the Pro-ject VC-S2 Alu, and as the name suggests, it has a very elegant aluminium finish using an aluminium-composite laminate, replacing the rather dated vinyl-wrap MDF casework. This means fluid spills no longer can seep into the casework and cause damage; it’s noticeably smaller too.

Operation is a doddle; place the record (I’ll refrain from calling them ‘vinyls’ if I may?) on to the small foam topped platter and screw down the similarly protecting foam surfaced clamp (the foam is there to prevent any fluid soaking into the label) and switch on the motor which rotates at 30rpm. Apply a generous quantity of the provided fluid and, using the goat hair brush provided scrub lightly to agitate all the contaminates to thus be suspended in the solution then simply position the arm across the disc and with the motor still running and switch on the vacuum. After one or two rotations switch the motor to reverse, allow two more rotations before lifting the arm. Finally stop the suction and then repeat on the other side leaving one with a record cleaner than new!

Pro-Ject VC-S2 Alu in action.

The bottom line is that deploying the use of carbon fibre record and stylus brushes and a Project VC-S2 RCM will not only make your records and cartridge sound better but will significantly increase their longevity for a most modest outlay.

Simon Walker - Audio T Reading

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

Silence Is Golden! Experience ISOL-8 Mains Conditioning & Hear The Difference

Join Andy Day and Mark from ISOL-8 on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th September and experience a comprehensive demonstration of ISOL-8's range of mains cable and conditioning products and hear for yourself how they can improve the sound quality of your existing Hi-Fi or home cinema system.​

ISOL-8 offer a comprehensive range of products starting with the standard Powerline, a 4 or 6 outlet, compact strip with an anodised, 6mm thick machined aluminum top plate that includes dedicated sockets for both low and high power connections to serve your individual systems power requirement. With a range of additional benefits available with the Powerline Ultra and Axis models such as transmodal filtering and DC blocking; ISOL-8 even offer a dedicated strip, the 1080, designed to enhance your Home Cinema's performance. Move up to the MiniSub & SubStation series of full-width components, and experience the benefits that individual filters can have by not only attending to mains-borne noise from connected appliances, harmonic distortion and RFI, but also from noise generated with your own system.​

ISOL-8 offer two types of Power Cables, the Wave and the Ultra, both designed to maximise your systems performance and if you attended our ISOL-8 event you could win one of 3 ISOL-8 Wave power cables worth £120. ​

**Enjoy a 15% Discount for any orders placed during this two day event**

Click here to reserve your place for Friday and here for Saturday or simply turn-up on the day and with a few details we will add you to the draw. ​

The ISOL-8 event starts at 12.00 noon on Friday 27th and at 10.00am on Saturday 28th September and both events will conclude at 5.30pm. We look forward to seeing you in store for a event that promises to yield some surprising and exciting results!

Isol-8 mains conditioning products are available from the following branches of Audio T: Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Online, Oxford, Swansea, Swindon

Rega Planar 10 Product Launch And An Exclusive UK Premiere Of The New Russell K Red 150SE

Attention music lovers! join us in store on Saturday 12th October for a feast of music and exclusive new Hi-Fi product launches, which promises to be an event not to be missed!

Rega and Russell K will be here to demonstrate their new products and we are very exited with what is in store! Diverse Vinyl will also bringing their pop up shop and showing off the latest and greatest releases on vinyl! Read on for more details….

Rega is one of our favourite British Hi-Fi brands and they are bringing in the following:

UK Launch of the Aethos Integrated Amplifier: This new amplifier sits between the Rega Elicit-R and Osiris amplifiers. This is a power house of an amplifier with a dual mono design and provides 125w per channel into 8 ohms. So it can drive your speakers with ease and the new pre-amplifier stage uses an excellent Class A design.

UK launch of the new Rega RP10 Turntable. Rega always build all of their record players at their factory in Southend-on-Sea, in Essex England with care and attention and if the previous turntables are anything to go by, it will be pretty special. Click here to read more about it in our news item.

Russell K (Chief designer and owner of Russell K Speakers) will be in the shop as well with new models.

