It's early 2023. And with the new year, a new amplifier has arrived at Tannoyista. And this time, it isn't valve based. This 250wpc British-made amplifier is from a company with an excellent heritage in live sound & professional studio circles that some in the Hi-Fi world may not have heard of.
Nonetheless, it is a heritage that has been highly regarded in professional audio worldwide and has recently added a Hi-Fi arrow to its bow, Ultrafide.
In 2014, I added a Khozmo volume attenuator to my Croft preamplifier and found it to be one of the most worthwhile upgrades I'd ever done. Fast forward to 2022 and things have certainly developed. Khozmo has developed one of the best passive preamplifiers I've heard.
The Entreq Tellus II Infinity Line is one of the most intriguing additions to the Tannoyista system I've ever had the pleasure of owning. It has no moving parts, no mains cable and is encased in beautifully finished solid wood.
The Studer A80 Master Recorder is one hell of a beast. After previously owning a Studer A807 MKII, Nagra Kudelski, Revox G36 and a Pioneer RT-909, in 2018 I wanted to revisit an old friend which I was familiar with back in the early '90s.
The Studer A80/R is a 96.5kg machine. It was built for precision, performance and reliability. And after 50 years since its initial release, it's the transport and audio capability which is still regarded as one of the best.
Abbey Road, for example, has always used the A80 and in most recent times an A80 was used for transferring 1/4" master tapes to digital for the Miles Showell 1/2 speed Abbey Road/Universal remasters.
The A80 stabiliser card is something you wouldn't think about upgrading. But Sepia Audio has made something really special which has to be experienced on such a legendary machine.
The Studer A80 is one of the most famous reel-to-reel machines in the world. Renowned for its delicate transport and amazing reproduction quality, its time on this earth is now legendary.
From Pink Floyd, Paul Simon, Queen to My Bloody Valentine and beyond, the A80 is still being used to record with and to also remaster classic albums at Abbey Road.
The electronics inside the A80 is discreet but also wonderfully simple compared to the later more advanced machines such as the A820 or the smaller A807 and A810.
Trident Studios was a recording studio in London. During the late 60s and all through the 70s and 80s and 90s, Trident Studios was one of the most unique recording studios in the world. The legacy of this studio is now legendary. Today the studio is no more, in fact, it's now a very upmarket townhouse which is sad to see.
But the ghostly reverberations of the studio still ring loud in our music and culture today, and in many ways just as loud as Abbey Road.
Within a small window of time from 1968 to around 1977, Tridents control room setup included 4 Lockwood Major monitoring loudspeakers for hearing back mixes. That amazing window in time included some of the most prolific artists using the studio such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Queen, Lou Reed, T-Rex and others.
This is the story of two of the actual loudspeakers used to make those amazing albums.
There's nothing like hearing BIG speakers. The amount of energy and spatial energy is totally immersive. Back in the early 90s, I used to work in a small studio where we used such speakers. The sound was totally astonishing. Of course, a studio control room is treated to a vast degree but even with a typical living room space, you can still get a lot of the magic.
So, in 2013, my love for large loudspeakers began. At that time, I was using some Lockwood Universal loudspeakers which were pretty good but when I had the chance to move to the ultimate beasts, I just had to do it. So in 2015, I sold the Lockwood Universal cabinets to go bigger and, yes... much better. Bring on the Lockwood Majors.
In 2009, I bought a Thorens TD-124 turntable. Since then it's become a highly regarded and converted turntable. It's certainly earned its noted soubriquet 'legendary'. It stands out as one of the top audiophile decks in sound and design. Needless to say, this little deck consistently captures the hearts of many including myself.
This review is a look back at my experience of owning the TD-124.
I first started reviewing music streamers back in 2015 with the IQaudio DAC. Subsequently, the ALLO BOSS + Piano with the BOBW PSU and then the KATANA + Isolator + Shanti.
There is plenty of choices when it comes to something like this from Audiophonics, Topping, French Audio. But for me and at this price point, the Revolution DAC as a package is much more attractive.
All of the products from ALLO have always surprised me in regards to performance. Since the BOSS was released in 2016, ALLO and their technical team seemed to go into overdrive.
