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Thread: Supporting our HiFi cottage industry

  1. #1
    Join Date: Jul 2017

    Location: Essex

    Posts: 44
    I'm Thiha.

    Default Supporting our HiFi cottage industry

    Hi All

    I don't know whether I am waging a one-man battle against the giant manufacturers with their mega-bucks marketing budgets, but lately, I have been scouring the net for products made by our smaller HiFi cottage industry to see how good their products are.

    First stop was Audiomods, where I bought Jeff Spall's Classic MkII tonearm. For around £500, it punches well above its weight and gave my far more expensive Origin Live Illustrious a good run for its money. I'm glad I took the leap of faith and went for the Audiomods because not only did I save a huge amount of money, but I got to hear for myself just how good this beautifully engineered arm performs against the big brands. Conclusion is that unless you are spending close to £2,000, no big manufacturer's arm will surpass the Classic Mk II in any meaningful way.

    Encouraged by that, I took another leap of faith a few weeks ago and bought a pair of Voltaire Reference Zero stand mounts from Robson Acoustics. Robert Hudson at RA was a delight to deal with and when I took delivery of the Zeros, I was gobsmacked at just how good they are. They feature very expensive mid-bass drivers from another English company, Volt Loudspeakers, down in Dorset and some very high quality ribbon tweeters. All beautifully finished off by Robert, the whole thing is handmade from start to finish.

    The Zeros excel in the following 4 areas:

    (i) superb cohesion between the upper mids/highs from the ribbons and the mid bass/bass from the Volt drivers. There is none of that phasing problem you get with poorly designed/made ribbon tweeter speakers where the lows lag the highs and the whole is just incoherent and not properly integrated

    (ii) incredibly transparent, airy and smooth treble and mids without any hint of graininess, glare or harshness.Cymbols really shimmer rather than just splash

    (iii) neutral and natural. There is none of the modern trend of emphasising the upper mids/treble to create a (false) impression of detail and resolution which after a while simply becomes fatiguing to listen to because in reality, it is nothing but the treble being made prominent

    (iv) musicality. They really do grab your attention and hold it. At the end of the day, no matter the laboratory test results, if hifi doesn't have emotion and feeling in a real world living environment, then (in my book) it has failed the test. If I simply wanted some music in the background, I'd save myself a lot of money by wondering around shopping centres.

    In terms of what the Zeros have been up against: Focal Electra 1007S, Harbeth SHL5, Usher X-718, PMC Twenty.22, PMC DB1i, Harbeth M30, Harbeth HL-K6SE, Harbeth P3-ES2se, Audio Note AN-K and Audio Physic Step 25+ (not all at the same time, but these are just some of the speakers I have owned in recent years). All of these are more expensive than the Zeros (perhaps bar the PMC DB1i), but I would choose the Zeros over any of these any day.

    I just want to make clear that I have absolutely no connection to Jeff Spall/Audiomods or Robert Hudson/Robson Acoustics in any way whatsoever other than being a customer of their kit and I am not in the hifi industry or media and I'm most certainly not a professional reviewer...I just love hifi.

    I wanted to share my thoughts since I don't feel that these sorts of manufacturers of ours get that much recognition since they do not have the marketing budget to paste their wares into every hifi magazine and to maintain snazzy websites. But it is clear to me that here in the UK (and elsewhere), there are some really terrific bits of kit being made by some very talented individuals.

    I'd love to learn of anyone else's experiences along these lines as this is the only way we can share information to find our hidden gems.

  2. #2
    Join Date: Aug 2010

    Location: Torquay, Devon.

    Posts: 5,684
    I'm Shane.

    Default

    Good thread, Thiha.

    You just can't beat a good old bargain!

    S.

  3. #3
    Join Date: Aug 2011

    Location: Nottingham

    Posts: 575
    I'm Ian.

    Default

    I'd love to learn of anyone else's experiences along these lines as this is the only way we can share information to find our hidden gems.

    Croft amplification is well known here at AoS, indeed this is where I first heard about it and my box swapping ended shortly afterwards. I think the term cottage industry is quite apt should Glenn live in a cottage, the Croft industry just him I believe !

  4. #4
    Bigman80 Guest

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by vintage60 View Post
    Hi All

    I don't know whether I am waging a one-man battle against the giant manufacturers with their mega-bucks marketing budgets, but lately, I have been scouring the net for products made by our smaller HiFi cottage industry to see how good their products are.

    First stop was Audiomods, where I bought Jeff Spall's Classic MkII tonearm. For around £500, it punches well above its weight and gave my far more expensive Origin Live Illustrious a good run for its money. I'm glad I took the leap of faith and went for the Audiomods because not only did I save a huge amount of money, but I got to hear for myself just how good this beautifully engineered arm performs against the big brands. Conclusion is that unless you are spending close to £2,000, no big manufacturer's arm will surpass the Classic Mk II in any meaningful way.

    Encouraged by that, I took another leap of faith a few weeks ago and bought a pair of Voltaire Reference Zero stand mounts from Robson Acoustics. Robert Hudson at RA was a delight to deal with and when I took delivery of the Zeros, I was gobsmacked at just how good they are. They feature very expensive mid-bass drivers from another English company, Volt Loudspeakers, down in Dorset and some very high quality ribbon tweeters. All beautifully finished off by Robert, the whole thing is handmade from start to finish.

