Connected 37 by Russ Andrews

CONNECTED TO MUSIC & MOVIES

ANNIVERSARY EDITION Issue No. 37 Winter 2016/17

NEW REVIEW “Sonically, I am treated to a sound that is fast and open with good clarity and sparkle, but importantly without any unpleasant edginess or harshness to the sound.”

Torlyte® Turntable Stand Hi-Fi Choice magazine December 2016

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First Words

30th Anniversary This has been a very special year for us all here at Russ Andrews. As well as celebrating 10 years of Connected magazine in this issue, in the summer we reached our thirtieth anniversary as a business. Our last issue of Connected acknowledged this, but I want to reflect on what our celebrations have meant to me. Thirty years is a long time for a business to survive and prosper, especially in a niche industry. The statistics state that over half of new businesses fail within five years: Sometimes 30 days has seemed a long time during any of the many recessions we have survived since 1986! We congratulate ourselves with humility rather than hubris, though, because we know we have the incredible loyalty of you, our customers, to thank for that survival. Great products and great service alone, important as they are, are not enough. Somehow we have communicated our passion for that emotional connection to music we strive for. It's the first thing that attracted me to Hi-Fi and it is what keeps me striving for more of it. It's addictive I know, but legal, decent and good for you! I was able to talk to many of you enthusiastic supporters at the Whittlebury Hall show in September and I was struck by how clearly you understand our message about musicality and how ® to recognise itAll and enhance it 27th in your Torlyte until Julysystems. 2016 You all have See page 18understand that it is the diﬀerent systems and completely infrastructure rather than the specific hardware that delivers the musicality hiding in it. Many of those of you I talked to have been with us for the whole 30 year journey (and some for longer!) and I find that belief and loyalty humbling. Some of you I know have been customers since my retailing days in the 1970s, but I thank you all, "ancient" or recent for your good wishes and, naturally, for your continued business!

ANNIVERSARY E DI TI O N

In this issue Regulars

First Words Editorial News Reviews Letters Competition

3 4 6 23 25 27

Inside Industry Comment

Customer System

Dalton’s Deliberations

Features

A Very British Affair

Staff Picks We pick our favourite products 20

Products

New Products

Offers

Crystal-H interconnect offer

Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Road, Kendal LA9 6NS, UK. 01539 797300 +44 (0)1539 797300 © Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2016. E & OE. Any views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the company.

Issue 37 Winter 2016 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 3

Welcome “Welcome to the first in what we issue saw us introducing the Silver hope is a long-running series of Signature PowerKord, which at the time Connected to Music and Movies was our very best mains cable. Of course magazine.” So began my column in that cable has given way now to the the first edition of our brand-new technologically-advanced SuperKords, the Customer magazine, published in first of which was introduced in Issue 12 2006. Ten years - and 37 issues later (Winter 2009); Connected has also seen the - we thought it would introduction of our be a good idea to look Balanced Mains Units back at some of the (issue 7, Spring 2008), Many of our biggest highlights from our Super Burn-In (Issue 23 previous editions. product ranges of the last Winter 2012/13), Kimber’s new AXIOS headphone Connected wasn’t our few years have been cables (issue 33 Winter first customer 2015/16), and many more initially previewed or magazine; some of besides, of course. you may remember launched in the magazine. our old magazine There’s much more to Directions which we Connected than product last published in 2003. information, though. Many customers at the time From the off, we wanted it to be a good and lamented its passing, which is varied read and in each issue we’ve why we decided to launch included articles on a breadth of subjects. Connected three years later. The Issue 1 had Russ writing about The Magic of old magazine was A4 sized and Musicality – something very close to his ran to about 20 pages; heart; Issue 3 had a feature on Plasma and Connected was slightly smaller LCD TV screens, and this was followed in in size but has more pages and Issue 4 with a discussion of Blu-ray and HDbroader content. The aim of DVDs (remember HD-DVDs?); how to get the magazine was (and still is) better sound from radio (issue 11); getting to keep you – our customers – the best sound from your room (Issue 13); in touch with what we’re up to and how to set up your speakers (issue 28). here at Russ Andrews. Its Each issue we’ve tried to include something increased page count meant that we could that will be of interest to many of you, and go into more detail about our products, we don’t rely just on our writing team here explaining how they work and what their benefits are. Connected is sent out four times a year which means it is also the perfect opportunity to showcase new products too. Many of our biggest product ranges of the last few years have been initially previewed or launched in the magazine; the very first

4 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 37 Winter 2016

ANNIVERSARY E DI TI O N

at Russ Andrews. We’ve often invited guest many have become good friends. Hi-Fi Shows writers to pen articles in our From Inside the give us the chance to meet our customers faceIndustry series and these have included Robert to-face, but the Customer System feature allows Harley (Editor of US magazine The Absolute us to visit those customers, listen to their Hi-Fi Sound); Ivor Tiefenbrun of Linn Products; Martin systems (which we’ve often been involved in Colloms, Hi-Fi reviewer, writer and publisher of the upgrading of over many years) and spend HiFi Critic magazine; time with them. Rob Burn, Simon Heighes, presenter whose system we have of BBC Radio 3’s featured in this issue, has been As far as I am aware, programme Building a an enthusiastic upgrader since Connected has the second the 1990s and has carefully Library; Paul Messenger, Hi-Fi reviewer, writer and and patiently followed our largest circulation of any editor of Hi-Fi Critic upgrading advice. His system Hi-Fi magazine in the UK. magazine; and Malcolm continues to deliver an Steward, Hi-Fi reviewer. engaging, musical sound and, Ken Kessler, Hi-Fi Journalist having visited and listened to and Senior Contributing Editor of Hi-Fi News it, I can testify to how enjoyable it is. Magazine wrote about his admiration of the So, that’s a brief overview of the last ten years British Audio Enthusiast for us back in Issue 3 editing the magazine, and I’m looking forward (Ken is American-born, but UK-based). It’s a to the next 10! As far as I am aware, Connected good read, and many of you won’t have seen it, has the second largest circulation of any Hi-Fi so we’ve reprinted the article on page 14. magazine in the UK, and I know from many of We’re also delighted to welcome a new writer you how much you look forward to reading it. for this issue - David Price, Hi-Fi journalist, Several of the features and articles we’ve reviewer and former editor of Hi-Fi World and included over the years have been ideas Hi-Fi Choice Magazine. You can read David’s suggested by you, our customers. As ever, if article on classic Hi-Fi on page 12. there’s something you want us to feature, a subject you want us As editor of the magazine, there are two types to investigate or topic you of features that I especially enjoy putting want us to give our opinion together each issue. The first is our Customer on, do get in touch. ■ Letters, and I know many of you respond to them, as I get the calls, e-mails and letters (yes, John Armer, Editor you can still write to us!) in response to what we’ve published, or for inclusion. Remember, there’s a prize for each issue’s Star Letter so do get in touch with us if there’s something you e-mail: connected@russandrews.com need to get off your chest or you want to share a story. Write: Connected, Russ Andrews Accessories, 2B Moreland Court, Another feature I especially enjoy is the Westmorland Business Park, Kendal, coverage of customer systems. As a mail order Cumbria, LA9 6NS company, we tend to get to know our customers on the phone, and over the years

Ways to get in touch

Issue 37 Winter 2016 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 5

NEWS

National Audio Show Report

This year was our sixth at the National Audio Show which is held at Whittlebury Hall hotel, close to Silverstone race track in Northamptonshire. While we were very busy over the weekend, we did get the sense that there were fewer exhibitors and fewer people in attendance at this year’s show. Perhaps a change of venue is in order?

As last year, we had a shop which was well-stocked with Russ Andrews and Kimber Kable products. There was very much a 30th Anniversary flavour to the whole room too, as the show was just a couple of weeks after our official birthday. As well as our 30th Anniversary banners, one wall featured our ‘YellO is Back’ display – and the YellO theme extended to the whole hotel as Simon liberally sprinkled our ‘YellO is Back’ cards in every room he could. They certainly seemed to do the trick; the YellO Power cables were flying off the racks! Continuing our Anniversary theme, we put together a classic Russ Andrews system to listen to, consisting of our Russ Andrews SJA-1 preamp and SJA-2 power amp feeding Russ Andrews Quave LS-1 loudspeakers. The system was 2003 vintage, and – fed with our Rega Saturn CD player – sounded very musical indeed. We also had a more up-to-date headphone set-up consisting of the new Rupert Neve headphone amp, feeding the Sony MDR-Z7 headphones with Kimber’s stunning AXIOS headphone cable. We used Tidal streamed via a Macbook and Meridian Director DAC and very impressive it sounded. We always enjoy attending Hi-Fi Shows – it’s the perfect opportunity for us to meet you and we know you come to us armed with questions. Certainly Russ, John, Zac, Peter and Simon were in constant demand to answer questions, give advice and to swap stories over the whole weekend. Thank you for attending!

