At Zouch Audio we are always looking for customer input, so who better to ask than our very own hi-fi pundit......... Simon Crosby. He has recently finished upgrading his system and we wanted him to tell you all about it!!!
The System So Far…………
I love Gary Numan, no – not in that way – I love his music! Ever since 1979 when I saw the ‘humanoid android’ performing ‘Are Friend’s Electric?’ for the first time on ‘Top of the Pops’. That was it; I went from being a nerdy sort of heavy-ish rock fan to a nerdy robot & synth fan! Why am I telling you this – well up to that point I’d discovered music pretty much like most people, listening a bit whilst doing the endless homework – yes I was still at school well college actually – but it was always in the background. Once Numan came along I really started to listen properly – going into music shops and trying to find other bands that were doing similar sorts of stuff. Of course once you get into music properly something else happens – you want something to play all this music on. Now don’t panic I’m not going to give you a potted history of my hi-fi system – that’ll be another day.
 This particular article/review is about my current system. It’s changed a little since I last wrote anything for the website, but the object hasn’t – trying to make the music sound as good as possible to my ears! Trying to get Gary Numan et al to sound their best, trying to get the goose bumps on the arms and the hairs on the back of your neck standing to attention. Well I think I’ve got there – and this is how: Musical Fidelity KW SACD Player (unchanged) plus their new KW550 Amplifier and a pair of Dali Helicon 400 speakers. But that’s not the whole story – there is an Isotek Sigmas ‘mains conditioner’ and some rather expensive cables – Nordost ‘Tyr’ interconnect and Nordost ‘Heimdall’ speaker cable. Add to this a turntable – Clearaudio Emotion and a tuner – Musical Fidelity (there’s a surprise) A5 DAB/FM model.
I’m not going to say too much about the extra sources for now they’ll be covered in a later review, we’ll just stick to the main source and system.
I’ve already written a full review about the KW SACD player so I suggest if you want to know my thoughts on this player then please read that review before continuing. First mention then here goes to the KW550 amplifier. Its big – it’s heavy – ah! Better stop there for fear of this slipping into another review of the CD player. The KW550 is an integrated amplifier that comes, like its predecessor in two boxes. The first, larger box houses all the circuitry and electronics, and the second one, which is actually smaller but heavier, houses the power supply. They are both styled similar to the earlier KW series components although the corners have been ‘smoothed off’ a little. To make up for this though the volume control has been nicely sharpened to cut off all those little fingers of any young children who don’t understand what “Don’t Touch” means! They will now! It’s a powerful beast rated rather conservatively at 630 watts into an 8 ohm load and practically doubles this into 4, so it will power just about any pair of speakers in the known world, with plenty to spare! It has a good number of inputs – 6 in fact – including a rather excellent phono stage. And that is basically that when it comes to the technical side!
 Next are the gorgeous Dali speakers. The 400’s are the smaller of two floorstanding models and I was rather hesitant when they were suggested as a replacement for my old Monitor Audio stand mounters! The room in which they sit is rather on the small side and I was worried that they’d rather take over. I have to be honest here and say that size wise they did – but sound wise they were the by far the best of several tried. They weren’t perfect – but as I’ve come to know a little fiddling with cables etc. can bring huge improvements.
So let’s sit back and enjoy the music.
First up was a personal favourite ‘A Perfect Circle’ – the track was ‘The Noose’ from their second album ‘The Thirteenth Step’. This is a track which starts quite slowly but builds to a real crescendo of sound. Now it was certainly good – but didn’t quite live up to the name of the band, it wasn’t quite ‘Perfect’. The cymbal work was excellent but the bass when it came in was just too much. Ok lets try something a little drier in the interconnect department – Nordost! This company makes some of the most expensive cables going and I’d already got one – a Vishnu power cable! After trying the Frey interconnect and getting some way to the required, I thought I’d try the ‘Tyr’. Make no mistake this is an expensive cable and you wouldn’t put it in a budget system – but here it was just the tonic. Far more control over the bass guitar and the kick drums. All the muddle was disappearing – and in its place was a far better structure/foundation.
I felt now though that I’d spent all this money on upgrading the system but maybe there was more. I had been using a Black Rhodium Power Management mains block so how much improvement could be brought to bear here. The first suggestion was an Isotek ‘Minisub’ – good but a little thin sounding – ok - what about another Isotek unit – the ‘Sigmas’? That’s it – the soundstage spread wider and deeper even in my small room.
Well that just left the speaker cable – well I thought, more Nordost might do the trick and so after trying a couple I decided on the ‘Heimdall’ and placed my order.
So how does it all sound now? Oh dear - when I first put the speaker cable in – bloody awful! But fear not – Nordost cables take absolutely ages to burn in. My ‘Tyr’ interconnect had took well over a week to start sounding ‘right’ like the demo cable I’d tried! Now some three days later it’s starting to give me the goose bumps and I’m positive it’s going to get better. I’ve got an old Peter Murphy CD playing right now – he used to be lead singer with the “Goth” band Bauhaus, and it sounds stunning! I remember when I first bought this particular CD I thought it was pretty dire and I just put back on my rack – not so long ago I picked it up again to try it, and all I’ll say is I’ve now got every solo album he’s done! The intricate way he layers all the various instruments is now laid bare. There’s so much going on – so many extra tiny details that go to make up the whole. Its heavenly – the detail in his voice is just sublime!
Time for a change – Gary Numan. I started this review by saying that I love his music and that was why I got into hi-fi! His live album recorded in 2000 contains the track called “Tracks” which actually dates from 1979. I can now say that my system sounds better than when I go to see him live – yes he’s still around and still tours and I always get a buzz when the music starts and the lights come up, but for the first time it really sounds better at home! Now all I need is the light show!
If you enjoy music let me say one thing to you: Music is the only legal drug I know of and to enjoy it fully you need to spend some time and money on a hi-fi system – let me introduce you to a couple of friends of mine – Mike and Kieran – their place is down an alley in Ashby and they’re the only “dealers” you need to know! ‘Nuff said! |
