Riffs and Revolutions: A Very Different Kind of Vinyl Listening Event!

As many of you know, Matt from Audio T Cardiff is a keen musician. Recently he hosted a vinyl event in Pontypridd, one of our home counties, alongside the fantastic team at A Strings guitar shop and with sponsorship from Rega. The event took place on Saturday, 28th September. If you were lucky enough to attend, you’ll know what a fantastic day it was—but if you missed out, here’s an account of what went down."

Over the years, our branches have traditionally hosted in-store events that have been highly successful, giving us the chance to showcase and demonstrate our featured brands at their best. These events have always been a real pleasure. But how do we reach a wider, more diverse, and perhaps younger audience, you may ask?

Personally, I wholeheartedly believe that music fans and musicians alike deserve access to a great-sounding hi-fi. Am I right? Of course, I am! Everyone should have a hi-fi that truly engages them—making you smile, even shed a tear, but most importantly, gets your feet tapping. Some of us even know that special piece of music that inspires us to pick up a guitar and master that riff or solo. (Thank you, Eddie Van Halen.)

As many of you know, I’ve previously organised Audio T Cardiff vinyl events outside the store at MEC Coffee, which were fantastic. This time, though, I thought it was time for something a little different.

Time for a little time travel! No, it doesn't involve a DeLorean.

When I talk about time travel, I’m really talking about this event. As most of you know, before my days with Audio T, I worked at a local guitar shop in Cardiff for 17 years. Being a guitarist, I started thinking about organising an event that combines my three biggest passions: music, hi-fi, and, of course, guitars. Musicians are often overlooked when it comes to hi-fi, which got me wondering—how can we bridge the gap between musicians and audiophiles?

Reflecting on my childhood, I feel lucky to have experienced music in such quality, thanks to my dad’s studio days. Everyone deserves access to great hi-fi, and I wanted to show that you don’t need to spend over £10,000 to enjoy a high-quality system, especially for vinyl playback—my favourite way to listen. How could I best demonstrate this? That’s when it hit me—I should reach out to my favourite guitar shop, A Strings.

In the hi-fi world, everyone knows everyone, and I’ve known the guys at A Strings, Andrew and Adam, for years as both friends and a customer (keeping my guitar addiction alive). I asked if they’d like to co-host an event with us in their store, and they were thrilled to say yes. We set the date, and both the A Strings team and I couldn’t have been more excited!

How about a little history about A Strings?

A Strings was founded in Cardiff back in 2006 by Andrew Morgan, originally specialising in guitar strings and accessories. Stocking over 1,000 varieties of strings—ranging from the popular to the obscure—they quickly built a loyal customer base, with many of their original customers still returning to this day. Over time, they expanded to stock a range of leading guitar brands, including Fender, Gretsch, and Gibson.

Fast-forward to the present, and A Strings is now located at 66 Broadway, Treforest, Pontypridd, where they’ve been for the past 15 years. In fact, they celebrated their 15th anniversary at this location on the day of the event.

An interesting fact about A Strings: they have supplied strings and gear to legendary musicians such as Brian May of Queen, Eric Clapton, the Manic Street Preachers, Motörhead, Killing Joke, and Mark Knopfler, to name just a few.

Reaching out to the turntable kings – Rega, that is.

With a good idea of the system I wanted to bring to the event—mainly Rega equipment—I reached out to our fantastic Rega representative, Rob Noble, about promoting the event on their website as well as ours and A Strings’. I also enquired about the possibility of a turntable giveaway, and Rega went above and beyond by generously donating a Rega Planar 1 Eco deck for the event’s prize draw.

Rega Planar 2 with nd3 cartridge

Rega’s God of amplification.

With everything in full swing—the advertising sorted and nearly everything ready to rock—I received an email from Rega’s amplification guru, Mr Terry Bateman, which was a real honour. Terry and I discussed how unique this event was compared to typical hi-fi events and how it bridges the gap between audiophiles and musicians. We also talked about amp design, especially the renowned Rega Brio, which Terry designed and voiced much like a guitar amplifier. It’s known for that rich analogue class AB warmth, reminiscent of solid-state guitar amps.

Terry shared his experiences before joining Rega, when he worked as an amp repairman for guitar amplification, focusing on brands like Fender, Marshall, and Vox. Like me, Terry has roots in the guitar industry and has even worked with notable musicians, including Robin Trower (if you haven’t heard Bridge of Sighs, give it a listen), The Hamsters, and many others. After our chat about amps, music, and classic rock, Terry said he would come along to the event. It’s a true privilege to have someone of his stature attending—as I said at the start, an amp legend!