UK Premiere of the new Russell K Red 150SE

Russell will be here to explain and demonstrate his new upgrades:

• New tweeter with metal faceplate

• Modification to Red 150 tweeter crossover

• New sub bass coil

• New plinth and spikes

All of which enhance the sound quality!

Reserve you place here, or come along on Saturday 12th Oct at 10:30 until 6pm to enjoy a great day of music and Hi-Fi!

John, Mahmood, Jason - Audio T Enfield.

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

Russell K loudspeakers are available at the following branches of Audio T: Enfield, Portsmouth, Reading

Bowers & Wilkins 800 D3 Series Update!

We are thrilled to announce that our B&W 800 D3 speaker range is now complete!

Here is 803 D3 in our demonstration room looking ravishing in rosenut and sounding equally magnificent powered by the PMC Cor amplifier.

And now for the icing on the cake…..

The totally stunning 802 D3 looking glorious in their flawless deep gloss black finish. Despite their substantial stature we have been amazed and delighted with the sheer clarity and scale of sound achieved in our modest demonstration room. The PMC Cor has proven itself more than capable of taking full control of 802 D3 to create a totally convincing and beguiling musical experience. Many’s the time we have had to drag ourselves away from extended listening sessions to deal with more mundane duties!

Give your ears a treat and give us a call to book a demonstration in store. All of the 800 D3 speakers are brilliant so don’t forget we also have 805 and 804 in store.

See you soon!

Alan, John and Wayne - Audio T Southampton.

Bowers & Wilkins 800 loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T: Bristol, Southampton.

All other B&W ranges are available the following branches: Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Audioquest Dragonfly Cobalt Portable DAC And Headphone Amplifier "Don't look at the finger, or you'll miss all that heavenly glory" Bruce Lee, Enter The Dragon-fly!

A high quality streaming service such as Qobuz or Tidal delivers high resolution audio heaven! So, why can’t I hear the difference everyone's raving about?

Is this another case of the wool being pulled over our eyes, like serving up a cheap whisky in a heavy glass tumbler and believing that it tastes better?

7 years ago, Audioquest mobilised the world of digital to analogue converters (DACS) with the Dragonfly. While not the first of its kind, Audioquest's work with Gordon Rankin, the digital audio engineer supremo, recognised that most music played via a phone or computer didn’t sound very good. Principally, if the source is digital and you are listening on a mobile device, somewhere in the chain, that information will have to have gone through a low grade digital to analogue conversion process.

DAC circuitry is typically shoehorned into the ever shrinking mobile device - a space measured in nanometres and which is open and exposed to all manner of signal interference which further degrades the sound quality. The Audioquest Dragonfly series is one of the most affordable and portable USB DAC solutions to this problem, whilst offering improved naturally beautiful sound and incorporating a headphpne pre-amplifier all neatly packaged in a USB self powered stick. Just plug in, add headphones and away you go. It’s that simple.

Today, the Dragonfly portable DAC and Headphone amplifier series comprises of the Black, Red and Cobalt. The Black and Red both use the ESS 9010 DAC chip, with the Red employing a higher performance chip and 2.1v rather than 1.2v in the black that allows driving of larger headphones.

The flagship Cobalt has the new, more advanced ESS ES9038Q2M DAC chip with a minimum-phase slow roll-off filter that offers an even more natural sound. The Microchip's superb PIC32MX274 microprocessor draws less current and increases processing speed by 33%. Improved power-supply filtering specifically increases immunity to WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular noise.

During testing in all cases and genres of music the sound stage opens up - certainly no sheep involved. The space, clarity and layers revealed make for a more engaging listening experience. The headphone amp in the Cobalt really drives bigger 'cans' effortlessly. Listening to the opening section of Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 in B minor the Bassoon (or Bass clarinet depending on recording) played pppppp (that's six pianissimo) is night and day in comparison with directly connecting to the source.

But don’t take our word for it! Pop in to Audio T Bristol and have a listen with your mobile phone or laptop with the Audioquest Dragonfly Editions and experience the improvement in sound quality yourself. We can promise you there’s no wool or cheap whisky to be seen and you should hear a big difference!

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

The Flagship Marantz PM10 Amplifier and SA10 CD Player

It is interesting to note, that whilst most Hi-Fi manufacturers are reducing the numbers of CD players that they produce, Marantz still totally support and indeed embrace the format!

