HiFi Lounge - Latest News and Chat for HiFi and Headphones!

[Bibs]

The speakers? My lounge is available

[Vipers]

Nice try :-)

[Vipers]

Naim Lounge Hi Res Photo!

Hi All,

We had our photographer in this week who spent the day taking photo's of our new Naim Lounge, here is a sneak peak, certainly better than I can get on my phone :-) -

Cheers,
Paul.

[Vipers]

New Video Walkthrough Showing New Showrooms Finished!

Hi All,

I just wanted to post another video showing the new showrooms Finished, well almost, I’ll do another one once they are truly finished but we are very nearly there, this is turning into a Trilogy in true Lord Of The Rings fashion, maybe not quite as epic :-)

I’m hoping it is not as shaky as video 1, thanks for watching.

Thanks,

Paul.

[Vipers]

Introducing The New Stax SRM-T8000 Hybrid Reference Energiser!

Hi All,

Big news this one as it is not everyday that Stax release a new product but especially a new Energiser, since we started HFL this is the first new Energiser we have seen and more importantly this is a new reference flagship energiser so plenty to get excited about for us Stax enthusiasts out there.

Although the Stax SRM-007tII Kimik energiser is really great it has been known that there is definitely more performance to be got from the Stax SR-009′s and SR-007′s with many people importing amps from the likes of Blue Hawaii and Woo Audio so it is really great that Stax now have their own offering which from early reports really does get more body, bass weight and detail from the SR-009′s, for me this is great news as I have been a SR-009 user for a while now but just recently have gone over to the Utopia’s so if a fuller sound can be achieved from the SR-009′s then that will certainly be very welcome and will make things very interesting when comparing to the Utopia’s.

Basically the new SRM-T8000 is a hybrid design so uses a couple of 6922 valves for the pre-amp stage with class A power for the amplification and also now has a volume bypass option so if you are using something like a Chord DAVE or Hugo TT you can use the volume on these giving an improvement in sound quality and also remote volume control which can be very useful for a lot of people.

The SRM-T8000 is due around July time, is priced £3895 for silver and £4194 for black, we are taking pre-orders now with a £400 deposit and we will have one on permanent demo as soon as possible.

Exciting times for Stax enthusiasts out there :-)

http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk/stax/stax-srm-t8000-hybrid-reference-energiser

Cheers,
Paul.

[Vipers]

PMC Speakers Announce Their COR Integrated Amplifier!

Hi All,

Well I knew PMC had something up their sleeve to release at Munich this weekend but I never imagined it would be their own analogue integrated amplifier, very interesting indeed, more news as I get it but good to see that it is built in the UK and interesting it has treble and bass controls which is quite rare in the HiFi market nowadays but quite a few customers ask for it.

It is rated at 95 watts into 8ohms so it looks like it will be going up against Naim’s SuperNait 2 integrated, no idea on price at the moment, needless to say we will have one on demo as soon as available.

You can see more below -

http://pmc-speakers.com/products/consumer/cor-electronics/cor-integrated

Cheers,
Paul.

[Vipers]

Devialet’s Lost Recording Listening at The Royal Albert Hall!

Hi all,

I just wanted to say thank you to Devialet for inviting myself and Wendy to a very unique listening session they held for around 150 people on Monday night at The Royal Albert Hall, basically Devialet have a selection of albums called ‘The Lost Recordings’ and as the title says they are recording that were thought to have been lost forever, now these can be bought in traditional vinyl form but also for a small cost of £6300 you can buy a very special version which can only be played once but it will be the very best reproduction possible, I guess you could say it is like the finest wine that can only be drunk once.

Devialet have pioneered a way to produce a very special acetate that is so soft that the needle of the turntable destroys the record as it is playing so it was a great opportunity to hear one of these acetates on a very special system with the Devialet Expert 1000 Pro at its heart and it really did not disappoint, the recording was a Sarah Vaughan live recording from 1975 and the realism especially in here voice was quite uncanny, if £6300 is a bit rich for you then you can buy a traditional copy for £110 and you can play that one multiple times, sounds like a bargain to me :-)

Another really cool element of the evening was that we were told to go through to the main hall for a special performance and as we walked towards the entrance you could hear someone singing opera and as we clapped our eyes on the stage there was a single Gold Phantom on the stage, very clever and quite amazing how it managed to fill the Albert Hall with a very reasonable volume level, just like going to an un-miked opera.

