My trip to Oxford Audio

Ok here it goes. Today myself and a collegue we visit Oxford Audio. We set from W. Sussex about 9 am and we arrived around 11.30. We found Oxford Audio easily and the guys were friendly and there was no sales pressure at all. The demo room was already set up for us. Front ends were : AA Capitole, Wadia Transport and wadia 64.4 DAC. Preamp(when used):Krell. Power amplifiers: Krell and Yamaha class D (or similar). Speakers: VA malher, Gallo Reference 3, Martin Logans (cant remember which model). Software:
Metallica (S&M), Rainbow (Best of), Iron Maiden (Dance of Death), Evanscence (Fallen), Staind (break the cycle), Rammstein, some acoustic music (Ozric Tentacles, etc) and some limited opera.

Initially the demo system consisted of the AA Capitole into the Yamaha driving the VA Mahlers. The Mahlers were set up with the woofers facing towards the walls. During the 2 hours (!) of auditioning with no hassle from the Oxford Audio guys the system sounded good, very good. I would describe the sound as slightly warm, silkly smooth treble, great midrange, good low end and fantastic, solid imaging. We ended up cranking the volume up and up with the system showing no signs of strain or lister fatigue. The only area that I had issues with was possibly some slight bass boom or a little slow bass.

Next the speakers were changed to the Gallos and then the ML and after about quarter of an hour with each speaker, it was clear that they were no a patch on the Malhers. Dont get me wrong, the other two were nice but not for me.

So next the Malhers were back into the system but this time with the woofer facing inwards. Also the AA capitole was replaced with the Wadia combination into the Krell preamp. The magic was back and this time no bass boom or slowness.

Since I am currently building a Class D power amp I felt that the Yamaha was closer to the singature of my eventual system. I must say that the Yamaha was very impressive and replacing it with the Krell did not led to a better sonic experience. If I was not building my own amp, I would have been very tempted to go for the Yamaha.

At the end of the day after three and half hours I fell in love with the dynamics, the not fatiguing and unstrained sound of the Mahlers so I ended up buying the s/h pair that Oxford Audio had! Now I cant wait for the delivery!

Thanks to Oxford Audio.

 

a truly classy speaker - I heard them (and the strauss) a few times. If I had the room I probably would have had them!

 

Never heard the mahlers, but I did like the smaller strauss. How big is your listening room greg?

 

Hi Chris,

A bit of an add room, 26' by 11' opening to 13' with a b****y arch where the room widens. I will have to experiment with the placement of the Mahlers.

 

Greg you may find the bass a problem, postioning will be paramount.

 

Greg, did the VA's arrive? I was wondering how you were getting on.

I have borrowed some VA Strauss for the past week and although they have a nice tonal balance and warm sound, I am afraid they interact too much with my room. They appear to need plenty of space each side, but my room is only 13 foot wide.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM !!!!

 

Chris,

well I have been playing with them (VA Malhers) for alomost two weeks now. Yes they do need space around them, particularly from side walls. The bass is just thundering, goes very low. The mids are sweet and the treble is the same. Try different placement and experiment with placing the speaker with the woofers facing inwards. Also it may worth partially blocking the ports if the bass becomes too much (it also makes the bass faster). Overall I love them! I will write a full review when I finish building my power amp (ClassD based). Too many things changed ... new speakers, new DAC and finally the amp.