CONNECTED t o M u s i c & M ov i e s Issue No.23 Winter 2012/13
The
Musicality Issue
What is it? Why is it important? How to listen see page 12
New Products from page 8
Plus news - show report - reviews - competition and much more
Stop listening to your Hi-Fi and start listening to your music
Russ Andrews products are designed to bring you closer to your music. With Musicality Built In™, they let the music shine through, not your Hi-Fi system. Buy online at Exclusive UK distributor
www.russandrews.com 01539 797300
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International Tel +44 (0)1539 797300
Mail Order Direct • 60 Day Cable Home Trial • Cable Upgrade Scheme • Free Delivery (orders over £100 within UK Mainland)
Editorial
Welcome Those of you who saw the latest Russ Andrews catalogue that we sent in September may have noticed a new ‘Russ Andrews Exclusive’ product logo that we have been adding to our ownbrand cables and accessories. The new logo announces that our products have ‘Musicality Built In’.
In his book Sound Solutions, Russ defines musicality as ‘the rhythm and timing that puts emotional meaning into the music’. He goes on to say that musicians have it, or they don’t – and that Hi-Fi systems (both hardware and cables) can take the musicality out of the music by destroying the rhythm and timing. Russ expands on this in his feature on page 12.
The new logo came about following a conversation with Russ about the way he develops So musicality is what our hobby – products. For him, the musical Hi-Fi – is all about. It’s about quality is the most important reproducing sound as accurately as aspect of a Hi-Fi possible and keeping “ we thought that the emotional system and any product he develops we’d take musicality as meaning of a song or a to enhance the sound piece of music intact. the theme running quality must, crucially, through this issue of We talk about improve the musical the magazine to give musicality in the pages enjoyment. That’s you some more insight of Connected and in why we developed into what we think is the catalogue but it the logo’s strapline the most important struck us that not Musicality Built In everybody knows what aspect to music because all our musicality is. It’s reproduction” products enhance relatively easy to talk the musical qualities about the more of your recordings as well as the tangible aspects of sound quality – sound quality improvements we bass, midrange, treble – but the talk about – like a more natural intangible emotional aspects, less midrange, better bass and so on. so. Yet, whether we’re designing or choosing new products, or But what is musicality? describing them in the catalogue A dictionary I had to hand gives or on the website or over the the definition as ‘the quality of phone to you, it’s at the forefront being musical’ and gives an of our minds. So we thought that example in use: she sings with we’d take musicality as the theme unfailing musicality. But how do running through this issue of the we know if a musician, or a magazine to give you some more recording of a musician, or a Hi-Fi insight into what we think is the system reproducing a recording most important aspect to music has musicality? reproduction. ■
John Armer, Editor john.armer@russandrews.com
Contents Regulars Editorial
3
Russ’s First Words
4
News & Product Information
5
Daltons Deliberations
16
Customer Letters
22
Competition
26
Features The Importance of Musicality 12 Competition Winner
21
Products New Products Recent Reviews
8 17
Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Road, Kendal LA9 6NS, UK. © Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2012. E & OE. Any views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the company.
Issue 23 Winter 2012/13 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 3
Russ’s First Words In early November on a visit to Kimber Kable in Utah with Craig Sawyers, Ray Kimber took us to the Sunday morning broadcast from the Mormon Tabernacle to hear the world-famous choir. It was their Veteran’s Day broadcast – our Remembrance Sunday. It had been snowing hard all night and morning so we parked in the underground car park beneath the conference centre. A well-dressed, officiallooking guy joined us in the lift up to ground level. On exiting the lift he noticed we were unsure of which way to go and offered help. He said he was going to the broadcast too and would we like to follow him by the underground route to the Tabernacle. As we walked, he asked who we were and, when we explained our professional interest in sound and our love of music, he offered to let us into the Control Room during
A new IsoMike CD Part of my recent trip to the US involved a visit to the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. One of the treats at the show was the performance of a very talented young pianist - Fan-Ya Lin. Lin’s performances at the show were sponsored by Kimber Kable,
4 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
The world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah.
the rehearsal and then get us seats near the choir. It transpired that he was Ed Payne, the Producer of the regular Sunday morning broadcasts and the music recordings. Being in the Control Room was, of course, a great privilege and a fascinating experience. The
programme of music and speech was as deeply moving as our Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph. To hear that great Choir from fifteen feet away was an experience we shall all never forget. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!
who have also recorded her with their IsoMike recording system. The resulting disc is well worth a listen and is available now. The disc is both CD and SACD. Track Listing JS Bach: Toccata in C minor, BWV911 LV Beethoven: Sonata Op. 57 “Appassionata” F Chopin: Nocturne Op 48, No. 2; Etude Op. 25, No. 6; Ballade No.4 Op. 52, in F minor L Liebermann: Gargoyles, Op.29
Code: 7018 Price: £19.95
News & Product Information
News & product information MC200 gets more storage NOW Meridian’s excellent Media Core 200 Digital Media System has now been upgraded to 1TB of storage and a new audio board has been added. This means that now you can store up to 2000 CD albums in pristine lossless quality and also benefit from even better audio performance.
ebay shop extended Some of you will already be familiar with our eBay shop; it’s a great place to pick up the odd bargain and some unique offers. For example, we’ve been selling a limited number of our surplus CDs through eBay recently. Up until now, this has been something we have regarded as separate from the rest of our offerings, being simply an outlet store for a limited number of items. We’ve been thinking about this though, and decided that there’s no reason why we shouldn’t extend the shop as another way to access more of our stock. With this in mind, we’ve decided to add a selection of items from the Bargain Corner to our eBay shop. You’ll still be able to buy from Bargain Corner by ringing us direct, as has always been the case, but you can now buy them out of normal office hours via eBay. It’s also handy if you like to pay by PayPal too, as this an additional option on our eBay transactions. www.stores.ebay.co.uk/Russ-AndrewsAccessories-Ltd
with
1TB
The Media Core 200 is one of the simplest ways to go digital with your music collection. Buy it from us and we’ll upload the first 300 CDs in your album collection for free*, saving you up to £180. Then simply add an iPad as a controller and away you go. You’ll have access to all your music collection at the touch of a finger with what many regard as the best interface in the market. Media Core 200 can be used either via Meridian’s Speaker Link technology to a pair of DSP loudspeakers or connected via its analogue outputs to your existing amplifier. Either way, you’ll be sure of high quality playback and, with all your music to hand, there’ll be no more time wasted whilst looking for something to play!
Meridian Media Core 200
Code 4536 £2000
* Our CD ripping service normally costs 60p/disc. A charge is made for collection and subsequent re-delivery.
Want to know more? Contact us on 01539 797300 Issue 23 Winter 2012/13 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 5
News & Product Information
‘Like’ us and you could win a £50 voucher! Our Facebook page is gradually gaining momentum. It’s a great way of keeping in touch and having your say about ... well, anything you want really, so long as it’s related to audio/visual topics. And if you go along and ‘Like’ us now, you’ll be in with a chance of winning a great prize. Once we hit the 350 mark, all those who have ‘Liked’ us will be put into a hat and one will be randomly picked out to win a £50 Russ Andrews Voucher. So head over to our Facebook page www.facebook.com/russandrews.accessories and get clicking now!
RA Quick Guide
Earthing casework We’ve found that there has been some confusion over the additional earth points on our sockets and blocks so here’s a quick guide to what it’s all about. Hi-Fi and Home Cinema equipment casework helps to shield equipment circuits from Radio Frequency Interference. We’ve found, however, that if you can effectively drain the resultant ‘casework RF energy’ you can enjoy even better sound and picture quality from your system, with areas such as bass performance and soundstage three dimensionality showing the most improvements.
How do I do this? This is where the additional earth terminal on our mains sockets and SilencerBlocks / PowerBlocks comes in. Simply connect the casework of your equipment to one of these earthing points with cable. It’s easy to do – simply slacken off one of the casework screws, position the cable behind it (removing any paint if necessary to give a secure connection) and tighten the screw down again. Earth terminal
Attach the other end to the binding post on our sockets or mains extensions.