So thanks again to Devialet for organising another brilliant event.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/devialet

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

New Sonus Faber Homage Range Lands @ HiFi Lounge!

Hi All,

Just a quick blog as we were well and truly Sonus Fabered today :-)

The great news is that we were appointed last week to be one of only 6 dealers in the UK for the new Sonus Faber Homage Traditional range, this is the range that sits above the popular Olympica range and really showcases what Sonus Faber are all about with stunning cabinetry and design that only the Italians are really capable of, with prices ranging from £10,500 to £23,500 these will slot quite nicely into our new ‘Highend Room’ perfectly.

I must apologise to anyone who comes in at the moment though as our downstairs demo room looks like a Sonus Faber Homage warehouse but I am extremely keen to get these un-boxed asap but as someone broke into our 40 foot container last night where all our empty boxes are stored so we need to get this secured first, it must have been a real effort for them to break in as it had some pretty hefty pad locks in place, funny really as they must have been gutted to make all that effort to find a load of empty boxes :-)

Anyway I will update this once all 3 pairs of speakers are unboxed, I haven’t had time to add the range to our website yet but you can see more on Sonus Faber’s site links below - 

http://www.sonusfaber.com/en-us/products/guarneri-tradition

http://www.sonusfaber.com/en-us/products/serafino-tradition

http://www.sonusfaber.com/en-us/products/amati-tradition

Here is our SF warehouse -

A few Pics of what awaits in the boxes!

Cheers,
Paul.

[Vipers]

Beat The PMC Speaker’s Price Rise - June 19th!

Hi All,

Just a quick message to let everyone know that PMC will be putting their prices up from June 19th due to the weak pound since Brexit, to be fair they have held on longer than most to see how the pound settles down and they have kept the increase as minimal as possible and they are still worth every penny :-)

At the moment we are doing demo’s daily on the Twenty5 range so I thought it only fair to mention the price rise asap so that no one is caught out, please find the prices as they will be from June 19th, if you can’t quite make out the below please feel free to get in touch.

Cheers,
Paul.

[Vipers]

Sonus Faber Homage Un-Boxing Pictures!

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to upload a few pictures of the new Sonus Faber Homage speakers that we now have on demo, I have to say that pictures really don’t do these speakers justice so if you are interested please feel free to come in and have a look as they really are absolutely stunning, it really is true that no one makes speakers quite like Sonus Faber.

They are certainly not cheap, starting at £10,500 for the bookshelf but for once you really do feel like you are getting value for money when you consider they are all hand made by Italian craftsmen and to be fair as piece of furniture it is easy to spend that kind of money but when you consider these produce a stunning sound then it is hard to argue with the cost.

A couple of things that stood out for me when unboxing and assembling are the carbon stands for the Guarneri bookshelf’s, it is that word again, stunning :-) I also love the red wood colour we have for the Guarneri’s and Serafino’s and also the darker finish on the Amati’s is quite spectacular, when you look at the top of the Amati’s it is like the deck on an uber expensive yacht, again, stunning and the feet on the Amati’s are like nothing I have seen before.

Anyway I will shut up and will get uploading some pictures -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/homage-collection-by-sonus-faber

Sonus Faber Guarneri Tradition Speakers

Sonus Faber Amati Tradition Speakers

Sonus Faber Serafino Tradition Speakers

Cheers,
Paul.

[Vipers]

Boys Toys Day II - July 22nd With dCS, Wilson Audio, Absolute Sounds & Lotus Silverstone!

Hi All,

Well after the success of our first Boys Toys Day a couple of years ago, in collaboration with PMC Speakers, where we put my 2 passions and many of our customers passions of Cars and HiFi into one day, well it now time for Boys Toys Day II :-)

The first BTD was so much fun and I always wanted to do another one but was always a little nervous as that was the perfect day, we had a brilliant turnout, everyone had a great time and the weather was really good to us + the system PMC put together sounded epic, how could we possibly compete with that, well I think we may have just done it as we have something very special lined up for this years event, how does the chance of listening to a £300,000 system sound?

As part of our expansion we recently became dealers for dCS and Wilson Audio and what with dCS only being up the road and recently having just finished their new state of the art demo room it seemed like a match made in heaven and the seeds were sown for Boys Toys Day II who dCS and Absolute Sounds (The UK dCS and Wilson Audio Distributor among other highend brands) were really keen to support, so a big thanks to those guys.

