Well I may have enough time now to write a decent and proper response to Neil's very concise appraisal of my visit!
Dog sniffing aside, I was greeted with a very warm welcome by Neil - always a good sign, and this itself always puts me at ease.
Pleasantries done, I had my first look at the equipment Neil uses to listen to his large and dare I say it meandering and varied music collection. It always pleases me to see a person has a nice collection of music, ie. what it is all about, and not just a few choice albums to go with the flash hifi!!
I will not try to list all of the equipment in use as Neil has already done so in his first post, but sufice to say that the gear he was using was obviously of high quality, but further than that is was srt up with an atention to detail I have rarely seen. I will add though that this was the first time I have seen the Gallo Reference speakers in the flesh and I was surprised by their relativly dimunitive stature, as it always seemed when I had seen them in photos that they were going to be about 5 feet tall! When the music was playing however, I was struck by the free flowing musical quality of these speakers, very very musical and I could see myself sitting in front of them for hours listening to album after album! Also, the "small" size puts the drivers EXACTLY where they need to be, creating a palpable vista in front of the listener, with various parts of the band locked into their own space within a rock solid image...me likey!!
The Moon CD player is truly a beast, and with an off board power supply is obviously a no compromise design, and this was bourne out by it's sound. A small point but I especially liked the large easy to read red LED display too. As good as this player is (and believe me it is) even it could not compete with the SME, which frankly was in another league! I hope Neil doesn't mind this comparison, I did have the impression that he agreed with me on this. The other point that I mentioned to Neil, was just how quiet the vinyl was, and by this I mean you could almost have been listening to a CD such was the lack of noise and quietness between tracks...but of course the SME to me sounded much more musical, and this "silence" was not at the expense of any clarity or detail, the msic just flowing....
One this to mention, the BAT phono stage is truly a huge beast, and if you would like to see a mix of exotic components and incredible build quality in one place, I suggest you take the lid off one if you get the chance!
Upstairs was yet another voyage of discovery for me! More beautiful, lovingly crafted gear all ell set up with care and attention to detail. I was immediatly struck by the AMR CD, which I had read about but never seen. It is a lovely thing to behold, easily the nicest looking single component I have seen and also built like a brick outhouse! We listened to it together with the BAT amp and the truly remarkable Reference 3A speakers, which worked brillianlt in this room that is smaller than the one downstairs. I could live with either of these systems forever, both of them very very musically satisifying, and both the product of so much care and attention to system matching and set up by Neil.
So I had a great day, Neil is a very nice genuine and honest person, who will give you a frank and unbiased opinion on anything from music or hifi to politics. His knowledge of music and hifi is encyclopaedic, and I am sure he has forgotten more than I will ever know. So thanks Neil, I hope we can do it agian!!
I am not a journalist by any stretch, and I hope this short response gives enough credit to Neil and enough of an idea of the day I had to everyone else.
Thanks Neil!
Last edited by aquapiranha; 05-06-2009 at 20:06.
They swim... the mark of Satan is upon them. They must hang.
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Originally Posted by Marco
Haha, *only* on AOS!
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