Marco your answer RE: Croft and Eminent Audio

[matodono1]

Hi Marco,

My name is Matt O'Donoghue I was one of the main web designers for EA from 2003 till 2006. I have known Glenn and Amar personally for over ten years and have worked with both on the marketing side since 2002.

Yes it is true that Glenn Croft and Amar Bizwas parted company since around June 2006. Glenn no longer manufactures Croft amplifiers for Eminent Audio and is forming his own new company. Amar attempted to continue manufacture on his own employing the service of a third party engineer but we have heard of no real production ocurring as a result.

I do know that up until a few weeks ago most of EA's distributors were unaware of the true nature of the split and of Glenn's current status with regard to EA. I can tell you that Glenn is currently in legal dispute with Amar over co-ownership of EA and fair distribution of EA's assets for which Amar now holds full control.

If any members are offered EA products for sale by Amar they should bear in mind that ownership of those products is subject to legal dispute in the High Court.

As for me, my loyalties are for Glenn who I am assisting to set up his new company "Croft Accoustics", Glenn is well and looking forward to a new and positive future free of the influence of Mr Biswas. His new website is at http://www.croftacoustics.co.uk where he can be contacted directly for all servicing and repairs of valve amplification (including Croft obviously). A new small range of products to be annouced in due course as soon as Glenn can get back into production.

I hope that this helps to clarify matters.

Regards, Matt.

[WikiBoy]

Hi Marco,

My name is Matt O'Donoghue I was one of the main web designers for EA from 2003 till 2006. I have known Glenn and Amar personally for over ten years and have worked with both on the marketing side since 2002.

Yes it is true that Glenn Croft and Amar Bizwas parted company since around June 2006. Glenn no longer manufactures Croft amplifiers for Eminent Audio and is forming his own new company. Amar attempted to continue manufacture on his own employing the service of a third party engineer but we have heard of no real production ocurring as a result.

I do know that up until a few weeks ago most of EA's distributors were unaware of the true nature of the split and of Glenn's current status with regard to EA. I can tell you that Glenn is currently in legal dispute with Amar over co-ownership of EA and fair distribution of EA's assets for which Amar now holds full control.

If any members are offered EA products for sale by Amar they should bear in mind that ownership of those products is subject to legal dispute in the High Court.

As for me, my loyalties are for Glenn who I am assisting to set up his new company "Croft Accoustics", Glenn is well and looking forward to a new and positive future free of the influence of Mr Biswas. His new website is at http://www.croftacoustics.co.uk where he can be contacted directly for all servicing and repairs of valve amplification (including Croft obviously). A new small range of products to be annouced in due course as soon as Glenn can get back into production.

I hope that this helps to clarify matters.

Regards, Matt.

Yeah!! go for it Glenn - strike a blow of freedom for the techie. Now if a certain Hamish had had the personal balls to do this, instead of taking an easier way out, then the UK hi-Fi industry might even now look a completely different place.

Waddya think Guy

[Marco]

Hi Matt,

Welcome to the forum

And thank you very much for the information about Croft. This is very interesting as I had no idea that the two had parted company since 2006! I was under the impression that this had only happened recently. It would certainly explain though why Amar wasn't returning my calls...

I must admit he always did come across as a bit 'dodgy', although he was always unfailingly pleasant.

I will contact Glenn directly through the website details you posted, as there are a number of things I would like to ask him. I certainly hope that his new venture goes well. He makes fabulous products!

Marco.

[matodono1]

Yeah!! go for it Glenn - strike a blow of freedom for the techie. Now if a certain Hamish had had the personal balls to do this, instead of taking an easier way out, then the UK hi-Fi industry might even now look a completely different place.

Waddya think Guy

Hi Richard,

Thanks, I am sure that Glenn will appreciate that note of support. The whole situation is very unfortunate, especially when the trust and genuine good nature of an individual such as Glenn Croft is abused in such a manner.

None of this quite matches the tragedy which befell Hamish Robertson but needless to say there are certain individuals within the British hifi industry who will have to look at themselves in the mirror and find some pretty funky excuses with which to justify their conduct.

I for one am glad that I don't have to live with that particular brand of lie on my conscience.

Regards, Matt.

[matodono1]

Hi Matt,

Welcome to the forum

And thank you very much for the information about Croft. This is very interesting as I had no idea that the two had parted company since 2006! I was under the impression that this had only happened recently. It would certainly explain though why Amar wasn't returning my calls...

