New toys

Just after Christmas I bought the speakers I had coveted for years. I had always wanted a pair of Monitor Audio G660s ever since I heard them properly. I should qualify this remark. A long time ago I had a pair of GR60s auditioned for me at Seven Oaks hi-fi in Sheffield. The guy auditioning them for me has them set up in a room that was too small, and powered by an amplifier that lacked the puff to make them go as they should. Needless to say I was unimpressed and I had no interest in them.

I later heard the same speakers in a large sitting room powered by a meat-head Musical Fidelity amplifier some time later and the difference was enormous. They sounded like full bandwidth monsters that were as equally at home with delicate acoustic music, as they were slamming out nosebleed techno. I was smitten.

I have my new speakers and I’m very happy with them. Well, mostly happy with them. I have been very aware that I’m not getting the most out of them that I could; in terms of the sound its not quite there. The GR60s employ two bass drivers, a mid/bass driver and a tweeter in a large box. These are speakers that need lots of current to make the go and whilst my existing amplifiers are good, I don’t think they are good enough.

Time to upgrade! I have always been a fan of Audiolab amplifiers. The original British made gear sounded great, but they were eventually bought out by Tag Mclaren (yes, the very same fellows who race formula 1 cars). Tag Mclaren produced some great sounding products but they didn’t last very long. The Audiolab brand was then bought up by IAG (International Audio Group), who own lots of other decent brands (Wharfdale, Quad, Mission, Luxman, and Castle Acoustics to name a few). IAG have kept Tag’s innovations in some of the products, but have completely redesigned others. Whatever else IAG has done, they have brought the scale and manufacturing power of China in on the side of Audiolab.

What Audiolab now offers is incredibly well made products at astonishing prices. Some of their gear is brilliant, some less so, but it is all great value. I love the new Audiolab amplifiers. I bought a 8000P a year or two ago to use with a valve pre-amp and whilst it didn’t work too well with the pre-amp, I did enjoy the sound of the power amp and how it drives pretty much anything with effortless ease. On the strength of that 8000P I bought the 8000A, the Audiolab integrated amplifier. This I was less impressed with.

The 8000A had an excellent power amp stage but the pre-map was dreadful; the tonality of the device changed with the position of the volume control. It sounded very flat and treble light at low volumes and only sounded as it ought to once the wick was wound out a bit.

Anyway, the back of the Monitor Audio GR60s have provision for Tri wiring/ Tri-Amping, and I wanted to exploit the speakers as best I could by Tri-amping them. I would need six channels of amplification. The logical solution to this would be the Audiolab 8000x7. This is a home cinema amp that actually just has seven 100W amplifier modules slapped in a box; the same amplifier modules that are used in the 8000P. I was onboard with this but the only problem was that it cost about £1700. The good news for me is that Audiolab is just changing its range over, and that means that old products are heavily discounted as retailers clear their shelves ready for the new products. A check of my bank account revealed that no matter how I cut it, I couldn’t afford it. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

Sometimes though, the people you love will surprise you. My partner and I are inclined to buy gifts for one another on valentines day, which falls between our two birthdays, both of which are in February. This year my partner rolled my two gifts into one and bought me the Audiolab 8000x7. What made this all the more impressive is that I never asked for it, I never dropped any hints or in anyway communicated that I wanted her to buy it for me. My darling partner knew I was lusting after something and so back-tracked through my internet history and found what it was I desired. Its all the more impressive because Vicky isn’t the most technically proficient and when I rattle on about hi-fi, to her, its just one faceless black box after another.

So now I’m the owner of an Audiolab 8000x7, which is a potent monster, all 18kg of it. It thumps out a 100W into seven channels, each capable of dumping up to 42 Amps peak, which is a lot of gravy. It offers the usual DC offset protection, thermal protection and short circuit protection and has options for bridging outputs for five or six channel operation. I have had the 8000x7 running for three weeks now and its beginning to break in. The amp was thin sounding and sharp when it was first out of the box but now the sound stage is expanding and the lower registers are filling out. I think it will take another three weeks before it is fully broken in.

It seems to be a good synergistic match for Monitor Audios GR60s and can supply all the power they need. Each frequency band has its own channel of amplification and in time it may be possible to subtly tailor the tone of each band with different interconnectors between the pre-amp and each amplification channel.

Brenan JB7

Nothing trumps the sound of a decent record player. And by decent, I mean good quality (well engineered), and those things don’t come cheap. When CD turned up in 1982 it changed the game. The sound quality was shockingly bad but the level of convenience it brought to music listening was revolutionary. No more having to get up midway through an LP to flip it over, instant track access, repeat etc. Over the years standard CD (red book), quality improved immeasurably but the advent of MP3 brought a new level of convenience, albeit centred around distribution, that wrung the death bell for CD. I’ve always liked the idea of MP3 but not actual MP3. I have plenty of MP3s but it isn’t my chosen file format, in fact, if pressed I will always opt for a WAV File above anything else. Regardless, MP3 has completely reshaped the audio industry (for better or for worse is another debate). Like CD when it first began the sound quality is abysmal but I’m sure newer formats will improve upon that.

The new generation of Hi-Fi centred around wireless connectivity and huge MP3 libraries that are instantly accessible is a very tempting proposition, and it was one that seduced me. Sadly, the price for doing this well is pretty steep, and for a fellow such as myself who doesn’t have the opportunity to while away every evening indulging his music obsession, the price is too high.

