bigfool1956

Steven Wilson - To the Bone Double LP

The Moody Blues - In Search of the Lost Chord LP

Thanks for the hospitality Jack. As usual the evening flew by. Walked into Jack's place and was immediately stricken with envy at the WB tonearm he has acquired. Still I resisted the temptation to run off with it when he wasn't looking Most of the gear last night was unfamiliar to me, temper that with Jack's and my different taste in presentation, and it's all too easy to fail to appreciate the virtues of the system in front of you. On the other hand I have previously found Jack's comments on my system have caused me to re-evaluate and improve certain aspects, so hopefully these things are all positive in the end. As to the slight shouty nature, this was really only on the Beatles album, and also we had knocked the volume up a bit for that. Hard then to pinpoint the cause. Listening to a Max Roach album was excellent, especially after inserting the Power Inspired regenerator into the mix. It would be nice to comment on the F5 directly as regards this thread, but I wasn't in a position to isolate its contribution to the system as a whole with so many new (to me) items. I must say that I liked the Jantzens a lot more last night than I had last time. They seem to have loosened up, and the vocals which had given cause for concern previously were really nice last night.

I love this overlooked album.

I work in Crawley, so I know that route well. I believe we can get back on at Gatwick, and the route from Crawley to Gatwick is easy.

Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac 24/96 FLAC

Family - A Song for Me FLAC ripped from CD.

Yep, Chris and I got caught too on the way to the Nautilus demo, horrid.

Very nice - I like the price

OK I have a solution to the Home Alone problem and I will be there. Read the whole thread and I can't see what time it starts - I'm probably blind.

I was thinking Matchbox - but apparently not, so now I'm clueless (he said inviting comments )

Skunk Anansie - An Acoustic Skunk Anansie Live in London DVD. Watching/listening to this for the first time, only got through the first eight tracks before running out of time, but I think it's absolutely fantastic. Comes packaged with a CD.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Black Moon FLAC ripped from CD

Chris (GLB) and I headed off from the wilds of Littlehampton to the heady heights of civilisation that is London (maybe?). We had to make a short stop-off on the way which meant we needed to route via the M23. M23 was closed as you may have seen posted elsewhere which meant we didn't arrive at SoundStage till nearly 13:30, despite heading out at 08:20 . On arrival at the shop we were lucky enough to be able to park virtually outside, so we headed in to a warm welcome from Dean at SoundStage and Alex from B&W. The shop itself is quite small, but nicely laid out with it's selection of brands on view. The main shop floor is separated from the demo room by a glass wall which is nice and spacious and gave the system room to breathe. After partaking of the facilities (it was a long journey ) and nabbing a couple of sandwiches and a coffee, it was time to check out the system. Apparently by the time we arrived we had missed the main rush in the morning, which turned out well as it gave us time to really hear what this system could do, and to hear a large variety of music different that that which I had brought along. I won't reiterate the kit list which Dean has supplied above, but here are some individual pics from my phone, so the quality isn't 100%. Hand on heart I'm no photographer. First up the reason we came - the B&W Nautilus. This is a speaker I haven't heard before, and the reason to make the trip. It's a big speaker without seeming massive, although it is very deep. I suspect the large-ish demo room and subdued lighting helped in this illusion. Source was the latest incarnation of the venerable LP12. Preamp duties performed by Naim. Power amps were two massive stacks of big Brystons, a mixture of the 7 mono-blocks and the 4 stereos. I've had a pair of earlier model 7s at home back in the day and I really liked them. Now everyone will have a different view on the sound of this system, and these comments need to be taken in that context. The most obvious virtue of the system as a whole was its seamlessness, especially in the way the drivers in the Nautilus work together as a whole. It's extremely difficult to pinpoint the individual drivers making for a believable image that hangs in the air in front of the speakers. The overall sound was extremely smooth and listenable, one could sit for hours with this system with zero fatigue. In fact we were there for around three hours in total and at no point did I feel the need to wander off (other than for a ciggie ). The Nautilus seems slightly reticent in the high treble which loses the last nth degree of detail, but helps with the long term listenability. Time to persuade the team that they really wanted to listen to my records. I wasn't cruel, I spread my albums across the three hours we were there . First up was Fairport Convention and their track The Brilliancy Medley and the Cherokee Shuffle off the album Nine. This track is all fast mandolins/guitars and a driving bass, and trips up a lot of systems. Not here, what I heard was outstanding, with speed and coherence in spades. I was impressed. Next up was the recent LP of Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet, specifically the track Anethsetize. This showed a couple of chinks in the systems armour, one of which is going to be down to taste anyway. For me the bass wasn't physical enough, not enough growl to the bass guitar or impact on the kick drum. This robbed the funky section in the middle of the track of some of its drive and forcefulness. Also at couple of points where the track gets really loud and dense, there was a sense of muddle which I really wasn't expecting. Very hard to pinpoint which of the components was responsible for this of course so I'm not pointing a finger. It was slight, but I know those sections can be clearer. After giving the guys a break from my taste we put on side 2 of Robert Plant's latest release Carry Fire. Now this recording has oodles of bass, possibly too much. The system loved this album, and I sat through the whole side spellbound. Putting this in context with the remarks above I think the bass heavy recording was balanced out by the slight bass light presentation of the system. Whatever, the end result was magic. Last track before we had to wend our merry way home was One of These Days I'm Going to Cut you into Little Pieces. OK I know Pink Floyd at a demo is a cliché, but at least it wasn't Dark Side of the Moon . Here again the cohesiveness of the sound brought out the spacey feeling of the track and the production, the only let down being the lack of impact when that heavy bass drum comes in. In conclusion, the system was amazing and I'm really glad I had the opportunity to hear it. My criticisms need to be taken in context, especially considering my taste in both music and bass presentation. There was a lot of jazz being played, and to my uninformed ears it sounded great, and on acoustic material it couldn't be faulted really. Dean and his colleague, whose name I didn't catch (sorry) are friendly and welcoming, and a visit to their shop is recommended. They stock B&W, and the latest children of the Nautilus were sounding really good down on the shop floor. Thanks for hosting this event.

You were indeed correct. This one isn't coming to me as yet.