Earth wire is Earth Wire - £1.15p/m available for this, or for the very best performance, Technical Ground Weave - £9p/m use our Technical Ground Weave cable which is a special low inductance, low impedance cable made with Kimber wire. If you have several pieces of equipment you’ll find it much easier to use our Technical Grounding Block which allows the connection of up to eight pieces of equipment and incorporates a filter network to ensure RF energy is properly grounded. Once your equipment casework is connected to the outer green binding posts, attach the central yellow terminal to the earthing point on your socket or mains Technical Grounding extension. Block £240
You can even supplement your existing mains earthing and bring additional improvements by fitting your own earth rod. Bury the rod into the ground outside and connect it with a length of our Technical Ground weave to the central binding post on our Technical Grounding Block. Connecting the earth rod to the Technical Grounding Block in this way ensures that RF energy is properly grounded. SAFETY NOTICE An earth rod should supplement your existing mains wiring, not replace it. To comply with the latest electrical regulations, the earth rod must be connected to our Technical Grounding Block which means that the rod grounds RF energy but isolates it from mains voltages in the event of a fault. You must not connect the earth rod directly to the earthing point on our sockets and mains extensions.
There is a whole section on earthing in Russ’s book Sound Solutions, available from us for £9.95 6 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
National Audio Show 2012 Report Simon Dalton reports on our attendance at the recent show. It was our third year at the show this time and one or two changes could be seen. First of all, we vacated our usual spot downstairs for the Chapel room on the first floor. This enabled us to conveniently split the room into two, allowing us to introduce our second change: Russ’s Demonstration.
Our display in the shop
This time Russ wanted to challenge the assumption that cables and infrastructure are a secondary consideration when putting together a Hi-Fi system. So we formed the Dem around a 1990s vintage Arcam amp and CD player along with a pair of Focal Chorus V 706 loudspeakers – decent kit but something you could easily put together second hand for around £500. He took us through three stages of upgrade in the dem; starting from the basic system using the type of cables that come included with the kit, he first addressed the problem of the CD player overloading the amp, a common problem quickly and effectively remedied with the use of a pair of in-line attenuators. That produced the first major improvement.
Russ conducting one of his dems
Next, the free cables were replaced with some of our introductory products and, again, there was a significant improvement in sound quality – a level at which you may expect from upgrading the components a level or two! Finally, Russ moved on to some cables from towards the top of the range, valued around £20,000. The results were staggering and just went to show the true capability of this humble, and inexpensive, little system. And I’d challenge anyone to show me another system of this total value that sounded better. In fact, I’d say it gave systems costing well over five times as much a good run for their money!
The system: a ‘90s Arcam amp and CD player and Focal speakers
It was an interesting demonstration on a number of levels, but not least because it showed that your own existing kit is probably far, far better than you think. Connect it with the right cables and you may never want to upgrade your equipment ever again... A quick thanks to all of you who came to see us at the show. Every year we get to see both regular attendees and new faces alike, and it’s very humbling to hear your praise for what we do. Thanks again and see you all next year.
Cables in use in the dem
A young enthusiast enters our competition Issue 23 Winter 2012/13 CONNECTED MAGAZINE
7
New Products
New products Super Burn-in Service Super Burn-in is a unique Advanced Cable Enhancement treatment process instigated by Kimber Kable and developed by Ben Duncan. The project has taken several hundred thousand dollars to realise, but has now been perfected, extensively tested and is ready for launch! The new Super Burn-In is a new type of cable enhancement that can be applied to all your Russ Andrews and Kimber mains cables, interconnects and speaker cables. Every cable we’ve tested it on achieved a level of performance upgrade that you simply cannot achieve by any other means - and the benefits are just as audible on mains cables as they are on interconnects and speaker cables.
About the process Super Burn-In can be applied to any of your Kimber or Russ Andrews cables. Even if you have a cable that has been run in for many years, our tests have shown that there is a huge performance upgrade to be gained from this unique, and exclusive, process. Super Burn-In is achieved via a custom-designed and built machine that treats the cable to a specific ‘recipe’ that we have developed. Super Burn-In can only be applied to Kimber and Russ Andrews cables, and as the process is applied ‘in-house’, we aim to process cables in 2-3 days.
How to order on NEW cables By phone When you order your new cable, simply request Super Burn-In. The treatment may add 1-2 days to the delivery time, but we will let you know at the time you place your order. Online Buy your new cables and add ‘Super Burn-In’ as an additional product [Tip: search for Super Burn-In in the search box of the website or type in the product code 8320]. 8 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
“some recordings are in a simply vast soundstage… I can now hear right into the music. I didn’t think I could get my system to sound better than it was, but it is! On some recordings, it’s just like having
the band give a private recital, just for me.” R. Burn, Gateshead
“The overall effect is of the music being more real, easier to follow, more natural, more engaging and having more presence. Forget the usual Hi-Fi analogy of “lifting a veil”, this has blasted through a barrier.” G Pettigrew, Surrey
“The sound was lively, fast and rhythmical. The treble was sweeter and enhanced too. The changes are very obvious with the KS-1036 cables and to a very remarkable degree on the other cables too – thank you for the excellent work!” Dr G Raphael, Sunderland
How to order on your EXISTING Kimber or Russ Andrews cables Contact us to place an order for Super Burn-In and to tell us when you are going to send in your cables so we can book them in. If you need us to arrange collection, then we can do that too for a small additional charge. We aim to treat your cables and deliver them back to you within 2-3 days of receiving them.
Pricing We charge a flat rate for Super Burn-In, and the charge covers a single mains cable, a pair of analogue interconnects, a pair of speaker cables, or a digital interconnect. Cables can be any length. Code: 8320 Price: £100
New Products
Russ Andrews Upgraded set-top boxes Sky Box: even more storage, same price!
Same Price!
The Amstrad Sky box that we offer with Russ Andrews upgrades now comes with a larger 2TB internal hard disk – suitable for storing about 1180 hours of standard definition or 350 hours of high definition programmes. We carry out an extensive Russ Andrews upgrade to the power supply, HDMI output, coax and optical digital audio outputs and stereo analogue outputs. The extra storage means that this new box is even better value for money: in our view, it’s the best way to get the very best sound and picture quality from Sky TV.
Not a Sky user? Enjoy better sound and pictures with YouView. Even if you don’t subscribe to Sky, you can still enjoy better sound and pictures with our upgraded YouView box. The new YouView set-top boxes allow you to watch and record standard and high-definition FreeView TV (the boxes have 1TB of storage, enough for recording about 250 hours of HD programmes), but they also allow you to easily access most of the popular catch-up TV services – including BBC’s iPlayer, ITV player, 4oD and Demand 5.
NEW model with larger hard disk
Tuner input capacitor upgraded
"you won't get a better picture from your satellite dish" What Hi-Fi, May 2011
14 day trial
Upgraded Amstrad DRX895 2TB Sky Box Code: 8600
£611
2 year guarantee (Hard disc 1 year)
Upgrade to existing DRX895 Sky Box £399
Price does not include box. Code: 8600
Digital audio output components upgraded
SCART output components upgraded
HDMI output components upgraded
IEC socket allows you to fit your choice of mains cable (get-you-connected mains lead included) Power supply capacitors upgraded.
Big Cone Feet (included loose) can be fitted to the unit.
The Humax YouView boxes are fine-performing set-top boxes but, as with the Sky boxes, we’ve upgraded key components in the power supply and in the HDMI and audio outputs to make them perform even better. Under test in our system, images were clearer and cleaner, and smoother in motion; sound was better too, with deeper, cleaner bass, a more natural midrange and sweeter top end. We think the upgraded YouView box is the best way to enjoy FreeView TV – with the added bonus of allowing you to catch up on TV too!
Fitted with Clarity Mains filter.
Silencer components fitted to the IEC input.
