Signals 2015-16 yearbook V17

the signals yearbook 2015-16 issue 17

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ry of turning out to be. Beyond the flur hat an interesting year 2015 is from call a had we ent, mom a in to get product developments which I’ll to do a dealer visit”.

Hi Fi Choice Magazine. “We’d like rs mess that we always tell custome the nd arou ing Eyes started dart two or k wee a had we that was upshot is a temporary situation. . . The the ems at three price points. Add in syst e thre with up e com and out ler dea ious to figure things prev with ds as possible, to avoid overlaps desire to showcase as many bran osé. exp t grea e som of the visitor. I had visions reports and to actually impress st. He seemed turned out to be the perfect gue ey Sell Ed s, pen As it hap

nishingly kindly lts and certainly wrote us an asto genuinely fired up about the resu but I admit that le, ilab ava end. We have re-prints piece that has puffed our egos no ure of the cheesed pict ible terr the ut Anthem do something abo my own ego was too frail to not his pockets!

Arcam off fat geezer with his hands in low volume 17th signals ‘yearbook’. Low cost Anyway, this is, notionally, the

only parts, so Chord Co ring alte y, larl regu ly e things fair means that we can update thes ting prin Chord Electronics not you. It’s real. ng of a roll, if you get a sense of deja-vu, it’s n Products have been on somethi Dynavector Interesting year? For a start Lin gy has

nolo tech kt Exa The e has developed nicely.

Focal wing their Space optimisation softwar allo to kers spea ve acti own r just being available with thei from ard forw esses n proc spu er s-ov Hutter be driven actively with all the cros DSM ax other manufacturers speakers to Klim and rate Aku ik, Isoblue top of that, the new Maj being in the digital domain. On r. yea the of turn the atically around Kiseki units quietly improved quite dram o portable DAC the staggeringly successful Hug wed follo ics tron Elec rd Cho

proper step a Kudos Audio It’s use.

TT for, well, table top dphone amplifier with the Hugo hea / dling of USB han d rove imp and s Lehmann Audio bigger power supplie , slightly forward too, with far better and USB er at along undercutting Hugo (it’s bett Linn Products e, the Dav data. Similarly, the 2Qute came of tion men e n’t confusing enough along cam Lyra less pure as a DAC). If this was ty super DAC to replace the QDB76.

Magnepan either but this year has been pret Naim are not above confusing us king Loo

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272 -N ‘cross-over’ product called the NAC Melco Audio with ifier straightforward. There is a new mpl prea e logu ana , this is a genuinely good Naim Audio ble with for all the world like a SuperUniti rada upg also It’s r. ame stre X ed below the ND a very good streamer yet is pric updates too.

Neat Acoustics power amps have virtually all had The ply. sup er pow PS XPS or 555 which are of s side speakers, the back Ortofon We have the new Focal Sopra loud

ucts. Dealing prod ed ntat orie m Nai ch are now proper Notts Analogue gracing the colourful cover, whi too), Arcam are with an old friend (great speakers with Russell K is making contact three class G PMC with the two channel world now inuing to reassert themselves in cont moment. any due ice dev e Primare ge and a new all-in-on integrated amplifiers in the ran to do e plac in are s Plan . room of out Rega And we have now officially run

, I hope. soon e ing to be a little complicated. Mor Roksan something about it but it’s prov

Russell K Sennheiser

Alastair (I’m the chubby one on

the right)

Something Solid Sumiko Transfiguration Trilogy Wireworld

Signals UK Ltd., 6 St Mary’s Park, Bucklesham, Ipswich, IP10 0DY tel 01473 655171 + 655172 www.signals.uk.com enq@signals.uk.com We also lurk on facebook and twitter

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nother big event for us in 2015 was the arrival of Melco Audio. Headed up in the UK by Alan Ainslie, who has had a lot of input on the internal design, Melco is owned by Buffalo. Their two high end music servers are built in Japan and are differentiated from other storage devices by not being in any way an IT component, but designed for sound quality, ease of use and configuration.

It has always been fascinating to hear how much the music server can influence the audio quality of a UPnP streamed music system. The Melco products are the best yet.

