Big Thanks

To Garyi, who took time out of his busy shedule to visit WM on sunday afternoon for a couple of hours, before his retired for a company stake I think Garyi enjoyed himself and may have even had 'food for thought' and he's quite a decent bloke, good sense of humor too, cheers mate Tone

 

Snigger, your review of the beefeater lived up to its name!

I had a steak one night, which somehow they managed to make the whole plate, steak, chips, garlic bread, mushrooms and onion rings stone cold. Plus there was not salad as promised. The girl put the plate in front of me and asked if I wanted cutlery (which dosn't say much for cheltnam!)

The second night I treated myself to one of their burgers, it was at least warm this time which was a bonus.

Nice to meet mr tone though. A very impressive system which I tried to get my head round.

Firstly, in many ways for me its just what naim does, and I wonder why Tony is so keen to bash naim. What it did better than my naim was the treble, however I don;t know if this was down to the supurb speakers he had there. The treble was a lot smoother, however tony did say he wanted to tame it some more, where as if anything I would want it a bit grungier.

Plenty of bass weight which was nice and a good sound all in all. My sbls do not come close to the scale and weight of tones, however for my room and sound requirements I am prepared to forgo a bit of this bass depth for the tightness I enjoy ( and neighbours don't hear!). This is not to say tones is wooly by any means, but I think he would agree the SBL is defo leaner in presentation.

I was intrigued by the big fat cables, most amusing, the system sounded great but we didn't tweak thank christ so I can;t say how the cables added to the whole system.

We did talk regarding value, as in straight retail value. I think tony said his would retail at around 26 grand, I wonder though with the after market mods, if this would be comparable to stuff up the ladder of his preferred kit, adn therefore would the sound that he enjoys now would be more on the market value. Now I didn;t hear tones kit prior to his mods, but if Tone is to be believed he has added arond 25% quality improvements to the system, so for simplicity lets say this would add 25% to retail value, so around 35 grands worth.

No doubt it sounded to me like a 35 grand system, or in context over twice the cost of mine retail.

I have heard a 45 grand system, and for me it sounded better than tones, overall (in my opinion of course), but then its more moeny.

What am I getting at? Well tonys sounded much better than mine, but it should do!

As an end note, sorry for my quick departure, I was getting very hungry for me above crappy steak, but of course in retrospect I would have blagged dinner off you!

One other thing, most relieved to find tony was not bleating about guitars being just there and piano behind us! He had a really well balanced sound stage that was not all over the room, infact Tony's system is much like naim in the way that it presents. A really great sound, I wouldn't mind those speaker at all!

 

Garyi, glad to see Cheltenham's finest quisine had you begging for more Thanks for the kind words, I like it, Just plays music the way I like it, retail costs are a but misleading as you know, My bro's 2 nap 500's were purchased sort of ex-demo for a total of £13k thats £9k off list, his Wadia 861 was £4500 £3500 off retail, I bet most of us have 'done a deal' at one point or another most of us would never dream (or afford) new prices, I've managed through careful buying and tweeking to build the system for around £8.5K still a lot of money for sure, but about 30% of the retail price. thanks again Garyi a good chat thanks mate Tone

 

SHOCK HORROR!!!

NEWS JUST IN!!!

FLAT AND ROUND COLIDE!!!

 

Shall I reveal Tone's secret love affair with flat-earth equipment...

----STOP THE PRESS----- !

No, I promised not to, on pain of, well something painful probably.


PS Tone, can I keep your liberator?

plleeeeeeeaaaaassse?

 

Chris, will no doubt tell you, that my 2 weeks recouperating in the lake district, and all I had was my Brother & a nap 32.5/140 things I think, an lp 12 and regas? so i sorted liked it for a bit, hense my liking for drive and rythym, only now i have it as it should be.
The liberator isn't too shabby is it Chris and not bad form a nice man who isn't in to tweeky things let along cables some times they just do work others well, no one is perfect. WM

 

Garyi - good thing I wasn't there - my guts and I have a rabid anger when food isn't cooked properly in restaraunts (despite seeing that sick scene in Road Trip), so I'd have hit the roof! Stone cold food sucks!