6 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 37 Winter 2016

NEWS

YellO Power

ANNIVERSARY E DI TI O N

Kimber Kable features in new Sony high-end DAP

U P D A T E

The latest iteration of the Sony Walkman – the Sony NW-WM1Z – is Sony’s flagship digital audio player (DAP). Featuring a goldplated copper chassis, the player uses premium and newly-developed components. It also employs Kimber Kable in its construction, using a special type of their braided cable to link the electronics internally to the headphone jack. According to those who have heard it, the £2500 player is a stunning performer and by the time you read this, should be available to buy – though not from us, sadly. It’s good to know that those listening to Sony’s top model of Walkman will be benefitting from Kimber Kable too!

As I write this, the manufacturing department have confirmed that we have finally caught up with the backlog of YellOs we had after their reintroduction in the last issue of Connected. We knew they would be popular and as well as getting what we thought was more than enough cable in stock, we also took on a new member of staff in the manufacturing department to help assembly. In the end, we sold about five times as many YellOs as expected and we are now ordering the cable by the kilometre rather than by the reel! Each YellO Power cable is assembled by hand here in our manufacturing department and we really appreciated the patience everyone showed while they were waiting for their cables to be delivered.

NEW Catalogue Online

The latest edition of our product catalogue is now available to view online. Perfect for browsing our range of products on your laptop or desktop computer or from your tablet or mobile device. Simply go to russandrews.com and follow the links from the homepage.

Thanks also to all of you who have called us to say that the cables were worth the wait; head over to the YellO page on the website, russandrews.com/yello, where you can read customer-submitted reviews or even add your own.

Exclusive UK Retailer for

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Issue 37 Winter 2016 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 7

NEW PRODUCTS

IEC to IEC adaptor

We’ve often been asked to make an IEC to IEC adaptor for situations where a recessed socket doesn’t allow the connection of a PowerKord with one of the larger-bodied WattGate IEC plugs. To ensure the best performance, we use high quality, secure-fitting plugs and 16strand woven Kimber PowerKord (similar to that used in our PowerKord-300) to make the adaptor. We’ve had a number of customers with Linn Klimax systems that had previously been unable to use our power cables due to the recessed nature of the sockets and these adaptors have allowed them to fit our PowerKords with WattGate plugs and benefit from an upgrade.

New Torlyte® Platforms for F80 & M80

Those of you with the stunning Meridian F80 or M80 may be interested to know that we’ve developed a Torlyte® Platform designed for use with these compact systems. Designed to sit neatly under your F80/M80, the Plat brings additional performance to the superb Meridian Player. The Plat is fitted with four small cone feet for stability - for best performance we recommend your F80 is fitted with our Mini Cone Feet too.

Back of the Linn Klimax Solo

High quality male IEC

16-strand woven PowerKord Kimber Varistrand Copper cable, insulated with Fluorocarbon

Techflex covering

Cable length: 80mm between plugs 190mm overall length

High quality female IEC

IEC to IEC adaptor

Code: 1904

£69 8 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 37 Winter 2016

Torlyte Platform for F80 & M80 Code: 4080

Mini Cone Feet Set of four

£184 Code: 4210

£22

Did you know? We have an exclusive transformer upgrade for the Meridian F80 & M80. The new transformer is made using our SuperSilent technology for very quiet operation and high performance. To fit the transformer, you must send your F80/M80 to us; contact us to arrange.

Meridian F80 & M80 transformer upgrade Supplied and fitted

Code: 8617

£349

NEW PRODUCTS

Kimber AXIOS range expanded

ANNIVERSARY E DI TI O N

Hot on the heels of the launch of Kimber’s new copper AXIOS 8-wire cables in the last issue of Connected, Kimber have added to the AXIOS range. The new cables are the AXIOS HB, which is a hybrid design featuring a mixture of pure copper and pure silver conductors, and AXIOS AG which is an allsilver design. Like the copper AXIOS CU cable, the new hybrid and all-silver designs are available in 8wire and 16-wire versions; in all cases the 16 wire versions offer the very best performance.

All Kimber AXIOS cables feature very flexible conductors with FEP insulation; they are all handbraided which allows a seamless, woven transition at the point where the cable splits. All connectors feature hand-polished wood accents. If you are really serious about headphone listening, these cables will allow you to hear your music at its very best.

Detail of the new AXIOS cables - HB (top) and AG (below)

AXIOS-HB AXIOS cables are available for the following headphones: Oppo HIFI MAN Audeze PM-1 HE1000 LCD-3 HE400i LCD-2 Pioneer HE500 LCD-X SE MASTER-1 HE6 LCD-XC Sennheiser HE650 EL8-open HD800 S* EL8-closed MCINTOSH HD800* MPH1000 Audioquest HD650 NIGHT HAWK HD600 Mrspeakers Enigmacoustics ETHER SONY DHARMA D1000* ETHER C MDR-Z1R ETHER FLOW MDR-Z7 Focal ETHER C FLOW UTOPIA*

ELEAR *For Sennheiser HD800, Enigmacoustics Dharma D1000 & Focal Utopia add £100 for termination.

AXIOS cables are most commonly formatted as a ‘1Y’ cable, with a single ¼” or 3.5mm jack to connect to your headphone amplifier and two plugs for connecting to your headphone earpieces. A 2.5mm jack (such as that used on Astell & Kern portable players) is also an option for the 8-wire cables. AXIOS cables can also be formatted as ‘2Y’ cables, terminated with a pair of 3.5mm or ¼” jacks or a pair of XLR plugs if you have a balanced headphone amp with two outputs.

The full range of AXIOS cables can be seen and ordered online - visit russandrews.com/axios

WARRANT Y

Prices for 1.2m 1Y AXIOS HB 8 wire AXIOS HB 16 wire AXIOS AG 8 wire AXIOS AG 16 wire

from £1362 from £1974 from £1875 from £3000

Issue 37 Winter 2016 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 9

Limited Offer

Crystal Clear

How to hear more for less Simon Dalton reports that our Crystal-H analogue interconnect is available again – and at a very attractive price - but you’d better be quick… Have you heard of the book called “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organising” by Marie Kondo? It’s been extraordinarily successful, hitting the top of the New York Times bestseller list and having amongst its proponents our own John Armer. I’ve not read it myself (a quick glance at my desk would confirm this…) but I assume one of the advantages is that a clearer space makes it easier to see what you’ve got. All very interesting, but what has this got to do with Hi-Fi? Well, with Russ gradually packing things up to move up to Scotland there have been a few bouts of tidying occurring in the warehouse, as he sorts through years of work and projects deciding what to take and what to leave. So there are bits of the warehouse being uncovered that we haven’t seen for a while… including a small reel of shiny new Crystal-H cable! Those of you who have been with us for a while will remember that we introduced the Crystal range of interconnects back in 2001 - named in celebration of our 15th (Crystal) anniversary that year. Crystal-H sat between the all copper ‘Cu’ and the pure silver ‘Ag’ versions of the cable. ‘H’ stands for ‘Hybrid’ and denotes the two pure copper and two pure silver conductors that the cable uses. To give you an idea of where it lies in the current range, it’s pretty much a Silver Streak with an additional silver conductor. And that makes a big diﬀerence.

10 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 37 Winter 2016

Insulation and termination

Crystal-H utilises the same high quality fluorocarbon insulation and Ultraplate RCA phono connectors as the Silver Streak. Fluorocarbon can be applied to the conductors at a lower temperature, which helps to maintain their integrity, and Kimber’s UltraPlate phonos are renowned for their low resistance connection.