So for those who missed the first event, what does the day entail? basically it is a chance to get your car out for a drive and hear one of the finest audio systems in the world, the idea is that if you have a sports car or any car of interest then please come along to HiFi Lounge from 9am where we will have the BBQ running for breakfast bacon and sausage rolls and will have a mini car meet then around 11am we will head up to dCS in Cambridgeshire for an afternoon listening to a very special HiFi System + factory tour.

dCS Vivaldi System

I will announce more details over the next weeks but this is really a headsup so that you put July 22nd in your calendar and even if you haven’t got an interesting car you are more than welcome to come along, especially if you are interested in hearing the HiFi System that will consist of a full dCS Vivaldi stack, Wilson Alexx Speakers driven by Dan D'Agostino amps and a full Transparent wiring Loom, this really is an amazing opportunity and is a system I really can’t wait to hear myself :-)

Lotus Cars are my other passion and will be represented on the day by Lotus Silverstone, my very friendly Lotus dealer :-) who will be on hand to chat and answer any questions you may have, I have actually just bought an iconic Lotus from the 80’s that I should be receiving next week so as long as the old Lotus acronym doesn’t come true then I look forward to bringing that on the day.

So all we need now is the weather to be on our side and we will have a great day, the only thing I ask is that if you think you can make it along could you please mail me at paul@hifilounge.co.uk so know how many people we can expect and the car you will be bringing, if any, and in particular if you want to listen to the HiFi System as the dCS demo room is optimised to give the best audio reproduction but can only fit a few people in at a time so we need a good idea of numbers here so please mail me with the 3 below answers -

1, Are you planning on attending?

2, What car are you brining, if any?

3, Do You Want to Listen to a £300,000 HiFi System?

More details to follow as I have them, please find links below to the everyone who is supporting the event.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/dcs

http://hifilounge.co.uk/wilson-audio

http://www.absolutesounds.com/

http://www.lotussilverstone.co.uk/

Please find a few picture below from the last Boys Toys Day + some of the epic HiFi we will be demonstrating.

Collage of cars from the First event.

dCS Vivaldi Stack, The Worlds Best Digital Front End.

Wilson Alexx Speakers, Quite Amazing!

Dan D'Agostino Power Amplification, Beautiful.

Many thanks and looking forward to seeing you on July 22nd.

Paul.

[Vipers]

MrSpeakers Aeon Headphones Now On Demo & In Stock!

Hi All,

This is a real quicky as I promised a lot of people that I would stick up a quick blog once we have the new MrSpeakers Aeon’s in and I am glad to say that they arrived yesterday, we have sold most of our first batch but we do have a few free stock if anyone wants to grab a pair.

I really believe that these set the new benchmark for a headphone under £1000 and really do offer one of the best, if not the best, closed back portable headphones, firstly they look quite discreet, are pretty light, are extremely comfortable, possibly the most comfortable headphones I have tried but most importantly they sound excellent giving a large slice of the Ether Flows for a fraction of the cost so they really do come highly recommended.

http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk/mr-speakers-headphones/mrspeakers-aeon-closed-back-headphones

If you’d like a demo please feel free to pop in anytime.

Cheers,
Paul.

[Vipers]

Trilogy H1 Energiser, For Stax Earspeakers, Launch Event July 8th!

Hi All,

We are proud to announce that we will be holding the launch event at our Highend Headphone shop for the much anticipated Trilogy Energiser, or SPD H1 Electrostatic Headphone Amplifier to give it it’s full name. This is a product I have been waiting a long time for as many of our customers import Energiser’s for their Stax Earspeakers from abroad, like the Blue Hawaii, as it has long been known that Stax Energisers really don’t get the best from the SR-009′s and SR-007′s so at long last we now have a UK designed and built Energiser that really will take Stax Energiser’s to another level, now I haven’t seen or heard the H1 yet but from what I am being told is that it adds real body and weight to Stax Earspeakers which as a SR-009 user for years is great to hear, as for me they are magical at what they do best but a little more bass weight and richness in the mid would then make them truly stunning, and as far as I am concerned Trilogy make the 2 best headphone amps for conventional headphones with the 931 and 933 so the H1 really is something to look forward to.

This will be an event that will run from 11am till around 3.30pm with Nic Poulson, the designer and director of Trilogy holding a brief talk about the development on the H1 then everyone can have a listen, there will be refreshments and Nic and Nigel, Trilogy and Stax distributor, will be on hand to answer any questions. We will have 2 systems setup and an open H1 so everyone can see the workmanship involved.

