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

The New Ruark R1 Dab Radio is here.

We now have in stock the third generation of the Ruark R1 desktop radio and very nice it is to.

This is the latest incarnation of the ever popular Dab radio, and with many upgrades and improvements it is a great gem of modern gadgetry presented in an elegant and stylish cabinet.

So what’s new ?

The first thing you will notice is the display which now uses an OLED screen. This gives much better detail and clarity, also the brightness can be adjusted to suit anyone’s preference.

The control panel has also been improved. Using a much nicer version of Ruarks unique rotodial, it now has fewer buttons and is easier to navigate through the options. By giving it a smaller and separate power button you no longer accidentally turn it off while adjusting the volume.

The biggest upgrade is the addition of Bluetooth connectivity. This enables us to connect our smartphones, tablets, laptops etc and play our own music. The R1 wil read and display the track information as you listen.

Turn the R1 around and on the back you will find a stereo headphone output, an analogue line in and a USB socket. The line in gives us the option to connect an external source and the USB can be used to charge your phone or tablet.

On the whole its a great little product, with Dab , Dab+ and FM its a fantastic radio and suitable for any home or office enviroment. Available in three colours, Black , White , or the classic wood finish Walnut.

For more information check out the Ruark website http://www.ruarkaudio.com/products/r1-overview.

Arcam rBlink Bluetooth DAC Sounds Blinkin Good!

We have been mightily impressed with how good Arcam's baby rBlink Bluetooth wireless DAC sounds!

We have our diminutive box set wired into our Heed Obelisk Si Integrated & X2Power Supply connected to a pair of Spendor SA1 Loudspeakers. We use our iPad mini and iPod Touch to stream the music to the rBlink.

The DAC has excellent detail retrieval and doesn't sound too digital or harsh. It has a warmth to the presentation offering a sound akin to a good analogue turntable. It's impressive and offers a true Hi-Fi audiophile sound with the added convenience of allowing you to be able to control your music from the comfort of your armchair using any device that has Bluetooth.

It's simple to set up too! Just turn on Bluetooth on your phone / tablet and with one press of a button on the R-Blink you are connected.

It's even converted our very own Farid Beheshti who like Jon Finch is a died in the wool analogue Hi-Fi purist. It's that good it has converted Farid to the digital world and he has just bought the rBlink and a shiny new iPad mini!

Drop by have a cuppa with us and be converted!