The SA10 is proof in the metal and is probably the best disc player that money can buy. Capable of playing CD’s, SACD’s and DVD-R’s and equipped with fully balanced outputs and a high quality DAC for other digital sources, this machine is possibly the finest player that we have ever heard (we would love to compare it to the Naim CD 555). if you think that CD’s are dead, then this might be time to think again!

To accompany this beautiful player, Marantz have produced the equally stunning PM10 amplifier. Whilst technically an integrated amplifier; in reality, inside the box, it is a dual mono pre-amplifier with two monoblock power amplifiers. Capable of 200wpc into 8 ohms and doubling to 400wpc into 4 ohms, there will be few loudspeakers that the PM10 will not be able to drive effortlessly.

So how does this combination sound?

Hooked up to some reassuringly expensive B&W loudspeakers, listening to a wide variety of music, the sound quality is exceptionally refined, detailed and smooth. The bass drive is totally effortless, the noise floor, inky black. We were struck also, by how good the sound staging was. Listening to one particular drum solo, it was possible to place every drum and cymbal that was struck, incredibly impressive.

If you would like to hear them for yourself, please just give us a call.

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

We're In A Spin! The New Rega Planar 10 & Apheta 3 Cartridge Will Be At Our Launch Event!

It is with delight and eager anticipation that we can now reveal the other new product to be unveiled at our Rega Product Launch on Saturday 5th December at Audio T Brighton!

It is the new Rega Planar 10 and optional Rega Apheta 3 cartridge!

The Planar 10 promises to deliver the highest level of performance from a Rega production model to date.

The Planar 10 features the new RB3000 tonearm, ceramic top brace, completely re-engineered central hub bearing and the latest PL10 PSU housed in a custom case to match the latest range of electronics.

All this technology is built around the latest ultra-lightweight TANCAST 8 foam core with HPL skin skeletal plinth.

From launch, you have the option to have the all new Apheta 3 cartridge factory fitted (more details to follow).

How about this for attention to detail!

EBLT Drive Belts
For three years Rega has been researching and developing with chemists the use of a bespoke new rubber compound for drive belts. Using a specialised curing system, the new drive belt offers superior consistency of modulus (a constant representing the degree to which a substance has a particular property, especially elasticity). These new belts are manufactured on Rega designed, state of the art, super-accurate tools (inspired by working with the manufacturer of high-tech Formula 1 engine parts) which produce 'perfectly round' and 'dimensionally accurate' belts, critical for perfect speed stability

Rob from Rega will lead this launch event, and you will have the opportunity to treat yourself to an album or three from the high quality vinyl selection provided by Paul of Diverse Vinyl.

JOIN US IN STORE IN BRIGHTON ON SATURDAY

5TH OCTOBER BETWEEN 10.30AM AND 4.00PM!

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

Bowers & Wilkins Loudspeakers Are Back At Audio T Cheltenham! Trade Up & Save Up To £600

We’re excited and delighted to announce that we are now stocking both the 600 and 700 Series loudspeakers from legendary speaker designers Bowers & Wilkins.

Both of these ranges use the innovative Continuum bass/mid-range cone technology that has been developed over an eight year period and first featured in the flagship 800 Series Diamond models. This drive unit material is very thin, very light and very stiff which means it can deliver a pure and precise soundscape that will allow you to enjoy all the layers of your favourite music.

The B&W 600 Series uses the latest generation refined and upgraded version of the Decoupled Double Dome tweeter to reveal pristine detail.

We now have in store for demonstration the 603 floorstanders and the 606 and 607 smaller standmount models.

The 600 series offers a lot of loudspeaker for not a lot of money. They are also very easy to drive as well so will suit a wide variety of amplifiers.

The jump up from the B&W 600 series takes you to (surprise surprise) the B&W 700 Series and good though the 600 Series speakers are this is where things get really special. A wealth of state of the art technologies all add up to make the 700 Series truly magical. The 700 Series flagship floorstander the 702s2 and the 705s2 which is the top performing standmount in the range both boast the use of a solid body Carbon Dome tweeter housing, sitting in a pod on top of the cabinet. This is milled from a solid block of aluminium and provides an acoustically optimised housing for the tweeter that is exceptionally inert and resistant to resonances, which translates into clearer and cleaner sound overall and improved sound quality.

