Well hallo!

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Alter ego Dr Bunsen Honeydew because I am a well known muppet, and mad scientist. Richard Dunn in reality, owner of NVA and designer of NVA products.

Any music as long as it doesn't make me wince.

Any gear as long as it is NVA :) though I have a Pioneer PL-71 turntable with either Ortofon SPU gold or Decca London Super Gold or Shure M3D or Denon 103. Carts sound familiar, I wonder who is copying who :eyebrows:

Also I have got a Garrard 401 refurbished that either I need time to do or to contract someone to do the plinth for it, and a spare Pioneer PL-71 arm Speedy Steve converted to 12 inch for me, so a future project.

Apart from that my system varies a lot according to what I am working on in prototype or is knocking around waiting for a customer. At the moment it is the Pioneer with Ortofon SPU Gold feeding a dual PSU fed Phono2, feeding a P50sa passive control unit, feeding a pair of A80 monoblocks, feeding a pair of Cube1 speakers, all wired with NVA cable.

It also has one of the first batch of NVA TFS music computers (designed by Figlet108 / Jason) connected, which I am virtually using all the time now connected to a cheap Tesco special Technika 32 inch LCD as monitor with wireless keyboard and mouse. It has given me a digital source at last that is at least the equal musically to the Pioneer DD, but the addition of the screen at the moment is fascinating me and I am ploughing through the dross at Youtube to find and save the gems, and believe it or not there are some real gems. Saved links to some Albano yesterday for the wife as we saw him in concert last week in Ischia Italy, and she likes him :scratch: though his ex wife he used to sing with on some of the clips was a bit nice.

Anyway enough rambling - tootle pip!

Richard

[chris@panteg]

Welcome back to the fold Richard , i thought you had retired from the forum malarky ?

Are you going to be at Whittlebury this year ? Would like to hear those cubes again .

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I never retire from forums, they retire from me.

I even have my own little one so that I can't be booted from all of them at once. We will see if I survive here this time.

I don't know about Whittlebury, it is not very cost effective. Anyway if you want to hear them again you would be welcome in Epping.

[Marco]

Hi Richard,

Welcome to AoS - you know the ropes! ;)


I have a Pioneer PL-71 turntable with either Ortofon SPU gold or Decca London Super Gold or Shure M3D or Denon 103. Carts sound familiar, I wonder who is copying who :eyebrows:


Lol - I suspect that you discovered most of those cartridges long before I did! Interesting, though, that we appear to have similar tastes in that respect.


It also has one of the first batch of NVA TFS music computers (designed by Figlet108 / Jason) connected, which I am virtually using all the time now...


That sounds intriguing, and liable to be of interest to quite a few folks here . Perhaps you could tell our members more about it in the trade room? :)


Saved links to some Albano yesterday for the wife as we saw him in concert last week in Ischia Italy, and she likes him though his ex wife he used to sing with on some of the clips was a bit nice.


Interesting - I'll check out Albano. I've never been to Ischia, but it looks stunning! I've been to Sardinia and the Isle of Elba, which were also both stunning and representative of 'island life' in Italy.

If you haven't been to Tuscany, you should go, as I think you'd love it. I could certainly recommend some areas to visit. The Cinque Terre, in nearby Liguria, would certainly be in the equation :cool:

http://www.lecinqueterre.org/eng/

Marco.

[Beechwoods]

Welcome to AOS Richard :)

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Well I have lolled around on the beach at Forte dei Marmi and Viareggio while staying in Pisa. Obviously to do Firenza for Nadia as I have been before and also Lucca a delightful small town. Doing it all by train but next time I will hire a car as she is now nagging me about the lakes and Venetia and Roma *and* then a week in Ischia.

I thoroughly recommend Ischia, nothing like Napoli (filthy place) or the Amalfi coast. Very very few Brits (thank god) but lots of Germans. Unspoilt, never heard of fish and chips or warm beer, lots of ice cold Limonchello and Ruccolino and one place in Casamicciola for brilliant granita and gelato. The small neighbouring island of Procida is a delight as well, but Capri, forget it, too crowded expensive and commercial. Ischia is a semi extinct volcano so one of its main assets is the hot volcanic water that all the spa hotels have pools of in their basements, and the lots Terme where you get volcanic mud treatments. We go to La Rita Terme in Cassamicciola overlooking Lacco Ameno which has the best water and mud in the whole of Ischia. Started going because Nadia was getting rheumatism, mud has cured it as long as we go twice a year, the NHS could do nothing but give her pain killers.