Humax YouView 1TB Upgraded Set top box Code: 8608 2 year guarantee (Hard disc 1 year)
14 day trial
£599
Humax YouView Standard (no Russ Andrews upgrades) 1TB Set top box Code: 8608 2 year guarantee (Hard disc 1 year)
£299
Issue 23 Winter 2012/13 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 9
New Products
New from Network and SpeakerLink cables Meridian Audio has introduced a new type of SpeakerLink cable that doubles as a particularly effective network cable.
What is SpeakerLink? SpeakerLink is an audio and communication interface between Meridian products. Meridian use ethernet cable for this link, and if you use Meridian products connected by a conventional ethernet cable, it’s a worthwhile upgrade in performance to replace the cable with this one.
An effective network cable Since Meridian’s new SpeakerLink cable is based around a Category 7 (CAT 7) cable which has been selected by them for its superior
shielding, it also makes a very effective network cable. It is particularly suited to an audio system that comprises a network music player connected to Network Attached Storage (NAS), for example.
Four twisted pairs of stranded copper (stranded copper helps with flexibility)
Each cable is hand-terminated by us with high quality plugs and each cable is individually tested before despatch.
Meridian’s SpeakerLink cable is available terminated by us in the following lengths: Meridian SpeakerLink cable Code: 6401 0.5m 1.0m 2.0m 3.0m 4.0m 5.0m
£39 £44 £54 £64 £74 £84 Each additional metre £10
Each twisted pair is individually shielded with foil for superior rejection of interference. All four pairs are then covered in a tinned copper braid and tough outer insulation jacket.
Total cable diameter 5mm
Media Source 200 Meridian’s new Media Source 200 is compact component that offers a way to add an additional zone to your Meridian Digital Media system (Sooloos). You would use it, for example, in conjunction with an existing Meridian Media Core 200 (see page 5) or Control 10 or 15, and connect it to a system to play music in a different room. Music can be controlled and played independently from other Meridian digital media components via the free iPhone or iPad app, meaning that you can play different music (or the same, if you wish) in two rooms. Media Source 200 can be connected to Meridian DSP loudspeakers with SpeakerLink cables. It also offers a 10 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
dual audio output socket - an optical digital output to connect to a DAC or processor, and an analogue output to connect to a conventional amplifier. When connected via SpeakerLink to Meridian DSP loudspeakers, Media Source 200 is self-powered; in other instances the included separate power supply is used. Media Source 200 must be connected via a wired Ethernet connection (see Meridian Ethernet cable above) to your main Meridian component via your router.
Digital Media Network Ethernet RJ45 connection
SpeakerLink Ethernet RJ45 output
power socket Audio Outputs (3.5mm analogue/optical S/PDIF jack)
Meridian Media Source 200 Code: 4652 £499
New NewProducts Products
Sunglasses for LEDs! LightDims offer an ingenious way of reducing the output from annoyinglybright LEDs by up to 80%! 100 labels of varying sizes per sheet. LIGHTDIMS per sheet, Silver or Black Code: 5028 £4.00
Need a right angle plug on an existing 3.5mm stereo cable? It’s easy to convert an existing straight plug with this push-on right-angle adaptor. 3.5MM RIGHT ANGLE ADAPTOR Code: 1867 £5.00
hiFace 2 USB audio converter hiFace 2 is an elegant, compact and excellent-sounding USB interface that you use to connect your PC or Mac to a DAC. The hiFace offers a cost-effective way of outputting music files of up to 24bit/192kHz resolution – such as those available from Linn records – digitally via an RCA or BNC socket to a DAC that can accept them. M2 TECH HIFACE 2 Code: 4708 £140
14 day trial
The popular Polaris cartridge protractor is accurate and very simple to use, but the new Geo-Disc cartridge alignment tool offers a more sophisticated way of adjusting your turntable’s cartridge with a visual 3D system to aid accurate alignment. GEO-DISC CARTRIDGE ALIGNMENT TOOL Code: 5078 £44.95
Clean your LPs Our new manual record cleaning kit is perfect for keeping your LPs in tip-top condition and sounding at their best.
BlueLounge MiniDock is a charging accessory that uses your existing Apple USB power adaptor. It plugs directly into the wall socket and means you can charge your iPhone or iPod with no unsightly tangle of cables. Not suitable for use with devices with Lightning connector.
BlueLounge MiniDock Code: 4407 £17.99
14 day trial
Kit consists of 1 litre ReVive record cleaning fluid, 2 Mobile Fidelity cleaning brushes (one for applying ReVive, one for rinsing) and 0.9 litres of Mobile Fidelity PURE Record Rinse. Full instructions included. MANUAL CLEANING KIT Code: 5079 £64.85 Available separately: REVIVE RECORD CLEANING FLUID 1l Code 5067 £16.00 RECORD CLEANING BRUSH Code 5075 £16.95 REPLACEMENT BRUSH PADS pack of two Code 5076 £6.00 PURE RECORD RINSE 0.9l Code 5077 £19.95 Issue 23 Winter 2012/13 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 11
The Importance of Musicality What should we be listening for in a Hi-Fi system? Not just the sound quality, Russ suggests, but the musical quality... The idea that we should judge the sound quality of a Hi-Fi system by playing music through it seems to be blindingly obvious. It is, after all, a system that exists for the enjoyment of the high quality reproduction of music. Leaving certain technical and measurable performance parameters aside, the purpose of a Hi-Fi system is for the subjective and aesthetic enjoyment of music to a high standard of sound quality. The use of ‘test pieces’ to put a system ‘through its paces’ is traditional. How does the system handle a full orchestra, piano, human voice, guitar and drums, etc? We’ve all done it. I used to do it. A very long time ago now, but I did it. And very unhelpful I found it!
Judging the sound Judging the sound of a system (or component) by listening to the sound of the music played through it was simply too confusing. Every system and component sounded different. How can you tell which one is more faithful to the original sound? Knowing what a piano, for example, sounds like live only helps so far, because every recording of a piano sounds different.
12 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
At first, I thought my problem was my own listening ability, but I discounted that answer when I realised that I could easily make accurate judgements of real live sounds. I could recall the sound of every concert hall and listening space I had heard, rank their qualities and hold consistent preferences about which I most enjoyed listening to music in and which I avoided. I could do the same with musical instruments. I knew the difference between a concert grand piano and a pub joanna, a piece of Boosey and Hawkes brass from a tin trumpet and Frank Sinatra from my Dad singing ‘My Way’. This is not some ‘Golden Ear’ talent; we can, and do, all do it easily. I was left wondering why these universal abilities seemed to desert me when judging Hi-Fi components. The strong possibility occurred to me that they were all tin trumpets and pub joannas and not worthy of serious consideration. Or, as a Hi-Fi magazine editor once told me “It’s all crap”. The existence of many fine and well-made components gave the lie to this idea but it wasn’t until the Linn LP12 came along and with it the concept of rhythm and timing that a shimmer of light and hope for a solution dawned. By listening first to rhythm and timing I realised that it wasn’t the sound of the music I should be concentrating on; it was the music
itself, the inner meaning, the emotional message.
easily learned, whereas classical music takes time and tuition to learn and ‘decode’. You can also enjoy the sound of a type of music without understanding the inner meanings just as you might enjoy the sound of a foreign language without being able to speak it.
