Gromit's music centre...

[jandl100]

Ooo. I dunno. I've calmed down a bit recently.

Well, the occasional new amp.
And cables.

Richard has been doing a lot more swapping than me, of late.

Sonneteer? - nope, never been there. Hmm ...

[Marco]

Richard has been doing a lot more swapping than me, of late.

Very true! I was just wondering what Richard's plan or ‘end goal’ is, or indeed if there was one?

Marco.

P.S Have you given up on posting in the Classical music section, Jerry? It’s been ages since you've contributed. I’d be much obliged if you popped in there now and again and told us what you were spinning

[Gromit]

Marco - no real 'goals' as such, just meandering around enjoying stuff, some of it working out nicely, some of it not so. I am itching to try a Sedley phonostage to go with the Campion though, but being so rare they never seem to come up used. The Campion's a lovely little amp, the only downside of which is that I really need something with more power for where we live now - Royds work great with low(ish) powered amps (that's to say they're very benign) but only really sing when driven by an amp with lots of headroom. There have been instances where the Campion has started to sound like it's hitting the buffers. Within its 33w/ch envelope it is very, very sweet though - more than one instance recently where I've sat and thought 'I've not heard that tiny bit of musical detail before'.

I'll stick my neck out and say the best amp I've had in the last couple of years - overall - is the 770ES. Such a well-judged set of compromises, not perfect by any means but never at any time did I feel it was getting in the way.

[Gromit]

A bit of gratuitous fannying around with me Fuji...

DSCF3817

DSCF3826

[Gromit]

New addition - a Sonneteer Sedley phonostage...

DSCF4494

I've been quietly impressed by the Campion - sure it's no power house nor does it posess the front-row presentation I like (it's more mid-stalls) but it really can weave a convincing musical spell and isn't overly fussy about the genre of that music. I've been after a Sedley for a while now but didn't really want to shell out for a new one (it's around 550 quid) but a good used one came up this week. It was bought for the simple reasons that 1. My thinking that the Campion's a goody, the Sedley should be too and 2. It's nice to have matching stuff sometimes.

First impressions? I only grabbed 15 mins or so's brief listen this morning at which point the Sedly was utterly stone-cold; I'd listened to a couple of tracks via the Aria then plumbed the Sedley straight in. On the basis of that very brief listen the Aria is a better stage - it's more engaging, fizzing with energy and sounding more spacious to boot. The Sedley is remarkably good on vocals though.

[Canetoad]

You know Richard, you could have any old crap in your system and it would still look good in the photos you take! Nice!

[Gromit]

You know Richard, you could have any old crap in your system and it would still look good in the photos you take! Nice!

Thanks Bernie - and I've had some 'any old crap' in my system over the years too, I'll admit.

[brian2957]

Have to agree with you about the 770ES Richard . I managed to get a hold of one recently and it's a cracking amp .

[Gromit]

Have to agree with you about the 770ES Richard . I managed to get a hold of one recently and it's a cracking amp .

Indeed Brian - the big Sony's a peach imho. Still very cheap too (although prices are firming up) considering the sound on offer.

If a really clean one came up again I'd have to try very hard not to snap it up.

[Gromit]

Spinning some choons ealier this evening, and fiddling with me Fuji Fifty-six...

DSCF4640