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Category: Amplifiers Receivers
Title: Cambridge Audio A1 Mk3 SE	views:953
Please post your ratings and opinions on the above amp

Review submitted: 2003/11/23

Category: Amplifiers Receivers
Title: John Shearne Phase 2 & 3 pre/power combo	views:440
A lot of people have never heard of John Shearne audio, in fact until a few months ago i hadn't either. Following a speaker upgrade i decided to upgrade my main amp (a NAD C320 acting as a pre-amp to a MF P140). I was browsing ebay and happened to see the JS phase 2 integrated, having never heard of JS before i looked around the net to find very glowing reviews. So i took a chance and offered the guy £100 if he would end the auction, which he was happy to do (original price was £800 in 1995) Upon arrival i was a bit annoyed to find a loose power knob, but as it turns out the switch located directly behind the face plate had come loose, a bit of super glue and all was rosey again. The amp looks amazing, very simple design with only four chrome knobs on the front (power,volume,input selector and record selector) and a unique blue marbel finish to the front face, other than that the rest of the amp is plain black. As it turns out John Shearne is a bit of an audio legend, having worked freelance for many high end manufactures designing valve amp topologies etc. In 1990 he decided to try and produce an amp that had all the plus points of a valve amp (natural midrange mainly) but none of the weaknesses (slow pace, sloppy bass control). So the JS Phase 1 was born, eventually leading to the Phase 2 in 1995 having already placed his amps firmly at the high end of audio products. The amp is of minimalist design using the bear minimum components, so no amp protection or fancy controls here. The design is actually based on valve amp topology, so its a single end solid state amp with a straight signal path through the PCB. Each amp that was made was tested and setup but John Shearne himself, not many manufacturers can claim that! The amp is only rated at 50w into 8ohms per channel, but i think this is very modest (or very accurate and honest) as it seems to have bags of power, though its design does mean that it is not suited to inefficient or reactive speakers. So the sound........ I honestly don't know how to describe the sound, it really is unlike anything i have heard before, its extremely musical and quite laid back which are traits of a good valve amp, but the bass is superb (freq range is 5hz-28khz, yes thats right 5hz) very deep and warm and never sounds flappy or coloured. The amp using op-amps and has a push pull output stage, this leads to a bizarre experience where the sound seems to be projected right round the room, if i close my eyes when listening to acoustic music its hard to tell exactly where the sound is coming from, its very strange indeed. The tonal balance is superb, things like applause in live sets really stand out and sound very realistic, the treble is clear but not harsh (Also helped by my CD4SE)and given my ecclectic taste in music the amp behaves well with any genre. I then went on the hunt for the 2x50w phase 3 power amp to partner the phase 2, and fate bought me to ebay, as if some strange force was at work there was one for sale on ebay with 11 people trying to get it (i have never seen just the power amp for sale, these are rare), after some sweat and panick i won the auction at £165 (not bad for a 5 year old amp that cost £625 new) So i am now bi-amping my new Monitor Audio RS6 floorstanders, with extra clarity in the bass department and a much sweeter midrange, i haven't really noticed any improvement in the treble department. Honestly peeps, if you can manage to find any of the JS amps buy one, i promise you will not be dissapointed. Kev

Review submitted: 2005/12/15

Category: Amplifiers Receivers
Title: Musical Fidelity A3.2 integrated	views:444
I recently purchased a Mudical Fidelity A3.2 integrated exdemo for £535 on ebay. Specs wise its 115W into 8ohms - or about double that into my 4ohm Dynaudio Audience 82s. No sign of strain from either party! The circuitry is dual mono (one can see each transformer through each of the left and right vents on the amp's lid. Which aids channel separation. As its turned out, this was a ludicrously good deal! To my ears it offers both totalitarian control over my speakers (power, and timing) on one hand and a breathtaking neutrality on the other. The most naturalistic sounding amp I've heard at it's original £1000 price tag, let alone £535! The A3.2 replaced in my set up one of its smaller predecessors - the Musical Fidelity X-A2 (a cracking little piece of kit which found a new home with a trusted mate of mine - let him have it for a bargain 170 notes!). Both are unmistakedly Mu-Fi in their neutral transparency, but the sonic bonuses that come with the additional power and superior circuitry of of the A3.2 well worth the upgrade. I should point out here that 'power' is not (just) about loudness - it's about the amp exerting an iron fist over every movement the speaker cones and domes make. At any volume level. This has an obvious impact on all aspects of the sound: accuracy, timing, macrodynamics, microdynamics, etc.,... When the Musical Fidelity A3.2 says "Jump!" my Audience 82s jump, and don't do so again until they're bloomin' well told to! DocFoster P.S. If you do go ebay shopping - check the sellers feedback scores (the vast majority of ebay sellers are trustworthy with positive feedback scores at least in the high 90%). I've had only good experiences on ebay, but I suppose given that there are humans at the other end of the internet, there must be some crooks out there.

