We are pleased to launch our new music streamer capability.

After a lengthy evaluation we concluded that the best approach is to build a streamer from professional quality components. Since the dawn of commercial digital audio, Apple computers have been used in post-production studios and they are quiet and reliable.

We have been working with Pure Vinyl software for Mac as a tool for ripping LPs to high resolution digital files since 1996. The developer has evolved the program so that it works elegantly with iTunes which manages all the file organisation and storage tasks whilst Pure Vinyl looks after memory play and upsampling.

We have been using a pro audio FireWire interface for vinyl ripping for some time so when Prism Sound’s Orpheus caught our eye we had to investigate. It is a genuine studio quality product with sound quality that matches (if not bests) any high end consumer product.

We are very confident that the sound quality of our Mac/Pure Vinyl/Orpheus combo will see off any alternative music server regardless of price and invite anyone considering their options to investigate the Artisan Audio option.

The Valvet L1/A1r pre/power combination is reviewed in March 2010’s Hi Fi World magazine. The reviewer confirms our experience of this combo’s punchy output and great timing.

The Soundsmith Strain Gauge phono cartridge system won the Innovation award 2009 at the Hi Fi Choice Product of the Year awards announced in its awards issue published October 2009.

This follows the Editor’s Choice classification awarded to the SG-400 model reviewed in the October edition.

Soundsmith's Strain Gauge cartridge system won the Best of Show award at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest recently from the influential webzine Steremojo.

Positive Feedback also raved about Soundsmith's room at the show.

Meanwhile Stereophile listed the Soundsmith SMMC-1 (the non-selected version of the Aida) as a runner up in its Analog Product of the Year and its Budget Product of the year in the December 2008 issue.

Finally, a Strain Gauge owner has posted an informative review at Audiogon.

You can't miss it can you? Every news bulletin has a "downturn" feature - we are being literally talked into a depression. It doesn't come as a surprise to us - this downturn has been inevitable since the sub-prime mortgage collapse in the US in the summer of '07 and we have factored it into our business plans.

What did take us by surprise though was the strengthening of the US dollar against the pound sterling - the analysts we have been following indicated that both currencies were equally at risk. In February 2008 we were able to buy $1.95 for £1, at the time of writing we can only achieve $1.48. That has meant that we had no choice but to increase prices on products that are factory priced in US dollars. Likewise, the Euro has strengthened from €1.25 to parity.

However, our pricing policy remains unchanged - our retail prices will be lower than buying the same unit from a retailer in the country of manufacture and paying for shipping, insurance, import duties, VAT and delivery to a UK address.

We have a policy of offering competitive pricing - which means that we won't take advantage of exchange rate movements to hike prices excessively. Because we introduced our imported products with lower than industry standard margins we have no alternative but to review prices continually in line with the falling pound. When the pound starts to strengthen we will be reducing our prices in line with the exchange rate changes.

In the current economic climate, many manufacturers are living well within their lines of credit by holding less inventory and finished goods stock. This may lengthen lead times, however we believe that the special audio equipment we offer is well worth waiting for.

Inevitably the economy has impacted our efforts as importers - UK audio retailers are currently not too interested in adding new brands to their offer and we are very conscious of the risks in extending trade credit, however we are committed to offering our products for audition and are very confident that they continue to offer distinctive performance for the money.

There is something very special though about investing in high performance audio. Music has the power to uplift the soul like nothing else. Is there a better way to enjoy some respite in grim times than by listening to your favourite music on a top class system?

Stereophile is the US's leading audio magazine. Twice a year they publish their recommended components list. In October 2008's issue we were delighted to find the Soundsmith SMMC-1 cartridge awarded their highest rating, Class A, together with a special commendation for good value.

Stereophile's description: "big, vibrant well-formed images and exceptional rejection of surface noise resulted in an overall sound that was smooth yet bold, rhythmically nimble, and free of edge and etch without being limp or soft."

The Aida cartridge is the specially selected export version - the top 5% best measuring pieces are mounted in ebony and brass bodies for superior resonance control. All Soundsmith cartridges are offered in high and medium compliance version and stereo and dual coil mono.

We have Aidas in stock, available for demonstration and purchase.

Also, the top moving iron model, The Voice, was recently reviewed and received a "Maximum Mojo" recommendation from Stereo Mojo's James Darby. See the full review here.

We are really pleased to have been appointed the UK importer for Discovery Cable. We were delighted with how well their Plus Four tonearm cable worked with our tonearm and have been evaluating their Essence and Plus Four interconnects. We have fallen in love with these cables and are confident that they easily out-perform anything available at their price points and will yield significant improvements to most systems.

We will now be evaluating their less expensive Mark II and Signature cables with a view to offering them also. Discovery Cable is another of those manufacturers who concentrate on product quality and performance not the garnish! They don't advertise in US audio magazines and don't exhibit at shows so they have, until now, been below the radar of UK audiophiles.

