A visit to Marco's

[Firebottle]

A much anticipated visit to get an ear around how the Head Daftee's system sounds. A great sesh indeed.

Everybody should have some idea or they haven't been paying enough attention, punishment is available

I found the place easily enough, straight up the A41, and was very pleased to also meet Darren

Marco's den is fairly compact but ideal as a man cave for music storage and listening. The Lockwoods are the first thing you notice, you'd have to be blind not to, but you certainly feel them when the music is on, more of that later.
They struck me visually as very 'purposeful', personally I prefer the look to the more traditional side vented corner cabinet look of other models, but of course that is just personal preference.

I'd come equipped with a Firebottle KIN preamp and AIR power amp, specifically to contrast and compare the relative performance, but always with an open mind to try and understand what possible technical merits or otherwise there are with different design approaches.
That's me with my designers hat on as I like to try and understand why a particular tweak makes the difference it does.

We started with the few CD's I had brought up with me, one of them being Sade - Soldier of Love.
The overall impression is sheer scale, have to agree with Marco here, quite enthralling. I knew there were good bass lines on the Sade CD but coupled into two 15 inchers and the depth was astonishing, no boom, no flab, just bass that you could feel and appreciate

OK I was thinking can I create a diversion and get these Lockies into the back of the car

A few CD's were played and I saw that Marco now has remote control fitted to his stepped attenuator in the Croft pre. Even though the top was off it was on rather a high shelf on the rack so I couldn't get a good look around the internals

The AIR power amp was the first substitution in the system and very well it performed. When the Copper Amp was re-installed at the end of the session the overall impression was that there was a slight extra 'warmth' in the sound with the copper amp, but a bit more 'air' with the AIR (good choice of name according to Darren).
My technical guess on the difference was the speaker response/output valve loading via the output transformer, but in no way was there any fault or error in presentation with either, plus we are talking very small differences, as we found with all the subsequent substitutions.

Darren took a few photos so none of the 'this thread is worthless without.....' as they will be posted in due course.

This visit was also my first listen to an Rpi streaming setup, exceedingly good considering the outlay involved. Compared to the CD and vinyl I thought there was a couple of percent less (that's all), oh I don't know... something, from the overall presentation. Maybe the scale or the fluidity of the music, but still bl**dy good.

The KIN preamp was substituted, driving the AIR, first with line in sources then various configurations from the vinyl set-up.

First off Marco's Mechie (modified Techie)/Paul Hynes head amp/Croft Charisma preamp is one of the best vinyl sounds I have heard. I was more than pleased that the KIN stood up to the comparison, even equalled it.
Playing with the combinations was very informative, particularly the direct MC input or head amp/SUT approach. I particularly wanted to hear how a quality MC performed directly into the KIN.
The KIN uses a cascode circuit for the MC input so negates the need for a head amp (HA) or SUT.

However Marco's experience has been that the direct input lacks a smidgen of 'drive' to the signal, whatever the preamp, when compared to the HA/SUT plus MM input approach. It was compared to the extra 'drive' that is felt when using an idler drive TT rather than direct drive or belt.

I could concur with that feeling and of course that has got me wondering what could be done to counteract this. My theory at the moment is that the difference is probably down to the input valve being driven via its cathode in the cascode circuit as opposed to the grid in a standard MM circuit. Anyone have any ideas on this or experience with experimentation?

Overall a very enjoyable day, excellent company and great to share thoughts and experiences.

PS You've got a wonderful bathroom Marco.

[CageyH]

Sounds like an excellent result and a good day out was had Alan.
It will be interesting to hear from the others and see the pictures that were taken.

[brian2957]

Aye , we like the piccies here

[Firebottle]

You've made 4000 Brian, congrats

By the way which one of the 3 in your avatar is you

[brian2957]

I'm definitely the middle one , I'll let the other two decide which one they are . I have my thoughts though

Good god 4000 posts of nonsensical rubbish Thanks for pointing it out to me Alan.

Note to myself - Must try harder to make sense

[The Black Adder]

Hi Alan.

That's great, glad you finally got to hear the copper too. If you are still interested in coming over you are most welcome, just need to get the time slots free.

Great write up.
Jo

[Jimbo]

Sounds like you guys had a good session. Nice to hear your perspective on Marcos system Alan.

Which cartridge was Marco using on the techy?

[Firebottle]

The 103 James, certainly sounded good. Didn't have time for any cart comparisons unfortunately.