The idea that the music exists independently of the sound of the music seems like a contradiction but just consider that a composer communicates his musical ideas to a performer /musician by writing it Just as a young child learns its down in musical notation on mother tongue without any formal manuscript paper to create a score. tuition, we all learn to understand The musician then interprets the the language of the music we grow score mentally before performing up with. New kinds of the music by singing music must be it or playing it on a By listening first to learned and so many musical instrument. rhythm and timing I people never learn to The notation contains realised that it wasn’t enjoy different kinds all the musical the sound of the of music. meaning and So where is the music I should be message on the page, just as these words on concentrating on; it meaning in the musical language? Is this page convey my was the music itself, it in the notes meaning to the the inner meaning, themselves, the reader. They don’t the emotional combinations of need to be read out notes, the spaces message. loud to gain meaning. between the notes, The words are made the stress on one up from standard note – not another? Well, it’s partly letters to form known constructions in all of these and much more. of specific meaning and form Specifically, it’s in the performance a language. of the work or song, the way the musician interprets it, puts together Music: An emotional and delivers it to the listener. We can language all tell jokes, but as Frank Carson Music is a language of emotional used to say “It’s the way I tell ‘em” ideas and, like spoken language, that counts. He was saying that the exists in many forms and dialects. real humour (the message!) in the Some are simple and others much joke was in the delivery. It’s the more difficult to understand. I think same as an actor’s delivery of lines most people would say that they in a play and the musician’s delivery don’t ‘understand’ classical music. of lines of notes (the musicality). Popular music is very accessible and
Issue 23 Winter 2012/13 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 13
Now for the bombshell! A Hi-Fi system and all the infrastructure (cables, stands etc) and components are capable of degrading the delivery of the music. They all are able to degrade the musicality. Not by a little, but massively! Musicality is not to do with sound but with performance and emotional meaning. Have you ever listened to a piece of music and thought does it make musical sense? Is it boring? Does the music excite me, does it involve me?
pick up subconsciously that tell us what we are listening to. Is the singer male or female? What social, ethnic and geographical background are they from? How old are they? What is their character? In a live recording, we instantly get a ‘feel’ for the acoustic and the size of the venue and audience. Is the pianist playing a Steinway or Yamaha piano; is the instrument a clarinet or alto saxophone; is it a trumpet or flugelhorn? Are there two or three girls in the chorus or is it two girls and a man? The clues are endless. They just have to be brought up into the conscious mind and listened to.
Using musicality, I had a way of judging systems and components that was much more important than mere sound quality. It didn’t rely on a conscious Use the music value judgement of sound quality but to judge the Musicality is not on an instinctive, performance to do with subconscious On its own, all this sound but with reaction to the extra insight is very performance amount of emotional interesting, but where and emotional reaction. The instant does it get us? What emotional reaction meaning. do we do with it? Well, was available for the great news is that conscious analysis it turns out to be all and assessment. And that is what I you need to listen to, to make the taught myself to do. right choices. If we put together a system of parts chosen on the same To my surprise, I found this new listening technique to be consistent, criteria that we use when listening to music, then the whole system reliable and repeatable. That is becomes greater than the sum of because the emotional reaction is those parts because the musicality very fast, almost instantaneous and is cumulative. The musical message ‘known’. It doesn’t have to be speaks louder and louder. The really thought about, doubted, confirmed weird thing about it, though, is that and formally decided like the the sound quality gets better and analysis of sound quality that can better too! take hours of listening. In an A/B test, I found that I could take an How can that happen? In my instant ‘snap shot’ and know when experience, if you choose the music was more (or less) components on sound quality musical than before. I could then alone, the musicality gets worse consider what it was that was more and worse. (or less) musical. I could think about all those instantaneous clues we
14 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
I heard a great example of this at to listen to the exhaust note of a the recent Rocky Mountain Audio Ferrari; there the emotional Fest in Colorado. I stood in one message is the noise! room admiring the system, I have applied this listening method appreciating the smooth, clean since the 1970s and so it has been delivery, the lack of treble sting, the the basis of all my work on mains, tight controlled bass etc, when I mains filters, Torlyte and the started to have a vague feeling that assessment of Kimber Kable when I I knew the music being played. I first listened to samples in 1985. All said to my wife “there’s something the products in our range are familiar about that”. Outside in the assessed and chosen on their corridor I stopped and finally musicality qualities. Product recognised what it had been. It was development is based on a track from Chet Baker Sings and improving the musicality; the ability Plays, one of my favourite jazz to let the musicality through. Since artists and probably the second RFI is so destructive of musicality, album I ever bought. Totally reducing mains RFI is the most recognizable but not in that room! important step to How could a Hi-Fi take in our Upgrade system sound ‘good’ Path, and the reason How could a and yet get the music that the Path forms a Hi-Fi system sound so totally wrong that virtuous cycle and ‘good’ and yet get the it became almost results in Russ’s law unrecognisable? In my music so totally of Increasing view it exemplified wrong that it Returns. ■ what is wrong with became almost the whole Hi-Fi unrecognisable? industry, not just individual systems. The hardware is designed on sound quality criteria, sold on sound quality, reviewed on sound quality, and bought on price and reviewer ratings. Sure, they all talk about the music, but only On a recent trip to the Kimber Factory in Utah, I was about how it sounds, not how demonstrating to Ray Kimber the musical improvement musical it is. brought by the SD-II™ Technology fitted to Select The whole industry ignores the way interconnects and speaker cables. He selected a CD and the ear/brain works at a track and after only a couple of bars I heard a sharp intake fundamental level and focusses of breath and he stopped the disc. He said that it was one of only on tonal qualities, frequency his favourite singers and had heard that track a thousand range and bass slam. For me, if a times, but now he could understand the opening words and Hi-Fi system fails to convey the the exact way the singer enunciated them so that at last he musical, emotional message, it is could make real sense of the whole song. He didn’t need to just noise. I don’t care how good its listen to another A/B. ‘sound quality’ is – it’s just high Job done! quality noise. If I want to listen to high quality noise I would choose
Recognising musicality
Issue 23 Winter 2012/13 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 15
Dalton’s Deliberations
Engaging with music I had an interesting conversation with a customer last week. He’d come in to see if we could help with a damaged speaker. He wasn’t in a rush as these were a spare pair that he hadn’t been able to ‘let go’, despite the regular protestations of his wife! I was interested to hear that he had recently been to visit the manufacturer of his replacement speakers and had got into conversation with one of the top guys in the company. Bearing in mind that this was a wellrespected loudspeaker manufacturer, in a very honest moment the manufacturer admitted that in some ways he gets as much pleasure out of listening to his small portable as he does out of his main system. Why so? His answer was that he often got far too hung up on perfecting the sound of his main system that it got in the way of listening. He had no great expectations of the portable – in fact, it probably sounded better than expected – so he just sat back and listened to the music. It’s an interesting observation and I wonder how many of us can relate to this tale? I know I certainly can. And it got me to thinking about the demonstration which Russ presented at the National Audio Show in September. We had a small system set up consisting of an integrated amp, CD player and speakers, all of which were a number of years old and something you could easily pick up today, second hand, for around £500. With this simple set-up we compared the performance wired with standard cables versus the same system connected with Classic PowerKords™, Timbre interconnects and 4PR speaker cable, and finally wired
16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
with some of our high-end cables – to the value of around £20,000. Needless to say, the cables made a substantial difference to the performance. But what was most interesting was how they did this. The track Russ chose for the comparison was ‘Invisible’ from the album Eric Clapton - Unplugged. Lyrically, it relates the emotions of a man who feels insignificant, alone and unrecognised. Powerful stuff, but on the first play you didn’t really care; there was just so little engagement with the music. Swap to the Russ Andrews/Kimber cables and suddenly things change. No longer are we detached, but we feel his pain, as his voice tails off at the end of the line “no one knows me”…
