UPDATE
Sorry for the delay everyone, work's been pretty nuts over the last few weeks. CNO, thanks for the offer but I figured on my first time I'd go it alone. In hindsight, a 3rd opinion would have been good, but we got there in the end. I'll try and get through this now:
My songs that I brought, all on LP were:
"Tea For Two" - Thelonious Monk
"Maybe the People Would Be The Times or Between Clark and Hilldale" - Love
"Freddie's Dead" - Curtis Mayfield
"Daydream" - Beach Fossils
"Electricity" - Captain Beefheart
"The Girl From Ipanema) - Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim
"Baby's Arms" - Kurt Vile
"Icky Thump" - The White Stripes
In hidsight, I really should have brought some Bowie, but oh well.
The turtable was a Linn and I have no idea what cartridge or stylus was on it. The dealer had things he wanted to show me and wanted to work in a scale. First up the speaker scale, then up the amp scale, then down the speaker scale.
First thing I listened to was the Rega Brio R & the Kef LS50's. The first song was Freddie's Dead and the second song was Electricity. Neither of these really impressed, and it turns out that the pressing I have of the Curtis Mayfield song isn't great. The next song was Baby's Arms and it was astonishing. It seemed as if the song was jumping out at me and it sounded fantastic. We then moved to the other songs and it was when we played Around the World that I realized I would really need some floorstanders. If I listened to acoustic stuff or quieter music mainly, I may have just bought the Brio and the LS50's and called it a day.
Next was the Brio R and the Rega Rs5's. Going into the day, I had a feeling that I would really like this a lot which would then spark me to wait for the Elicit R and leave it at that. It definitely lacked the detail of the LS50's and although there was a little more bass, it really didn't shine for me. i fond that if you sat to the side of the speaker, it sounded a little bit better but nothing to get excited over. Daft Punk sounded good, but nothing else really stood out. We moved on.
By dealer suggestion, the Brio R was then teamed up with the Kef R700's. My first initial thought was that they are quite big and I wasn't really sure if I would need that much speaker. I was also very concious of the major jump in price, however I was more excited by the prospect of being blown away by the speaker. There was definitely more bass, but it really seemed less controlled. The bass seemed to ease or seep out at times as opposed to there being a punch. Something wasn't right, so we moved on and this time up the amp range.
Again, by dealer suggestion we were shown the Linn Majik I with the R700's. I know whathifi gave it 3 stars, but I personally don't put too much stock in reviews and view them as more or less a way to weed out things that are really awful. With that said, I was expecting at least twice the amp the Brio R is, especially considering the fact that it is triple the price. Because this was essentially the most expensive amp and speakers that I could afford (£3600), we decided to milk it and listen to every single song that I brought. The standout was The Girl From Ipanema. It sounded really lush yet also clear, it was pretty magical. There's a part in the song where the dude's singing in Portuguese, and that sounded amazing. Stupidly this was the first time we put this record on and would have loved to have heard it in previous rounds. We put on the Beach Fossils record for the first time as well, and this made me question my love for new music. It sounded absolutely awful and hollow. I was freaked out that the 80 or so new release records I've bought in the last two years would all sound awful.
My thirst still wasn't quenched. I wasn't really amazed like I felt I should have been. The dealer was with a couple, and I had a moment to look through his showroom. I noticed that there was a smaller pair of Kef's there, which turned out to be the R500's. They looked the part, but I wasn't sure if we'd be allowed to listen to them. We asked them if we could listen to them and he connected them to the Linn Amp again. This was the best sounding duo up to that point. For lack of a better term, it just seemed quicker than the Kef R700's. We listened to quite a few songs, and it was then that I decided that these were probably the speakers I was going to go for. Thank god that I had that wander because I was considering leaving after the R700's.
At that point I was pondering what I should do next. I had figured that I really liked those speakers and most likely wanted them, however I felt that something was not right. I was quite burnt out as I had been listening for over 4 hours straight at this point. That was the most I've wanted a cigarette since I quit smoking a while ago. I didn't really know what to say or do because we were very well looked after by the man and for the most part he completely stayed away, which I admired. I felt he didn't have the product range that would allow me to find the right partner for the R500's. I just had a gut feeling that the problem was with the amp.