Review submitted: 2005/9/23

Category: Amplifiers Receivers
Title: NVA amplification (Phono 2; P90 preamp; A80 monoblocks)	views:3678
Over the past 2 months I have seriously upgraded my hifi amplification using exclusively NVA products. The 2 most important things I have to say are: 1. NVA kit sounds excellent. 2. NVA products all represent outstanding value. I can describe the NVA sound only as thoroughly "accurate". This remarkable accuracy – both tonal and spatial - gives an uncanny realism to any music that now plays through the system. Specifically, the NVA kit that I have been most impressed by are: 1. P90 passive preamplifier (£160 'b stock' (due to 'faulty casework'): This was the 1st piece of NVA kit I tried. It was plugged into the power amp section of my then Musical Fidelity A3.2 integrated. I was immediately impressed. I was totally unprepared for The effect of passive preamplification on CD sound: So much of the 'grain' that I had always attributed to short comings of 44.1/16bit disappeared to reveal a far smoother sound, far closer to analogue than I had previously heard. There was a 'master tape' immediacy and accuracy to the sound that was very impressive. 2. SSP interconnects (£2 per cm per pair): After the success of the P90 I ordered some NVA interconnects to go from my DAC to to the P90 and then from the P90 to my amp. NVA produce interconnects to any length. I went for short 25cm lengths. I have always regarded as interconnects as 'tweaks'. Useful tweaks, but tweaks nevertheless. Again, I was fairly gobsmacked when the SSP cables arrived and were hooked up. I felt that they made for far more of an upgrade than any cable has a right to make. Again this upgrade was in the direction of greater tonal and spatial accuracy. A significant feature of the SSP cables is that they are extremely rigid. They have to be bent into the desired shape before being plugged into their appropriate sockets. It seems to be the case that the rigidity of the cables has greater strength than the solder joints at the plugs. I managed to break one of the joints when unplugging them in readiness to move my kit around. To their huge credit, NVA repaired the joint for £1 including postage . (I attempted to repair the joint myself, but managed to damage the plug in my attempts to unscrew it ). 3. A80 mono blocks (£650 the pair including postage for ‘b stock’ models – again reportedly ‘faulty casework). Prior to purchase, I felt that these were a bit of a risk: To fund their purchase I had to sell my Musical Fidelity A3.2 integrated amp that had been functioning as a phono stage and power amp. My main concern was that whereas the MuFi amp is rated at 185 Watts into my 4 ohms Dynaudios, the A80s are rated as 80 Watts into 8 ohms. I am aware that power isn’t everything, but it is something (or perhaps I’ve been reading too much Musical Fidelity !) There is no given rating for the NVA A80s into a 4ohm load. I emailed Richard Dunn of NVA enquiring as to what the A80s would deliver into 4 ohms. His answer was just that they would manage “well over 100 Watts”. Richard is not a man who believes in blinding his customers with the science behind his products! However, inspired with confidence in NVA following the performance of the P90 preamp and the SSP interconnects I placed my order for the A80s. My confidence has been massively rewarded. The A80s have the same sonic fingerprint as all of the other NVA equipment that I have heard: accurate realism. In the case of the A80s this is especially true in the bass, which is wonderfully deep and incredibly well defined. I’m certainly not at all concerned about how many watts I may have lost to my old MuFi! I have also bought the NVA Phono 2 (£360 including separate PSU). I’m repeating myself again here, but accuracy is the name of the game here. I intend to listen to more vinyl through it in the coming months (I seem to be hooked on the sound of CD through the NVA P90(?!)). A run of NVA SP digital interconnect links my CDP and DAC – I suspect digital interconnects make for less of an upgrade than do analogue, but I can’t criticise the SP digital wire. To complete the NVA cabling 2m of LS3 speaker cable (£48) wires in my speakers. This is at least as good as the Chord Odyssey 2 that it replaced (and that I sold on ebay for over £70!). Further to this, NVA recommend that due to the design of their amps, LS3 cable is used for safety. As I stated at the outset these changes have represented a major upgrade to my system. The P90 preamp, Phono 2 and A80 setup has cost £1,298 (including the NVA interconnects). The MuFi integrated amp that they replaced cost £1000 when new, so price wise they are not a million miles apart. However, the sonic difference is light years wide. The NVA system is a huge improvement on the old MuFi A3.2. Some further points regard NVA as a company - an unusual company. NVA sell only on ebay, so auditioning presale is impossible. However, a 2 year full money back offer is available on their products (!). As NVA state, this “OFFER IS QUITE UNIQUE IN THE WORLD OF AUDIO AND HI-FI”. Thus, extensive home trialling is a reality. I have also successfully tested this offer after wanting to trade in some cabling for different lengths of the same cable. (It seems that traded in items are sold with no significant reserve on ebay.) Throughout this post I have referred to ‘NVA’. What NVA really is, is Richard Dunn. Richard now operates the business on his own. Products are made to order, so although they can take up to 14 days to arrive they do possess a kind of hand crafted cottage industry charm! Finally, a comment must be made about Richard Dunn himself. If he is to be judged by his hifi then he is a genius. If he is to be judged by his sales policies then he is reasonable and generous. If he is to be judged by his comments then he has strong views! Whatever one’s view Richard Dunn is certainly a refreshing maverick who comes as a welcome change to a hifi industry that is at best bland (see the adverts and sales blurb in the back of any hifi mag’), and at worst embarrassing (see recent threads on the Musical Fidelity Supercharger). In any event, NVA products sound to my ears, exemplary. It is wholly accurate – surely the aim of all hifi. DF SUMMARY: I can describe the NVA sound only as thoroughly "accurate". This remarkable accuracy – both tonal and spatial - gives an uncanny realism to any music that now plays through the system.