For this event numbers are severely limited but if you’d like to come along please feel free to let me know asap as we are limiting it to only 20 people, don’t worry though as if you can’t make it we will have the H1 on permanent demo shortly after but this does promise to be a great event and will be well worth making it along to if you are a serious headphone listener and especially if you are a Stax user. Needless to say that I will write my thoughts and will post pictures after the event.

Please see some more details below regarding the Trilogy Audio H1 Energiser.

• Price - Around £5000.
• A unique full Vacuum Tube Circuit.
• Zero feedback design
• High transconductance tubes
• Direct coupled output stage
• Full remote control over, volume, balance and input selection
• Available in a variety of finishes.
  

So if you would like to come along please e-mail me on the below asap to ensure a space, thanks.

paul@hifilounge.co.uk

http://www.trilogyaudio.com/

Regards,

Paul.

[Vipers]

PMC Cor Amplifier Launch Event News!

Hi All,

Just got back from the PMC Cor Integrated Amplifier Launch event just over the road at PMC’s HQ in Biggleswade so just thought I would post a few pictures and news. 

When PMC announced that they were entering the domestic electronics market with their own integrated amplifier when launched at Munich in May a lot of people, including me, were very surprised, at the end of the day PMC make speakers, what do they know about electronics? well what a lot of people don’t realise is that PMC have been making electronics for as long as they have been making speakers as all their active systems have their own amplifier designs in that are all built in house, the first system PMC sold into the BBC 24 years ago used their own electronics which is still used today so they certainly have the pedigree but just haven’t shouted about it.

So the idea of the Cor is to give you a very dynamic sound with great control but to be virtually invisible when it comes to it’s sonic character and after listening to it today on both the Twenty5.26′s and Fact.12′s I would say that they have achieved their goal, it is my kind of sound, but the really clever part is the tone controls as no one really offers this anymore. There is balance, treble and bass controls that are on motorised sliders which have been designed by the same people that design the sliders that you see on mixing desks in studios and these are controlled from the bespoke remote control, this is actually a really cool feature as not all music is mastered brilliantly so to have some control over this is really helpful, or it could be that you have a particularly live room so you can alter the sound slightly to suit, the adjustments are in .05db steps so very small but quite noticeable, basically when neutral the light on the slider stays white but once altered it turns red so you know what the state of play is, you can even alter these settings then select the bypass button to compare.

It is definitely retro in it’s look and is much bigger than you expect to be honest but it is beautifully built and very heavy with the PMC logo being touch sensitive so you can turn on the unit by touching it.

So all in all this looks cool, sounds great with some excellent and almost unique features at this level and bearing in mind how many Customer’s PMC already have I can see this amp being extremely popular, it is only being built in small numbers by a select team at PMC so I can see them having to do some overtime once it is released :-)

We ordered one as soon as it was announced so hopefully that will be with us soon and we will hold an open day soon so watch this space.

To me it looks like PMC have another hit on their hands :-)

http://hifilounge.co.uk/PMC-Speakers-Cor-amplifier

To show it’s size with standard iPhone on top.

Cheers,
Paul.

[Vipers]

Finally Found What I have Been Looking For!

Well I hope so, after around 3 years of looking I took delivery this week of an S3 Esprit :-)

I'm really hoping it is a good one, it does appear to be but I am no expert, bought it from UK Sports cars, it has been totally restored and in honesty it is as if it has been transported back from 1985 as it is almost like new but it has done 74,000 miles and has had 12 owners, so I am lucky No 13.

I must admit I was taken by it's condition and decided that if there are mechanical gremlins then everything is fixable, time will tell I guess but at the moment I am very happy :-)

I had the wheels diamond cut and painted before delivery but will look to add a set of Comps in the not too distant future.

Just hope it drives as good as it looks :-)

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

Utah, Here We Come, For a Wilson Audio Factory Tour!

Hi All,

Big week next week as I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to be taken out to Wilson Audio in Utah, USA for a few days of training, factory tour and a chance to hear the awesome WAMM Master Chronosonic Loudspeakers that come in at around £650,000 for a pair, I really never thought I would get a chance to ever hear these as they are not the kind of speaker that is easy to move around to set up at a show but in fairness I would fly to Utah just for one day to hear these, especially in Wilson Audio’s own demo room so they should sound as good as possible, needless to say that we will hear the rest of the Wilson range including the new Alexia Series 2 so it should be a pretty epic trip.

