Albarry M408 Monoblocks

I had the pleasure of listening to a pair of these excellent amplifiers last night, through Naim DBLs in a friend's system, which were as good as any solid-state amps I've ever heard, and apparently available for around £350 a pair. They drove the DBLs to frightening levels with only 40W.P.C (!) and sounded as musical as music itself.

I would say they're as good if not better than Naim NAP135s (or even a NAP300) and not far off my ECS EA1 monoblocks, which considering the price difference is remarkable. They also look fantastic, IMO, in a retro kind of way, and are built extremely well.

Does anyone know their history, and that of Albarry as a company? Apparently the BBC used the M408s. I thought I've seen Richard mention the Albarry name before. Basically, I'm just curious to know a bit more about them from people's experiences. I feel privileged to have heard them, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend the M408s to anyone as a superb second-hand buy - and this from a (now) dyed-in-the-wool valve aficionado! :)

It's another excellent example for me of an old design that competes with and in many ways outperforms modern amplifiers, which of course some people think is nonsense ;)

Let's hear it from anyone who knows about Albarry!

Marco.

Mmmm, Albarry monoblocks eh? Will I have to reconsider my potential purchase? :lol:

I know that Andre spoke highly of them, I think there were some available in translucent red acrylic cases.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marco

I had the pleasure of listening to a pair of these excellent amplifiers last night, through Naim DBLs in a friend's system, which were as good as any solid-state amps I've ever heard, and apparently available for around £350 a pair. They drove the DBLs to frightening levels with only 40W.P.C (!) and sounded as musical as music itself.

I would say they're as good if not better than Naim NAP135s (or even a NAP300) and not far off my ECS EA1 monoblocks, which considering the price difference is remarkable. They also look fantastic, IMO, in a retro kind of way, and are built extremely well.

Does anyone know their history, and that of Albarry as a company? Apparently the BBC used the M408s. I thought I've seen Richard mention the Albarry name before. Basically, I'm just curious to know a bit more about them from people's experiences. I feel privileged to have heard them, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend the M408s to anyone as a superb second-hand buy - and this from a (now) dyed-in-the-wool valve aficionado! :)

It's another excellent example for me of an old design that competes with and in many ways outperforms modern amplifiers, which of course some people think is nonsense ;)

Let's hear it from anyone who knows about Albarry!

Marco.

---

Look in your archive my old ranting thread, you will see about them.

Quote:

---

Mmmm, Albarry monoblocks eh? Will I have to reconsider my potential purchase? :lol:

I know that Andre spoke highly of them, I think there were some available in translucent red acrylic cases.

---

LOL. Note that I said "not far off" the EA1s, dear boy. I guess it depends if you're a Beluga or an Osetra man, caviar-wise - or more the peanut butter type! :lol:

Yes, translucent red acrylic cases - those are the ones, and very nice they look, too!

Richard,

I thought you had mentioned them. I'll check out the archive :)

Marco.

P.S You need to let me know what you want to do about your old ranting thread as per my question in the current thread.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marco

LOL. Note that I said "not far off" the EA1s, dear boy. I guess it depends if you're a Beluga or an Osetra man, caviar-wise - or more the peanut butter type! :lol:

Yes, translucent red acrylic cases - those are the ones, and very nice they look, too!

Richard,

I thought you had mentioned them. I'll check out the archive :)

Marco.

P.S You need to let me know what you want to do about your old ranting thread as per my question in the current thread.

---

BTW sorry to say it and sound like Ash but NVA is better, even the guy who owned the company agreed as he sold both in his shop, and read this from a reviewer who compared both. The Albarry are very fine amps though.


*****************

Audiophile with hi-fi answers, March 1991


RISING TO THE CHALLENGE



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When NVA claimed it could replace the hi-fi of any Audiophile reviewer with its own gear, and then try to convince them it was better, we chuckled up our sleeves and gave them the green light.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




For a small company, NVA has a lot of balls. The company's latest ad campaign suggests as much. The `NVA Challenge' is an open invitation to the world to shoot NVA equipment down in flames. We couldn't resist having a go.

The idea is simple: NVA people come round to your home laden with NVA goodies. And if after an evening's demonstration you're not convinced that they've bettered your system, c'est la vie...


