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ON TEST/SYSTEM
Low finance high fidelity . is usually pretty grim but David Prakel found this £280 SansuijShure/NAD/ Celef system to be an exception. Turning in the kind of performance promised but not achieved by most
mid-price systems, it has to be judged by the highest standards. One often asked question is 'How much can I
spend on a hi-fi?' (How long is a piece of string?1 A lot of folk, when buying hi -fi , to my knowledge at
least , take a look at their bank balance to assess
their liquidity and say ' I have £450 to spend on a
hi-fi ' - trouble is they will spend £450 no more, no
less, often against all advice as they haven't asked
a more fundamental question 'Just how much do I'
need to spend to enjoy music reproduced from
records ?', Adopting a finger in the air attitude we
assembled a system around units which were
gathering reputations ' for offering outstanding
value for money. But would the individual' items
marry up to make our fanciful £280 well spent? I'd
spoil the secret if I said it exceeded all my
expectations, wouldn 't I?
Turntables are the big problem. Around the
£60 mark the Trio KDl 033 has had few rivals until
the advent of the re-thought Sansui SR222 Mkll.
Which I am told can be bought for as little as
£57 .50 f rom some discounters. Rumour had it
that this unpre tentious black and chrome darling
was capable of comparison with decks over £1 00,
and that's the kind of ru mour t hat appeals, so it
had to be reviewed in H FA. Amplifier similarly came with a string of
testimonials, unusually from both sides of the
reviewing camp. One side remarking on its clean
sound and others on how this little amp would
keep on delivering power whatever the load, even
down to 2 ohms, without clipping. Mouth
watering stuff at £79 (sometimes discou ntedl.
There are only a handful of ve ry cheap speakers that have adequate performance and, while we
could have inc l uded Wharfedale Sheltons, Mini
max II's and the like , it was felt that buyers often
spend just a litile bit more on speakers than they
originally intended as these are the only items
demonstrated in a half sensible way in many
shops. We presumed a budget of around £90 that
had been upped by a convincing demo to the £120
mark - and chose the' Celef Domestic 11 Supers
which came out of a recent group test in What Hi
Fi? with flying colours . Would the extra £30 be
justified in our system though ?
Revised Again it would have been easy to opt for the
regular budget cartridges - the Ortofon FF15EII .
Grado FCE+ 1 etc Well , our mylhlcal purchaser
reads his adverts and has been attracted by the
claims for the Shure M95HE With new stylus
profile - that was picked up at £22 discount .
Styling of the Sansui SR222 has been revised
HI-FI ANSWERS JULY 1979
for the Mkll version and has a deep black gloss
finish with a very appealing clear acrylic cover.
M echanical changes have been incorporated and
a sensible new turntable mat. The 222 has more
than styling similarities to the Rega Planar decks,
with the open cradle S shaped arm, and a
bearing firmly attached to the plinth which is
isolated from the environment by four sprung, soft
rubber feet.
Platter is a very lightweight aluminium casting
with a large inner rim diameter which carries the
flat rubber belt The motor IS a four pole
synchronous running at a fairly high speed.
Turntable speed change is effected by a slide
switch which also powers the turntable; on my
sample, speed change was a nOISY, squealing
affair. The arm appears to have received a good
proportion of the production cost and IS made with
some quite substantial castings for a fitted arm of
this cost. Geometry was good, though my
calculation for overhang disagreed With Sansul 's
17 5mm by over 0 5mm at 1 B 1 mm . The fitted
headshell was not particularly flimsy but would
flex across the diagonals, and more Importantly,
did not offer a flat surface to mate the cartridge
body to Arm friction was commendably low and
as the mass of the arm was medium to low I was
able to try a few of the cartridge eXQtlca With
surprisingly good results
Bearing assembly for the platter is pre
assembled and greased, the purchaser only has to
locate the platter casting over a tapered shaft .
Lubrication of the motor shaft is recommended
every 200 hours or three months and an ampule of
oil IS supplied .