Since taking on Wilson Audio a few months ago I have to say that I have been really impressed, they produce the kind of sound I love and are one of the few speaker brands that I would spend my own money on for myself, great detail, very open sound but with a solid, tight and powerful bottom end that really just pulls you into the music and to be fair I have only ever listened to their 2 entry level speakers so I fear that I could be ruined for life once I come back from this trip with the opportunity to hear the complete Wilson Audio range.

The New Wilson Audio Alexia Series 2

We are allowed to take one track to play on the WAMM Speakers so I will be taking Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ as I have been using this as my demo track of choice for years so I can’t wait to hear it like never before on such an impressive speaker, I know that the Wilson ‘look’ divides opinion but how can you not be impressed by the below, quite stunning.

Wilson Audio WAMM Master Chronosonic

It does sound like we will have a pretty busy schedule, don’t worry I don’t expect any sympathy :-) but one area I am keen to learn more, being a new Wilson dealer, is ‘WASP’ or ‘Wilson Audio Setup Procedure’ as Wilson Speakers really benefit from time being spent on correct room placement and setup so hopefully once back I will be fully equipped to make our demo Sabrina’s and Yvette’s sing even more.

So basically I won’t be around all of next week so please be gentle on Wendy as she will be running the shop on her own and I will try to write some blogs whilst I am away on the whole experience.

Roll on next week :-)

Wilson Audio At Our Boys Toys Day II on July 22nd.

Finally don’t forget for our Boys Toys Day II on July 22nd that dCS, who we are visiting for the afternoon, will be running the Wilson Alexx speakers with their Vivaldi system which is not to be missed, so July really is turning out to be the Wilson Audio month :-)

http://hifilounge.tumblr.com/post/161885111858/boys-toys-day-ii-july-22nd-with-dcs-wilson

http://hifilounge.co.uk/wilson-audio

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

Postcard From Utah

Hi All,

Well we are now in Utah for our Wilson Audio training, got in last night after an 11 hour flight which was a great opportunity to listen to loads of music, I have to say that anyone who hasn’t listened to Lorde’s new album yet, give it a try as it really is very good, especially track 8, also Royal Blood’s new album comes highly recommended. So anyway once landed we made it to the Hotel which is a bit special I have to say, my bedroom is bigger than my living room, everything is bigger in America I guess :-) 

So 2 things I have learned since being in Utah, firstly it is a Mormon State so until recently it was difficult to get a drink, even now in some places it can only be served with food, luckily in our hotel this isn’t a problem and also more interestingly men are permitted to have up to 6 wives, not sure if that is a good idea or just too much like hard work to be honest, interesting idea though.

So today was an opportunity to look round Salt Lake City before our 3 days of training commence tomorrow, firstly it was 100 Degrees today so pretty toasty which makes sight seeing a challenge but it did seem that this area is split into 2 very distinct parts, one part was super clean, with everything looking immaculate, almost like from a movie set, here there are stunning churches and the awesome Capital building then on the flip side we took a tram into what we thought was the town centre but there seemed to be a lot of poverty here, much like any big City I guess, but most of it is very well kept and has a very open and relaxed feel as the population is quite low so the streets are very quiet.

Anyway below are a few pictures before the fun part starts tomorrow, some really beautiful architecture out here but I really can’t wait to hear the bigger Wilson’s :-) Hopefully I will get time to update this over the next few days but our timetable does look pretty full on, don’t worry I don’t expect any sympathy :-)

Surrounded By Mountains.

Inside the Capitol Building!

Plus there are very straight roads out here, rubbish for Lotus Cars, we need corners :-)

But the Nacho’s are great :-)

Cheers,
Paul.

[Vipers]

Wilson Audio Training Day 1 Update

 

Hi All,

Just got back from our first day of training at Wilson Audio and what a great day it has been, we did spend a lot of time in their conference room learning various things like their history, told to us by John and Sheryl Wilson and how they started from their garage with pretty much instant success only to fall on hard times loosing their house then rebuilding Wilson Audio to where it is today arguably making the best speakers in the world, then we learnt about the materials used to build Wilson speakers, now I know why they weigh so much, then we covered web marketing, business models, then finished the day with an introduction to WASP or ‘Wilson Audio Setup Procedure’ which we will carry on with tomorrow and I think will be very helpful to get more out of my demo Wilson Speakers.

