Connoisseur Definitions 4.0 phono and line stage

Price: UK£26000
Reviewed in Issue 16
Distributor: Scan-Tech Europa
Tel. (49)(0)561 4759 0266
Net. www.lyraaudio.com
Quite simply the most impressive pieces of hi-fi equipment that I've ever used, the gorgeously constructed, resolutely minimalist but ruinously expensive Connoisseurs provoke involuntary outbursts of "How much?" That's until the stunned observer gets the double whammy that results from listening to the beasts. Then the "How much?" is delivered in quite a different tone. So far PR, CT and myself have all had our sensibilities rearranged. And we all want the Connoisseurs -badly. Top of the wish list for anybody I've played them to, the Connoisseur Definitions 4.0s represent an object lesson in what's actually possible from a hi-fi system. CT concluded that any ancillaries with a Connoisseur would sound better than anything else without it, and I've a sneaking suspicion he might be right. The real shock is that this is Connoisseur's entry level line. What does the more expensive version do?

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Tom Evans Audio Design The Vibe Line Stage

Price: UK£2700
Reviewed in Issue 19
Manufacturer: Tom Evans' Audio Design
Tel. (44)(0)1443 833570
Net. www.besthifiintheworld.com
Following The Groove should have been the electronics design equivalent of that difficult second album, but the years are showing in a new maturity from designer Tom Evans. Rather than the fun but flaky product I was half expecting, what arrived was the finished article, a complete, even polished unit - and I'm not lust talking about the plastic casework. The application of Lithos regulation and a stepped attenuator to the switching and volume functions has harvested a rich reward. Impressive as a stand alone unit, used in tandem with The Groove you square the benefits, lifting the presence, dynamics, immediacy and resolution to new heights. Transparency to burn and focus to spare the "Toms" put you in the same acoustic space as the musicians, which is exactly where you want to be: And they do it at a price that's actually approachable!

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conrad-johnson MV60-SE

Price: UK£2995
Reviewed in Issue 20
Distributor: Audiofreaks
Tel. (44)(0)208 948 4153
Net. www.conradjohnson.com
The single output pair, ultralinear valve amp is a long recognised recipe for high-end results on a real world budget, and conrad-Johnson have been delivering on the promise for longer than most. The MV60 was already an excellent product but the decision to switch to 6550A output tubes for the SE version (largely as a result of persistent urging from the UK distributor) has transformed it into a caged beast, augmenting the subtlety, focus and exquisite tonal palette with a healthy dose of dynamics and authority. Sensibly sized and sensibly powerful, it takes MV performance close to Premier levels, providing all the amp many of us will ever need. For those who want more then the Premiers beckon, but for now, this is the do it all amp of choice.

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Revel Salon Loudspeaker

Price: UK£13495
Reviewed in Issue 17
Distributor: Path Premier
Tel. (44)(0)1844 219000
Net. www.madrigal.com
CB fell hot and hard for the curvaceous Salons, and continuing exposure has done nothing to dull the infatuation. Having lived with them at home 1 can see his point. Big and hungry (the looks do grow on you honest) Revel's statement speakers have the bandwidth, quality and refinement, mixed with plenty of old style muscle, to trouble flagship speakers at many times their price. Astonishingly well behaved low frequencies delivered crushing weight, power and definition, even in my smallish listening room, while genuinely awesome levels were served up with aplomb, the amps giving up way before the speakers showed any signs of distress. It's just as well for CB's neighbours that his evil plot to combine the Salons with the Bryston 14B never reached fruition. They only live a short half mile away! Much, much more than just a LOUD speaker, the Salons have it all - as long as you have the power they need.

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Rega RB1000 Tonearm

Price: UK£1000
Reviewed in Issue 20
Manufacturer: Rega Research Ltd.
Tel. (44)(0)1702 333071
Fax. (44)(0)1702 432427
Take Rega's giant killing RB300 and address its weaknesses and you might not end up with a bargain, but you sure as hell get a serious tonearm. The RB1000 (which debuted on the P9 but is now just becoming available separately) replaces the moulded plastic cueing platform with stainless steel: the dodgy wiring with something an awful lot better; and selects from Rega's vast stocks, the closest toleranced bearings if not known to man, then certainly ever seen on an arm at this price. PM and CB are both duly impressed, the P9 likewise. The only thing lacking now is proper VTA adjustment, but don't expect that unless Rega is acquired by Zurich Insurance.

