Connected 33 Winter 2015/16

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

What are you listening for?

NEW

Feature - page 18

Getting Better Performance from your TV PAGE 14

Show reports PAGE 7 & 22

PR W OM IN PU O TE LL TI R -O O N UT S

PAGE 8

“I was in utter shock. I had heard this track at least a hundred times. I thought I knew every string-pluck, every inhalation, every noise.

I was wrong. Now I heard completely new sounds, new emotions, new instruments.

It was as if there was more air between the instruments, air in the instruments, the whole sound was relaxed but more urgent and emotional...

I couldn’t stop grinning!”

Mr N Partridge, West Sussex

LIGHTWEIGHT

BY

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RIGID

|

CUSTOMISABLE

www.torlyte.com Call UK Orderline 01539 797300 Buy online at

Russ Andrews is the sole UK retailer of Kimber Kable 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)

Welcome

There's quite a show theme to this issue of Connected... we've attended more Hi-Fi Shows in 2015 than I can remember! Back in May, I attended the Orange County audio show in California, supporting the soft-launch of our Russ Andrews USA business with Rohan and Russ. Fast forward to September and Peter, Simon, Zac and I travelled south to the National Audio Show at Whittlebury Hall, near Milton Keynes where it was, as ever, fantastic to meet so many of you in person. It's always encouraging to hear so many of you enthusing about our approach to upgrading your system: read our report on the National Audio Show on page 7.

EDITORIAL

via my laptop to see what 4.0 sound was like, via HDMI from laptop to receiver. Hmmm, not spectacular was my result. However, I had not used the FM side of my tuner, and on wiring up that side to the rooftop aerial, I was amazed how much better FM was over DAB. I had tried Radio 3 via my smart TV only to bump into streaming problems on the 320kbps connection, and the 128kbps sound was not really worthy. However Linn Radio, 320kbps connection, was excellent. I await the muddy waters of a cash-strapped BBC to clear before I Invest in anything off the peg..."

In the last issue of Connected, I shared with you my experiences of the BBC's 4-channel surround sound broadcasts of the Proms concerts. Customer Laurence Garrett e-mailed to say:

Laurence's experiences with the surround-sound feed didn't mirror mine, where I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience. But I did agree with him on one point – that a compressed 320kbps feed can sound quite acceptable, given good source material. Note that I'm not saying that 320kbps sound is indistinguishable from CD quality or higher-resolution; I'm not, and can quite clearly hear the improvements with noncompressed, higher resolution files. But I do find music compressed at 320kbps satisfactory to listen to; and if the music's good, it makes me hunt out the CD or higher resolution download. I think as a steppingstone to better quality, MP3 streams (such as those delivered

by Spotify, for example) have a place, and we shouldn't dismiss them out-of-hand.

"After grappling to obtain a better sound from Radio 3 proms, I tried

Do you agree? Write to me at john.armer@russandrews.com ■

In October I returned to the USA, along with Simon and our PR consultant Phil Hansen to help with the official launch of Russ Andrews USA at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver, Colorado. RMAF is probably the biggest consumer show in the US, so it was really important that we made as big an impression there as possible. And make an impression we did! You can read Simon's report about the show on page 22.

John Armer, Editor

In this issue...

Regulars Editorial

3

First Words

4

News

5

National Audio Show Report

7

Dalton‘s Deliberations

13

Competition

27

Features Getting Better Performance From Your TV

14

What are you listening for?

18

Rocky Mountain Show Report

22

One of Us

26

Products New Products

8

Recent Reviews

24

Cone Feet

28

WINTER PROMOTIONS Supplement

Centre Pullout

Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Road, Kendal LA9 6NS, UK. © Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2015. E & OE. Any views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the company.

Issue 33 Winter 2015/16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 3

RUSS’S FIRST WORDS

The Future of Recording

For what seems like most of my professional life, I’ve been preaching the fundamental importance of rhythm and timing in reproduced music; along with my objective of creating a sense of “being there” as the artist made the recording.

My message has been received with understanding and enthusiasm by our customers and music lovers in general, but with what seems like only grudging support of the Hi-Fi industry. This year, however, I have found an important ally in Bob Stuart of Meridian.

Introducing his new streaming technology, MQA, Bob has described exactly how I feel about music reproduction.

4 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 33 Winter 2015/16

He wrote: “When music is authentic, it is more involving, we understand it better and enjoy it longer” and: “Until now, music fans everywhere have been short changed. Sound has been sacrificed for convenience.

No format in history has ever given us the full, intricate detail of live performance. We’ve never heard what the artist wanted us to hear.”

Bob, this makes my heart sing!

I have been concentrating on the massively degrading effects that RFI has on the ability of the Hi-Fi system hardware to reproduce these fundamental important aspects of musical enjoyment.

Now, Bob has addressed exactly the same issues of authenticity and realism in the recording, compression and coding of digital music. MQA is aimed not only at the archiving and distribution of existing music, but also (and more importantly for me) at the processing of digital at the recording stage. It will change reproduced music fundamentally for us all.

When recordings delivered in any format have benefited from MQA at the beginning, all of the money and effort we have invested in keeping RFI out of our systems will be repaid a thousand times over in achieving that real sense of authenticity and emotional involvement. Bring it on!

News

Russ Andrews products – as seen on TV!

Back in August, our PR consultant Phil Hansen was approached by Channel 5’s The Gadget Show to assemble a Hi-Fi System as part of an investigation into the difference in sound quality between mp3 files and lossless flac files at CD quality. Phil put together a system comprising Parasound amplification and PMC speakers, and insisted on our PowerKord-300™, X-Block™ power extension and Torlyte® system supports – all of which you can see in the programme.

NEWS

Ray receives a doctorate

In May, Ray Kimber was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humanities Degree from Weber State University, Utah. Ray dedicates an extraordinary amount of time and resources, not just to enhance the Hi-Fi industry but also to enhance his own city of Ogden, the University and those around him. Ray’s normal way of doing things is very much behind the scenes but his Doctorate is recognition of his contribution. Congratulations, Ray!

Russ Andrews-labelled Wattgate plugs

The episode was aired on 5th of October, and you can catch the show on Demand 5 here: http://www.channel5.com/shows/thegadget-show/episodes/episode-3-752 Although it’s interesting to watch, we weren’t entirely convinced by the way the tests were carried out - especially with the studio audience - and we wonder how this influenced the outcome, which suggested there was no consistent, perceptible difference between mp3 and flac. Let us know what you think at connected@russandrews.com

Any of you buying our PowerKords™ over the last few weeks will have noticed that the Wattgate plugs now incorporate the Russ Andrews logo. Russ Andrewsengraved Wattgate™ plugs are only available on our PowerKords™ and SuperKords™, or if you are sending them to us for retermination. Wattgate plugs bought loose will not carry the Russ Andrews name.

