Scalford show 6th March 2011

[DSJR]

Did the Ditton 66's survive? I did fear for them somewhat.........

As for me for the future -

[Rare Bird]

You mean the Cambridge CD1 actually WORKED, and for some hours too????? - YIKES!!!!!

that machine was revised: wiring & power supply..I never understand why people always give these old machnes an hard time. That 'CD-1' would see off many a modern machine, which i'm sure plenty that auditioned it would admit, as would the rebuilt & NOS'd Mission 'DAD7000R' i have.I used to have a 'CD-1' but never had the error counter unit..i never had a single bit of trouble with it like i do many modern machines

[technobear]

It was nice to see so many happy smiling faces in my room today. I was a bit worried being out on a limb but in fact the room had visitors from 09:30 to 16:00 continuously before getting a bit patchy just towards the end but we were still playing at 17:30.

Thanks for all the kind comments. It's nice to know that I'm not stone deaf and that the system does actually sound good

I think I've probably sold another 20 or 30 CDQ's for Audiolab today.

Loads of people stayed ages and some even came back later for more. That really made it worth all the effort. I had a very enjoyable day.

[Alex_UK]

Well, a few words on my first Scalford Experience.

I won't name names, but it was really good to meet so many AoS members, although the circumstances are not conducive to having long conversations, so apologies to those who I didn't get to speak to much. It was still really good to put faces to names (and avatars!) and to meet some of the people behind the posts.

This was my first Scalford - to be honest, my first "hifi" event of any type. For me, it was really interesting to see and hear so many different systems in one location, and without there being vested interests at play. It would be rude of me to mention the systems I didn't particularly like, but let's just say I have no desire to go out looking for horn speakers, or re-mortgaging the house to pay for "badge" hifi....

Mark (Reid Malenfant) and I spent the day together, mainly because Mark didn't want to be stuck in Pie country as he doesn't have a mobile 'phone! It was interesting that we both pretty much came to the same conclusions after each visit to a room. We managed to get round to most, although not all - 49 rooms in a maximum of 7 hours is actually too much - divided amongst each room, that only gives you 8.5 minutes per system, and that is if you forego beer, fag, wee and food breaks - we chose to drop the latter, so that still only gave us a maximum of 8 minutes per room! Given that we naturally wanted to spend more than that in the AoS room, and make several visits, in reality, you just can't do it in a day, regardless of the fact that you also spend half the time trying to work out where the f*ck you are in the building!

Other personal observations, then. Everyone was really friendly, and despite it being heaving, we always managed to squeeze into a room. The main emphasis I think is on fun - no one was taking it too seriously, I felt. One slight criticism is that the usual hifi fare was being played in a lot of rooms - Miles Davies, Kate Bush, Dire Straits where probably the most common, but there was a general trend towards Jazz/acoustic type music (I know to a degree this is the listener's fault, for not asking for something else, but refer to the comment about time above...) I personally would have liked to hear a bit more variation, and perhaps it was there, and we just got unlucky on the rotation we were working on.

Down to the nitty gritty then - which rooms sounded the best? As a general observation, as already eluded to above, the systems with horns in them just didn't do it for me. Quite a lot of the rooms were not ideal matches for the systems, and I found that overall, the systems I preferred were those with smaller standmount speakers, which were more optimal for the rooms. I have certainly changed my opinion of "tiddly speakers" - the JR149s, AVI ADM 9.1's, Harbeth HL-P3ES's, and tiny PMCs all doing a great job.

Here's an interesting one - I found that I didn't prefer in any system valves over solid state, or vice versa. I know I'm a bit of a newbie here, but I really couldn't have told you in one single example just by listening, whether an amp was valve or transistor based. Probably just my lack of experience, but I certainly haven't come away thinking (apart from the looks) that I just have to have glowing bottles!

OK, well I've avoided it long enough - which system did I like the most? Well, it goes without saying (well it doesn't, so I'll say it!) that the AoS system did sound fab - Nick's (Beechwoods) Nagra in particular surprised me, as I wasn't expecting it to sound that good - just my preconceptions of tape, I guess, based on 80's Amstrad systems - I never realised how good a tape front end can be. Marco's Techie, Copper amp and 66's was a lovely combination. I also heard several people commenting on how good the AoS room sounded - they obviously weren't in their when Nick (Beechwoods) was choosing the music!

I also really enjoyed listening to the Quad ESL57 fronted system, with LP12 front end and Leak TL12 amps - maybe it was partly because I deliberately wanted to hear a pair of electrostatics, having never heard them before, or not, but they sounded very neutral and had a wonderful presentation. Maybe helped by the supertweeters, but also I suspect the big room they were in.

