Many Thanks to ..........

Julian2002, for hosting our little bash yesterday.
Thanks also to everyone who took the time to bring all the gear.

I was again especially impressed with the ELS63, and the various Naim CD players.
A very intresting and thought provoking comparison was made between the 3i plus hicap and 5[?] players and then against the 99cdp.

I could have lived with either of the naims, though with my taste for dynamics and imaging I'm happy with the Quad. Thanks for all the nice comment on this player by the way. I still feel there really is only a small difference in resolution, but presentation was fairly different.

The seventh veil speakers provided an intresting counter point, but proved very difficult to set up in Julian's odd shaped room. Oh yes best of luck with them at Bristol [hope you get a room with better accoustics].

Finally it was just a pity nobody could hear any differences with the exotic power cables.....everyone knows that 2m of power cable can't possibly make adifference ! {tongue firmly in cheek].
In only one case only did these cable fail to improve the performance of gear to which they were attached, adding two cables and the plug block only served to increase the differences.

So thanks for a great day, and hope everyone got back home OK.

 

Glad you all had a good day, wish I could have been there actually. Its not the first time that Seveth Veil speakers have had a difficult time, is it back to the drawing board for the cross overs or something?

 

Don't get me wrong, they did produce some intresting and unique sounds that were not at all bad, more a different emphasis than your typical paper cone speaker. With the right ancillaries I'm certain there performance could be extraordinary.

 

So you didn't like them then?

 

Gary,

The 7th Veil speakers are possibly a tad cultured for your tastes and I suspect the majority of Naim carrying, groove infested Prat boys that frequent our favourite forum.

Horses for courses, I'd rather listen to a Tivoli Pal that any Naim loudspeaker I can think of, so I guess there will be a market out there for Steve's creations (he just needs to get his head around the Tact gear )

 

Many Thanks to Julian for hosting yesterday. It was most enjoyable to meet up with fellow forumites. We must do it again sometime.

The biggest surprise for me was the ESL63s which were anything but the pipe and slippers that I have previously been known to accuse them of. In the both the Quad/Audio Research/ESL setup and in Julians Naim setup they made some very acceptable sounds.

Cheers, Robbo

 

In fairness, Mike, the speakers weren't working yesterday at Julian's. I would have needed to spend more time playing around with positioning and it wasn't really appropriate with so many people wanting to enjoy listening to music. It also didn't help that I'd forgotten to pack my demo cds. Setting up my speakers without 'Walk on the Wild Side' is unthinkable.

In retrospect, I should probably have placed the Little Awesomes where Julian normally has his B & W's with the Nonsuch 4s just in front of them.

It was all a little frustrating for me and anyone else who has heard the speakers when they're behaving themselves and doing what they are capable of doing. Humble apologies to all. :notworthy I hope we can do significantly better at the Bristol show. I'm sure we will. Anyway, I'm sure everyone will get plenty of opportunities in the future to hear the speakers when they're really singing.

Still, for all that, I enjoyed myself. It was good to have an afternoon with so many Zero Gainers. I was also impressed with the 'plug & play' facility of the Quads, although electrostatics don't excite room resonances in the same way as moving coil speakers and so are often easier to set up for bass integration.

Many thanks Julian for your hospitality.

 

A big thanks to Julian & his superb hospitality, at yesterdays proceedings, also good to see the guys again and to finaly meet Pete (zanash), Paul R, Dean, JU, Robbo, Dev, Steve M, Mike K, and interesting, varied day & fun day.
Quads simply efficent, easy placing, good sound, not my cup of tea but for the dosh, if you like the presentation, nothing else will do, 7th Veil speakers, just didn't gel in the room, placement problem/mucho kit in the room, jusy didn't do it on the day (shame, because the can sing pretty well)
Highlight of the day for me the shoot out between the cd5/hicap & cd5i, In Ju's system, 82/hicap/250/isolda 7cdmt's, first of all both simultainiously hooked up to the 82, swopping between the 2 on the remote, splitting hairs, although I feel Naim has deliberately voiced the 5i to have more 'fun factor' more boom & tizz, but more groove for sure.
Next up same input/din cable, same track level checked (Dean's DB meter), produced more of a difference, the 5/hicap, had far better bass control and depth, tighter grip on the music, better treble detail and extension, more even handed presenation, the 5i (same din cable/input), more bass (room mode more noticeable), less control and more pronounced top end) but more groove 'fun'factor'. but as you would expect, with a seperate psu on the analogue section.
Next Zanash's Quad cdp/82/hicap same cable/din/phono adapter, bit of a dark horse this one, it dragged more detail off the discs, hearing things that the naim players missed or just couldn't resolve, tighter bass, far better grip, and more PRaT most surprising, could also be more polite, it did have the mains cables and passive filter on.
Again thanks to Ju for a great day and to all the other guys too cheers T.