ANNIVERSARY E DI TI O N

Limited Offer

Cable construction and number of conductors

Crystal-H, like all of the Kimber range, uses their unique braided construction. This is proven to reduce Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) - widely accepted within the industry to be a source of sound degradation. The more complex this weave is, the more eﬀective the reduction. Adding another conductor – in this case, a 33% increase over Silver Streak – means that the cable necessarily becomes more complex so you get the immediate benefit of greater RFI rejection. This leads to a greater sense of spaciousness in the performance along with a more realistic and natural representation of the recording.

Conductor material

Crystal-H uses Kimber’s pure copper for the ground and pure silver - their most eﬃcient signal conductor material - for the signal. By adding 100% more silver to the cable, compared to Silver Streak, the cable’s bandwidth is increased, resulting in a greater ability of the cable to accurately reproduce the full frequency range of your recordings, creating a more fluid and open presentation of the music. All together, these elements combine to produce a cable that gives you many of the benefits of an all silver Kimber interconnect but at a more aﬀordable price.

Where to use Crystal-H

Crystal-H is suitable for all applications that require an analogue interconnect. Because of its high quality conductors, it’s especially good between your source – such as CD player or streamer - and your preamp or integrated amp.

Get one whilst you can…

We only have a very limited supply of Crystal-H cable - enough to make a maximum of twenty 0.5m pairs - so, literally, when it’s gone, it’s gone.

100% more silver for FREE!

We are making Crystal-H available for exactly the same price as Silver Streak – so you’ll be doubling up on the silver conductors for free. The last retail price for this cable was £474 for the 0.5m and £699 for the 1m, so this represents a saving of up to £294.50.

Cable Upgrade Scheme

This is such a great oﬀer that we are unable to take any Kimber Interconnects back as an upgrade to this limited edition Crystal-H cable.

SAVE UP TO

Crystal-H

WARRANT Y

analogue interconnect 0.5m 1.0m

WAS

£294.50

NOW

Code: 2120

SAVE

£474.00 £243.00 £231.00 £699.00 £404.50 £294.50

Optional upgrades

Burn-in Attenuation Super Burn-in Fit Mini Zaps

add £15 add £30 add £100 add £102

Issue 37 Winter 2016 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 11

Inside Industry Comment

Things Can’t Only Get Better New products are often superior to their forebears, but certainly not always. Perhaps that’s why the hi-fi world is going crazy about classic audio, muses David Price… When archaeologists began excavating Pompeii in the 18th century, they uncovered the remains of a Roman aqueduct system that was more sophisticated than the one in use there at the time. To anyone who believes that things only get better, take a long hard look at history. “The myth of technological progress” has been sold to us for centuries, asserting that anything new is automatically better than everything old. Like many myths, it has a grain of truth, but is certainly not the last word on the matter. Quality is timeless and never a waste of money, but nothing qualifies for greatness by merely being new. Hi-fi buyers are finally twigging this, but audio engineers have of course known it all along. To these shaggy Quad ESL - 57 loudspeaker 12 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 37 Winter 2016

haired, denim-clad, T-shirt wearing individuals, a fifty watt Class AB amplifier is nothing more than a box of bits laid out in a certain way. Its performance is simply a function of the quality of the components and the circuit topology – not the brand name that’s written on the box or the thickness of its brushed aluminium fascia. True, some brands are better because they

Quality is timeless and never a waste of money, but nothing qualifies for greatness by merely being new. hire the best audio engineers and they can hear the results – but it’s not anything intrinsic to the name, or the company’s backstory, that counts. The gauge of great hi-fi is not whether it has ‘Quad’, or ‘Krell’, or ‘AudioNote’ written on it, but the performance it delivers and the engineering needed to make that stick. Fifty years ago, there were arguably more gifted designers working in hi-fi than now – all the heavy lifting was done in those early days. Think of the Quad ESL57 for example, a loudspeaker that is still state-of-the-art in design and sonic terms half a century later. The genius of Peter Walker was audacious; he’d already done the great Corner

Ribbon speaker (a hybrid moving coil/ribbon design) and would give the Quad Corner Ribbon world the technologically loudspeaker clever 303 and 405 power amplifiers. Before him of course we had luminaries like Wharfedale’s Gilbert Briggs who practically wrote the conventional speaker design rule book, and after came the likes of KEF’s Raymond Cooke who moved high end speakers along in leaps and bounds. Should the work of these greats be dismissed because they did everything with a slide-rule and a piece of paper on a drawing board? Aside from a few absolute classic masterpieces, nothing is ever really that new in hi-fi. Pause for a moment to contemplate the awe and wonder of the very first Technics SP-10 turntable. Launched in 1970, it was hailed for its remarkably quiet and stable direct-drive motor – and duly knocked the evergreen Garrard 401 oﬀ the top-spot as the world’s favourite studio transcription turntable. This was itself simply a made-over idler-drive 301 which

Quad 405 power amp

ANNIVERSARY E DI TI O N

The new Technics SL-1200 turntable

was launched in 1954 however, and lest we forget that it superseded the Garrard 201 of 1930 – which happened to be a direct-drive design! Since the eighties, when most Japanese manufacturers moved out of vinyl and into CD, turntables have largely been belt-drive, and now hi-fi journalists are getting excited about the new Technics SL-1200G, which is itself a light rework of 1972’s SL-120. Technology provides the building blocks with which designers can go and make hay – rather than guaranteeing that the new product is better than the old. The greats of hi-fi have simply repurposed existing tech in a new and clever way – those Mylar sheets that wobble around inside Quad electrostatic panels aren’t much diﬀerent to the ‘Cling Film’ you use to wrap your bacon sandwiches for the car journey to Aunt Deirdre in Skegness every Easter. The power modules inside some of the most expensive transistor amps on the planet are practically the same as the Hitachi MOSFETs that went inside its £200 integrated amps, back in 1979. Most modern valve amplifiers use similar circuits to those developed by the tube manufacturers,

sometimes nearly a century ago. You can easily spend £10,000 on a DAC that has the same digital converter chips that go into any number of designs at one twentieth of the price… Digital is its very own world of wonder. Whereas turntables are generally improving thanks to better materials technology and the ability to manufacture things to higher tolerances consistently

The gauge of great hi-fi is not whether it has ‘Quad’, or ‘Krell’, or ‘AudioNote’ written on it, but the performance it delivers (all hail the CNC lathe!), digital is simply doing more of the same but faster. Moore’s Law holds that chips get roughly twice as powerful every year, so now any self-respecting digital converter runs 32-bit, 386kHz PCM and at least double-speed DSD – but how’s that going to make a 1982 Simple Minds CD sound better? The answer is of course that it isn’t, and that so much with digital is a specious numbers game. Streamers oﬀer hitherto undreamed of convenience via sophisticated control apps, but who can honestly say their networked music system doesn’t hang up, or crash down, just when they least expect?

Quality is what it is – so don’t let age put you off. But just as the number of years something has been on the planet is often a bonus, so it can be a drawback too. Foam loudspeaker surrounds dry out over time, as does the rubber in cartridge cantilever mounts. You wouldn’t expect forty year old car tyres to perform as new, so why should hi-fi be any different? Likewise, ageing capacitors go out of spec, and electrical connectors oxidise to the point that they’re about as conductive as a wet fish. Classic hi-fi is glorious and wonderful, offering an audio experience that today’s computer designed boxes of silicon chips simply cannot, but don’t expect them to ‘plug and play’ like box-fresh modern hi-fi products. For many us of course, that’s half the fun of owning old audio equipment – restoring, servicing, nurturing and even improving it. You get what you give…

David Price is a Hi-Fi journalist, reviewer and former editor of Hi-Fi World and Hi-Fi Choice Magazine.