Anyway a couple of link to the hotel we use where they are now friends, and to trip advisor about them (#1 in the whole island).

http://www.hotelvillasirena.it/Azienda_ing.html
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g580212-d1049014-Reviews-Hotel_Villa_Sirena-Casamicciola_Terme_Ischia_Campania.html

[Marco]

That's all very interesting, Richard! I'll comment more afterwards (particularly on Lucca and Viareggio, etc, which I know very well). Lucca is only about 15-20km from the village where my family come from, Barga:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g187893-c5627/Tuscany:Italy:Barga.html

Right now I'm off to listen to some tunes, as last night I had some new PSU caps fitted to my Croft preamp, and haven't head the effect yet in my own system - laters! :cool:

Marco.

[HighFidelityGuy]

Welcome back Richard. :)

[MartinT]

I have a Pioneer PL-71 turntable with either Ortofon SPU gold or Decca London Super Gold or Shure M3D or Denon 103. Carts sound familiar, I wonder who is copying who :eyebrows:

Welcome, Richard. Lovely deck and Marco has rather given me a taste for SPUs even though I don't have one personally. As for copying, we're all guilty of that but then if we didn't we would never make any improvements, would we?

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

It was supposed to be a joke.

[Marco]

And that's exactly how I took it - but, as I said, it's likely you discovered those cartridges some time before I did :)

I wouldn't have discovered the M3D if it hadn't been for Steve Shiels.

Are you happy with the PL-71 or do you have any plans to try other turntables? I do like the PL-71. It has a nice way with music.

Marco.

[MartinT]

It was supposed to be a joke.

Yes, I realised that :)

[Beechwoods]

Crack out the lolsign chaps!

:lolsign: :lolsign: :hifive:

[DSJR]

Welcome again Richard. I hope you'll put me right if I go off on one ;)

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Are you happy with the PL-71 or do you have any plans to try other turntables? I do like the PL-71. It has a nice way with music.

Marco.
Very happy, but fancied having a go at a Garrard. The last time I tried one was in the early 70's with a Decca London arm and cart, and no matter what I did it hummed like a bastard, so I got fed up with it. I think the Decca variable magnetic reluctance system was too sensitive for that bloody great big Garrard motor as the hum was far worse at the end of side. All the bits with the 12 inch Pioneer arm are waiting for a plinth. If I do it myself it will be two 20mm black acrylic sheets separated by some valve springs, or if I just can't find the time Speedy Steve has offered to do an oak one for me. Nadia prefers oak as it goes with the furniture, where as I prefer the black acrylic as it goes with the other nva stuff - so probably oak it will be ;)

What is delaying me is I am not playing any records as the TFS has me hooked at the moment, it is the most undigital digital product I have ever heard. I hate CDs and CD players and plugging a computer in my system made everything worse even the turntable when it was switched on. So I was very jaundiced against all digital especially digital recordings, and bought for fidelity purposes mostly old analogue recordings. Anyway there was/is a pool of computer audio guys on Hi-Fi Subjectivist, some of whom since have now formed a separate forum, they nagged me to the point I gave in and said OK prove it to me. So last summer we had a bake off with five separate computer audio solutions. One from the first note was just plain outstanding and the others mostly just left me cold. This was a plastic box built by Jason (figlet108) he called the Nexus. It was pretty standard parts like mother board and dac board but had been selected by ear and tweaked programs. He works for IBM so he knows his onions. I could hear that it would benefit from better power supplies so we collaborated and I helped him design a box to match the NVA Statement Range products and helped him with power supply design and gave him a route to market for it by putting it under the NVA name. He is building and selling them and he has placed four now plus his Nexus prototype. He is looking at producing a Black Box transport next so people can use other dacs, as there seems to be regular monthly flavour of the month ones on the forums, something called the Young dac seems to be getting all the bullshit at the moment. The TFS (which stands for the future statement) is not cheap at £2200 but there are still a couple of the first pre-production batch of 10 still available for £1800 from Jason.

http://i56.tinypic.com/30tpemt.jpg

http://i55.tinypic.com/jhue5s.jpg


Anyway I love my one.