Issue 33 Winter 2015/16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 5

NEWS

New website is up and running!

Our new website was launched on 24th September and it’s a huge improvement!

The whole site has been redesigned from the ground up to make it much easier for you to find the information and products you want. The site has been divided into five clear sections:

Russ Andrews Homepage where you can find out all about us and our services;

‘Power’, which features Russ Andrews mains cables and mains accessories;

‘Cables’, featuring Kimber’s range of interconnects and speaker cables;

‘System Racks & Supports’, which has the Torlyte range and Cone Feet;

‘Other Good Stuff’ which contains everything else!

The extensive overhaul has also involved rephotographing our entire range so you can now view supersize images of the product you are looking for. We invested in a new camera and lighting set-up to ensure we captured every subtle detail so you can get a much clearer view of what you’re looking at.

The product pages now allow you to leave a review to let us, and other 6 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 33 Winter 2015/16

customers, know how you got on with an upgrade. If you want to share your experiences, follow the link just underneath the product name ‘Write your review‘.

The site is also optimised for use on your mobile or tablet too, so it’s even easier to browse and shop on the go. This doesn’t compromise the look of the site if you are viewing it on a laptop or desktop computer but it makes a huge difference when viewing on mobile devices –

now it really is easy to find what you want and go through the whole purchasing process on your smartphone. In fact we’ve noticed the growth in people looking at the site on their ‘phones and tablets already.

And we know that many of you requested it... so you can now choose to pay with Paypal in addition to Visa, Mastercard and Maestro cards.

You can get to the site at www.russandrews.com. We welcome your feedback, and if there’s anything you want to let us know about the site and its operation, send an email to website@russandrews.com

Show Time!

NEWS

This was our fifth year at the National Audio Show and it turned out to be as busy as ever, with the shop buzzing on both the Saturday and Sunday.

This time things were slightly different because Russ was away in the USA preparing for the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (see the report on page 22) so we didn't have a dedicated demonstration room. To compensate, we set up a system in our main room and it was encouraging to hear how many visitors commented on how good it sounded – which, when you consider that it was playing more in the background and there were lots of other people in the room talking, is pretty impressive.

Actually, this makes an important point because a good system shouldn't just sound good when it's played loud. I was chatting to a customer about this and we both agreed that it actually made a refreshing change, as many rooms you go into play the music far too loud in order to impress. The point is that everything was there to enjoy even at a lower volume. So bass, for example, didn't sound lacking even though it wasn't shaking the room -

the whole performance sounded really balanced and entertaining.

In order to allow people to sit and enjoy the music if they wanted to, we created a welcoming 'lounge' area.

This also encouraged people to stay longer and have a chat. One of the things that's really worthwhile about a show like this is that it gives opportunity for us to have longer conversations with you and also gives you a chance to swap stories with other Russ Andrews customers.

With Russ away, Simon took on the duties of presenting one of the show’s seminars. The seminars took place on both days and were equally well attended by an enthusiastic audience who also contributed with some interesting questions. His talk concerned the topic of listening and how the way we listen to music has an effect on the way we hear and judge a system – for those who weren't able to attend, the seminar is reprinted in this issue on page 18.

Issue 33 Winter 2015/16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE

7

New Products

NEW PRODUCTS

We are delighted to introduce a brand new range of headphone cables from Kimber Kable – AXIOS. The new cables feature an innovative woven design and will be available from January.

Nate Allen, designer of the new cables, told us: “The first products that Kimber Kable designed were the 8 wire and the 16 wire speaker cables – such as 4PR and 8TC. The design for AxioS is based on these original products. The headphone cable starts with an oFHC copper wire braid, comprising 16 individually-insulated 24-gauge strands. The really clever part is where there’s a seamless transition to two, eight-braid tails. To accomplish this we developed an entirely new hand braiding process for remarkably precise and uniform braids within the

transition. This is no easy task. The design team braided over 100 cables before the method was perfected and ready for production. it means that there’s no solder joint to impair the signal, and rather than simply twisting the tails together, the famous Kimber Kable weave is maintained.

“We’ve also worked really closely with the headphone manufacturers to develop the connectors. All connectors feature hand-polished wood accents which are matched cosmetically to the headphones. For example, take the cable we make for the Audeze LCD-3. The connectors are finished with zebrawood to complement the LCD-3’s appearance.The cables look as good as they sound.”

Custom braided OFHC copper with FEP dielectric

Locking 3.5mm Mini Jack connectors (Shown here for Sony MDR-Z7) 8 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 33 Winter 2015/16

Hand-polished fine hardwood accents

NEW PRODUCTS

Kimber's AXIOS cables are available for a range of headphones as detailed overleaf, and look out for more being added to www.russandrews.com/axios as they become available.

The cables can be formatted as a '1Y' cable (as shown in the pictures below); as a '2Y' cable if you have a balanced headphone amplifier with two outputs; or as a straight cable, if you have a headphones with a single input (such as the AKG K702). Cables can be fitted with 3.5mm mini jack; 6.35mm (1/4") jack; or 3 pin or 4 pin XLR for connecting to your headphone amplifier. Your headphone cable will be individually made to order at the Kimber factory and delivery is approximately 4 weeks.

Seamless transition into two eightbraid tails

AxIoS headphone cable with Audeze EL-8 headphones

AxIoS headphone cable with Audeze LCD-x headphones

AxIoS headphone cable with Sony MDR-Z7 headphones Issue 33 Winter 2015/16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE

9

How to order

NEW PRODUCTS

1

Choose your headphone make and model from the list below. Quote the code shown underneath the cable, or use it to search at russandrews.com. Please note that we will be adding new makes on the website as Kimber produce them. If you have a headphone that’s not listed, please contact us.

2 Choose the connector at the amplifier end. The wood accent and conductor plating will match that supplied at the headphone end.

5616

AMPLIFIER END 3.5mm Mini Jack

1/4 Inch Mini Jack

3 pin or 4 pin XLR

5617

3

Choose whether you need a Straight, 1Y or 2Y cable. See diagrams right.

5618

HiFi Man

HiFi Man

5619

KIMBER AXIOS

5620 60 DAY

MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

Straight 1.2m 2m 3m

£470 £572 £712

1Y

4

Choose the length you need.