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Reference 3A MM de Capo Loudspeaker

Price: UK£2200
Reviewed in Issue 16
Distributor: Absolute Analogue
Tel. (44)(0)208 459 8115
Net. www.divertech.com
A squat and not particularly pretty, eight inch two-way seems positively anachronistic in this day and age. Add in the cost and complication of stands and you might wonder why anybody would bother, but that would be a mistake. The de Capo runs its bass-mid unit wide open, and the absence of a power sapping crossover gives it a tactile vibrance and immediacy that is at once convincing and beguiling. Bass has surprising weight and impressive authority, while a recent tweeter change has brought the high frequencies up to the same standard as the rest of the range. The sheer musical energy and gusto that emanates from behind and around these little boxes is astonishing. Some speakers just sound right, and this is one of them. Few and far between they represent gold at any price. You should hear the Reference 3A de Capos. They'll surprise and delight you.

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Kuzma Stabi Reference and Triplanar VI Tonearm

Price: UK£3995 and UK£3350
Reviewed in Issues 17 and 19
Distributor: Audiofreaks
Tel. (44)(0)208 948 4153
Net. www.audiofreaks.co.uk
The Stabi Reference is an utterly logical outgrowth of the thinking behind the original Stabi, Kuzma's original four point suspended deck. Laminated aluminium and acrylic replace the wooden structure of the original, while the damped suspension, heavy platter and external power supply make this an utterly consistent and stable performer. But combine it with the latest (and cosmetically much improved) version of the venerable Triplanar and the whole is significantly greater than the sum of the parts: Powerful and dynamic, solid yet expressive, delicate and tactile. The combination of virtues will make the most of virtually any cartridge and extend virtually any system. If there's a bargain to be had in the financially ruinous arena of high-end analogue replay then this is it.

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VPI Aries Scout turntable

Price: UK£1395
Reviewed in Issue 16
Distributor: Cherished Record Co.
Tel. (44)(0)1579 363603
Net. www.vpiindustries.com
Harry Weisfeld has a long history of producing sane designs in a field where all too often insanity is the rule. His upgradeable HW 19 model has been the value for money benchmark in its home market for more years than 1 care to remember, but it's finally been usurped - by its own younger sibling. Combining the separate motor / decoupled chassis structure of the Aries with a novel inverted bearing employing a Teflon thrust pad has produced a compact, stable and astonishingly quiet drive system. Add a simplified nine inch version of the JMW tonearm (which dispenses with the on the fly VTA adjustment but retains the interchangeable arm tubes) and you've got a smaller, more affordable facsimile of a high-end record player that gives less away in performance than you might imagine, and little or nothing in the all important mid-band.

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Dynavector ADP-2 Super Stereo Processor

Price: UK£795
Reviewed in Issue 18
Distributor: Dynavector (UK) Ltd.
Tel. (44)(0)1202 767873
Net. www.haputa.ne.jp/~dynavec/
While the rest of the world seems intent on a dangerously uncritical acceptance of 5.1 multi-channel as the new de facto standard for music reproduction, the late, great Dr Tominari remained unconvinced, concerned that the new standard did nothing to attack digital's inherent flaws. His own investigations into the digital recording process and the measurements used to assess its accuracy yielded fascinating insights subsequently embodied into his Super Stereo technology. A hybrid analogue/digital processor working in both the phase and time domains, the ADP-2 produces astonishing results from stereo recordings, with huge benefits in terms of rhythmic coherence, weight and harmonic correctness. You need to hear this to appreciate the magnitude of the improvement. Words do little justice to what is Tominari's crowning achievement.

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Diverse Records

Reviewed in Issue 21
Tel. (44)(0)1633 259661
E-mail. sales@diverserecords.com
Net. www.diversevinyl.com
An audiophile label with a difference, delivering 1808 pressings of quality contemporary pop recordings. Founder John Richards cut his teeth with Diverse Vinyl, suppliers of all things black, round and twelve inches across. It gave him a unique insight into the market, and more importantly, the gaps left by the traditional audiophile/re-issue merchants. People loved the quality but they were left cold by much of the repertoire. How about superior pressings of some of their current favourites?
That's exactly the goal o these records. Superb artwork and d performance led catalogue combined with top quality cuttings makes for musically rewarding listening. You might not be able to hear the second saxophonist adjusting his cod-piece, but that's not what these discs are about. Great music delivered just as well as the recordings allow -1'll take that every time.