I could go on and on - really, there wasn't a "bad" system at all. But, in the final analysis, I think the sound I enjoyed the most was in Jerry's (Jandl100) room, with the combo of Wadia 830 CD player or Pioneer PL600X turntable, Unison Unico amp, and borrowed Tannoy 12" Golds in Lancaster cabinets. I don't know what it was about this system specifically that was so tantalising, but it just seemed so effortless - the image was so well defined, and the "picture" so clear, and overall the combination was just so full of soul and musicality that if I had to stick my neck out and say that is the one I would have, it would (probably) be it.

I hope I haven't offended anyone with my musings - it really was a fabulous day out, and a great experience, and I can't wait until the next one!

Well done everyone.

[John]

NicK Negra is a lovelly bit of engineering and sounded really great
At least no one can excuse the AOS room of sticking with the usual music, but yes it was fun watcing people's reaction when we played something a bit more challenging, perhapd maybe good then we did not have a DAC so I could play my tastes!
I really enjoyed hanging around with Nick and Marco lots of laughs
A lot of people liked the Dittons we got a lot of questions and lots of people wanting to hear the Negra. It was great chatting to people, Johnboy looked a lot more sane that i imainged (Lol_ really nice to chat too. Did not get as much opportunity to talk to Alex and Mark as I would of liked. Technobear was nice to chat impressive collection of music and nice system.
I imagine both Marco and Nick must be really tired, they both worked so hard I had to leave a bit early back was getting a bit tight and just knew helping load up was just going to make everything worse

[John]

Listening to the Negra I now understand why Andre records all his music onto tape from CD, it just allows the music to flow more naturally. Its a lovelly bit of kit Nick
The 66s are nicely balanced, not quite the scale of Marcos Lockwoods, but very easy to live with. What suprised me is how intergrated they are throughout the frequency range.
A lot of people commited how well Jerry system sounded, I think he really liked the Negra but perhaps not our music choices.
The 1210 is now a truly high end player, the platter and power supplies just seems to let the music flow I also really liked the SPU very musical and understand why people really like it

[Rare Bird]

Listening to the Nagra I now understand why Andre records all his music onto tape from CD, it just allows the music to flow more naturally.

Brilliant John i'm glad someone notices this.You retain the CD quality but as you say the music is much more easy to listern to, i just can't get the same source recordings from Vinyl to tape.

[YNWaN]

To be honest, the Ditton 66's didn't really win me over - fun though.

The Nagra was lovely though.

[jandl100]

But, in the final analysis, I think the sound I enjoyed the most was in Jerry's (Jandl100) room, with the combo of Wadia 830 CD player or Pioneer PL600X turntable, Unison Unico amp, and borrowed Tannoy 12" Golds in Lancaster cabinets. I don't know what it was about this system specifically that was so tantalising, but it just seemed so effortless - the image was so well defined, and the "picture" so clear, and overall the combination was just so full of soul and musicality that if I had to stick my neck out and say that is the one I would have, it would (probably) be it.

Cor. Thanks Alex. It was nice to meet you and Mark.

The Tannoys and my electonics/tt was very much a marriage of convenience, but it certainly did work well on the day.

Quite a few folks rated it as the best sound at the show.

[Marco]

Hi Jerry,

Yes I was very impressed with your room, too, and would rate it as one of the best, perhaps in no small amount due to those superb Lancasters, which TBH, are one of the best pairs of Tannoys I've heard - you had real synergy going on there, dude!

Perhaps now you've warmed just a teensy-weensy bit to the vintage Tannoy DC sound? There's a reason, you know, why so many people loved their musical presentation

Also, I was glad to have been of assistance to Robin on Friday night when he was considering buying the Lancasters, and he asked for my advice, and invited Nick, John and me over to his room to have a listen to them. It only took about 5 mins of listening for me to say "Buy 'em!", so I'm glad he did - enjoy Rob!

I will comment later on my thoughts of the few rooms I managed to visit.

As an exhibitor, it's impossible to get round all the rooms, and I think if this excellent show could be bettered in any significant way, it would be for it to be extended to a two-day event. You need one day to be in your own room to talk to people, and another full day to visit everyone else's room and have a proper listen.

Perhaps someone who's also a member of Wigwam could put this suggestion forward?

I know it would make it more expensive, but I think it would ultimately result in people enjoying themselves more, being less tired, and probably even better sounds being produced, as folks would have more time to get their systems gelling with the rooms they've been given.