1.2m, 2m and 3m are standard, other lengths are available, please ask.

10 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 33 Winter 2015/16

Sennheiser HD800

Gaboon Ebony

Sennheiser HD580 HD600 HD650

Gaboon Ebony

5612

Audeze EL-8

Gaboon Ebony

5611

Abyss 5613 AB-1266 Audeze 5614 LCD4 LCD3 LCD2 LCDX LCDXC Enigma 5615

Macassar Ebony

Gaboon Ebony

5610

Zebrawood

Mahogany

Sony MDR-Z7

Gaboon Ebony

MrSpeakers Beyerdynamic T1

Mahogany

HEADPHONE END

1.2m 2m 3m

£598 £710 £850

2Y 1.2m 2m 3m

£727 £824 £964

Additional £86 for Sennheiser HD800

Additional £86 for Sennheiser HD800

Power Supply Upgrades

NEW PRODUCTS

Meridian have released a series of power supply upgrades to improve the overall performance of their older-model surround-sound processors and CD players. The power supply upgrade delivers improved power immunity, giving greater power stability, and improved secondary regulation which benefits the digital and analogue outputs.

The power supply upgrade essentially replaces the existing Meridian switch-mode power supply with the latest Meridian linear power supply. As Meridian dealers, we are authorised to carry out the upgrades which take place here at Russ Andrews in Kendal.

What we can upgrade MODEL 861

VERSION V3, V4 and V6

MODEL 808

MODEL G68

MODEL G61 & G61R

VERSION V1, V2, V3

VERSION All

VERSION All

If you want to organise an upgrade, contact us on 01539 797300 before sending your unit to us. We recommend that it is returned in its original packaging: we can arrange a carrier collection if required (cost £14). Turnaround is usually a couple of days following receipt of the unit.

PRICE 861 808 G68 G61 & G61R

Code: 4672 Code: 4673 Code: 4675 Code: 4674

£938 £938 £688 £688

Prices include the power supply, labour and delivery back to you.

We can collect your unit for £14.

Issue 33 Winter 2015/16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 11

NEW PRODUCTS

More Internal SuperFuses added Russ has completed the R&D on our range of internal, 20mm fast blow and timed (or slow blow) SuperFuses. They are now available in the following values: 250mA; 500mA; 1A; 1.6A; 2A; 2.5A; 3.15A; 4A; 5A; 6.3A. Internal SuperFuses are very high performance internal fuses that feature a speciallydeveloped version of our unique Super Burn In process. The end caps are nickel-plated and are treated with DeoxIT contact enhancer.

SuperFuses are supplied with a DeoxIT Gold wipe for treatment just before fitting.

How to identify Internal fuses are sometimes located internally in equipment (meaning you need to remove the lid to get at them) or incorporated in the IEC socket behind a plastic cover.

Unplug your equipment from the mains and remove the lid or cover on the IEC socket to get at the fuse. Look carefully at the

fuse to identify the value – it will be stamped into one of the end caps. If your fuse is marked T, that denotes that it is a ‘Timed’ or slow blow fuse.

When choosing your SuperFuse, ensure that you replace your fuse with the same value SuperFuse.

Detail of fuse end cap, showing T1A

60 DAY

MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

Internal SuperFuse Code: 1023 £25 each

Treat your turntable to a bit of T.L.C. T.L.C. is our new Turntable Lid Cleaner. It’s specially formulated to be effective on Perspex turntable lids, and its anti-static properties help to remove and prevent the build-up of static on your turntable lid. Simply spray on and polish off with the supplied microfibre cloth.

T.L.C. is supplied in an aluminium bottle with adjustable pump spray nozzle and comes with a 40cm x 40cm microfibre cloth.

T.L.C. (£9.98 per 100ml)

12 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 33 Winter 2015/16

Code: 5425

300ml bottle and 40 x 40cm microfibre cloth

£29.99

Dalton’s Deliberations

Write to Simon at - simondalton@russandrews.com

Further thoughts on listening

On page 18 you'll find a synopsis of the seminar I gave at the NAS back in September. The theme was all about listening and how the way we listen can affect our enjoyment of the music and also help us to choose the right equipment. I suggested that the reason we listen in the first place is to enjoy our music – and the reason we do this via a carefully selected system is to enjoy it more. Since the seminar, I've had a couple of experiences which have made me think about this again.

The first was at the National Audio Show itself and concerns the issue of what it is that we, as manufacturers and retailers, are trying to do. I was under the impression that our aims were the same as our customers: we want to produce products that enhance musical enjoyment. And because we enjoy it we appreciate the opportunity to listen to live music too. So when we heard that a blues band were going to be playing at the awards ceremony on the Saturday evening, we made sure that our dinner table was booked late enough so that we didn't have to miss out.

It was well worth the wait, because the band – led by Paul Mitchell of Mitchell and Johnson Hi-Fi – was superb. Initially we were pleased to see that the room was buzzing with other exhibitors too, making for a great atmosphere in the large hotel lounge. Their first set was followed by the awards ceremony.

And then something very odd happened: practically everybody left. I was astounded. This was a

Hi-Fi show. We're supposed to be here because we love music and want to make the experience of listening to music better. So why, when the only live music that was playing, did everyone leave? No doubt, for some this was unavoidable, but not for pretty well everyone. It was hard not to conclude that many were simply more interested in the awards than the music and, if that's right, it's a rather sad state of affairs.

In contrast to this I was pleasantly surprised by my first experience of presenting our demo to an

“The interesting thing was that, almost without fail, the improvements they described were all musical ones rather than put across in Hi-Fi speak.”

American audience at the RMAF in October. In my NAS seminar I made reference to the way that people can try listening far too hard and that this can get in the way of just enjoying the music and, therefore, being able to notice the musical improvements. I've often observed this phenomenon at UK demonstrations. But in the US, I was surprised to find how little this happened. I had a number of people, for example, who stated they were pretty sceptical about the possibility of any improvement, especially when it came to power cables. Once they'd heard the comparison though, although

OPINION

shocked at the change they were ready to admit that they definitely experienced a quite clear improvement. The interesting thing was that, almost without fail, the improvements they described were all musical ones rather than put across in Hi-Fi speak. So, not so much talk about specific aspects of the 'sound' - such as bass or treble or soundstage – but more about the way the singer communicated the music to them or the way the whole performance was just far more involving.

And an interesting thing happened with the odd one or two – and it really was the odd one or two – who said they couldn't tell any difference.