Armed with a ‘quiet’ ethernet feed to connect to the streamer, they can simply enhance the quality of another networked server, such as UnitiServe by routing the ethernet through them. Things are better still, purer, less ‘glarey’, even more musical, if the data is located on the internal storage. It’s not golden ear stuff either, one of the easiest demonstrations ever. Our Naim NDS has never sounded so good.

On top of that, Melco have worked out an elegant way to connect with verified online Hi Res music vendors and to get the music uploaded straight into the Melco, even if you are buying remotely whilst away from home.

If you are more of a DAC person and have so far turned your back on UPnP streamers, you may like the fact that it’s also a High-End Local Player, DSD capable, with a very clean USB connection to your preferred external DAC. It is controllable via third party applications and sounds extremely compelling with, say, the Chord Hugo TT.

In fact, the Hugo TT is proving to be a very significant product, bettering the portable Hugo both in overall ability and in the handling of USB signals. The TT also has full sized socketry that allows, easily, for decent cables.

The more sophisticated and gutsy power supply gives it greater authority, refinement, dynamics and composure. There is remote control of inputs and volume level, so it is effectively a digital preamplifier, one equipped with a superb headphone preamp too.

The core DAC is similar to the infamous Hugo and it retains batteries but, here, they are in place for sonic reasons, not portability. You can lug it around but it’s a bit of a brick! Outputs are on both RCA and XLR sockets, so it’s fully compatible with the full sized Chord components.

2Qute is a tiny jewel of a thing. As with the Hugo and TT, it is available in black or silver anodised finish. Sonically, it’s a little behind the Hugo, in our opinion, certainly when fed with a coaxial signal. It does have some advantages, however, when being fed via USB. There is no volume control either, so levels cannot be tweaked as with the two Hugo products.

All offer high levels of value and build quality. They are available for demonstration, too, naturally.

We will have Chord’s Dave super DAC too, as soon as it comes out. Gut feeling is that this will be Melco’s best friend, ever. Everyone needs a Dave :)

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ome products are so appealing that the desire to own them transcends need. I know, ‘need’ is hardly what we’re about here, but some things fall into the “I want it, what is it?”category.

Here are some examples that spring to mind. The irony is that these are all genuinely good at what they do too.

Top left, the Chord Hugo. The portable DAC / headphone amplifier that finds itself wedged on the shelves of audio systems through out the land.

Next down, the Sennheiser HDVD800. This headphone amp has an in-built DAC and the HDVA600 does not.

Both look similar and are definately cool. Designed to match the Sennheiser HD800 ‘phones, the combination is stunning.

They also have the ability to drive the balanced cable for the the 800s, leading to even greater levels of joy. Hugo might be the better DAC but this is the better amp for the HD800s.

Bottom left, the Naim Mu-so is already a modern classic. With stylish looks, hewn from solid build, surprisingly capable audio quality and ease of use, what’s not to like? Coloured grill is extra.

Naim’s half width boxes have always been cool. Witness the continued demand for the early Naits.

When the UnitiQute came along Naim showed that their sense of style was alive and well. If ever a product has hooked people into the concept of streamed audio it’s this one.

Using the same form factor and similar styling cues, the Naim DAC V1 has an undeniable appeal too. It’s a lovely headphone amp / DAC that can be used with the matching NAP 100 amplifier below and, come to that, the matching UnitiServe which is not pictured.

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here is a lot of love out there for Chord cables. They’ve come a long way from when they were essentially an adjunct to Naim Audio, being the default cable supplier.

One area of concern with any cable is that the characteristics are wholly dependent on the devices with which they are used. Cable companies always describe the characteristics as absolutes. Chord manufacture a huge variety these days, the perception is that more expensive is simply better. This is not necessarily so!

Rant over. There are quite a few Chord cables that have given excellent results with the electronics that we sell.

Of the loudspeaker cables, Epic Reference has a tendency to work well across the board. Kudos are keen to demonstrate their mid-range speakers with it on the end of Naim electronics. We have certainly had great results with Arcam, Primare, Linn and Chord Electronics products.

On the Interconnect front, we have an affection for Cadenza with Arcam and Chord electronics.

Signature Tuned Aray has merits too but Sarum Tuned Aray was a mixed experience.

Initially all seemed good especially in a ‘full loom’ context with both Linn and Naim electronics. Customer reactions were mixed from the outset, certainly when an interconnect was used in a Naim

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system in isolation. Some loved it and others were far less impressed but this is the world of taste and compatibility.