All of the B&W 700 Series use purpose built Carbon Dome tweeters to raise the breakup threshold to 47kHz which is well outside the range of dog hearing let alone humans. This enables the speaker to deliver pinpoint imaging and amazing accuracy of detail.

There are soooooooo many technological innovations across these two ranges that it would take too long to write about them all here and it would get way too boring, but many improvements is technology that has trickled down from the flagship B&W 800 series, which are hailed as one of the best sounding loudspeakers in the world! Suffice to say both the 600 and 700 Series are a triumph of design and technology and a real delight to listen to. We have been getting wonderful results matching them up with Rega CD players and amplifiers which are a beautiful match for them giving a huge soundstage with great imaging and super fast timing with great deep and tight bass too.

Here’s the best bit…. right now and for a limited time only, B&W are inviting you to take part in their exclusive “Trade Up To Bowers And Wilkins 700 Series” sales promotion.

All you have to do is bring in any old pair of speakers in any condition, working or not and you will get £600 OFF 702 s2, £450 OFF 703s2, £350 OFF 704s2, £300 OFF 705s2, £200 OFF 706s2, and £150 OFF 707s2. Of course if your speakers are worth more than the value quoted above then we will give you more for them. Just contact us first for a quote. This offer ends on November 30th so be quick!

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

Italy Goes For Gold With The Gold Note PH-10 Phono Stage

The Gold Note PH-10 phono stage is designed and built by Maurizio Aterni (CEO and Founder) and Giovani Rialti (Chief Engineer) in Montespertoli (Florence) Italy. With a host for features including various equalisation curves and nine load impedances, MM and MC inputs the Gold Note PH-10 becomes a very versatile unit. Available in silver, black or gold finishes, the non-magnetic anodised aluminium is milled from a solid piece of metal.

On powering up, you are greeted with a bright 2.8” TFT screen which displays the status of the unit (this can be switched off once your preferred settings have been found). By using the single control knob you can set the Gold Note PH-10 to match almost any cartridge thus giving the best possible sound and enjoyment from your vinyl records. This can also be useful for changing and fine tuning “on the fly”. No awkward dip switches here! As well as the adjustments for gain and impedance there is also a choice of three equalisation curves. All modern LP’s use the RIAA curve, however some older pressings like Decca/London or American CBS/Columbia would have been recorded using a different curve. For example some of the early Decca SXL pressings using the Decca/London setting sounded more airy in the higher frequencies.

On the back of the unit we have a selection of two inputs. We have the two RCA phono inputs both of which can be set to MM or MC, complimented by their individual grounding posts. Outputs consist of a pair of balanced XLR and a pair of unbalanced RCA. Also there is a 8-pin socket for adding the PSU10 power supply, a micro USB for future software upgrades and finally the IEC mains socket with the master on/off switch. The unit can be switched to standby from the from panel.

As well as following closely the curves of the three record standards this unit even allows you to select an “enhanced” curve following the Neumann 3.18us/50kHz single pole filter. This gives a more exciting sound at higher frequencies. A dotted red line on the display shows when this is selected. This is very effective at giving some extra life to dull sounding pressings

While listening to this Gold Note PH-10 phono stage we found nothing but pleasure. We could find no vices, just music delivered the way we love to hear it. It had our toes tapping and bought many a smile to our faces. With 6 EQ patterns, 4 choices of gain and 9 impedance settings this new baby from Gold Note is an amazing product. You can get speed, depth, detail and transparency from your vinyl, a sound that belies its price point

Gold Note products can be ordered from all Audio T branches and are on demonstration now at our Cardiff and Bristol stores.

Rega Planar 8 Skeletal Turntable, So Much More Than Bare Bones!

A few years ago when Rega set out to build the ultimate turntable, they looked at completely new ways to create a plinth with massive stiffness and negligible weight. So a project was set up to develop and expand its existing engineering expertise and philosophy, also bringing in and developing technology from F1 and aerospace.

