July 13, 2018

Take Your Favourite Tunes Wherever You Go This Summer

July 13, 2018/ Cardiff

It’s barbeque season and the sun has decided to grace us with its presence. We thought you all might be like to see what may be available to enjoy your music in the garden, down at the beach or if you are braving the British countryside whilst camping.

We have chosen two of the best portable solutions on the market for your summer activities. We love the performance of the Dali Katch Bluetooth speaker and the Ruark R1 Mk3 DAB with battery pack.

First we will take you through the Dali Katch and what it offers. We touched on this wireless speaker last summer but thought we would give you more in depth look, seeing as the sun has decided to come out for an extended play this year. Available in three different colours dark shadow, green moss and cloud grey the Katch is extremely stylish and robust. Sporting Bluetooth 4.0 with Apt-x and NFC technology the Katch is ideal as a “go-anywhere” speaker without compromise. As well as the Bluetooth connectivity this speaker includes a 3.5mm jack input for any devices that may not output Bluetooth.

This portable speaker has dual drivers powered by a 2 x 25watt class-D amplifier. The 2 x 3.5inch aluminium woofers and 2 x 21mm soft dome tweeters deliver a large and powerful performance from the robust aluminium body. You can tailor the sound of the Katch using the 2 audio profiles, clear or warm so if you like your bass the warm function gives great extension and size to this frequency area. Overall the sound from the Dali Katch portable loudspeaker is powerful and full bodied just how we like our wine. Timing and dynamics are definitely superior to other Bluetooth speakers on the market.

In the box are the charging adaptor and a carry case to protect your speaker. The battery at full charge will give you up to 24 hours of play time and there is a USB charge output, making it ideal for a weekend camping trip where you may be “off grid”.

The Ruark R1 Mk3 is a tabletop DAB radio with Bluetooth connectivity. Bought on its own this deluxe Bluetooth radio is a mains powered unit that sounds superb and is available in three colour finishes, satin black, satin white and rich walnut. With 2 alarm clock settings the R1 is ideal as a bed side radio with great snooze functions as well.

Enough of the indoors, let’s get out in the sun, here comes the clever bit. Ruark offer a battery pack for this little beauty making it ideal for carrying into the garden when the sun is belting down. The battery pack is small and light and bolts on to the rear of the R1. Once fitted this can be left in place and switched on and off when needed. At a full charge this battery pack will deliver 12 hours of listening via Bluetooth from your mobile device or DAB, DAB+ and FM radio on the go. The Ruark battery pack can also be fitted to their more recently released MR1 Bluetooth speakers. This is definitely one of the best sounding radios you can buy. With clear and very precise sound for a single box radio the R1 Mk3 delivers great sound offering great functionality.

So whether it’s enjoying your favourite DAB stations in the garden or keeping up to date with the football scores when you take a trip to the sea side the R1 Mk3 should not be underestimated. The sound is incredible for a single speaker radio in such a tiny box.

Both the Dali Katch and Ruark R1 are available for demonstration in store so why not pop in for a demonstration while the sun is still here!

Thanks to Svago Italian kitchen and bar for letting us use their resturant as a backdrop for our photos!

Dali Hi-Fi products are available in the following stores: Cardiff, Brentwood

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

June 20, 2017

Dali Loudspeakers Arrive At Audio T Cardiff!

June 20, 2017/ Cardiff

It's surreal! We are very excited here as we have just started stocking Dali products! To get us started we have a quartet of new products, namely: the Katch portable Bluetooth speaker; the Zensor Pico, Zensor 1 and Zensor 3 Loudspeakers.

