Naim-Focal-Mojo Beatles Mono playback at Abbey Road
Posted by: Kevin-W on 05 September 2014
OK, so here’s my impressions, for what they’re worth, of the Beatles mono playback at Abbey Road Studio 2 last night (4th September).
The equipment was as follows – Vertere turntable, Naim Statement amp and (I think) Focal Grande Utopia speakers. The cart was Ortofon’s new Beatles Mono 2M SE. I don’t now what the arm was (I presume it was a Vertere – maybe their Reference), nor the cables, or the phono stage - perhaps someone from Naim can help out.
Physically, a very imposing set-up, if not exactly pretty (the TT and speakers, while finished to an extremely high standard, were rather ugly to my eyes; the Statement was smaller than I expected to be – perhaps it was the size of the room – and was much better looking tin the flesh).
And what of the sound? Well, I’ve not heard any of these components before, so I have no idea what was contributing what, and I am sure the room played its part as well; but the sound was disappointing. And I don’t think the records (of which more shortly) were to blame.
What was good? From where I was sitting (about 10 yards back, slightly to the right of centre), the sense of scale was phenomenal, the midrange was awesome, and of course the detail and separation was incredible. I don’t think I’ve heard so much detail extracted from a record before.
Sound effects (such as the cock crowing at the beginning of “SPLHC Reprise” or the shortwave radio on “I Am The Walrus" were rendered with jaw-dropping realism and clarity. My old mucker Chris, who came along with me for the evening, has never been convinced by mono; but he – and I think many others in the 150-srong audience – was blown away by the scale, spaciousness and hyper-realistic super-wide soundstage of these mono records. I think anyone who’s ordered either the box set or a selection of individual titles won’t be disappointed. Both the TT and the vinyl were also completely silent – no hum, rumble or pops to be heard at all, even at high volumes.
And the bad?
The bass for a start. On “Revolution” it was non-existent, on many other tracks it was bloated, boomy and completely dominated everything else. I love a bit of bass, but really, this was daft. I suspect the speakers were to blame, and possibly the room too. More intimate pieces like “Norwegian Wood”, while impressive in the rendering of the acoustic guitars, was ruined for me because it was completely swamped by flabby, boomy bass.
The treble was generally hard and steely, or else slightly muffled. This was especially noticeable on the “White Album” tracks, and was, for a £300,000 system, very disappointing.
The thing I like most in music is a bit of “boogie factor” and although this set-up had a bit, it didn’t have enough. Occasionally it was a bit “draggy”, a bit slow and lacking in bite and attack. I’m wondering if the TT was to blame for this. Having lived with an LP12 for some 27 years (and having heard fruitboxes in many other systems, most of them better than mine), I know what this venerable platter-spinner brings to the party, and that’s fun, bounce and a real sense of cohesion and musicality. OK, it may be “coloured” and not “neutral”, but it makes you engage with the music.
The Vertere, while more analytical and clearly capable of extracting astonishing amounts of information from the groove, fell way short of the Linn in its musicality and the fun factor. For me, and despite its faults, the LP12 remains by far the best source I have ever heard.
Next, I’ll focus on the music played, the mono box and other aspects of the evening.
OK, so here’s my impressions, for what they’re worth, of the Beatles mono playback at Abbey Road Studio 2 last night (4th September).
The equipment was as follows – Vertere turntable, Naim Statement amp and (I think) Focal Grande Utopia speakers. The cart was Ortofon’s new Beatles Mono 2M SE. I don’t now what the arm was (I presume it was a Vertere – maybe their Reference), nor the cables, or the phono stage - perhaps someone from Naim can help out.
Physically, a very imposing set-up, if not exactly pretty (the TT and speakers, while finished to an extremely high standard, were rather ugly to my eyes; the Statement was smaller than I expected to be – perhaps it was the size of the room – and was much better looking tin the flesh).
And what of the sound? Well, I’ve not heard any of these components before, so I have no idea what was contributing what, and I am sure the room played its part as well; but the sound was disappointing. And I don’t think the records (of which more shortly) were to blame.
What was good? From where I was sitting (about 10 yards back, slightly to the right of centre), the sense of scale was phenomenal, the midrange was awesome, and of course the detail and separation was incredible. I don’t think I’ve heard so much detail extracted from a record before.
Sound effects (such as the cock crowing at the beginning of “SPLHC Reprise” or the shortwave radio on “I Am The Walrus" were rendered with jaw-dropping realism and clarity. My old mucker Chris, who came along with me for the evening, has never been convinced by mono; but he – and I think many others in the 150-srong audience – was blown away by the scale, spaciousness and hyper-realistic super-wide soundstage of these mono records. I think anyone who’s ordered either the box set or a selection of individual titles won’t be disappointed. Both the TT and the vinyl were also completely silent – no hum, rumble or pops to be heard at all, even at high volumes.
And the bad?
The bass for a start. On “Revolution” it was non-existent, on many other tracks it was bloated, boomy and completely dominated everything else. I love a bit of bass, but really, this was daft. I suspect the speakers were to blame, and possibly the room too. More intimate pieces like “Norwegian Wood”, while impressive in the rendering of the acoustic guitars, was ruined for me because it was completely swamped by flabby, boomy bass.
