System Snaps

[admin_exported]

I thought I'd take a couple of snaps of my system, something I've never bothered to do before because of the lack of tidy rack and poor positioning. The components are:

Musical Fidelity XRay V8 CDP (with bespoke mains cable)
--> Chord Chameleon SP
--> AVI S2000MP preamp
--> Chord Chameleon SP
--> Netaudio MK3 Quad 405 Dual Mono PSU
--> Chord Odyssey 2
--> Spendor SA1 on Apollo S4/6 stands (3/4 sand filled)
--> REL Quake sub-woofer (weighted with Welsh slate)

The Netaudio MK3 Quad 405 is an unusual component that I've become quite attached to. I won the Quad from ebay for £100 and ran it for a few months. It sounded OK, perhaps a bit brittle and light-weight. I personally took it over to David Pritchard for the full upgrade and bought two sets of OP amps; the Analogue Devices 843 and Burr Brown OPA627. I started off with the AD843 in place but couldn't resist trying the 627s. The change was quite a step forward, making the amp sound cleaner, more detailed and focused. Overall the amp sounds very smooth, detailed and weighty, making it a good product for the total cost of £500.

The SA1s really are truly outstanding monitors. They're often slated as sounding bass light but I've always found quite the opposite! They have a beautifully smooth bass that integrates perfectly with the mids. I don't need the REL sub when listening to music as it simply doesn't add anything worth having for the cost of timing. The SA1s sound like big speakers and can paint a very focused, expansive and clear soundstage. The treble is to die for...brilliant!

Next year I'm hoping to add the matching stands for the SA1s and another Quad power amp in mono configuration. I'm not sure if this will add much but I'm hoping to add greater definition to the already tight bass.

I'm extremely happy with the sound I get from this system. The soundstage and tonal balance makes classical music sound sublime but all types of music works very well.

 

[bretty]

Love the veneers on the sa1's. Never seen that before. Classy.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Bretty, so do I! Nothing out there comes close...

 

[drummerman]

Put together with care and attention. Very nice Igg.

 

[VoodooDoctor]

Nice system!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks gents.

 

[John Duncan]

Gotta move those Spendors further apart, Ig...

 

[Anonymous]

Why didn't you use Spendor's own stands for the SA1's?

It looks nice and tidy, but it's also kind of weird when people plonk their tv's in the middle of a 2 channel system. Space saving measure I guess.

 

[floyd droid]

Captain Destructo:
Why didn't you use Spendor's own stands for the SA1's?

.

Probably because they cost circa an extra 400 squid,which equates to a fair bit of new music

The zebrano does look very nice though ig.

 

[Anonymous]

floyd droid:Captain Destructo:
Why didn't you use Spendor's own stands for the SA1's?

.

Probably because they cost circa an extra 400 squid,which equates to a fair bit of new music

The zebrano does look very nice though ig.

Spot on. The Quad and pre were further up the food chain than stands. All in good time

 

[Anonymous]

Captain Destructo:
It looks nice and tidy, but it's also kind of weird when people plonk their tv's in the middle of a 2 channel system. Space saving measure I guess.

There's nowhere else for me to put the system and by having it there we can watch movies in 2.1. Not ideal but we're trying to move house to somewhere with a snug.

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:Gotta move those Spendors further apart, Ig...
...no room. Simple. The only option is to move the right-hand speaker further into the bay where the french doors are. Not gunna happen! The SA1s image very well even only 2m apart, with 3m probably being optimal. Bizarrly you'd think that having them pointing out square would thus produce a better soundstage, but the toe-in gives the image a much better focus and richness.

 

[floyd droid]

Iggy,ive just noticed the duck in the hearth,d'ya want another one !! ?. Bain of my flipping life,ive only got to look at the one miss droid purchased and it falls over.

 

[Anonymous]

lol we have two on the fire place, and yes, they keep falling over! I have SA1s, the missus has two ducks, I think it's a fair trade

 

[floyd droid]

Twas worth a try. Guess im going to have to put up with it then.