[Spectral Morn]

Very happy, but fancied having a go at a Garrard. The last time I tried one was in the early 70's with a Decca London arm and cart, and no matter what I did it hummed like a bastard, so I got fed up with it. I think the Decca variable magnetic reluctance system was too sensitive for that bloody great big Garrard motor as the hum was far worse at the end of side. All the bits with the 12 inch Pioneer arm are waiting for a plinth. If I do it myself it will be two 20mm black acrylic sheets separated by some valve springs, or if I just can't find the time Speedy Steve has offered to do an oak one for me. Nadia prefers oak as it goes with the furniture, where as I prefer the black acrylic as it goes with the other nva stuff - so probably oak it will be ;)

What is delaying me is I am not playing any records as the TFS has me hooked at the moment, it is the most undigital digital product I have ever heard. I hate CDs and CD players and plugging a computer in my system made everything worse even the turntable when it was switched on. So I was very jaundiced against all digital especially digital recordings, and bought for fidelity purposes mostly old analogue recordings. Anyway there was/is a pool of computer audio guys on Hi-Fi Subjectivist, some of whom since have now formed a separate forum, they nagged me to the point I gave in and said OK prove it to me. So last summer we had a bake off with five separate computer audio solutions. One from the first note was just plain outstanding and the others mostly just left me cold. This was a plastic box built by Jason (figlet108) he called the Nexus. It was pretty standard parts like mother board and dac board but had been selected by ear and tweaked programs. He works for IBM so he knows his onions. I could hear that it would benefit from better power supplies so we collaborated and I helped him design a box to match the NVA Statement Range products and helped him with power supply design and gave him a route to market for it by putting it under the NVA name. He is building and selling them and he has placed four now plus his Nexus prototype. He is looking at producing a Black Box transport next so people can use other dacs, as there seems to be regular monthly flavour of the month ones on the forums, something called the Young dac seems to be getting all the bullshit at the moment. The TFS (which stands for the future statement) is not cheap at £2200 but there are still a couple of the first pre-production batch of 10 still available for £1800 from Jason.

http://i56.tinypic.com/30tpemt.jpg

http://i55.tinypic.com/jhue5s.jpg


Anyway I love my one.

Beautiful :)

I have always been a fan of the visuals of NVA statement products going right back to the earliest ones, though it was only Whittelbury last year that I got to hear any for the first time and I hope not the last; as I enjoyed my all to brief listen a lot.

Welcome to AOS Richard.


Regards D S D L

[John]

Welcome back
Richard

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hi Richard, a warm welcome from me.

I sort of remember a long time ago (mid-late 80's maybe?) spending a good while in your room at one of the shows - Heathrow or Bristol probably - when you had those cubes of yours squirting out a sound that I was pleasantly surprised by.

Your TFS sounds like an interesting thing, but the looks aren't for me, I'm afraid.

Welcome back.

Cheers

[Marco]

Lol - it just shows how personal taste varies... I'm in agreement with Neil - I think it looks fab! I love the blue glowy thing going on. It's kind of like something I'd expect to see inside the Tardis, and as a big Dr Who fan, that's intended as compliment :)

Richard, the decision is yours, but I think the benefits of the TFS would receive greater exposure under a separate thread in the trade area, or in Digital Expressions.

If you'd like me to move your last post there, just say!

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

Hi Richard :)

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I can't tell you bugger all about it apart from how it sounds (which after all is the only thing that is important). Anyway we have a customer with one near Sheffield one in Lincolnshire and one in Gloucester. Jason is in Macclesfield and I am on the NE outskirts of London, and the Nexus is further into London, so if someone want to listen contact Jason at jason@nvahifi.com he seems happy to bring units around for people to try, or if not then arrange to visit.

So if you want a tech thread Jason will have to do it. BUT as far as I am concerned I am not here to sell or be one of your pet bodgers (that is a compliment by the way) I am here as an individual who likes talking about hi-fi and moaning about the industry in between slurps of tea and bouts of soldering.