The only grouses I can come up with after
living with the 222, apart from the noisy speed
change , wh ich I never use anyway, were the need
for firm mounting to avoid feedback and the height
of the arm lift , which could have been adjusted
had I the right size of hex key .
Straight The NAD 3030 amplifier is a straight forward
design but sporting power meters and good hook
up facilities for two pairs of speakers and two tape
decks additional to a cassette machine Surprts ·
Ingly the 3030 has the facility for driVing both
main and remote speakers, which Isquite unusual
for a budget amplifier None of th e cost IS wasted
on needless controls and th ose that are fitt ed are
useful With good characteristics. The front panel
IS neatly diVided into the pre and power amp
functions by a grooved line Above thiS Ime IS
Simply the power meters, which are distractingly
bright when the amp IS below eye level. and the continued over
97
ON TEST/SYSTEM continued from page 97
click Indent volume control , which has a good
' feel ' giVing accurate setting of listening levels at all volumes
Ba ss and treble controls have good cha ra cter
IstiCS with cen tre clicks. An ' Infrasonic' sWitch
operates a high pass filter which remove s warp,
rumble and other very low frequency signals that
drain amplifier power and can cause intermod
distortions. The hi-filter has a severe response
and acts low down; in fact , full treble roll -off gives
much the same effect and I preferred to use the
treble contro l for f iltering . I found a notch and a
half reduction on the treble quite satisfactory for
reducing record surface noise without taking too
much programme along with it.
The loudness control , to my hearing , was too
fierce in the bass, (again approximating to the
maximum response of the bass tone contrail with
anything but the quietest setting of the volume
control. I would tend to ag ree with th e NAD
manual on the point that this control is for music
at very low levels.
One control which is getting harder to find on
recent equipment is th e mono switch , which is an
essential for replaying of elect ronically repro
cessed stereo horrors. The 3030 sports a
mono button as well as a -20dB mute. The balance
control was a little fast acting and has a centre
click .
Rear panel is marvellously well appointed for a
piece of budget equipment with Tape 2 double up
for DIN and phono as well as connections (phono)
for a second tape deck, the usual phono inputs, .a
substantial grounding post and two sets of heavy
duty bare wire terminals which do allow the use of
heavy gauge wires . Speaker fuses are fitted which
may cause some sonic degredat ion but are the
best protection in view of the power amplifier
design .
Both black and silver finishes are available on
NAD equipment and the standard of f inish and
engineering quality are high .
Design Many 'bookshelf speakers, be they budget or
more expensive designs. contain th e regulat ion
SonAudax tweeter and bextrene bass unit and it is
encouraging to see that Celef have obviously
looked at the drive' units available and chosen
those to suit their design best. The Domestic 11
Super is Celel's smallest model and uses a SEAS
soft plastics dome tweeter and a front mounted
150mm SEAS pulp coned mid/ bass driver . Not a
company to stick drive units' into a box, Celef have
taken great care to control the tweeter 's response
around 10k where they noted irregularities and
have also doped the mid bass driver to smooth the
bass response and to adjust sensi t ivity . The bass
driver is reflex -loaded with a rigid plastics pipe
parted to the bottom right of the cabinets .
Cabinets are 12mm high density chipboard,
measuring 41 0 x 250 x 2 1 Om m, and are filled with
an inch lining of an echoic grade foam , The
crossover board is cleverly wrapped In a roll of
wadding and placed in the cabine t which should
prevent all rattles. Th e only adverse comments I
have on the const ruction IS that the twee ter IS held
98
Above: Neat styling and good engineering combined with excellent power delivery make the NAD 3030 great value for £79.
Right: Quality is continued round the back.
down with larger screws than the mid / bass unit ,
though the latter does appear well clamped into
the front baffle ; and one of the tweeters had
suffered from the fleeting visit of a soldering iron
which had increased the mass of the tweeter
dome and damaged it to boot with hot solder . A
very rare occurrance no doubt but one that should have been spotted .