One memorable demonstration was in a Linn system where the customer had the older version of Sarum. The Tuned Aray product was so wildly better that it was hard to believe it to be fundamentally the same wire.

This year, Chord have released the Super Aray version of the Sarum interconnects. Seeing our bundle of now outdated cables languishing in the stock room, we had them upgraded.

Crikey. It’s the TA upgrade all over again.

These are considerably better cables. The owners of the older TA cables have all been very impressed. Our only issue has been that cables are mainly sitting in customers systems either while they await an upgrade or become sufficiently bonded to order one.

All the interconnects are definitely more resolving and just plain nicer.

The power cables are the biggest surprise, now being in a different league of ability. The prices have risen, most significantly for the mains leads, mind you.

Either way, between loans, we have them in RCA, DIN, DIN-RCA, 4 PIN Snaic, Digital, XLR to XLR, Naim 4 pin DIN to XLR, the mains leads and the speaker cables.

Demonstrations can be arranged!

ondon based Trilogy make a collection of properly high end amplifiers.

Their 907 phono stage and 933 headphone amplifier have been successes in our hands. At over £2k each, they are at the upper range for products of this type but the 907 is one of our favourite phono stages full stop.

A notable 2015 arrival has been the 931 headphone amplifier pictured right in optional Mediterraneo blue.

It’s far more modestly priced yet is still one of the best headphone amplifiers available. It also qualifies to join the rarefied products on the left. It’s extremely appealing!

All of these components are available for demonstration.

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here is something of an ‘arms race’ at the moment in the world of streamers and, shall we call them, reduced box count systems.

Naim need to be up there with the leaders so the past year has seen an unprecedented amount of product enhancements, not least with the Uniti range. The upshot is that all the streamer products now have bluetooth and Spotify access. There are regular software updates and more on-line streaming vendors seem likely to be incorporated too.

The high end NDS network player is now alone in not having Bluetooth. For some unaccountable reason, this generates an inward smile with yours truly.

On the face of it, the new NAC-N 272 pictured top right is simply a top of the range Uniti. Like its NAC-N172 XS sibling, it needs a power amplifier. It is also hugely well equipped.

Unlike the 172 XS, it can accept power supply upgrades (XPS or 555 for the well heeled). Where it really breaks away is in audio quality.

The 172 is excellent as a streamer / DAC with a volume control. As an analogue preamplifier, it sits some way below the NAC 152 XS. In all respects, the 272 is a step forward but is also a really good preamplifier. Certainly good enough to make sense of NAPs 200, 250 and 300. What it is not is better than, say, an NDX with NAC282 but then it costs less than the bare NDX let alone the preamp.

There are Statement references in there too: the new volume control design is part of the much vaunted Statement ‘trickle down’ of technology.

There is definitely something fresh and indefinably different in its sonic signature (or maybe it’s the lack of signature) too.

Either way, it’s hitting the spot!

For 2015, Naim’s big amplifier story is the upgrade of the power amplifiers. From NAP 200 to 500, the new models now carry the “DR’ suffix.

The NAP 200 DR simply has an improved (Discrete Regulator) power supply for the preamplifier feed.

Those in the know will point out that the more serious power amplifiers from NAP 250 upwards always had discrete regulation anyway. From NAP 250 DR onwards, the real change is rather deeper and the output transistors are now devices based on those developed for Statement.

Upgrades will ultimately be available but, given the level of disassembly involved, costs are likely to be high. News on pricing is likely to come in early 2016.

All this way and I’ve failed to mention Naim’s real 2015 ‘biggie’, the New Super Lumina Interconnects and speaker cables. It is now possible to wire the entire signal path with these new cables that were designed with the Statement amplifier in mind. Results have been marvelous and a lot of people have felt the gains to be well worth the not inconsiderable asking price. We can, of course, demonstrate as required. We have all the cable permutations.

Now, you might notice that lone Statement S1 looming bottom left. As you may be aware, we decided to take tentative steps into Statement territory and now have the S1 preamp on demonstration.

Just as the first foray into 500 level ownership is generally the NAC 552 preamplifier, the S1 has the capability to make your system sound a whole lot better.

It’s hard to get across just how transformative it can be. With both XLR and DIN outputs, it could suit non - Naim systems too. Certainly with our NDS / 500 / Kudos combo it was like every component had been upgraded simultaneously.