Through the fuzziness I remembered that one of the sole purposes of going to the place was that he stocked the Arcam FMJ A19. I completely forgot about it. I asked him if he had one available to listen to and he did. I was extremely tired at that point. I was kind of thinking that my judgement could be off and not to dismiss the set-up as being really awful just because I was no longer in the mood. I went over the record player, dropped the needle on "Electricity", sat back down and I kid you not, for the first time that day my hand was tapping my leg while my head started going to the music. It was great! I looked over at my friend (also burnt out at this point) was reacting in a similar fashion. We were excited again! After hours of analytical listening, we were finally enjoying ourselves! We enthusiastically went through every single song and everything sounded fantastic. Clean, detailed, punchy bass, vocals were nice. "Baby's Arms" sounded just as good as with the LS50. "Girl From Ipanema" sounded just as good if not better. "Around the World" sounded punchy with a controlled thunder. "Daydream" still sounded like a **** recorded, but not as **** as it had sounded before. It's as if a blanket had been lifted off each and every song, just slightly. I was truly happy.
We talked with the dealer, thanked him and I decided to sleep on it. On the 2 hour drive home I thought about the day, and thought about whether or not I should continue on with the search or not. I really liked how both the speakers looked and performed. Everything was right about them including the price. I thought about demoing some more amps, in particular Naim, Roksan, and Musical Fidelity, but I couldn't really conceive what more they could do. As I said before, listening to the Arcam A19 & the Kef R500's made me truly happy, therefore I made my decision.Everything sounded right in just the right ways.
The next day, I ordered everything. Not only that, but my ears absolutely killed me. I don't think I've done such a long streak of focused listening in a very long time. So now I'm waiting for the RP6 w/ Exact as well as the A19 and the R500's to arrive. Hopefully the Exact sounds ok with what I bought
And so concludes my first audition and my first Hi Fi purchase. Any thoughts? Did I do it all wrong? i guess I'll find out when I get everything set up in my house.
Sorry for the delay everyone, work's been pretty nuts over the last few weeks. CNO, thanks for the offer but I figured on my first time I'd go it alone. In hindsight, a 3rd opinion would have been good, but we got there in the end. I'll try and get through this now:
My songs that I brought, all on LP were:
"Tea For Two" - Thelonious Monk
"Maybe the People Would Be The Times or Between Clark and Hilldale" - Love
"Freddie's Dead" - Curtis Mayfield
"Daydream" - Beach Fossils
"Electricity" - Captain Beefheart
"The Girl From Ipanema) - Frank Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim
"Baby's Arms" - Kurt Vile
"Icky Thump" - The White Stripes
In hidsight, I really should have brought some Bowie, but oh well.
The turtable was a Linn and I have no idea what cartridge or stylus was on it. The dealer had things he wanted to show me and wanted to work in a scale. First up the speaker scale, then up the amp scale, then down the speaker scale.
First thing I listened to was the Rega Brio R & the Kef LS50's. The first song was Freddie's Dead and the second song was Electricity. Neither of these really impressed, and it turns out that the pressing I have of the Curtis Mayfield song isn't great. The next song was Baby's Arms and it was astonishing. It seemed as if the song was jumping out at me and it sounded fantastic. We then moved to the other songs and it was when we played Around the World that I realized I would really need some floorstanders. If I listened to acoustic stuff or quieter music mainly, I may have just bought the Brio and the LS50's and called it a day.
Next was the Brio R and the Rega Rs5's. Going into the day, I had a feeling that I would really like this a lot which would then spark me to wait for the Elicit R and leave it at that. It definitely lacked the detail of the LS50's and although there was a little more bass, it really didn't shine for me. i fond that if you sat to the side of the speaker, it sounded a little bit better but nothing to get excited over. Daft Punk sounded good, but nothing else really stood out. We moved on.
