So, we had our day!
Or, more accurately, days. Returning to the relaxed charm of Pipps Ford, a rambling 16th Century Farmhouse, brought unsolicited praise. Having used a rather grander setting last year, the feedback (from quite a lot of people) was that 'Pipps' was the more relaxed venue. One, rather more thoughtful individual mused that it "sits more comfortably with the Signals ethos". We certainly aim for an informal environment and Pipps Ford delivered in spades. Loads of soft chairs and sofas in spacious but informal rooms gave us just the right 'vibe'.
First of all was the Rega turntable service day. Truth be told, this was a little quieter than we had hoped. Strangely, it did not actually feel like a wash-out, with the small number of visitors having time to discuss system changes, to hear the new Isis CD player (pictured right) and to get their decks looked after by Rega's Phil Freeman.
Best of all for those who came along, the odds on winning the £322 Rega Brio amplifier were spectacular! The one-in-seven winner was Kevin Notley from Ipswich. Kevin has his own plastering business and is pictured (third down) receiving his prize from Signals' Andy Heavens. Kevin is the tall one on the left and, no, he was not handing it back. In fact, the feedback is that it is sounding a whole lot better than his, admittedly long-in-the-tooth, pre-power combo.
Day two was on the more familiar territory of a Naim day, this year with Doug Graham and Mark Raggett in attendance. Summer Sounds Road-show 2009 merged with the Signals Summer bash! We had our CD555 / NAC552 / NAP500 system running into the new Ovator S600 speakers. As well as the CD555. we used a new CDX2 CD player (the one with the digital output) and the new Naim DAC.
All items were very well received, with the speakers failing to disappoint (!) with the 'dodgy bass' commented on at some other outings. The CDX2 on its own surprised many with its accomplished music-making and adding the DAC was a universal 'no brainer'. Downsides? The music choice was maybe not universally admired (nothing new there, then) and the coffee machine did its level best to drown out Doug Graham's explanations.
Day three saw us adopt 'house party' mode for Saturday. Derek Gilligan from Kudos was there with a pre-production version of a new 'super' version of the C10 loudspeaker. The Super Ten 'landed' exceedingly well but it will be quite pricey. Overall, it was a lovely day with blue skies contributing to the relaxed atmosphere fed by a real mixture of music. Paul from Diverse Vinyl was selling his wares and, with a mixture of systems running into various Kudos products, the feedback was positive.
In addition to Naim's own draw for the new DAC (out of all of the Summer Sounds events), we had our own draw for a £390 Powerline mains lead. The winner was Kristan Farrow from Ipswich. He is pictured right receiving the cable from Andy.
Thanks go from Andy and me to Christine and Simon at Pipps Ford (the venue is available for events tel 01449 761733), to Phil and Paul at Rega, Doug and Mark at Naim, to Derek from Kudos and to Sara, Rhea and Eleanor for all their help in looking after the guests. Most of all, thanks to those who attended, it would have been pointless without you!
There are some additional random pictures here.
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