We also spent time in Wilson’s demo room, firstly listening to the amazing Sabrina’s, I really love these speakers, the clever part of the demo was that they were driven by about £4k’s worth of electronics proving that you don’t need to spend stupid amounts to get the Sabrina’s singing and they really sounded brilliant, then we heard the newish Yvette’s and I have to say they sounded much better than they do in our shop so it looks like I still have some work to do although I think once I have completed WASP training tomorrow I will definitely be able to get much more from my demo pair, they sounded truly epic though, the sound staging and imaging was incredible, they are very special speakers, for these a much more capable system was used comprising of a dCS Rossini  into Dan D’agostino amplifiaction, very nice indeed.

So all in all it was a great day and a really lovely bunch of people, it was nice to meet John and Sheryl who started Wilson Audio nearly 45 years ago but also their son Daryl Wilson who know heads up the design of their latest range of speakers, all down to earth people dedicated to producing speakers to create the best sound possible.

Tomorrow is a long day, starting at 7am and finishing around 10pm but it promises to be very special as we are going out to the Wilson’s home to be well and truly WAMM’d, speaking to guys that have worked at Wilson for over 20 years said that you really can not imagine just how good these speakers are, I am almost scared, roll on tomorrow :-)

Anyway below are a few pictures from today -

The New Alexia Series 2, Beautiful in the new Silk Finish

Sabrina’s in the Wilson Audio Demo room!

Then the Yvette’s took their turn

Daryl Wilson with his latest creation, the Alexia 2 and some weirdo :-)

Bring on the Mighty WAMM tomorrow,

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

Boys Toys Day II Information for This Saturday - July 22nd!

Hi All,

Well as it is only a few days away now to our Boys Toys Day II Event I thought I had better write a quick blog with all the latest information, most importantly the weather is looking good, dry and around 70 degrees so perfect really, fingers crossed that doesn’t change.

So Just to recap, this Saturday, July 22nd, we are holding our 2nd HiFi and Car event, this year in collaboration with dCS, Wilson Audio, Absolute Sounds and Lotus Silverstone. Just as 2 years ago we will meet at HiFi Lounge from 9am onwards for a BBQ breakfast of sausage and bacon, my mouth is already watering :-) then around 11.30am we will head up to dCS to hear a very special HiFi System. dCS use Wilson Alexx Speakers in their demo room and having just come back from Utah for Wilson Audio Training where they use dCS I really recommend you don’t miss this as I am already trying to figure out how I can afford of Wilson Alexx’s for home, so to sum up if you have a car that is your pride and joy or you want to hear one of the world’s ultimate HiFi’s then please feel free to come along, if you are more interested in the HiFi system then please feel free to meet us at dCS from around Midday, please find a link to more information on the day below -

http://bit.ly/2rq9wPt

Finally Found What I’ve Been Looking For!

For those who didn’t already know, In the spirit of our Boys Toys Day I finally managed to find a car that I have been looking a long time for as basically good examples don’t come up very often, especially in white, but 3 weeks ago I took delivery of this beautiful 1985 Lotus Esprit Turbo, straight out of ‘For Your Eyes Only’ It has been totally restored and is as if it has been transported through time direct from 1985, it really is a stunner.

But, and it is a big but, I took it out for it’s first drive last week and after around 3 miles the clutch failed so at the moment it is in the garage, anyway I am hopeful to have it fixed in time for BTD II but if not then I guess I’ll have to polish the van :-(

New dCS Demo Room

Here is a sneak peak of the new demo room at dCS, as you can see we will only be able to fit a few poeple in at a time but once everyone has had a listen then anyone who would like an extended listen will be able to go back for another session, again I can’t stress enough how good this will be as after a few days of listening to the dCS Vivaldi into Dan D’agostino amps into Wilson Speakers on my trip to Utah last week I am totally sold, definitely not to be missed if you love music.

A Late Addition - Alnwick Gin

So to be fair it probably isn’t the most appropriate match for a car event but through the summer is there really a better drink than a Gin and Tonic? Personally I don’t think you can beat it so at dCS Alnwick Gin will be on hand with samples for taste testing with bottles for sale on the day, just don’t get too carried away otherwise we may have to sleep in dCS’s demo room over night :-)

https://www.alnwickgin.co.uk/home

Lotus Silverstone

Matthew from Lotus Silverstone will be on hand to to talk all things Lotus and all being well will be bringing along this stunning Evora 410 Sport, being that we have quite a few Lotus’s coming along I am sure this will be of interest to quite a few.