Richard Dunn (right), the main man at NVA, turned up on my doorstep armed with mountains of equipment - a turntable, more amps than I care to mention, loudspeakers, cable, tables. You name it, he had it with him.

it was immediately clear from his comments that synergy is a concept he whole-heartedly embraces. Refreshingly, however, he doesn't insist that you use a complete NVA system, Dunn is happy for you to fit NVA equipment with a front-end or speakers from another firm, whatever he finds in your home in fact.

My resident system is real in the sense that I've assembled it for my own use and bought it mainly from retailers. It consists of Arcam Delta 170, Musical Fidelity Digilog, a home-brew passive preamp (see Audiophile December 1990), Albarry M408 Mark II monoblocks, Tannoy DC2000 speakers, Monster Interlink 500, and biwired Audioquest Green speaker cables.

Since NVA does not make a digital front end, the plan was for me to compare my chosen amplification system with NVA's. Although Richard prefers analogue to digital sources, I'm the reverse. Nevertheless, I let Richard Dunn bring round NVA's analogue front end - my 800 LPs have been gathering dust for months.

Attractive as it may appear, the NVA Challenge is not a perfect way of buying hi-fi. First, anyone contemplating buying even a since piece of equipment should devote far more time to auditioning equipment that the few hours available for the NVA Challenge. The number of permutations open to us left only a limited time to audition each combination.

A confident man, then, this Richard Dunn. If the session hadn't worked, NVA would be seen to be spouting so much male cattle droppings. Here's what happened.

Having arrived at about 7.00pm, Richard Dunn spent half an hour or so listening to my system while his amplifiers had time to warm up. He took the opportunity to outline the amplifier designs he'd brought along for me to hear, and to explain more about the NVA Challenge concept.

The outward appearance of the amps is in the grand tradition of Brit hi-fi: black anodised boxes, epoxy glued, but rather better looking than average.

Lined up against my system were two NVA A60 stereo power amps, a P80 moving coil preamp, with separate power unit, a Senior turntable, with Musician arm and Stilton modified Audio Technica cartridge. The line-up was completed by NVA's own turntable table, a Mana-like object with glass top supported on four metal spikes. Without it, I was told, the turntable will not give its best.

Richard Dunn of
NVA, on location
with a bootful of
gear and an
impossible task.
Maddeningly, he
succeeded in
providing our
reviewer with a
system to equal -
perhaps even
improved upon -
the original. And
he claims he could
do the same for
anyone...
NVA's stated belief, to which I'm sympathetic, is that the best circuit is no circuit at all. Accordingly, the preamp is passive except for the phono stage (which can be supplied for moving magnets).

For NVA's power amps Dunn strongly recommends his own LS1 silver alloy stranded cables, which have the correct loading for his output stages. If pushed he will also recommend conventional solid core (mains) cable.

There was one other item - the speakers. Having looked at my room and listened to my DC200s, Richard conceded defeat. His Cube designs have to be placed against a large area of blank wall for correct bass balance. My DC2000s are placed way out of the alcoves. He also felt that the DC2000s were performing exceptionally well (flattery, flattery). One up to the home team!

With my CD front-end feeding the P80 and the pair of A60s, the sound was immediately pleasing. Cabling was my usual Monster Interlink 500 between DAC and preamps. This was obviously not equipment that was going to draw much attention to itself. I needed to play a large number of CDs before I really got to grips with the character.

Switching between Dave Holland's excellent new album Extensions, Baada Maal and Reeves' Never Too Far and (just to shake up the poor man), Living Colour's Vivid at skull-crushing volume, the overall impression was of a highly detailed sound. Put another way, with the NVA gear in place of mine, there were couple of veils removed, resulting in a light airy soundstage.

While you may expect this would favor acoustic music, the NVAs did an excellent job with Living Colour's heavy rock. There wasn't the weight and sense of things being hit, a hallmark of the Albarrys, but on the plus side, the sound was tight, controlled and completely integrated. Rhythm sections had real integrity, and there was a convincing sense of people playing together. I suspect the NVAs slightly lost out to my own amps on front-to-back. Within the NVA soundstage instruments were located exactly, giving a sense of being slightly further away from the musicians. All-in-all, then a commendable result.

Having listened to about an hour and a half's worth of digital, it was time to try out the analogue. The Senior is rather nice looking turntable, mite larger than most on the market, simply because Richard likes it that way. For the singles freaks among you, the thing even turns at 45rpm.

