Have you heard a quarter of a million pound system?
I suspect most of us have, but generally in a space set up in a dealers or an hotel room to accommodate a large-ish number of people; so, hardly an ideal listening environment. My experience is that attention to detail really matters, and that can take time as well as experience.
When I think back the closest I have come to hearing a top system that was exquisitely set up was a full 500 Naim system, which if I add it up would some to about £60k. The system I am going to describe here was at Guildford Audio. The proprietor, Trevor, has a dedicated room populated with brands with which he has a vast amount of experience; and it showed.
If I wanted to comfort you, and ME, I would say that there is a diminishing rate of return... and it still needs to be set up with an excellent amount of attention to detail to get the best from it; none of that means that I can claim that my system delivers in the same way as this top of the line system; I will return to this theme at the end of these observations, thoughts and reflections.
George was invited to go and lay ears on the new SME turntable, the Model 60. I think it would be fair to say that these are currently as common as hens teeth, but Trevor had two! In order to put these under as thorough a microscope as possible Trevor and Gavin had put together:
Sources were:
All cabling was Transparent apart from a couple of studio grade RCA cables from the Tom Evans to the Ref 6SE preamp. The racks were a custom SME one and an Artesania Exoteryc.
Additionally, Trevor played us one of the same albums via his Otari MTR-12 reel to reel using a quarter inch master tape!
The new SME 60 turntable has been created, in part, to celebrate the company's seventy-fifth anniversary. Trevor was very impressed by the new engineering that has gone into the 60, which includes flipping the suspension. To say that they looked solid would be something of an under statement, as you can see here:
Now, I should say that this is NOT a review. Although we spent a five hours with Trevor and Gavin this was only enough to gain an impression of the SME 60 and the system, it was in no way sufficient to truly get truly under the skin of such a suite of equipment, especially playing a number of unfamiliar albums.
Having spoken to the guys about a range of topics George and I settled in. George being the primary guest I settled into the secondary seat with a bad grace!
We played:
Tracks were first played on the blue SME 60 equipped with the DS Audio Grand Master cartridge system, followed by the silver SME 60 with the Koetsu Tiger Eye Platinum. We finished by playing a master tape:
The listening experience was consistent. The SME 60 with the DS Audio Grand Master cartridge system managed to extract an extraordinary amount of detail. This was in no way sterile, etched or distracting. You could listen into the detail to the extent that you, as a listener, felt your attention and interest take you.
The system itself was transparent with a straight line from bass to treble. There were no apparent frequency peaks but an ability to let the source shine through. I would not describe the system as being warm in the way the some valve amplifiers can present. Trevor’s wish to provide us with a magnifying glass onto the sources was well achieved, but in no way sterile or uninvolving.
The Koetsu fettled silver SME 60 didn’t have the detailed immediacy of the DS Audio, but that is not to say that the detail wasn’t available. I felt that I was sitting a bit further from the performers. Where the Koetsu truly shone was with its tonality and warmth. I hesitate to write warmth as I don’t believe this is truly accurate, it is more that there was a tad more richness to the human voice a certain instruments.
Trevor finally served up a helping of Mike Valentine master tape, served via his freshly refurbished Otari MTR-12. This was just a bit special. Somehow this melded the strengths of both the SME 60 front ends, combining the magnificent detailing of the DS Audio with the tonality of the Koetsu.
I suspect most of us have, but generally in a space set up in a dealers or an hotel room to accommodate a large-ish number of people; so, hardly an ideal listening environment. My experience is that attention to detail really matters, and that can take time as well as experience.
When I think back the closest I have come to hearing a top system that was exquisitely set up was a full 500 Naim system, which if I add it up would some to about £60k. The system I am going to describe here was at Guildford Audio. The proprietor, Trevor, has a dedicated room populated with brands with which he has a vast amount of experience; and it showed.
If I wanted to comfort you, and ME, I would say that there is a diminishing rate of return... and it still needs to be set up with an excellent amount of attention to detail to get the best from it; none of that means that I can claim that my system delivers in the same way as this top of the line system; I will return to this theme at the end of these observations, thoughts and reflections.
George was invited to go and lay ears on the new SME turntable, the Model 60. I think it would be fair to say that these are currently as common as hens teeth, but Trevor had two! In order to put these under as thorough a microscope as possible Trevor and Gavin had put together:
- Wilson Alexx V loudspeakers;
- A pair of Audio Research Reference 160M mono block amplifiers; and
- An Audio Research Reference 6SE pre-amplifier.
Sources were:
- SME 60 turntables with the DS Audio Grand Master cartridge system;
- SME 60 with a Koetsu Tiger Eye Platinum cartridge;
- These via a Tom Evans Groove + SRX phonostage.
All cabling was Transparent apart from a couple of studio grade RCA cables from the Tom Evans to the Ref 6SE preamp. The racks were a custom SME one and an Artesania Exoteryc.
Additionally, Trevor played us one of the same albums via his Otari MTR-12 reel to reel using a quarter inch master tape!
Having spoken to the guys about a range of topics George and I settled in. George being the primary guest I settled into the secondary seat with a bad grace!
We played:
- Quentin Collins All Strar Quintet. a day in the life;
- Clare Teal: Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald with the Syd Lawrence Orchestra; and
- Daft Punk: Random Access Memories.
Tracks were first played on the blue SME 60 equipped with the DS Audio Grand Master cartridge system, followed by the silver SME 60 with the Koetsu Tiger Eye Platinum. We finished by playing a master tape:
The system itself was transparent with a straight line from bass to treble. There were no apparent frequency peaks but an ability to let the source shine through. I would not describe the system as being warm in the way the some valve amplifiers can present. Trevor’s wish to provide us with a magnifying glass onto the sources was well achieved, but in no way sterile or uninvolving.
The Koetsu fettled silver SME 60 didn’t have the detailed immediacy of the DS Audio, but that is not to say that the detail wasn’t available. I felt that I was sitting a bit further from the performers. Where the Koetsu truly shone was with its tonality and warmth. I hesitate to write warmth as I don’t believe this is truly accurate, it is more that there was a tad more richness to the human voice a certain instruments.
Trevor finally served up a helping of Mike Valentine master tape, served via his freshly refurbished Otari MTR-12. This was just a bit special. Somehow this melded the strengths of both the SME 60 front ends, combining the magnificent detailing of the DS Audio with the tonality of the Koetsu.
