Over several years, I have looked at vinyl reproduction in a slightly different way to most. Rather than rolling with the old warm and fuzzy adage of turntables we have always coveted an incredibly detailed and accurate sound with the aim being unrivalled clarity from our vinyl reproduction, nothing added, nothing taken away. Somewhat more akin to traditional CD performance, but with a bit of character for good measure. It is extremely easy to get lost in the noise of turntable options and I have always found keeping it simple and looking at the sound with a singular focus really helps get to an end point which delights and astonishes in equal measure.
Sumiko have always offered that level of reproduction on their cartridge range irrespective of the price point and have been a solid first choice for both of us at The Sound Counsel when specifying a vinyl playback system, more so since Technics came back on the scene with their range of direct drive Hi-fi turntables over the last few years. The combination of a Technics SL-1500c & Sumiko Blu Point Special EVO III is a fine example of what harmony in a system can do to the sonics, somewhat exceeding their respective price points when paired.
So, it was welcomed with great excitement when Sumiko announced the replacement for the EVO III recently in the form of the brand-new Blue Point No. 3. I literally could not wait to get my hands on one. One of the major adjustments which they appear to have made is in the bottom end of the frequency range. The old EVO III would never have been described as a bass heavy cartridge, its strengths were in the top end, openness and detail and it was so good you could not really have offered anything as a negative against it. That is until the No. 3. showed up. Bass is fuller and seems to be as a result of a better control of the resonance within the unit itself. Resonance has a much more significant impact than many listeners realise, so one of the major improvements has been a redesign of how the housing resonates around the generator. The result is a starkly different looking cartridge, more substantial looking. It was always a slightly terrifying experience even looking at the open body style of the previous model which seems to have been kicked into touch with this redesign.
The result sonically is again, another refinement of what a stunning product was already. If you want to hear what Sumiko can do to lift the performance of any turntable they offer cartridges form £75-£5000, get in touch. We offer a free fitting and consultation service either on site or in store and can of course demonstrate them in both situations as well.
The Sound Counsel are now proud to be official dealers for all Primare equipment. We hope to see some integrated AVR's and a processor with DIRAC and also some new multi channel Hypex power amplifiers.
Both Nick and I have both been Primare dealers in the past and have always been a fan of the sound they car reproduce. I still use a Primare power amplifier in my cinema at home to this day.
If you are interested in any of the current range of products please do get in touch and we will be able to advise and answer any questions you may have.
Slightly delayed news but The Sound Counsel are now proud to be official dealers for all Emotiva equipment. I was a main dealer for Emotiva in a previous position and did the launch for the RMC-1 in the UK some years ago. Nick and I have extensive knowledge of all of the processors and power amplifiers and are also DIRAC trained to a very high level.
If you are interested in any of the current range of product please do get in touch and we will be able to advise and answer any questions you may have.
Another slightly delayed announcement but The Sound Counsel are now official suppliers for SVS subwoofers. Again, both Nick and I have been dealers for SVS subwoofers in the past and can also offer an installation service including PEQ calibration in situ if required.
If anyone has any technical or ordering questions please dont hesitate to drop us an email.
Things are going great guns instore with our turntable offerings and we welcome with open arms Mobile Fidelity Turntables or MoFi for short. Mofi's range is very sensibly priced and narrow meaning it is easy to navigate. These will sit alongside our expanding Bergmann Audio, Project, & Technics ranges of decks.
We still offer cartridge fitting either instore or onsite as well. If you are looking for turntable advice or an upgrade, we both have nearly 40 year experience between us with various decks so don't hesitate to get in touch.
We are now proud to announce we are a ProJect centre of excellence. This includes having a Prespex6 and an Xtension-9 Superpack on permanent demonstration.
We are now an authorised Humax trade partner so can provide all models in their range. If you need a new Freeview or Freesat box drop us a line and we should be able to help out.
We are now official stockists of the Earthworks Measurement Microphone range. The Rolls Royce to the Citroen Saxo MiniDSP and Dayton alternatives, these offer supremely accurate ruler flat frequency response that extends from 3Hz to 23kHz without error.
Following on from the post above, I recently did an interview with Earthworks Audio about their fantastic range of measurement microphones. Covering when we use them and why. Enjoy!
We are now stocking a fair old chunk of new vinyl in the shop to compliment our turntable section. If you don't see what you are looking for we can order specific items in as required.
We will shortly be ranging some of the Perlisten Audio speakers including the subwoofers, which I will be reviewing after a long demo at home. Interesting to see what they can offer to our range and should be stiff competition for the new Velodyne Subs due this year. Watch this space.
We are now stocking a decent range of turntable cartridges from mid price manufacturer Goldring. These go all the way up to around £900.
We have expanded our turntable range over the last year and while we have been doing great guns with our main brand Sumiko, the sound doesn't always fit every situation. So I'm really keen to hear what these have to offer after doing a tonne of theoretical research on them. Review to follow!
Finally, after waiting patiently, Hegel have announced that there is now an update to make the H120 & H190 Roon end points. I'm aware a number of our customers have been waiting on this, so it is fantastic news.
The update should be available today. At the time of writing I am not sure what time it will be live but if you check for updates in the usual way via the amp menu, it should be there sometime today if it isn’t already.
If you haven't experienced Roon and are already an owner of a H120 or H190 then you can try it for free for 60 days by following the link below.
Screen Innovations Solo Pro 2 Electric Tab Tensioned Cinema Screen Review – Is it any good?