I must admit he always did come across as a bit 'dodgy', although he was always unfailingly pleasant.

I will contact Glenn directly through the website details you posted, as there are a number of things I would like to ask him. I certainly hope that his new venture goes well. He makes fabulous products!

Marco.

Hi Marco,

I am glad to be the one who represents Glenn's side of the matter. And yes contact him directly, I am sure he will welcome your support. Thanks for your reply and welcome to this Forum.

Best, Matt.

[Marco]

No problem, Matt. Nice to have you here

Glenn is one of the old school highly respected British audio designers I admire greatly. I own a Charisma X preamp, which is superb and has one of the best all-valve phono stages I have ever heard.

Tell us about your own system, and if you have any pictures pop them in the Gallery.

Marco.

[matodono1]

No problem, Matt. Nice to have you here

Glenn is one of the old school highly respected British audio designers I admire greatly. I own a Charisma X preamp, which is superb and has one of the best all-valve phono stages I have ever heard.

Tell us about your own system, and if you have any pictures pop them in the Gallery.

Marco.

Hi Marco,

My system is obviously Croft!

Namely a Croft Epoch SE pre, Croft Twinstar II SE power, Bluenote Kaola CD (valve output) Spendor SP1 speakers rewired with tweaked crossovers, I also sometimes setup with my Quad ELS 63's. I am also a friend of Arthur K (pink, Funk etc) so I run one of his Funk tt's with a Bluenote U3 unipivot and Grado Silver cart.

Cables are Townhend Isolda speaker cable with a mixture of Chord Sig, Siltech STA G3 and Funks own "Wraith" interconnects. I use power chords of my own design. my site is http://www.mats-enterprise.co.uk for details of my various audio projects and system pictures.

The site is grossly out of date, being a web designer I never actually work on my own site but it will give you an idea about what I get up to.

Regards, Matt.

[Marco]

Hi Matt,

Nice system!

I heard the Bluenote CDP at Amar's (is he still at Trinity cottage?) and was very impressed - queer looking thing, though!

How dose the Twinstar sound? I've always wondered about that one. At the time when I bought the Charisma X I was into the hybrid combination of a valve preamp and solid-state power amps (ECS EA-1 monos) as I was (wrongly) under the impression that valve amplifiers sounded a bit 'warm and soft'.

Since then however I've embarked on a bit of a valve power amp journey and currently am experimenting with some Chinese stuff, a Tube Distinctions Copper amp (amazing) and a pair of EAR 509 monos, which are stunning. I wondered how the Charisma would sound with the Twinstar on the end... Maybe you fancy a trip to North Wales? (I'm about an hour and a half away)

SP1s? Love 'em. I have a pair of SP100s and wouldn't change them for the world. It's very hard to get their addictive balance of virtues in most of the speakers made today.

I'm also a friend of Arthur's - great guy, although I probably haven't known him for as long as you. He's up to his eyes at the minute with his new (top-of-the-range) tonearm, and certain 'challenges' he's facing, as you'll no doubt be aware! He's also a member here but simply hasn't had the time to post. He takes on far too much himself, but then if you know Arthur, I'm sure that won't come as too much of a surprise!

Incidentally, have you heard the Croft floor-standing speakers? If so, what do you think? I thought they sounded superb but looked a bit 'home-made'. Were these designed by Glenn or someone else?

Marco.

[matodono1]

Hi Marco,

Thanks. The Twinstar may be to your taste but it sort of depends what you want from your hifi. Last week a long term BC1 owner came up from London because he wanted me to check his speakers out for faults. He was used to the slightly coloured sound that BC1's produce and also associated electronics which produce a softer sound which allows you to listen lazily for hours without fatigue. He didn't appreciate my setup. He would have been happy to sacrifice detail for a softer presentation.

My system is tuned to be hyper detailed and slightly forward in presentation. I don't subscribe to the idea that a system has to be able to play endlessly without getting in your face. In fact my system will not play all of my music. If there are faults in production or brightness/sibilance in the recording my system will reproduce it and so some tunes become unplayable. My philosophy is that an F1 car only really works optimally on one corner of a circuit so why do audiphiles expect to produce performance systems without making any compromises. I associate the term "musical" with "compromised".