 

[gbhsi1]

Hi,

I would like to post some pictures of my system, how do I do it? my pictures are on my mobile.

 

[Anonymous]

First upload the pictures to some sort of online service. I use Yahoo GeoCities as I get some free Web space that I can use for other things too. Another option is Flickr.

Create a new forum post and use the img HTML tag to point to the URL of the image. Examples can be found at this link.

PJPro did a helpful post on how to create posts here.

 

[gbhsi1]

Thanks! I will try it. Hopefully I will back with some pictures

 

[Anonymous]

Captain Destructo:
Why didn't you use Spendor's own stands for the SA1's?

It looks nice and tidy, but it's also kind of weird when people plonk their tv's in the middle of a 2 channel system. Space saving measure I guess.

I find the fact you find it "kind of weird" kind of weird. A lot of people have their tv connected to their amp so the sound comes out of their speakers. Its really a very simple principle to understand.

Its a lovely system by the way and it looks great. I like those speakers. No matter how much money I had to spend on a system I would always buy standmounts. Just something about them I love. Can you get those in black?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Catcher. I seem to spend more and more time listening to the radio via Freeview these days. It has a lovely smooth and bouncy feel to it that I can listen to all day. Radio 3 is particularly nice.

I'm a big fan of stand mounters too, although I'm very curious to see what the Spendor A6s have to offer. You can get the SA1s is piano lacquer black and they look very nice. Somehow Zebrano personifies their character though; they're quite a step forward from the S series

Not sure if I should be linking to Spendor's site or not, so apologies to the mods if this isn't allowed...

Photograph from Spendoraudio.com

 

[ear]

Igglebert this one for you.since you have those spendors and they go only to 75 hz.what do you think about their bass reponse?any other speakers on the same bass reponse you can tell for me to have a clue?

 

[ear]

just read your thoughts on the bass but any other speaker u could compare them to?(on bass reponse)?

 

[John Duncan]

Catcher:I like those speakers. No matter how much money I had to spend on a system I would always buy standmounts. Just something about them I love. Can you get those in black?

Yeah, but you can get some Neutron Vs for 700 quid less

 

[Anonymous]

Tricky question to answer!

I auditioned the SA1s alongside the Proac Tablette Ref 8 Signatures, boxes that claim to go down to 38hz (they don't state at what dB). The SA1s gave a much stronger bass response, in part due to the fact that they're sealed boxes. The rear-ported Proacs are designed to use wall reinforcement to get the bass output up, something that may produce undesirable and less smooth bass quality.

So what stands out about the SA1's bass? The scale of the sound you get is very large, in part helped by the way that the cross-overs have been tuned. A bass-drum sounds like a bass-drum. The quality and quantity of the bass often leaves me wondering how such small boxes can manage it, moreover, such small drive units! Compared to my old Monitor Audio Silver 4i that are a lot bigger, the bass is much stronger. I think that you need to feed them a lot of power to realise this bass output, with less than 85dB sensitivity you can see why.

Yes you will lose the bottom octave of some music unless you turn on a sub, but it's very rare that I actually miss it. As I've aleady said, the way that they've been voiced to sound much bigger than they are really seems to make you forget that you're listening to a little box. Many floorstanders just sound muddy and confused in comparison.

They're not for everyone, they don't have the effortless power that large drive units give but they reward in speed and accuracy instead. They certainly give me enough bass but then I'm not a bass junky like many hifi buffs. Give them a try with a decent amp and source and you may be surprised. Be warned though, they're rather revealing and don't suffer poor kit well. I've heard a lot of speakers but I just find these to be jaw-droppingly good.

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:Catcher:I like those speakers. No matter how much money I had to spend on a system I would always buy standmounts. Just something about them I love. Can you get those in black?

Yeah, but you can get some Neutron Vs for 700 quid less

This is a good point. The Neutrons will do a similar job but with less bass, resolution and treble quality (oh, that's all of it).

Seriously though, the SA1s will keep up with kit that will leave the Neutrons in the stalls.