Naked!

From this the Naiad record player was born - the only cost no object product the company has ever built. It’s something the company considers the ultimate representation of its engineering ideas when executed with little regard for cost or ease of manufacture. In other words, the best deck Rega knew how to make at that time, given that Rega technology continues to evolve today!

The Naiad pushed out the envelope of the engineering, creativity and the materials science knowledge of Rega Research. This broader expertise proved to be invaluable and has trickled down to the development of more affordable turntables. The first one to really benefit was the RP8 launched some five years ago. The ideas and learning from the Naiad project have been refined and taken further and the current beneficiary of approach is the Rega Planar 8. The Planar 8 design incorporates as many of the Naiad’s design elements as could be included in a production model at a sensible and certain price point.

Plinth
Every aspect of the Planar 8 is engineered to extract as much detail from the vinyl surface as possible. Rega have used the most advanced materials and engineering solutions built around a lightweight plinth to ensure the greatest level of performance.

The Planar 8 is a completely skeletal turntable and the idea is to minimise plinth mass whilst increasing rigidity. Rega’s philosophy is that mass absorbs energy and that ends up taking the life out of the music. The Planar 8 is constructed using an ultra lightweight Tancast 8 polyurethane foam core (a material developed for the aerospace industry). This material is sandwiched between two layers of HPL (high pressure laminate). HPL is exceptionally thin and extremely rigid. This new construction makes the new Planar 8 skeletal plinth 30% lighter than the original RP8 while offering increased rigidity over the previous model.

Rigidity is especially important between the tonearm mounting and main bearing, so Rega has added a phenolic brace between the two – thus adding strength without significantly increasing overall mass. These phenolic resin double braces are placed above and below the plinth where increased rigidity is required between the tonearm mounting and the main bearing, to ensure minimal movement between the two, thus forming a structurally sound “stressed beam” It thus increases accuracy in line with Rega’s criteria and turntable design philosophy of a “vibration measuring machine”. This rigid plinth design prevents energy absorption and unwanted resonances that would otherwise add unnatural distortions to the music.

Additionally, the plinth shape enables the means of fixing the arm-base, main bearing and motor, plus feet placed such that it stays secure when placed on a surface. There are three compliant feet to help absorb external vibrations.

Main Bearings
The main bearing has been redesigned with a single piece machined aluminium sub-platter and hardened steel spindle which sits in a brass housing  mounted in such a way to deter energy being transferred into the plinth. 

Motor and drive
The Planar 8 also features the latest generation 24v, synchronous, low vibration motor technology. Linking all these mechanical entities together is another innovation - EBLT Drive Belts. For three years Rega has been researching and developing with chemists the use of a bespoke new rubber compound for drive belts. Using a specialised curing system, the new drive belt offers superior consistency of modulus (a constant representing the degree to which a substance has a particular property, especially elasticity). These new belts are manufactured on Rega designed, state of the art, super-accurate tools which produce 'perfectly round' and 'dimensionally accurate' belts, critical for perfect speed stability.

Neo Power Supply To Turn On & Change Speed

Power Supply

Power is controlled by Rega’s Neo power supply, which is hand-adjusted to match the motor optimally and minimise vibration. The Neo PSU is standard and offers electronic, speed change, advanced anti-vibration control and user adjustable electronic fine speed adjustment to ensure total accuracy and control over the motor.

Platter
The platter is a beautiful thing. It’s made of three pieces,, designed in such a way as to add mass to the outer rim, creating  a flywheel effect to smooth out any small speed fluctuations. This three piece laminated glass platter is the result of collaboration with a British glass engineering company Pilkington and is constructed from two different types of high quality glass.

Arm
Planar 8 is fitted with the new RB880 arm that features an improved vertical bearing assembly constructed using an aluminium and stainless-steel, low mass assembly with vastly improved stability and rigidity. This tonearm is using Rega's advanced preloaded zero tolerance bearing assembly adjusted to less than 1000th of a mm, this gives friction free movement and zero levels of unwanted play. RB880 is then terminated with a low capacitance phono cable terminated with high quality, locking phono plugs to ensure the best possible connection

RB808 & Apheta 2 Exposed

Decently Covered

Cover
Rega haven’t left the P8 completely without protection from dust, a new acrylic cover is provided to simply lift off to play a record.