[Marco]

Lol@ "pet bodgers" :eyebrows:

Ok, no worries - I get that. Later on, though, you may wish to mention the TFS in the digital section, for no reason other than so that people are aware of it and know who to contact for info (such as you've outlined).

You're welcome to sell NVA products, as and when you wish, as long as it's relevant to the discussion, otherwise any selling should be carried out in the trade area. Failing that, just be yourself.

Marco.

[Beechwoods]

Pet badgers :scratch:

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/aos_images/beechwoods/petbadgers128570684547170786.jpg

Talk about classic AOS thread drift!

[Marco]

I'm more partial to beavers :eyebrows:

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

I was just wondering if it was a Welcome thread or an advertising thread!

[Marco]

I think Richard was just highlighting how the TFS was weaning him off listening to his PL-71, after my earlier prompt.

A certain amount of advertising is allowed in the Welcome section, as when joining, manufacturers and dealers often mention the products they sell, and then progress to use the more appropriate trade area :)

Marco.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I was just wondering if it was a Welcome thread or an advertising thread!
I am not advertising my own product, read the thread, this is the design and product of Jason Souloglou, I make no money from it, all I have got out of it is one for my own use. I have provided him with design and production advice and a way to market for the product and a way to increase the pleasure of his hobby as I would for anyone else who showed me such an exceptional product. He is not full time but has a love for music and hi-fi, he is a top executive with IBM based in Manchester with a bloody good salary, this is a spare time hobby for him because he enjoys it. AND that is what this industry could have more of with encouragement. There are too many middlemen and hangers on in this industry which is why you pay through the nose for your hobby, so aim your jibes where they are deserved. IF I ever start to promote my own designed products here then you can say what you like.

So for me this is exactly the same as praising my PL-71 or SPU, do you object to that?

[chris@panteg]

I am not advertising my own product, read the thread, this is the design and product of Jason Souloglou, I make no money from it, all I have got out of it is one for my own use. I have provided him with design and production advice and a way to market for the product and a way to increase the pleasure of his hobby as I would for anyone else who showed me such an exceptional product. He is not full time but has a love for music and hi-fi, he is a top executive with IBM based in Manchester with a bloody good salary, this is a spare time hobby for him because he enjoys it. AND that is what this industry could have more of with encouragement. There are too many middlemen and hangers on in this industry which is why you pay through the nose for your hobby, so aim your jibes where they are deserved. IF I ever start to promote my own designed products here then you can say what you like.

So for me this is exactly the same as praising my PL-71 or SPU, do you object to that?

I think Andre was just kidding , Richard :) looks to be a very interesting bit of kit .

[Alex_UK]

Hi Richard - I certainly know "of" you from the ever dwindling world that is the "hifi enthusiast" but haven't yet had the pleasure personally or on the forums - so good to meet you. In the grand old tradition of AoS welcome threads - what are your musical preferences?

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I think Andre was just kidding , Richard :) looks to be a very interesting bit of kit .
OK I just thought I would make it very clear where this product is and comes from.

It is incredibly versatile, reads and plays CDs - DVDs - Blueray. The shocker for me was loading CDs to the solid state storage (why the Fff is it called ripping). When I just play a CD through it I just shrug and think CD - hohum! but you load it and then play it back and it is a quite astonishing difference. Jason says it is because the computer puts it back to master tape quality, some magic in his / its programming. I would not have believed it without hearing it. So CD is crap because of its transport losses and messed up signal. It seems there are some very expensive CD players that can pull off the same trick, but I haven't heard them.

I sometimes listen and search through youtube for interesting things on my laptop in my workroom using good Grado headphones and I really can't tell what is really good, and the so called needle drop other forums rave over just leave me cold, but the TFS on Youtube and you can find some really special recordings, mostly live stuff, but you really have to plough through dross to find them, and the TFS takes no prisoners, if it is dross it is dross if it is brilliant then it is brilliant. I have small daft little clip of a couple of teens doing a recording in what looks like their bedroom, but the quality is absolutely brilliant even though the music is very simple (as all pop music should be).

