Ok, so this review has
been a few weeks coming, because of time constraints and the fact that I wanted
to try and do justice to the phenomenal (and I don't use that word lightly!)
Reflex C.
A little background
first I think. I worked in the hifi industry for about 10 years all-told, so I
think I can safely say I had heard a fair bit of equipment. My passion has
always been for vinyl, so in that time I heard and owned many phono stages, in
all different systems and environments. From the likes of the entry level
offerings such as NAD, Cambridge Audio and MF units, through to the likes of EAR, Whest, Audio Research, Tom
Evans and beyond, I have heard and lived with many, all of which have their
strengths and weaknesses.
However, even with high
price stages and with much tweaking (in most cases), I still hadn't heard what I
felt was the 'right' phono stage for me and my ears. So did I find it in the
Reflex C? Well, read on!
After receiving the
unit (with PSU 1, from Fatmangolf on the loan program...many thanks!), I
cracked open a bottle of red and settled in for an evening of listening. Well,
straight out of the box and stone cold, it was a HUGE step-up from the
MF V-LPS mk2 i have been using as an interim. No surprises there then!! (Although, for the £120 asking price I
doubt you'll better this MF easily). I eventually crawled into bed at 3.30am after
most of the aforementioned bottle of red. Needless to say half my vinyl
collection was laid out before me on the floor and I had encompassed everything
from The King James Version (Sheffield Lab), to Queen, Hendrix, Basie, Jimmy
'The Cat' Smith, Dire Straits, Tracy Chapman (yes I hear the groans but I even
cracked 'Fast Car' out), right on through to Air, Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Rachmaninov, Liszt and pretty much everything in-between (basically, a bit
of everything!). It was only
an initial listen of the Reflex C, which as I say, wasn't even properly warmed
up by then, but even at that stage there was a rather large 'something' that
was leaving me looking like "a one-eye cat, peeping in a seafood store"!
So, a few days of warm
up time passed and any exact memories of the musical delights that had been served up
via the Reflex C, had all but disappeared. And so, I pulled out the big guns, in
a pristine, first pressing of Led Zeppelin’s debut album. Lights down, wick up
and...OH MY WORD! It hadn't sounded quite like it did there and then at that
moment, for many a year. I have used this album on every system I have ever
owned (and most of those that I have been able to play it on at shows,
customer's homes etc) and I have heard it sound incredible, truly awesome, but
only a few times had it come close to, and only once had I heard it surpass,
what I was listening too at that moment. The time it surpassed this performance, was on an insanely expensive
(think the cost of a house, not a car) system at a 'well heeled' customer's
abode, where the turntable cost more than my entire system, twice over!
I was captivated to say
the least! John
Bonham had parked himself up about 6 feet behind my speakers (fairly impressive
given his current circumstances), Jimmy's guitar had, for all the tea in China,
replaced my left speaker completely, John Paul Jones' bass guitar was finding
depths I honestly didn't think my PL100 stand-mount speakers could go down to
and Mr Plant was standing no more than 4 feet from where I sat. Ok, so you are
by now probably all thinking, this guy must be getting over excited about it
all or he's been at the wine again. But you are wrong, on both counts! I
personally think if you heard what I heard, you'd be there, tapping your toes
and nodding along with me.
So it's pretty good
then? Well, in a word....yeah! I have heard some stages that do certain things
better, like the Tom Evans Groove, which has a smidge more soul and the Whest I
borrowed a few years back (and very nearly bought!) had a slightly more precise
quality to it, but both of those stages cost many times more than the Reflex C and
still, to my humble brain at least, didn't do many things as well as the Reflex
C. I often find a component that does everything very well and nothing badly, is more enjoyable than one that excels in many areas but is weak in just one. In the context of my system, in my room and for the music I
play, I would buy the Reflex C over everything else I have heard, hands down,
no question. It does nothing wrong and everything very well indeed. Is it the
best photo stage I have heard, well no, but then it's only a shade under £650
too and for that reason it is the best value stage I have ever heard period! So
will I buy one I hear you ask? Well, much though I think it's going to cost
me more in the long term, being that the Reflex C is this good, it would be churlish
not to at least try the Reflex (or Revelation maybe) M with Elevator EXP, as I
have heard Graham believes the pairing to be superior. After experiencing the Reflex C,
who am I to argue and for the price of some postage, I’m damn well going to
find out, even if I end up having to save up for a few more months, once I have
heard them. I will of course report back once I have given them a try.
Also, just a quick note
about the loan program....it's absolutely brilliant! You will not find any
other manufacturer who offers this level of service anywhere and we are all
very lucky that Graham understands just how crucial it is to try his equipment
in the context of your own system. It's silly really, as I suspect the quantity
of sales revenue that this program generates has paid for the loan stock, tens
(if not hundreds) of times over! If only there were more companies like Graham Slee, the industry would be a good deal richer!
Huge thanks to Fatmangolf too, for doing such great job in running the loan
scheme, bravo!