You can measure success in many ways, but the most meaningful is to assess whether you achieve what you intended.

I had three objectives in attending:

Obviously there is an expectation of sales following on from exhibiting – we need to recoup the expense of attending the show. However we think that business will follow as a consequence of achieving the above goals.

The feedback from visitors to the room was overwhelmingly positive. How busy a room gets is a pretty good indicator of how the system is perceived.

Our room was full with 12 or so people squeezed in for large chunks of time on both days, and apart from just after the opening time, there were always people in the room listening. Quite a few stayed 20 minutes or more to listen and we saw many visitors return for a second and third listen.

The system performance

Having set-up on the evening before, I was happy with the room sound. However during the show, all the rooms were playing louder with doors open to the corridor. I estimate the ambient noise level in the room, before playing music, was about 50 dB.

When we played the system at a level that could be perceived as “loud” – i.e. drowning out the ambient level, we had two issues – a vibration from the suspended ceiling tiles and light fittings and a prominent standing wave as the room mode was excited.

Obviously there’s no solution to the ceiling problem but next time we will bring bass traps. It’s ironic because after listening on Friday, we took the acoustic foam away because it sounded like it wasn’t needed.

Horn speakers are very revealing – one of their strengths so the system was quite ruthless in exposing recording/mixing/mastering that wasn’t of the highest quality. Really good records sounded superb, but mediocre ones sounded, well, mediocre. I am sure that if those tracks were played on a less revealing system the difference would not be so noticeable.

To my ears, our high-performing turntable set-up eclipsed CDs. The unfortunate consequence is that switching to play CDs on request, they hardly ever sounded as good as the record played before and after. Next time I’ll consider either a CD player closer in performance to the turntable or none at all.

The Strain Gauge cartridge is very accurate and revealing. So “hot” records sounded a bit strident, “dark” records sounded dull. In comparison, cartridges like the Dynavector XV1S and Artisan Cadenza are much more tolerant of mastering variations.

At the very end of the show on Sunday, I was talking with a visitor and he asked me about power conditioning. I didn’t use any, which surprised him because he was very impressed with the absence of noise (with 109 dB efficient speakers if there’s any noise there you’ll hear it) and also how good the music sounded.

I was personally most pleased by a component that nobody mentioned. The Artisan Capriccio arm is modestly priced at £250 yet went unnoticed. It did its job of providing a stable and uncoloured platform for the Strain Gauge cartridge and wasn’t out of place. A perfect demonstration that the route to better sound isn’t always by buying the most expensive components.

Specific comments (warts and all)

Of course many of the comments are in relation to the person’s current system and their preferences. And because the system is only reproducing what’s on the record, experiences and perceptions will be different depending on what was playing at the time.

“The Strain Gauge cartridge is amazing.” – Paul Messenger

“Those Klipsch speakers are very good.” – Paul Messenger

“They really image well. Effectively the HF horns are a point source.” – Paul Burton, Rountree Acoustics

“Best in show? Maybe, but then there were...

The Klipsch Jubilee cinema speakers in the Artisan Audio room were superb. So naturally, effortlessly good. If you have a room that can accommodate these, they are a must hear at the price. The rest of the kit was clearly up to the job. I've never heard of Soundsmith or Artisan or Galibier before but I think we'll be hearing those names some more in future if this was anything to go by. Very good.” – forum comment on Hifi Wigwam

"Soon after I went into the Artisan room another visitor requested some classical music.  Ralph put on the 'Rite of Spring'.  It seemed very quiet at first but I soon became captivated and wished that he  had played the second side when the first ended.  There was a wonderful impression of an orchestra in the room.

Blue lights were a bit distracting, but with eyes closed...

I'd love to be able to hear the Klipsch horns at home, but don't think my room would accomodate them and in any case I am happy with my present speakers." - forum post on Hifi Wigwam

"Yours is the best room in the show."

“Best sound in the show.” – numerous

“It just sounds like music.” – numerous

"Anyone with ears would say this sounds excellent. That's if they used their ears of course!"

“Thank you for curing my headache!”

“Those speakers are like a magnifying lens – you get to hear everything.”

"This (Eleanor McEvoy on vinyl) sounds better my SACD."

“Paul Messenger told me that I have to listen to the cartridge in your room before I choose my next cartridge.”

“I have all Naim 500 series at home and I’m very happy listening to your system. It’s very impressive.”

"I can't get over how quiet it is between the tracks. Where's the surface noise gone?"

"That's a lot of turntable for the money."

"Was also rather impressed by the Soundsmith Straingauge cartridge for similar reasons (blue LED illumination!) - I would like to hear it without the...er..."benefit" of horn loudspeakers on the end, though..."