What equipment did I bring to the event, I hear you ask?

Starting with the sources:

• Rega Planar 2 turntable fitted with the all-new Rega ND3 moving magnet cartridge.

• Advance Paris WTX StreamTube network streamer.

On the amplification front:

• We have the Rega Brio & the Rega Elex MK4.

On the speaker front:

• Dynaudio Emit 10’s in black.

Cabling: Black Rhodium Intro speaker cables and interconnects.

Hi-Fi rack and stands:

• Solidsteel SS6 speaker stands.

• Solidsteel S3 rack.

On the vinyl cleaning side of things:

• The Degritter MK2.

And now the fun really begins.

With the system set up and ready to go in what I can only call ‘guitar heaven,’ we were all set to rock. I spoke with many people about their records, collections, and equipment, and we even did several A-B tests, playing records before and after they’d been cleaned. One rare gem was Andrew’s original pressing of Queen II, and we played March of the Black Queen. Hearing the difference post-cleaning was incredible—the improvement was, as they say, night and day.

We also put the Rega system through its paces; to say it sounded fantastic doesn’t quite do it justice. The system truly demonstrated that you can build a great hi-fi setup without breaking the bank. The event itself had an amazing atmosphere, with rock tracks from every genre filling the space. Chatting with new faces about hi-fi, music, and guitars (my three favourite subjects), spending the afternoon with Andrew and the fantastic team at A Strings, meeting their customers, and having Terry from Rega there made for an absolute joy—a perfect afternoon of rock & roll and hi-fi.

And we have a winner!

A week had passed since the fantastic event at A Strings, and it was time to announce the lucky winner of a Rega turntable! I headed back to A Strings to reveal the winner on Fear’s Friday update. Yes, I did this live, and it went well—it was an honour to be part of their regular Friday video. So, who’s the winner? Drum roll, please... congratulations to Kris Morris!

Kris came by our store to collect his brilliant new Rega Planar 1 Eco deck. While he was here, I took him through a few amplification and speaker options to help him get set up and ready to enjoy his new system.

Are there more events like this on the way, you ask?

The short answer is a big, resounding yes! The event had such a fantastic vibe that it’s definitely worth doing again. In fact, I’ve spoken with Andrew and the team, and they’re keen to host another event with us at Audio T in the near future—so watch this space!

Thank you

A huge thank you once again to Andrew, Adam, and the team at A Strings for co-hosting the event with us, and to Terry and his lovely wife for attending—it was a real honour to have them there. Most importantly, a big thank you to everyone who came to the event; it was a genuine pleasure to meet you all, and I hope to see you again soon!

Thank you all for taking the time to read my blog.

Matt - Audio T Cardiff

Matt and the A String Team

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Rega can be found at the following Audio T stores

• BRIGHTON

• BRISTOL

• CARDIFF

• CHELTENHAM

• MANCHESTER

• PORTSMOUTH

• READING

• SOUTHAMPTON

• SWANSEA

• SWINDON

• ONLINE STORE

SUMIKO Has Landed at Audio T Southampton

Here at Audio T Southampton, we like to think we have a pretty good knowledge of the brands available in the Hi-Fi market, but once in a very rare while, we’re caught off guard and get introduced to something completely new…

We first came across SUMIKO here in the Southampton store when a customer walked through the door and asked if we could supply them with one of their cartridges. We were initially a bit taken aback as we had not heard of SUMIKO before, but boy are we glad we do now.

We were intrigued by this ellusive brand and ordered in three products from their range - Two moving magnet and one moving coil.

I went out to a customers house with the Blue Point No3 Moving Coil model in hand to put it up against his current cartridge on his Michell Gyrodec. It’s safe to say that the SUMIKO blew his cartridge away! I was amazed at how much detail and depth it had in comparison. It changed the whole soundstage of his Gyrodec. It sounded much more open and you could hear every note cleanly. We tried a few different albums from Elvis and The Beach Boys to classics like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon and Dire Straight's’ Brothers In Arms.

I left the customer with a new cartridge and huge smile on his face, and in all honesty, I couldn’t hide my large grin either.

I have since tried different SUMIKO cartridges on a few different turntables in store, and each time I am amazed at the way it breathes new life into each one!

A brief history of SUMIKO

For over 40 years, SUMIKO have provided an array of phono pick-up cartridges to discerning audio enthusiasts around the world. Boasting a portfolio of products that touches all price points and technologies.