Issue 37 Winter 2016 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 13

From the Archives

A Very British Affair On the occasion of Connected's 10th Anniversary, we thought it would be fun to go through the archives and reprint something from the past ten years. We found the following from Ken Kessler, a USborn and UK-based journalist and currently Senior Contributing Editor of Hi-Fi News magazine. Back in our Winter 2006/7 issue, Ken argued that the British Audiophile was the most clever and inventive of them all…

It’s all about size. It’s always about size. And money. Let’s not forget money. Consider this: the British audiophile rarely owns a home endowed with huge rooms. And if he does,

you can be sure that the Hyacinth Bucket he married won’t let him put his sound system in one of the bigger ones. No, sir: he’s usually only allowed to have something no larger than 3x4m (10ft x 13ft). A glorified broom closet. If he’s lucky. Then there’s the price of high-end equipment in the UK, versus disposable income. This sceptred isle is called ‘Treasure Island’ by foreign manufacturers, because they know that they can overcharge for everything they sell. Even British goods cost more in the UK. Everything is hideously expensive in Great Britain, from petrol to pizza, so earnings don’t go very far. With these two constraints in mind, you can see why the British audiophile is the most clever and inventive of them all, and why it was British manufacturers who perfected the truly small loudspeaker. They had to. As a rule, British audiophiles listen in the ‘near field’, often no more than 2m (6ft)

14 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 37 Winter 2016

away from the line of the speakers, which are usually only 2m apart – a meagre 2x2x2m triangle. What a foreign observer might determine, then, is that bass isn’t a major issue for the British, because the rooms – and the speakers – won’t allow it. So, long ago, UK speaker designers who were developing products with the home market in mind, developed speakers with better bass quality rather than greater bass quantity. And because the major companies always devised products with the hope that the BBC would buy them in the thousands, they used BBC requirements as part of their design brief.

As a result, whole generations – prior to the iPod, which has turned music into an aggravating buzz – learned about midrange accuracy, realistic voice reproduction and superb dimensionality. After all, most of the tiny speakers we used here, from LS3/5As to KEF Codas to Celestion Ditton 100s, were all but virtual point sources. Another influence, again due to the BBC, was a strong diet of unamplified classical music via what was the best FM radio network on earth.Thus,

British listeners also learned to appreciate realism. Quite unlike other countries’ prejudices – the Germans love hyper detail and dry bass, Americans prefer bass that overwhelms and a soundstage that’s unnaturally huge, etc – the British learned that less is more. Less coloration, less distortion. You’re reading ‘Connected’ in part because you’re aware of what fine tuning can do for a system. Because the typical British audiophile has a small room and can only afford mid-priced hardware, he (or even she) learned how to maximise performance with truly cost effective measures. Why do you think that the greatest number of accessories and tweaks come from the UK? True, Japan and France and the USA and Germany all have their share of crazy enthusiasts, but nobody comes near the British for spikes, tables, plugs, brushes, cleaners, platforms, gauges, scales, feet, mats, fluids, cables and other devices that cost less than whole components. Long ago, I wrote that the Americans make the best high-end equipment, but the British know how to set it up. So if you’re looking at listening habits according to nationality, you come to another realisation, one which just may affect all audiophiles – not only those in the UK: losing sight of why hi-fi exists. You have every reason to suspect that the British spend as much of their time tweaking their equipment as they do actually listening to it. As the old observation noted, too many audiophiles have a stunning system but only a dozen LPs. And they were all test discs. But you simply cannot generalise

about musical tastes, and the only thing that has changed since the birth of high-quality hi-fi in the 1950s is the focus away from classical music as the sole arbiter of quality. Many audiophiles (and reviewers) prefer rock, jazz, blues, folk or other genres, and the argument that only classical music is worthy of a fine system is specious. All you have to do is look at the catalogues of the speciality record labels to see which performers have issued recordings

Why do you think that the greatest number of accessories and tweaks come from the UK? worthy of special pressings and remastering. But it’s worth noting that there is a counter to the quest for cost-eﬀective budget systems that seems to determine the British audiophile’s persona: what may be the finest listening room/system ever is to be found in England. The famous SME Music Room, devised by Alastair Robertson-Aikman, exemplifies all that the British audiophile could do if he wasn’t constrained by space or finance. This legendary listening room measures circa 8x10m (26ft x 33ft), with high ceilings and a roof that contains 2000kg (2 tons) of concrete. It is acoustically without fault. Every component has been carefully selected and modified. Even the thickness of the carpets and the weave of the curtains

were carefully ANNIVERSARY determined, as was E DI TI O N the thickness of the lining to the wallpaper. It was designed to approximate a small opera hall, in keeping with AR-A’s preferred musical diet. When played to authentic levels, the system ‘disappears’ and the spatial eﬀects are so convincing that you can ‘see’ the hall. I was lucky to have visited that room a dozen times over the years, sharing with Alastair the latest news and gossip, trying out phono stages, prototype arms and turntables, exotic cartridges. It was, without any question, the most revealing room I ever visited. Change so much as a tiny resistor in his Quad ESL’s power supply, and you could detect the diﬀerence with ease. Cables, cleaners (AR-A swore by LAST record cleaners and treatments), even the tension of his record deck’s clamps – it was a reviewer’s dream. Sadly, Alastair passed away in October [2006], at the age of 82 and still tweaking his sound system to the very end. My last memory of him is from this past summer: he was down on his knees checking VTA!! And that’s another thing about British audiophiles: they’ll never give up the quest for perfect sound.

Alastair Robertson-Aikman’s legendary listening room Issue 37 Winter 2016 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 15

Customer System

Words: John Armer Pictures: Peter Bevir

Back in early 2002 we visited the home of long-standing RA customer Rob Burn and featured his system in our old customer magazine Directions. Rob is still a customer and nearly fifteen years later - is as enthusiastic about upgrading his system as he ever was. In conversation with him recently (he still phones regularly) we realised that it was high time for another visit, particularly since his system had completely changed from the one we featured all those years ago.

Peter, Rob and John

It was a crisp November morning when we travelled north to visit customer Rob Burn. There had been a light sprinkling of snow overnight but mercifully this was confined to the top of Shap Fell so we made good progress, arriving at Rob’s Newcastle home just before noon. Rob welcomed us at the door and we were soon in his living room - it was immediately apparent what his two main hobbies were: creating music and reproducing it. Rob’s Hi-Fi system and his guitar collection dominated one end of the room. The last time we visited, Rob was using a Marantz CD player and Marantz integrated amp along with Tannoy Revolution R2 loudspeakers. His system at that time was well-tuned: with Reference PowerKords, a

The system: Musical Fidelity A300 amplifier (bottom), Musical Fidelity A3 CD player (middle) and Oppo 105D BD player (top). 16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 37 Winter 2016

PowerBlock, Kimber Select interconnects and BiFocal-X speaker cable used to connect it together. Fast forward to 2016 and not only had Rob moved from Gateshead to a new apartment in Newcastle, his hardware had completely changed too. The heart of Rob’s system is now his Musical Fidelity A300 dual mono integrated amplifier. His sources comprise a Musical Fidelity A3 CD player and an Oppo 105D Blu-ray Disc player. His Tannoy speakers have made way for a pair of Russ Andrews Quave LS-1 loudspeakers, bought from us in 2004; the Musical Fidelity gear was acquired soon after the last visit. The most recent purchase was the Oppo BD player which is pressed into duty for HDCD and SACD playback and DVD and Blu-rays. When we last visited, Rob didn’t own a TV set, preferring to just listen to music; he’s since incorporated a Samsung 40” LED TV. Alongside the Torlyte rack that has seen sterling service since our last visit (albeit with an additional shelf) was Rob’s guitar collection which included a 5 string Fender Elite Jazz Bass, a Custom Shop 1960 re-issue Jazz Bass, a Godin Z1 bass, a Fender Wilko Telecaster and a Larrivée OM 2 acoustic guitar. A David Porthouse Lap Steel guitar and a Martin Ukulele completed his collection; Rob is clearly a keen musician and used to play in a number of venues in

Customer System

Guitars a plenty

and around Newcastle. At the side of the room sat his guitar amps – a Fender Super-Champ X2 for his Telecaster and Lap Steel guitar, and an Ashdown EVO II 300 bass amplifier. We visited primarily to listen to his Hi-Fi though, and Rob was soon treating us to some of his varied music collection. Clannad’s Magical Ring was playing when we walked in; amongst many albums we listened to were Exodus by Bob Marley (Pete wanted to listen to the track Waiting in Vain), Bjork’s album Debut was also up, and I’d brought my copy of Linn Records’ release of Handel’s Messiah on SACD. As Rob lives in an apartment, he tends to keep the volume of the system down to moderate levels ”I got complaints from one of the neighbours when I was playing my bass guitar; I didn’t realise it was so loud” admits Rob, “so I tend to keep the sound down”. However even at these levels, the system sounded effortless, dynamic and with plenty of detail. Yes, it might have been tempting to turn it up (and we did later) but it was still delivering plenty of music.