Have a look and listen to this on your computers, you will not tell how good this recording is. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vT9TP0hf0Q

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Hi Richard - I certainly know "of" you from the ever dwindling world that is the "hifi enthusiast" but haven't yet had the pleasure personally or on the forums - so good to meet you. In the grand old tradition of AoS welcome threads - what are your musical preferences?
Ain't really got any, I am basically a recording quality snob. I used to hate country music until I got off on Johnny Cash. I really don't like most non tune so called modern jazz it just makes me wince and I call it ugly music. I also hate no tune modern so called classical music recordings like Stockhausen, it makes me feel sick and disoriented. So I like a tune, gimme a tune and a rhythm to hold onto and I am happy. My major love I suppose is Russian ballet music and Italian opera. I adore the ballet and Nadia (who was born in Moscow and trained classical ballet) and I go regularly to the Royal Opera house for both ballet and opera.

[chris@panteg]

Richard , I think i know what you mean , I listened to a Coherent systems set up a few months back and it opened my eyes as to what is possible , i was rather shocked to be honest , but i still want to mess with vinyl , just can't give it up :)

What puzzles me is you still need a transport/drive to read the discs , so how is it making it better ?

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

What puzzles me is you still need a transport/drive to read the discs , so how is it making it better ?
Don't ask me I think it is magic, as I say Jason says it is in the programming. The computer analyses every bit it is given and allocates it to its correct place in timing and everything, and the computer has some real number crunching power dedicated to this. As I say to me it is magic, but when you hear it you cannot deny it.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Ain't really got any, I am basically a recording quality snob. I used to hate country music until I got off on Johnny Cash. I really don't like most non tune so called modern jazz it just makes me wince and I call it ugly music. I also hate no tune modern so called classical music recordings like Stockhausen, it makes me feel sick and disoriented. So I like a tune, gimme a tune and a rhythm to hold onto and I am happy. My major love I suppose is Russian ballet music and Italian opera. I adore the ballet and Nadia (who was born in Moscow and trained classical ballet) and I go regularly to the Royal Opera house for both ballet and opera.
As a follow up to this, I suffer from perfect pitch and can sight read music for the voice as in my youth I sang both choral and with an amateur opera society as a bass / baritone. I still remember being Kecel in Czech composer Bedřich Smetana's comic opera called The Bartered Bride.

Anyway this means that any pitch buggering of equipment makes me wince. I never really got on with belt drive TTs because of this, I even designed and built one in the late 80's early 90's to try to solve it, with partial success. Anyway a non phase locked direct drive for me was always the best solution, phase locking for me added a bit of what the CD does for me. This is why I love the PL-71 as it just relies on a flip flop circuit to set speed, it is not clamped to a crystal reference, so seems to have more musical flow. The only phase locked DD I really liked was the Trio LO-7d which I owned in the early 80's. I used it at shows and in the end got fed up with being told I should use a Linn LP12 and I was suffering credibility loss because I did't use it. So like an idiot I sold the Trio and bought a Linn. My own pleasure suffered, but people would wag their feet at shows - rank bloody stupidity and just a result of the Linn / Naim brainwash that dominated the industry, and still tries to.

[Marco]

As a follow up to this, I suffer from perfect pitch and can sight read music for the voice as in my youth I sang both choral and with an amateur opera society as a bass / baritone. I still remember being Kecel in Czech composer Bedřich Smetana's comic opera called The Bartered Bride.

Anyway this means that any pitch buggering of equipment makes me wince.


Me too. However, I've got no idea if I have perfect pitch (I very much doubt it), but I appear to be rather sensitive to it, when listening to how a turntable reproduces recorded music, particularly where accurate pitch stability is important for realism (solo piano, for example).


I never really got on with belt drive TTs because of this...


Ditto. It's the main reason why I now find it near-mandatory to listen to vinyl on a quality direct-drive turntable, as when a belt-drive turntable gets pitch wrong (which I find is frequently the case in comparison), it irritates. It's the 'wavering' of pitch and euphonic coloration imbued on the music signal, (which some deem as 'musical sounding', a la most LP12s) that I can't stand.

However, in my experience, high-mass string-drive T/Ts (like the Platine Verdier or those from Scheu Analog, such as the 'Das Laufwerk', shown here: http://www.scheu-analog.de/gallery/neu3.jpg) completely avoid this, if you like and/or can put up with their sheer bulk! Personally, I find that quality direct-drive T/Ts offer a rather more elegant (and mostly more cost-effective) solution from which to achieve a similar end result.