When was the last time you came out of a concert and raved about how sweet the treble was? No. What you are likely to talk about is how the music moved you, how you felt. What is being experienced here is not Hi-Fi, but emotional communication through music. And it’s a significant difference. One woman in the audience made a very telling comment; “I didn’t know he (Clapton) could sing so well”. Another gentleman noted how the guitars didn’t just sound better, they sounded as if they were being played better! It’s musicality that’s being experienced here, the improvements in rhythm and timing that better cables and infrastructure bring. But I don’t want to turn this into an advertisement for cables. My point is that this is all about listening in a different way. We’re not talking in Hi-Fi speak here, no references to ‘sweet
treble’ or ‘a more articulate bass’. OK, they are there, but in a sense, they are irrelevant. What we’re really interested in is how much the music engages us. Let’s face it, when was the last time you came out of a concert and raved about how sweet the treble was? No. What you are likely to talk about is how the music moved you, how you felt. And we should expect the same sort of response when listening to music at home. I said I didn’t want this to just become an advertisement for cables, but allow me one short diversion. From my own experience, I have found that investing in the cables has brought me far closer to this experience than years of swapping hardware. But it’s a hard thing to get your head around. Listening to our little system with the high-end cables was breathtaking, and not just because it communicated the music so beautifully. It was also breathtaking as a £20,000 system. Hand on heart, I can honestly say that I listened to some systems at the show costing over five times this amount, but they didn’t move me in the same way that this one did. They did look nice though… And there’s the rub. For many, the idea of spending £20,000 on a system where most of the investment is in the cables is anathema. It simply does not look like a £20,000 system. I’m not going to stand on my high horse here because I’m as guilty as the next man. But in the final analysis, it’s all about how it sounds, not how it looks. And until we really embrace this, we are going to get stuck in the endless cycle of upgrading to more expensive components whilst sheepishly sneaking into another room to listen to the portable. ■ simon.dalton@russandrews.com
Keep up to date with new reviews in our news section at www.russandrews.com/news
Reviews
Reviews Kimber 4PR The July issue of Hi-Fi World magazine features a review of Kimber’s original woven speaker cable, 4PR. Listening to a Sam Cook album, the reviewer, Paul Rigby, was struck by the way 4PR provided “an admirable midrange performance with the piano, for example, offering a jaunty, energetic performance, while the reduction in distortion did provide enhanced detail within the drum section”. Moving onto the more contemporary sound of Cripple Black Phoenix, “the reduced distortion helped to enhance the aggressive guitar display whilst the bass drum had more room for manoeuvre.” This characteristic lowering of distortion is something we often get feedback on, especially in relation to making systems more ‘listenable’, for instance when the top end is rather harsh and piercing. This is not so much a matter of the cable ‘tuning’ the sound but more Kimber 4PR speaker cable a case of allowing the system to perform as it should do. Verdict: Interestingly, this is an aspect picked up by Paul when he Price: from £67 Magazine: Hi-Fi World says that 4PR “provided a controlled, even sensible, Issue: July 2012 performance that would be paired well with a system suffering from an unruly behaviour while bringing a sense of decorum to the proceedings”. We agree, notwithstanding the fact that 4PR is equally at home in any system, regardless whether these issues present or not. Overall, he concludes that 4PR is “an admirable performer that shows attention to an anti-distortive design. A cable to bring sanity to an unpredictable hi-fi chain.”
Kimber 4TC The November edition of Hi-Fi Choice magazine awarded the full five stars and a ‘Recommended’ plaudit to 4TC. Noting the importance of directionality in cables – a factor that Russ first established back in the 1970’s Neville Roberts (reviewing) observed that “during extensive listening tests with these cables, I found the bass to be super-tight and punchy, with a smooth and easy top end, which was highly engaging and emotional”. Listening to a choral piece by Bach, he noted how, rather than sounding like one homogenous “mush” the choir were “clearly heard as individuals”, something that is all too often missing in some systems. He concludes his short review in emphatic style: “In my opinion, these cables are excellent value and offer super sound”.
Nov ’12
Kimber 4PR speaker cable Verdict: Price: Magazine: Issue:
£184 Hi-Fi Choice Nov 2012 Issue 23 Winter 2012/13 17 CONNECTED MAGAZINE
Reviews
Kimber USB Bus Ag The 'Choice Extras' section of the December issue of Hi-Fi Choice magazine features a new review of the USB-Ag by Jason Kennedy.
Oct ’12
Right from the off, things sound encouraging: "In my reference system, USBAg performed very well in terms of leading edge definition and timing, delivering a lot of detail - it made steel guitar strings sound extremely crisp, for example". Noting its ability to deliver a "well scaled image", he continues with the praise by adding that "there's plenty of depth on acoustic recordings and all the sparkle of live instruments". Compared to the copper version there's better focus and timing too, meaning that "it's easier to separate similar instruments and to appreciate what's going on at low levels". Kimber USB Bus Ag Overall, he concludes that "this is a fine USB connection that brings a high level of precision and finesse to the computer audio at a reasonable price".
Verdict: Price: Magazine: Issue:
£86 for 0.5m Hi-Fi Choice Dec 2012
ReleeS® Issue number 366 of Hi-Fi Choice carried a short review of ReleeS® anti-static and gave it a 'Recommendation'. Awards ’12
"In my experience", writes Neville Roberts, reviewing, "it certainly lifted performances to another level and made the sound more effortless and easy to listen to". Pretty impressive results for a simple product costing just £22.50!
He notes that ReleeS® is also characterised by its flexibility, as you can also treat your cables with it too, simply by spraying it onto a cloth and wiping this over the surface of the cable. "This will take away any static from the cable and help to prevent it building up again, thus reducing any negative effects arising from static ReleeS® interference" Verdict: In conclusion, he states that the product "effectively reduces negative effects from static interference - well worth the investment".
18 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
Price: Magazine: Issue:
£22.50 Hi-Fi Choice Awards 2012
Reviews
X2 Block ‘Choice Extras’ in Hi-Fi Choice magazine features a number of shorter reviews every month, and in issue 366 our X2 block is featured. As is often the case with these short pieces, most of the review is taken up with a description of the product but Neville Roberts, reviewing, does point out that the “overall fit and finish of this item was to Russ Andrews’ usual high standards” and it’s nice to receive this recognition. In terms of the performance of the X2 Block itself, he was pretty emphatic: “in my system this block worked very effectively, giving a smoother and more relaxed sound” and gave it 4.5 stars and a ‘Recommended’ tag.
Oct ’12
X2 Block Verdict: Price: Magazine: Issue:
£165 Hi-Fi Choice Awards 2012
UltraSockets Jason Kennedy was very impressed with our new UltraSockets when he reviewed them for the August 2012 edition of Hi-Fi Choice magazine. Recognising the importance of this first link in the chain from the mains to your system, he notes that “there is a lot to be said for making this first and arguably most critical power connection the best one”. Replacing his existing socket with the UltraSocket was a straightforward enough process, though he sensibly notes that if you have any doubts, get a qualified electrician to do the job. Once fitted, the improvements were clear and immediate: “instruments sound distinctly more real because the acoustic around them is much clearer and this allows more of the characteristic sound to get through”. The other major improvement comes from better timing to the music “that clearly benefits from the greater ease with which energy flows out of the grid”. The result of this in terms of listening enjoyment is that “the music is clearly more engaging, the rhythmic integrity that much more gelled so that the band appears to be a tighter unit”.
August ’12
UltraSockets Verdict: Price: Magazine: Issue:
£79 Hi-Fi Choice August 2012
CONNECTED MAGAZINE 19 Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
Reviews
Torlyte® Platform Hi-Fi Choice, October 2012 edition, and our Torlyte Platform receives a resounding thumbs up in their Minitest of four platforms. Richard Black, reviewing, notes that the Torlyte Platform is really quite different from the other types of support in the review being of a very lightweight construction. “This gives it two rather useful properties” he says, “in an audio-support role; first, it has very good internal self-damping, meaning that resonances never get to build up a head of steam before they are summarily extinguished”
Oct ’12
He continues: “Second, it has very poor ‘acoustic impedance matching’ to typical surfaces underneath it and typical equipment on top, which means that vibrations are not readily passed upwards through it”. Phew - complex stuff! So what does all this technical talk mean in terms of listening performance? Well, quite wide raging benefits really: “it’s very useful for bringing out detail and improving general clarity and sparkle”. He continues by adding that the platform seems to be even better performing with electronic components including CD player, “again improving the resolution of detail, but also quite Torlyte® Platform markedly crystallising imaging and making Verdict: individual lines within the music easier to follow”. Overall, Richard concludes that the Torlyte Platform “seems to bring a touch of magic to anything placed on top of it”.