Following Russ’s advice, Rob’s Quave speakers are as wide apart as he can get them, toedin and facing the listening position. The soundstage was wide and deep, with instruments and vocalists placed evenly between the speakers, often with the main singer dead centre. We played Linn’s Messiah disc and the first tenor aria

The soundstage was wide and deep, with instruments and vocalists placed evenly between the speakers, often with the main singer dead centre.

ANNIVERSARY E DI TI O N

albums; the production is first rate and a great test for a system’s dynamic range. The bass should be clean, tight and rhythmic, vocals smooth and the band’s instruments should be as easy to identify as black and white. So often it’s slow, flat and lifeless - the audio equivalent of wading through treacle. No such worries here! ‘Waiting in Vain’ fair popped out of the speakers, bass was tuneful and the band as musical as we’d heard them. Once we’d had a listen to the system we chatted to Rob about his upgrades. Rob has followed Russ’s advice to the letter, with

Comfort ye my People was a joy, with the soloist clearly well in command of his music, singing nimbly and with great expression. The small orchestra positioned behind and the harpsichord continuo tinkling away was palpable. Peter likes his bass and there was no shortage of it when we listened to the Bob Marley album. Exodus is one of his favourite, nonelectronic

PowerKord 500s connect the components to the balanced mains unit

Rob uses an older Star Grounding block as the ‘hub’ for his equipment casework. It is grounded via an RF Router. Issue 37 Winter 2016 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 17

Customer System

great care taken to upgrade his power, signal and supports – the system’s infrastructure. Rob had upgraded his previous system to a good level and the power upgrades, the signal cabling and supports all remained as new amps, sources and speakers were introduced. Once in place, though, it was time to upgrade the infrastructure. The most noticeable item had to be the 3kVA Balanced Mains Unit which sits to the right of his equipment rack. An AbZorber sits on top. PowerKord-500s are used to connect his amplifier, CD player and Blu-ray player to the Balanced Mains Unit, with an older Reference PowerKord fitted with a figure-8

plug used to connect the screen. Interconnects are those same KS1011s used on his former system; the BiFocal cables seen on the previous system have been exchanged for the higherperforming Monocle-XL cables, as befit the single-wire Quaves.

It was clear that Rob finds our MiniZap filters effective, with just about every empty output socket fitted with one Turning our attention to the back of the equipment, it was clear that Rob finds our MiniZap filters effective, with all but one available socket fitted with one. Even the TV

screen benefitted, with our USBversions fitted to the unused USB sockets. A Clarity-4 provided further filtering and enhancement. A recent upgrade had been to fit grounding wires to his equipment casework, using a variation of Russ’s grounding instructions. Rob already had an older Star Grounding Block so he used this as his ‘hub’. He linked his equipment casework with Technical Ground Weave to the Star Grounding Block which was then connected, via our RF Router, to the grounding point on one of our UltraSockets. It looked really neat and tidy, but what did it do to the sound? “It made the sound much more solid and the bass more realistic” said Rob. “Bass guitars in particular sound much more like musical instruments. It’s not a subtle improvement”. The music that emanated from Rob’s Hi-Fi system is testament to the investment he has made in the infrastructure. We’re very familiar with his components and both Peter and I agreed that we’d never heard them sound so good. The

The Balanced Mains Unit 3000, with AbZorber on top 18 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 37 Winter 2016

Customer System

ANNIVERSARY E DI TI O N

Tivoli Model One radio on Cone Feet and custom Torlyte® Platform

bass, mid and treble were all perfectly balanced within a wide, open soundstage, and none of us could keep our feet still when listening. So what of his other systems? Rob uses one of the Tivoli Model One Table Radios for FM and AM radio. It’s not connected to his main system, but has had the full Russ Andrews treatment with an older SilencerBlock mains extension, PowerKords and one of our PowerPaks feeding it. Mains conditioning is provided by a Mini Purifier, Mains Zapperator, ClarityMains and a MegaClamp. V21 aerial cable connects to his aerial socket and a custom-size Torlyte Platform sits underneath it, with the whole supported on our Cone Feet.

8TC was used internally in the Ashdown speaker cabinet which Rob had fitted himself, and for the link between the head unit and the 15” driver.

All too soon, it was time for us to leave, but not before we gave him a taste of Kimber’s top-flight speaker cable. We’d brought with us a pair of KS-6068s for Rob to have a listen to, and to see what his sytem was really capable of.

The music that emanated from Rob’s Hi-Fi system is testament to the investment he has made in the infrastructure.

When we connected them you could hear their effect immediately. The character of the system remained but the bass gained far more weight, being much more solid and muscular. There was far more detail too, and more emotion. We weren’t suggesting Rob go straight out and buy the cables, but they valuably illustrated how much more potential there was in the system. We discussed with Rob what upgrades he should make next. “The Clarity Pro is next on my list”, he offered, but we also suggested SuperKords… even just the one on his CD player would make a fabulous upgrade. With this suggestion we left Rob with his system that has given so much pleasure over the last two decades and, we’re sure, will continue to give as much - if not more - well into the future.

His guitar set ups have similarly benefitted; a PowerBlock, once used in the main system has been pressed into service to power both guitar amps, and a SuperPurifier provided mains filtering. PowerKords were used to connect the amps to the PowerBlock and Quave LS-1 Loudspeaker and Rob’s guitar amps. Note the coloured fabric behind this is to reduce sound reflection from the radiator. Issue 37 Winter 2016 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 19

STAFF PICKS

What’s your favourite upgrade? We’ve all got our favourite Russ Andrews products and we thought we’d publish some of the team’s favourites. Peter Bevir, Sales & New Product Development S TA F F P I C K

PowerPurifier Many of you will have spoken to Peter at some point when enquiring about products or placing orders, but his other role is working with Russ and the team to co-ordinate the design and development of new products. Maybe I’m slightly biased, being involved in the development of the unit, but for me the PowerPurifier represents a real move forward in terms of design, looks and performance. I wanted a product that was minimalistic but attractive, rack friendly and above all one of the best performing mains conditioners we could build. The result is a unique, modular design that will allow a wide range of our conditioners to be added over time without ever having to return the unit. But of course, performance is really its killer feature especially when you load it up with additional modules. At home, my system is based around

PowerPurifier from £329

20 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 37 Winter 2016

playing movies and it’s pretty well sorted, so I was extremely pleased when I tried the PowerPurifier. I remember watching the film Interstellar which features an organ in the soundtrack… with the PowerPurifier in place the depth and energy of the organ was thrilling; it positively thundered in my system, placing you right in the middle of the action.

Simon Dalton, Sales & Marketing S TA F F P I C K

Casework Grounding Kit Simon is a true Hi-Fi enthusiast who loves jazz. Now that he’s sorted out his grounding, he’s enjoying his music collection all over again. If you’ve already read my Deliberations on page 22, you’ll not be surprised to hear that my pick is going to be the Casework Grounding kit. I was absolutely astounded when I fitted this to my system. Yes, it was a faff to fit as I had to get around the back of the system and unplug stuff in order to pull the units out and fit the cables, but boy was it worth it. For the first time ever, I can now play any genre of music and it sounds superb. Previously, I had tended to listen to jazz as the system favoured the simplicity of the trio or quartet. Now though, it doesn’t matter how complex the mix, the system is able to keep

control and follow the music with ease. It’s so much more than that though. Everyone I listen to – instrumentalist or vocalist – just sound as though they are… well, better musicians! For example, I listened to What have I done to deserve this? by the Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield, and for the first time I really heard the sadness and regret in their performance. Neil Tennent’s voice is far more sophisticated and subtle than I ever realised, having previously regarded it as somewhat onedimensional. Playing the track In the wee small hours of the morning from the Oscar Peterson Trio’s Live from Chicago album, I was drawn into the performance like I’d never been before. This is a live recording that I’m very familiar with, and I’ve always enjoyed it, but after the grounding kit had been installed, the ambience of the venue came across like never before, and the applause sounded so real – the whole thing just pasted a huge silly grin across my face! So, give it a go. Don’t be put off by the potential hassle of setting it up. As a certain sports company says: Just Do It… Plug in RF Router and Ground Wire £189

