It had to happen - went for broke and bought Jerry's mint condition A80 mono's.

Need to sell the little A30 power now and get onto saving for a pair of A40's to bi-amp.



Oh, and while we're here...

Just re-positioned the Spacedeck and sat down to some more tunes.

Verdict? Same obsvervations apply re the sound of the 1210 vs the NAS - the NAS is clearer, better organised - the music in this instance is Eddie Daniels 'Blackwood' with ED's Clarinet having quicker, more 'bubbly' articulation. Phrases and breaks are easier to follow, there's a greater sense of progress and brio and where the Technics would lose grip slightly on musical dynamics (ie if a phrase is pushed harder) the NAS definitely has greater headroom.

However...and this is where things get interesting...

The 1210's bass is stunning - the particular lp mentioned above has lots of really deep bass synth which is nearly always playing just before or after the main beat, giving a sense of 'swing' to use a vague description - it's 'funkier' in other words. Addictive in fact.

For a 'cheap' (and it is cheap - in terms of £££) Japanese DD turntable to get this close, totally bog-standard (bar using the NAS Spacemat with Ringmat on top) to easily the best, most musical turntable I've owned in 30 years, is starting to go down as possibly the biggest wake-up call this year.