The Domestic 11 Supers will create very high
pressure levels for a box of this size and are
resonably eff ic ient with a power handling quoted
for 15 to 60 watt amps. Stand mounting is best for
a clean bass quality.
The Sansui turntable had the misfortune of
being delivered to me the same week that I sorted
out my new Syrinx/ Linn Asak . Vying for my
interest in the first week against this reference the
Sansui managed to turn in a staggeringly good
performance for a turntable under £60. Feedback
problems were removed by standing the turntable
on a blackboard cabinet weighed down by 300 or
so records . Aga inst a reference like the Linn the
only comments on most turntable 's some
performance turn out negative . SlIght blurring of
image and transients, warmer midband and a
fullness in the bass were apparent but the
transmitted Information was high and I have
rarely heard thiS quality of performance under
£100.
High-purity I thought it would be informative to try a few
modifications to th is turntabl e to see If any
Improvements were to be gained In the con text of
thiS system . FIr st attempt was the repla cemen t of
the Sansui headshell with one of the new Lewln
Marketing models (with rubber grommet re
moved) which shou ld se ll at around £4 .50
Improvement In Image stability and focus were
forth coming .
A second version of this shell is available with high -purity 27 strand silver cable and one
headshell and cartridge was used changing
cables and recording the results for replay from
the tape socket of the NAD 3030 on a high speed
Revox B77 . Remember I was not looking for
absolute judgements on these products but their
relevance in this system . On blind listening tests,
silver and plain wires were consisten ly distin
guished and the plain wires preferred for balance.
My own feelings were that while the silver wires
had the edge i n HF detail , more of it but less conspicuous, they lost out by thickening the lower
mid/ upper bass region . In this system you would
have just saved £3 .50.
Mat swapping seemed remarkably ineffective
and providing the record label was tapped into the
centre recesses on the Sansui mat it did its job
"lIell. More money saved.
Last test at this end of the system was a four
way, blind trial extravaganza , again creating a
tape on the Revox of the four conditions; four
pieces of music were auditioned using the Shure
95HE stylus , the 95ED stylus, the parabolic EEl
stylus for the M95 and an A DC QLM36/ 111. Tape was used to allow channel imbalance, high or low
outputs, bias differences to be taken into
conSideration . Th e M95HE was consistently
picked o ut as the preferred sound with the ADC
runn ing a close second; which In this system
could save users up to'[ 11 on a replacement StylUS for the 95ED or help them choose the HE stylus
right off
The NAD 3030 was put through ItS paces f i rst
With a master tape recorded to extreme levels on a
B77 and played back on another. I chose to use the
Lentek Monttors for playback to give the 3030 a
grilling . HaVing clipped a 28 watt per channel
receiver (With a subjective performance I think a
good deal of) I dldn ' t expect much more than a few
Ht · Ft A SWEAS JULY 1979
Familiar body shape of the Shure M95 - this one carries the new hypere/liptical stylus.
Below: Plain and silver wired LAM heBdshel/s,
both tried in the Ssnsui SR222
dBs more undistorted headroom from the 3030.
W rong again . The NAD just kept on driving cleanly
and loudly until I gave up when it was delivering
about 40 watts programme. An astonishing
performance for a [79 amp.
In AB against the Nytech the only consistently
remarked upon difference at reasonable listening
levels were a slight lightness in the extreme bass,
veiling of midband imagery and a dulling of HF
transients on the NAD. In compa rison w i th other
budget amps the 3030 is clean and clear with
better than average top end and good stable
imagery.
Aud it ion ing the Celef Domestic 11 Supers on
the receiving end of my Linn/ Syr inxl Asakl
Nytech combination just emphasises the void
between £120 and [300 when buying speakers.
Their performance is in a class way above their
price tag but I would point out that good speakers
don 't make a silk purse out of a sow 's ear of a
system. M ost impressive is the size and body of
the sound these small boxes can reproduce and
though , to my ears, the midband is a little back in
the balance there is plenty of detail in this most
important area .
