Page 26 - Hi-Fi_News_-_December_2020 video

HI-FI @ HOME – WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Hi-Fi @ Home revisited

Steve Harris talks to a reader whose system we featured back in 2010.

Before we find out what changes he’s made, here’s how things were...

7.3m HI-FI @ HOME
PAT ATIO D DOO OR RS PATIO DOORS S
CHEST GATELEG GATELEG TABLE TABLE S STORAGE STORAGE LP LP
Sofa SP PEA AKER
HI-FI @ HOME ‘Then I looked at the Spendor
CD
STORAGE
CD
STORAGE
SPEAKER R BC1, but I’d heard of earlier
problems with blown drivers, and
COFFEE AMP that put me off. The three-way KLH
DESK TABLE AM MP 103 also sounded good, so I went
HI-FI @ HOME SPE EAKER SPEAKER and I’d had the speakers a long time
with that. It had a fantastic fi nish,
OPEN REEL
OPEN REEL
It’s a journey that will strike a chord – the search for that AV SYSTEM before I realised it wasn’t real wood. by Conrad-Johnson valve power
STORAGE
sound and all the blind alleys encountered along the way. This
STORAGE
LP LP
amplifi ers, fi rst an MV45 and later by
It was a vinyl wrap!
an MV75A.
‘Eventually I did get Spendors, the
reader has at last reached a place of sonic serenity, having 3.7m MUSIC ROOM om still allows him to enjoy I heard the Krell PAM 7 pre, which
‘It was Jim Dovey, at Acoustic Arts
SP1, and now I did have stereo. No
in Watford, who got me interested
upgraded over the years from a 78rpm record player to the
Undeniably long and narrow, Lawrie’s room still allows him to enjoy
depth to talk of really, but there was
in the “whole system” approach.
good soundstaging and a natural balance. For some years Lawrie’s
e. For some years Lawrie’s
a spread of sound. Like a wall behind
fabulous system he enjoys today. Steve Harris dropped by...
hi-fi and previous speakers were placed at the other, slightly narrower
at the other, slightly narrower
the speakers, rather than an open
he’d put on as a reference while
perimentation, the sound was
hall, though.
never satisfactory, with a bass hump, constrained imaging and a lack of
nstrained imaging and a lack of
DRIVEN TO LINN
preamps. At the end of it, I said
to come across a 12in Goodmans end of the room, but despite endless experimentation, the sound was we listened to possible alternative
d when the speakers were moved
“Well, I want the Krell!”
n enthusiast all his life, Axiom 150 drive unit. I built various openness. But the problems disappeared when the speakers were moved
‘I’d had the Thorens TD 125
h the Peak Consult speakers well
Lawrie has owned so enclosures for it from the Goodmans back to their present position! Now, with the Peak Consult speakers well speakers, with open-baffl e mid and
controlled by the articulate and powerful Ayre amplifi er, the bass quality
ul Ayre amplifi er, the bass quality
‘I also got the SD Acoustics SD1
upgraded by the late Charles
many classic products that
Trayhorn at Metrosound, and it was
A there’s hardly room to designs. When I went to stereo in is fi ne and the overall sound is seamless. . working well. But the pressure from ribbon treble. They had a great ABOVE: I’d heard the SME 30 at a show,
1961 or 1962, I got a 300, then the
current equivalent of the 150, and
mention them all.
depth of bass, but you needed to be
‘Then in 2003 I got an SME 10.
the magazines, to go to the Linn
Speaker cables
‘I’ve never changed my view
Sondek, was just
a decent distance away from them.
n enthusiast all of what I want,’ he says, ‘but I’ve built a second cabinet. too great! I felt I ‘The Spirit 3 is Otherwise they from Virtual and thought it the most neutral
‘By then I’d gone on to Quad
Dynamics, the
made a few sideways detours, and
combination I’d heard. I couldn’t
didn’t integrate.
amplification. I’d bought the 22
must be missing
SME 20 deck’s
something.