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hord Electronics (makers of Hugo), are based in Maidstone, Kent. They are not to be confused with Chord Cables although their accounts departments are apparently well versed in swapping payments received in error.

Since 1989, under the leadership of proprietor John Franks, Chord Electronics has been pushing the boundaries of innovation, creating some of the planet’s finest hi-fi, home cinema and professional audio equipment. Chord Electronics’ philosophy of ongoing evolution and refinement continues to deliver landmark audio products with extraordinary performance and unrivalled design features.

Born from the highly demanding world of aircraft avionics, Chord Electronics maintains a commitment to exemplary engineering, cutting-edge technology and exceptional build quality. Designed for high performance over the long term, Chord products are renowned internationally for their advanced technology which is amongst the best in the world. Chord’s collaboration since 1996 with Robert Watts, a digital design genius with 30 years’ DAC technology development experience, has produced a number of advanced digital products that are, quite simply, without equal.

Chord’s achievements have been recognised in the media, too, with magazines and websites from around the world awarding Chord products the highest accolades. Chord’s passion for sound quality and exemplary engineering continue to produce audio equipment with exceptional insight into recorded music. Sparkling clarity, unrivalled transparency and huge reserves of high-quality power are trademarks that have become synonymous with the brand. Chord is trusted and admired internationally, and its global customer base includes: the BBC; EMI’s Abbey Road Studios (London); Sony Music Studios (New York) and Skywalker Sound to name but a few.

They were a new arrival to us in 2013 but already we feel like old hands.

As mentioned above, DACs have come to be seen as Chord’s particular forte for the the past couple of decades and it was these, along with the new streamer products, that first piqued our interest. Not to mention the very agreeable approach of Colin Pratt, their sales manager.

Their DSX1000 streamer is capable of driving a power amp directly, so our first amplifier purchase was the SPM1200 MkII looming from the top of the page.

The combination is effortless, open and extremely powerful in a very understated way.

There is something of the character of passive controllers that we’ve used in years past and adding the CPA 3000 preamplifier brings increased authority, scale and vigour that we judged to be positive. Reassuringly, nothing seems to be lost in adding the extra layer.

The more expensive CPA5000 brings even greater resolution, dynamics and clarity, so we opted for that.

A particular Chord strength is in the portrayal of timbre and harmonics and it has the capacity to simply allow you to revel in the sound of a voice or instrument. Timing is very good, but it is not an aspect that is brought to your attention.

It feels dangerous to rave about something, particularly when we have a strong and justifiable following for A N other maker but there is room in world for choice and we do feel that Chord have their own particular and very musical strengths that go rather further than simply not being the all conquering brand!

One area where these products score unequivocably is in power and control. Need to drive some Magneplanar 3.7is? The SPM1200/II is will do it with guts, and to serious levels. To think it’s is only the second power amp up the range, too. . .

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rcam’s return to form has been gratifying. One of the great names in British audio deserves to be part of the two channel audio firmament. The current A/V receivers are well regarded and the top end unit uses a technology called “Class G” for the power amplification. This is in the new A49 integrated amplifier, pictured top, as well as the matching P49 power amp and it’s where matters have become really interesting. There is a C49 pre as well, by the way.

These amps are very good. Special, even. Certainly good enough to cause a stir at our audio show where they were first demonstrated in late summer 2014.

We were chuffed when the idea was mooted of also launching their brand new audiophile streamer / CD & SACD player at our 2014 show too. This was really more a case of dates coinciding, but we are happy to revel in any glory we can get.

Now, a year on, the CDS 27 is fully in production. It’s an excellent high value source component. There it is propping up the bottom of the page.

The A49 has been joined by the A39 and, in August 2015 by the A29. All of these sport class G technology and are very serious propositions at their respective price points.

It’s interesting to note that they have, to some degree, their own characters too.

The Audio Show East launch in 2015 is of the new Solo Music. The specifications look pretty impressive, particularly bearing in mind the modest asking price: • • • • • • • •

2x 80W in 8 ohms (all channels driven) Class G SACD/CD playback FM/DAB/DAB+ tuner 1x extra line level input Built-in Bluetooth/aptX receiver UPnP audio streaming (MusicLife app) Dedicated subwoofer output HDMI switching for set top box

Making reference to prices reminds me that the figures for the Solo Soundbar and the UDP411 universal disc player have come down, making both rather good value components. The software has been upgraded for the Solo too, improving audio quality.