Review submitted: 2007/8/14

Category: Amplifiers Receivers
Title: Raysonic SP120	views:2504
The Raysonic SP120 is a basic integrated tube amp designed and QC'd in Toronto, but manufactured in China. It is quite basic, with 4 standard inputs (no phono), a volume control, input selector, 4 & 8 Ohm outputs and comes with a remote for input and volume adjustment. See http://www.raysonicaudio.com/amp/sp120.htm for details and photos I was guided to this amp by some friends who own a Hi-Fi store and who were themsleves very impressed by the entire Raysonic line. This is my first foray into the Tube world - it was prompted by the earlier purchase of a tube Guitar Amp - a VOX. This amp was so vibrant and yet smooth I thought I would that maybe a tube amp for my audio system might be of some benefit. WOW - was that ever an understatement! The in store test was pretty much what I expected - a very clean and controlled delivery, spacious soundstage, very well controlled low end and beautiful clean and smooth mids and highs Once once I got it home and out of the box I allowed it 30 minutes or so to warm up and then started going through some more material - it was then that the playing frenzy set in! Album after album retrieved and each time the amp delivered consistent superb results! I could not believe the magnificent sound of this amplifier - smooth, clean ,detailed, controlled, spacious. As I said earlier - I am new to tubes, but had read that not all tubes are equal. So after a few months listening I looked around for some different tubes to see if they would make a difference. I contacted The Tube Store http://www.thetubestore.com/(a Hamilton, Ontario web-based store for the Canadian readers) and they were more than happy to make a recommendation of JAN Phillips 5751 and Electro Harmonix 6SN7EH, but they did not think the Shuguang kt88-98 power tubes required replacing. After replacing the tubes and breaking them in there was a signficant improvement in image, detail and smoothness that I had not previously heard and all instruments seemed more "dynamic", in all, the upgrade was well worth while. More recently the KT88 power tubes started to show signs of failure on the right channel i.e. crackles and mains hum Again, I consulted the guys at The Tube Store for their opinion. They suggested either JJ, Winged "C" or New Sensor Gold Lion, and after a lot of reading I selected the Gold Lion because of their reputation for long life. The initial listening impression was that these tubes were very bright to the point of being harsh. But after only around 5 hours of break in these tubes started to display a totally different character - i.e. detail + control + depth + dynamics These tubes are now performing amazingly well... 1. Extended low end - I would estrimate about 1/2 an octave lower 2. More detailed low end control - synths have amazing texture to them 3. A richer, more detailed mid range - voices have a more natural sound with a nice lower end to them 4. An extended and more detailed top end 5. Amazingly well controlled high's -->sibilance is very well controlled -->brass has a piercing quality without being shrill -->cymbals and triagles have texture and character 6. Much more dynamic presentation -->the thump of the bass drum has a dramatic snap to it -->the tap of a snare drum has a nice sharp crack -->bass guitar has much more punch to it -->the sudden stop of a DEEP bass note feels like the air is being sucked out of the room 7. Much wider sound stage - way beyond the speaker position 8. Incredibly detailed imaging - much more air around individual musicians - you can count them! 9. On tracks where phasing is used, the sound moves around the entire room and completely envelopes you Replacing the tubes in this amp has taken its performance to a level that far exceeds what the factory default tubes are capable of and IMHO well worth the expense. Vocalists are definately in their own very focused "space"... Andy Bey - has a nice velvety deepness Salena Jones - has a very nice edge to her vocals Diana Krall - has a nice whipery texture on her quiet tracks Angela Scapatura (new artist) - you can almost see just how much fun she is having with the boys in the band Joni Mitchel's Blue album sounds amazing through this amp - very airy and extremely natural Instruments display exceptional details... Cello & violin - you can hear the bow actually generating the notes as it's drawn across the string in the lower register Cymbals are extremely dynamic - on some Spike Heatley CD's I have, you can hear exactly how the cymbal is struck - e.g. with the end of the brush or stick as opposed to the further down - whether the strike is on the edge, mid way or extreme centre of the cymbal Vibraphone - you can hear the "plunk" of the mallet stiking the note before the tone is generated Trombone - you can hear the initial "spit" requied to produce the note Acoustic Guitar - you can detect whether a pick or bare fingers are being used and the harmonics generated by the guitar are true to how a live guitar sounds On most wind instruments, clarinet, oboe, flute you can hear the keys being pressed and released (I have several recordings providing these details) On really good orchestral recordings the seperation between instruments is amazing and their placement across the soundstage is very accurate. The Rest of My System is so-so, but this amp brings out the absolute best from all the other components: - Rega Planar II + RB250 arm (too many other mods to mention) - Rega Elys cartridge - Cambridge Audio 540 phono amp - Rotel RCD 940 CD Player (added gold output sockets) - Luxman T210 tuner - Magnat Ribbon 5 Speakers (re-wired and re-foamed) - DIY MDF Speaker Stands - sand filled to 35lbs - DIY Van Den Hul D102 mkIII interconnect + Furutech RCA's - DIY Van Den Hul Speaker Cables + bananas - DIY Furutech Power cables + good plugs - Panamax 4300 power conditioner - Lovan 4-tier rack with MDF shelves