The finish is fine, the arm attractive. It's easy to use, to boot. The sound was slightly smoother than the digital front end, but not at the expense of involvement. This was a smoothness veering on over-politeness.

Having listened to a couple of old favorites, I felt the sound was a little clogged, a little leaden. `Ha!' said the man from NVA, `I'll soon fix that'. By reducing the tracking weight, all was soon sweetness and light, with the same kind of clarity and lack of veiling exhibited by the CD.

While I've highlighted the differences between the NVAs and my own system, the truth is that this was the kind of sound I like. The equipment was really unobtrusive, getting right to the heart of the music. There was no sense of the musicians being stifled, as in the case of some more expensive systems I've heard recently and in the past.

I like the analogue front end, but admit my own experience with competitively priced vinyl spinners is limited. What I can say is that the presentation was not so far from my favoured CD - tightly controlled, clear and involving. I was slightly disappointed that NVA failed to supply the promised cartridge, and I was left assessing the system with one costing five times as much. The realistically priced alternative would have been useful.

I still prefer my CD front-end to the analogue option, even though the turntable, arm, cartridge, phono stage and power supply were together almost twice the price. I cannot come to terms with surface noise, and therefore find it almost impossible to suspend my disbelief. For that reason, to my ears, a competent digital front-end is always going to be preferable to an analogue one. OK, so the Linn LP12 Lingos of this world are probably sonically superior to all but the most bone-crushingly expensive digital gear, but they still allow the imperfections of the medium to intrude.

Time to sum up. Had I been a real customer I might well have bought the NVA equipment. It works very well indeed with CD. My only real reservation was the feeling that drummers really do hit drums harder than the NVA was allowing them to. It's not an overall dynamic range thing, it's simply a lack of grunt (away Setright!), which Richard says he could fix by using a different set of cables with the bass/midrange amp. He claims there would be trade-off in transparency, however. Within the terms of the Challenge, this was a failing, because my objection could not be refuted within the timescale allotted.

Sonically, it's a qualified victory to NVA. Like all things in hi-fi, it's a compromise, but a highly workable one. At the end of the day, the whole system is very good value, and comes from a designer whose priorities very closely match my own. What's more, NVA gear certainly attains Richard's stated aim of presenting a highly detailed, musical sound. The NVA system could occupy space in my living room easily.

Unconventional as it may be, this is a perfect valid way of assessing the gear. The last thing you'll have is a pushy salesman who doesn't know the equipment he's demonstrating. When he visited my flat, Richard was scrupulously fair, allowing the equipment to do the talking. He's very confident of his products, and rightly so. Richard also intends that the same high standards will be adhered to by any of his dealers when they are setting up a Challenge. I was very pleasantly surprised - blast and botheration!

**************
Dave Rosam, this reviewer sold the Albarry monos the next month and bought the prototype TDS monos off me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marco

LOL. Note that I said "not far off" the EA1s, dear boy. I guess it depends if you're a Beluga or an Osetra man, caviar-wise - or more the peanut butter type! :lol:

---

Hehehehe. :) Not far off is what I would expect, but everyone knows that it's the last little bit that makes high end truly high end, it's the caviar more than the cracker. ;)

You have a sale mate, obviously pending listening tests, although I've a funny feeling the ECSs may better my Audiolab somewhat. :doh:

No worries. I'm looking forward to your visit :smoking:

Marco.

Interesting article, Richard.

As usual, it's all subjective preferences but if your amps are of similar or indeed superior quality to the Albarrys then they must be very good indeed. You should really let me listen to some sometime and review them on the forum. I like hearing good hi-fi. I'm sure many people would be interested to read the article. You could also archive it for reference, as you've done with others. If your products are as good as you say, which I don't doubt, the positive effects for your business could be interesting... :smoking:

More and more people are finding The Art of Sound on Google and Yahoo search engines ;)

Marco.

P.S Btw, how's your modified Technics T/T doing?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marco

Interesting article, Richard.

As usual, it's all subjective preferences but if your amps are of similar or indeed superior quality to the Albarrys then they must be very good indeed. You should really let me listen to some sometime and review them on the forum. I like hearing good hi-fi. I'm sure many people would be interested to read the article. You could also archive it for reference, as you've done with others. If your products are as good as you say, which I don't doubt, the positive effects for your business could be interesting... :smoking:

More and more people are finding The Art of Sound on Google and Yahoo search engines ;)

Marco.