Both are in stock for demonstration.

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inn wil need no introduction.

Manufacturers of probably the world’s most famous turntable.

It even qualifies as a religion!

They also make digital streamers, amplification and loudspeakers. Currently, besides various flavour of Sondek LP12, we have the electronics at Majik, Akurate and Klimax level.

DSM products were introduced a year or two ago and they allow complete integration of analogue and digital sources and allow control via Apple, PC or Android devices.

For the Majik this takes the form of a single box audio system (plus speakers). For Akurate and Klimax, the DSM unit is a streamer and analogue preamplifier to be used with a separate power amp.

We’ve had particularly good results using Kudos and PMC loudspeakers with them.

In fact the combination of Majik DSM with Kudos C10s was a real discovery, sounding impressively well balanced and lucid.

The Akurate power amplifiers can be specified with up to four channels, allowing bi-amplification in stereo. Bi-amping the PMC fact 8 and 12s brings startling levels of proper musical improvement over the single option. In fact this is true with the Twenty series loudpeakers too.

The big arrival of 2014 was Akurate Exakt. The Klimax version of Exakt came out in 2013.

This changes the replay process by sending the musical data via CAT5 cable to the speakers where all decoding, DSP and amplification is performed. With this system, the speaker is first set to a flat response (taking account of individual driver variances) and then adjustments made for room characteristics and speaker positioning. All this happens in the digital domain and it is both clever and effective. Late 2014 arrival here was the Akudorik Exakt loudspeakers joined in 2015, by Klimax electronics too. We are impressed!

The really exciting element here is that active operation of older or third party loudspeakers is easy to achieve by simply downloading the appropriate crossover information and using an Exakt Tunebox to drive a collection of power amplifiers.

Already, Kudos have had the new Super Titan ‘mapped’ and it was demonstrated at the Bristol HiFi show 2015. The Cardea series has also been measured and settings are already available.

Pictured top to bottom Our own Exakt Akudoriks in white (there are many options) Akurate DSM with Exakt links in silver.

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ega launched their RP8 turntable in 2011. A radical design, using structural foam, it is essentially a skeletal deck designed to sit inside a framework that renders it utterly normal and, visually, unexeptional.

Combining the benefits of a purist stripped bare design with the convenience of a lid and domestically acceptable normality says much about Roy Gandy’s approach.

Add in the package deal with the impressively open and agile sounding Apheta cartridge (definately a synergistic match) and they have a sales success on their hands.

Running into our Naim 500 system with Trilogy 907 stage feeding Kudos Titans, the RP8 was judged by several listeners to be the best turntable we’d ever had.

ven beyond turntables, Rega are on something of a roll at the moment, having updated their entire range of amplifiers in the last couple of years. Unusually, all of them, even the high end Osiris, are integrated units.

Electronics designer, Terry Bateman, may have been busy, but he still finds time to leave bizarre or just plain cryptic messages on the circuit boards.

The lovely Elex-R integrated amplifier was launched mid 2014. It comes between the Apollo-R and Elicit-R products. The message on the board extols the virtues of EL34 valves. Is it valve based? Nah.

The Saturn DAC (with a CD player chucked in for free) matches both the Elicit and Elex visually whilst the half-width Apollo-R visually matches the Brio (above).

A year or so later, the glass plattered, basic power supplied RP8 is joined by the ceramic plattered, super-complex power supplied and better armed RP10 on a similar ‘chassis.

First of all let’s get one thing out of the way: the ceramic platter will not fit on the RP8, the power supply will not plug into it and we’ve not tried swapping tonearms just to see. Sonically, it’s a lot like an 8 but images bigger, is cleaner and is more resolving. By any measure it’s the better deck. The recently revised Apheta 2 has improved things even further.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, from a company who also make turntables, the in-built moving magnet phono stages in all the amps are of extremely high quality.

Moving up a level, and adding access to MC cartridges, the Aria phono stage is brilliant. A superb device, with adjustable loadings spanning MM and MC.

The range refresh extends right down to the headphone amplifier (called Ear, naturally) and the sub £100 Fono Mini which has a USB output, potentially handy for those wishing to copy records to digital format.

