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.
Yeah I understand that there is an attraction to hearing this stuff as it was originally recorded. But far from seeing the "Gadd Role" as a gimmik I see it as really understanding the depth and breadth of the music. I'll try it with the Mono button in though!
There's no point! It was recorded in stereo. 
Because they were recorded in mono Lindsay and designed to be listened to in mono. There will be a simplicity to it all and there will be something romantic in hearing them in their unprocessed mono presentation.
I recall many many years ago sitting with Dave Spiers, now of Focal, at the Manchester hi-fi show, there were just the two of us chatting in the room and he suddenly says, have a listen to this. He gets out a mono lp and plays in on an inexpensive system, a very simple TT, valve amp and quads. The sound was superb, simple, clean and very enjoyable. after a couple of minutes he turns to me and asks just how far we have come in the last 50 years, the answer is not far!
Regards
PB
That's exactly what it is - nostalgia in effect
OK - I'm not the greatest Beatles afficianado to justify buying the whole set but I'm intrigued enough to buy Sgt Pepper as I don't have a vinyl copy. It will complement nicely my CD verion. Here goes!!!!
Go on - you won't regret it! 
Look no further than the speakers IMHO. I heard the NDS into Statement into the big Focals recently and it left me completely underwhelmed. I thought they had the big B&Ws at Abbey Road - those I would like to hear on a Statement.....
I still don't understand why this event was not held in Bushey 
A picture from Focal of the Abbey Road event:
Interesting that they are playing through a pair of speakers (as per a Stereo configuration) rather than one for true MONO.
Richard
Steve,
Steve,
My two LPs [I still have my first two from 1971] have this printed on the back.
The trouble was that the cartridge used for the first four years of their lives was an un-compliant mono one. I only keep them for sentimental reasons, as they play very badly as a result, even though they look mint.
ATB from George