An experiance I won't forget . . .
. . . as the title says . . . I visited Northwest Analogue yesterday, I received the most warm wellcome from Natalie and Dominic and their two cats. The basic reason was to collect my re tiped Sumiko Celebration, I was not prepared for the friendly enthusiasum and hospitality that I got.
Dominic does a legendary rebuild on Garard 301 and 401 decks using slate as the plinth. We originaly discused my Rega and the work I had done upgrading it, he has in mind a slate plinth type upgrade for Regas . . . and wanted to hear how my upgrades sounded.
. . . Have P5 will travel 
. . . a Rega is an easy deck to transport, I was intregued with the theories he has, running very much along my own ideas and ideals of 30 years ago. So a 250 mile drive, each way seemed a good idea . . .
Worth every mile to me . . . Dominic and Natalie are true music lovers in the best possible way. We quickly set up my Rega ready, then first had a listen to the Garard Slate 401 with my re tiped Sumiko. Smooth, relaxed natural easy sound, a few tracks from verious albums, then the change over to the Rega. Dominic had already worked out the Sumiko was super sensative to down force, 1.9gs being the best in his TT, as this was about the tracking weight I origanly used, we set the the Rega arm acordingly.
Sat back and listened . . . wow. The humble Rega against the mighty Slate Garard, it realy did go toe to toe in a 9 to 10 slog in favour of the Garard . . . Dominic sees dozens of cartridges, he was impressed. We listened to verious options on the Garard against the Rega/Sumiko, up to and including the Koetsu Rosewood Signature £3000+ worth of cartridge . . . The re tiped Sumiko did not disgrace its self, that is very rarified company to be moving in?
Got away from Preston at 8pm, the drive home was wet and windy, late to bed and late to rise, but I have had a listen in my own system this afternoon. As described above, smooth and natural with an effortless dynamic, very remenisant of when I first put the Sumiko in my Rega 12 months ago with a tad more ease about it I would say?
My view, a bargin at £250, super service and top people. I'm not going to keep the Benz Wood, it will be sold on?
Any future move will be with Slate Plinth in mind? . . . and a new Audiomods arm which drops in place of a stadard rega arm. That was Dominics assesment, the standard Rega arm is holding my TT back, although it is the best Rega TT he has heard, says Domonic.
Sit back and enjoy the music . . . CJSF
Which part of my 'do not listen to Doms slate deck or your wallet will suffer' did you have a problem understanding CJ ?.
Ha ha , well you cant say that i didnt warn you,lol. The Audiomods or one of Johnnies (Audio Origami ) PU7s is the way to go imo.
Floyd, it was a great experiance, Dom and Nat have their feet firmly on the ground, they know 'what is what' in hifi terms, dont deal in 'b*ll sh**', dont try to sell you anything, it was like going to a friends house and enjoying a musical hifi experiance, with loads of tea on tap, they fed me too!
All three of us gained, me technicaly, Dom musicaly, he got realy excited about the audiophile LP's I took, especialy the church organs, Nat enjoyed Don Williams and Jennifer Warnes . . . their musical tasts are very diferent.
Dominic said to me, a better arm (rega derivitive?) on my existing Rega P5 plinth will lift the sound, transfering to the slate option, if it happens, it is a 'work in progress' project? Everything to gain, although the present sound is so enjoyable I'll keep the moths in my wallet for the time being.
CJSF
Pleased that you enjoyed the visit CJ. Im guessing that you just prefer the presentation from the Sumi that you get as opposed to the Benz. If its a case of 'I dont like the Benz' then thats a world first to my eyes. Anyways have fun mate.
Which part of my 'do not listen to Doms slate deck or your wallet will suffer' did you have a problem understanding CJ ?.
Ha ha , well you cant say that i didnt warn you,lol. The Audiomods or one of Johnnies (Audio Origami ) PU7s is the way to go imo.
Floyd, it was a great experiance, Dom and Nat have their feet firmly on the ground, they know 'what is what' in hifi terms, dont deal in 'b*ll sh**', dont try to sell you anything, it was like going to a friends house and enjoying a musical hifi experiance, with loads of tea on tap, they fed me too!
All three of us gained, me technicaly, Dom musicaly, he got realy excited about the audiophile LP's I took, especialy the church organs, Nat enjoyed Don Williams and Jennifer Warnes . . . their musical tasts are very diferent.
Dominic said to me, a better arm (rega derivitive?) on my existing Rega P5 plinth will lift the sound, transfering to the slate option, if it happens, it is a 'work in progress' project? Everything to gain, although the present sound is so enjoyable I'll keep the moths in my wallet for the time being.
CJSF
Glad you had a good time " oop Norf " . I want you to go for the Audiomods' arm as I've had my eye on it for some time but haven't had that sort of money available to get one ,and would love to hear what your opinion of it would be .
Which part of my 'do not listen to Doms slate deck or your wallet will suffer' did you have a problem understanding CJ ?.
Ha ha , well you cant say that i didnt warn you,lol. The Audiomods or one of Johnnies (Audio Origami ) PU7s is the way to go imo.
Floyd, it was a great experiance, Dom and Nat have their feet firmly on the ground, they know 'what is what' in hifi terms, dont deal in 'b*ll sh**', dont try to sell you anything, it was like going to a friends house and enjoying a musical hifi experiance, with loads of tea on tap, they fed me too!
All three of us gained, me technicaly, Dom musicaly, he got realy excited about the audiophile LP's I took, especialy the church organs, Nat enjoyed Don Williams and Jennifer Warnes . . . their musical tasts are very diferent.
Dominic said to me, a better arm (rega derivitive?) on my existing Rega P5 plinth will lift the sound, transfering to the slate option, if it happens, it is a 'work in progress' project? Everything to gain, although the present sound is so enjoyable I'll keep the moths in my wallet for the time being.
CJSF
Glad you had a good time " oop Norf " . I want you to go for the Audiomods' arm as I've had my eye on it for some time but haven't had that sort of money available to get one ,and would love to hear what your opinion of it would be .
Mmm . . . the way I see it, the money is spent on the Benz, as Floyd says, I simply prefer the Sumiko, so move the Benz on which could finance a new arm . . . I will have to give up my membership of the 'hifi is for life club' if I go that rout . . . It breakes the rules, the present arm is not broken . . . we will see how things pan out?
CJSF
Which part of my 'do not listen to Doms slate deck or your wallet will suffer' did you have a problem understanding CJ ?.
Ha ha , well you cant say that i didnt warn you,lol. The Audiomods or one of Johnnies (Audio Origami ) PU7s is the way to go imo.