Cool that you liked Tone's system though - the only time I heard it, it must have been April or May time, it kicked arse! Probably sounds waaay better now

 

having seen both road trip and fight club i'm very wary of sending food back. i just don't eat there any more.
cheers


julian

 

So for those of us who don't have time to read everything that's posted here, what's the Wadia-Miester's system, especially the speakers?

 

Marcus, I will say the speakers are great, however they're only sound as good as the signal they get, for example the CDS3/552 nap 500 we have at work, produces a sound no where near as dynamic, cohesive or alive. Similarly if you subsitute the Belcanto for 2 nap 500's the system loses it's grip on the tighness and speed and detail. The system is the sum of the parts, not a mullet fish brew , however they do tame the naim upper freq's well, without scrubbing the sound, or removing your inner eardrums.
I've tried for a total balanced approached, rather than anyone's doctrine, and surprise it works rather well. with a greater degree of flexibility and use of ANYones components.
And it sound pretty fair WM


System kit can be found here

https://www.audio-forums.com/as-rediect/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

 

WM, I thought you had sold the Shearwaters?

 

No MarKus, my new speakers for the new room when I move should be here late Nov/early Dec, the the shearwaters will go into the second system mate WM

 

They were great speakers.

Tony what I was getting at at the top of this page was that in financial terms at retail yours is worth around twice what mine is retail, regardless of what we paid for them is not at issue here.

I was saying yours sounded all in all better than mine, and so it should for the retail cost, see?

Can't say how your tweaks have helped it as I have never heard the kit prior to it, but it did sound good!

 

Garyi, no grief mate I do get where your coming from They do, do a small version, that are even faster, not quite so much bass, bery musical again the Kestral Hot rods, JJ has some for about £500 ex-demo, Iassc just purchased some, he's a happy bunny now as well i feel. Tone

 

They ****ing rock.

They don't have the awesome depth of bass that the shearwaters have, but they are somewhat smaller (and retailed about half the cost). However, I am running them on a (mere) 60Wpc integrated amp at the moment. I plan on moving to a big power amp and semi-passive pre (that I shall design and build fairly soon), which I hope to bring more clarity and control, as well as some more weight and slam. Not that it's doing too bad at the mo.

You're welcome to visit on a weekend. I live not too far from tone's place (about 20 mins drive). Bearing in mind that I've spent around £1500 on the system (total), it's sounding pretty darn good I reckon. Plenty more to come though...

 

Hope u dont mean me, Im an 'orrible man, but hey ho

Im not a one for lengthy wordy reviews, but for anyone thats interested the Liberator cable is powerfl sounding, full in the mid-band, and dynamic too. I'd compare it to a glass of red wine.

Reccomended for DAC/Transport owners who feel their music could do with extra body, without sacrificing any bite.

Made to a proffessional standard too, which was pleasant to find.

All IMHO, and based on one system useage only. Certainly I'd reccomend it to anyone with DAC and transport who feels their sound is a little...........dry I suppose.... a bit like adding a DAC 64 - it gives body and a sense of grip... you could rename it 'adrenalin' or 'turntable' hehehe sorry couldnt resist

Nice one tone, hope it continues to sell well, its certainly up to any companies level.

All the best
Chris

PS suppose you want it back now?

 

It's Omiga Audio's way of selling stuff. They "lend" you things, and they're too damn good to give back. Tone lent me two sets of interconnects. He got the cheaper one back.

 

so, Tone, when you gunna do some analogue IC's and speaker cable to woo us with??

 

I'm running Omiga analogue interconnects (a pre-production variant though).

 

Andy, we already do anaolgues, and now have added 2 more to the range The Mosquito, a hellva' musical kick in the pants, sorta naim on warp 8 without the hardiness and dryness, and a brand new 'hold on to hats jobbie' that's being fine fettled, it's going to a be a cracker.
We do also have a 'serious digital' I'c now, a Super liberator (haven't christened it yet) but it's good. (sales pitch off, do appologise).
We getting to grips with the website, but cable development has taken priority. will be addressing the issue shortly.
PS Timpys Rovers ready :SLEEP: so he'll be a happy bunny now. WM