The Dali Katch is a portable Bluetooth speaker with a few very clever tricks up its sleeve. Capable of a very impressive 24 hour battery life and a full charge after just 2 hours, this is a perfect companion for travelling or just sitting out in the garden. The Katch has two listening modes ‘clear’ is the best for most situations while ‘warm’ pushes out a bit extra bass, more suited for playing in a large room. The Katch connects via Bluetooth AptX and has the option of NFC, it can also be set up as a stereo pair if you have a second Katch. Our favourite feature though is that it has a USB charge out. This opens up a whole new world of streaming as the Katch can power a device like a Google Chromecast or even a player like the Astel and Kern AK70 (pictured below). Send the signal from that device in through the Katchs mini jack auxiliary input and you have yourself a streamer! Most importantly as well as looking incredible the Katch has a fantastic clear presentation through its two 21mm soft dome tweeter and pair of 9cm aluminium drivers. It seemed to handle everything we threw at it with aplomb and left us very impressed.

The Pico is the first entry in the Zensor range of loudspeakers and the first thing to say about it as they are tiny! Each speaker stands at just 23cm high, however where it lacks in size it most certainly doesn’t lack in sound! The Pico features the same soft dome tweeter that appears in the rest of the range and the same, albeit smaller, wood fibre woofer all contained in a very classy looking cabinet for the price. When tested we couldn’t believe the sound quality coming from such a small pair of speakers, the Pico’s have a considerable impact at the low end considering the size and give a great presentation in a small to medium size rooms. We found that the Pico’s had a great energy and presence in the room that made them very addictive to listen to. These will be great in a small to medium room but also fantastic in a compact surround sound system as fronts, back or both!

The middle brother of the Zensor bookshelf speakers is the Zensor 1. At 30% bigger than the Pico the Zensor 1 still has a fairly small footprint but defiantly has more of a presence in the room. Using the same tweeter but a slightly larger 5.25” woofer the Zensor 1 shares all the same characteristics of the Pico but you get more of it, a stronger sound stage more focussed, stronger bass and overall a more detailed sound. Like the other speakers in the range it is available in black, white and walnut finishes.

The newest member of the family is the slightly bigger again Zensor 3. The 3 follows all the same design aspects of the two smaller models and again uses the same tweeter but ups the size of the bass driver to a 7”. The 3’s have an infectious energy about them while still staying balanced with a tight top end and a surprisingly punchy bass for the size of cabinet, we found ourselves sitting back and listening to whole albums when we were meant to be reviewing them!

The Zensor range really has a speaker for many different situations and locations, so please do come and have a listen to them!

Dali loudspeakers are available in the following Audio T Stores: Cardiff, Brentwood

June 15, 2017

Musical Fidelity And Dali Making Beautiful Music Together

June 15, 2017/ Audio T

We have two Hi-Fi brands which are new to the shop this month Musical Fidelity electronics and Dali loudspeakers. As we have found, they are capable of making beautiful music together.

An array of Dali speakers and Musical Fidelity electronics.

Musical Fidelity is a well established British Hi-Fi company who have been exciting and innovating for many years.

Shown here are the M3si integrated amp, the M3s CD player and the M6si integrated. The M6s CD player will follow soon. All of these components follow the Musical Fidelity ethos of making accurate, but exciting music.

We're also having a lot of fun exploring the M6 Encore 225

This amazing one box system is a music store, CD player, streamer, and amplifier all in one incredibly intuitive and easy to use package. It sounds wonderful too!

Dali are a Danish loudspeaker manufacturer who have been going for over 30 years producing everything from budget to high end speakers. We're still discovering what these can do but we have representatives from the Spektor, Zensor and Opticon ranges plus the beautiful little Menuets and the rather stylish Katch portable bluetooth speaker.

So far we've been throwing all sorts of music at the various pairings, the M3 components with the Opticons loved the new Anathema album "The Optimist" (check it out if you like intelligent melodic rock)

Both brands seem to major on creating large believable soundstages; a recording of the Tallis Scholars singing Tallis anthems filled the room with the sense of a cathedral, while the perennial "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd was huge!

We'll report more as we get to know these components, but suffice to say we're excited and looking forward to the discovery. Why not come and have a listen yourself?

And finally all components in this blog have the Boswell seal of approval!