The Croft speakers you asked about were nothing to do with Glenn. They were Croft by badge only. In fact they were imported American affairs for which Amar paid a fraction of the Retail asking price. I never liked any of the range. They had nice treble and mid but the loaded bass always left me empty.

Your Sp100's are a different matter, with a wide baffle and large bass unit the sound will be far more believable. I actually ran BC3's for a while but in the end had to give up as they fail to produce the coherence of the SP1 or even BC1. The SP100's are better but as they use the same bass cone as the older BC3 they suffer some of the same problems. Terry Miles at Spendor has recently revamped all of the speakers in the classic range and is especially pleased with the improved performance of the current version of the SP100. You may want to check them out.

Arthur K?

Yes well enough said. He will get the new arms past prototype stage and they promise to be spectacular. I will forward him a link to this thread and I am sure he can speak for himself.

I don't get up to North Wales very often but if you are ever passing by the Midlands you are welcome to pass by. Contact me direct via my site.

Best regards, Matt.

[Marco]

Hi Matt,

The Twinstar may be to your taste but it sort of depends what you want from your hifi. Last week a long term BC1 owner came up from London because he wanted me to check his speakers out for faults. He was used to the slightly coloured sound that BC1's produce and also associated electronics which produce a softer sound which allows you to listen lazily for hours without fatigue. He didn't appreciate my setup. He would have been happy to sacrifice detail for a softer presentation.

Well, from that description I think that I would like the Twinstar. The sound you describe above is the complete antithesis of what I look for in hi-fi, and how my system sounds. Also SP100s sound nothing like BC1s. I hate soft-sounding hi-fi!

My system is tuned to be hyper detailed and slightly forward in presentation. I don't subscribe to the idea that a system has to be able to play endlessly without getting in your face. In fact my system will not play all of my music. If there are faults in production or brightness/sibilance in the recording my system will reproduce it and so some tunes become unplayable. My philosophy is that an F1 car only really works optimally on one corner of a circuit so why do audiphiles expect to produce performance systems without making any compromises. I associate the term "musical" with "compromised".

I think the term "musical" in relation to a hi-fi system is very subjective - one man's "musical" is other man's "monotonous", or something else, and I wouldn't necessarily equate "musical" with "compromised". It's possible that our systems sound similar, but whilst mine easily shows up faults in production, it doesn't completely trash poor recordings - there's a balance to be had. I know how Croft and Spendors sound, though, so in certain ways I would expect our systems to have a similar sonic signature.

The Croft speakers you asked about were nothing to do with Glenn. They were Croft by badge only. In fact they were imported American affairs for which Amar paid a fraction of the Retail asking price. I never liked any of the range. They had nice treble and mid but the loaded bass always left me empty.

Yeah, I only got a brief listen to them - once at Amar's and once at Acton Gate Audio in Wrexham, where Amar had supplied a pair, and they sounded pretty good, but it's always hard to tell how good something actually is in an alien system.

Your Sp100's are a different matter, with a wide baffle and large bass unit the sound will be far more believable. I actually ran BC3's for a while but in the end had to give up as they fail to produce the coherence of the SP1 or even BC1. The SP100's are better but as they use the same bass cone as the older BC3 they suffer some of the same problems. Terry Miles at Spendor has recently revamped all of the speakers in the classic range and is especially pleased with the improved performance of the current version of the SP100. You may want to check them out.

I intend to have the 'R' modification (the revamping you speak of) carried out to my SP100s, and have spoken to Terry about this. However, I have other priorities at the moment (namely valve power amplifiers) that I want to attend to first. The SP100s have no problem in the bass if they're partnered and set-up properly.

I know exactly what you're referring to, but the use of custom-made Mana speaker stands and Transparent cables completely cures this. The bass I hear with the SP100s is deep, tight, rhythmic, and conveyed with serious authority. There is no overhang whatsoever, while the mid and top end is open, detailed and articulate. I suspect that the 'R' modification will improve things even further.

Arthur K?

Yes well enough said. He will get the new arms past prototype stage and they promise to be spectacular. I will forward him a link to this thread and I am sure he can speak for himself.

If you can get him to contribute then that will be a major achievement. Good luck! I would love to read Arthur's comments and thoughts on a multitude of things.

I don't get up to North Wales very often but if you are ever passing by the Midlands you are welcome to pass by. Contact me direct via my site.

No problem. I'll definitely give you a shout next time I'm in the Birmingham area. I'm down that way fairly often

Regards,
Marco.