P.S Btw, how's your modified Technics T/T doing?

---

Well the nva amps have developed since those days in many ways, I get lot of the old stuff traded in for upgrades as I give good trade in value, check them out and upgrade and then sell them at 1p start on ebay. So I get plenty of chance to compare.

I have told you how the system works, cough up :smoking: if no likeee you get refunded, just 'cos you are an admin on a minor forum :eyebrows: doesn't give you special privileges.

There are NVA users here and they have given very good and accurate accounts of them see Jerry (JandL100) and Gromit, and others come in occasionally. If you want to read them search the archives, there is a problem though you should deal with as you search does not allow three letter words and many manufacturers are three letters. You should change the search program. Anyway enough of nva as I said many times I am not here to promote nva it takes care of itself, I am here to scratch itches and frustrations that have bothered me for many years about this industry and online community gives good ranting room if allowed, so thanks for that.

No time yet for T/T, it is a future project. Talking about T/T take a look at this it is direct sold so is exceptional value for money and a very interesting cosmetic design and sounds bloody good.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/INTRODUCING-TH...QQcmdZViewItem

Interesting looking turntable. It sounds Italian (I tried to see where it was made but I couldn't find it - could it be Arezzo?) so I'm not surprised it's good ;)

I'll "minor forum" you! It's far from minor in terms of the impact it makes and the amount of activity on it, I can assure you, and it's getting less "minor" each day...

You know my policy regarding auditioning things. It might be different if I was in the market to buy an NVA product, but as I'm more than happy with my valve amp that's not remotely on the menu. It hardly makes sense to buy something just to listen to it. I was just curious to hear what your stuff is like - it increases my 'library' of listening experience, which I then use to make recommendations to people, and of course you have many hundreds of 'Guests' reading the forum every day. No worries :smoking:

Marco.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Richard

Well the nva amps have developed since those days in many ways, I get lot of the old stuff traded in for upgrades as I give good trade in value, check them out and upgrade and then sell them at 1p start on ebay. So I get plenty of chance to compare.

I have told you how the system works, cough up :smoking: if no likeee you get refunded, just 'cos you are an admin on a minor forum :eyebrows: doesn't give you special privileges.

There are NVA users here and they have given very good and accurate accounts of them see Jerry (JandL100) and Gromit, and others come in occasionally. If you want to read them search the archives, there is a problem though you should deal with as you search does not allow three letter words and many manufacturers are three letters. You should change the search program. Anyway enough of nva as I said many times I am not here to promote nva it takes care of itself, I am here to scratch itches and frustrations that have bothered me for many years about this industry and online community gives good ranting room if allowed, so thanks for that.

No time yet for T/T, it is a future project. Talking about T/T take a look at this it is direct sold so is exceptional value for money and a very interesting cosmetic design and sounds bloody good.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/INTRODUCING-TH...QQcmdZViewItem

---

cracking looking turntable!
and some blistering reviews from people who own one!
nice one richard!;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marco

Interesting looking turntable. It sounds Italian (I tried to see where it was made but I couldn't find it - could it be Arezzo?) so I'm not surprised it's good ;)

I'll "minor forum" you! It's far from minor in terms of the impact it makes and the amount of activity on it, I can assure you, and it's getting less "minor" each day...

You know my policy regarding auditioning things. It might be different if I was in the market to buy an NVA product, but as I'm more than happy with my valve amp that's not remotely on the menu. It hardly makes sense to buy something just to listen to it. I was just curious to hear what your stuff is like - it increases my 'library' of listening experience, which I then use to make recommendations to people, and of course you have many hundreds of 'Guests' reading the forum every day. No worries :smoking:

Marco.

---

Then I repeat *yet again* sigh!

Start a bake-off (get together) section on the forum and promote the concept. Also while I am at it sort the search out so it accepts 3 letter words.

SRM is Stuart Richard Michell. He is a mate of Doug Hewitt of Manticore fame (or notorietry :o)). Stuart used to run a Hi-Fi and s/h record shop at the front of the building Doug used as a factory in Biggleswade (daft name for a town #2). Doug went bust late 90's Stuart progressed to setting up one of the first and I think the best turntable odds and sods accessories store on ebay and does well with it. He also knows and works with Mike Harris of Moth Marketing (another fly by night character :o)))) who (used to) runs the Hi-Fi News accessory business.

