RobbieGong, Phonomac and a Sansui AU 919
Had the great pleasure today, of 1. receiving my completely overhauled Sansui AU 919 and 2. meeting Angus (Phonomac) and what an absolutely top guy he is too. He will have covered 200 miles getting the amp to me and back today from Northampton, now that is what I call service and attention to detail. The amp arrived in top order and looks even better than I hoped. As well as being a great guy he certainly knows his stuf when it comes to stripping and re-building these vintage beauties and thats just for starters - lets just say he knows a thing or two about hifi. Anyway from the moment we fired up the 919 I knew I'd bagged myself a seriously good amp. My previous big integrated was the Technics SU VX800
combined with a Technics SH 8055 equalizer. Together they were a stonking combo but the VX800 on it's own with tone defeated sounded dull. Anyway for a number of reasons i decide it was time to find a really good amp that would sound great with tone controls defeated and ditch the equalizer. The 919 has passed that challenge and some. Initial listening was via my Marantz CD63 KI signature but then Angus pulled out his Kontrapunkt B moving coil on me and got to work with his alignment protractor, then we sat down to some tunes he'd brought along. First up Dire Straights, Immediately I could hear the liveness of the music and the instruments, string being strummed and the different parts of the drum kit being struck, I kept saying to him with a massive grin that 'the drum kit sounds like a drum kit !!' amazing. Next up was Fleetwood Mac - Rumours lp and it was more of the same. Another thing that really struck me was how quiet parts of a track where just that but as soon as the track built and became more dynamic you could absolutely and genuinely feel and sense the crescendo of build up - just great and a real sense of liveness. I know this was a combination of a great mc in the Kontrapunkt and the quality of the 919. This was the first time I'd ever heard a moving coil cartridge so I'm looking forward to receiving the Ortofon Quintet Black I've just bagged so I can really get to some serious critical listening over time, properly go through some of the vinyl I'm so familiar with as well as really get to know and hear my system and what the 919 and the QB have brought to the party. A lovely few hours with Angus and the 919 today and I actually feel like it's beginning to come together again after so much change and no music. Absolute pleasure meeting you Angus and hooking up thanks to another top bloke Julian (Jules68). Gonna be a very interesting few weeks that's for sure - Pics and further report will follow at a later date.
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