06-Aug-2017, 09:31
I attended an excellent event at Oxford Audio yesterday, the Henley Audio 'Ortofon Cartridge Experience tour'. (Henley Audio are, amongst other things, the UK distributor for Ortofon, and we previously know as 'Henley Designs' but have just renamed themselves)
The first point to note is that this 'tour' still has five dates to go at various locations in the UK, and I would say that if you have any interest in listening to vinyl then it is well worth the effort attending one of these events. Remaining dates per the link below:
https://www.henleyaudio.co.uk/cms/content/news/310
During the demo they run through various cartridge models from the 2M, Quntet and Cadenza cartridge ranges, then finish off with the £3100 MC Windfeld TI. These are all played using exactly the same turntable and system. In terms of music, two tracks are played with each cartridge, with the second track being repeated when the cartridge is replaced with the next one up in the range, the second track is then something new. So you get a range of music through the demo but still get direct comparisons when the cartridges are switched. It is a good format I think. They could of course simply use the same music for every cartridge, but I think that this would get very boring and perhaps confusing, however, with the format chosen everything remained fresh and enjoyable. The demo lasted about 1 hour 40 minutes to run though all the cartridges, in reality it felt like less than an hour, time raced by, it was good stuff!
If you get a chance to visit one of these events then go! It is well worth it. If you think about it, it would be fairly difficult to arrange a demo just between two cartridges, so this kind of event is absolute gold dust I think.
In terms of the demo itself, they used a Pro-ject Signature 10 turntable, Devialet 1000 Pro and KEF Blade speakers. I suppose it is no surprise that Oxford Audio would use the 1000 Pro, but the guy from Henley Audio did state that they wanted to use the most transparent system possible to best show the difference between the cartridges, it is worth remembering that Henley Audio are distributors for 'rival' amplifier brands, so maybe this says something, read into it what you will!
As for the cartridges themselves, it is probably no great shock that I ended up liking the new and most expensive MC Windfeld TI best, but that said, elsewhere it was perhaps not as you might expect. It was explained that through the Ortofon range, the cartridges do have a kind of sound signature, with the 'Red' models being the lively dynamic ones, the Blue models being a bit smoother, more relaxed and forgiving. The Bronze are a mix of these (so should be called Purple I thought) and the Black models most ruthlessly accurate. What was interesting here was that going from one cartridge to another, you could pick up differences. There was a guy at the back of the room that appeared to be hearing exactly what I was hearing, I would hear a more pronounced treble, he would state the treble was brighter, this kind of thing. The strange thing was that in some instances, he seamed to prefer changes that I thought were maybe a negative. At the end of the event he left sating that he liked the Candenza Black best, not the Windfeld that I preferred. I also quite liked the Cadenza Bronze, which the other guy did not. All slightly ironic, as I currently run a Cadenza Black myself! In other words, you might expect that it is a case of moving up the range, each cartridge getting more expensive and sound quality gradually improving, but this was not necessarily the case. I can easily see instances where a particular individual with a specific system will find that 'one down' in the range will sound better than 'one up', so it is not entirely straightforward. Also, I can now understand why some folk run turntables with two or more tone arms, I can easily see a scenario where you might want one arm / cartridge to play one type of record, say an original 70's pressing that is not the best quality, and another for the latest 180g remastered release.
Another thing I took away from the demo is just how good the lower range Ortofon cartridges are. You might think that in a system retailing at well over £40k a £300 cartridge is going to be a little exposed, but no, the system sounded really very good indeed even with the 'cheaper' cartridges. So although I finished up liking the Windfeld best, I was genuinely very surprised just how good the Ortofon Quintet MC's were, and here the range runs from £225 to £650. Well worth checking out.
Nothing to do with cartriges, but I also noticed that Oxford Audio were running the Blades using Isoacoustics Gaia isolation supports. In the past I have seen Oxford Audio use a variety of pucks, spikes or whatever under speakers, most recently Ansuz products. Although the Ansuz products have a good reputation and are indeed beautifully made, it is fair to say that they that they are perhaps a little expensive. The Isoacoustics Gaia's come in various sizes / weight support capabilities, with the range starting at £199 for four feet. So not cheap exactly, but they look good and I have actually now heard from two separate sources that they work superbly. It was a little strange for me yesterday listening to what was in the most part more or less the same system I have at home. For those that do not know Oxford Audio, they have two main demo rooms, one that is somewhat larger than the other. I have listened to the Blades in both rooms and in the past really liked them in the smaller room, but somehow the Blades never sounded any good in the larger room. Recently Oxford Audio have revamped the larger room, making some changes to room treatments and similar. Yesterday's demo was in the larger room and I thought the Blades sounded excellent. I am sure that most of this is due to the changes to the room, but I suspect that those little Isoacoustics feet may indeed have been doing some good things, at the very least they looked good and were not doing anything negative. I have always baulked a little at the price of Ansuz products and similar, and therefore simply discounted them as something I personally would never consider buying. With the more sensibly priced Isoacoustics Gaia's, I am very tempted to give them a try' I must admit. I guess this demonstrates one of the benefits of these events to dealers, drag some guys in for a cartridge demo and then inadvertently make a little profit selling a few shiny speaker feet, it's all good!
http://www.isoacoustics.com/products/gai...es/gaia-i/
As a final note, if anyone from OAC or Henley Audio ever reads this, many thanks for a superb event. Top class stuff! Also, it was good to see one or two familiar faces yesterday, it is interesting to note that even at an overtly analogue and vinyl event, it appeared that a very large proportion of those attending were ultra digital Devialet owners. I am not sure how many that were there yesterday are ever active on this forum, I think one was Kevin / 'Soniclife', (luckily not choosing the music this time) but it's easy to get mixed up sometimes.