    The Zeros excel in the following 4 areas:

    (i) superb cohesion between the upper mids/highs from the ribbons and the mid bass/bass from the Volt drivers. There is none of that phasing problem you get with poorly designed/made ribbon tweeter speakers where the lows lag the highs and the whole is just incoherent and not properly integrated

    (ii) incredibly transparent, airy and smooth treble and mids without any hint of graininess, glare or harshness.Cymbols really shimmer rather than just splash

    (iii) neutral and natural. There is none of the modern trend of emphasising the upper mids/treble to create a (false) impression of detail and resolution which after a while simply becomes fatiguing to listen to because in reality, it is nothing but the treble being made prominent

    (iv) musicality. They really do grab your attention and hold it. At the end of the day, no matter the laboratory test results, if hifi doesn't have emotion and feeling in a real world living environment, then (in my book) it has failed the test. If I simply wanted some music in the background, I'd save myself a lot of money by wondering around shopping centres.

    In terms of what the Zeros have been up against: Focal Electra 1007S, Harbeth SHL5, Usher X-718, PMC Twenty.22, PMC DB1i, Harbeth M30, Harbeth HL-K6SE, Harbeth P3-ES2se, Audio Note AN-K and Audio Physic Step 25+ (not all at the same time, but these are just some of the speakers I have owned in recent years). All of these are more expensive than the Zeros (perhaps bar the PMC DB1i), but I would choose the Zeros over any of these any day.

    I just want to make clear that I have absolutely no connection to Jeff Spall/Audiomods or Robert Hudson/Robson Acoustics in any way whatsoever other than being a customer of their kit and I am not in the hifi industry or media and I'm most certainly not a professional reviewer...I just love hifi.

    I wanted to share my thoughts since I don't feel that these sorts of manufacturers of ours get that much recognition since they do not have the marketing budget to paste their wares into every hifi magazine and to maintain snazzy websites. But it is clear to me that here in the UK (and elsewhere), there are some really terrific bits of kit being made by some very talented individuals.

    I'd love to learn of anyone else's experiences along these lines as this is the only way we can share information to find our hidden gems.
    I heard one of the Audiomods recently. It was on a slate plynth mounted Garrard 401. The cartridge was a North west analogue jobbie and the combination was very pleasing to the ear. Mine anyway

    What did the arm do that made you happy to spend the money? Did you keep the OL arm ?

    Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

  5. #5
    Join Date: Sep 2014

    Location: brighton uk.

    Posts: 4,737
    I'm jamie.

    Default

    i love the fact you can build the arm yourself
    My System
    John Wood KT88 Amp.
    Paradise Phono Stage
    Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
    PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
    Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
    Sony X555ES Cd Player
    Yamaha NS1000m Speakers

  6. #6
    Join Date: Mar 2017

    Location: West Sūžsēaxe

    Posts: 2,015
    I'm Edward.

    Default



    I'm very interested in the Robson Acoustics speakers you tried/have. I could not find prices or distributors in the South East. How does Robert operate when selling speakers? Does he have demo units available?

    In terms of HiFi cottage industry I have personal experience with and can recommend Radford Revival, Chevron Audio and Reelaudio.
    Current: [P20] Roon/Tidal > Custom PC> Chevron Paradox NDF16 > Phast Pre > Neuro. 686 > Tannoy Berkley (RFC tweaks)


  7. #7
    Bigman80 Guest

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jamie123 View Post
    i love the fact you can build the arm yourself
    Really? I didn't know that

    Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

  8. #8
    Join Date: Aug 2012

    Location: Hartlepool UK

    Posts: 1,640
    I'm Alan.

    Default

    I can also vouch for the audiomods arm they are superb and I built and still own the Series 4 version, Jeff is a pleasure to deal with.
    Ive used it on various decks and it always sounds great.

    LP12 by Alan Towell, on Flickr

    I would also like to mention Wilmslow audio, I bought a pair of their Home studio Monitors in the 80s a very solid cabinet and the Excellent Volt BM220.8 bass mid and Scanspeak tweeter which was the 8513 and upgraded that to the D2008/9500.
    I also rehoused them later in the floor standing Classique cabinet.
    I always had good service from them but not sure if its the same owners now?

    xover 9 by Alan Towell, on Flickr

    http://www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/classique-88-c.asp

    Alan
    Turntable - Garrard 401/Jelco 750L/Ortofon Kontrapunkt B, Pioneer PLC 590, Micro Sieki MA505 , Denon DL103R - DIY Paradise Phono stage - Reel 2 Reel Studer A810, Otari MX55,Tascam BR20, Revox A77, B77, PR99, TEAC X1000 & 3440, Digital HTPC / Young Dac - Preamp - DIY B4, 821, Power Amp's DIY Avondale NCC300 Mono Block, Speakers Wilmslow Kit Volt BM220.8 / Scanspeak D2905/9500

  9. #9
    Join Date: Aug 2012

    Location: Hartlepool UK

    Posts: 1,640
    I'm Alan.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bigman80 View Post
    Really? I didn't know that

    Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk
    Yes I built mine from the kit and I did a thread about it here
    http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...ight=audiomods

    Alan
    Turntable - Garrard 401/Jelco 750L/Ortofon Kontrapunkt B, Pioneer PLC 590, Micro Sieki MA505 , Denon DL103R - DIY Paradise Phono stage - Reel 2 Reel Studer A810, Otari MX55,Tascam BR20, Revox A77, B77, PR99, TEAC X1000 & 3440, Digital HTPC / Young Dac - Preamp - DIY B4, 821, Power Amp's DIY Avondale NCC300 Mono Block, Speakers Wilmslow Kit Volt BM220.8 / Scanspeak D2905/9500

  10. #10
    Bigman80 Guest

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by 337alant View Post
    Yes I built mine from the kit and I did a thread about it here
    http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...ight=audiomods

    Alan
    That's very thorough. It looks fantastic. I've noticed a Version 5? Better than an Alphason??? Hmmmm

    Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk

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