Options
The Rega Planar 8 is available in four package versions. You can buy the deck without cartridge for £1699, but it can be equipped with the Exact moving magnet (+£210), Ania moving coil (£ 2199.00 inclusive) or with the Apheta 2 MC ( £ 2,439.00 inclusive) that we have on test here. The arm and table are capable of realising the benefits of a range or other high quality cartridges, provided, as always, the phono amplifier stage is of sufficient quality.

Set Up
Set-up is easy. In the case of the Rega cartridges, the cartridge is pre-mounted and its alignment is guaranteed via  Rega’s own three-point mounting system. All the user has to do is remove the packaging protecting the main bearing and arm, fit the tracking weight and set bias. The Apheta 2 tracks between 1.75 and 2 grams. Rega recommend 1.75 grams as a starting point.

Sound
The initial impression is that the Planar 8 it delivers a high level of level of clarity, depth and insight. The P8 and Apheta combination copes well with the music’s dynamics and changes in momentum. The presentation is insightful and organised with a high degree of composure. The Planar 8 always sounds in control no matter how complex the music becomes. Yet, that sense of control doesn’t water down the drive and excitement of the recording, (Groove Armada – Song 4 Mutya)

It is tonally well balanced. It’s smooth when required but still has enough bite when the music demands it. It has real solid authority and weight; the dynamics are powerful and unflustered. This is combined with stable and focused stereo imaging, rendering an expansive and finessed soundstage and locks instruments in place even when the production becomes dense. Image scale is good– the sound extending well beyond the edges of our reference Dynaudio Special 40’s.

While delivering each musical strand and intonation with clarity, it manages to bring everything together to produce a cohesive, enjoyable and tonally correct whole. Simply communicating the emotion in the music and performance is what the Rega does so well. One gets drawn in to listen to the music and the performance rather than the equipment

It has a glorious articulation with bass instruments that conveys punch, power and texture beautifully (Japan, Tin Drum – Talking Drum & Ghosts). The lows don’t over-dominate, but they do give a solid and deep underpinning for the rest of the frequency range to do its stuff. An articulate mid-range ensures that distinctive vocals come through with the intensity and insight they need. Highs are dynamic, balanced and not over explicit

The Rega P8 has a good sense of timing It brings a tonal neutrality and shape to music, with dynamic expressiveness, especially with the micro-dynamics that gives music a sense of “reality and performance.  Low-level detail resolution is also outstanding. This turntable is pitch stable and quiet allowing through a wide dynamic range and cohesiveness, with little extraneous noise to affect your perception and allow insight into the performance  (Ry Cooder – Bop Till You Drop).

The Rega Apheta 2 moving coil cartridge when connected to the Planar 8 provides an agile and responsive combination to help you experience vinyl as a high-performance format. Together they will play anything you throw at it and make sense of it all, whatever the complexity and dynamics of the music.

Undressed. (Minus Mat)

Verdict
Rega aim for neutrality in engineering their record decks and essentially this turntable adds as little of its own character to the recording as possible. This means you hear a vast amount of whatever was laid down in the mastering studio or venue, every note and its nuance and shape making music vibrant and enjoyable. Insights and previously hidden or masked details emerge. Music sounds physically solid with a sense of detail, showing the depth and scale engineered in the studio, or imparted by the recorded venue, all with a remarkable realism.

Rega’s engineering ambitions have paid off. Rega has pushed the boundaries of performance at this level. The Rega Planar 8 has a remarkable ability to thrill, entertain and inform.

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

Spendor A2. Good Things Really Do Come In Small Packages.

If your listening room is limiting your speaker choices and a floorstanding speaker seems to be out of the question, then Spendor may just have the ideal speaker for you. 

The A2, is a perfectly formed yet supremely compact floorstanding speaker that takes up less space than many bookshelf speakers!