Enter the ‘Brenan JB7’. I saw the advert in a magazine and I was intrigued. It is the intermediate between a conventional CD player and a network player. The device is fairly straight forward and very utilitarian in design. You can store your music collection on the internal hard drive as either MP3 or WAV files – no other formats are possible. These files are stored by ripping CDs and then using the onboard database to add the relevant disk information. Obviously, CDs released after the JB7 is purchased will not be on the database but this can be modified with a software update (sadly via CDROM). I’m being churlish complaining about this as the price of the top of the range model (500GB harddrive), is only £480 and expecting it to have wireless connectivity on top of everything else is asking a bit much.

The device has a built in amplifier of 30W+30W which is reasonable in terms of its fidelity. There is a separate headphones out and line out via 3.5mm jack sockets. My JB7 is connected via the line out into my amplifier rig  for better sound quality. Sadly, the device doesn’t have a digital output and this is what would have made it ‘killer-bee’ for me. The onboard DAC is ok, but given the opportunity to decode off board would have meant that it would have been possible to really ramp the sound quality up. A USB socket on the front allows access to other storage devices (and consequently playback of the files stored therein), and a 3.5mm jack for ‘line in’ allows other devices to use the onboard amplifier.

One of the most horrible remote controls ever made allows every function to be accessed remotely, and the blue LED screen is highly visible in low light. I have no issues with the display, but for the iphone generation it does look awfully hair-shirt. 8-bit hair shirt.

So what’s so good then?

I have hundreds of CDs stored as WAV files and I can access individual tracks or albums with relative ease. Various playlists can be made and readily accessed. If you choose you can record direct to the HD via the ‘line in’. The JB7 is easy enough to use, it is small and if you should lose the remote, practically every function can be accessed via the front controls. Speakers can be connected direct to the JB7 so it can be used pretty much straight out of the box (I must add I have never heard the accompanying speakers that are bought separately but are part of the JB7 package so I can not comment on their quality).

The sound quality is mostly good. It trumps an ipod or equivalent and when compared to a CD player of equal cost, it mostly holds its own. Unlike a CD player it has thousand of tracks onboard and one can skip and jump between them more or less instantly.

So where does it fall down?

The display and interface are very utilitarian and clearly mark Martin Brenan out as an engineer rather than a designer. I have always been an advocate of ‘form after function’ in terms of my consumer goods, but nobody is going to find this device alluring. It’s a box. A very dull box.
The amplifier is fine but nothing to write home about. The digital to analogue conversion is likewise fine, but again, this has to be considered against the price. The top of the range model has 500GB of storage which is massive if using MP3s, but is limited when it comes to WAV files. The CD drive is dreadfully noisy, but was only ever intended for ripping, not playback. And on the subject of ripping, expect to spend hours and hours feeding CDs into this thing. It is a slow process, and doubly so if you intend to convert to MP3.

Would I recommend it?  
Yes – if you are someone who wants all the convenience of a network player but doesn’t demand super hi-fi performance. Yes - if you have loads of CDs you want ready access to but don’t want to pay the price premium for a network player. Yes – if you want a stand alone music player to play all your CDs in small space with minimal fuss. It is the ideal solution for those who want the positives of network audio but without the price tag or technical know-how. And yes, if you want most of the benefits of a network player but lack the technical savvy (or inclination), to go this route.

Would I recommend it? 

No – if you are a hi-fi purist and demand the utmost fidelity, or the ability to connect an outboard DAC; you will be disappointed. No - if you need to deal with formats other than WAV/MP3. No if your home is only graced with the most beautiful and elegant of furniture.

If I were you, I’d make up my own mind. Find out more here: http://www.brennan.co.uk/

Plastic Sheds

There are certain things a chap is supposed to own; a toolbox, a dinner jacket, and the obligatory shed. What man is replete without a place to stuff full of unused tools, old plant pots and ice-cream tubs full of random screws and nails. I finally take my place amongst the pantheon of men as I have become a shed owner. A shed I have bought myself, not inherited with a property. And as with all things modern, it is made of plastic.

Anything made of plastic is cheap and nasty, right? Well not so much. The shed I bought is the smallest they make but is still a £100 more than the wooden equivalent. So where is the justification for a plastic shed. Surely a plastic shed is nothing short of environmental terrorism? I’m not so sure. Yes it is made from finite oil resources but it isn’t going up in smoke and the whole point of plastic good is that they aren’t perishable.

My problem is this, there was an existing wooden shed occupying the same site in my garden. It can’t have been that old but where it was situated had resulted in sever water damage to said construct. It is a typical 15mm tongue and groove design that is too thin to resist the weather and once the damp begins to permeate, it warps and makes it easier for further moisture to find its way in. So I have a plastic shed that shouldn’t rot or warp. I’m hoping that it will stand the test of time.

Putting the shed together wasn’t hard work (for the most part), and although the instructions are poly-lingual it was fairly easy sailing. I have to confess that it was frustrating when the diagrams were unclear on how one or two choice parts were integrated, but when all is said and done, the whole thing is light weight and doesn’t require any muscle. The shed has been standing for a month now and it seems to be dry as a bone inside. My initial concerns about this construct being too light and flimsy have proven to groundless. Any doubts I had about the aesthetic component have vanished too; the colours seem to fade into the background and don’t look too drab or dour.

Would I recommend one?  Well, I think it depends on what you want to do with it. If you want to fill it full of shelves and store a myriad of tools and utensils then I suspect a wooden shed would be better as you could add as many shelves as you want and reinforce the structure to support some serious weight. The plastic shed recommends no more that 25kg per shelf (about 6”-8” wide). If you want to keep your bike dry and maybe store a lawnmower or the odd spade than it is more than adequate.