A grand day out, Yoda

Polarbear

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I had the opportunity to take over the demo room at Practical hi-fi in Warrington all of yesterday afternoon and I must say a big thank you to Dave Spiers and all his staff for allowing Yoda and I to play with his hi-fi equipment.

Although Dave did not have any Naim equipment in is Warrington SHop there was plenty of decent hi-fi to play with, including a very nice Roksan Xerxes 20. Dave did however provide us witha pair of Art Emotions and Art Impressions so I could do a comparrison between the two, and what a comparrison it was.

We started off with the Emotions hooked upto Border patrol amps and a CD player I must admit I had never heard of. First impressions of the Emotions were they were shi**** sorry (cough) not performing as well as I had heard them at home, we played a few tracks and we had to take the Emotions off and replaced them with the Impressions. Well what a transformation, music loads of it, filled the demonstration room. Where there was no life, dynamics or any kind of bass extension from the Emotions, suddenly there was real deep bass, maybe another three octaves of Bass, there was life and vitality and air and transparancy.
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, I was certainly confussed by this time, I am very familiar with the Emotions and I have never heard them so comprehensively aniallated by another pair of speakers.

Thinking something was wrong I replaced the Impressions with the Emotions and this time I placed the Emotions much closer together, maybe four to five feet closer and snp, there were the Emotions I had been used to. Bringing them closer together brought a solidarity to the music and transforemd them into what Yoda thought was a different pair of speaker. The bass had returned, the speaker was more coheisive and the Emotions fun had returned.

Time for a lunch break and the staff at Practical very kindly provided us with Ham Pannini's and REAL Melton Mowbray pork pie, what a nice touch guys
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Anyway although food is very important
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, we had more serious listeing to do. The Impressions were moved back in and even though I had managed to get far more for the Emotions the difference in re-introducing the Impressions wasn't small at all.
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. I was still very confussed, I have lived with the Emotions for well over a year now and I hadn't thought they were lacking in any department, in fact I recall making statments like these are one of the very best speakers I had heard but here suddenly this concept was being forcable re-written.

The biggest difference seemed to be the addition of two more octaves of bass and an equal amount of trebble. However it was lie someone had aken the picture of music played by the Emotion and pulled the picture higher and lower. I recall saying to Yoda, there is far more space arround the instruments, allowing you to see far deeper into the mix.

To change things arround a bit, Dave kindly replaced the Border Patrols with the Unnison S8, a valve amp and we sat and listened to a few tracks before pulling this amp out due to it being soft and slushy. Then another revalation, the S8 was replaced by the Unnison Symphonia, described as a valve amp Naim fans would like and boy did this naim fan like it. Dynamics aplenty and the ability to start and stop with virtualy no overhang from a valve amp, quite remarkable and very enjoyable.

By this time the Roksan Xerxes had taken over source duties and again there were no comparrisons, this "basic" Xerxes with only a Tabriz arm and Goldring cartridge left the CD player in its wake.

Saturday afternnon went in a flash and before we knew it we had to let the staff lock up and retire to Yoda's house for some more excellent listeing to his system.

It was interesting to learn that Practical hi-fi have just got a Naim franchise in preston and the news that they had just sold their first Naim system was fantastic. Yoda and I had the peasure of Dave, his wife and Yoda's wife for an excellent evening meal where loads of stories of music and hi-fi were exchanged. Not forgetting coppius ammounts of red wine which was very enjoyable. Dave really knows his hi-fi and knows many contacts of Yoda's and me, including Mr Silva of Hong Kong. So a big hello from Dave to Joe.

I understand Practical will be demming a few Naim items at the forthcoming Manchester show, so anyone with any really difficult questions about Naim are advised to go and say hello.

I must finally say a big thank you to Dave for the fish which he caught and kindly passed onto the Polar bear. I am certainly looking foerard to enjoying it.

A very enjoyable day listening to some excellent music and talking to some great peple, what could be better?

Regards

PB

 

auralflea

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Polarbear wrote:

A close up of Yoda's electronics
PB, could you or Yoda translate what this system comprises for the uninitiated/ great unwashed amongst us. Those goodies sure do look awesome!!!

Kevin

 

Shakey

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Nice write up Polar Bear! I'm certainly looking forward to visiting Practical in Warrington on me Birthday (28th December guys, plenty of time to get the whip round goin'!
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) to invest in a major speaker upgrade. It's certainly re-assuring (not that I needed any after the good words I've heard about the place on this forum so far) to hear such a friendly atmosphere is prevalent.

