Welcome to the latest edition of the‘light’ version of our consistently irregularindoctrination booklet.

During the last two days of August2013 we had a ‘do’ at the Trinity Events Centrein the Suffolk Showground. This Hi-Fi Show, andit really was a surprisingly grown-up affair involving six proper dem rooms, celebrated oursuppliers and customers, surviving 20 years ofour existence.

Our visitors seemed relaxed andstayed, well, at least until we unlocked thedoors, to hear a wide variety of products includ-ing some that were either very new (PMC Fact12, Naim Ovator 800) or yet to be released(Rega Saturn DAC-with-a-CD).

Mainly, though, our guests appearedto enjoy chatting, listening to music, drinkingteas, coffees and beers. Oh, and munching the excellent cake.

Thanks to all who came and to the suppliers who supported us, far too many to list.

Thanks too, to everyone who haskept our little business bobbing along. I’m afraidit’s ‘Oscars’ time: The brilliant customers, mylong suffering wife, Rhea, daughter Ellie who losta childhood to Hi-Fi (but did OK!) and Andy, ourloyal and hard-working co-director who has contributed massively to what has been a surprisingly successful decade since he joined.

So another year has gone by, what totell you? The following pages give a very condensed run-down. Some products deservetheir own sections but space constraints beat us.

Nottingham Analogue is alive andwell. We have both Ace Space and Dais turntables here along with arms. Lyra Delos andKleos cartridges have been excellent partnersfor both Linn and Nottingham decks and Dynavectors have remained popular, and rathermore freely available, too.

We have a wide range of LehmannAudio phono stages and headphone amplifiers,both in stock and for audition.

Trilogy electronics continue to impress and the headphone amplifier and phonostage have been particular favourites. A newlower cost pre-power combo made its first public appearance at our show and it should be available very early 2014.

Finally, a little aside, the other day acustomer refered to playing music on a ‘vinylplayer’. I felt very old.

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13

Forty, it’s thenew . . .

First of the iconic brands to hit the big four-oh this year was Naim. They had a party to celebrate too. So thanks to them for a most splendid ‘bash’back in the heady days of summer.

Middle age has not slowed Naim down, infact there is a real sense of momentum down in Salisbury. In 2013 we have had the arrival of the highend Ovator 800 loudspeakers, revised software forthe streaming products with additional features nowwoven in, such as the ability to share the same music simultaneously over various zones in ‘party mode’. The big news, though, was three new amplifiers:

The Nait 5si joins the CD5si to make avery fine introduction to Naim’s products. Beefier,cleaner and more ‘sorted’ than the already excellent Nait 5i mkII, it even has a headphonesocket.

A new Nait XS-2 (the old one was called XS-2 as well, so eBay is having a melt-down) movesthe game forward in a broadly similar way. More muscular and ‘fleshed out’ than before and also with aheadphone socket.

We were never great fans of the old SuperNait. It had much to commend it with the in-builtDAC but as a ‘straight’ amplifier our recommendationwas always the cheaper XS. The new Supernait 2has gone purist. Stripped of a DAC and extraneousbuttons, it now has the new DR power supplies and isgenuinely brilliant. Headphone socket? Yawn. Yes.

It does not suddenly outclass the 202/200and pre-powers above, but it holds its head very high.

We carry the entire Naim range fromUnitiQute to 500 series on demonstration. Two of thethree Ovators are here (the 800s are a wee bit big!)We also have all the CD players. Despite the dominance of streaming, we are seeing a steady, if diminished, market for silver disc players.

Rega’s Party PlanarSee what I did there? 2013 has witnessed a fair

amount of new products from still-booming Rega. Above isthe limited edition 40th anniversary RP3, sorry, RP40, asort of optimised go-faster version of the RP3 turntablecomplete with a matched and liveried up TT-PSU. Buy itwhile you can. From us . . . please!

The new and quite radical RP8 turntable had abumpy start in life at the turn of the year with productiononly hitting full swing in the Autumn. The package pricewith the Apheta cartridge is deeply appealing and the combination sounds magical. The deck suits the cartridgeand vice-versa. Proper synergy and a high end performerat a mid-range price, in our humble opinion. One was auctioned for charity in Jony Ive and Marc Newson’s REDAuction. It hit $40,000. And is going to a home in London.

The new Aria phono stage is terrific, the new cables excellent and affordable. All in keeping with Rega’sdown to earth philosophy.

The new Elicit amplifier is a powerful and verycompetitive alternative to Naims all-dominating Nait XS-2and, just arrived, we have the Saturn DAC too. It sports asynchronous USB and a CD player for good measure. Alllooking good but writing this leaflet is taking precedence!

2014 will see the arrival of the RP10. It’s similarto the RP8 in structure but has a new higher-end arm, ceramic platter and improved power supply.

A cost-no-object top end turntable, the Naiad isstill in the offing and a lower cost than Apheta, as yet unnamed, moving coil cartridge is promised too.

Linn to the koreLinn, also turning forty, have introduced a sort

of “keel lite” sub-chassis/arm board upgrade for theLP12. It’s made from a combination of folded box-section aluminium and a machined arm-board made from a single billet in the Linn factory, the basis is also the newstandard sub-chassis for all new turntables. Very good itis too.