So some lateral thinking from Stuart was to add all the bits and bobs together and get acrylic case / base made (same company we use for our cases). I don't know for sure but probably Doug is still involved in the T/T in the background as there is much in their technically from the old Mantra, which was an exceptional and sadly missed T/T for the money.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Richard

...Also while I am at it sort the search out so it accepts 3 letter words...

---

Seeing as you asked so nicely I'll have a look into it, unfortunately something that sounds so straight forward requires a staggering amount of work to complete without killing the server speed, creating a vast database and requiring a selection of indeces to be referred to upon each search.

Why is it so important?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Filterlab

Seeing as you asked so nicely I'll have a look into it, unfortunately something that sounds so straight forward requires a staggering amount of work to complete without killing the server speed, creating a vast database and requiring a selection of indeces to be referred to upon each search.

Why is it so important?

---

SRM - AVI - NVA as recent examples here, and many many more, so many manufacturers names are 3 letters so a forum member who wants to search for posts about those products cant.

I was offered these a few years ago..


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...ARDIE-LW02.jpg


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...ARDIE-LW11.jpg


..are these the same ones?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by snapper

I was offered these a few years ago..


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...ARDIE-LW02.jpg


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...ARDIE-LW11.jpg


..are these the same ones?

---

Yup! thats them.

Feck!

Maybe I should have bought them.

Was also offered this..


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...ARDIE-LW03.jpg


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...ARDIE-LW07.jpg


...amongst other things.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marco

I had the pleasure of listening to a pair of these excellent amplifiers last night, through Naim DBLs in a friend's system, which were as good as any solid-state amps I've ever heard, and apparently available for around £350 a pair. They drove the DBLs to frightening levels with only 40W.P.C (!) and sounded as musical as music itself.

I would say they're as good if not better than Naim NAP135s (or even a NAP300) and not far off my ECS EA1 monoblocks, which considering the price difference is remarkable. They also look fantastic, IMO, in a retro kind of way, and are built extremely well.

Does anyone know their history, and that of Albarry as a company? Apparently the BBC used the M408s. I thought I've seen Richard mention the Albarry name before. Basically, I'm just curious to know a bit more about them from people's experiences. I feel privileged to have heard them, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend the M408s to anyone as a superb second-hand buy - and this from a (now) dyed-in-the-wool valve aficionado! :)

It's another excellent example for me of an old design that competes with and in many ways outperforms modern amplifiers, which of course some people think is nonsense ;)

Let's hear it from anyone who knows about Albarry!

Marco.

---

By a strange quirk of fate, I might be taking a pair of these in p/ex tomorrow afternoon. If I do, I'll post a few pics. I might even host an evening event here to demo them – if anyone is interested.

If so, I'll use my Funk V or Funk Saffire if Arthur K gets around to delivering mine into one of my Harbeth pairs, or my JBL L100a Century speakers in single pair or stacked pair configuration.

Watch this space.

Hi,

Not by accident some one mentioned they are better then the Naim 135 /300, the albarry gave Naim amp knockout with better deeper bass and clearer airier heights. All that with super relaxed and natural sound presentation matched only by the best SE valve amps. Moreover, the albarry can practically stand any load with amazing balance and coherency without the need of filters, supercaps and other expensive accessories.
I run the Albarry 1008m with passive step attenuator preamp along side Hedlund Horn ( lowther EX4 ) 100+ db sensitivity … people often mistaken the Albarry to be a valve amp… do you understand what I mean? 100w Solid state AMP driving super sensitive horn and giving warm relaxed sound? Was it a dream – No! ; could it happen? Y E S! , reason why? A L B A R R Y!

Of course that the well established Naim corp. and its followers in the media and market could not bear the "shame"...henceforth better success to these amps in Italy, Japan and Germany. "The small Rise and big fall of British best solid audio Gem"... that's the name of this audiosad story.

Hi.

Welcome to the forum :)

I presume then you use Alberry amps?

Marco.

It's not fair (he yells like Horrid Henry!!!!)