‘And I moved
then thought “I should never have
‘So when I’d
next to Nagra
second amp later on.
bought that!” preamp and one II amp first, the piled up enough by far the best from the Linn power supply afford the 30, but I was later able to
move up to the 20, and equip it with
‘It goes back to the 1950s, and
to the Oxford
an SME V arm.’
cartridge I’ve
his life, Lawrie has AM radio, and the BBC still playing Collaro crystal cartridge, the TX88, pennies, I got a ever heard’ Crystelle. It came K-1x preamp. point had included a Goldring Excel,
CDP, and Ayre
‘My turntable used the top
Cartridge changes up to this
78s. When the BBC moved over to
Linn. I used the
an improved version of the Studio
with a Rega
microgroove records, I thought, “So P or Studio O which normal record Mission 774 arm, Stilton, a cheap cartridge compared BELOW LEFT: then an Ortofon MC25 and then an
RB250, and I used
it can be improved!” And I’ve been
an Audio Technica
players used. The cantilever had
Ortofon Kontrapunkt B.
which I’d had on the Thorens, the
SME Model
‘I thought that was splendiferous,
owned so many on a steady drive ever since, trying holes drilled or punched all the way fi rst arm that I’d heard giving true, with the Linn Karma. But the whole 20/2 turntable until I heard the Benz Micro
to make things better and better.
down it to make it light, and the
with SME
deep, thunderous bass from my
specification was 20Hz to 20kHz.
set-up sounded much better.
Glider! A totally different sound,
Audio Technica AT32E cartridge.
Series V arm/
‘But the next step was a Decca
FIRST UPGRADE
more spacious, more natural. I
‘I then got an SME IV, a cracking
But I thought, when I can afford it,
Transfi guration
‘The first record player I got hold Deram cartridge. We added an I’ll get an Ittok. Which I then did, arm, I thought. But eventually, in cartridge ran that until I got the current
Spirit 3
of was an old 78 thing that you
Transfi guration Spirit 3. Which is by
A classic products plugged into the back of a radio. It outrigger counterweight to the arm, later a Karma. packed up – it juddered and jumped BELOW: The far the best cartridge I’ve ever had.’
followed by an Asak cartridge, and
about 1998, the turntable bearing
because the Deram ran at a fraction
had steel needles, and you had to
of the weight. It tracked quite well.
around! The manufacturer had gone
Alongside Lawrie’s turntable,
‘I ran this for four years, having
change them. But for two shillings before I could afford the “proper” it tuned up every year at a Linn of the Oxford.’ Peak Consult unusually, is his Revox pro PR99
‘It was a couple more years
out of business, so that was the end
open-reel deck.
and sixpence, I found my first
Klinic. It would come back sounding
Princess
‘I started with a basic domestic
that there’s hardly room to upgrade. It was a sapphire tipped Decca arm and head. I used to look ‘I fi rst heard Quad electrostatics in Imhofs.... 303 to a 405, but was then seduced Michell Gyrodec SE, later upgrading speaker tape recorder in 1967, then moved
amazing, for a while. Yet it always
Lawrie replaced that deck with a
steel needle, and you didn’t have to
at a row of them on the wall at
change it. That was the first upgrade
seemed thick around the middle –
Musicraft in London, and think, “One
this with an Orbe platter and DC
ABOVE:
on to a Truvox, then an Akai 4000D.
fs....
not as clean and open as I wanted.’
ABOVE:
of several million.
day I’m going to have one of those.”
motor. He found it better-sounding
Peak Consult
Lawrie had upgraded the Quad
Peak Consult
And then on to cassettes, from 1974
than the Crystelle, lowering the
‘When I started work as an
speakers
I’m m m
until I got rid of my Nakamichi 150E
by then, getting about £12 a week.
driven by a
mention them all here. apprentice electronics engineer, I And in 1964, I did. I was qualified had a Mark II, a Mark III and then the We were young oiks with leather jackets. I’m speakers surface noise in particular. while. But when I retired in 2001,
in 1998. Then it was MiniDisc for a
driven by a
sure they thought we were there to raid them!’ !’
hem m m!’
got a Collaro Transcription deck. I
big Ayre amp
London, which was a Mark V really.
big Ayre amp
I saved up and got the Decca
built my own amps, the Mullard 5-10
Professional arm, and a Garrard 301.
with SME and
I was looking for things to repair. I
with SME and
and the Mullard 2 preamp, and the cartridges for three generations. I When they were working, and the now call stereo. I had two-channel “Hello, that’s different!” I had Nagra restored a number of Revoxes, and
record was good, they were magical.
‘I stayed with the Decca FFSS
Nagra
FM tuner that went with it. Then I
!” I had
ended up keeping the PR99.’
sources make
When they weren’t, like the little girl
sources make
ndstage, of
this a truly
‘It goes back to the was lucky enough, for five pounds, with a little curl, they were horrid! Decca, I take it? with – sometimes – something in walked through a soundstage, of this a truly A WRONG MOVE
And not a good match for the
sorts. The sound wasn’t coming
’t coming
classy system.
classy system.