"I liked the look of the big Klipsch Jubilee horns & the Soundsmith cartridge in the Artisan Audio room. Good to meet Ralph. Not sure of what to make of it all. It didn't strike me as a big step from everything else. I would like to investigate the speakers again. It had good points and have good potential." - forum post on Zerogain

“They don’t have the mid-range clarity of my Quad Electrostatics.”

“I don’t know why you brought those speakers. They’re all boom.” (whilst playing loud!)

“I prefer my system at home – it has more ambience.”

“The speakers are a bit thin in the mid range – I’d like more body.”

Ralph

We are pleased to announce that we have become the official UK importer for Soundsmith audio products. We have taken delivery of an SG610 strain gauge cartridge system, an HE-150 power amp, Dragonfly and Monarch speakers and The Voice moving iron phono cartridge.

The Soundsmith range will be available through a select group of specialist audio dealers throughout the UK.

We will be demonstrating the SG610 strain gauge cartridge, the HE-150 power amp and Monarch stand mount speakers at Heathrow High Fidelity on 29-30 March 2008.

We will be exhibiting at this popular show on 29-30 March 2008 in room 15.

We will be demonstrating the stunning Galibier Gavia turntable with Quicksilver amplification and our Klipsch Jubilee horns. Come along and hear a different approach to enjoying music.

Follow the link from our home page to the exhibition organiser's site for discounted admission.

Our initial stock of Quicksilver Audio electronics has arrived. We are very proud and excited to have been appointed UK importers for this long-established US electronics manufacturer. Quicksilver has a loyal following in the US, where sales mainly arise from recommendation and word of mouth (Quicksilver don't believe in inflating prices to cover magazine advertising).

Quicksilver Audio was previously available in the UK, receiving very favorable reviews from Martin Colloms in What Hifi, however they have been without representation here for too long and we are delighted to put that right.

Quicksilver's President, Mike Sanders has a refreshing approach to running his audio business. He believes in design simplicity: his designs must measure well and sound good (he has been known to throw prototypes into the skip) and he believes in making his designs competitively priced. He personally auditions every item before it is shipped.

We are initially importing the new Full Function Preamplifier, the Triode monoblock power amps and the 300B Single Ended monoblocks. For further information follow the new Quicksilver link.

We have visited the last two March Heathrow shows at the Park Inn and enjoyed the diversity of products being demonstrated and the quality of the sound in some of the rooms. This year we will be in Syndicate 15, which is on the main corridor that runs from the front reception towards the carpark at the rear of the hotel.

We will be featuring our Galibier Gavia turntable, our new Quicksilver Pre and Power amps plus one or two surprises that we can't announce just yet. Check back again nearer the time for more information.

We will be putting up a link to the exhibition organiser's site to enable you to download a privilege discount ticket.

If you are visiting, bring along some of your favourite vinyl so that you can check out our approach to getting the most from this medium.

I came across the Soundsmith Strain Gauge cartridge at Rocky Mountain Audiofest 2006. It took me completely by surprise - an innovative phono cartridge architecture from a company I'd never heard of that sounded better than any phono cartridge I had heard.

Soundsmith are a long-established audio business who specialise in maintaining classic audio equipment. Unusually, they manufacture phono cartridges, as well as re-building and re-tipping other manufacturers' products (their modified Denon 103 has a great reputation).

The Strain Gauge has obvious attractions for use in a phono cartridge - the technology is designed to measure accurately very small movements. The Soundsmith design comprises the phono cartridge (installed in the tonearm in the conventional way) plus the phono preamp, which delivers current to the cartridge and applies gain to the signal. There is a range of phono pre- functionality, offering remote control and additional line level inputs plus a number of clever features including digital read out of vertical tracking force, eccentricity plus auto muting.

Unusually for a cartridge of this quality, the stylus is user-replacable and is relatively inexpensive.

The Strain Gauge has a suspended mass that's typically 80% less than a moving coil cartridge, so it tracks superbly at a VTF less than one gram. Sonically, the cartridge is fast, dynamic and completely devoid of colouration. Resolution is very high, frequency response is flat and extended (70 kHz) and that old cliché about hearing details on your records that you've never heard before is genuinely true in this case.

We are delighted to announce that with immediate effect we are authorised retailers for ASTINtrew's range of amplifiers and CD players. This affordable range of British designed electronics has been building a higher profile in recent months.

We believe that the AT 3500 CD player is a genuine giant killer and are delighted to offer demonstrations either in our listening room or in home. More info on our amplifiers and CD players pages (left sidebar).

Audiofest marks the debut of Artisan Audio. We are pleased to be exhibiting with our friends from Galibier and Quicksilver in room 1130. Please come along to see and hear our new cartridges and tone arm and pick up our special launch pricing.