David Fletcher with “the arm”

SUMIKO was founded in 1972 in Japan by three people, notably of which was American theoretical physicist David Fletcher. Before he co-founded SUMIKO he used to work for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, working on various different research projects. Unfortunately David Fletcher passed away early into 2021 at the age of 81.

Fun Fact: SUMIKO was named after one of the founders' wives.

MDC 800 Tonearm and Talisman A Cartridge

In the early days of SUMIKO they used to provide two services; the first being the import side of the business with introducing new and different brands to North America, ranging from Koetsu, Grace and many more. The other aspect of SUMIKO company is what they are primarily known for these days; that being, their spectacular cartridges, starting with the Talisman MC cartridges of which there were four: A, B, S and the Virtuoso. Another one of their founding products was the MDC 800 Tonearm, appropriately nicknamed "The Arm".

The RAINIER MM and Palo Santos MC Cartridges

Nowadays SUMIKO focus on their range of cartridges, with them now producing two different ranges, from the Oyster Series featuring the Rainier MM cartridges, all the way to the phenomenal Reference Series and the stunning Palo Santos Presentation Moving Coil Cartridge.

It really is a travesty that SUMIKO is not as well known here in the UK as they deserve to be. Superb quality at a lower price than a lot of their competitors. For us it was a no brainer to start stocking these and absolutely sing their praises.

If you’re interested in hearing one of these great cartridges or want to know more about their range please don't hesitate to give us a call and arrange a demonstration.

Thanks for Reading

Wayne - Audio T Southampton.

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

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SUMIKO can be found at the following Audio T stores

• SOUTHAMPTON

THE KAROUSEL BEARING - A WEEK ON FROM OUR LINN KLINIK

It’s been a week since our Linn Klinik in-store Karousel event, and we thought we’d provide you with an update on how it went, as well as some comments from our customers who have already had the new bearing fitted. If you’re thinking about it but not 100% sure yet, maybe this will seal the deal for you?

The Karousel bearing, in all its glory!

Out of all the people we had come in for the Klinik, two-thirds of them put in their Karousel order before leaving. The others were impressed and will look to upgrading in the future, after a bit of saving. One of them is now looking into getting a whole Linn Majik system in the future, off the back of hearing it on the day. 

Using our Klimax system, the Karousel excelled [you can find details of this system here]. One customer brought in a very old record, let’s just say it was ’well used‘ and he said “struggles to play quietly wherever I’ve tried it” and it played superbly. He was shocked at how clean and clear it sounded in comparison to playing it on his own LP12 - a deck that is no slouch! The pops, crackles and scratches were very significantly reduced, and even the few that did get through sounded sweeter, and less noticeable.

So, what comes in the box?

Inside the Karousel box

Well, obviously the bearing, but as you can see here, there is a lot more in the box! You get a new inner platter, as well as; new suspension springs, grommets (large and small), an earth wire with tags, suspension lock nuts, a P-clip, and more than enough oil. A pretty impressive haul for not a huge amount of money!

*You will need a minimum of a Cirkus sub-chassis to upgrade, and it is not compatible with Valhalla or pre-Valhalla power supplies due to safety issues.

The inner platter from the Karousel bearing kit

One of the first Karousels we fitted was for a long time customer. After he received it back we got an update from him with his thoughts on the bearing. 

“Sat here on the couch slightly stunned at what I’m hearing from my turntable. There are bass and cymbal lines I’ve simply never heard before, and it’s only been playing for five minutes”

Understandably this initial response gave us confidence in the Karousel, but you’d better believe that it only got even better… One valued customer provided us with some very detailed email updates. One on the day after installation, another one a week after, and finally two weeks after.

Here are some of our favourite snippets from each of those emails!

The day after, he said “I’m quite cynical about post-upgrade over-enthusiasm, but I think your other customer’s ‘jaw-dropping’ assessment justified in this case.”

A week later; “Having now listened to a range of types of music and recordings/pressings of varying quality, I’m in no doubt at all about the scale of the improvement, with the Karousel. Instruments and vocals sound more natural, realistic and authentic. I think it’s a bigger step forward in my system than any recent upgrade.”

And after two weeks; “Two weeks post-installation and I’m out of superlatives to describe the improvement the Karousel has made to my LP12. Not surprisingly, great recordings are better now. The biggest change however is with material that didn’t sound quite right with the Cirkus, which now makes it over the line, often by a considerable margin.”

