I’m now beginning to get a handle on what has changed sonically in going to the slate plinth. This isn’t a review, more a collection of thoughts at this point in time. The rambling here should also be read as coming to terms with the Tannoy Monotor Golds, as these are also a recent aspect to my system (I’m approaching this all with fresh ears after everything has been boxed up for the best part of three months due to house renovation).
I’ve worked through a fair number of records over the past few days now, new stuff, old stuff, even a fair crop of old 80’s dem favs in an attempt to try and nail things down in my mind.
The main thing that has improved is clarity. There is simply a lot more information in play and it sounds, by comparison, less confused and more secure. There is certainly a ‘big deck’ sound too, I can hear similarities to decks like the SME 20, NAS Hyperspace etc - it just kind of goes “Pah! That’s what’s in the groove, make of it what you will…” rather than making a big song and dance about things. No stress, no strain.
In many ways it’s perhaps easier to try and describe what is not there: artifice. There is no hash, glare, overhang, bloat, flub etc. A few disks that stand out from the big pile on the floor:
Dave Brubeck – Time Out (Classic Records audiophile pressing). Just utterly stunning. Near life sized musicians in a clear acoustic space with effortless dynamics. So easy to follow the timing etc (this record is all about timing). Late at night with the light out it is amazing.
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures (UK 1st pressing). I dug this out to compare against CD just to make sure I was barking up the right tree setup wise. I used the recent two disc ‘Collectors Edition’, and by comparison the CD sounds completely broken on my current Sony X3000 ES top-loader. I get the impression the powers that be realised that the Heart And Soul remaster was too lean (it was) and they wanted to fatten this one up. They did. Badly. The bass drum is pretty horrible and thumpy, I guess so you can hear it on cheap iPod headphones. The record just sounds right – clearer, far more dynamics, more space, easier to follow the individual strands and more emotional connection. I stuck the CD on, listened to the first track, stuck the LP on and played the whole side. It’s that kind of difference!
Blue Nile – A Walk Across The Roof Tops (UK 1st press). Yay! Top flat earth dem disk! Really interesting listening to this one on a non-Linn / Naim system, it just approaches it in a whole different way. Everything is just so solid, clean, clear and unconfused, all neat and in it’s place in a way I’ve never heard before. I played Easter Parade and Heatwave and really enjoyed it. I do like this album, it’s a real fluke as audiophile label music is usually quite horrid IME.
OMD – Messages 10”. I remember this as being a weighty number, but f*ckin hell! It’s just huge. A monster. I have never heard this sound like this, just full force studio sound. Wonderful.
Dexter Gordon – One Flight Up. Now this is a hard one as it’s one of my favourite and most played records, but the spanner in the works is that I recently changed my copy from an 80s French Blue Note to the recent Cisco audiophile pressing. As such all I can say is it sounds wonderful, anything more than that is probably as much to do with changes in mastering (the Cisco is darker and more solid, the French pressing leads on the kit metalwork more). I list this here because it is a favourite, and it still is despite being a moving target in several respects.
Bach – Violin Sonatas and Parttas, Josef Suk, HMV 3xLP box. Not played a lot of classical yet, that’s for another day, but I tried this as it is so simple, pure and beautiful. Not the world’s greatest pressing, but the Garrard lifts the violin out of the surface noise better than anything I’ve used before, it is a remarkably quiet deck. This is superb music; mathematical yet emotional too.
Spicelab – A Day On Our Planet. Wonderful 90s electronica / trance album from Oliver Lieb. Sets up a massive acoustic space with analogue blips and squelches and then drives a 909 kick-drum through the floor and into the cellar. This always sounds great, but especially so now. A propulsive groove.
Joni Mitchell – Blue (UK original with A2/B1 matrix). This is one of the hardest records to play well IME, the voice is just so exposed and the mix so stripped and bare that even the slightest mistracking becomes evident to the point of pain. This copy is the result of many attempts to get a mint first pressing, and even so I always felt it still had some issues. I’ve never heard it sound so clear and clean before, in fact I don’t think there is anything wrong with the record at all. Very good indeed, and as good an indicator of change as I can bring to mind – it plays better at the most fundamental mechanical level. I also played my 1st press of Court And Spark and that sounded wonderful. Again I am conscious of more information being revealed. Must give my Nimbus pressing of Hissing a spin later as that always sounds superb.
I don’t think I’m successfully articulating what I want to here: basically the 301 / M2-10 / AT33PTG really is different both to how it was in the wood / MDF plinth, and also to any deck I’ve owned previously. This is an obvious step up. The gain is a real sense of additional resolution power, and this extends to low-end weight that can turn itself on or off as the record requires etc. The hardest thing to put into words is the lack of a constant character: one record will have bass that goes down forever, another will be lean, tight and dry, small even / one will set musicians in a huge soundstage behind the speakers, another will sound like simplistic panned mono mic feeds each in it’s own effect space. As such it is hard to nail down what it does and what is missing.
As a whole the system can on occasion perhaps strip things too bare and make it obvious one is listening to studio created ‘multitrack mono’ with all individual instrument mic and processing techniques revealed - the character changes from record to record, or even track to track, which is exactly as it should. The good sounds stunning, the bad is still enjoyable so far, though I haven’t tried anything really bad yet, I guess I need to run some boots and 78 transcriptions through it.
The flat earth question: will it play Steely Dan’s Gaucho the way a LP12 / Naim / Kans does? Absolutely not. This is a far bigger and easier sound, it simply does not have that ‘edge of the seat’ / frantic head-bobbing factor, it just puts it all in front of you with zero effort. The hard thing to articulate here is that it is at the same time far clearer, tighter and more informative. It’s all there, much more of it in fact - if you wanted to transcribe the bass line you would unquestionably choose the 301 / Tannoy system, it’s just there and so clear to hear, as are all the layers and overdubs that go to make up this album. All the notes and timing cues are present, it is just very, very different in presentation. Do I like it? No, not really, but I don’t think I ever liked this album much at all to be honest - to my mind it’s a pretty bland and over-produced session-muso job. It’s just a great disk if you want to sell someone a LP12, Naim amp or Kans as for some reason it comes alive in that scenario. Does this imply the 301 / Tannoy system doesn’t work from a flat earth perspective, i.e. pitch, tune, time / PRaT? No, thankfully it’s all still there, just presented differently, and without any artifice, stunts or grandstanding.
Tony.
PS currently listening to King Tubby & Prince Jammy – Dub Gone 2 Crazy. It does reggae too. Wahey!