Review submitted: 2007/11/1

Category: Amplifiers Receivers
Title: Sony STR-DE495	views:661
I just bought a new Sony STR-DE495 AV receiver from Richer Sounds for £99.99 - E-Line dolby digital receiver - 5ch. Amplifier 80W x 5 - Dolby Digital/DTS/Dolby ProLogic 2 - 32bit DSP - Digital Cinema Sound (Cinema Studio EX) - Subwoofer out - Optical In x1, Coaxial In x 1 - Push surround sound terminals - Replaces STR-DE485 - Available in black (B) or silver (S) - i got Silver. what do ya reckon?? please rate this product

Review submitted: 2004/3/26

Category: Amplifiers Receivers
Title: Yamaha RX-V357	views:498
I have finally upgraded my old receiver (Sony STR-DE495) to a Yamaha RX-V357 and what an upgrade it has been! The Sony was a pretty good amp for a little over £100. It has some nice features, and sounded very clean and crisp. Also, however, it was lacking some features, such as 6 channel inputs, 5 channel stereo etc. I therefore went out and purchased the RX-V357 from Richer Sounds, and it's amazing compared to the Sony. The sound is still just as clean and crisp, but it has a more "realistic" edge to it now, it doesn't sound quite so technical. Also, it has an extra 25W per channel which should make it sound a lot better at average to loud cinema-style volumes, although i haven't really had it long enough to decide this yet. It also has 6 channel analog inputs, which means i can finally listen to SACDs and DVD-As at last! Oh, and if you are into DSP modes, this Yamaha has around 15 of them, and they sound excellent for a budget amp. Personally, i don't like DSP modes though, so i'm not the guy to talk to for comparisons. Anyone else got one of these receivers then? What do you think? Photo of the amp in my home setup can be found here: https://hififorum.co.uk/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=32&cid=1

Review submitted: 2006/5/26

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