What explains the British ear ?

And Quad [the greatest of them all] was at Huntingdon ...

George Fredrik Fiske posted:

And Quad [the greatest of them all] was at Huntingdon ...

Quad electrostatics are something quite special (when in the right environment!), their electronics much less so in my opinion.

Eloise posted:

I wonder if there is something about the mentality of British inventors too ...

I think you've nailed it. Many of them were self-educated... Henry Bessemer, inventor of steel... James Croll, who in 1864, proposed a theory that explains climate change, to name but two.

It's that spirit that comes through loud and clear in much of the British hifi that I've heard.

Jan-Erik Nordoen posted:

And very well you do it too. My latest « discovery » here is the Sonneteer Alabaster integrated amp. One of the two brands I've encountered that could tempt me away from Naim. 

interesting. does the alabaster render the rhythm as well as Naim

Which is the other brand?

The explosion in popular music which occurred in the 60s was largely UK-driven.

The Beatles, Stones, Clapton, Hendrix, Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Who, Sabbath etc were all Brit (Ok Hendrix was American but he made his name in the UK) .

Jan-Erik Nordoen posted:

Spendor, Harbeth, ATC, B&W, Meridian, Naim, Linn, Sonneteer, Creek, Stirling, Kudos, etc., etc., etc.,....

 

Monitor Audio - my favourite speakers, running with my favourite NAIM.
Having lived in the South West for close to 20 year (now back in Poland)... the sound kind of stayed with me....

Adam Zielinski posted:

Jan-Erik Nordoen posted:

Spendor, Harbeth, ATC, B&W, Meridian, Naim, Linn, Sonneteer, Creek, Stirling, Kudos, etc., etc., etc.,....

 

Monitor Audio - my favourite speakers, running with my favourite NAIM.

Used to be among my faves up till the mid 90s, sadly now more of a 'mid-table' brand voiced for quick attention grabbing in the dealers, but not ultimately that refined, truthful or convincing. Nice looks though.

hafler3o posted:

Used to be among my faves up till the mid 90s, sadly now more of a 'mid-table' brand voiced for quick attention grabbing in the dealers, but not ultimately that refined, truthful or convincing. Nice looks though.

"Sadly" my recent upgrades are starting to show the limitations of my old Monitor Audios (GS20). Time for an upgrade?

Ever wondered if it is more a question of why do we Brits make decent hi end stuff but our lower end is crud?

Cases in point:

Excellent mid to hi end hifi (Naim, Linn, Quad etc)

But awful low end hifi (Alba)

Ecellent sports cars (Lotus, TVR etc)

But crap else with 4 wheels (Morris, Rover)

Excellent top class stared British restaurants in London.

But mystery kebabs, stodgey pasties and scotch eggs for the masses.

And on and on. Friends often ask me how the UK is known as the country of hifi and sports cars but has an image of being bad at everything else?

I have to reply, like all inspired geniuses, the Brits are a paradox. Don't try and make sense of us. :-)

Britain does indeed make some very good mid to high-end hi-fi, but we certainly don't have a monopoly on this.

For example, take a small country like Denmark who have produced some wonderful high end hi-fi over the years such as the early Primare (before the company was taken over and moved to Sweden), Bow Technologies, and nowadays Gryphon and Vitus Audio. These companies have produced hi-fi that sits up there with the best the world has to offer. An amazing achievement for such a small country, and I haven't yet mentioned B&O, which whilst being nowhere near the quality (sound wise) of the others mentioned above, has certainly produced some pretty OK sounding gear in the past, and has become something of a design icon to boot (admittedly not often to my personal taste).

Then we have Germany with MBL, Lindemann, BMC, Trigon & Audio Physics, to name a few with which I am familiar. Then France with the original YBA power amplifiers, Devaliet,  & Focal - Focal speakers certainly don't seem to be too popular with Naim owners, but I have heard some of the Focal range sound exceptionally good when paired with other gear.

Then we have another small country like New Zealand with Perreaux and Plinius.

I suspect that there is quite a lot of other good stuff out there which most of us have not heard off, let alone listened to.  

Now modern music (with the exception of The Smiths and Morrissey - sorry HH)  and satire - Britain has certainly in my opinion produced more than its fair share. We do have to concede that in respect of classical music, we are simply not in the same league as many others.

So yes, Britain has a lot to be proud of, but then so do many others.  

Hmack, you raise an interesting point. As I suggested earlier, our vision of what's good or bad is limited by what's actually available on the market. I was in Düsseldorf a couple of weeks ago and bought the latest issue of Stereo, the German magazine. They publish the usual ranking (I know we shouldn't attach too much importance to that), and, strangely enough, there are few British brands at the very top - the LP12 being the exception. Naim is highly regarded, but so are other Continental, American, Japanese, etc., manufacturers.

