Had Oliver 'Bigman' come around today with some bits and pieces.

First up the DB1 unity gain pre-amp - very interesting bit of kit this, just a buffer stage with stepped attenuator. I was interested to see if it would be a better match for the Krell than my usual SA passive.


Bit of a spanner in the works in that my Technics SLP1200 decided to start playing up yesterday, stopping after playing 4 or 5 tracks. So had to slum it with the Sony ES505 which is good, but nothing like as good as the Techy.


The DB1 gave quite different presentation, smoother, better defined bass, every track in the mix seemed to have its own spotlight shone on it. Quite upfront but never hard or aggressive. Maybe it had a bit less 'wallop' in the bottom registers but it was more defined, the tone of the bass guitar came through a bit more. I'm going to get a loan of one once Oli has built it so I'll be able have a longer go with it then.


Oli also brought the Monarchy SM70 power amp, dinky little thing that weighs like a gold ingot. Swapped it in place of the Krell KSA50S, not a massive amount of difference. maybe a bit less weight and grip but I can tell you, you'd struggle in a blind test provided you didn't bang it up too loud. A really good amplifier.


Finally we had a go with the Spotfire interconnects - I wasn't expecting much, I was wrong and am going to get some. They just put a bit of snap into what was quite a 'lazy' sound, as Oli put it. I listen to quite a lot of heavy rock and that so I don't like a lot of edge on the sound that can flatter simpler music but is too much if you're playing something like Led Zep at any sort of volume. So my system is sort of balanced to that. But the Spotfire gave a it more of a crispness to the sound without making it in any way brittle.

We listened to songs from the following records:

Steely Dan: Everything Must Go
Curtis Mayfield: Superfly,
Dire Straits: Brothers In Arms
Eric Clapton & BB King: Riding With The King
ZZ Top: ZZ Top's First Album

My phone will not talk to my new laptop but Oli took some illustrative pics so you'll have to wait until he posts them up (Marco).