We would absolutely agree with all of these comments, and the countless snippets of praise we’ve had from everyone.  The noise floor drops away almost completely, leaving more space for each individual instrument. That’s not to say it gives an unnatural ‘3D’ sound, but you can certainly pick out more detail than with other bearings. Another benefit is that it’s less fatiguing on the ears, we can certainly attest to that having given our shop model a good run in for at least 5 full days.

As our customers have said, music that they know well is being heard in completely different ways and details that weren’t noticed before, are suddenly revealed in all their glory. We would agree with that fully, and it is a joy to listen to. 

This bearing is a real testament to the work that Linn do, and despite a global pandemic happening just as they released the bearing to the public… it has not affected the demand for these at all. We get enquiries about it daily!

We can honestly say that this upgrade is easily the best value upgrade you can do to your LP12, and it is without a doubt firmly in the top 5 upgrades of all time. 

If you’d like to discuss this, or any other LP12 upgrades, then please give us a call at the shop and we’ll be happy to talk through what we can do. Just remember that all of our stores are currently operating on an appointment only service.

John, Paul & Chris - Audio T Brighton

Linn Products are available at all of the following Audio T Stores -

• BRIGHTON

• BRISTOL

• MANCHESTER

• OXFORD

• PORTSMOUTH

• SWINDON

Be sure to keep an eye on what’s happening in the Brighton store by following us on Instagram and Facebook.

Chord Electronics HUEI - Lights, Turntable, Action.

Chord Huei Phono Stage - Front view with polychromatic controls spheres

Introducing the HUEI phono stage. Chords Electronics solution to a well priced, high performing moving magnet/moving coil phono stage that can integrate into a range of systems.

From first impressions it is very easy to tell this is a product designed by Rob Watts and his Engineering team in Kent, with its classic, well built housing and eye catching candy lights, that appear on many of their products. It was a no brainer that this was something we had to try, and we are glad we did.

Now looking at the specifications of the HUEI from the front panel, the first thing we notice is that you are easily able to switch between moving magnet and moving coil with the simple press of a button. This is very handy as this will allow all types of cartridges to be used with the Huei. The moving magnet is at 47,000Ω, whereas the moving coil has a 12 step user selectable impedance button, also located on the front of the unit. This ranges from 100Ω - 3700Ω, and can be set to match your cartridge easily from the top of the unit. 

As well as an impedance button, the HUEI also boasts a gain range selection button that is set at an 8 step user selection for both moving magnet and moving coil. Once again this will allow you to marry the phono stage to your cartridge, to get optimum sound quality and clarity in the music.

Chord Huei phono stage - Rear panel, 12v DC power, RCA inputs, RCA outputs and XLR Outputs

The unit has balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA stereo outputs, which is very useful, and one RCA input. With a phono stage at this price point, it is very creditable.

Listening to the HUEI, first impressions indicated that this unit will shine as the level of detail that came from the music once swapping it out for a phono stage at a similar price was phenomenal - which is what we have come to expect from any Chord Electronics product. We used this with the new REGA Planar 10, feeding into a line level input on the new highly regarded REGA integrated Aethos amplifier and finally ATC SCM19 speakers.

Chord Huei phono stage with sticker placed under unit - colour reference sticker with impedance, gain, MC & MM settings

What we did notice was that with music ranging from classical to progressive rock and even modern electronica, the HUEI phono stage didn’t trip up on itself at all and handled all genres very well. We find this throughout the Chord Electronics product range, the extraction of detail and clarity in music is very noticeable.

The surprising thing is that for the money, it sure packs a lot of detail as mentioned, as well as musicality (something we think that can be lost when a system is over clinical) therefore setting a nice well balanced sound.

We have tried the HUEI with a range of pre/power and integrated systems as well as other well known and loved turntables, such as Michell Gyro SE (Michell Tecnoarm A and Dynavector 20x2 cartridge) and a LINN Akurate LP12. The HUEI performed really well with all these highly regarded turntables. For us it is a serious contender for its price and performance. If you are looking to change your phono stage this is definitely one to consider. Get in contact with your local Audio T and we will be happy to show you!

Don’t forget you can book a demonstration to hear the comparisons for yourself.

Justin, James and Max - Audio T Bristol

Be sure to keep an eye on what’s happening in the Bristol store by following us on Instagram and Facebook!

Chord Electronics products are available in all Audio T Stores.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas at Audio T Preston

It's that time of year again when stress levels start to rise and we have to juggle our already busy lives with even more shopping. We are of course talking about the dreaded Christmas shopping and all that it entails. Who gets this, who gets that etc and did we remember Auntie Mildred?

But fear not as we at Audio T Preston have a few stocking filler suggestions for those of you who have loved ones who love vinyl.