We have the skills and parts to bring your

Sondek up to date and, in addition to Linn products,have the excellent Tiger Paw Khan top plateand sKale counterweight upgradeson hand too. Talk to us if you arelooking to make some improvements.

For electronics, wehave theMajikand

Akurate streamers and amplification. In terms of functionality, these products are hard to beat and, withthe right speakers (Kudos and PMC have both givenmemorably good results) they really can sound the business too. The Majik DSM / Kudos C10 combo is particularly compelling. “Does it actually get any better

than this?” asked one customer.For 2014 we are led to expect some serious

developments with the ‘exakt’ technology, whichputs the entire audio chain within the speaker,

filtering further down the range to Akurate level.

With Focal now veryclosely allied to Naim, their speakers seem to be becomingrather better suited to the Salisburymade electronics.

Terrific with the Unitirange and above, the new FocalAria series with flax drivers is a realhit with a well judged balance thatdoes not try to be too analytical.

One of the stars of oursummer Hi-Fi Show, the new slimand pretty but very high end Fact12s are now here on permanentdemonstration. The 12s suit top-of-the-tree Naim electronics too.

Beyond the Facts, PMChave been winning awards for theirexcellent Twenty series too. Again,it’s all here . . .somewhere.

One of the most keenlyanticipated products of 2013, theKudos Super 20 builds on the success of the lovely Super 10.

It’s a fine speaker but itdoes not eclipse its stand-mountsibling either. Both are here, alongwith the full range, right up to Titanlevel. Now, these Titans really are something special!

We might not be huge inhome cinema but we do stock someimpressive products. The Anthem’selectronics are considered best inclass and the new MRX510 and710 receivers are now in stock.

We have been very impressed with Sony projectors.The VW-55ES is here and the 4k500ES available too.

Spring 2013’s arrival wasChord Electronics. Amazing DACs,an excellent streamer and ampsthat can move mountains. Well, thatwill drive these bleeding difficultMagneplanar MG 3.7s, amongstother serious speakers.

Quality stuff built inblighty and just that bit different inpresentation too.

A year or two ago wetook on Audioplan, a very specialistGerman speaker manufacturer. Weliked the Kontrasts best but boughtsmaller Kantata stand-mounts.

We were silly. The Kontrasts are extremely competitivespeakers around the £6k mark sowe now have both on demonstration.

Headphones have become big business and one of the largest players inthis market is Sennheiser. Last year, we discovered the joys of the high end HD800‘phones and this year we have been seduced by the HDVD-800 headphoneamplifier / DAC.

Besides looking I-want-it-what-is-it?cool, it also sounds exceptional with the

800 and other ‘phones. Swap to the uniquebalanced lead for the ‘800s and the ability

improves still further. In stock and on demonstration.

The new IE800 in-ear ‘phones offer a fantastic level of performance from an iPod / iPhone, albeit at a price. We have a

pair here too that you can try.More inexpensively,

Momentum and Momentum‘On’ ‘phones (above) both soundgreat and maintain control of theApple products via the in-line buttons on the jack cable.

American made Audeze (odd-easy) has been making serious inroads intothe high end ‘phone market over the pastfew years. What were once secret productsare becoming well known. The two established models, LCD 2 and LCD 3 havejust been joined by the LCD X and LCD XC,the ‘C’ denotes a closed back. All othermodels are open designs.

We know and like the LCD 2 and3 but have yet to get hold of the X or XC. Alluse planar drivers with more in commonwith electrostatic or ribbon speakers thanconventional ‘phones. The balance tends towards the rich and vibrant or, as one reviewer put it, sumptuous. The overall feelreinforces this with soft leathers (or veganalternatives) and wooden ear-cups.

They are described as offering aneasy resistive load. Nevertheless, as withother headphones, they still work better withsome headphone amps than others and wehave been particularly impressed with themon the Chord and Trilogy headphone amps.

It’s rather academic,but an iPhone

won’t quite cutit!

signals

hi-fi for grown-ups

Signals UK ltd6 St Mary’s Park Bucklesham Ipswich IP10 0DY

Tel 01473 655171Email enq@signals.uk.comWeb www.signals.uk.com

Anthem, Arcam, Audioplan, Audeze, Audio Technica, Creek, Chord Company, Dynavector, Epos, Focal, Hutter,Isoblue, Kudos Audio, Linn Products, Lyra, MusicWorks, Naim Audio, Neat, Ortofon, Nottingham Analogue, PMC,

Primare, Rega, Something Solid, Stands Unique, Sumiko, Tiger Paw, Trilogy, Wireworld

Signals supply and installaudio, home theatre, smart lighting, control and multi-room products. But mainly, just really good music systems.

Visiting is by appointment,please, and it is greatly appreciated if visitors use the gravelled parking area.

I’ll try to spare you too much of the usual angst. We are enthusing about something irresponsibly and unjustifiably expensive.

The Chord Sarum Tuned Aray (yes that’s how they spell it)is a cable that seems to work in an unusually wide range of systems.It all remains subjective, of course, but the general consensus is thatSarum TA is a very good thing. Even in a Naim system.

From mains cables through interconnects to speaker cables, we have had some stunning results in various situations. Youare welcome to give them a try. Not for too long, though. They getmissed!

Other, more affordable Chords are here too, by the way, including Signature TA, Indigo TA and Epic Reference.

posh CHORDs return