The treble was generally hard and steely, or else slightly muffled. This was especially noticeable on the “White Album” tracks, and was, for a £300,000 system, very disappointing.
The thing I like most in music is a bit of “boogie factor” and although this set-up had a bit, it didn’t have enough. Occasionally it was a bit “draggy”, a bit slow and lacking in bite and attack. I’m wondering if the TT was to blame for this. Having lived with an LP12 for some 27 years (and having heard fruitboxes in many other systems, most of them better than mine), I know what this venerable platter-spinner brings to the party, and that’s fun, bounce and a real sense of cohesion and musicality. OK, it may be “coloured” and not “neutral”, but it makes you engage with the music.
The Vertere, while more analytical and clearly capable of extracting astonishing amounts of information from the groove, fell way short of the Linn in its musicality and the fun factor. For me, and despite its faults, the LP12 remains by far the best source I have ever heard.
Next, I’ll focus on the music played, the mono box and other aspects of the evening.
Kevin I bet Steve's system and room would have been a better place to hear them.
Kevin I bet Steve's system and room would have been a better place to hear them.
Steve's system certainly ticks all the boxes for me. 
The Ortofon is awfully modest for such an exalted set-up.
Thanks for the update.
I look forward to hearing more.
It could be the cartridge Jay, but as I had never heard any of the components before it was difficult to tell. However what I heard led me to suspect the speakers, and maybe the TT, with the room - magical as it is - possibly playing a part.
Interesting, you haven't heard any of the components before and you lay the blame in the hands of the TT
The reason why I asked who brought the Vertere was because there was no way Mr T would use an Ortofon Cartridge with the Vertere. The worst sound I have heard from a Roksan TT was when one was used with an Ortofon cartridge many years ago at the Heathrow show. Henley designs had insisted that the cartridge was used on the Xerxes/Artimez combination rather than the usual Shiraz cartridge. The result was a slow plodding overblown mess and it left Me T with a glum frustrated look on his face. The result was that the Roksan Xerxes was slated on many a forum for being slow and overblown. Any Xerxes user will tell you that they are far from that.
The Ortofon is awfully modest for such an exalted set-up.
Thanks for the update.
I look forward to hearing more.
It could be the cartridge Jay, but as I had never heard any of the components before it was difficult to tell. However what I heard led me to suspect the speakers, and maybe the TT, with the room - magical as it is - possibly playing a part.
Interesting, you haven't heard any of the components before and you lay the blame in the hands of the TT
Bad bear! That's not quite what I said. The speakers were definitely the biggest offender in my disappointment, but with two exceptions, the music felt to me slightly slower, more plodding than it should do.That's really all that interests me - what my ears tell me. What the designer intends isn't that relevant as far as I am concerned.
In my experience some of these over-engineered turntables seem to suck the joy (if not the detail) out of music. From what I heard the Vertere (in this context) might have been doing just that. A few months ago at a posh party in Kensington I was invited round to a neighbour's house to hear his mega-system. I can't remember exactly what the system was, but there were Jeff Rowland amps and an Air Force One, a massive (and extremely ugly) TT. It was very impressive in its way, but not a great deal of fun.
But what the hell do I know? The best turntable I've ever heard is an old Scottish design that looks like a fruit box.
The Ortofon is awfully modest for such an exalted set-up.
Thanks for the update.
I look forward to hearing more.
It could be the cartridge Jay, but as I had never heard any of the components before it was difficult to tell. However what I heard led me to suspect the speakers, and maybe the TT, with the room - magical as it is - possibly playing a part.
Interesting, you haven't heard any of the components before and you lay the blame in the hands of the TT
Bad bear! That's not quite what I said. The speakers were definitely the biggest offender in my disappointment, but with two exceptions, the music felt to me slightly slower, more plodding than it should do.That's really all that interests me - what my ears tell me. What the designer intends isn't that relevant as far as I am concerned.
In my experience some of these over-engineered turntables seem to suck the joy (if not the detail) out of music. From what I heard the Vertere (in this context) might have been doing just that. A few months ago at a posh party in Kensington I was invited round to a neighbour's house to hear his mega-system. I can't remember exactly what the system was, but there were Jeff Rowland amps and an Air Force One, a massive (and extremely ugly) TT. It was very impressive in its way, but not a great deal of fun.
But what the hell do I know? The best turntable I've ever heard is an old Scottish design that looks like a fruit box.
and sounds like a ..... ! 
honestly its not my place to say, I have hear many a fine fruit box at Cymbiosis.
From what you say, the slow plodding sound probably came from the cartridge, as I said earlier their not the best matches for Roksan/Vertere TT's.
I must admit to being very jealous, I am yet to hear the Vretere TT in any context so won't comment too much, I just know the signature sound owning a TMS.
I will admit to over engineered decks sounding awful, the worst I have heard was at last years Wigwam open day where someone brought along a mega expensive mega engineered deck, can't remember the name but it sounded bloody awful. Each to their own I suspect.
And is there something special about these mono recordings?
Are they worth the asking price?
Not really just Beatles music, every day pop IMO. 
Oh Howard. I know Sally likes them and you have the full catalogue on your hard drive.
Here you go Wat, fixed that for you! Reads much better now...