My big day out…I know you hardened swappers will find this all a bit OTT, but I was excited…the first serious bit of kit swapping for 7 years.
Divine audio in Market Harborough is quite tiny. Downstairs, a few Lowe tellys and cables etc. Upstairs, the real business. He mainly stocks Arcam, Moon, Unison Research, Sugden, with Proac Art, PMC, Opera and JM Focal speakers. Still, as it turns out, small means you know your kit and have taken the trouble to sort out that magic synergy thing.
Tim is a good guy. Very helpful, laid back and unpressured, he basically set up what I wanted, made tea and handed me the remotes. Thick curtains draw across and you’re left in your own small magic playground.
First up. Moon CD into Sugden A21se into JMFocal 1007’s. Cables throughout were chord of decent quality. There’s a rightness to this sound about which I scribbled (yup..made notes…the memory an all that) Rich and creamy sound. Textured instruments, but the whole with clarity but no sharp monitor type presentation. My notes coninue,,,these are special speakers and could easily handle another £2000 of amp. Good cables going to be a necessity to make the most. GLORIOUS mid range in this combo and a smooth open top (that beryllium tweeter is a peach). Bass good, tuneful, rhythmic and plenty enough. VERY balanced sound overall. At this price, how can you do better??
First change. Swap Sugden for Unison research S6 integrated valves..same price as the sugden, but 30wpc of single ended (el34) valve amp. Sorry to say this didn’t last longer than half an hour…a VERY good amp, but a forward mid presentation spoilt it for me, making it lighter and brighter than the sugden (although bass was a little warmer and more rhythmic still…looser however) I wrote..’a liitle more air and space at the expense of eveness of tone. Soundstaging, notably depth, was better that the sugden however.
So back to the A21 and add:
Art stilleto monitors (I’d decided it was stand mounts or bust as you’ll see later). WOW. At this price (1/2 that of the JM focals) this is one very good speaker. Tiny, but beautifully coherent and with ZERO vices that I could detect, it was revealing as only tiny monitors can be. However less instrument timbre was there and the tiny boxes just simply are too ‘cold’. Some may love this lack of colouration and accuracy, but I wanted something a bit warmer.
Proac . Unfortunately, all the Proacs I wanted to hear (respons1 & D15) were out on loan, but I heard the floorstanding studio 140’s to get a feel for the Proac sound and to remind myself what floorstanders do. Two points. 1. I don’t like floorstanders. The simple rules apply. Tiny cabinets produce monitor sound quality. Big cabinets are more coloured and frankly, I find that the bass( or maybe more accurately, the warmth of the cabinet colouration) simply overwhelms the mix in a way I don’t like. Large standmounts however have the best of both worlds. Some warmth and a lot of clarity and detail…a better overall balance IMO. Point 2. Proacs are what I would buy if I wanted a big floorstander. I loved the sound and the mix of Proac and sugden is just wonderful.
SO.
Best speaker: JMFocal 1007 EASY. I want two of these.
Best amp: Sugden.
Best combo, Sugden/proac (JUST beating sugden JMF), but I could happily live with sugden JMF since proac don’t make a speaker I want (ie a 2000ish mid size standmount).
Next stop, Mr C next Sunday to hear 1007’s with his amps.
The tension mounts!
PS we dont hear much about moon...this was a 2000ish CD front end and bloody good indeed...well worth searching out and hearing if you're in the market at that price.
editted to add...was pleased at how things have moved on in 7 years...not a huge leap, but significant enough to hear, and especially how EVERYTHING I heard was really very good indeed. There's no crap about that I've heard, it's just hunting out VFM and synergy that's occupying me.
Divine audio in Market Harborough is quite tiny. Downstairs, a few Lowe tellys and cables etc. Upstairs, the real business. He mainly stocks Arcam, Moon, Unison Research, Sugden, with Proac Art, PMC, Opera and JM Focal speakers. Still, as it turns out, small means you know your kit and have taken the trouble to sort out that magic synergy thing.
Tim is a good guy. Very helpful, laid back and unpressured, he basically set up what I wanted, made tea and handed me the remotes. Thick curtains draw across and you’re left in your own small magic playground.
First up. Moon CD into Sugden A21se into JMFocal 1007’s. Cables throughout were chord of decent quality. There’s a rightness to this sound about which I scribbled (yup..made notes…the memory an all that) Rich and creamy sound. Textured instruments, but the whole with clarity but no sharp monitor type presentation. My notes coninue,,,these are special speakers and could easily handle another £2000 of amp. Good cables going to be a necessity to make the most. GLORIOUS mid range in this combo and a smooth open top (that beryllium tweeter is a peach). Bass good, tuneful, rhythmic and plenty enough. VERY balanced sound overall. At this price, how can you do better??
First change. Swap Sugden for Unison research S6 integrated valves..same price as the sugden, but 30wpc of single ended (el34) valve amp. Sorry to say this didn’t last longer than half an hour…a VERY good amp, but a forward mid presentation spoilt it for me, making it lighter and brighter than the sugden (although bass was a little warmer and more rhythmic still…looser however) I wrote..’a liitle more air and space at the expense of eveness of tone. Soundstaging, notably depth, was better that the sugden however.
So back to the A21 and add:
Art stilleto monitors (I’d decided it was stand mounts or bust as you’ll see later). WOW. At this price (1/2 that of the JM focals) this is one very good speaker. Tiny, but beautifully coherent and with ZERO vices that I could detect, it was revealing as only tiny monitors can be. However less instrument timbre was there and the tiny boxes just simply are too ‘cold’. Some may love this lack of colouration and accuracy, but I wanted something a bit warmer.
Proac . Unfortunately, all the Proacs I wanted to hear (respons1 & D15) were out on loan, but I heard the floorstanding studio 140’s to get a feel for the Proac sound and to remind myself what floorstanders do. Two points. 1. I don’t like floorstanders. The simple rules apply. Tiny cabinets produce monitor sound quality. Big cabinets are more coloured and frankly, I find that the bass( or maybe more accurately, the warmth of the cabinet colouration) simply overwhelms the mix in a way I don’t like. Large standmounts however have the best of both worlds. Some warmth and a lot of clarity and detail…a better overall balance IMO. Point 2. Proacs are what I would buy if I wanted a big floorstander. I loved the sound and the mix of Proac and sugden is just wonderful.
SO.
Best speaker: JMFocal 1007 EASY. I want two of these.
Best amp: Sugden.
Best combo, Sugden/proac (JUST beating sugden JMF), but I could happily live with sugden JMF since proac don’t make a speaker I want (ie a 2000ish mid size standmount).
Next stop, Mr C next Sunday to hear 1007’s with his amps.
The tension mounts!
PS we dont hear much about moon...this was a 2000ish CD front end and bloody good indeed...well worth searching out and hearing if you're in the market at that price.
editted to add...was pleased at how things have moved on in 7 years...not a huge leap, but significant enough to hear, and especially how EVERYTHING I heard was really very good indeed. There's no crap about that I've heard, it's just hunting out VFM and synergy that's occupying me.
raoflmfao