Hi-Fi Critic Awards Hidden away in the January-March edition of HiFi Critic magazine are their Awards for the last review year. These are not something they make a big song and dance about but are of quite some significance, as Hi-Fi Critic is a journal well respected both inside and outside the industry. Their panel of reviewers is made up of very wellestablished and respected Hi-Fi journalists who have a very critical ear when it comes to assessing the value of products, so their recommendations are always of interest. Our products feature extensively in the ‘Cables’ category: for ‘Audio Excellence’ the SuperKord Signature SD-II™ wins an award; in the ‘Best Buy’ section there is the Kimber Timbre™ with MiniZaps™ interconnect; and ‘Recommended’ are Crystal-24 and Kimber Select KS-3035 speaker cables and the Kimber Silver Streak interconnect. Needless to say, we are extremely happy to receive these plaudits for such a wide range of cables. 20 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
Price: Magazine: Issue:
£184 Hi-Fi Choice Oct 2012
‘Audio Excellence’ SuperKord Signature SD-II™
‘Best Buy’ Kimber Timbre™ with MiniZaps™ interconnect
‘Recommended’ Kimber Silver Streak interconnect
‘Recommended’ Russ Andrews Crystal-24™ speaker cable
‘Recommended’ Kimber Select KS-3035 speaker cable
Competition Winner The last competition we ran on www.russandrews.com asked you to write a short piece about something that you wanted to get off your chest. The winner, judged by Russ, was Mr Ian MacDonald of Oxfordshire who wanted to let off steam about the sound of concert halls and recording venues:
The importance of venue acoustics for both live and recorded music. Given that more classical music is heard through Hi-Fi than at concerts it's very sad if people come to know some of the world's greatest music and ensembles by recordings technically up-to-date but sonically disappointing. When the Queen's Hall was blitzed London lost a beloved concert hall and a fine recording venue. Even on 78s you can tell how good it was: try the Toscanini recording of Beethoven's 4th Symphony with the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1939. That winter he broadcast Beethoven 4 from studio 8H in New York. Queen's Hall helps, 8H stifles. Finally justice to Beethoven and the NBC Symphony Orchestra was done on Toscanini's 1951 LP, recorded with the warmth and perspective possible in Carnegie Hall. What of London's replacements for the Queen's Hall? The 1951 Royal Festival Hall came out acoustically glaring yet so dry as to persuade the soprano Isobel Baillie that she had lost her voice; recordings there are mainly of 'live' occasions and undistinguished at best. 2007's £111m refurbishment delivered mainly a debate over whether there had been any
mitigation but, less bad or unimproved, after so much expenditure the hall won't be replaced in the next 50 years, if ever. 'Live' or recorded, music in the Barbican Hall sounds dull and boxy. Listen to the CD of Mozart's piano concertos 25 and 27 by Ashenazy with the Philharmonia Orchestra. The (digital) sound is open, clear, warm and natural: where was it recorded? Kingsway Hall in London which was levelled to make way for a hotel; bang went another wonderful recording studio. Monteux' legendary Decca sessions with the LSO could never happen now. A golden 15 years saw the Berlin Philharmonic recording mostly in the Jesus-Christus-Kirche. When he espoused the Philharmonie for recording around 1974, the superiority of Karajan's orchestral recordings vanished overnight while, ironically, the orchestra continued to grow still better. His first stereo DG session - Strauss' 'Ein Heldenleben' from 1959 delivers the life and 'air' never achieved in the Philharmonie: for 40 years no engineering team or medium has avoided conveying the impression that this building obstructs and muddles the
See page 26 for this issues’ Competition and other winners
sound; I think Decca avoided working there. Doubt me? - get 447907-2. Beethoven's 'Triple Concerto' was recorded in the Philharmonie but the three overtures come from the Jesus-Christus-Kirche era: night and day. All is not lost! Merton College Chapel, Oxford and King's College Chapel, Cambridge still stand. Batiz and the RPOrecorded Respighi's 'Pines of Rome' in St Barnabas', Tooting which helped to impart the appropriate punch, clarity and opulence as well as allowing a sense of place. Hear the glow of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Concertgebouw playing Holst's 'Planets' and a couple of Pomp and Circumstance marches under Marriner. Handley's Wagner from All Saints, Kilburn is pretty special, too; space precludes an exhaustive list. There are still good buildings and no lack of great technology: if we don't combine them we traduce the musicians and sell the listeners short. ■ Do you agree or disagree? Contact us at connected@russandrews.com
CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
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Your Letters Want to share your experiences with our readers? Or simply want advice? Write to us! We’ll publish the best, funniest and most interesting in each issue of Connected. The writer of this issue’s Star Letter receives a Silencer, worth £52.00 Get in touch at: connected@russandrews.com or write to us at: Connected, Russ Andrews Accessories 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 6NS, UK.
AbZorbing Sound I bought from your summer sale an AbZorber which has been added to my array of mains filters. It showed an excellent improvement immediately in the sound from my equipment. There was a much cleaner sound with no ‘edge’ which made listening much more relaxed. I do have a computer wireless network set up in the house. Following your further comments about the advantages of the Mains Zapperator, I installed one of these next to each of the mains sockets powering my Quad ESL63 speakers. The resulting sound is remarkably improved - very clean with improved bass and great musicality. I had originally intended to fit one Zapperator adjacent to the CD player, but decided to see what effect this filter would have on the ESLs. I am delighted with the result and now also have a Zapperator by the CD player and another next to the computer. The results are better than I had expected. In the past I have found that any mains related upgrade would have Mains Zapperator £90 22 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
Silencer mains filter, worth £52.00
marked improvement in the system and this present one has proved exceptional. Humphrey Platts, Lincs
ReVeel on Blu-ray Discs? I have a packet of ReVeel which is a few years old. Will this formula work safely on Blu-ray Discs which apparently have a different coating from DVD? ReVeel® £14.20 W Colborne, box of 20 sachets Edinburgh Our tests have shown that ReVeel is absolutely fine to use on Blu-ray discs. Blu-ray discs use a hard-coat technology which protects the surface from scratches, but as far as I’m aware the same MRA (mould release agent) used on CDs and DVDs, is used during the manufacturing process and customers certainly support this by reporting better picture quality after treatment. PB
Getting the best from MP3s Just wanted to let you know what a distinct difference your Clarity Mains had on my system. I have been upgrading the mains source bit by bit with my first purchase being a Reference PowerKord™ after trying a YellO Power cable from a friend, which made a huge step up and really improved the quality of the sound and opened up the detail of the music. I then included The Silencer in the spare socket with the clear noticeable release of musical expression. I had then run out of sockets! I wanted to continue improving the condition of the mains to see what could be revealed at the next stage of upgrade and upon your advice, I bought a Clarity Mains along with a SuperCube so I could still use The Silencer. What an upgrade! The Clarity Mains, Silencer and SuperCube combo was a revelation. The Clarity Mains was the missing link that my system had been crying out for, but I never even knew! With the previous upgrades, it‘s the perfect complement and I don’t know how to explain something that is not measured in normal ‘hifi’ terms. It‘s not about sound quality, that can be a cold and sharp production of each instrument and vocal, this is more of an experience;
Letters a relaxed performance of the artist and the musicians, without any ‘rush’. It’s hard to explain, but Clarity mains £115 the result is listening to my age old music collection for the first time. Who would have though all this could be said about a B&W Zeppelin iPod Doc playing MP3s! Thank you again James Weston, Worcestershire
Experiences in upgrading my PowerBlock You have just had my PowerBlock for the UltraSocket upgrade. It was returned to me five days ago. I was confident that there would be an improvement, having already upgraded my SuperSocket wall socket to UltraSocket (and sung its praises as you and your readers know well), but I am really quite astonished by just how big an improvement you’ve achieved with the PowerBlock upgrade. I have been meaning to write for a couple of days but I have found it difficult to express the new listening experience adequately with the rather limited vocabulary we all seem to use. More bass - yes: more definition and separation in the
PowerBlock from £495
soundstage - yes: wider soundstage - no, but it was wide already: deeper soundstage - YES, and it comes right into the room as well as going back further: more separation - YES, if there are four trumpets playing in unison for example you hear four trumpets, effortlessly.... Enough! Forget the “hi-fi magazine” stuff. This is a whole new experience. The noise floor has gone way lower and I’ve reached that Nirvana where you don’t hear the system playing music, you just hear music, and plenty of it.