If you're serious about vinyl then this has to be one of the most important additions to your deck you will ever make. It doesn't matter if you own a £50,000 deck or a sub £1000 deck. The Funk Houdini and the Funk Achromat have to be on your purchase list.
The Pioneer PD-91 is considered a rare piece of equipment to own but in 2020, is it worthwhile owning such a classic piece of kit.
The SPL Volume2 came to me on a recommendation of a friend who runs her own studio in Dorset, UK. Although she also used other monitor controls on occasion, this monitor was always the one she used for reference.
With the announcement of a suited Power supply for the KATANA, the whole Allo Dac package is now totally fulfilled. I had been waiting for this for quite some time. It's now time to see what this thing can really do. I really hate using standard plug-in supplies. They are noisy and cheap but they do the job. But with the Allo kit, using these cheap supplies the KATANA still blew me away. So what could a suited low noise linear PSU bring to the picture?
To find out more about the Katana DAC, click
HERE!
The LPS is quite a hefty little thing incorporating high-quality components. The transformer has a dual output galvanically isolated 5.2V 3A and 5.2V at 1.2A outputs so it can also power the RPI 4. It uses a huge capacitance bank to reduce 50/60Hz noise and filtered by an LDO and caps up to 15.000uf.
The next stage is the supercapacitors which is where the final power comes from.
The Primo is the new music streamer from Volumio. From out of the box it looks very discreet. No functioning lights, not even on the front of the unit. No buttons either so as you can see, it's very minimalistic.
I've been using the Allo DAC products from the start and although there were some very understandable development hic-ups on the way. But now Allo has flourished as a company and offers a plethora of high-quality audiophile products and the Katana is one which really stands out from the crowd.
On my last review of the Allo Boss DAC, I wondered how things could get any better? Well needless to say things have just got better, a truckload better.
Digital always surprises me in its steps forward in sonic performance, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.
The Rotel RHC-10 passive is something that passed me by back in the 90s. So, when this came into Tannoyista towers, it was quite surprising.
At the time of this review, my Croft Epoch Elite was on its way to being upgraded by Glenn. On the return of the Croft I performed an extensive A/B test and I have to say, the Rotel was impressive.
This is the research and development history of the Tannoyista Tannoy Monitor Gold external crossovers by Tannoyista.
In 2016 I was using the IQAudio DAC+ for quite some time and found it to be really quite astonishing for such a small unit. It was the first DAC I used in conjunction with the Raspberry Pi. But then along came ALLO. The latest ALLO unit at that time was the PIANO 2.1 DAC. It also used an SBC (single board computer) which was a different build construction to the RPI called the Sparky.
The Tube Distinctions Copper Amp is my current amplifier. Falling neatly in between my Croft Epoch Elite preamplifier and my 15" Tannoy Monitor Gold Lockwood Major loudspeakers, the Copper makes its presence felt.
Designed and handmade in Great Britain, the Tannoyista crossovers give these classic Tannoy Monitor Gold loudspeakers a refreshed sound without losing their magic, uniqueness and dynamics.
Each set is unique and numbered. Housed in a solid oak dovetailed casework and employing point to point wiring they are upgradable and adaptable to your system using some of the very best components available today.
The Tannoys are funny old things. They have character in a very British way. With a quite focused hot spot on the treble you have a more recessed listening zone in comparison to other general kinds of speaker designs but when you're in there, man… there is no getting out.
The Croft modified QUAD II monoblock amplifiers in conjunction with my Tannoy Monitor Gold loudspeakers. A classic combination.
In 2009 my amplification setup consisted of a Chord CPM2600 Integrated amplifier bi-amped with firstly an SPM600, and then the Chord SPA1032.
As you may know, Chord amplifiers are extremely high quality and the CPM 2600 working as an integrated alone is a wonderful package. The build quality is second to none with thick aluminium construction and very heavy.
Back in 2010 my turntable was the Michell Gyro SE. It was to be one of my statement turntables before I migrated to the Thorens TD124 MKII.
The Gyro SE is now, as was then, a legendary turntable. From its design to its performance, the Gyro SE stood out from the crowd. It certainly moved the goalposts. That is, it wasn't another ugly wooden orange crate box like the LP12 (controversial). This turntable for me brought it all together in design, looks and sound.
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