Jazz Club

I promised Graham I would do a review of the Jazz Club, so here it is, though I may add to it later if I perceive changes.  I must make this proviso: I am in no way a “techie”; in fact I read some of Graham’s articles with the greatest interest, but a lot of the technical stuff goes way over my head!  So this is entirely a subjective review of what I hear musically.

My other equipment consists of Nottingham Analogue Junior Spacedeck with Interspace arm, Dynavector DV 10X5 high output MC cartridge, Quad 66 pre amplifier, Quad 306 amplifier, KEF 104/2 speakers, QED Qunex 1 interconnects.  Also Audio Technica AT-PL 120 for playing 78s with Stanton 505.V3 cartridge & various audiophile 78 styli.  I like to think that my equipment is basically ‘neutral’.  & hope I am right!  (By the way Graham, when your fabled amplifier comes out can it please have a nice big remote like the Quad?  And balance & slope controls similarly?  I like to fiddle from the listening position & not jump up and down like a jack-in-the-box and balance for me & my listening room is vital.  Sorry for the aside.) 

Ist evening; straight out of box;

A bit gritty but true. Somewhat bassy.  Hearing instruments I did not hear before.

2^nd evening

After a 78rpm washing session, a playing session using the re-equalising switches. This is the first time I have played 78s electrically & some of the cleaner ones sound as good as an LP.  Now some of this must be down to the washing & the use of a larger stylus than normal, but still; fantastic. The first time I have heard the intake of breath from a singer on a 78 (light operatic). Playing with the re-equalising switches is addictive; I have a variety of 78s from pre-war dance etc. to operatic & classical from all dates and it is a fascinating subject. Bravo Graham for making a machine which allows one to play all these old treasures.

 To get back to LPs: Errol Garner jazz piano: still a little ‘hard’ & unforgiving.  Give it 30min for the stylus to warm up.  Better.

OK, time for some orchestral music; Beethoven’s 5^th piano concerto; a nice roundness; differentiation between instruments good, not just the usual orchestral ‘bla’. Over heavy bass seems to have lessened.

Now Simon & Garfunkel: Warm & enticing:  still a bit bassy.

3^rd evening:

More depth & clarity & easy to hear the separate singers’ voices as separate; (S & G again).  Definitely takes time for the cartridge cantilever to warm up.

4^th evening

Peter Skellern: extreme clarity. Depth & width increasing.  Good sounding bass without being too heavy. It sounds right!  Pronounced stereo effect.

Band of the Royal Marines: Low tuba notes with my previous stage used to ‘buzz’ or reverberate; now much less so, hardly at all.  Sound stage getting wider, dead black silences, all grittiness gone.  This thing is starting to sing!

Old LP ‘Salad Days’; switched to Mono & almost all the irritating noise from an old & scratched LP gone.  This switch alone, even without the re-equalising potential would be a very useful addition to any stage, IMHO, if you have older mono discs.

5^th eveninng

Still a hardness about Errol Garner’s playing, but I have a feeling that this is his playing & not the equipment, nevertheless it is crystal clear, even at a low volume.  Have I at last found equipment which will be clear at low volumes?  This is something I have been seeking for years.

Played some Verdi choruses, then Carmen Burana, the Walton’s choral ‘Set me as a Seal upon thy Heart’; all at lowish volume and all clear as a bell.  Apart from the sound stage appearing somewhat bigger I don’t so far see any further differences.

6^th evening.

Souza symphonic marches; if I can hear the ting of a triangle clearly over a Souza march it must be good!  Width of sound stage gets better.  

7^th evening

Even though the volume is not even half way up I can hear the bass of  Simon & G’s The Boxer in my stomach.  Organ music Widor’s ‘Toccata’ . This machine gets  to the subtleties of the music.   Donna Summers; the most noticeable thing is the separation of individual instruments.

8^th evening (10 days later)

Sound stage has widened dramatically. Count Basie’s band seems bigger (and I don’t mean in number of performers) & rounder. S & G are nearer to me than before as if standing in front of the other performers. No matter whether the volume is high or low one hears everything.  This equipment extracts all the information from the disc; in conjunction with basically neutral equipment (which I think mine is) it neither adds nor subtracts from the music.

9^th evening.

Doesn’t suffer bad records easily; it shows up all the defects ruthlessly.

By the way I read in a review of the Era Gold “ isolation proved critical to maximise performance” i.e. the reviewer isolated both the phono stage & the PSU with hardwood slabs with cones underneath them to isolate them from the floor/equipment rack.  Where does Graham stand on this point?