Certainly Joe has graciously put up with quite a few pestering emails regarding speaker advice.
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Dammit I can't wait (don't think my girlfriend can either...
glum.gif.19305e5ca189352e84c85f8ec971e437.gif
)!

 

Polarbear

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Aural Flea wrote:

Polarbear wrote:
A close up of Yoda's electronics
PB, could you or Yoda translate what this system comprises for the uninitiated/ great unwashed amongst us. Those goodies sure do look awesome!!!

Kevin
Hi Kevin,

The eqiuipment is:-

Naim CDS3 (cough
whistling.gif.b56e45ab421c066833020c8ede98c081.gif
) Sugden Masterclass pre-amp, Naim 555PSU on the stack,Sugden Masterclass MonoPower amps, ech side of the electronics and ART IMpression Loudspeakers,

Regards

PB

 

Polarbear

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Shakey wrote:

Nice write up Polar Bear! I'm certainly looking forward to visiting Practical in Warrington on me Birthday (28th December guys, plenty of time to get the whip round goin'!
wink.png
) to invest in a major speaker upgrade. It's certainly re-assuring (not that I needed any after the good words I've heard about the place on this forum so far) to hear such a friendly atmosphere is prevalent.Certainly Joe has graciously put up with quite a few pestering emails regarding speaker advice.
smile.png


Dammit I can't wait (don't think my girlfriend can either...
glum.gif.19305e5ca189352e84c85f8ec971e437.gif
)!
Shakey,

If you had half of the fun, Yoda nad I had then you will have a very enjoyable day. The guys at Practical certainly know their stuff and are very friendly. You might even be lucky enough to bump into Warrington's version of Marelene
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Regards

PB

 

ErikFH

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Polarbear wrote:

Naim CDS3 (cough
whistling.gif.b56e45ab421c066833020c8ede98c081.gif
) Sugden Masterclass pre-amp, Naim 555PSU on the stack,Sugden Masterclass MonoPower amps, ech side of the electronics and ART IMpression Loudspeakers,Regards

PB
Heard the good lookingSugden set-upnicely playing in Brussels today. Somewhatpolite/modest (probably the class A treat) but never exaggerating things and surely musical. No wonder people rave aboutthisbrand.

 

Polarbear

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Erik,

nothing beats listening to something with your own ears,

Regards

PB

 

yoda900

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Hi PB,

Glad you enjoyed yourself ......... and the pie
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Nice write up. Never thought I hear of the Emotions being "annihilated" but i'm glad it was by the Impressions which is the view I've always had.
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Anyone who thinks Class A is soft ought to give them a try they will be somewhat surprised.
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PB did you think New Order Blue Monday could be described as " soft " or had we all imbibed too much red wine (+ beer + whisky)
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by 1.00a.m.

 

Polarbear

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Hi Yoda,

Glad you had a good day as well.

You have to remember that I am a Naim fan and both offer different presentations. You must come and hear the Emotions on the end of the 552/500. I have mine on right now and I have to say they are sounding much more alive than they did on the end of the Border patrols.

I personlly don't think the Impressions would sound as well on the end of the Naims in my living room as they do on the end of your sugdens in your listening room. Please forgive me but I do think the sugdens are softer than the Naims I like but thats personal preferences. I thought the blue order track rocked even after all that fine red wine and thats all that matters,

regards

PB

 
P

purplepleaser

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Hi PB

Sounds like you had a great time.

I hope my explaination of the differences between the Emotions and Impressions make a bit more sense now.

Did Mike treat you to any Break Reform:cool:

You need to hear some proper Sugden class A...........................mono's are for wimps:minikiev:

Practical Hifi Plus are exellent.

Lee

 

Polarbear

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Hi Lee,

I have just re-read your review of your visit to Yoda's, and I can now fully understand your comment.

We managed 3am on the volume pot on Sunday morning with no sign of break up although I think all that red wine might have been affecting Yoda's hearing.

They are an awesome pair of speaker that need to be heard properly before understanding them,

regards

PB

 
P

purplepleaser

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Hi PB

Good, as i am not the bestat explaining things.

Lee:)

 

Polarbear

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harv wrote:

I'm intrigued PB... what was the CD player you were using at Practical ?
Embarasingly I don't know Harv, its not a CD I have ever heard of, perhaps Yoda knows what CD player was being used.

It was an awkward little bugger to use though
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Regards

PB

 

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