So had the speakers a copy of days now hooked up to the NAD C326Bee and NAD C545Bee and they just sound even better each time I listen to them. Given their size and the room dimensions they just suit the surrounding perfectly. I have tried them in three different positions within the study and I think I have the best setup I get get given the furniture and the listening position. I have compromised a little with the chez being slightly of centre but have changed the toe in setup so that it gives good imaging without being out of balance.
I now need to rerun the cables to the left speaker so they are better hidden, but finding the QED XT Silver Anniversary cables excellent companion to the NAD and B&W kit. I have Chord Crimson interconnects and they make excellent connectors for the setup. I have bi-wired the speakers but not sure I gain a great deal as the AMP is not bi-wired.
The speakers produce excellent sound quality across all the frequencies and especially good at provide a decent amount of bass given the speaker footprint. The Atacama stands I am using are more than capable of handling the speakers although I am thinking of upping the ballast in them as the B&W are much heavier than the KEF and Mission speakers I use to have. I have yet to try some vinyl with the setup, but intend to do this over the coming days to gauge how it compares. I have to hook up the iPod and Mackbooks to test how that reproduce but as most of the music is on CD in the study I will only use these media formats for convenience.
So if you are looking for top end speakers in the HiFi budget end of the market then these rock as even at low volume they sound great, would also recommend Sevenoaks (www.ssav.com) in Reading as they were very helpful and allowed me to spend a good twenty minutes listening to them before purchasing the speakers.
Today was time to pop over to HSS to pick up the demolition hammer in Bracknell to hopefully finish wrecking the concrete in the garden. As it was cleaning day I decide that once I had visited HSS I would pop into Reading for some shopping as CJ had supplied me with a list of requirements.
I dropped off LCJ at nursery then went home and tidied up before heading into Bracknell. Stuff picked up and then off to the Oracle centre to get some breakie and sit and do some reading. Hit the ATM for some cash before heading into smiths for reading material, is it ironic that I was looking for reading material in Reading 
So found a mag that I had not seen before called iCreate that was aimed at designer types who use Macs. With this new found discovery I headed off to Starbuck, one of many in Reading, for coffee and food. Started the day with bacon and egg panini with an extra shot cappuccino to wash it down. I enjoyed myself eavesdropping of the “business” conversations which were very varied.
Food consumed it was time to get down to serious shopping business, so popped into Timberland as my current boots are looking a little worse for wear and are now at least 5 years old. There were some very nice boots, but I resisted the temptation as I thought I could get cheaper online.
Next stop was John Lewis to get some fabric, scissors, pins, elastic etc so once I had found out exactly what material was required I got a metre of chocolate brown corduroy material and also some brown linen. Staff as ever were top notch and helped me get the matching threads.
Next off to waterstones to look at more books even though I have a pile on the shelf waiting for me to read plus another three due to be delivered today from Amazon. This time it was technical books I was interested in as I wondered if there was anything that would be good for my new job. There were loads of interesting books but not any of real interest.
It was getting close to lunchtime so decided it was time to check out Sevenoaks and see if I could test the B$W 685 that all the reviews raved about. Good job they had them in store and available to listen to in the demo room. So spent bout 20mins listening to a mix of music to test them out, this included Kanye West, Madonna, Jazz compilation and the Verve.
B&W 685 (image courtesy of B&W website)
The speakers just sounded fab, the clarity of the vocals, the piano and keyboards, the drums and especially the bass which was strong and powerful. Now having had many speakers of this size and listening to others on the market these just knocked the socks off everything else especially in this price range. So after those twenty minutes I was hooked, but slightly worried that my new setup would not be up to the job after listening to the Cyrus Amp & CD.
Money handed over and now it was time for lunch and then pick up the speakers. Popped into Pret for lunch and had my usual Crayfish & Rocket sandwich with crisps, coke and coffee. Then off to the car park and back to Sevenoaks to pick up the B&W speakers.
Eventually got home at 1.45 and unloaded and got changed ready for hammer time. Spent about an hour and quarter break that concrete before setting up the speakers and then taking Piper to the Vets for her jabs.