Russ Andrews, Chairman S TA F F P I C K

Super Burn-In

John Armer, Managing Director S TA F F P I C K

Kimber Interconnects Russ Andrews is our Chairman and Technical Director, and knows all of our products inside out. What’s his favourite? My product of choice is Super Burn In. It can be applied to mains cables, interconnects and speaker cables. Play a Super Burned In cable and the first thing you might notice is that the noise floor has dropped. Of course, you don't actually hear it like that. What you hear is sounds you hadn't noticed before. Particularly, the sounds made by the musicians moving, breathing, handling the instruments, for example. The extra sounds you can't normally hear, say, unplucked strings on a guitar vibrating in sympathy; venue acoustic sound that enhances the sense of a real performance. More importantly, all this extra information is presented in a way that increases your emotional response to the music. It improves the musicality. The system itself sounds calmer, yet more detailed and communicative. The more bits of wire you treat in a system, the bigger the effect gets. It's as if order appears out of chaos. I have been so excited by and dedicated to the Super Burn In project simply because the effect it has is so profound and so important to my enjoyment of music. Super Burn In - £100 per cable

John is our Managing Director and when not bossing everyone around can be found listening to music and watching films in equal measure. I’m going to cheat a bit here because I’m not picking out one product for my staff pick, but three. The three products are Kimber’s triumvirate of interconnects – Timbre, Silver Streak and KCAG. I’ve used all of them in my system at one time or another. They say the best ideas are the simplest, and I think Kimber really nailed it with these cables: the tri-braid cable geometry is a variation on their woven design and it works so well that they all sound detailed, musical and communicative. The all-copper Timbre is natural and clear and the sound just gets better as you move up to the copper and silver Silver Streak and better still when you hear the all-silver KCAG. If I was going to pick one of them though it would have to be Silver Streak; you get lots of performance thanks to that silver conductor and it just brims with emotion, excitement… and music.

Zac Wilson, Manufacturing and Research & Development

ANNIVERSARY E DI TI O N

S TA F F P I C K

Kimber KS-2020 interconnect Zac heads up the manufacturing department and works on Research and Development with Russ. His staff pick is – interestingly – not a cable he makes, but one that comes to us direct from Kimber Kable. The product I’d like to pick that made an amazing upgrade to my system was Kimber’s KS-2020 digital interconnect. KS-2020 is the very best digital interconnect that Kimber make, with their purest silver. Technically it is very sophisticated with very advanced cable geometry and proprietary technology which means it’s supplied to us ready-terminated from the Kimber factory. If anyone ever says that all digital cables are the same that they are just supplying ‘1s and 0s’ – then I guarantee that they haven’t heard this cable. I use it between my Meridian CD transport and receiver, and the upgrade was night and day. EVERYTHING was better with it in place – bass, treble, midrange – all was better defined and clearer. The improvements to rhythm was where the biggest upgrade was though, the music just became so much more involving.

Silver Streak interconnects from £243 Kimber KS-2020 digital interconnect - from £898

OvER TO YOu... Tell us what your favourite product is and what it’s done for your music. Your description should be between 100 and 200 words and we’ll publish the best ‘Customer Picks’ in the next issue of Connected. Send them to connected@russandrews.com with the subject line ‘My Customer Pick’ or write to us at 2B Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Kendal, LA9 6NS. Issue 37 Winter 2016 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 21

Daltons Deliberations

Well Grounded

Reading the December 2016 issue of Stereophile, I see that, in his editorial piece, Robert Schryer comments on some recent research into the health benefits of listening to music. More specifically, he notes that, in the case of a friend who suffers from regular panic attacks, the sound quality of the music has a marked effect on his mood and ability to escape the stress. Of his friend, the author notes that “listening to music through a good playback system did more to relieve his panic disorder than did listening to the same music through mediocre gear”. The reason for this, it would appear, is that only a good system is able to draw him into the musical performance in a way that a poor system could never do. What, though, defines the difference between a good and mediocre system? In my recent experience, the difference can be a matter of £180 – oh, and a paradigm shift in approach…

Dissatisfaction guaranteed For some time now, I’ve been unhappy with my Hi-Fi. It’s just not been that involving. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad, but it wasn’t grabbing me and making me want to listen. Sadly, I am just as susceptible to the accepted norms of the Hi-Fi industry as the next man. And one of those norms is the principle that if there’s something you’re unhappy with, the solution is to change your equipment. It’s at the heart of what we do, but at home I completely forgot the importance of all of the infrastructure and defaulted to this 22

CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 37 Winter 2016

Email Simon at: simondalton@russandrews.com

“myth of the hardware”. So I started looking at new kit, convincing myself that an upgrade to the amp would solve the problem. Do I buy new or go for something second hand that’s higher end? Mmm, that got my mouth watering and my wallet twitching. A nice shiny new amp that I can show oﬀ to my friends…

The difference was phenomenal. Not just small, subtle improvements here and there but a wholesale, caffeine-injected upgrade to the system. Fortunately, before it was too late, I saw the light. For some time now, I’ve been promising myself that I would try out our grounding system at home. I’ve had a listen to the effects of it here and was very impressed but the thought of having to crawl behind the system to fit it at home had been putting me off. I had to bite the bullet. So, Saturday afternoon was set to do the job. I gave myself an hour to move things around and get the grounding wires and RF Router all set up. Why did I wait so long…? And why hadn’t I heeded Russ’s advice before being drawn into planning an amp upgrade? The difference was phenomenal. Not just small, subtle improvements here and there but a wholesale, caffeine injected upgrade to the system. Even my wife, who doesn’t normally take any interest in these things, asked me what I had done: “it sounds like a

much more expensive system” was her comment. That was spot on. The way in which every aspect of the presentation had changed was staggering and the type of improvement that, according to the “myth of the hardware”, was what you would expect from a serious upgrade to the amp and CD player. But, thank goodness, I hadn’t done that, I’d “just” eﬀectively grounded the casework. Clearly, in my situation, grounding was a particularly important issue and it should be considered that these things do not work in isolation – the grounding was the final step which brought the benefit of all my other upgrades, such as PowerKords and Kimber interconnects, together. Nevertheless, the cost of the RF Router compared to what I had been considering for an amp upgrade, was laughable. If I hadn’t heard the diﬀerence, I probably would have found it hard to believe that this was possible, so I completely understand if you are struggling with the concept. But I implore you: give this a go. Yes, it’s a bit of a pain setting it all up, and it won’t look as impressive as a shiny new piece of hardware, but when you hear what it can do…

Plug In RF Router £189. All our grounding products can be found at: www.russandrews.com/grounding

Reviews

We’ve been receiving some great online reviews, so we thought we would share a few with you. It’s really easy to leave your own review – simply go to the page for the product you have purchased and scroll down to the bottom of the page. You’ll find a little grey box which says “Write a product review”. Click on this and a short form will appear for you to give your feedback.

ANNIVERSARY E DI TI O N

THE POWERKORD-500™ with W350 EvO RHODIuM

REvEEL AND RELEES PACK

"Blown Away!!"

"DIY Remastering!"

I was a little hesitant at first over purchasing a PowerKord 500 cable given the price of one, but I was so taken by the improvement in performance after taking the plunge I now have 3 connected to my mains supply, amp and CD.

I was only looking for a CD cleaner, but despite being a little sceptical, I have to admit that ReVeel/ReleeS is so much more. Bass, soundstage, timing, space around instruments are all MUCH better... like a well-done remastering job.

These cables are in a league of their own in my opinion as there seems to be much more depth and sense of space to the music, allowing each component to do their thing, which they do with aplomb.

Eﬀective on old original CDs that never sounded that good, as well as audiophile specials. The process is easy and quick. Great results whether playing CDs direct or ripping as Flacs. Treated CDs used with the Statmat I bought at the same time.