Parking at HiFi Lounge

I just wanted to say that if you are bringing your Pride and joy to the event then if these cars can be parked in front of HiFi Lounge as last time and in the car park that would be great, obviously you are more than welcome to come along in a normal car but could you please park on the hard standing where the barns are, also I should mention, if you have a low car then instead of turning right towards where the sign says ‘Granary Building’s’ you can go straight on to avoid the cattle grids.

Address’s

Please find the address’s below for HiFi Lounge and dCS Audio - 

HiFi Lounge - 9am - 11.30am

4 The Granary Buildings
Millow Hall Farm
Millow
Bedfordshire
SG18 8RH

dCS - (Data Conversion Systems Ltd) Midday till 5.00pm.

Unit 1, 
Buckingway Business Park
Anderson Road
Swavesey
Cambridge 
CB24 4AE

Btw, if you haven’t registered yet could you just let me know you’ll be attending and what car you’ll be in and if you will also be heading over to dCS to hear the system, Thanks.

paul@hifilounge.co.uk

Any questions please feel free to get in touch and I look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday.

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

dCS Sneak Peak Ahead of  BTD II This Saturday!

Hi All,

I went over the dCS yesterday to run through everything ahead of our Boys Toys Day II event this Saturday and to make sure there is plenty of parking, which there really is, so that is great news. I also had a look round, I really think everyone will enjoy the dCS part of the day, firstly there will be a factory tour to see how dCS make their world glass products, then you will be taken into their new demo room, to be fair this is where I spent the most time yesterday, it really is excellent, if I had the money I think this would be the system I would buy :-) Here you will hear around 4 tracks that will really show of this system, once everyone has had a listen if anyone wants an extended listen please let us know and we can arrange that.

Outside there will be food on hand and also the Gin tasting, careful here though as we can’t get too carried away with the Gin, although maybe we could sleep in the demo room if it starts flowing too well :-)

We will head of to dCS around 11.30am from HiFi Lounge, it is around a 30 minute drive away, but before then we will have the new Naim room running with the Wilson Audio Sabrina’s and in our Highend Room we will be running dCS Rossini into Audio Research Reference Pre/Power then Wilson Audio Yvette’s so almost an appetiser for the main event at dCS, but please make sure you go in for a listen before we head off to dCS, Pedro from Absolute Sounds will be on hand with any questions you may have.

Anyway, more importantly I still haven’t got the Esprit back from the garage, nothing like cutting it fine.

Here are a few teaser shots of dCS’s excellent demo room.

Roll on Saturday :-)

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

A Big Thanks To Everyone Who Came and Helped Make BTD II So Much Fun!

Hi All,

Both Wendy and myself wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who came along and helped make Boys Toys Day II such a success and a lot of fun, I have to admit I was quite worried during the night before as all I could hear was the rain pounding against the window and I feared a total washout but once the cars started arriving the sun broke through and we were blessed with gorgeous weather for the few hours we were at HiFi Lounge.

We had a fantastic turnout of cars, a great selection of Lotus Cars + Porsche, Aston Martin, Caterham, TVR + many others but the star of the show that definitely the most attention was the McLaren 570S, stunning machine, unfortunately my Esprit didn’t make it, I got it back Friday evening around 5pm and I thought brilliant only to find that although it it now went forward I couldn’t get reverse so decided to not push my luck and decided to leave her at home, hopefully next time.

I’d also like to thank dCS, Absolute Sounds and Lotus Silverstone for supporting this event, I think everyone agrees that the afternoon part of the day at dCS was awesome, all I kept hearing was how amazing the system sounded, I must admit I could have stayed there all night :-) Also thanks to Alnwick Gin for coming along and offering tastings, looks like we have a few Gin drinkers amongst our customers as they seemed to be very popular and also thanks to our friends, Ross, Louise, Ady and Damo for running the BBQ breakfast which seemed to go down very well indeed, amazing how quick 130 sausage and 100 rashes of bacon can disappear :-)

So thanks again everyone, already talking about BTD III for 2019 so watch this space :-)

I must admit I didn’t take many pictures so I have stolen some from a few sources so thanks to Bibs for the drone shots which look awesome, The Speaker Shack and Stephen Crowe, thanks Guys.

