SME / B&W

[The Grand Wazoo]

I spent a couple of days at my parents place this week.
They live in a little town in Sussex - the place I went to school, where I had my first pint, where I met my wife, where I did all sort of stuff that I should regret but don't - where I did all sorts of stuff that I should regret and do.

Let's call it HOME. Though I haven't lived there since 1987, that's how I think of it. We moved there in '76.

The thing is, this little old town has a bit of a hi-fi connection because it's called Steyning & that's where SME live.



Mill Road is about halfway between my family home & the school I attended. Crucially, the bridge over the mill-stream was where the smarter smokers used to go for a nose-warmer at lunch times. A venue never discovered in my time by the school staff, though often attended by a close friend of mine - the son of the Headmaster!

I went past the SME premises this morning, took this photo & saw men in real lab coats, working away on building products that the British hi-fi community is proud of.
However, I see that nowadays the skip where the reject stuff is dumped no longer lives within easy reach of schoolboys with 'enquiring minds'!!!!

There are countless legends in Steyning of the fastidiousness with which Alaistair Aikman used to run his business & his life. The thing is, when you saw & handled his products, you knew them all to be true.



The other hi-fi connection in Steyning is B&W - they built their research & development lab in what was an old orchard (I used to walk through it on my way home from school every day & once got a clip round the ear from an innocent victim of friendly fire in one of our regular Battles of the Bramleys).





I went to school with a good number of folks who worked for these two companies - a couple of whom have gone on to big things in the electronics industry -

Here's to what's left of British hifi.

(Please excuse the wonky pictures - all taken undercover in the interests of AoS reportage!!)
Cheers

[Kris]

Apparently Alaistair Aikman had a purpose built listening room that was legendary. Audio Research Electronics and Quad Electrostatic speakers. The speakers were set up very strangely (2 pairs at right angles to each other), but sounded fab.

I had an SME 3009 years ago. Wonderful tonearm. And If I won the lottery one of my first purchases would be a 30/12 with a Series V tonearm.

SME, truely one of the greatest manufacturers of all time. B&W aren't bad either. I got 5 pairs of their speakers!

[Rare Bird]

Apparently Alaistair Aikman had a purpose built listening room that was legendary. Audio Research Electronics and Quad Electrostatic speakers. The speakers were set up very strangely (2 pairs at right angles to each other), but sounded fab.

I had an SME 3009 years ago. Wonderful tonearm. And If I won the lottery one of my first purchases would be a 30/12 with a Series V tonearm.

SME, truely one of the greatest manufacturers of all time. B&W aren't bad either. I got 5 pairs of their speakers!

I seem to remember he had Krell power! The Quad '63's i remember position forward firing & another pair side firing in a 'L' type configuration! This be the time the then new SME turntable appeared, maybe i'm wrong..

[Alex_UK]

I think "2 pairs at right angles to each other" is the same as "position forward firing & another pair side firing in a 'L' type configuration!" - or at least I imagined Kris's description to also mean "L" shaped?

[Alex_UK]

Great post, BTW Chris - a bit sad, in a way, but in today's environment I guess we should be thankful companies like SME are still around at all...

[The Grand Wazoo]

When I got to know about the system it used Oracle turntables (2 Alexandrias, I think), ARC SP11, 4 Krell Reference monos & 2 pairs of ESL63's in the 'L' shape / 90 degree format described above. They were dustcover-less, but crucually, were built into sturdy frames & they had massive (100lb) steel weights on top - that'll stop the buggers wobbling!

A previous incarnation had a semi-circular array of 16(?) closely spaced Quad 57's to give a true point source. The speakers all hide behind a motorised curtain.



By the way, the B&W building once had a Nakamichi Dragon turntable in it - well, if you were the distributor of Nakamichi, you just would, wouldn't you?!!

"Your record has an off-centre spindle hole sir? - No problem just givie it a spin on this little beauty!"


Japanese advert:
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?im...a%3DX%26um%3D1

Review / info:
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?im...a%3DX%26um%3D1

[Haselsh1]

What a shame... what an absolute bloody shame in the same way the British motorcycle industry ended it's days. That industry is now making pseudo British bikes designed in Japan. What a disgrace.

[Rare Bird]

I think "2 pairs at right angles to each other" is the same as "position forward firing & another pair side firing in a 'L' type configuration!" - or at least I imagined Kris's description to also mean "L" shaped?

Yes he probably did mean this.. (Sorry for contradicting Kris)

[Kris]

Yes, that's right, L shaped config. I also remember seeing the pictures of the speakers "built into sturdy frames & they had massive (100lb) steel weights on top - that'll stop the buggers wobbling!"

I also remember now that the speakers were raised on a 'stage' with acoustically transparent curtains.

I wonder what's happened to the room now? probably turned into a snooker room with a Tesco/ Currys stereo

Can anyone remember the room dimensions? Was it the classic 1 to 1.6 to 2.5 / 1 to 2.5 to 3.2 ratio?

[The Grand Wazoo]

Well, I don't know for sure but I think the house remains in the family. Cameron Aikman (his son) now runs SME.