Cast out of the industry (well, made redundant when the dealership closed), out on a limb now and we're talking Albarry (smashing bloke as I remember and smooth beefy amps, NVA (I remember you Richard from Tresham days and your speeding in the Rover 2600 you had a million years ago) and after nailing my digital colours to the mast I'm going all gooey over new turntables after fondly remembering the Manticor Mantra (and bloody Mr Rubycon nearly "snappered" up a Giro with FR64 arm?)... Not only that and Mr Popeck's talking stacked L100's!!!!! Surely ONE pair is ample to match the refined, laid back tones of a Harbeth.....

GRRRRRRR!!!!!!! ;)

Cor, that's a Dual 701! last time I saw one of those was just before my hi-fi retailing career suffered the same fate as yours in 1977. Nice deck, but it sank in a sea of Linns. I'd love to get my hands on one to see what it sounds like now my ears are less biased.


Sudden thought: it could be a 601?

Yes, i use Albarry 1008 M latest version.

I must say that i have a crush on these amps.... Love from first sight & sound.

Well I certainly liked the M408s when I heard them. They would easily outperform many amplifiers made today, which again shows that in hi-fi old most certainly doesn't mean bad :)

When you say "latest version" I presume you mean that the 1008M is simply a later model to the M408s, and not a current one? I ask because I was under the impression Albarry as a company no longer exist.

Marco.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marco

Well I certainly liked the M408s when I heard them. They would easily outperform many amplifiers made today, which again shows that in hi-fi old most certainly doesn't mean bad :)

When you say "latest version" I presume you mean that the 1008M is simply a later model to the M408s, and not a current one? I ask because I was under the impression Albarry as a company no longer exist.

Marco.

---

Hi,When i wrote "latest" i thought it can sound as if the company still stand tall...:) but as you understood, i meant the last model they produced. What wouldnt i give to find out why Niel Burnett the founder stop producing his magical amps...
btw, although the 408M are more known, the big brother has much more to say then the young brother.... find these amp and stick to it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by snapper

Feck!

Maybe I should have bought them.

Was also offered this..


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...ARDIE-LW03.jpg


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...ARDIE-LW07.jpg


...amongst other things.

---

nice deck,

I have the silver wired frs64 on an oracal delphi
lovely detailed sound......

i have rather a large collection of decks that i mean to try in its place..
but .. i sort of like it too much.....
one day...

steve

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shane

Cor, that's a Dual 701! last time I saw one of those was just before my hi-fi retailing career suffered the same fate as yours in 1977. Nice deck, but it sank in a sea of Linns. I'd love to get my hands on one to see what it sounds like now my ears are less biased.


Sudden thought: it could be a 601?

---

No, it's a 701 like mine...

My 701, once given 3/4 hour to warm up eats a Planar 3 as long as it likes the cartridge fitted to it. The arm is lightweight so only suits high compliance carts, but my Koetsu Black when working both channels was very ok in it and I suspect the Denon 304 and AT33ptg may be good in it too. A dear old friend I would be sad to part with..... The sound is all there and in the right proportion, but it's not as expansive as a "real" turntable (I'm thinking NAS and similar here).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Richard

BTW sorry to say it and sound like Ash but NVA is better, even the guy who owned the company agreed as he sold both in his shop, and read this from a reviewer who compared both. The Albarry are very fine amps though.


*****************

Audiophile with hi-fi answers, March 1991


RISING TO THE CHALLENGE



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When NVA claimed it could replace the hi-fi of any Audiophile reviewer with its own gear, and then try to convince them it was better, we chuckled up our sleeves and gave them the green light.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




For a small company, NVA has a lot of balls. The company's latest ad campaign suggests as much. The `NVA Challenge' is an open invitation to the world to shoot NVA equipment down in flames. We couldn't resist having a go.

The idea is simple: NVA people come round to your home laden with NVA goodies. And if after an evening's demonstration you're not convinced that they've bettered your system, c'est la vie...


Richard Dunn (right), the main man at NVA, turned up on my doorstep armed with mountains of equipment - a turntable, more amps than I care to mention, loudspeakers, cable, tables. You name it, he had it with him.

it was immediately clear from his comments that synergy is a concept he whole-heartedly embraces. Refreshingly, however, he doesn't insist that you use a complete NVA system, Dunn is happy for you to fit NVA equipment with a front-end or speakers from another firm, whatever he finds in your home in fact.