The first point to note is that this 'tour' still has five dates to go at various locations in the UK, and I would say that if you have any interest in listening to vinyl then it is well worth the effort attending one of these events. Remaining dates per the link below:
https://www.henleyaudio.co.uk/cms/content/news/310
During the demo they run through various cartridge models from the 2M, Quntet and Cadenza cartridge ranges, then finish off with the £3100 MC Windfeld TI. These are all played using exactly the same turntable and system. In terms of music, two tracks are played with each cartridge, with the second track being repeated when the cartridge is replaced with the next one up in the range, the second track is then something new. So you get a range of music through the demo but still get direct comparisons when the cartridges are switched. It is a good format I think. They could of course simply use the same music for every cartridge, but I think that this would get very boring and perhaps confusing, however, with the format chosen everything remained fresh and enjoyable. The demo lasted about 1 hour 40 minutes to run though all the cartridges, in reality it felt like less than an hour, time raced by, it was good stuff!
If you get a chance to visit one of these events then go! It is well worth it. If you think about it, it would be fairly difficult to arrange a demo just between two cartridges, so this kind of event is absolute gold dust I think.
In terms of the demo itself, they used a Pro-ject Signature 10 turntable, Devialet 1000 Pro and KEF Blade speakers. I suppose it is no surprise that Oxford Audio would use the 1000 Pro, but the guy from Henley Audio did state that they wanted to use the most transparent system possible to best show the difference between the cartridges, it is worth remembering that Henley Audio are distributors for 'rival' amplifier brands, so maybe this says something, read into it what you will!
As for the cartridges themselves, it is probably no great shock that I ended up liking the new and most expensive MC Windfeld TI best, but that said, elsewhere it was perhaps not as you might expect. It was explained that through the Ortofon range, the cartridges do have a kind of sound signature, with the 'Red' models being the lively dynamic ones, the Blue models being a bit smoother, more relaxed and forgiving. The Bronze are a mix of these (so should be called Purple I thought) and the Black models most ruthlessly accurate. What was interesting here was that going from one cartridge to another, you could pick up differences. There was a guy at the back of the room that appeared to be hearing exactly what I was hearing, I would hear a more pronounced treble, he would state the treble was brighter, this kind of thing. The strange thing was that in some instances, he seamed to prefer changes that I thought were maybe a negative. At the end of the event he left sating that he liked the Candenza Black best, not the Windfeld that I preferred. I also quite liked the Cadenza Bronze, which the other guy did not. All slightly ironic, as I currently run a Cadenza Black myself! In other words, you might expect that it is a case of moving up the range, each cartridge getting more expensive and sound quality gradually improving, but this was not necessarily the case. I can easily see instances where a particular individual with a specific system will find that 'one down' in the range will sound better than 'one up', so it is not entirely straightforward. Also, I can now understand why some folk run turntables with two or more tone arms, I can easily see a scenario where you might want one arm / cartridge to play one type of record, say an original 70's pressing that is not the best quality, and another for the latest 180g remastered release.
Another thing I took away from the demo is just how good the lower range Ortofon cartridges are. You might think that in a system retailing at well over £40k a £300 cartridge is going to be a little exposed, but no, the system sounded really very good indeed even with the 'cheaper' cartridges. So although I finished up liking the Windfeld best, I was genuinely very surprised just how good the Ortofon Quintet MC's were, and here the range runs from £225 to £650. Well worth checking out.
Nothing to do with cartriges, but I also noticed that Oxford Audio were running the Blades using Isoacoustics Gaia isolation supports. In the past I have seen Oxford Audio use a variety of pucks, spikes or whatever under speakers, most recently Ansuz products. Although the Ansuz products have a good reputation and are indeed beautifully made, it is fair to say that they that they are perhaps a little expensive. The Isoacoustics Gaia's come in various sizes / weight support capabilities, with the range starting at £199 for four feet. So not cheap exactly, but they look good and I have actually now heard from two separate sources that they work superbly. It was a little strange for me yesterday listening to what was in the most part more or less the same system I have at home. For those that do not know Oxford Audio, they have two main demo rooms, one that is somewhat larger than the other. I have listened to the Blades in both rooms and in the past really liked them in the smaller room, but somehow the Blades never sounded any good in the larger room. Recently Oxford Audio have revamped the larger room, making some changes to room treatments and similar. Yesterday's demo was in the larger room and I thought the Blades sounded excellent. I am sure that most of this is due to the changes to the room, but I suspect that those little Isoacoustics feet may indeed have been doing some good things, at the very least they looked good and were not doing anything negative. I have always baulked a little at the price of Ansuz products and similar, and therefore simply discounted them as something I personally would never consider buying. With the more sensibly priced Isoacoustics Gaia's, I am very tempted to give them a try' I must admit. I guess this demonstrates one of the benefits of these events to dealers, drag some guys in for a cartridge demo and then inadvertently make a little profit selling a few shiny speaker feet, it's all good!
http://www.isoacoustics.com/products/gai...es/gaia-i/
As a final note, if anyone from OAC or Henley Audio ever reads this, many thanks for a superb event. Top class stuff! Also, it was good to see one or two familiar faces yesterday, it is interesting to note that even at an overtly analogue and vinyl event, it appeared that a very large proportion of those attending were ultra digital Devialet owners. I am not sure how many that were there yesterday are ever active on this forum, I think one was Kevin / 'Soniclife', (luckily not choosing the music this time) but it's easy to get mixed up sometimes.
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