Image Imagery w as always very stable and precise, tonal and spatial separation being of a high order.
Transient detail was excellent bar in the extreme
bass which was a little wallowy with my system
but this effect was not noticed in th e con text of the
system under review, I presume due to band
limiting. These speakers sounded excellent w ith
the Shure M95HE but with other reputable
cartridge designs (in the Sansui) like the ADC
GLM36 and Ortofon VMS20EII their upper bass
was too full for my liking . That's no criticism of the
speaker only a comment on system compatibility,
and h igh compliance cartridges
HI-FI ANSW ER S JULY 1979
Thei r big image, extended bass from a small
box and the ability to reproduce detail cleanly will
no doubt please a lot of orchestral 'front -row'
music lovers and rock afficianados who are also
flat dwellers (with soundproofing).
Though the Shure M95HE is a good sonic
performer in the Sansui turntable offering a well
integrated sound w ith excellent deta il that is not
conspicuous but merely natural , it is a pity to have
to point out that mechanically the match is not as
good with a principle resonance around 6Hz in
both planes, which is a bit low to avoid every
problem w i th warped records. The ADC GLM36
offered no better mechanical match with severe
resonances at 7Hz.
Lower compliance cartridges would be more
obviously suited but it is a pity to have to give up
the sound of the M95HE. The Grado range is
probably one answer but I doubt trackability would
be as high as the Shure wh ich cleared every test
record including the BO micrometre cut in the
Ortofon Direct Cut.
I did try the effect of equalisers into the NAD
knowing the loading requirements of Shure
cartridges but the design of the preamp makes it
almost impossible to tell what is being done and I
for one preferred the 'straight' condition .
System So w ith the question of a particularly suitable
cartridge unresolved (on pure mechanical match
ing I came up with : ADC VLM/ III , AKG P6E, Grado
F3+ / F1+ and Plckering XV15 / 625E) 1 would give
the turntable and arm a strong sonic recommend
ation and point out again that the unit must be
used away from speakers and on a solid support . If
Sansui can keep the price right they are onto a big
w inner with the SR222Mkll.
So too NAD with the 3030 but its success IS
overshadowed by the recent introduction of the
ON TEST/SYSTEM
SEAS drivers in the Celef Domestic /I Supers.
[693020 wh ich promises to be even better value
for money. If you need the extra facilities and
headroom offered by the 3030 I need say no more
than you aren 't going to find this quality at this
price elsewhere. Preamp design seems remark
ably uncritical of cartridge matching and has a
w ide headroom ; power delivery is clean,
The Celefs add a touch of class to this system
and can be recommended with equipment of a
higher order of performance . Aga in for an
absolute budget choice with a system like this the
In 8070 would be one of the best ways to spend
[90 on speakers.
The Shure M95HE is a significant step forward
for Shure and has fine sound but, like the Celefs,
would probably be more at home in a more
expensive system . I can heartily recommend the
HE stylus replacement to 95ED owners who may
be looking around for a new cartridge . At a
discounted [22 the 95HE cartridge promises a
neut ra l sound, no lack of depth information, clear
detail which fits in naturally w ith the body of
sound without declaring itself from the roof tops,
and , most of all , reduced record wear and
excellent trackability . In the system under test
here the profile 95HE had a lot to offer despite the
compliance mismatch and the slightly dry bass.
As a way of spending money this system even
with the luxury of the Celefs and Shure must be
considered outstanding value and I have heard too
many systems costing [800 and more that are
fundamentally no better and often worse than the
Sansui / NAD/ Celefs. Th is system would very
easily put a stop to upgrading mania as the owner
could feel pretty damn sure he would have to triple
hiS outlay and buy w isely to beat it . The potential
to put together a system around the SansUl w ith
the NAD 3020 , In 8070s and cartridge under £15
all for [235 leaves me th inking that m ld -f l is fa st
becoming redundant
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