Anyway a non phase locked direct drive for me was always the best solution, phase locking for me added a bit of what the CD does for me.


I know exactly where you're coming from, but that's kind of what I like about the effect, as for me, when vinyl replay sounds very similar to digital done well, it's essentially accurate (that is as 'accurate' as one can hope to achieve within the compromises of home audio).

Many people who've heard my system have commented that the digital and analogue sources sound remarkably similar, which I take as a compliment, as that's exactly what I've tried to achieve. I do have the advantage though of using a CDP (and DAC) designed to make the absolute most of the format, certainly as far as Red Book standard is concerned.


This is why I love the PL-71 as it just relies on a flip flop circuit to set speed, it is not clamped to a crystal reference, so seems to have more musical flow. The only phase locked DD I really liked was the Trio LO-7d which I owned in the early 80's.


I think you've got a valid point, as the PL-71 (and quality Kenwood D/Ds) have a lithe, flowing, quality which Techies lack (either SP10s or modified SL-1200/1210s), but I'm not sure which effect is actually more accurate (most faithful to the sonic signature of the master recording), although not that this really matters if you find one more enjoyable to listen to than the other.

As an aside, I've compared my modded SL-1210 to a very nice L-07D, which remains as the finest T/T I've heard to date, and it performed very well against it, although ultimately the latter was notably better in key areas. However, that was before I'd carried out the Mike New platter upgrade and was using a PH SR5 PSU, both of which have significantly raised the performance on my T/T.

I intend to go back and do the comparison again very soon, so that should be interesting! :)


I used it at shows and in the end got fed up with being told I should use a Linn LP12 and I was suffering credibility loss because I did't use it. So like an idiot I sold the Trio and bought a Linn. My own pleasure suffered, but people would wag their feet at shows - rank bloody stupidity and just a result of the Linn / Naim brainwash that dominated the industry, and still tries to.

I totally agree. It's that sort of bullshit and blinkered 'fanboyism' we seek to highlight and eradicate, as far as possible, on AoS.

Marco.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I have owned an unmodded 1210 and for the price you get them it is a very good turntable. The PL-71 murdered it when I got this one I have now, but it murdered everything else including a SP10 (which I didn't like, in fact preferring the 1210 marginally, finding it grey and boring). I sold the 1210 to Grommit who then heard my PL-71 and got one of those. He then modded a 1210 to a certain point and said it got a lot closer to the PL-71, and I trust his ears. So yours modded further would be good.

I know you like tweaking (having others do it for you :) ) but I get enough of a fix designing nva product, so the fact that the PL-71 requires nothing, and any small things I have tried like mat and feet and record weight made it worse, I just play it and enjoy it.

Regarding CD I would be interested to have you compare your Sony against the TFS. Jason is just the other side of Cheshire to you perhaps you can arrange something. If you want his phone number PM me.

[Marco]

Hi Richard,

Sounds interesting - I'm up for that! PM on its way :)

Marco.

[Ali Tait]

Be interested when the streamer only version comes out Richard- I like my valve dacs!

[Reid Malenfant]

I'm not sure if you'll be pleased to know it Richard, but i found this forum searching for info on NVA amplifiers :eyebrows:

All the best & welcome from me to :wave:

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

My forum reputation seems to precede me. Finding hi-fi forums about 5 - 6 years ago was like releasing a pent up tiger. I was sooo pissed of with the way the industry was run and the complete bullshit that dominated it, and the way the middle men (magazines, reviewers, retailers) usurped and controlled the industry that I gave the industry up for 5 years from 2000 to 2005 and just taught Tai-Chi Chuan and Qigong which is my other main interest. I came back because the internet provided a platform to by-pass them through own websites, the likes of ebay and the developing forums. Forums also gave me a means to vent my spleen about it, and I vented it. The Rant threads here and at PFM told it the way it was / is in no uncertain terms, but the vested interests who created the problems in the first place are still around and they deliberately infest the forums, so every point of reality about this industry was met with howls of abuse by them, and most forums seem to put up with them, and being the basically bad boy I always have been I would not put up with being told by the forum powers that be that I shouldn't be quite so vociferous in saying what I believed in or respond so strongly when being abused.