I can now hear notes that went unnoticed before, with intricate passages of music opening out as though they can breathe and flourish. Sean Hipkiss

Excellent products, I am very happy and recommend unreservedly. PowerKord-500™ £504 for 1m

TORLYTE PLATFORM

"unbelievably Good" I do not understand how these Torlyte Platforms work - but they certainly do! I find them best for purely solid-state components, although why remains a mystery to me. Although my stuﬀ is on high-quality racking, utilizing the Torlytes gives clearer imaging and greater separation. The music has become holographic. The Torlytes are now underneath a Linn Akurate, two Meridian 557s in mono mode, Audiolab 8200T Tuner, and an Audiolab M-DAC. Tried a Torlyte under my full spec Linn LP12 but that didn't work for some reason. But it made the Akurate listenable and APPROACHING the LP12. And I also have three large cones under each of my Neat SX loudspeakers. Fantastic. I strongly recommend giving the Torlyte Platform a try. David J Pepe

Torlyte® Platform £184

Stephen Lythgoe

ReVeel® & ReleeS® Pack - £30

KIMBER D60 WITH PHONOS

"Musical Fidelity CD transport/DAC with Kimber D-60" Replaced the existing, non RA interconnect on my MF CDT/DAC combo with a Kimber D60 interconnect. Previous interconnect was highly recommend &, to be fair, I was satisfied with the performance. To say the least I was gobsmacked with the performance after the change. Once again Russ Andrews you have come out on top. Kimber D-60 digital Peer J. Watson interconnect - £221 for 0.5m KIMBER 4vS SPEAKER CABLE

"Brilliant For The Price" I've been using three runs of this to tri-wire my Naim/PMC kit for about a year now and it is a fantastic cable in this price range, it gives bags of clarity and depth and is a real joy to listen to. I recently put it up against a run of Chord Signature Reference that a friend has and it blew it away, considering the price diﬀerence I was shocked but not too surprised as I've been using Russ Andrews products for a while so know Kimber 4VS speaker cable they know their stuﬀ. £163 for 2.5m pair Chris Love Issue 37 Winter 2016 CONNECTED MAGAZINE

Reviews

BMU 3000 The latest review to head our way before we went to press was of our range-topping balanced mains unit, the BMU 3000, from the online magazine hifipig.com. Janine Elliot positively reviewed our BMU 1000 last year and gave it a ‘Recommended’ award. The BMU 3000 adds another £2000 to the cost of that unit so it had to impress to be in with a chance of a favourable outcome. It certainly achieves this – and more – by garnering a coveted ‘Highly Recommended’ this time around! So what’s so special about that extra 2kVA? The first thing to note is the obvious point that this heftier model (in more ways than one; it weighs in at over 23kg) is able to feed even the most power-hungry systems. That 3kVA equates to 3000 watts of clean, sustained power available ‘on tap’ to drive your system. But that extra power isn’t just there for the practical purpose of powering huge systems, it’s also about getting the best out of any Hi-Fi or Home Cinema. Think of it like the diﬀerence between a 1 litre and a 3 litre engine in a car: the 3 litre is probably capable of breaking the speed limit twice over, but that’s not how most people use it. The point is that the bigger engine is so much more capable at any speed and will eﬀortlessly power the car. Janine puts it like this: “Where a lower specified unit could cause the audio to sound a bit compressed or even to add mechanical noise, this was like an overspecified engine in a car; there was always something in reserve when you needed it”.

24 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 37 Winter 2016

The effects of this clean power supply can be significant as it has an effect on the whole system. Even on high-end components - which many detractors would say were so well built anyway that there is no need for any kind of mains filtering – the impact is very clear. The reviewer’s system includes a Krell power amp and a multi power supply equipped Krell KPS20i CD player that still fell easily within the capabilities of the BMU 3000. The effects were clear to hear: “Wow”, she says, “I always thought the KSP20i was one of the best ever CD players... but connected to the BMU 3000 showed me why I needed to have a balanced life. The extra detail, speed and most important, the extra bandwidth of sound particularly at the top end was quite extraordinary”. £3599 is not an insignificant amount of money to spend on any piece of Hi-Fi kit, so if you can afford one, is the BMU 3000 a worthwhile investment? Janine is certainly in the “yes” camp here. “I liked the BMU 3000 more than I thought I would” She writes. “The amount of extra information, precision, depth of sound and frequency extension at the extremes that I got from my kit was audible, and should be considered as a very cost effective upgrade for all your kit. If you are spending a lot on your hi-fi, that probably means your cables as well, so it should also BMu 3000 include your mains Rating: Highly taming”. Recommended Price: £3599 Magazine: hifipig.com Reviewed: 15th November 2016

Letters Mellow YellO th

The three 30 Anniversary Kimber power cables that you have supplied have proved excellent. In particular the IEC sockets engage positively and lock securely. They supply the ATC preamp, tuner and CD player, which feed either a pair of ATC 50s or a pair of small ATC 10s which are more difficult to get balanced. I think I shall now be using them in preference to the 50s, despite the 50s being much better speakers, particularly in the mid-range. It’s all about forgetting the equipment and enjoying the music. JRP Miller, Surrey

YellO Power mains cable £60 for 1m

STAR LETTER

Don’t forget the internal Superfuses!

Around Christmas 2015 I bought Russ Andrews 13A SuperFuses and as my previous review stated, I was very impressed by them, so much so that I decided to invest in your Internal SuperFuses. First I decided to clean my existing fuses – the two in my CD player (2010 Opera Consonance Reference 2.2 Linear) being

Win a Silencer mains filter, worth £52.00

ANNIVERSARY E DI TI O N

relatively recent were already Want to share your clean. The two in my preamp experiences with our and one in my power amp (both readers? Or simply want 1985 NAD products) were advice? Write to us! We’ll dull and dirty. Cleaning all publish the best, funniest and most five gave a definite STAR interesting in each improvement and is well LETTER issue of Connected. worth trying – and free! The writer of this issue’s When I ordered the Star Letter receives a SuperFuses I fitted the one in my Silencer, worth £52.00 CD player first – a bit Get in touch at: disappointing as there was only connected@russandrews.com a slight improvement. Next or write to us at: Connected, Russ came the two in the preamp – Andrews Accessories, 2b wow! what an improvement, all Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Kendal, Cumbria, the wonderful things that the 13 LA9 6NS, UK. amp SuperFuses did, replicated and added to by these two fuses. blown away by hearing the Clearer throughout, deeper bass, sound so good. bell-like quality and more of the 3D / surround sound that the 13 So go ahead and order some, amps had revealed. Lastly one in you can always return them if the power amp – this just the really don’t improve your seemed to improve everything a system. little more although this was Hugh Atkinson, Lincs. difficult to quantify as one of the most noticeable changes was the substantial increase in Internal SuperFuses volume. A spin off (if you will forgive the pun) from the above is that the reproduction from my record deck has greatly improved also, even though it has had NO direct upgrade! I must check to see if the same applies to my cassette deck. To sum up, I am thrilled with the improvements and even though the CD player was not altered significantly I did not consider returning its fuse as the overall sound was so good. I am now nearly six months down the line and still revelling in my new sound – last night I played some old sixties compilations and was

£25 each

Congratulations on being 30! Thirty years? That’s about how long I’ve been putting together my Hi-Fi! It started with an inexpensive plastic box that recorded onto and played tapes. It played CDs and I think it had a record deck as well. Speakers I put on stands with wheels so I could position them better. cont... Issue 37 Winter 2016 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 25

Letters Then I ventured to one of our local hi fi shops. They had an AURA separates set up in a sale with a power amp, preamp and CD player: that was me sold. I matched them to a pair of Castle Severn mark II speakers which I wish I had never sold and a hi fi set up that went back to Shoreham on a regular basis! Now I have cobbled together a system from second hand trading sites, dealers and hi fi shop sales, including a visit to the Russ Andrews shop in Edinburgh. I did buy something but cannot recollect what it was; I was more interested in the Festival at that time . . . My system consists of a CHORD amp and preamp that I bought second hand from Audio T. My CD player is an Arcam brought from a lovely man in Swansea. Headphones and headphone amp were similarly acquired second hand. My Speakers are by Thiel CS 1.6 - which were owned from a local high end dealer, beautiful. Recent expenditure includes a Clearaudio Performance DC turntable with Project phono amp and power supply. I’m about to upgrade the cartridge. They are all mounted on Torlyte platforms and Cone feet and wired/connected by yours truly RA. My system is in an entertainments room with power supply from separate consumer unit. I have a SONY BRAVIA TV not connected to the hi fi. In Spring 2017 I plan to decorate the room, install CD and vinyl storage and source new seating. My next upgrade is to have the speakers rewired by RA… or 26 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 37 Winter 2016

possibly an AXIOS headphone cable for my Sennheiser HD 600s… What a joy this hobby is if you remember it’s all about listening to the music. Thank you RA (and Kimber) for improving the music.