 

thanks for comming over guys. once again i had a good chinwag with most of you and a good time.
the quad and 5i are certainly cracking cd players and the quad with the benefit of the filtration and power leads certainly impressed me. it was a little laid back for my tastes on certain things though but in all very nice.
i feel the 5i is certainly worth the money too and represents a bit of a bargain really. although it's not upgradeable out of the box for someone more interested in music than 'kit' it's very worthwhile, that said i did feel the 5/hi dug a bit deeper and kicked a little harder.
the quads once again impressed me and i'm sure they weren't showing their best where they were just plonked.
steves L/A - Nonesuch 4 speakers i felt had a lot of potential and perhaps were a little too 'accurate' for their own good. the room certainly didn't help and there wasn;t much time to tweak their positions / crossover etc. all in all i'm looking forward to hearing them at bristol.
gary, you'll have to give me a pm and we'll arrange something i owe you a visit...
cheers


julian

 

Cool Julian, you'll have to make the visit there has been changes.

I couldn't make it yesterday as I was on the hunt for me wedding suit, I felt I couldn't really fetch an excuse to get out of that one!

 

I'll look forward to that Julian. After yesterday's hospitality you qualify for free room admission. :wow:

Oh. all right ... and a pint at the bar.

 

gary,
i think it's your turn to visit me....

steve,
nicely.

cheers


julian

 

Hi

many thanks to Julian for another get together. Good to meet everyone again. Another great day out.

Good to hear the Quads again. They worked quite well in that room & with the Naim gear. They were hitting high peaks from around 3m away.

It's a shame the 7veil speakers didn't gel in that room. Hopefully things will be ready to go in time for the Bristol show.


The Josh Stone - Soul Sessions cd made the trip along with a few other cds. We had a very good afternoons listening & debating.

Big thanks to Robbo for bringing the X-box & DVDs.


SCIDB

 

Thanks Julian for your hospitality and for not taking the wotsit out of my car.

 

I'd also like to add my thanks for Julian for a great afternoon and excellent hospitality. Was brill to meet so many of the guys there and get to listen to such an interesting variety of kit.

A few thoughts:

The ESLs really were rather good, clearly having skills in cohesiveness that virtually nothing else on the market can do. Overall I still prefered the B&Ws for their drive, but I can see how for certainly types of music (probably classical) that just nothing else would come close.

The cable swapping was a classic example of WM showing that he really does know what he's talking about. If that kind of dem doesn't show the implications of cable changes, I don't know what does. Of course the prices on some are a little "interesting" and somewhat out of my own price band, but if you're in the upper regions, I can see why some would appear to be almost a bargain.

Like many, I don't think I was as impressed with the Sevenths as I should have been. Being fair though, did look rather tasty and probably have the best integration I've yet to hear with a main/sub speaker combination.

I'll second most the comments on the CD5/hicap vs CD5i vs Quad 99 shootout. My own views were:
- Quad had the best tonal texturing and the most bass.
- CD5i was the most synthetic sounding, had more bass than the 5/hicap (but in a more overblown way), but was a lot of fun to listen to
- The CD5/hicap was similar in style to the 5i, slightly less fun, but had easily the best bass control and general focus.
My thoughts afterwards I guess came down to cost/performance. I really can't say that I thought the 5/hicap combination was anywhere near the cost difference (assuming all units were bought new). The CD5i is £850, the Quad £1000 and the CD5/hicap would be a whopping £2100. Now clearly hicaps can be bought for £400 s/h, and CD5s for around £700. Having said that, when the market stabilises, I'm gessing that the CD5i will be available for around the £550 mark, still meaning it's half the cost of the CD5/hicap combination. I certainly think the CD5i has a better price/performance ratio and I think I'd want a good deal more than the 5/hicap is offering for the increased price.
As WM mentioned, the Quad came out of the shoot out rather smelling of roses. If you want a better textured CDP and aren't too bothered about the slight loss of life and involvement (my personal opinion), the Quad is a stonking buy, and that's before you add on it's extra functionality of a digital input capability and the possibility to completely do without a pre-amp.

Again, great to meet everyone there, hope to see you all again sometime soon.