My resident system is real in the sense that I've assembled it for my own use and bought it mainly from retailers. It consists of Arcam Delta 170, Musical Fidelity Digilog, a home-brew passive preamp (see Audiophile December 1990), Albarry M408 Mark II monoblocks, Tannoy DC2000 speakers, Monster Interlink 500, and biwired Audioquest Green speaker cables.

Since NVA does not make a digital front end, the plan was for me to compare Time to sum up. Had I been a real customer I might well have bought the NVA equipment. It works very well indeed with CD. My only real reservation was the feeling that drummers really do hit drums harder than the NVA was allowing them to. It's not an overall dynamic range thing, it's simply a lack of grunt (away Setright!), which Richard says he could fix by using a different set of cables with the bass/midrange amp. He claims there would be trade-off in transparency, however. Within the terms of the Challenge, this was a failing, because my objection could not be refuted within the timescale allotted.

Sonically, it's a qualified victory to NVA. Like all things in hi-fi, it's a compromise, but a highly workable one. At the end of the day, the whole system is very good value, and comes from a designer whose priorities very closely match my own. What's more, NVA gear certainly attains Richard's stated aim of presenting a highly detailed, musical sound. The NVA system could occupy space in my living room easily.

Unconventional as it may be, this is a perfect valid way of assessing the gear. The last thing you'll have is a pushy salesman who doesn't know the equipment he's demonstrating. When he visited my flat, Richard was scrupulously fair, allowing the equipment to do the talking. He's very confident of his products, and rightly so. Richard also intends that the same high standards will be adhered to by any of his dealers when they are setting up a Challenge. I was very pleasantly surprised - blast and botheration!

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Dave Rosam, this reviewer sold the Albarry monos the next month and bought the prototype TDS monos off me.

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HI,

I think that the answear is to compare the NVA to The Albarry 1008M. I think that the 1008M will upscale almost any solid state. btw, have you tried the NVA on speakers with nominal loads of 2-3 ohm?

I've just spotted this ancient and now resurrected thread.

Marco, did you ever get your answers about Albarry ?:scratch:

Hi Dave,

I heard the M408 monoblocks and rated them very highly - they are probably amongst the finest solid-state amplifiers I've ever listened to, but that's all I know about them, and of course Richard is banned now so cannot supply any more info.

Marco.

OK, just a little bit of extra info then.

I did the first review of the original M408's back in the late 70's. They were unusual then because mono blocks really wren't fashionable. I used them in a system with the original DNM pre-amp and some Alison speakers AIR.

The name Albarry came from a combination of Albert Henshaw and Barry (?) who ran a Hi-Fi shop called Bepoke Audio. The designer and builder was Neil Burnett, whilst Albert and Barry were responsible for sales and marketing. This team survived for only a year or two as I recall and then Neil continued until the mid 90's on his own.

The mono's had a cult following being much more solid, sweet and mellow than the usual SS amps of the time and were totally reliable. A passive pre came later and then the M1008 100 watt mono's, plus an excellent integrated and a no-holds-barred pre. All products could be ordered with see-through panels to show off the immaculate wiring.

Things continued happily for many years with most product going to export and the rest being sold through a habdful of enthusiastic dealers, then Neil was persuaded to take on a 'distributor'. This dealer convinced Neil to take on staff and increase production because they were going to take over the World. Unfortunately, the distributor was shite and lost Neil practically all his business and he was forced to give them the heave-ho whilst he retreated to his shed and his friendly dealers.

The last time I heard from Neil was sometime in the mid 90's when he disappeared completely, not answering phone/fax or letter. I often wonder what he is doing now and woukd like nothing better than to see him start up again with those wonderful red mono's.
David

Another product way before its time.

With modern components and a "less-is-more" attitude, these amps could find a niche I'm sure, as Glenn has with his lovely and endearing designs.

Albarry are certainly back on the scene Marco, many years ago I was involved with Albert and Barry at Bespoke Audio in Stockport it was a pleasure to work there, It was there I met and became friends with the electronics genius Neil Burnett founder of Albarry Music and the now legendary M408 amplifiers Albarry have now come back with a new M608 power amp (60 watts into 4 ohms about £2400 a pair)and a brand new pre amp will be launched in a few weeks, I have heard all the new products and they are fantastic, they look very distinctive and sound dynamic,open, articulate,fast and have superb timing, I'm considering selling my M408s and Spectral DMC 12 preamp to make way for the Albarry set up. I can only wish Neil the best of luck with his new amps.