The Apollo CD is terrific value and the top-loading Saturn is definitely one of the best CD players around at the price. Crumbs you even get a free A-USB DAC. Oops, sorry, it’ s the other way around.

Beyond the upper level turntables, the affordable tradition is maintained with the entry point RP1, which includes a Rega Carbon cartridge, offering impressive value for money. RP3 and RP6 come further up the range and again, are high value products.

The new RX speaker range is excellent and is always held on demonstration. They work well with other makes of electronics too.

With the Couple 2 interconnect and Duet speaker cable, an all Rega system now sounds better than ever.

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or turntables, besides Rega, we have Nottingham Analogue and Linn. Great as the NA decks are, nothing new has happened, so no news to report.

Linn, on the other hand, have released the Kore sub-chassis which is manufactured from an aluminum box section and has a bonded alloy arm board. It looks a lot like the keel from outside, forms the basis of a very cost-effective upgrade for existing turntables and we are more than happy to bring joy to your life!

All new turntables have a version of this sub-chassis but with the standard, rather than bonded arm-board.

For the more adventurous, we have the full Radikal (DC motor / power supply) and Urika (in-built phono stage) that shares the same PSU. On demonstration with LP12 decks that can be specified to any point on the Linn ladder right up to Klimax level. Ooh err.

Tiger Paw make some great top plate and arm weight upgrades.

It’s a long story, so best discussed, but we can demonstrate and fit these too.

Latest versions of the Ekos SE arm have a slightly longer headshell, aiding fitment of non-Linn cartridges. Dynavector, Lyra, Kiseki and Transfigurations all fit and work very nicely indeed.

Transfiguration? Oh yes, this has been another new cartridge brand arrival. Having got ourselves into an acquisitive frame of mind, we found it hard to draw the line.

The baby of the range, Axia, is more of a direct Lyra alternative than the Kiseki. A little cleaner and more focused that the (cheaper) Lyra Delos, its particular strong suit is bass weight and control. We have this and the even lovelier Phoenix S.

Turntable matching has, so far, revealed no issues and they certainly suit Linn. As always, we recommend that customers hear what they may be buying, so we are happy to establish the best product by way of demonstration.

We remain keen Lyra dealers but the upsurge in turntable interest coupled with some supply shortages has made it important for us to offer a greater level of choice. One of the biggest casualties on the shortages front was the Linn Kandid (pictured above). As relative newbie dealers, we were evidently not at the front of the supply queue. With Kandid now flowing freely we can report that it is chuffing brilliant.

Worth both the money and the wait.

Truth be told, our traffic in turntable sales in general, servicing and updates for Linn in particular has risen dramatically over the past year. Andy should be qualifying for ‘Guru’ status shortly. Doctorates possibly take a little longer.

Our cartridge demonstration portfolio is currently: Dynavector, Kiseki, Linn, Lyra, Ortofon, Rega, Sumiko and Transfiguration.

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iseki was a welcome new arrival in 2014. A well-established Japanese cartridge maker that suddenly released ‘New Old Stock” products followed by some differently designed New Stock (NS) ones. Andy fitted the Blue NS to our Nottingham Dais / Ace Anna combination (Trilogy 907 etc.) and we were utterly mesmerised by what we heard.

Genuinely breathtaking stuff. with not just detail being dredged out of familiar recordings but real live people playing with spirit and commitment.

And on instruments that themselves seemed to have more in the way of harmonics, textures and sheer musicality than we could recall hearing before.

We sent it straight back.

Obviously :)

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ussell Kauffman and Signals go back a long way. Back in the days when we were stocking Densen and there was a tie up with Morel in Ipswich, Russell was the man.

Even then, Russell was working on a number of loudspeaker designs and an abiding principle was that there should be no internal damping whatsoever. “It just blurs information, stores energy and slows things down”.

It was no surprise, then, to find that, twenty odd years later, with his own company up and running, that the Red 50, Red 100 and forthcoming Red 150 speakers are all unencumbered by internal damping.

And they’re good too. The Red 100 in particular is a real stunner. Or completely wacky if you opt for the Red / grey combo as we have.

OK, let;s grasp the nettle of the looks. Audio design has taken precedence over aesthetics. See it as agreeable honesty. They won’t date! Throughout the range, all content is from Europe, build quality and finishing is to a high standard and there are colour and veneer options too.

