[Doublej]

Room treatment doesn't always have to be audiophile looking. Rugs, wall tapestries, and curtains count too.

[timothyharnett]

I heard a bunch of Audiolab stuff today.  It was good for the price.  I don't think they have gone down hill at all.  And the prices are attractive.

Yes, it's pretty good but if you have a Tag and a new Audiolab next to each other (which I did), you can spot the difference very easily - just tap the casework with your fingernail.  I think you get what you pay for.  The way the Tag situation ended up was a tragedy for the British Hifi industry - more so than Quad because of the degree of innovation (in our terms!) that was occurring at Tag.

On the other hand, I don't think there's any quality degradation in moving between English Quad and Chinese Quad though and the latter may well even be more reliable.

[jon_010101]

Room treatment doesn't always have to be audiophile looking. Rugs, wall tapestries, and curtains count too.

Oh I agree fully... "passive" room treatments as such are much preferable to sound-absorbing pillars and fiberglass wall-panels. 

SO, I have good news (or bad news, depending on perspective) about my friend's audioplans...

I think that I may have swayed him towards a tube integrated amp!  To use with some nice well-designed Brit-fi sources, of course.  After explaining that many fine amps don't require manual biasing, and that many actually have user-friendly features like remote volume controls, he feels comfortable going that direction, and appreciates the sonic advantages (well, differences ).  Probably something along the lines of  an Eastern Electric M520.  Then pick some speakers more on the tube-friendly side of things.  Sorry if I'm disappointing any of the solid-state fans out there   ... I do welcome any counter-arguments from Solid-Staters.

[timothyharnett]

Room treatment doesn't always have to be audiophile looking. Rugs, wall tapestries, and curtains count too.

Oh I agree fully... "passive" room treatments as such are much preferable to sound-absorbing pillars and fiberglass wall-panels. 

SO, I have good news (or bad news, depending on perspective) about my friend's audioplans...

I think that I may have swayed him towards a tube integrated amp!  To use with some nice well-designed Brit-fi sources, of course.  After explaining that many fine amps don't require manual biasing, and that many actually have user-friendly features like remote volume controls, he feels comfortable going that direction, and appreciates the sonic advantages (well, differences ).  Probably something along the lines of  an Eastern Electric M520.  Then pick some speakers more on the tube-friendly side of things.  Sorry if I'm disappointing any of the solid-state fans out there   ... I do welcome any counter-arguments from Solid-Staters.

I think it's a British design.  Isn't it a Mullard 5-20 circuit?   I think that's what the M520 stands for.

[jon_010101]

I think it's a British design.  Isn't it a Mullard 5-20 circuit?   I think that's what the M520 stands for.

Hey good point there, I forgot to consider the British connection   Neat classic circuit; I love the pentode first-stage direct coupled to the driver/phase-splitter.  The EE seems to be one of the most flexible tube integrated amps out there... adjustable feedback level, UL/pentode switch, remote control.  Something like he Prima Luna seems nice too, but comes up 22 lbs short, and doesn't have much for damping factor.  The appearance of the EE is also more-conservative than competing Chinese-built amps (Cayin, Shanling, etc.), which is a plus.

[timothyharnett]

I think it's a British design.  Isn't it a Mullard 5-20 circuit?   I think that's what the M520 stands for.

Hey good point there, I forgot to consider the British connection   Neat classic circuit; I love the pentode first-stage direct coupled to the driver/phase-splitter.  The EE seems to be one of the most flexible tube integrated amps out there... adjustable feedback level, UL/pentode switch, remote control.  Something like he Prima Luna seems nice too, but comes up 22 lbs short, and doesn't have much for damping factor.  The appearance of the EE is also more-conservative than competing Chinese-built amps (Cayin, Shanling, etc.), which is a plus.

Strictly speaking the appearance is an homage to Radford.  Incidentally, Radford is actually starting up again with a reissued STA25. http://www.radfordaudio.co.uk/ .  When they come out, I may well buy one myself.

Talking of valve integrateds, have you seen the recent Crofts?  Much more modern than his older stuff (only one volume control!).  Unfortunately no remote control.  Talking of derivative designs, some of them look like a poor mans Hovland - no bad thing.  He's started to embrace battery operation too.

[jon_010101]

Strictly speaking the appearance is an homage to Radford.  Incidentally, Radford is actually starting up again with a reissued STA25. http://www.radfordaudio.co.uk/ .  When they come out, I may well buy one myself.

Talking of valve integrateds, have you seen the recent Crofts?  Much more modern than his older stuff (only one volume control!).  Unfortunately no remote control.  Talking of derivative designs, some of them look like a poor mans Hovland - no bad thing.  He's started to embrace battery operation too.

Okay, that is very cool that they are reissuing the STA25 ... and I see what you mean about the appearance connection.  They are basically non-existent here in the States, so I've never even seen one in person before.

The Croft gear seems to be quite good, but I was under the impression that it is also very expensive.  I recall that they did a very impressive Williamson amplifier a few years back.  A pair of vintage Williamsons are my daily-listening amps.

[timothyharnett]

Strictly speaking the appearance is an homage to Radford.  Incidentally, Radford is actually starting up again with a reissued STA25. http://www.radfordaudio.co.uk/ .  When they come out, I may well buy one myself.

Talking of valve integrateds, have you seen the recent Crofts?  Much more modern than his older stuff (only one volume control!).  Unfortunately no remote control.  Talking of derivative designs, some of them look like a poor mans Hovland - no bad thing.  He's started to embrace battery operation too.

Okay, that is very cool that they are reissuing the STA25 ... and I see what you mean about the appearance connection.  They are basically non-existent here in the States, so I've never even seen one in person before.

The Croft gear seems to be quite good, but I was under the impression that it is also very expensive.  I recall that they did a very impressive Williamson amplifier a few years back.  A pair of vintage Williamsons are my daily-listening amps.

The cheap stuff is pretty cheap.  They did a preamp here for £350 a couple of years ago and they've just released some mini components but I don't know the prices.  The downside is that you tend not to get Naim style support because it's a small operation.  If they go wrong, it can be a while to get them fixed.  The sound is excellent though and it's based on first principles of simplicity.  The most recent designs have been valve hybrids and transformerless valve amps.  They do a small integrated valve hybrid for just over £1,000.

The Radford amps are very special.  I would prefer them to a Quad 11 for instance or a Leak St20.  Whether the new Radfords are as good will be interesting.  The STA25 was always a favourite because it was powerful enough to drive insensitive speakers like LS3/5a.  The Quad 11 is the most popular amp for LS3/5a over here despite being only 12W - it's our equivalent of your Dynaco ST70 in terms of popularity.

Talking of DTN Williamson, an ex colleague of his used to do the maintenance on my Leak.