Compact, modern in appearance and well-priced, they integrate with most environments offering a small footprint and work admirably on bookshelves or other pieces of furniture.

What is deceptive, however, is their performance: They image beautifully (excellent crossover design), produce a tight, deep bass which belies their size (thanks to transmission-line loading) and offer a genuine `high end` sound.

I`ve seen a few jaws drop as customers are convinced a bigger pair of speakers are playing.
The bar has now been lifted regarding the level of performance possible from compact enclosures.

The move away from birch-ply to MDF has been cost-led and a very retrograde step as this material, due to its uniformity, stores energy at a certain frequency often leading to a lumpiness somewhere in the mid bass. Actually, chipboard which is more `random` in form sounds more open and natural !  E.g. Mission 770 mk2.

To compensate for this overdamped thickness, stark, metal-dome tweeters are often used which can never match the tone of their bass-mid drivers unless they too are of a similar material. And yet, when `brave new world` matching materials are used for tweeter and bass/mid, they often fail to deliver because although detailed, the result is just not musical.  E.g. most ceramic drivers.

I look out for designs which use birch-ply or go for differing thicknesses in their cabinetry to disperse energy more randomly.

Silk-dome tweeters and paper or hemp mid/bass drivers are often more natural.

Ribbon tweeters are extremely detailed but their coherence with a conventional bass driver often leads to a total mismatch.

It`s not just about detail and using the latest technology, some artistic licence and emotional intelligence is needed to make a design coherent and involving.

It does not `run` nearly as well, it requires much more heat so there is more chance of damaging delicate components.

I can see why some experienced `solderers` consider it inferior to lead.

If the 2 parts of the join are in proper contact and you`re not using the solder as glue, the better flow of lead solder and lower temperature required are surely superior and there`s much less likelihood of dry joints.

Not to mention the environmental issues.

Anything that is well designed should reach near optimum performance within half an hour.

In demonstrations, this type of sound initially impresses many customers because there is a feeling of more detail achieved by means of a stark, spotlit soundstage. Long term this type of synthetic sound doesn’t satisfy. Welcome to the ‘brave new world’ of dry, mind over heart hi-fi, stripped of tonal colour.
A counter-reaction to this was the re-emergence of some single-ended designs which are initially entertaining with honeyed tones but long term you feel that you are seeing things through rose-coloured spectacles and missing insight into the recording especially at the frequency extremes.

The new Croft range of amplifiers include the Series 7 and 7R  power amps which are directly coupled to the speaker like an OTL, yet more user- friendly and universal in application.
The latest Croft pre-amps have greater `speed` than their predecessors due to a simpler circuit but still possess body, detail and a midrange to die for. They include a superb phono stage which when compared to the vast majority of non-valve outboard phono stages on the market, give a feeling of depth and body unlike the grey, metallic-sounding transistorised competitors. The fad for stepped attenuators has evolved into one for passive transformers such as the Music First. This too is stark, hyper–detailed, initially impressive but not musical unless used with overly-rich ancillaries.

The Goldenote range of CD players are free of the synthetic overtones of the majority of non-valve CD players while avoiding the veil that many valve CD players place in the signal path to appear `organic`. Some CD players have switchable valve/non valve outputs and multiple settings which allow you to account for the sound to yourself and others by saying ‘you have not optimised them yet.’ 24 bit is not necessarily better than 16 bit, nor are upsampling and HDCD necessarily progress.

The use of overdamped MDF speaker cabinets has led to a lack of natural reverberation in most modern speakers. So much so that I feel many pre 90’s classic designs to be still unsurpassed. Emotionless, 2 dimensional detail-led designs are the order of the day.

The problem is that the Hi-Fi magazines are inevitably driven by ‘NEW’ products so that there is continually something exciting to report each month. 99% of this equipment will be forgotten in the following weeks, thanks to the flavour of the month type of reviewer who tells you to run naked to your local dealer to buy the latest !£$* (especially if 80% of the budget is spent on all singing all dancing casework with flashing LEDS and huge, chunky knobs milled from solid platinum). Anyway, the vast majority of this gear will either lack the all round strengths to endure beyond the reviewers flights of fancy, or will be just a passing fad. How many raved about products become classics?

Conversely, excellent products reviewed incompetently slip the net, especially if the manufacturer doesn’t want to donate the equipment in question or spend thousands on full-page advertisements – if you catch my drift.

As you can see, negative colouration can take many forms……

Our pages have been designed to be informal allowing us to easily post articles for your interest – the categories are listed down the left while the general articles page can be found from the menu bar at the top. We have also added a search facility as a useful extra.

The site is still very much in development so bear with us.. now we see the improvements that are possible we want to keep the momentum going…

There are also options there for your feedback.

• Tuning of pre and power amps using a selection of capacitors to voice to customer`s requirements.
  E.g. They can be modified to give a fuller bass or more top-end extension and detail according to system requirements.
• Battery power supply modifications to turntables giving great gains in speed stability, separation and imaging.
• Speaker crossover mods to classic designs including re-alignment due to ageing of drive units.
  I build a passive crossover for the BBC LS5/8 to order. Metal-dome tweeters can be toned-down subtly.
• Stepped attenuator upgrades.
• Open baffle speaker designs are available for demonstration.
• One-off projects undertaken.

Prices are realistic.

I have been trained by Stanley Beresford to upgrade his range of  Beresford DACS:

Mod 21, wiring link mod, chip changes and power supply upgrades etc.

“As previously intimated I am very pleased with the upgrade to my TC-7510 which you performed . However I think it is important that you point out to customers that the unit takes app. 24 hours use before it performs at its’ best . After this time I can report to you that I experienced improvements in all areas of performance.

The soundstage is much bigger . Bass is tighter and cleaner , driving the music along without overpowering it. Midrange is also much cleaner , voices in particular are more expressive , all eminating from a much quieter background . Also top end is excellent , cymbals and tambourines in particular sounding much more realistic. I was listening to a track which I know well the other day and what I thought was a xylophone turned out to be pan pipes . The system now has a much greater sense of  ‘air ‘ and has become much more ‘holographic ‘ .

Improvements not very easy to describe but very easy to hear. The system appears to be improving incrimentally with use. Many thanks for a fantastic service . It has been a pleasure to deal with you , and I look forward to availing myself of any further upgrades in the future.

Best Regards,

Brian Mclean.“