A big thanks, though, to James and everyone else at Wigwam for the superb effort they put in to making the show once again a success - roll on next year indeed!

One thing I'd like to do next year is put together an AoS system with less of my gear in it (for a change - lol), and showcase other people's kit. I'd love to use some of Martin T's equipment, for example, particularly his Techy, and there are others too who could provide some good stuff (e.g. Clive, with his superb Salvation T/T), so let's work towards that aim for next year, chaps....!

Anyway, until I can get my own thoughts together, here are a smattering of the comments we've received from elsewhere on the AoS room (we had loads more very positive remarks from visitors, many of whom don't contribute to forums, with the Celestions in particular going down a treat):


From Wigwam:

"Art of Sound's was as amazing as ever and those old Celestions are staggeringly good."


"We both thought the Ditton 66 system was great, considering they are as old as my son! They sounded clean and controlled and easily showed the difference between the sources that were used during our brief listening session."


"Really glad it worked out for you in the end Jerry. Now some people might think me biased, but I would say this anyway-your room with Robins' Tannoys was the best sounding of the show by a country mile, barring The AOS room who were close behind, particularly when the Nagra open-reel was in use..."


"The Art of Sound room was very impressive. A lot of electronica being played on my first visit. I was walking past later in the day when Jeff Buckley’s was playing and stopped dead in my tracks at the door and had to go back in. It was awesome."


"The few rooms that I poke my head in to were all very positive, the ART of sound's room was rather good..."


"The final system that stood out for me was one that I think was on the first floor and used monitor speakers that were quite widely spaced, so going by the programme, I think it must have been SYndicate 5's system with Celestion Ditton 66 Studio Monitors. Pretty detailed, but not in your face. Reminded me a bit of my Spendor Sp1's."


"AOS's room was very loud as usual! My first visit was a dissapointment due to excess treble but a second visit was jawdropping with the Nagra playing."


"The AOS room, with the Celestion Ditton 66. Sounded good on CD, but then I asked for the Nagra reel-to-reel to be played ... OMG . Fabulous."


"I loved the Celestion 66s. My brother used to own 25s, and maybe that's why I liked them so much. Cool copper KT88 based amp, lovely Nagra tape deck. I'm not sure this wasn't my fave system. Loved the way the 66s looked, ahem, so knackered, yet sang so bloody well. The 66s ooze detail, can pack serious, serious bass. They also image really well. Brilliant!"


"The Celestion 66 sound was also very good - impressive clean and deep bass in a relatively large room."


From James Palmer (owner): "Only one FUCK ME THAT'S UGLY, OH MY GO I WANT IT moment: I thought Marco's speakers were the ugliest things I have ever seen while being the most sublime speakers I have ever heard. Quite astonishingly good."


And from pfm:


"[Best rooms] Marco/Art of Sound - Insane amounts of deep bass from some vintage Celestion 66s. Good sound and just goes to show how good some old speakers are."


"AoS's Dittons 66 are both fabulous and stupendously ugly at the same time..."


[Indeed they ain't purdy with the grilles off, but unfortunately that's how they sound best! ]


"It really is a great show, where else can you hear ,Quads ,Tannoys ,Horns, Apogees, those fantastic Dittons, in a 25 metre radius".


And from Tony L:

"Marco's Ditton 66s. These were the speaker that kicked me into audio in first place. I heard a friend's dad's pair and was hooked, I can even remember the track (A Question Of Balance by the Moody Blues). Not heard a pair since about 1976 until today. You know what? They sound how I remember them: big, ballsy, tons of deep fun bass. I like."


It was certainly good at long last to meet Tony and have a chat with him in Jerry (Jandl's) room, whilst listening to those superb Lancasters. Based on the comments we were both making, I suspect that Tony and I share similar priorities on how music is best reproduced


Some nice pics from the gear used in the AoS room:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/6028228...7626214821530/ - SPU doing the biz on the Techy, with nice shot of Mike New platter.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6028228...7626214821530/
- Nick's wonderful Nagra.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6028228...7626214821530/ - MusicWorks mains block and Mark Grant Furutech-modded DSP.2.5s (both were essential to how the system sounded, speakers aside! )

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6028228...7626214821530/ - Copper amp, Croft preamp, TD mains filter (also essential, for an 'ancillary item', to how the system sounded) and the superb SR5 PSU, for the Techy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6028228...7626214821530/ - Tweeter and midrange unit of Celestions.


Nice YouTube vid here, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcRLunWK_bE


Right, I'm off to empty the car, reassemble my system, and once I've finished all that, I'll offer my thoughts on some of the rooms I visited

Marco.