Then We headed over to dCS for more fun :-)

A really nice picture of our Naim room with the Wilson Sabrina’s running that was taken on Saturday.

Thanks again,

Paul.

[Vipers]

1st Track Day!

 

Hi All,

 

Had my first track day this week over at Bedford Autodrome, watch out Lewis :-)

 

The morning session was very wet which made trying to learn the circuit a challenge as the Caterham was constantly trying to swap ends on me but I actually really enjoyed it which surprised me but luckily the afternoon dried out which was much more fun, really loved the fast flowing parts of the track.

 

I think I have well and truly got the bug now though with another one booked for a couple of weeks time, I can see this being a slippery slope :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

Naim Uniti Atom Now On Demo & In Stock!

Hi All,

Well this has to be one of the most anticipated products in HiFi History but after what can only be described as a troublesome birth into the HiFi world I am glad to say that we now have a Naim Uniti Atom on permanent demo, we had our first batch delivered last week but they all went to customers but I had some more arrive today so I nabbed one for demo.

I haven’t had a chance to listen yet but thought I would post a few un-boxing pictures and if you would like to come in for a listen anytime please feel free to get in touch to book an appointment, I have to say though that it looks a million dollars and the remote is a really nice upgrade over the old Uniti Remote and the inclusion of a PowerLine Lite is a nice touch, it may have taken a long time coming but now it is with us I know it will be worth the wait and really does feel worth every penny.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/naim-uniti-atom-all-in-one-player

Some said it was a HiFi Folklore but the Atom really does exist!

Cheers,
Paul.

[Vipers]

Naim Uniti Atom Driving Wilson Audio Sabrina's

Hi All,

For a bit of fun I thought I would just try the Atom on our Wilson Audio Sabrina’s, so a £20k speaker basically, not a combination you’d normally put together but it sounds surprisingly good and really shows how capable the little Atom is, I actually think a Uniti Nova on Sabrina’s would actually be a really lovely, stylish and compact system, look forward to trying it later this month once the Nova is with us :-)

Cheers,
Paul.

[Vipers]

Wilson Audio Factory Tour Pictures!

Hi All,

I just thought I would post a few more pictures from my recent trip to Wilson Audio when we spent the day doing the factory tour, I have to say I came away so impressed with the level of detail these guys go to when making their speakers, you can really see why they cost what they do.

Firstly they have developed their own materials to make the cabinets from, if you ever get a chance just tap a Wilson cabinet and hear how ‘Dead’ it is, they have also invested over half a million Pounds on their own CNC machine to cut the cabinet elaborate and intricate shapes out with, this is amazing to watch, the finish on the speakers has at least 7 coats of paint, they are also baked for 3 days then left to rest for another 2 days, I came away really impressed with the guy who polished the cabinets, he took 4 years of training and really did the polishing by feel and I am convinced once he had done his bit that the finish on Wilson speakers is better than most car manufacturer’s.

These guys really are top craftsmen making products that they really believe in with most of them being at the company for many years, in fact Wilson pride themselves on a very low turnover of staff as they have created a great working environment where everyone seemed very happy indeed.

Anyway on with the Pictures, I took way too many and have sorted them the best I could but there are still loads :-)

Finally a big thanks to Wilson Audio for such great access to an amazing facility.

The Packing Area with all the Wooden Crates

A part of a WAMM lying around

Orange Alexia 2′s Wrapped in protective film ready to be crated up.

More Wamm :-)

Dummy’s of the Wilson Range used for Reference

Here the work starts getting the cabinet material ready

Then into the CNC Room

Material now cut and glued to make the cabinet, still a lot of work to do.

Sabrina’s at an early stage.

Rubbing the Cabinets down before painting, this looks like hard work.

Cabinet Spraying area.

This guy was brilliant, the polisher, a real craftsman, amazing to watch.

Nearly completed WAMM.

All Wilson Speakers are wrapped in protective film before shipping.

The only part of a Wilson Speaker not manufactured in house are the drivers but they go through over 4 hours of rigorous testing, good to see Bryston amps being used :-)

A Mini 3D Printed XLF :-)

Here is the finished product in the Wilson demo room, a pair of Alexia Series 2′s, absolutely stunning.

Thanks again Wilson Audio and Absolute Sounds for an amazing trip :-)

Regards,

Paul.