I recall one guy in particular who walked in pronouncing that he really was very sceptical about the whole cable thing and didn't expect to hear any difference - let alone improvement – but he was willing to give it a go. So I started the track and after just a few seconds he got up and wandered over to the speakers to have a look at what model they were. Then he got back to his chair, fidgeted a bit and then kept looking around at the posters in the room. So, we swapped the cables around and played the same track again. This time there was no fidgeting, no looking around the room and he sat in the chair the whole time. What he did do, however, was to start tapping his feet and nodding his head in time with the music. "So, what did you think of the music this time?" I enquired. "I couldn't tell any difference" he replied. I'm still ■ wondering about that one...

Issue 33 Winter 2015/16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 13

Getting better performance from your TV

FEATURE

Not all of us have a dedicated Home Cinema system with a projector and screen and five, seven or even nine speakers.

Most of us have a simple flat-panel TV in the corner of the room. John Armer investigates ways to improve sound and pictures on a simple TV set up.

Position is everything The first thing to check is whether your screen is in the best position. Are you sitting close enough? The best distance you should be from your screen

is a balance: too close and you’ll be aware of the pixels; too far away and you’ll miss out on fine detail. As a rule of thumb, aim to be no less than 2x the screen size away and no more than 4x.

If you have a 47” screen, sit between 94” away (that’s 7’ 10” or 2.4m) and 188” (15’ 8” or 4.8m) away.

As well as optimising the distance from your screen, consider its angle. No matter whether you have an LCD, OLED or plasma, sitting directly in front of it will deliver the best picture quality. And it should be positioned so the middle of the

37”

DISTANCE AWAY 1.9m to 3.75m (6’2” to 12’4”)

40”

2m to 4m (6’8” to 13’4”)

47”

2.4m to 4.8m (7’10” to 15’8”)

52”

2.6m to 5.3m (8’8” to 17’4”)

SCREEN SIZE

14 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 33 Winter 2015/16

screen is at your eyeline or below. If your screen is mounted above your fireplace, it’s almost certainly too high!

If you are not sat an optimum distance from your screen, or your viewing angle isn’t ideal, consider moving the furniture in your room around so that you are. The improvements will be well worth the upheaval.

Ambient light Projector owners know the importance of keeping as much stray light from hitting the screen as possible, but that’s not the case with a flat panel TV

FEATURE

mounted on the screen. We often wall); it might find that a little also have a ambient light – on recessed socket. the wall that the screen is Check carefully what against – is better than no you need. Our light at all as it reduces PowerKord-8™ PowerKord-8™ is screen glare and 1m £99 perfect for a figure-8 consequent eye strain. socketed screen; our PowerMax Beware of lights behind you Plus™ or PowerKords™ are perfect though: they can cause for a screen with an IEC socket. If reflections, so turn them off you need a right angle IEC, we when the screen is on. can fit right-angled WATTGATE™ plugs to Cable upgrades our PowerKords.

In our experience, one If your screen of the biggest has a recessed upgrades you can IEC socket, it’s likely make to the picture that a WATTGATE™ and sound quality from plug won’t fit – in that your screen is to upgrade case you’ll need to PowerKord-100™ its power cable. Fitting specify a PowerMax 1m £155 one of our woven Plus™ which has a PowerKords™ will improve your unique, very slim IEC connector screen’s connection to the mains that will fit easily into recessed and act as a filter for RFI; in my sockets. experience it also helps reduce If you have a screen with a noise from your TV affecting the captive power cable you have rest of your Hi-Fi too. two options. You can fit a male Your particular IEC socket to a short length of TV may have a the original, captive lead figure-8 type which will allow you socket or a to fit a better power conventional IEC; it may need a rightangle plug to accommodate it (particularly if it is PowerMax Plus™ 1m £55.95

cable. If you don’t fancy cutting off the mains lead you can still enjoy an upgrade by fitting one of our SuperFuses™ to the original cable. Just make sure you replace the fuse with a SuperFuse™ of the same rating.

Aerial /Satellite feed Once you’ve sorted out your power, turn your attention to the cables that are coming from your aerial (antenna) or your satellite dish. These are the cables that carry the signal directly to your screen or to your set-top box.

Kimber’s V21 or V30 cables are ideal Kimber V-21 replacements for 1m £58 the standard brown coax cable – in our experience even just the link from the wall socket to TV tuner will bring about improvements.

Many customers have rewired the full run of cable from the aerial or satellite dish too, and it’s well worth doing if you want to get the best performance. >>

HDMI lead

SKY HD BOX

FREEVIEW BOX

TV

Issue 33 Winter 2015/16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 15

FEATURE

Getting better performance from your TV Sky HD box with Russ Andrews upgrades £611. Upgrade to existing box £399.

Meridian CAT 7 ethernet cable

Using a set-top box

Get Smart

Lots of us use a set-top box in conjunction with our screens. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Sky subscriber, or you have a box that decodes Freeview or Freesat; in our experience they all benefit from a power cable upgrade. (It’s worth noting that many of the upgrades or our Russ Andrews upgraded Sky HD box are to the power supply section).

Modern TV screens will allow you to stream internet TV to them to allow you to watch the ondemand channels (such as BBC iPlayer and ITV player) on your big screen. Any set-top box you have in your system may well have this functionality as well.

The connection could be either wireless, or a wired connection using CAT5 (or better) ethernet cable to your internet router.

You’ll probably be linking the box to your screen with an HDMI cable. Kimber’s range of HDMI cables mean that there’s bound to be one that’s perfect for your system and your budget.

Our advice is to use a wired connection if you can, which is typically more robust, leading to fewer drop-outs and buffering.

Wired connections aren’t as convenient as wireless – your router is rarely close to your screen or set-top box – but it’s worth running cables, or perhaps even arranging to move your router to enable this.

Kimber HD09e HDMI cable 0.5m £33

Kimber HD19e HDMI cable 0.5m £105

Sounds fantastic Kimber HD29 HDMI cable 0.75m £172

16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 33 Winter 2015/16

It’s no secret that your TV’s integral speakers just aren’t up to the job of delivering the

quality of sound we’re used to.

Don’t rely on them! If you are using a screen only with no settop box, connect your screen’s audio outputs to a better quality sound system (if you are using a set-top box, connect the box’s audio outputs to the better sound system). If you are lucky and your screen is positioned between the main speakers of your system, connect your screen to your Hi-Fi, much the same as if you are connecting any source to it. If your system is off to one side, consider investing in another soundbar or mini system solely to reproduce your TV sound – it will be well worth it.