Jo yes I'm still keen if you can find a slot.

[Marco]

Ok, thanks to Alan for his nice write-up. It was great meeting you again yesterday. Before that, as you know, we'd only met briefly at last year's Cranage Hall show in Cheshire, but just a fleeting 'hello' in one of the corridors, so this time it was good to have a proper chat and listen to some choons in a more relaxed environment

Glad you enjoyed the system, mate, and me big ol' wardrobes. Their musical presentation (and voicing) is certainly quite different from modern speakers, which I think you got a good handle on!

The RPi's had a few tweaks done to it (notably some Z-foil resistor upgrades), and of course, the addition of the Paul Hynes SR3DR linear PSU, the combination of which raises the performance of the RPi considerably, whilst in total still not costing ridiculous money (approx £400), and as you heard, quite amazingly competing favourably with a £4k CDP/DAC and £5k turntable...

Yes, both of the latter still offer that 'something' extra, in terms of musical polish and finesse, but it's still incredible the performance that little RPi is capable of, and I'm thoroughly delighted with it, especially with having access now to 8TB worth of music on the partnering hard-drives...!

To answer Jim's question, the cartridge used yesterday on the Techy was the stock (early 90s vintage) DL-103, housed in a newly purchased AT-Ti15ANV Titanium headshell. Unfortunately, there wasn't time to demonstrate any of my other cartridges, as the day just flew by (as usually tends to happen at these events), and besides, I wanted to show just how good a stock DL-103 can sound when everything is going in its favour, as it were, especially for Darren's benefit, as he's in the market for one himself.

I was very impressed indeed with the equipment Alan brought with him, namely his AIR valve (hybrid) power amp and KIN preamp/valve phono stage. I'll leave Alan to outline the technical details of both designs, including the respective topologies and valves employed, power output of the amp, etc, which will probably be useful for any potential customers reading.

However, the AIR (£500-worth, I believe, of hand-built loveliness), was inserted into the system first and initially partnered with my modified Croft Charisma-X preamp, in place of my usual Tube Distinctions, KT-120 based Copper amp, and it impressed immediately from the off, producing a beautifully lucid and wide-open sound, majoring on both musical analysis and sonic prowess, such that one didn't at all feel that the system had notably been 'downgraded', after the removal of the Copper amp, which costs TEN times the amount of the AIR!!

There were of course subtle differences between both amps (as generally always happens in these situations), but certainly nothing that made either amp sound 'broken'. I always find that's the case when comparing two pieces of equipment which have been built by knowledgeable and talented audio designers, and so whilst there were some, what one could call 'hi-fi differences' between the two amps, both designs majored on that elusive 'musicality': the ability to portray recorded music faithfully, with no obvious coloration or euphony, but without 'drawing attention' to itself, by seemingly engaging the listener in a form of falsely impressive 'audio pyrotechnics'.

Experience of using valve equipment has taught me that, in general, amplifiers employing the use of the larger variety of valves, such as big pentodes, like KT-120s, or triodes, such as 300Bs, have a 'bigger', more powerful and expansive sound, than their smaller counterparts, which are pretty much anything you can think of really, and this again was the case when comparing the AIR with the Copper amp, which conveyed the former qualities with aplomb, showing the AIR to come across as a little 'small' in comparison, in all areas of the frequency range, but only at this rather elevated level.

However, there were areas in the musical performance of the AIR, most likely due to its hybrid design, which appeared as a little cleaner and marginally less 'lush' than with the all-valve design of the Copper amp. 'Lush' is probably the wrong word here, as that suggests a form of cloying warmth/euphony, which in reality is far removed from how the Copper amp sounds, but certainly listeners who prefer a slightly (and we are talking slight here) 'cleaner' and tighter sound, might prefer what the AIR does in that respect, and also the impressive clarity and sense of 'air' (no pun intended) it portrays through the midrange, although it wasn't quite as spacious and seductive sounding as the Copper amp in that area.