The smallest and cheapest speaker, the Red 50 is superb.

Quite probably the best available for under £1000. The 100 costs only a little more but is far more demanding of set up and positioning.

Without the bass hump that is normal with ported designs, these possess unusually high levels of transparency. You can really sense the speed, the lack of blur or confusion. There is clearly some logic in the design ethos.

The new Red 150 will continue the tradition, taking over where the 100 leaves off. From a limited time hearing it, we think this will be quite remarkable at the £4k ish asking price.

As they say about judging books . . .

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e have been stocking Magnepan for around four years now. The products are called Magneplanar and the model numbers have been just a little bit weird.

New for 2015, the MG 12 has been replaced by the MG 0.7 and the larger MG 1.7 by the MG 1.7i. The new numbering is now at least showing some ascending logic.

The MG 3.7i is pictured right and it’s fairly large. There is an MG 20.1 above that.

All are incredibly thin and fairly tall planar designs, very similar in concept to electrostatics. The major difference is that, as ribbon speakers, they do not require a power source. Up to, say, the 1.7i, they are quite easy to drive too and will work well with most sensible amplifiers.

From 3.7i onwards, you do need considerable heft to drive the low impedance load. There have been some surprising successes, though, with even the ‘difficult. 3.7i suiting relatively modest valve amplifiers.

The new models are an evolution of what came before but they are all worthwhile progressions.

These speakers have frequently sold against more expensive alternatives and there is a refreshing honesty to their delivery. They trade outright slam and bass control for a naturalness and ease that some will value above all else.

Mind you, a pair of 3.7is driven a big Chord amplifier can still pack a substantial punch.

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s mentioned overleaf, PMC products, particularly at ‘fact’ level, have proved very compatible with Linn electronics. The ultra clean ‘lifestyle’ looks of the fact series help their case too.

Last summer saw the arrival of the high end fact 12 loudspeakers. Big brother to the similarly styled fact 8 and more accomplished in every way, the 12 is a three way device with PMCs superb dome midrange unit and the two deceptively muscular bass drivers working in parallel.

When done well, the gains from a proper three way speaker outweigh the pitfalls of added complexity and the 12 is a very successful implementation of the design. As with all PMC products, the bass loading is Advanced Transmission Line (ATL).

Tall, skinny and fairly deep, they offer Scandinavian looks and superb finish. It’s easy to dismiss a product that looks so visually appealing as being lifestyle eye candy. These are the real deal as a very serious speaker.

As with all products, compatibility is the key and, whilst they suit the top end 500 series Naim electronics much better than the 8, there is still a sense, certainly in our room, that things are getting a little bit ‘dry’ at this level.

Interestingly, we’ve had staggeringly good results from 500 level kit in other places, so it goes to show the need to try.

Naim’s slightly looser electronics, such as NAP300, work very well indeed and our experience with Chord (SPM1200/II), Arcam A49 and Trilogy are entirely positive.

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he twenty series has been a particular success for PMC and, by extension, us. Sitting below the fact range, but sharing some of the design both technologically and visually, this range has proved easy to partner and to place. The crisp clean looks and choices of finish have made them easy to home, too.

There are two stand-mounts and three floor-standers, a centre speaker and, now, an active sub too.

The largest of the speakers is the twenty 26 pictured left. In producing it, PMC have created some serious competition for their own fact 8.

As a proper three way design and using their own dome mid-range unit, the 26 offers impressive clarity gains over the rest of the range. Bi-amping with the latest (and much improved) Exakt-ready Linn Akurate DSM into the 4200 four channel power amp had us scratching our heads on what would actually better this system at anything approaching the cost.

At our first Trinity Park show PMC played the 21 stand-mounts in their 10m x 10m (and very tall) room. They were being fed by the Rega Saturn R CD player and Brio R amplifier and it was stupidly good. Getting a big well resolved and musical sound from this range is, therefore, is more about quality than quantity.

The matching sub-woofer is very good too and we have it on demonstration.

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udos have been a Signals favourite since Derek Gilligan branched out on his own in 2006.

Their T88 “Titan’ is the most expensive speaker that we sell and it is also, in our opinion, one of the very best.