FEATURE

Setting it all up

You’ll probably have the option of connecting your audio via a pair of analogue outputs (with a pair of analogue interconnects), and you may also have the option of connecting via an optical digital output (with an optical cable). Our advice is if you have a digital output, connect via this and use a separate, stand-alone Digital to Analogue Converter (DAC) if the amp you are connecting to does not have a digital input. In many cases, the quality of the standalone DAC will be better than the DAC in your TV or set-top box, delivering a smoother, more natural sound. If you are connecting digitally in this way to a 2-channel DAC, it’s very important that you tell your TV screen or set-top box to output a 2-channel signal, rather than a surround-sound signal. If you don’t, you won’t hear any sound.

To do this, find the settings menu in whatever you are connecting to the DAC, go to the audio section and there will be an option to select stereo or multichannel. Select the stereo (two-channel) output.

We mentioned the settings menu briefly in the section above, but if you are investigating the settings menu, ensure that any form of picture processing or enhancements are turned off.

Our experience is that they all degrade picture quality, adding a ‘processed’ look to your pictures.

Look out for names like “edge enhancement” or “sharpness” and set them to ‘0’ or ‘off’.

Similarly, your screen will probably have a number of picture modes; we’ve found that the ones that deliver the most natural images are called ‘normal’, ‘cinema’ or ‘movie’.

Avoid those modes called ‘dynamic’, ‘sports’ or ‘game’ – they mean that the screen stands out in a brightly-lit showroom but look uncomfortably garish in the home.

If you fancy rolling your sleeves up and investigating the detailed picture calibration settings, you’ll need to get your hands on a setup disc. We’re big fans of the Spears & Munsil set-up discs, which are in Blu-ray format (you need a Blu-ray Disc player to use them, obviously). Follow the setup instructions on the discs, which will have you optimising brightness, contrast, colour and tint, sharpness and so on. Once you’ve adjusted these (you need

Spears and Munsil set up disc - £29.99

to set aside a couple of hours at the least), you should have more detailed images with better contrast and more natural colours.

Nothing can beat a professional TV calibration, though. The best calibrators use sophisticated tools and software to accurately measure the output of your screen and ensure that it is calibrated to industry standards, specifying the correct white point, colours, gamma and related parameters. Make sure that you’ve set up your screen as detailed above before having it calibrated, and look to pay between £250 and £350 per display for calibration. In our opinion, it’s money well spent. ■ We’ve had our screens calibrated by Vincent Teoh of HDTVTEST. Vincent can be reached via his website www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/ calibration

Issue 33 Winter 2015/16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 17

FEATURE

What are you listening for?

This is a shortened version of a talk given at the National Audio Show by Simon Dalton.

When I was asked to give this seminar I have to admit I was a bit stumped over what to talk about, because I’m not especially interested in all the technicalities of our products. I look at my Hi-Fi the same way as I look at my car really; so long as it gets me from where I am to where I’m going I’m really not that concerned about the workings of the internal combustion engine. Of course, I accept that for some that isn’t the case, but for me, so long as our products make listening to music more enjoyable, well… that’s what really matters as far as I’m concerned.

This all got me to thinking about why it is that we listen to music in the first place, and that’s what I’m going to talk about here, because gaining clarity on this question will, I believe, help us to choose the right system components and ultimately to enjoy our music more.

18 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 33 Winter 2015/16

Firstly, I’m going to look at the question “What are you listening for?” and then I’ll go onto how the answer to this will give us a clue to getting the most out of our systems.

What are you listening for?

Some time ago I wrote an article in Connected titled "What are you listening for?" It seemed to me that the answer to this question was fundamental to what we do as enthusiasts listening to music.

But the question itself is ambiguous. Let me expand on this: There are two ways we can interpret the question: 1. The first has an emphasis on the word ‘listening’: What are you listening for? This can be restated as 'What are you listening out for?' Or 'What specifically are you listening for?'

2. The second is a more general interpretation that can be restated simply as: 'Why are you listening?'

Whether we interpret the question according to the first or second definition can have an important bearing on both how we listen and likewise on how we choose and assess Hi-Fi. So, let’s look at the first definition in a bit more detail.

What are you listening out for?

Listening in this mode is more of a critical affair. When we are listening out for something we are focusing on specifics – that is, there is something specific we are listening out for. In my experience, having spoken to many Hi-Fi enthusiasts over the years, this often finds the form of listening out for specific elements in a recording which show how good our system sounds. I've done it myself; a friend calls round, sees the Hi-Fi and responds along the lines of "wow, that looks impressive – can I have a listen?" Nine out of ten times I'd put on a recording that I know sounds good on the system, one that will impress because there are specific elements that reproduce really well. Why do you think you often hear the same recordings used throughout shows like this one? I’ve lost count of the times I've listened to Money For Nothing by Dire Straits!

Anyway, the point is that we're listening out for something rather than listening to the recording as a whole. And this is a trap we often fall into when assessing any additions or changes to our systems, reflected by comments about the "sweetness" of the treble or the "tightness" of the bass. How often have you come

FEATURE

out of a concert hall reflecting on the sweetness of the treble?

Never? So why do we do it with Hi-Fi? This really can lead into a problem of not being able to see the wood for the trees because we end up over-analysing the sound. It might help to clarify this by considering the way we look at a painting.

Hi-Fi enthusiasts we can often get far too distracted by ‘tweaking’ the system to get the best sound out of it rather than simply sitting back and enjoying the music.

Another thing that often gets in the way is listening too intensely for anything that has been, or can be, improved – and I emphasise the ‘tense’ in ‘intensely’.

If you stand a foot away from a Van Gogh for example, you'll get a great insight into the production of the painting and you may even become pretty adept at recognising the subtleties of the brush strokes.

But unless you take a few steps back you'll never get to experience the painting as a whole - which kind of renders the whole experience a bit pointless.

One of the reasons I decided to take on this topic was because I spoke to a customer on the phone a few weeks ago who had just come back to Hi-Fi from a number of years in the wilderness.

He had given up on his Hi-Fi because he'd become so

Why are you listening?

When we look at the question from the perspective of the second formulation though, things shift quite dramatically.

The question "Why am I listening?" is a more fundamental one that gets to the heart of what we really want from a Hi-Fi. The answer to this must surely be along the lines of "To enjoy the music". The question then becomes: what do we mean by this? What is it to enjoy music?