There were other subtle differences, but none really significant enough to mention. The key point which really needs to be remembered here is the HUGE difference in cost, and
so I believe that Alan has succeeded in creating something quite remarkable with the AIR. Therefore, prospective buyers, looking for a superb sounding power amp, which punches, WAY, WAY, above its price point, should be forming a queue to his door! Well done, mate, on building such a superb design

The KIN preamp, with built-in MM/MC phono stage (at I believe around £1800) was equally as impressive as the AIR power amp. Up until that point, we unfortunately hadn't managed to play any vinyl, but amongst other music selected, we'd been listening to a superb jazz album, on CD and through the RPi, from Duke Ellington, called 'Blues in Orbit': an album originally released in 1959, which is a veritable classic of its genre, so by now we were all familiar with how this album sounded. Luckily, I also had it on vinyl (a brand new audiophile re-issue on the Columbia label), bought precisely for such comparisons, so that's what we used to showcase the Techy.

It's always interesting comparing the same music/recordings on different formats, digital or analogue, and as good as the digital versions we'd been listening to previously sounded (on the RPi and Sony CDP/DAC), I thought (and I suspect that Alan and Darren would agree), the vinyl version was a notch up again in quality, simply making the overall musical performance more believable and 'cohesive', as well as portraying the various brass instruments played in a more realistic and lifelike manner, subsequently allowing, for example, the near-natural 'bite' and dynamic attack of saxophone, trumpet and trombone, full reign, in a way that had eluded both the CD and streaming versions, sounding a little more lacklustre in comparison - all of which the KIN ably revealed with aplomb!

Make no mistake: this is an exceptionally musically talented valve phono stage, capable of oodles of insight, and with the ability to 'delve' into recordings and reveal information that would escape the vast majority of its competitors, and here think in the region of commercial products at £3k+, not the £1800 that Alan is asking...

It was certainly capable of showcasing the unique and addictive musical qualities of the DL-103, in the way I've been accustomed to from the Croft, with vocals possessing a lovely 'creamy', liquid quality, but never straying towards the syrupy excesses one hears with some other valve designs, whilst enveloping the music in a wonderfully expansive soundstage, with impressive 'shimmer' and sparkle at the top-end, combining to give voices in particular sonorous depth and palpable realism. I could've happily enjoyed listening to music all day on the KIN, and I can pay it no higher compliment than that.

When we moved from using the MC-stage direct, and instead to the MM, via the Paul Hynes head amp, which itself costs almost as much as the KIN, there was undoubtedly a further improvement in SQ, injecting a purposefulness and 'drive', together with a soupçon of joie-de-vivre, musically, which the MC stage alone couldn't quite muster, but this was only obvious because the MM stage of the KIN possessed the required transparency to showcase the difference.

In that respect, I have to say that the combination of the KIN/Paul Hynes head amp went onto produce some wonderful sounds, only later being very slightly eclipsed by the introduction of the highly-modified Croft, which at considerably more cost than the KIN, opened things up a little more, in terms of overall insight and clarity, and by adding a bit more depth and subtlety to the musical presentation.

In short, how did the £1800 KIN compare with the £4K modified Croft/Paul Hynes combo? The answer fundamentally is very well indeed, and only lost out to the latter, as defined above, in the kinds of areas where that (expensive) few extra percent in audio performance is delivered by the top equipment, especially given that I've spent about the last 5 years slowing improving and refining the Croft, with all manner of internal upgrades, into what it is today. I've put it up against £10k+ commercial designs, where it's held its own, so the KIN is doing quite incredibly well to live with that sort of company.

As such, I would thoroughly recommend the KIN to anyone with the necessary funds, who wants to hear what a top-notch valve phono stage is capable of (also what their records really sound like), and one indeed that rather uniquely comes with both MM and MC inputs, all neatly wired internally, point to point, with quality components used throughout. Quite frankly, it's a no-brainer, and I can think of few better ways of spending £1800 on a phono stage, valve or SS. A bargain? Yup. Does it offer high SPPV? Yup, and then some...!

Therefore, I would like to congratulate Alan on designing and building two exceptional audio products, and ones which, given the support that they deserve, I'm sure will in time go onto become 'AoS classics'. You're a credit to our community, mate, and I wish you every success for the future

We now await Darren adding his thoughts, and providing the few pics we took!

Marco.

[Jimbo]

Great write up Marco, and a very generous appraisal of Alans equipment, both of which I have heard here put up against the Croft Micro 25R+ and the 7 so I know what they can do.

Alan is a very talented designer and I wrote a review of the KIN but not quite in its finished form - a truly great preamp with the added finest of superb phono stage.

I only heard the AIR briefly but even in its early incarnation it was excellent with great soundstage and indeed 'AIR'!

Good job you didn't have the DL-S1 on the techy, Alan would have the hair standing on his head!