In fact, I’m sure I destroyed a lot of
t from behind
from the speakers, but from behind
the middle! There was no sweep, no
‘It was awful. I think that was
records. But when it was good, my
But we’ve got behind with the
soundstage at all.
No screen
arc, but it was
No screen
speaker side of the story. Lawrie
between the
eakers, the fi rst
detached from the speakers, the fi rst
RIGHT: goodness there was nothing like it.’ what made me give up on Deccas ‘And it was years before I did them. It wasn’t in an arc, but it was between the acquired the SD1s in 1988, and still
and go for SME and Shure. When I
Lawrie also
nd I thought,
speakers
speakers
1950s, and AM radio, and happens to AN EARLY MISTAKE... heard the Shure V15, I didn’t think have that. I was always aware of two time I’d heard that. And I thought, here, as the had them when he moved to the
speakers playing, never heard the
here, as the
“Well, one day…”
it was anywhere near as good
speakers disappear. Until one day, I
In 1971, Lawrie changed to a
separate
separate
present house two years later.
be a skilled
AV system
AV system
‘I placed them where the
as a Decca at its best, but it was
cabinet-
‘That was in Imhofs, near Centre
less successfully, to a Transcriptors
faces across
‘At that time, I’d moved on to
maker. The Thorens TD125 turntable and, consistent. I could make it track, and heard Quad electrostatics. SPREAD OF SOUND ND ved on to faces across current speakers are, and it worked
the room.
because we sat on the settee miles
I could play my records.’
the room.
Point in the West End. Imhofs was
result is that
unipivot arm.
. They were well
away from them! But I had this old
the BBC still playing 78s. all his LPs and at the time when the Transcriptors to Quad’s transistor pre/power quite posh, and we were young Celestion Ditton 25s. They were well On top of the hankering for the sound that was in
‘Yes, there was a mistake! It was
On top of the
By then, Lawrie had changed
e magazines, but
recommended in the magazines, but
electronics
ry disappointing.
CDs are neatly
in fact they were very disappointing.
oiks with leather jackets and
electronics
motorcycles. I’m sure that they
are seen HRS
housed in
are seen HRS
my mind. And in 1992 I managed to
combination, the 33/303.
xiliary Bass
turntable had appeared in the
‘I don’t say it was better, I don’t
Radiator) and what they gave you
they gave you
these custom- Clockwork Orange film and I’d say it wasn’t as good, it was a thought we were there to raid They had an ABR (Auxiliary Bass 90 | www.hifi news.co.uk | NOVEMBER 2010 stretch to a pair of Quad ESL-63s.
damping pads
damping pads
read in magazines that this was a
built units.
bass.
When the BBC moved over As for the kit fantastic arm, fluid-damped and all different presentation. But at the them! Anyway, one day there, I was loads of woolly bass. R
heard a pair of Quads. I thought,
the rest of it. But it was a pain to
time, I wasn’t really getting what I’d
rack, this is
MBER 2010 | | | www.hifi news.co.uk | | 89
from Finite-
Elemente use, all flippy-floppy.’ NOVEMBER 2010 | www.hifi news.co.uk | 89
088-093 HiFi@Home_v2_PMPF.indd 90
to microgroove records, 88 | www.hifinews.co.uk | NOVEMBER 2010 18/8/10 12:32:29
ABOVE: HFN I thought, “So it can be 18/8/10 12:32:01
reader Lawrie improved!”. And I’ve been on enclosures for it from the Goodmans The cantilever had holes drilled
pictured back a steady drive ever since. designs. When I went to stereo in or punched all the way down it to
in 2010 when ‘When I started work as an 1961 or 1962, I got a 300, then the make it light. But the next step was
Ayre’s K-1x and apprentice electronics engineer, I current equivalent of the 150. a Decca Deram cartridge. We added
V-1x amps were got a Collaro Transcription deck. I an outrigger counterweight to the
at the heart built my own amps, the Mullard 5-10 DREAMS OF DECCA arm, as the Deram ran at a fraction
of his system. and the Mullard 2 preamp. Then I ‘By then I had a Quad 22 preamp of the weight. It tracked quite well.
The open-reel was lucky enough, for fi ve pounds, and a Quad II, with a second coming ‘It was a couple more years
recorder is a to come across a 12in Goodmans later. My turntable used the top before I could afford the “proper”
Revox pro PR99 Axiom 150 drive unit. I built various Collaro crystal cartridge, the TX88. Decca arm and head. I used to
26 | www.hifi news.co.uk | DECEMBER 2020