Despite fairly controversial looks, it has been astonishingly successful for us, able to work in a wide range of rooms and systems. As with others in the range, the finish is topnotch and the potential to have exotic veneers has added to the appeal. The exciting and sad news in equal measure is that it is now being replaced by the new T808 Super Titan.

Pictures of the new speaker are restricted to computer renderings and snapshots at the moment, but it would be rude not to give you an idea of what is coming. Preview below!

On the left is the new X3, a compact floor-standing speaker from the other end of the range.

X3 made its debut at our own Audio Show East in 2014 and has already proved to be popular choice, effectively replacing the previous stalwart of the range, the Cardea C2.

The Super Ten stand-mount and Super Twenty floorstander remain popular too and, along with the forthcoming T808, there is now the provision to specify them for use with Linn Exakt active digital crossovers.

The Exakt arrangement was demonstrated on preproduction samples of the T808 at the February 2015 Bristol Audio Show and the reaction was deeply reassuring, with it being considered to be one of the stars of the show.

Used with a Naim system in passive configuration at the Acoustica Show in Cheshire, they garnered substantial praise again.

As of this year, all Kudos loudspeakers, even old models, such as C30, are Linn Space Optimisation ready. This can bring substantial improvements in room behaviour.

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lready mentioned in the Rega section but worthy of their own entry here, the Rega range of speakers have all been revised.

Replacing the RS series, the new RX is a proper (upward) revision in all aspects, appearance, finish, subjective build, choice of veneer and audio quality.

The only negative is that the price has risen commensurately too. In the past, they have been ignored for being too inexpensive, so even the price hike could help their case.

All are on demonstration, so form an orderly queue!

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ocal loudspeakers have made a reappearance at Signals Towers. We had a frustrating relationship with them in the past because, good as they are, they never seemed quite right with Naim. And we don’t half do a lot with them!

The great merger of 2012 was between these two brands and the upshot is that the new high quality, but affordable, Aria range most certainly does suit Salisbury’s finest. Not entirely surprising, since Naim was used in the development.

Range comprises 906 stand-mount and 926, 936 and 948 floor stander.

The future synergy between the brands looks distinctly promising and Focal Utopias are seen as the default choice for demonstrating the new Naim Statement amplification.

This has now been joined by Sopra, see back page.

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eat’s Motive range, now in revised “SX” form, really has stood the test of time.

All share the same 5.5” doped paper bass / mid driver and (revised) anodised inverted dome tweeter.

There has been significant development work and these new products are more grown-up and refined, although perhaps just a little less ‘fun’ than before.

Certainly, these changes were felt to remove the need for the previous ‘SE’ version.

Their relative lack of placement sensitivity is most welcome.

As before, all are clean, dynamic and musical with the sort of mid range resolution that affordable loudspeakers rarely manage to achieve.

Reviews of the SX range have been positively effusive, so buyers can be reassured. The matching centre speaker remains available but only in the black oak finish.

The largest, the Motive 1, previous runt of the litter, in our view anyway, is the most improved, although its fairly laid-back delivery still polarises opinion.

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o on, inject some colour into your cool but drab concrete euro pad! The new Focal Sopra series - No. 2 floor stander is pictured - is available in orange, red, white, black or walnut veneer. We wimped out and ordered the demo ones in black but, deep down, I think we should have been more radical.

Suspect I can predict my wife’s reaction, though.

This range, the Number 2 and smaller No. 1 stand-mount, are the latest to have been developed on Naim electronics by sister company Focal in France.

‘See these as Naim products’ was the advice. It’s true too.

As with the cheaper Aria series, there is real synergy at play. These sit above Electra and take a great deal of technology from the Utopia range. The Sopra floor standers cost a little less than the cheapest Utopia, the Diablo, by the time you factor in their stands and I’d say the Sopra No 2 is the more complete speaker although the Diablo could well have the edge on absolute resolution.

Where the cheaper Electras would tend to prefer that you play around with cables to aid the match with Naim electronics, these fit straight in.

Fundamental build quality of the Electras is good but these are noticeably better engineered in areas such as the floor spiking and plinth design. They are also far cleaner, better behaved in the bass and more coherent.

At this level, discussing value for money is a thorny matter, but these offer more than you might expect for the outlay.

Best have a listen.

tel 01473 655171 + 655172 www.signals.uk.com enq@signals.uk.com