There may be a British ear for all I know, but there is also a British sound - which I like personally (my system is 100% British - apart from the distribution block, designed by Musicline), but that sound may not be to everyone's liking.

I also have different views concerning the rise of Anglo-Saxon pop/rock, but that can wait...

Hi Frenchnaim,

I have owned quite a lot of British gear in the past, but most of the stuff that has really impressed me in recent years (with some notable exceptions) has not been British. I guess we all have our individual tastes. 

Incidentally, your name would indicate that you may be French, and your reply that you may not appreciate Anglo Saxon Rock/Blues (more my genre than pop/rock), but I have been listening to (and enjoying) quite a bit of French music recently. Then of course, I have always been a huge fan of the very lovely (and very talented) Francoise Hardy. I could listen to her voice for hours on end.

My taste in music is quite eclectic, as is my taste (it would appear) in Hi-Fi.

I would credit it to how the British have very solid foundation in good engineering along with its broadcasting influences as well as how it has influenced the world through its colonies and trades since the 60s.

Thank you all for your replies. My question was not to imply that British hifi is the only contender, but to better understand why there is such a high concentration of it in the UK. We have no dearth of high-quality audio designers and manufacturers over here, such as Resonnessence Labs in Kelowna BC, started by Mark Mallinson, originally from the UK. Hang on a sec....

feeling_zen posted:

Ever wondered if it is more a question of why do we Brits make decent hi end stuff but our lower end is crudCases in point:...

But awful low end hifi (Alba)

But crap else with 4 wheels (Morris, Rover)

But mystery kebabs, stodgey pasties and scotch eggs for the masses.

And on and on ...

I never knew Alba was British, I'm sure EVERY developed nation has a an 'Alba' lurking!

Rover crap? Landrover? Range Rover? A zillion times better than any offroaders Germany has managed (or any other country for that matter) Thattcher swept into power in a Rover P5, the poor man's Roller 

Kebabs? Scotch eggs? Lovely! But both are Scottish, as is a Cornish pastie ...

analogmusic posted:

Jan-Erik Nordoen posted:

And very well you do it too. My latest « discovery » here is the Sonneteer Alabaster integrated amp. One of the two brands I've encountered that could tempt me away from Naim. 

interesting. does the alabaster render the rhythm as well as Naim

Which is the other brand?

Yes it does rhythm and timing as well as the Naim gear I have. The Alabaster is also a class A/B amplifier, but I believe it is biased more heavily into class A. The upper treble and midrange have that class A delicacy, and it's quite addictive. The amp is unfailingly musical and I've yet to hear it do anything wrong.

The other brand is Heed Audio (Hungarian), with roots extending back to Wales...

Jan-Erik originally posted:

"We have no dearth of high-quality audio designers and manufacturers over here, such as Resonnessence Labs in Kelowna BC"

Not to mention Bryston or Simaudio - Simaudio in particular has some wonderful stuff!

Hafler30 originally posted:

"Kebabs? Scotch eggs? Lovely! But both are Scottish, as is a Cornish pastie"

As is Linn, but then many on this forum would probably attribute the term 'stodgy' to their stuff as well.

Hmack posted:

Jan-Erik originally posted:

"We have no dearth of high-quality audio designers and manufacturers over here, such as Resonnessence Labs in Kelowna BC"

Not to mention Bryston or Simaudio - Simaudio in particular has some wonderful stuff!

Agreed. Bryston has a very interesting new DAC (the BDA-3) that plays DSD (up to DSD-256 through the asynchronous USB inputs) and is the first DAC (to my knowledge) that accepts SACD input via HDMI (2-channel).

It also includes Bryston’s network module (for control via TCP/IP and RS-232). I wouldn't be surprised to see full streaming capability soon.

Kebab - Scottish???

Hmack posted:

Kebab - Scottish???

By adoption, same as with deep fried pizza!

hafler3o posted:

I never knew Alba was British, I'm sure EVERY developed nation has a an 'Alba' lurking!
...

 

Alba is in a particular sense British, or at least part of Britain.   Alba is the Brythonic cognate stem name for Scotland, and that use continued into Gaelic.

I have a sense that at least part of the answer lies in the 1944 Education Act.

C.

Huge posted:

hafler3o posted:

I never knew Alba was British, I'm sure EVERY developed nation has a an 'Alba' lurking!
...

 

Alba is in a particular sense British, or at least part of Britain.   Alba is the Brythonic cognate stem name for Scotland, and that use continued into Gaelic.

Ah yes .. as in .. la perfide Albion

Huge posted:

hafler3o posted:

I never knew Alba was British

 

... Alba is the Brythonic cognate stem name for Scotland, and that use continued into Gaelic.

If only we had a quote of the month competition. A superb solo effort, collected in no-man's land, deft keyboard work saw him past three mesmerised moderators before succinctly slotting it in!