Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2018 9:09:00 GMT
When back in England, I made the short drive up to Tony's place to check out some of the brands he represents, listen to some tunes, have a chat and of course pick up my Coherent 6D cable loom (speaker cables, 2 interconnects and 4 power leads). I want to share what I heard with you, as best I can.
A quick sidenote;
This isn't the first time I've met Tony; he made a trip to mine, back when I was living in the UK, around 4/5 years ago. I remember then him bringing around a full 4D loom (sans speaker cables, they were Analysis Plus - silver somethings) and being massively impressed with what it did for the sound of my system. It's from the strength of that initial engagement that I decided to choose this brand.
Back to the present; the system that Tony had setup was something like:
Speakers: TAD CR1 (on dedicated stands, with Track Audio isolation feet)
Amp: Not sure - a Tony bespoke special. 130 Watts and 32A of instantaneous current, if I'm not mistaken.
Preamp: See above, another Tony special - with a noise floor of -140db!
Source: A modified Nove Fidelity X40
DAC: Heavily modified TAD
Mains: Oracle 'conditioner' (does something other than condition), all American plug sockets
Other: 'Return to zero' grounding by Coherent, everything sat on Black Ravioli, all cabling was a complete loom of BD+
Tony ran my friend and I through a few warm up tracks and within about ten seconds I knew I was listening to something very special indeed. He played a few example tracks of Acapella performances, where the speakers had nowhere to hide and they didn’t trip up once.
A lot of the music we started with I'm not familiar with, but was of Redbook standard. Things that immediately leapt out at me was the sheer clarity of the sound; from top to bottom it was as clean as a whistle, fast and had a real sense of immediacy and palpability.
I recall my (non-audiophile) friend and I sharing a look with one another, about two minutes in - raised eyebrows and a kind of cheeky grin - this was going to be fun!
I remarked to Tony how impressed I was with the clarity of the CR1s, despite the volume we were playing at; he remarked we're not even tickling them yet and he wasn't lying! I must state, from hearing these speakers, they've redefined what I expect to hear from 'just a pair of bookshelves'. They could go louder, clearer and more enjoyably than my old Usher Mini Dancer II floor standers (which for the record weigh in at about 55kg each). They didn't go lower, but the 37Hz they did present was impactful and fun.
Honestly, I’ve always lusted over humungous floor standers, but this experience redefined what I feel I’m looking for in a hi-fi system now.
We asked Tony to play some tunes we were familiar with and it was enlightening to hear them played with a noise floor of about zero. He played me Hey Now (London Grammar) and there was a whole new sub-set of sound to the music I didn’t ever know existed. I’ve experienced this sort of lowering before, but not to this extent. Other songs were more confronting as the system laid bare poorly produced / mastered tracks. Personally, I like this in a system as it means you’re getting the unvarnished truth (…high fidelity).
One thing that particularly leapt out at me from this system was just how good the high end was; high-hats on drum kits had such force and clarity, without stripping my ears of their lining, I’ve not heard that in any system before and I’ve heard some pretty high end stuff at people’s houses (I’m talking Magico S5 with full Accuphase top end pres and amps and Jorma Prime cabling or Active ATC 100s driven by Mola-Mola preamps with Stealth Sakra Cabling).
The only concern I had with this system is the comfort you could listen to music at 90db (average, not peak). This could damage your hearing quickly as it’s such good fun and not painful. What made me smirk was that he said the speakers weren’t good enough to show the ancillaries he had behind them. That’ll make an interesting demo, the next time I’m looking for new speakers.
As a sidenote, Tony is an incredibly smart guy, he can go as deep into the technicalities of his products as you’re comfortable and is good at explaining things in plain English where necessary. He’s also a great host. The demo, along with these characteristics help me to feel confident in the products I’m buying into; they’re backed by a guy who’s not a fly by night operation, knows what he’s talking about and even turns away opportunities for a quick sale, if he doesn’t feel it’s in his client’s best interests.
A quick sidenote;
This isn't the first time I've met Tony; he made a trip to mine, back when I was living in the UK, around 4/5 years ago. I remember then him bringing around a full 4D loom (sans speaker cables, they were Analysis Plus - silver somethings) and being massively impressed with what it did for the sound of my system. It's from the strength of that initial engagement that I decided to choose this brand.
Back to the present; the system that Tony had setup was something like:
Speakers: TAD CR1 (on dedicated stands, with Track Audio isolation feet)
Amp: Not sure - a Tony bespoke special. 130 Watts and 32A of instantaneous current, if I'm not mistaken.
Preamp: See above, another Tony special - with a noise floor of -140db!
Source: A modified Nove Fidelity X40
DAC: Heavily modified TAD
Mains: Oracle 'conditioner' (does something other than condition), all American plug sockets
Other: 'Return to zero' grounding by Coherent, everything sat on Black Ravioli, all cabling was a complete loom of BD+
Tony ran my friend and I through a few warm up tracks and within about ten seconds I knew I was listening to something very special indeed. He played a few example tracks of Acapella performances, where the speakers had nowhere to hide and they didn’t trip up once.
A lot of the music we started with I'm not familiar with, but was of Redbook standard. Things that immediately leapt out at me was the sheer clarity of the sound; from top to bottom it was as clean as a whistle, fast and had a real sense of immediacy and palpability.
I recall my (non-audiophile) friend and I sharing a look with one another, about two minutes in - raised eyebrows and a kind of cheeky grin - this was going to be fun!
I remarked to Tony how impressed I was with the clarity of the CR1s, despite the volume we were playing at; he remarked we're not even tickling them yet and he wasn't lying! I must state, from hearing these speakers, they've redefined what I expect to hear from 'just a pair of bookshelves'. They could go louder, clearer and more enjoyably than my old Usher Mini Dancer II floor standers (which for the record weigh in at about 55kg each). They didn't go lower, but the 37Hz they did present was impactful and fun.
Honestly, I’ve always lusted over humungous floor standers, but this experience redefined what I feel I’m looking for in a hi-fi system now.
We asked Tony to play some tunes we were familiar with and it was enlightening to hear them played with a noise floor of about zero. He played me Hey Now (London Grammar) and there was a whole new sub-set of sound to the music I didn’t ever know existed. I’ve experienced this sort of lowering before, but not to this extent. Other songs were more confronting as the system laid bare poorly produced / mastered tracks. Personally, I like this in a system as it means you’re getting the unvarnished truth (…high fidelity).
One thing that particularly leapt out at me from this system was just how good the high end was; high-hats on drum kits had such force and clarity, without stripping my ears of their lining, I’ve not heard that in any system before and I’ve heard some pretty high end stuff at people’s houses (I’m talking Magico S5 with full Accuphase top end pres and amps and Jorma Prime cabling or Active ATC 100s driven by Mola-Mola preamps with Stealth Sakra Cabling).
The only concern I had with this system is the comfort you could listen to music at 90db (average, not peak). This could damage your hearing quickly as it’s such good fun and not painful. What made me smirk was that he said the speakers weren’t good enough to show the ancillaries he had behind them. That’ll make an interesting demo, the next time I’m looking for new speakers.
As a sidenote, Tony is an incredibly smart guy, he can go as deep into the technicalities of his products as you’re comfortable and is good at explaining things in plain English where necessary. He’s also a great host. The demo, along with these characteristics help me to feel confident in the products I’m buying into; they’re backed by a guy who’s not a fly by night operation, knows what he’s talking about and even turns away opportunities for a quick sale, if he doesn’t feel it’s in his client’s best interests.
I’ll be returning as a customer in the future and look forward to doing so - thanks for reading.
NB. I'll get a review of the loom written up when I have the time.