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Hovland Sapphire power amp

Price: From UK£6995
Reviewed in Issue 17
Distributor: Metropolis Music
Tel. (44)(0)1892 539245
Net. www.hovlandcompany.com
Exquisite construction and genuinely Bauhaus styling set the Sapphire apart from the 'fashionable' crowd. So too does its sound. Neutral in the best sense of the word, its innovative hybrid topology seems far more powerful than the 40 Watt rating would suggest. Clean and clear without ever being clinical it effortlessly treads that elusive line that bisects the best of solid-state and tube sound. Unfailingly musical but full of insight it has become an invaluable reference chez Gregory, along with the HP100 pre-amp a unit which it might not match for value but which it exceeds in performance, presenting Hovland with an interesting challenge. Almost too sensible (and beautiful) to be true, the Hovland Sapphire demonstrates what can be done when talented and technically gifted designers follow the courage of their convictions rather than the latest band-wagon.

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Coup d'Archet Recordings

Featured in Issue 18
Net. www.coupdarchet.com
If less really is more, then Glen Armstrong's Coup d'Archet records must be the most of all. Trolling Europe's radio stations for forgotten tapes of criminally underrated performers, all too often the victims of the oppressively patriarchal Classical recording industry, he transfers them to pristine 1808 pressings, all in glorious living mono. Johanna Martzy has now been joined by Yvonne Lefebure and Michele Auclair, broadening the repertoire and the appeal, delivering superb performances with the presence and immediacy that only mono can. For all those that assume that more channels must necessarily be better, incontrovertible proof that one is actually sufficient (and far more cost effective too - but we won't mention that).

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B&W N805 Signature

Price: UK£2250
Reviewed in Issue 20
Manufacturer: B&W Loudspeakers Ltd
Tel. (44) (0)1903 221500
Net. www.bwspeakers.com
If anyone ever subscribed to the theory that "a good biggun will always beat a good littlun" then it's JK, a man who values both headroom and bandwidth with equal fervour. Which makes his love affair with the beautifully crafted but inescapably diminutive Nautilus 805 Signature all the more impressive. A subtle and carefully considered refinement of the successful (and still current) N805 model, it succeeds in extending that speaker's already impressive strengths, setting new standards for its size and emphatically underlining the virtues of properly extended high frequencies.

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Eleanor McEvoy - 'Yola'

Reviewed and Featured in Issues 18 and 21
Contact: Vivante
Tel. (44) (0)1293 822186
Net. www.vivante.co.uk
Beautiful songs, beautifully sung - and captured in a superb DSD recording that finally reveals the true potential of the SACD format. Ms McEvoy's emotive material, emphatic delivery and clear voice are the perfect ingredients for universal appeal, making this just the disc to expose hi-bit recordings to a wider, non-audiophile audience. But the ground-breaking nature of this disc goes further than that. Available from day one as a hybrid SACD as well as a conventional CD, it is now available as a 180g LP too, at last making some sort of meaningful comparisons possible, whilst also demonstrating the potential available from DSD recordings transferred to black disc. All that, musical merit and a superb performance too, which is what makes everything else relevant. One disc that everyone should own (and take your pick of format).

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Rotel RA-02 Integrated Amp

Price: UK£350
Reviewed in Issue 21
Distributor: B&W Loudspeakers Ltd.
Tel. (44) (0)1903 221500
Net. www.rotel.com
Convincing hi-fi is all about balance, and Rotel, past masters at producing budget gear that actually delivers music have hit pay-dirt with the RA-02. Taking a step away from the genuine budget sector has freed the design constraints and boy does it show. JMH was bowled over, and ever since the little Rotel arrived he's been comparing it to everything from exotic single-ended triodes to audiophile integrateds, and is yet to find it wanting. A budget masterpiece with the perfect blend of functions and real power (not the limp and floppy paper variety) the RA-02 offers the promise of real music at real world prices which is rare indeed in this day and age. Underestimate it at the peril of your pay-cheque!