Sound was absolutely amazing even with the NAD amp and CD which were less than half the price of the cyrus in Sevenoaks. Test the new setup with Herbie Hancock River and Blues Brothers soundtrack. Will test some more tomorrow whilst having a break from the garden.,,
This morning was back in the garden moving the rumble onto the drive to make space for the next lot. Once this was cleared and none was left on the patio it was time to get smashing again. Spent about 90 mins hacking through the stuff at the edge of the garden so that would start to clear one area completely.
Back garden
Around lunchtime I cleared out the HiFi cabinet in prep for the delivery of the new kit. It was a sad day as I am retiring most of the Technics separates that have served me very well over the previous 10-15 years and some bits even longer. At this stage only two pieces will remain in use, these being the Tuner and my old faithful SL1200Mk2 turntable. I wish I had never let the other one go 
The tape, graphic equalizer, Amplifier and CD player all being farmed out or put into “storage” for now. It is amazing how empty the unit looked prior to the new kit being delivered and installed.
Once lunch was out of the way it was time to get back to the garden until the door below rang with the delivery from O2 of my wireless router for my new broadband connection. This is what I call service the order was only placed yesterday morning and already migration is scheduled, router delivered, direct debit setup and plenty of emails and texts updating me on progress. I’m likely the service so far so please keep it up
Managed to get back in the garden for another 20 mins before the doorbell went again and this time it was the deliver from LaserLine HiFi with my NAD components. All checked off and out of the box came the PP-3 Phone Preamp with USB, C326Bee Amplifier and C545Bee CD player.
Now it was time to get the NAD stuff installed and tested to check all was good, so started by getting all the new interconnects out and the new speaker cables. Opted for Chord Crimson RCA interconnects, three of them, and QED Silver Anniversary XT Speaker Cable. Hooked up Tuner, CD, TV, iPod and Turntable to the relevant connectors plus an additional RCA connection set for the USB audio card for my Numark mixer.
So first impressions is the sounds is warm and rich, although some tracks have need a bass boost to really sound good. Have noticed that some of the treble is a bit bright, but I noticed this with the technics setup so I think this is the speakers in use at the moment. I am using an old pair of Kef iQ 10s that I got from a friend many years ago. So it is time to get those B&W 685 I keep promisng myself. A little trip next week will be in order to purchase these babies.
Initially I am very happy with the NAD components and look forward to running in a pair of B&W of the coming weeks.
Tomorrow is water babies with LCJ & CJ and then not sure maybe more gardening or a trip to a HiFi store for those speakers.
Today started with emptying the cupboard under the stairs to have a sort out and make some space. The cupboard certainly has similar properties to the tardis as it just keep coming out boxes, bags, bits and bobs. Eventually I found the floor and walls and the comms cabinet. Now the study and hall floors were covered with stuff and needed to be sorted so I could get the cupboard usable. Plus side of moving all this stuff I found the window hooks that were taken off when the painting was done.
I screwed the alarm control panel to the wall and sorted out the numerous bags of carrier bags to make room. Off went the surplus golf clubs to the garage along with a crate of screws, bolts, sockets and miscellaneous items.
In between sorting out the cupboard contents I ordered new broadband from O2 to replace the service being provided by IBM, so looking forward to going from 2MB to 8MB service next week. O2 very responsive during the ordering process and with my PayAG phone I have got a fab price of just over £7 per month plus the first month free. Roll on next Thursday which is switch over day.
Now all the cupboard items sorted and put away it was time for my next job and rehanging the door in the back bedroom after it decided to fall off the frame. This didn’t take too long and then it was time to look for food.
After lunch I decided it was worth seeing how difficult it would be to break up the concrete in the back garden in prep for creating a more child friendly area. Spent a couple of hours working on this and I managed to clear about 2m, more to be done tomorrow
Will post some photos tomorrow if I get time…
Late breaking news is my new NAD amp and CD should be delivered tomorrow so concrete breaking will be interrupted at some point.