Let’s just consider for a moment what it’s NOT about: There are many things that can get in the way of listening to the actual music rather than listening to the sound of the music - or to put it another way; the sound of the way the music is reproduced through our Hi-Fi. For a start, as

“The irony was that in ‘forgetting to listen’ I had discovered what I should really have been listening for all along: musicality.”

obsessed with getting it 'right'. He told me how he'd come home every night and critically listen to his system, often playing the same track over and over. First he'd make one adjustment and found that the bass was perfect but it sounded worse elsewhere.

So he'd change things around and listen again, only to find that now the top end was spot on but the bass had disappeared. Once he'd finally got somewhere near the ideal sound he was looking for, he'd then listen to something else and the whole process

started over again. Sound familiar?

The real thing?

This over-concern with sound quality can be found in more subtle forms too. It’s often been said that, to judge a system, we need to compare the sound with the ‘real thing’ - the closer we get to the actual live recording, the better the system is and, consequently, the better it is to listen to. Sounds plausible...

I have to admit that, until recently, I had followed this ‘real music benchmark’ myself. That is, until I paid a trip to Russ’s house to listen to his system. The initial intention had been to compare three different versions of ‘Kind of Blue’ by Miles Davis. I had just purchased another copy as part of a box set and we wondered how the different versions compared.

So I sat there, ready and prepared to listen for any clues or subtle changes in the presentation that would differentiate the recordings. And I listened. And I was completely engrossed. So engrossed, in fact, that I forgot that I was there to make comparisons.

The irony was that in ‘forgetting to listen’ I had discovered what I should really have been listening for all along: musicality. The very fact that I had been so engrossed in the performance told me all I needed to know.

There was another lesson I learned from this experience too.

If you asked me to judge how accurately a system reproduces the music, I would have agreed >

Issue 33 Winter 2015/16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 19

FEATURE

that the answer lies in how close it gets to the original performance - you have to judge whether it makes the music sound more, or less, like the real thing. Sitting there, listening to Miles Davis on Russ’s system though, it struck me: I wasn’t taken away by this performance because I could imagine that he was there in the room. No. I was transported by the music, by this recording. The beauty lay in the performance itself. Russ’s system conveys the recording in such a way that all comparisons to other performances of the piece – whether in the studio or the concert hall – seem irrelevant.

This was the performance. And it was wonderful.

Perhaps I can clarify this by going back to the analogy with painting. It’s like the difference between a reproduction print of a painting and an etching. We need to think of the music we listen to on our Hi-Fi like the latter. An etching is the work of art. It’s not a compromised reproduction of an original. The etching was intended right from the start to be the work of art. In the same way, a musical recording is produced specifically to be enjoyed in the home.

Taking enjoyment from the experience itself rather than being distracted by comparisons with an unachievable ideal of ‘the band in the room’ helps to focus the listener on the inherent musicality – or not – of the recorded piece.

20 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 33 Winter 2015/16

“I wasn’t taken away by this performance because I could imagine that he was there in the room. No. I was transported by the music, by this recording.”

In a recent edition of Stereophile magazine, John Atkinson muses over this question and argues that the theory of 'comparison to live music' doesn’t “hold together with two-channel reproduction, in which the ambient sound at the original event is folded into the front channels”. This argument, he suggests, “is based on a fallacious assumption: that an accurate representation of the original recorded event is encoded in the grooves, pits or bits”. And in his book “How Music Works” the Talking Heads frontman and composer David Byrne writes: “Hearing a recording of a live performance one has witnessed and enjoyed can prove disappointing. An experience that was auditory, visual and social has now been reduced to something coming out of stereo speakers or headphones. in performance, sound comes from an infinite number of points - even if the performer is in front of you, the sound is bouncing off the walls and ceilings, and that’s part of the experience”.

Of course, they’re right. You cannot achieve a perfect

reproduction of the original piece of music any more than a photograph of a Van Gough can be an exact copy of the original painting.

The real pleasure of music Could this experience give an insight into a better way of listening? Think about where the real pleasure of music lies; is it to be found in the score, in the specific arrangement of notes?

Well, partly yes; of course it is there would literally be no music without this. But this in itself is not enough; it has to be played.

But it’s also in the way it’s played, in the interpretation of an individual musician and their ability to communicate the musical message - that is what really engages us. Russ once wrote in an article that “We can all tell jokes, but as Frank Carson used to say “It’s the way I tell ‘em” that counts - the real humour in the joke lies in the delivery”. The comedy analogy is, I think, spot on. How many times have we heard the phrase that comedy is all about timing?

We’ve all seen comedians getting this right: watch Eric Morecambe perform and you’ll see that most of the humour, most of what people laugh at, is in his timing and delivery of the material.

With music, rhythm and timing is at the very heart of an engaging performance. This is what we refer to as musicality, and if a performance doesn’t have it, well, it doesn’t matter how good the songwriting and

FEATURE

arrangement is, it just won’t engage us. This presence – or not – of musicality in a performance, is ultimately what we judge it on. It’s the difference between musical performances which engage us and those which leave us cold. By listening first to rhythm and timing, it’s not the sound of the music we will be concentrating on but the music itself, the inner meaning, the emotional message - in fact, all those elements which make music so important in our lives.

There’s a problem though: to quote Russ: “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”.

So what can we do about this?

Well, so long as we build a system with components and infrastructure chosen on the same criteria that we use when listening to music, rather than listening to the sound, we’ll actually end up with Hi-Fi that’s really enjoyable to listen through and this applies whatever the budget. And the interesting thing is that, once you really start listening to the performance itself, you can make judgements very quickly because you’ll know whether or not the music makes sense. To quote Russ again: “if a Hi-Fi system fails to convey the musical, emotional message, it is just noise. i don’t care how good its ‘sound quality’ is – it’s just high quality noise”.

How to listen at an audio show This way of listening is no more valuable than at an event like the National Audio Show where we are faced with dozens of systems and it’s difficult to choose what to listen to. I’m reminded of an article I read in one of the magazines following last year’s show. Let me quote from

“once you really start listening to the performance itself, you can make judgements very quickly because you’ll know whether or not the music makes sense” it: “visitors walk in and out as they please, sometimes making a swift retreat if the demo room is too crowded to comfortably see what’s on display”. The writer continues: “The problem is it’s too easy to make a snap decision on a room and vote with your feet – meaning that you might miss out on the star of the show”. But what about listening? Surely, whether or not you can see the items making the music, if they sound good enough you’re going to hang around to listen?

In addition, I kind of doubt I’d make the snap decision to walk away if the music sounded that good – at the very least I’d make sure I’d come back later. In fact, ironically,

I’d suggest that if the system really is the best in show you should be able to make a snap decision to stay rather than leave, because you’d instantly be aware of how good it sounded.