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The Chord Co. Signature Interconnects

Prices: UK£500/1 m pr
Reviewed in Issue 21
Manufacturer: The Chord Co.
Tel. (44) (0)1722 331674
Net. www.chord.co.uk
The Chord Co. built their reputation on solidly engineered cables that delivered value for money in a market area where that seems like a redundant concept. The company ethos has stayed firmly intact, supported by superb construction and a reluctance to follow expensive fashions simply for the sake of it. The Signature breaks new ground, cresting the £500 barrier for a meter pair, yet still manages to eclipse the performance of cables costing two or three times the price. Transparent, detailed and seriously dynamic, it delivers genuinely high-end performance at a fraction of highend prices. Which will of course have the audiophool community looking down their collective noses at it. Meanwhile, the rest of us can all enjoy the considerable benefits (and savings) it offers, unconcerned by issues of brand identity and what it says about the size of our woofers.

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Lamm ML2 Mono-Blocks

Prices: UK£27000
Reviewed in Issue 16
Distributor: Integrated Engineering Solutions
Tel. (44) (0)23 8090 5020
Net. www.lammindustries.com
Hideously expensive with nothing on the outside to justify the price-tag, the lamms take an almost perverse pleasure in destroying preconceptions. They deserve their place in this list by dint of demonstrating, once and for all, that it's not what you use but how you use it that counts. They don't succeed because they use a single-ended triode, tubes or because they're mono or class A. They succeed because they're properly engineered, whilst driving a coach and horses through conventional notions of power output and drive capabilities. This sounds like no other 18 Watts I've ever heard, and laughs in the face of awkward loads. They're also the finest power amps I've ever had at home. All of which combines to ensure their presence here.

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Koetsu Red K Signature Moving-Coil Cartridge

Prices: UK£2299
Reviewed in Issue 21
Distributor: Absolute Sounds
Tel. (44) (0)208 971 3909
Net. www.absolutesounds.com
2002 has seen the passing of many audio legends, amongst them Sugano-san, creator of the legendary Koetsu cartridges. But don't assume that this is a sentimental award. As the designer of the Supex 900 and then his own Koetsu models, Yoshiaki Sugano was responsible to a greater extent than any other individual for the resurgence of interest in moving-coil designs. The Red K Signature is one of the latest designs from the famous marque and displays all the power, spatial coherence and musical colour that it's famous for: seamlessly combined with increased transparency, resolution and neutrality. The result is both seductive and informative, musically communicative in a way that few high-end cartridges can match. Sugano's heritage lives on, not as nostalgia, but leading the way and showing us just what's missing from much more 'impressive' (and expensive) performers.

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Shunyata Research Hydra and Power Snakes

Reviewed in Issue 17
Distributor: Audio Atmosphere
Tel. (44) (0)1785 711232
Net. www.powersnakes.com
Mighty big and mighty expensive, Shunyata's massive mains cables and distribution block might seem like an archetypal case of cable company .more is better" overkill until you listen to them. Then the sonic benefits quickly quieten even the most vociferous of cable cynics. Anybody who still thinks mains cables can't make a difference (and lives in a cage, and sends messages by pigeon) should experience the Shunyata effect: dramatic increases in weight and dynamic range are combined with a lower noise floor, greater spatial and detail resolution and much better tonal colours. All whilst actually increasing the music's sense of flow and rhythmic integrity. If there's a downside then we haven't found it yet.

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JBL K2 Horn Hybrid Loudspeaker

Prices: UK£20000
Reviewed in Issue 21
Distributor: Harman Audio UK Ltd.
Tel. (44) (0)208 731 4670
Net. www.jbi.com
PM's in love. A long time high-efficiency fan as well as a self confessed bass-head, the conflicting requirements of these two apparently mutually exclusive goals were producing schizophrenic listening tendencies - Rhedeko on the one hand, B&W N800 Signatures on the other. Then came the big JBL. Its combination of horn loaded treble drivers with a massive, direct radiating pulp coned bass/mid unit provides the magic combination - real weight and scale along with a 94dB system sensitivity: Or, just enough life and immediacy, just enough wallop. It's a winning combination that's brought a beatific smile to the Messenger features. This one's here for the duration, if only because of the difficulty of hauling the 90kg cabinets out of his listening room. Writing the cheque seemed so much easier!

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