The new M608 mono's are a step up from the venerable M408's. They build on the strengths of the earlier model with a rock solid bottom end and better imaging. It's great to see them back again with their wonderfu, glowingl red perspex fronts and a hint of the goodies inside.

I had the new pre-amp here on Monday, fitted with Neil's latest phono stage. The combination of pre and power is truly magnificent - dynamic, solid, tactile and totally fatigue free.

The pre and passive pre should be with me next week.

It was good to meet you on Monday Alan.

Could that preamp be a "Croft without tears?"

It's got a single volume pot if that's what you mean..:barrel:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hifi_dave

The new M608 mono's are a step up from the venerable M408's. They build on the strengths of the earlier model with a rock solid bottom end and better imaging. It's great to see them back again with their wonderfu, glowingl red perspex fronts and a hint of the goodies inside.

I had the new pre-amp here on Monday, fitted with Neil's latest phono stage. The combination of pre and power is truly magnificent - dynamic, solid, tactile and totally fatigue free.

The pre and passive pre should be with me next week.

It was good to meet you on Monday Alan.

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We look forward to your impressions.

Hello Marco, I'm not good with computers, but I looked for a section marked CLASSIFIED to sell my bits but I couldn't find one, so I put it in GALLERY and it has been moved but I don't know to where, am I aloud to put for sale ads in the forum? what am I doing wrong, regards Alan

It'll be in private exhibitions ;)

Sure is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by theophile

We look forward to your impressions.

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They're good, the power amps especially - VERY VERY GOOD!!!!!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by trio leo

Hello Marco, I'm not good with computers, but I looked for a section marked CLASSIFIED to sell my bits but I couldn't find one, so I put it in GALLERY and it has been moved but I don't know to where, am I aloud to put for sale ads in the forum? what am I doing wrong, regards Alan

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Try here,Alan.

:)

This thread seems to be resurrected on a regular basis ("Albarry: The Amps That Wouldn't Die!").

The new ones sound interesting, but my very strong recollection of the 408s was at the Harrogate Hifi Show (80? 81?), with Allison speakers and a Trio L-07D t/t. As an impressionable 21 year old with a student grant (remember them?) that could afford me a Trio KD1033/NAD 3030/Mission 710 system, I was utterly smitten by both the looks of the t/t and amps, and the magical sounds in that room. I vowed that I'd buy that system one day...

In the end, I went down the Exposure s/s route, but the hankering for both the Albarrys and the L-07D lived on. I will investigate the 408s some day, but for now I'm about to realise a dream come true on the latter :eyebrows:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DSJR

They're good, the power amps especially - VERY VERY GOOD!!!!!!!

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Hi am currently shortlisting some systems & have the Albarry M608 / Albarry AP11 on my list. When you say the "power amps especially" are there other preamps that I should be looking at?

Yes, the Croft pre's are a marriage made in Heaven with the Albarry power-amps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hifi_dave

Yes, the Croft pre's are a marriage made in Heaven with the Albarry power-amps.

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Cool, so the Albarry M608 / Croft Micro 25 R is on my list then. Have you heard this particular combination?

I would be interested on anyone's thoughts of how the Albarry amps stack up against Avondale and NVA amps?

Yes, I have all the Croft pre's and the Albarry amps here. Right this minute, I am running the Croft 25RS with the M608 mono's into Harbeth SHL5's.

What do they sound like Dave, they were somewhat lacking in grip with the big Tannoys at Whitlebury. I doubt the room was a good match for speakers and amp, they did look lovely though.

There's no lack of grip here, using Harbeth, Kudos, Rega, Neat and PMC speakers.

I use a pair of Albarry M408s and they are still fantastic, I have heard the M608s on my system and they are even better, so fast,dynamic,articulate and musically involving.
The Croft must be a very good pre-amp, I have also heard the Albarry AP11 pre-amp and I can't wait to get my hands on one.
It is reassuring to see such well made products are still hand built in Britain and not farmed out to China.
I also use the Albarry MCA 11 battery powered head amp and it has opened up my system so much, a cartridge previously dismissed as a tad boring is now wonderful.
Good luck to Neil.

regards Al