Autumn News

Welcome to our Autumn Newsletter. We hope you are well and that these interesting times are leaving you unscathed. Somewhat gutted to learn that ‘may you live in interesting times’ is not a Chinese curse after all. How apposite it would have been.

Now, with customers returning for demonstrations, there is a certain sense of familiarity, masks, sanitiser, obsessive washing and Detol notwithstanding. The ‘used and ex demonstration’ section of our website has seen a fair amount of traffic. There have been trade-ins to sell, so new stuff is moving out the door. The arrival of goods from our suppliers remains patchy in the extreme, though, with lead times more extended and less predictable than ever.

With cash effectively depreciating and supply of goods slow, we have elected to put increased investment into new boxed and demonstration stock when it’s available. This is be best explanation I can find for the amount cluttering the place.

Despite appearances, we are not a warehouse operation but now is a very good time to ask us about higher end Naim kit, including 555 PS, Supercap, NAC252, NAP 250 and above. Instant gratification is a distinct possibility.

New arrivals include ATC SCM 50 loudspeakers, Auralic streamers, Nottingham turntables and Dynaudio Contour and Confidence speakers in huge wooden crates. There is a burgeoning collection of Accuphase boxes too. We have surely never had more products to play to you.

One aspect of 2020 has been the potential for us all to feel pressured and under stress. We were definitely feeling it and, as mentioned on the last missive, we closed for a two week break in August. This definitely helped. Music replay is wonderful therapy too and that’s somewhere we can help.

Now, with some level of increased lock-down looking likely and many holidays curtailed or on hold, could this perhaps be a good time to look at upgrading your audio system to make increased time indoors more enjoyable than ever? :)Oh, and a quick reminder to please book ahead if you’re planning a visit.Stay safe.

Andy, Mick & Alastair

Linn’s new Majik DSM streamer / amplifier with in-built phono stage arrived a few weeks ago. At just under £3000, it strikes us as being extremely competitively priced for the performance and features offered.It bears a strong physical similarity to the modular Selekt range, sharing the programmable short-cut buttons but losing the central raised volume control knob. This omission (amputation?) is no great loss, given that most will use the app to control it anyway. It is not quite as good as the Selekt but was close enough to make us feel the need to check. The comparison showed the relevance of equipment stands even for this kind of component. The Lateral Concert stand that we used made for the better sounding system pretty much regardless. As you can see from the above picture, Linn are able to supply turntables and loudspeakers in living colour these days. The revised Linn Magik turntable with new Krane arm is due in November. Our demonstration Majik is for sale at a reduced price.

Happy 45th birthday to Melco. Not only have they launched an Accuphase-matching limited edition Champagne gold N10 music server to celebrate, but they have finally announced Roon compatibility. Melco was established by Makoto Maki in Japan in 1975. Maki, an enthusiastic audiophile, established Melco to design and manufacture the finest audio components of the time

Aspirations?

Naim 500

Few product ranges have the shorthand link to peoples imagination of the Naim 500 series. ND555 source, 555 power supply, NAC552 preamp and NAP500 power amp. Not only do we have them all here but, if you are considering upgrading to any of them, we can make some really tempting offers.

Kudos

We have the full Kudos range on demonstration from breathtaking Titan 808 to compact Super 20A. Many are now at or approaching stock rotation time. This includes 505s in an ill advised red tinted Tineo veneer (deals on wheels there!), 707 in Walnut and 808 in normal Tineo.

Chord Ultima

Chord Electronics may be synonymous with DACs and scalers these days but their roots are in high end amplification. With the new Ultima series now in production, it’s got to be worth mentioning that we have them on demonstration. Properly serious kit! In the scheme of things, we think it’s rather good value.

Dynaudio

We’ve been selling Dynaudio for a year or two now. Our flagship Confidence 60s (pictured above) are in ‘Raven’ and are now due for rotation. Similarly the Confidence 20 stand mounts in ‘Ruby’. If you are tempted by some 20’s in ‘Midnight’ we have a brand new pair ready to go.

Accuphase

This stuff seems to have started to breed around here. Wall to wall ‘champagne gold’! We’ve a CD player cum DAC (that sells!!), excellent integrated amplifiers and now the pre and power amps. So far, their only failure has been to disappoint. The new £7500 C-2150 preamp is a joy as is the A48 class A power amp (above).

PMC

With the new Twenty5i series all here, we have replaced the previous generation speakers. Stock rotation is now due on our whopping great Fenestria (pictured above) and Fact 12 SE in grey. The Fenestrias have recently been fettled and new ‘wings’ for them are due soon. Finish is negotiable.