I’ve reached that Nirvana where you don’t hear the system playing music, you just hear music, and plenty of it. You can chase this detail, that nuance, this or that instrument, the sweat dripping off the conductor’s nose (I made that up), or you can just listen, as you would to live music. Listening to Linda Partridge’s thoughtful choice on ‘Private Passions’ yesterday I was captivated by the magical introduction to Das Rheingold, and then some Philip Glass piano. But I don’t like Wagner! and I find Philip Glass boring. Not any more. Then my lovely old LP of the 1977 Grant’s Whisky Piping Competition in the ballroom at Blair Atholl, with Iain MacFadyen playing MacLeod of Colbeck’s Lament (the best recording of the piob mor that I know) - MAGIC, then my Japanese 180 gramme re-issue of Duke Ellington’s ‘Up Town’, with Louie Bellson on the drums, and Paul Gonzalves and Johnny Hodges soloing, and Ellington’s unique piano sound - also MAGIC. Sorry to go on, but I am quite gob-smacked that my system can sound so brilliant.
Thank you so much for proving yet again that the right attention to the power supply/cabling/supports can produce results that thousands of pounds of equipment upgrades probably wouldn’t, and certainly wouldn’t without improvements to power supply, etc. You have never failed me, but this simple upgrade produces really startling results. Bob Parsons, Berks Bob upgraded his PowerBlock’s sockets to UltraSockets for £299
A question of support? I presume the Torlyte base is designed for two pieces of equipment.What is the maximum weight they can support as i have some really heavy equipment. A Browning, by e-mail Yes, a Torlyte Base is designed to support two pieces of equipment. The bottom shelf is reinforced with an extra ‘skin’ of wood, so it’s suitable for heavy power amps. As long as the weight of the equipment is evenly distributed (if a piece of equipment has a heavy transformer, sometimes these can be at one side or in a corner, making the weight unevenly distributed), then it can hold around 30kgs. The top shelf has the potential to hold up to 20kgs, but if you’re going for the tallest base unit, I’d reduce that to 15kgs for stability. PB
Torlyte® Base Unit from £460
CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13 23
Letters Which mains filter? I have recently bought a new 6 gang custom made mains block and I seek an effective plug-in type surge/spike protector and also a mains conditioner - ideally as a single high performance item. I have looked at your website however I am a little confused (sorry!)... I have read a good review about the Mains Zapperator however I don't think that has surge protection; I see you also have a SuperClamp Ultra but that is possibly not a conditioner ? There is a Mini Purifier (with SuperClamp) which may sit somewhere between the two I guess - or maybe it is better performance-wise to purchase separately a Zapperator as well as a SuperClamp Ultra and plug them into the mains block using two sockets rather than the one (as I had planned). The combined price of these two items roughly equates to the Mini Purifier although you may tell me there is a compromise somewhere... your expert advice on a way forward would be greatly appreciated. A. Bray, by e-mail The mains has several problems that you should try and remove to get the best performance from your kit. It suffers from: Mains Noise and RFI Spikes and surges The Mini Purifier is a very effective mains filter that reduces mains noise. It’s also fitted with a SuperClamp to protect from spikes and surges. The SuperClamp Ultra is a little like the SuperClamp that’s fitted in the Mini Purifier but is more sophisticated to give additional protection from spikes and surges.
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CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
The Mains Zapperator is a specific type of filter that targets the noise created by things such as wireless computer networks. So: the Mini Purifier is an all-round device that filters and offers surge protection. I would fit this first. Then, you can augment the effect with better surge protection (the SuperClamp Ultra) and additional mains filtering (the Mains Zapperator). JA Mini Purifier £151
Which speaker cable? I have an Audiolab amp, Mordaunt Short speaker and a sony CD player. The speaker cable is bi-wired QED anniversary. Can I improve the sound with new speaker cable? I have your mains and other interconnects already. Cable length required would be about 8 metres, non bi-wired. J Corts, by e-mail. I’m sure you can improve the sound considerably with any of the cables from our range. I’d recommend either the PR or VS range to start with, preferably the ‘8’ versions. These would be better single rather than bi-wired and used with a pair of jumper cables. The main difference between PR and VS is that VS uses Kimber’s VariStrand technology, where the individual conductors vary in size to give a more even frequency response: they sound better! If it’s an 8m pair you need, I would recommend moving things around and purchasing a 4.5m pair first. The reason for this is that a 4.5m pair is a standard
length and therefore comes with our 60 Day Home Trial, whereas an 8m pair would be a custom length and would not be included in the trial. Once you are happy that the cables are right for you, send them back, we’ll make you the 8m pair and you just pay the difference. I’m very confident that you will be impressed but I think it’s good for you to be able to test the cable in your own system to put your own mind at ease! SD
Further upgrades to a Linn system – an update Readers of Connected may recall reports from one of our regular customers with an active, high-end Linn system. Since her last letter was published in 2009, her system has been upgraded with new amplifiers, SuperKord mains cables and Kimber Select interconnects and speaker cables. The full ‘Kimbering’ of the system (as described in Connected issue 12) further emphasized a formerlyperceived inequality between my various amplifiers, so in January 2010 the older Klimax Twin and two newer Klimax Chakra Twins were duly upgraded to six new Klimax Solo amplifiers; the by-then redundant CD12 removed from the system to allow more space. The final newly-cryogenically treated Signature PowerKords (with additions for the extra amplifiers) were installed alongside, thus culminating the so enlightening cryo-treatment of all the cabling within the system – the cryotreatment intensifying the impact of each cable’s particular characteristics to extraordinary effect.
Letters Meanwhile, the cabling to the Freeview box and little-used TV had been upgraded with cryo-treated Reference PowerKords and Silver Streak interconnects, and the first two superb Linn Dynamik power supplies had been installed to the Linn Klimax DS and Klimax Kontrol preamp. As anticipated, this rapid succession of upgrades burning-in almost simultaneously initially caused some wild fluctuations in performance! As the system resettled, the combination was a revelation: hugely enhanced clarity, separation, detail, projection; the music so effortlessly vibrant and alive, with almost tangible realism. However, an absolutely superblytextured bass gradually predominated, and I began to suspect this due to the superior KS1111 interconnects (then the only Kimber Select cables in the system) connecting the Aktiv Crossovers to lower bass Solo amplifiers within the Komri loudspeakers. In summer 2010 a subsequent aspiration to upgrade the remaining cables to the Komris was realised, when Russ helped me install the lengthy and substantial KS-3033 speaker cables, replacing the 8TCs from the Solo amplifiers to the supertweeter, tweeter, midrange and upper bass connections at the Komris. Their stupendous definition alone immediately lifted performance to an entirely new level, and, after adding KS-1121 interconnects from DS to preamp and preamp to crossovers, together with a pair of KS-1030s from LP12 to preamp, I glanced at Russ – his beaming grin mirroring my own said it all, this was very special indeed! As the cables burned in I quickly resolved to replace the remaining Silver Streaks, from crossovers to the eight Solo
amplifiers, with KS-1021 interconnects – installing the last of these my ‘treat’ for Boxing Day 2010! Soon afterwards I installed a redefining Mains Zapperator – experimentation the key to its most effective location.