accompanied by loss of fine detail. As my preference is for fine detail, I have to say that the Mini Purifier does not do it for me. Accordingly I would like to return the product and claim a refund. Keith Hodgkinson, by e-mail.

trevtrains, by e-mail

The importance of burn-in We are sometimes approached by customers who want to return one of our products because they didn’t feel they were performing as well as they’d hoped. In many cases this is simply because they haven’t allowed the cable, mains filter or other accessory to fully burn in and perform at its best. This can take 3- 4 weeks of constant use. We’re printing below the correspondence from a customer who tried one of our Mini Purifier mains conditioners for less than two weeks. We’ve also included our response to his initial email and his subsequent response. It illustrates well the need to allow components to fully run in before assessing their performance. I purchased a Mini Purifier from you on August 18th. After a period of about 10 days’ extensive listening to my system with the Mini Purifier either switched in or out, I have to say that the effects have not been clearly positive. While there has been some increase in clarity of position of instruments and voices, this is offset by a loss of accurate timbre and detail in the sounds. I would say this is analogous to applying a sharpening filter to a digital image, where sharper edges are

It’s fine to return it, but I think you will find that the sound gets better over time as the components burnin. That’s why we give a 60 day money back guarantee - to allow components to settle and sound at their best. I’d encourage you to persevere with the Mini Purifier for at least 30 days as they can often take this sort of time to fully settle. I understand, however, if you wish to return it before then; contact me for a returns number. Peter Bevir, Russ Andrews Accessories Dear Peter, your advice has proven to be absolutely correct. Over the last ten days there has been a progressive improvement in the sound quality of my system. The details, which been previously missing, are now there in full and, coupled with the improved imaging and sense of space, there is now a significant all round gain. This was first apparent on solo and small instrumental group recordings, and is now equally so on orchestral recordings. In comparison to this, the sound appears relatively flat when the Purifier is switched off. Thanks for the very good advice and, needless to say, I will be keeping the Purifier. Keith Hodgkinson

Competition

Let’s face it, when we’ve just given away a PowerKord worth over £2000, we’re going to struggle to impress on quite the same level this time! Then again, ClarityMains™ is a cracking little filter that’s capable of a significant eﬀect on your system’s performance, so why wouldn’t you want one for free? Quite. So here’s what you have to do: To be in with a chance of winning one of our ClarityMains™ filters, simply answer the following question:

ANNIVERSARY E DI TI O N

WIN

A CLARITY MAINS WORTH

£114!

This issue’s ‘Customer System’ feature Russ’s Quave LS-1 loudspeakers, but what speaker cable is feeding these? a. Kimber 12TC b. Kimber BiFocal c. Kimber Monocle-XL Send you answer to us by email to competition@russandrews.com or on a postcard or sealed envelope to: Connected 37 Competition Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd 2B Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Rd, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 6NS. The closing date for entries is Friday 10th February 2017. The winner will be selected at random from the winning entries and will receive the prize of one ClarityMains™ filter.

Terms and Conditions 1. The closing date for entries is 10th February 2017 and the winner will be notified by 27th February 2017; 2. The rules of entry are given in the text of the competition; 3. No purchase necessary to enter; 4. There is one prize of a ClarityMains™. 5.The prize is not transferable, cannot be exchanged for cash nor will a cash alternative be offered; 6. Our decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into; 7. We reserve the right to feature photographs and the names and counties of all winners in future publications and publicity; 8. This promotion is not open to employees of Russ Andrews Accessories or their families, or anyone connected with the promotion; 9. The promoter is Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Road, Kendal, LA9 6NS, UK.

The winner of our 30th Anniversary

Silver PowerKord!

In the last issue of Connected, our 30th Anniversary Edition, we oﬀered an amazing one-oﬀ prize of a Silver PowerKord™ worth over £2000! We were very pleased to call David Waters to let him know he had won and here is his kind response...

Dear Simon, You made my day when I received your call on 4th November to say that I had won the 30th Anniversary prize! And thanks for the follow-up to make sure it arrived. I have used the cable to feed my mains conditioner which then feeds everything else – I had planned to feed this with a better cable so that objective has been achieved! So far the cable has got better each day and rather than go overboard with detail all I can say is that it has improved everything! I have used RA products

and tips for decades now and should not really be surprised that yet again a big improvement. I bought the mains conditioner a year or so ago and this wrought a huge improvement – so much so that I did not think I would get another big diﬀerence with any further change and especially cable. I know that this cable will probably continue to improve for a while yet so how wrong I was. So the downside now is I think the upgrade bug is coming back…. Thanks again and best regards to you and Russ. David Issue 36 Issue Autumn 37 Winter 20162016 CONNECTED CONNECTED MAGAZINE MAGAZINE 47 27

CONNECTED CONNECTED CONNECTED CONNECTED to Music & Movies

to Music & Movies

Issue No.23 Winter 2012/13

Kimber HD09e

The

High Speed HDMI with Ethernet from just £33

In Search of Musical Nirvana

page 7

page 14

Musicality

to Music & Movies

Issue No.24 Spring 2013

Issue No.26 Winter 2013/14

Issue No.25 Summer 2013

Kimber Select USB cables page 10

Issue

What is it? Why is it important? How to listen see page 12

NEW PowerKords™

Explorer USB DAC page 9

REVIEW - PAGE 23 “changing to a PowerKord-100™ brings a considerable increase in three dimensionality, the sound of Gregory Porter and his band expands into the room in quite a palpable fashion.

New mains extension New Products from page 8

Plus

news... letters... reviews...

Plus news

e EE uid FRns G IDE ai S M IN

Celebrating 30 years of Torlyte New style speaker stands

page 6

special Torlyte Feature

page 15

CUSTOMER SYSTEM FEATURE page 16

PowerBar page 8

Adventures in collecting Modern Jazz - page 12

The Evolution of Spiked Feet - page 14

show report reviews competition and much more

CONNECTED

TO MUSIC & MOVIES

Issue No.27 Spring 2014

Issue No.28 Summer 2014

New PowerPak Pro™ Page 8

Buy online at

PowerKord-300™ with NEW WattGate™ 350 AU EVO - p10

LIMITED OFFER!

SAVE 25% on Kimber 8VS speaker cable - PAGE 21

SPENDOR BC1s

How good do these classic speakers sound? - PAGE 18

The best just got better! NEW WattGate™EVO IEC connectors - on all

PowerKords ™ Pages 8-10

www.russandrews.com Call uK Orderline

01539 797300

Speaker Set-up

Free tips to improve your sound

PAGE 14

NEW Russ Andrews SuperFuse™

LP12 Torlyte® Upgrade Find out about Russ’s classic turntable mod.

13A mains fuse PAGE 7

PAGE 16

CONNECTED

CONNECTED TO MUSIC & MOVIES

Issue No.29 Winter 2014/15

Our flagship balanced mains unit, page 8

Issue No. 32 Autumn 2015

Product Spotlight

NEW

Speaker Zapperators PAGE 14

DDE-1™ Dynamic Disc Enhancer

Mail Order Direct 60 Day Money Back Guarantee Cable Upgrade Scheme Free Delivery (orders over £100 within UK Mainland)

Classic System Feature

’14 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 11

Int Tel +44 (0)1539 797300

TO MUSIC & MOVIES

New Balanced Mains 3000 ™

28 S

PAGE 8

BECOME AN EXPERT...

WIN a SuperFuse!™

NEW Meridian Explorer2 USB DAC

Enter our competition

PAGE 10

PAGE 27

CONNECTED TO MUSIC & MOVIES Issue No. 33 Winter 2015/16

What are you listening for?

NEW

Feature - page 18

Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Road, Kendal LA9 6NS, UK.

Upgrading your mains wiring

PAGE 10

NEW SERVICE

PR SP OM EC IN O IAL SI TIO DE N ! S

Nytech receivers and integrated amplifiers

PAGE 16

Equipment Upgrades PAGE 18

CONNECTED TO MUSIC & MOVIES Issue No. 36 Autumn 2016

WE ARE

PAGE 8

Getting Better Performance from your TV PAGE 14

Show reports PAGE 7 & 22

W OM IN T O ER L- TIO OU N T S

1986 - 2016

30th Anniversary Issue

Amazing Offers • Fantastic Competition • Q&A with Ray Kimber