My write up on the Screen Innovations ALR Cinema Screen is active as of today. Click the link below to read it in full. If anyone has any detailed questions, feel free to get in touch via the usual methods.
The AVM90 is due to land in the office for demo and review, stock at the moment is also good.
With a DAC for each channel and a pre fitted 8K HFR HDMI board plus independent subwoofer outputs, it seems to promise a lot. The latest incarnation of ARC has also had a massive technical overhaul.
Previous customers can obviously take advantage of our full buy back trade in offer within 12 months of your original purchase, so you would only pay the difference on any potential upgrade. If you didn't originally buy from us, drop us an email with your original purchase receipt and I'm sure we can help.
Bryston probably need little introduction. A superb Hi-Fi brand which we look forward to supporting in the coming years. We will have a range of items for demonstration both in store and at home arriving shortly. Products should be added to the website today with a fair wind.
After a good few weeks of testing at home we can announce we are now official partners with Soundeck. This company do some outstanding isolation products for turntables. With a very narrow range, they have really managed to turbo charge what was already a decent turntable set-up at home. I would strongly recommend these accessories on pretty much every turntable set-up we sell. Easy to loan out, so you can do the demo yourself so just get in touch.
Our demo Perlisten 5T's have finally arrived and they are mighty impressive to the eye and to the touch. That's them on the left next to the Amphion Argon 7LS to give a sense of scale. Not had a chance to get them on a fired up in anger as yet but they feel meaty and very well made. The 15" subwoofer has been destroying my cinema at home for around 2 months and I've been absolutely loving it. If the speakers are half as good, we are in for a real treat.
After our early support of the NAD T778 AV Amplifier on the installation side we are now happy to announce we are a full NAD Master Series dealer. We have long been a fan of the T778 and T758 AV Amplifiers and now add to that range with the Master Series product in 2 channel. The C399, M33 and M10 V2 being particular stand outs for us. Running an M33 on the front two channels of one of the AV Amplifiers is a superb option for those systems where music is as important as movies are. We will have some demonstration stock arriving this week so get in touch if this is something you would be keen on adding into your system.
We are very happy our speaker line up and cover a lot of performance points and different styles of presentation with our range. When Alta Audio speakers were suggested to us by one of our suppliers we were hardly biting off their hand to audition them – more so as we had recently fallen for the latest speakers from Marten. We did listen to the Alta’s though as we believe it is always worth hearing something different, and we are very glad we made time for them. Alta is now part of our speaker range – the Alyssa and Alec impressed us way more than we were expecting and the newly announced Adam will also be here in Summer.
If you are looking to increase the performance of your hi-fi and think your current speakers may be letting your system down, please contact us to see what we can offer.
We have had an inkling for a while, but Hegel have officially announced the new P30A preamplifier and the H30A power amplifier which replaces the P30 and H30 reference amplifiers that have been on the market since 2011.
For several years we have known that the P30 and H30 amplifiers were living on borrowed time because the extremely good transistors they used were being discontinued. This was a problem because they were so good that finding something that could even come close proved to be very hard. So, for years Hegel have been looking for replacements that could not only match, but also improve upon the performance of their amplifiers. They have been testing and listening and testing again, and finally they are able to launch their new reference products.
With a new design and vastly upgraded sound qualities, the P30A and H30A sets a new bar for what Hegel amplifiers can achieve. They have given the P30A and the H30A the nicknames “The Conductor” and “The Orchestra”. They of course work best together, but both can also be great individual upgrades to existing systems as we well know, from having the H30 on demonstration for a significant portion of time in out reference Hi-Fi.
The H30A is designed as a mono power amplifier and performs best when used as such but the H30A can also be used as in stereo mode. The P30A is a fully balanced preamplifier with an attention to detail that is really something else in comparison with what is on the market to date. With a host of unbalanced and balanced analogue inputs and outputs it will satisfy the needs of even the most dedicated audiophile. We cant wait to get out hands on our demonstration units.
We are very proud to now be representing Gryphon at The Sound Counsel. Gryphon offer some of the very best Hi-Fi electronics on the planet. As I referenced when I first saw their products, if Darth Vader had a Hi-Fi, he would probably have a Gryphon. On demonstration now in our Edinburgh offices.
Its been a while since we took on a custom Technics turntable, and this was a complete venture into the unknown. To my knowledge this is the only custom Technics 1500c in the world. Its been a real labour of love and meant completely stripping the unit down, professionally re-painting then re-branding it back to factory specification using an industrial grade screen print process.
This unit is for sale so if anyone is interested in this true one of a kind turntable, drop us a PM.
Our bread and butter is the older Technics models, pre MK7. But if you have a Technics turntable and want to give it a bit of love and a full service, just get in touch.
As of next week I will have the new Sony Quantum Dot OLED in the house for review. It will replace the outgoing Panasonic reference OLED from last year, so it will be interesting to see what the major differences are. Ill also be including in the write up the real difference between the using the Sonos ARC as a sound replay device when compared to the acoustic panel.
This spring Davone shipped a Meander to Hi-fi plus magazine. Alan Sircom himself was interested in doing the review of the Meander and it was wonderful to read how much he liked their latest creation.
I think he captured the concept of the Meander very well, as a music system that you can use to simply enjoy music.
The Meander even got a place on the front-page of the June edition. Four Meander reviews are now available on Davone's website and they are all in agreement, as are we, that the Meander sound and design quality are top notch.
The Sound Counsel are exclusive Davone partners in the UK and have The Meander and a number of other models available for demonstration in the shop or at home.