Priced at £1675 a pair, the A2 offers a real alternative to the plethora of quality stand mounted speakers available at this price point. With lovely clean, straight lines, a super compact footprint and a range of real wood veneer finishes, that include a traditional Black Ash, a Dark Walnut or a Natural Oak, the A2 not only looks good, it also sounds superb; but more on that in a moment. Standing a little over 2.5 feet tall the Spendor A2 is just 15cm wide and only 25cm deep, diminutive to say the least and as they are so compact this speaker is incredibly easy to integrate into your listening room.

By coincidence, our demonstration pair arrived a matter of days before we received our new Naim Supernait 3, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to run these two in together. Consequently we have been enjoying this peppy combination for the past two weeks, coupled with the Naim ND5 XS streamer as our primary source.

While the A2’s clearly are compact, it is clear from the first few notes of any song you select, the sound they produce is anything but small. As we have established with both the Spendor A4's and A7's, the drive-units integrate seamlessly and the A2's paint a big-audio-picture. While the soundstage produced is of the wide-screen variety, the A2’s compact dimensions mean that the low frequency drive unit isn’t very large;. in fact, it is the same drive unit that is specified for the A1 bookshelf speaker, measuring 150mm or 5.9 inch's. It stands to reason then that a driver of this size won't push that much air, particularly given the A2's cabinet size, but the beauty of such a small speaker is it requires less space around it to perform well, and most importantly, less space behind it. Using the rear wall to reinforce the bass output ensures that the A2 doesn't leave you feeling short-changed in any way, shape or form. When critically listening I played a range of Burial tracks, Sbtrkt's Pharaohs and even James Blake's, Limit to your Love, all of which were deliberately selected to get a sense of the depth of bass these little speakers can produce. And honestly, the results were outstanding. While it’s fair to say that the low frequencies aren't necessarily earth-shattering, what the A2's do deliver is a taut, tuneful and nuanced bassline with a sense of realism, nothing is overblown here but distinguishing between a bass guitar or electronic bassline is an easy task; no muddling, nothing is indistinct. Still, if you like your bass to go just a little deeper, a suitable subwoofer will fill in the missing elements below the 36hz the speakers are capable of delivering;  and of course, if your room is a little larger the Spendor A4 and A7 are ready, willing and able for a small increase in price!

Obviously the system we have been running them with is far from an entry level pairing, but we have often found the other Spendor's in the range exhibit an unfussy nature, tending to work well with any brand of electronics we choose. So we thought we might match them with Rotel’s new amplifier, the A11. Priced at £450, it delivers 50 watts of class A/B power, into an 8 ohms load, which is more than sufficient current to control the reasonably sensitive A2's and to cut a long story short, they pair beautifully, with the baby Spendor's delivering a lovely, rounded and mature sound despite the mismatch in the respective prices point of these two products.

We think the Spendor A2's are a superb speaker, definitely worthy of an audition. If you happen to be passing by, there a strong chance they will be playing in the background or alternatively, please contact the Swindon team and we will be happy to arrange a proper demonstration for you. Call Andy or Andrew at Audio T Swindon on 01793 538222, or just pop in and we would be very pleased to set them up for you.

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

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

Rega Aethos Amplifier And Another Major Product Launch With Diverse Vinyl Saturday 5th October

We will be unveiling the eagerly awaited Aethos, amplifier a brand new serious integrated amplifier based upon the Osiris and another major new product to be announced in early September.

Rob from Rega will lead this launch event, and you will have the opportunity to treat yourself to an album or three from the high quality vinyl selection provided by Paul of Diverse Vinyl.

JOIN US IN STORE IN BRIGHTON ON SATURDAY 5TH OCTOBER BETWEEN 10.30AM AND 4.00PM!

Product details are sparse at this point, but these two new items are likely to ruffle some feathers and cause a stir! The Aethos prototype was first shown at The Bristol Hi-Fi Show earlier this year.

The Aethos amplifier!

The rather tidy looking new Aethos amplifier packs a meaty 125 watts per channel into 8 ohms, remote control and a headphone socket to complement line level inputs. Rega decided not to include a turntable phono stage as with an amplifier at this level there are cartridge choices to be made between moving magnet and the potentially better moving coil types.

We anticipate having both the Aethos amplifier and the other new exciting new product on demonstration by the time of our event.

Do come and have a listen when it suits you at Audio T Brighton with Julian, Paul and John.

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