As an aside, I also note that the writer talks about “not being able to see what’s on display”. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the look of a nice amp or speakers as much as the next man but let’s be candid; it has no bearing whatsoever on the performance of the component. To me, the sad thing is that too many systems at Hi-Fi shows can look fabulous but sound pretty awful.

And that includes ones costing many tens of thousands of pounds.

My advice would be this: (this works best if you’ve got a little notebook or a smartphone that you can take notes on). Based on the ideas I’ve discussed, have a walk round all the corridors - don’t go into any rooms but take a note when you pass one that’s emanating music you are drawn to listen to (and perhaps, the ones you are naturally disinclined to enter!). You’ll then end up with a good list of rooms to go back to and enjoy.

As a final point - and a tiny plug for Russ Andrews, the Musicality Test is at the absolute core of everything we do. When we’re developing new products it’s always how they draw us more into the music that matters above everything else. Yes, of course we sometimes get way-laid and start listening to the sound again - but that’s usually a good indication that the product needs more work!

■

Issue 33 Winter 2015/16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 21

American Show Report

SHOW REPORT

John, Simon and our PR guru Phil all went out to Denver recently to support Rohan and Russ - along with friends Mandy and Joely - at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. Possibly the most prestigious consumer Hi-Fi show in the USA, the show attracts visitors from all over the country throughout the three day event.

Russ Andrews USA had a main shop display in the hotel lobby along with a separate demo room on the third floor. The demo itself

was based on our popular UK version where we buy some decent mid-range kit on eBay and compare the performance of the standard out-of-the-box cables with the start of the Kimber and Russ Andrews range. This was particularly pertinent at Denver where there was another budget system in our corridor of the same value - but its value was solely in the components, not the components and cables. It's no exaggeration to say that the audience was stunned by the level of performance that came out of our little $1600 system in comparison!

Budget system: · Amp: Arcam Alpha 7 · CD Player: Arcam Alpha 7 · Speakers: Focal 706 Cabling: · Power Cables: PowerKord-100 x2

· Interconnects: Kimber Timbre · Speaker cable: Kimber 4PR

A couple of reviewers who came to listen to the demo were mightily impressed by the results.

First up was Rick LaFaver of www.enjoythemusic.com. We got the impression that there are not too many demos like this at US shows i.e. ones where a direct comparison is made between the 'before' and 'after' effects of products, and we certainly had an impact: ”This was a great demo as they switched between cheapy out of the box speaker cables and interconnects to Kimber and Russ Andrews' entry level line. it was truly pulling a veil off the sound and letting the music shine“. So surprised was he with the results that he had to look behind the system just to check there was no trickery going on! "i assure you" he says, "it was just the cables" and concludes by saying "i am a believer". www.theaudiobeat.com was already familiar with our UK operation so had some idea of what to expect, but even they were surprised by the effects:

L to R front row: Russ, Rohan and Mandy, L to R back row: Phil, John, Joely and Simon.

22

CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 33 Winter 2015/16

"This simple three-minute demo left many listeners stunned by the degree of musical improvement that resulted. Every single aspect of musical reproduction was lifted, and not by a little bit. More bandwidth, more dynamic range, more color, more immediacy, more emotion, more expression, more detail, more naturalness, more convincing -- i could go on,

SHOW REPORT

He was impressed with the results of the demo too, noting that "it took all of 5 seconds to hear the difference...

President of Russ Andrews USA, Rohan Andrews, in the shop area they were obvious but it’s easy to conclude that and should be a required there was simply, substantially experience for those who claim more music". wire is wire".

Amusingly, the reviewer, Roy Kimber were exhibiting in force Gregory, continues with the too with a major space allocated observation that: to showcase their high-end cables "i saw several (i assume) cable along with our PowerKords, for skeptics blundering out of the which we received a joint award room as if they’d just had their for Best Exhibit from compasses demagnetized. Never EnjoyTheMusic.com. The system mind - i’m sure they’ll recover and sounded simply 'awesome' and convince themselves that it was garnered some very high praise all an illusion, bad dream or con from the press, including this of some description. More openquote from Rick LaFaver of the minded individuals would do well aforementioned Enjoy The Music: to take the lesson on board: "The experience was nothing cables matter, all cables matter, short of breathtaking! i've heard and using all the same cables live performances that didn't matters". reach this level of realism, We couldn't agree more! dynamics, and scale."

Patrick Dillon's blog at: audiomatters.blogspot.co.uk suggested that the "Winner of the great fun room award has to be Russ Andrews" adding that we were a "great part of the proceedings, and a cheery bunch of folks too, they know how to make room visitors feel welcome. Listen and learn others - this is the type of room that encourages people to enjoy RMAF and the audio hobby". Thanks Patrick – that's some compliment!

Their room also featured a 'reallife' grand piano and audiences were treated to stunning performances from Fan-Ya Lin, a great reminder of what live music actually sounds like - and

a wonderful comparison to be able to walk a few yards and hear the same performance played back through the wonderful system next door!

Kimber were also present on the ninth floor with three rooms dedicated to entry, mid and high end cabling, using a mixture of Hi-Fi and Home Cinema systems, whilst in the CanJam headphone area their new AXIOS range of headphone cables (see page 8) was being previewed. To see a video of Nate Allen from Kimber Kable explaining the new cables at the RMAF, go to our Facebook page and scroll down the timeline.

Our presence throughout the show prompted Enjoy The Music to issue the following statement along with their Award for Best Exhibit at RMAF 2015: "As good as all of the systems sounded, there was really only one exhibitor that MADE the show. They brought beautiful live performances from the likes of Fan-Ya Lin, they had multiple cabling AB demos, even headphone AB demos. They also with help from EMM Labs and Martin Logan had one of the better sounding rooms in the show. i am speaking of course of Kimber Kable and Russ Andrews.

They successfully brought an interactive and vibrant room to RMAF 2015 that was awesome!"

Issue 33 Winter 2015/16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 23

Reviews

REVIEWS

X-4 Block™ with PowerKord-100™

Following on from the excellent What Hi-Fi 5 Star review of our X6 Block™ in the last edition of Connected, Hi-Fi Choice have reviewed the X4 Block partnered with our PowerKord-100™. Once again, Neville Roberts was in charge of proceedings testing his CD player, turntable and the power supply to his preamp into the block.

"Playing a CD of Elgar's Cockaigne overture op.40 by the BBC Symphony orchestra", he writes, "crescendos are more expressive with a better dynamic range with the x4".