A jealously guarded sanctuary to some and a mystery to others, the humble turntable or “record player” or 'record deck' as it is often called, has risen in prominence again and is once more a core feature in any respectable Hi-Fi system. No matter whether you are the proud owner of one of these disc spinning lovelies or know someone who is, we have got a whole load of great gift ideas to make the whole experience even more enjoyable.

The tonar Dustaway brush is a great little accessory for cleaning the the surface of your records and removing unwanted dust before playback. With soft carbon fibre brushes and a velvet pad it's a steal at only £17.

Another great vinyl cleaner is the new Project Vinyl Clean putty. A green gelatinous substance (think 80's slime) that you roll around the surface of the record as it picks up all the nasties and removes static. It can also be used to clean the stylus and for only £10.95 it would be rude not to.

For a deeper clean give your older records a good bath with the Knosti disco-antistat cleaner. £50

For the ultimate clean you could use the very effective Pro-ject VCS Vinyl Cleaning System. which will bring your old records back to life! Don't take our word for it. Why not bring a few of your older records and test its effectiveness for yourself.

Weight for it!
One of the most important factors in any turntable is getting the correct balance in the tonearm so as to provide the right amount of downforce for the cartridge. Most decent turntables give you the ability to do this in their setup but if you want to be super accurate you'll need one of these.

The mighty Rega Atlas, a digital weighing scale, which will tell you exactly how much downforce is being applied to your stylus.

Also for you consideration is the Pro-Ject Measure It Digital Stylus Force Gauge.

Can you hear me Mother?
If you are buying a turntable to give to someone this Christmas then make sure that they will be able to use it on the big day. You need to know if they have an input labelled “Phono” on the hi-fi / amplifier / sound system. If not then you will probably benefit from one of these:

The Project Phono Box MM is a phono pre-amplifier that boosts the signal from a turntable and makes it suitable to play on any other analogue line input. 

The Rega Fono A2D does the same job and also features a USB output so you can record any of your records onto your PC or Laptop.

These are just the entry level phono stages, we do carry a much wider range is store for newcomers or veterans who have more advanced record player based Hi-Fi systems.

We hope to see you in store before the big day, but if we if we don't we hope you have a great Christmas

Ian, Gavin & Andy

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

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

Musical Fidelity Merlin System so good we put it in the window!

Musical Fidelity have come up trumps with this little system. With vinyl sales increasing daily this is a perfect way to have a compact multi format starter system with real quality for only £1300

The individual components are available separately, but there is a price saving of £200 if bought as a system.

The system comprises the Roundtable turntable, the Merlin amplifier, and the Merlin loudspeakers.

As you can see the turntable is beautifully built, comes complete with an Audo Technica Cartridge, and sounds really good, it has some clever design features which all add to the aound quality, like placing the units centre of gravity at the bearing.

The little Merlin amplifier really punches above its weight, both in sound quality and available features.

There's a reason why Musical Fidelity call this a "multi format system" not only does the amplifier have a quality phono input, it also has 24/192 DACs built in, AptX bluetooth, quality headphone amp, and an ADC so that you can convert the vinyl signal for ripping......Oh and it makes a really good sound too

Last but not least are the little (yes that word crops up a lot with this system) Merlin Speakers, they have a sculpted baffle, which you can see here behind the grille, which produces a very wide dispersion soundfield making the system sound much bigger than would be expected. It is a truly surprising performance from such a small enclosure.

All in all this system sounds great, looks great, and most importantly is fun to listen to: so get up in your loft, rescue those old LPs and get yourself a Merlin system.

Paul, Francis and Boswell

And for your listening pleasure...

A newly set up Rega RP3 with Dynavector 10X5 cartridge. Our afternoon just got booked solid. Come and join in the fun.

Turn Up for A Tune Up For Your Turntable Here.

Reinvigorate your music listening by giving your turntable some TLC from Audio-T Manchester, whether you need a full service and set up, a new cartridge and drive belt or just a stylus cleaning brush, you can hear your record collection as never before.

With expert knowledge on cartridge and phono stage selection we can give genuine advice to help you optimise your set up.

Pop in and talk to Dave,Mike,Munir or Kevin

Tel: 0161 839 8869

email: manchester@audio-t.co.uk
web: www.audio-t.co.uk
We are open Monday to Saturday 9:30 - 17:30
and Sunday 11:30 - 16:30

Dads are worth it.

Treat Dad to a bit of old school vinyl this Fathers Day. The Rega RP1 just one of many great turntables we have in store.