By dealer suggestion, the Brio R was then teamed up with the Kef R700's. My first initial thought was that they are quite big and I wasn't really sure if I would need that much speaker. I was also very concious of the major jump in price, however I was more excited by the prospect of being blown away by the speaker. There was definitely more bass, but it really seemed less controlled. The bass seemed to ease or seep out at times as opposed to there being a punch. Something wasn't right, so we moved on and this time up the amp range.
Again, by dealer suggestion we were shown the Linn Majik I with the R700's. I know whathifi gave it 3 stars, but I personally don't put too much stock in reviews and view them as more or less a way to weed out things that are really awful. With that said, I was expecting at least twice the amp the Brio R is, especially considering the fact that it is triple the price. Because this was essentially the most expensive amp and speakers that I could afford (£3600), we decided to milk it and listen to every single song that I brought. The standout was The Girl From Ipanema. It sounded really lush yet also clear, it was pretty magical. There's a part in the song where the dude's singing in Portuguese, and that sounded amazing. Stupidly this was the first time we put this record on and would have loved to have heard it in previous rounds. We put on the Beach Fossils record for the first time as well, and this made me question my love for new music. It sounded absolutely awful and hollow. I was freaked out that the 80 or so new release records I've bought in the last two years would all sound awful.
My thirst still wasn't quenched. I wasn't really amazed like I felt I should have been. The dealer was with a couple, and I had a moment to look through his showroom. I noticed that there was a smaller pair of Kef's there, which turned out to be the R500's. They looked the part, but I wasn't sure if we'd be allowed to listen to them. We asked them if we could listen to them and he connected them to the Linn Amp again. This was the best sounding duo up to that point. For lack of a better term, it just seemed quicker than the Kef R700's. We listened to quite a few songs, and it was then that I decided that these were probably the speakers I was going to go for. Thank god that I had that wander because I was considering leaving after the R700's.
At that point I was pondering what I should do next. I had figured that I really liked those speakers and most likely wanted them, however I felt that something was not right. I was quite burnt out as I had been listening for over 4 hours straight at this point. That was the most I've wanted a cigarette since I quit smoking a while ago. I didn't really know what to say or do because we were very well looked after by the man and for the most part he completely stayed away, which I admired. I felt he didn't have the product range that would allow me to find the right partner for the R500's. I just had a gut feeling that the problem was with the amp.
Through the fuzziness I remembered that one of the sole purposes of going to the place was that he stocked the Arcam FMJ A19. I completely forgot about it. I asked him if he had one available to listen to and he did. I was extremely tired at that point. I was kind of thinking that my judgement could be off and not to dismiss the set-up as being really awful just because I was no longer in the mood. I went over the record player, dropped the needle on "Electricity", sat back down and I kid you not, for the first time that day my hand was tapping my leg while my head started going to the music. It was great! I looked over at my friend (also burnt out at this point) was reacting in a similar fashion. We were excited again! After hours of analytical listening, we were finally enjoying ourselves! We enthusiastically went through every single song and everything sounded fantastic. Clean, detailed, punchy bass, vocals were nice. "Baby's Arms" sounded just as good as with the LS50. "Girl From Ipanema" sounded just as good if not better. "Around the World" sounded punchy with a controlled thunder. "Daydream" still sounded like a **** recorded, but not as **** as it had sounded before. It's as if a blanket had been lifted off each and every song, just slightly. I was truly happy.
We talked with the dealer, thanked him and I decided to sleep on it. On the 2 hour drive home I thought about the day, and thought about whether or not I should continue on with the search or not. I really liked how both the speakers looked and performed. Everything was right about them including the price. I thought about demoing some more amps, in particular Naim, Roksan, and Musical Fidelity, but I couldn't really conceive what more they could do. As I said before, listening to the Arcam A19 & the Kef R500's made me truly happy, therefore I made my decision.Everything sounded right in just the right ways.
The next day, I ordered everything. Not only that, but my ears absolutely killed me. I don't think I've done such a long streak of focused listening in a very long time. So now I'm waiting for the RP6 w/ Exact as well as the A19 and the R500's to arrive. Hopefully the Exact sounds ok with what I bought
And so concludes my first audition and my first Hi Fi purchase. Any thoughts? Did I do it all wrong? i guess I'll find out when I get everything set up in my house.
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