Moving onto a performance of Scarlatti sonatas by George Malcolm, he observed that it "has a natural midrange and the background noise is on the recording, not the hi-fi".

Verdict:

In conclusion, and awarding the block 4.5 stars and a Recommendation, he states that "this greatsounding block is certainly high quality and the sockets are excellent".

RECOMMENDED X4 Block £259 PowerKord-100™ £155 Magazine: HiFi Choice Issue: October 2015

4TC Jumpers

X-4 Block with PowerKord-100™

Price:

This time we're looking at the November issue of Hi-Fi Choice and the reviewer was interested to examine the jumpers, having "reviewed the excellent 4TC Kimber speaker cable back in November 2012".

4TC Jumpers provide a quick and easy way to replace and upgrade the simple metal links that most loudspeaker manufacturers supply with their bi-wireable units. They are also a less expensive and often far better alternative to bi-wiring itself.

4TC Jumper Cables We find they often take an unpleasant edge off the treble without losing any of the detail and this is reflected in the comment that "using the jumpers results in a slightly smoother top end". "They make a great upgrade" the review concludes, giving the jumpers 4.5 stars and a recommendation.

24 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 33 Winter 2015/16

Verdict: RECOMMENDED Price: from £42.50 Magazine: HiFi Choice Issue: November 2015

Reviews

REVIEWS

SuperKord-100 SDII™

Keep up to date with new reviews in our blog section at www.russandrews.com/blogs

The December 2015 edition of Hi-Fi Choice featured a rare review of our SuperKord-100 SDII™. So what did they think?

varied instruments are playing together, each is clearly identifiable at a particular location in the soundstage".

The first thing that the reviewer, Neville Roberts, noticed when he plugged in the SuperKord was the "perceptible reduction in background noise". "i don't know about silence being golden", he writes, "but it certainly is black with the SuperKord". Of course, the thing about creating a quieter background is the effect that this has on the overall listening experience, not just the fact that quiet passages are better defined. One of the most significant effects, according to Neville, "is an improvement in overall refinement across a wide range of music". He gives the example of a recording of Frank Zappa's Dog Breath played by the Omnibus Wind Ensemble which he says sounds "altogether more sophisticated and elegant". He goes on to explain this effect: "When all of the 12 very

These sort of musical differences are experienced with other tracks too. On GoGo Penguin's album V2.0 he notes how the track Kamaloka, "appears quicker and the very low bass line is rich, extended and smooth, yet well controlled". And with Bruch's Violin Concerto No.1 "instruments are less crammed together and more spacious" and there's "a discernible ease in the way the music is reproduced when compared with the standard lead".

SuperKord-100 SDII™ Verdict: RECOMMENDED Price: £746 Magazine: HiFi Choice Issue: December 2015

Issue 33 Winter 2015/16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE

25

Online Roundup

ONLINE ROUNDUP

ONE OF US

One of us!

Name: Sarah Garstang Job: Graphic Designer Time with us: 15 Years Sarah is our graphic designer and has responsibility for the design of all our marketing materials, from a simple instruction sheet to exhibition banners and this very magazine you are reading! She has been with us for over 15 years having previously worked in London for the BBC and British Airways (one of her claims to fame is that she designed the condiment sachets for Concorde!).

Her experience and talent in design has helped us to win a number of industry awards for our catalogues and website.

Don’t forget to keep in touch...

Become a fan on facebook www.facebook.com/russandrews.accessories Follow us on twitter www.twitter.com/russandrewshifi

Connect with us on Instagram http://instagram.com/russandrewsaccessories See us on Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/russandrewshifi 26 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 33 Winter 2015/16

Sarah is a very jolly presence in the office, always bringing a smile to our faces, but she's also extremely adept at keeping John and Simon in line when it comes to deadlines!

Sarah lives in the Lake District.

Outside work she loves to be in the great outdoors walking with her husband and their Irish Terrier, Wally.

She also loves listening to a wide range of music from Kate Rusby to Led Zeppelin.

Competition

COMPETITION

WIN

WIN a SuperClamp Ultra worth £57!

A SUPERCLAMP ULTRA WORTH £57

You'll see on page 25 that Neville Roberts reviewed the SuperKord-100 SD-II™ in the December 2015 issue of Hi-Fi Choice. For this issue's competition we'd like you to tell us how many conductors are used in this cable.

The SuperKord-100 SD-II uses Hyper-pure copper conductors: but how many?

A. 8 B. 6 C. 12 Send your entries to us at: Connected 33 Competition, Russ Andrews Accessories, 2B Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Rd, Kendal, LA9 6NS, or email your entries with the subject 'Connected 33 Competition' to competition@russandrews.com.

The closing date for entries is 9th February 2016. One winner will be selected at random from all the correct entries and will receive the prize of a SuperClamp Ultra surge protector.

Terms and Conditions 1. The closing date for entries is 9th February 2016 and the winner will be notified by 27th February 2016; 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 SuperClamp Ultra. 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 entrants 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.

We had a great response to the wordsearch competition in the last issue of Connected, and the answers are printed here on the right.

CONGRATULATIONS Congratulations to Mr Dixon from Essex who was chosen at random from the correct entries. Mr Dixon wins the Manual Record Cleaning Kit worth £70.85.

S I S S A H C C G C H G A P E

S T Y L U S Q O O L T N N L O

V H A S D P F U J R N I T A E

S S Z L O I G N O T I R I T V

G N I K C A R T N Q L A S T I

S S M H T R O E S J P E K E R

T D U P F M M R C O E B A R D

R D T K E N W W I T G B T D T

O Z H V G L L E H S D A E H L

B A I I B P F I P I I R E D E

E R L M M E K G Z P R R I O B

D A H U C P L H Z X T K E V L

T O N E A R M T K X R Y R C E

P L A T T E R M A T A V Q P K

D U S T C O V E R K C P N J R

Issue 33 Winter 2015/16 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 27

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

Are your feet causing a problem?

Customer Number

Reference Code

No, we’re not recommending a chiropodist! The feet we’re talking about are the ones under your equipment.

Most of the feet you can buy focus on just one thing: isolation. The trouble is that this traps acoustic energy, causing a degradation in the critical areas of rhythm and timing. Not good.

Torlyte® Platform and CD player fitted with Big Cone Feet

Cone Feet are specifically designed to create an efficient path for this acoustic energy to escape at the same time as preventing sound-degrading external vibrations entering the system. The result? Here's what Hi-Fi Choice had to say when they recommended them:

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

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