I glanced at Russ his beaming grin mirroring my own said it all, this was very special indeed! Unfortunately, the Kimber Select cables increasingly accentuated a suspected inequality between the new Solo amplifiers and the older pair. Confirmed with Linn as normally imperceptible, I decided to test the impact of SuperKord modification to the older pair’s Signature PowerKords, while awaiting a full specification upgrade courtesy of Linn. The impact of these two SuperKords not only led to the older Solos way outperforming the newer ones, but eventually re-launched the entire system: the Komris’ performance beyond belief! There was so much more of everything, with breathtaking purity and realism, as if the SuperKords had been exclusively designed to partner the Linn! Following the Linn Dynamik power supply upgrades to all eight Solos, and the remaining specification upgrade to the older pair, I installed the two SuperKords to the Klimax Kontrol and Radikal, with a third to the DS. Earlier this year, I installed an eagerly-awaited further four, to the Komris and crossovers, and although there was an immediate impact, this was a mere tantalising foretaste of the sensational SuperKords’ potential! Within weeks, the burning-in fluctuations were increasingly left behind and an unstoppable transformation
underway; the full magnificent power of the Komris and entire system eventually unleashed as never before, every musical performance more masterful than the last; so tremendously atmospheric, effortless and real. I was totally dumbfounded! A developing unevenness between the channels was recently addressed with the installation of another four newly-modified Signature SuperKords to the Solo amplifiers serving tweeters and supertweeters (together with an exceptionally revealing Kimber Select KS-1036 custom-made PSU cable for the LP12); closely followed by a final four to the Solo amplifiers serving midrange and upper bass. Already hugely impacting on performance, I know their potential is as infinite as my excitement and enthusiasm about them – these cables really do need to be heard to be believed. I am continuing to learn from my many upgrade experiences, both Linn and Russ Andrews; continuing to use only my ears and my emotions in my appraisal. The combination of upgrades is now so magical that no longer am I imagining the musical performance in my living room: closing my eyes, I am more and more being transported to the moment and environment of its recording, feeling the encompassing immediacy and passion – I am there!
SuperKord Signature-SD II ™ £1335
Issue 23 Winter 2012/13 CONNECTED MAGAZINE
25
WIN
this clea ni worth o ng kit ver
Competition
£80
Clean up with this great prize! Russ’s feature The Importance of Musicality on page 12, puts a completely different slant on how we make a distinction between, not only good and bad Hi-Fi, but good and bad music reproduction per se. The method he has developed is a really important one, because it cuts through all the Hi-Fi hype and reconnects us with the music. In particular, he emphasises the emotional content of a piece and how this is communicated through the specific medium of music. For this issue’s competition we’d like to hear about a specific performer or performers, a performance, or a piece of music that you have found to be especially moving. It could be a particular rendition of a famous song where you feel one performer has a way of getting to the heart of the music in a way that no other has ever achieved – many have recorded ‘My Way’, for example, but is there one definitive version that touches you like no other? Whatever your experience is, we’d like to hear from you. It doesn’t have to be an essay – 40-50 words will do – but if you’d like to write more, that’s fine. The winner will be chosen by Russ and, for your pains, we’re offering a collection of cleaning products to help bring the most out of your system, worth a total of over £80. Here’s what’s on offer: • DeoxIT Complete Cleaning Kit including DeoxIT, DeoxIT Gold, DeoxIT Fader Lube and all the cloths and applicators you’ll need to make your system sparkle. • ReVeel CD cleaning wipes and ReleeS anti-static treatment • HG Cleaning cloths for cleaning all metal parts before treating with DeoxIT • A CD Lens Cleaner
In total, there’s over £80 worth of cleaning kit here, so to be in with a chance of winning this great prize, send your answer by email to: competition@russandrews.com with the subject line “Musicality competition” or send your entry by post to: Musicality Competition Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Rd, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 6NS The closing date for entries is 10th February 2013 and the winner will be judged by Russ.
Terms and Conditions 1.The closing day for entries is 10th February 2013; 2.The rules of entry are given in the text of the competition; 3.No purchase necessary to enter; 4.The winner will be judged by Russ and will be notified by 7th March 2013; 5.There is one prize of a DeoxIT Cleaning Kit, ReVeel and ReleeS pack, HG Cleaning Cloths pack and a CD Lens Cleaner; 6.The prize is not transferable, cannot be exchanged for cash nor will a cash alternative be offered; 7.Our decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into; 8.We reserve the right to feature photographs and the names and counties of all entrants in future publications and publicity; 9.This promotion is not open to employees of Russ Andrews Accessories or their families, or anyone connected with the promotion; 10.The promoter is Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Road, Kendal, LA9 6NS, UK.
Competition Results We’ve also had another couple of competition winners since our last issue of Connected.. The winner of four sets of wooden Cone Feet from the Connected 22 competition was Mr Wilk of London who correctly answered that there are four 26 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 23 Winter 2012/13
sizes of feet available. The winner of our online Facebook competition which asked for feedback on our Facebook content is Mr Naunton of Ipswich who won a pack of ReVeel CD cleaning wipes for his suggestion that we use some short video clips to show products ‘in action’. Which we hope to be making in the near future!
And finally...
And finally... Earlier in the year, one of our customers was enthusing so much about our cables and accessories that we suggested they write down their thoughts for publication in Connected. The resulting letter summed up the theme of this issue of Connected so well that we just had to use it as our And Finally…
“
I found the theme of Connected issue 21 magazine fascinating: how listening to music from our Hi-Fi systems affects us, both as individuals and collectively. I was particularly heartened to discover that my own views regarding the more intangible aspects are shared by professionals with music at the heart of their lives.
Again there are references to ‘rhythm and timing’, a concept originally identified by Ivor Tiefenbrun nearly 40 years ago (see the preface to Russ‘s book, Sound Solutions) and expounded by Russ as ‘musicality’.
Rhythm and timing are surely also at the heart of life itself, hence our natural and instinctive response to music: why, almost subliminally, it invokes such intensely deep emotion. I‘ve learned from experience that cables are the arteries of a Hi-Fi system and, if these are contaminated, the purity of the musical reproduction will inevitably suffer - this bears no relation to the calibre of the hardware, as perhaps perceived by many Hi-Fi manufacturers and dealers, their scepticism, even suspicion, appearing to actively discourage music lovers from revealing the true potential of their systems! They and their customers thus remain unaware of the possibilities; this potential remains unexplored, and so much of the true essence of the music is never heard! RFI-cancelling Kimber cables will progressively unleash the true potential of the hardware, revealing increasing multi-layered authenticity and three-dimensional realism in the music - whether created in the studio or ‘live’; regardless of vintage or genre. Thus, cable upgrades (following Russ‘s upgrade steps) should take overall priority when considering a system’ s infrastructure. So essential to all aspects of musical reproduction from the entire system, and so enriching the listening experience, I believe they should be embraced and promoted by customers and the industry alike.
”
Name & address supplied.
COMING THIS YEAR...
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PRODUCT CATALOGUE Connected OUT IN Magazine Issue 24 MARCH ’13 OUT IN MARCH ’13
Editor:
John Armer john.armer@russandrews.com
Design:
Sarah Garstang sarah@russandrews.com
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Advertising: Simon Dalton 01539 797301 simondalton@russandrews.com Sales: Peter Bevir peterbevir@russandrews.com Issue 23 Winter 2012/13 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 27
The SuperKord Signature-SD II is the finest mains cable we have made and, with over 200 individual components in addition to the 24 separately insulated conductors, it is certainly the most complex. But all this effort really is worthwhile: faithfulness to source, and musicality are the very best we’d heard.
Reference Code
“Previous definitions reflecting on detail, bass, spatial cues, recorded dynamic, top end, bottom end, midrange integrity and timing are all rendered unnecessary - you are once again
M Brown, Tonbridge
Customer Number
The most significant development in mains products in recent years in my view.”
Return address: Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Road, Kendal LA9 6NS, UK.
defined by the music being there!
with II
Technology
SUPERKORD SIGNATURE -SD II™
code 1558
W350i-Ag
1m 1.5m 2m
Buy online at Exclusive UK distributor
W350i-Ag *16A
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Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Road, Kendal LA9 6NS, UK.
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