Well recently I seem to have steamed out the boiler a fair amount even though the sentiments are still there and we still have a battle to win to turn this industry back to the enthusiast (both music an gear) hobby it was before people thought they could make a lot of money out of it. 50s 60s and early 70s were the golden time until the flat earth axis of evil bullshitted the whole thing here in the UK into a brainwash. Well we are on the way out of it and this forum is leading the way in promoting the small man who wants to build, bodge and modify things because he loves the process, not because he just wants to make money out of it.

I have given some serious stick to this forum in the past, and it is not worth going into it again as the main problem needs to be given a chance to show growth and change which is happening. Also the shear weight of numbers (members) means that the forum cannot be as set / biased minded to the will of the original owners as it used to seem. The open mind and open ears is the only friend you need in this industry, as everything else is bullshit. We all have our own golden ears we just have to have confidence in them and not be shouted down by self appointed experts, either in the trade or the forums.

Anyway mini rant over, and I don't feel the need to go off so strongly about it now as the battle is half won.

So anyway I don't know why that last post prompted this reply but it seemed to be a referral to my forum reputation. Also NVA takes care of itself, its customers promote it or not according to their own level of satisfaction, if product is good it sells itself, all you have to do is get people to hear it. If it doesn't then either do better or go get a proper job :) So I will not push nva here, I will talk about my 40 years experience in the industry and my personal views as to what hi-fi should be, that is all I can do. Obviously my views also reflect NVA as I would be pretty daft to do things in designing product that I didn't believe in.

[DSJR]

It's probably been posted elsewhere, but I would like to know once again why the NVA designs are as they are - perspex (?) casings instead of aluminium, copper or sheet steel (I think I sort-of know the answer to that one, but some friendly explanations wouldn't go amiss please). Also, a bit more on the cube speakers and why the design is the way it is as against more traditional approaches. I'm not baiting, just genuinely interested - gawd, I owned and supported 'Briks years ago :eek:

[southall-1998]

My father still has his NVA Phono-2. Very good phono stage!!

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

It's probably been posted elsewhere, but I would like to know once again why the NVA designs are as they are - perspex (?) casings instead of aluminium, copper or sheet steel (I think I sort-of know the answer to that one, but some friendly explanations wouldn't go amiss please). Also, a bit more on the cube speakers and why the design is the way it is as against more traditional approaches. I'm not baiting, just genuinely interested - gawd, I owned and supported 'Briks years ago :eek:
Complex questions and my work on both of these aspects goes back to the 1980s.

My simplest answer on the amp case thing would be to link you to an interview I did for a Taiwan Hi-Fi mag in the early 90s. Some things have changed since then but the basics remain. Some aspects of the interview have got the objectivist vocal minority to go into attack mode, especially my view on the use of screws.

http://www.nene-valley-audio.com/ and link to interview.

The speaker ideas come from my days of working for Acoustic Research in the 1970's. There was an unsung hero at AR stateside who left the company after it was bought by Teledyne and just became another bit of corporate america. That was Roy Allison http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/105villchur He had original and effective ideas about interfacing the speaker into the room acoustic as opposed to fighting the acoustic and designing anechoically he designed speaker to be part of the room. He stated his own company to progress his ideas named after him as Allison Acoustics. His big speakers used bass drivers as near to the floor coupling as possible and his ideas in this were continued with Linn in the Isobarik as you have implied. His other idea with smaller speakers was to make the bass / mid in two ways to interface with the back wall by being on top of the speaker as used in the Alison 6. My ideas progressed his idea and I developed this with the Cubes. The original versions in the early 90s were HDF cabinets, on redesign a couple of years ago, on a whim I tried an acrylic cab as my cabinet supplier for my amp cases wanted to have a go at one, it is seriously expensive solution but I was very happy with the results, both visually and sonically.

If you want to break the question down into more specific elements than I will try to explain my views.

[Gromit]

Hi Richard - good to see you, hope all well with you. :)

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I am tickerty boo old chap - pip pip!

[Gromit]

I am tickerty boo old chap - pip pip!

:gig: