CRANAGE HALL AUDIO SHOW JUNE 2014 - Systemdek, Audio Origami, van den Hul, McIntosh, ART

A very high end system in this room with beautifully built and rather industrial looking Systemdek,  Audio Origami arm (does this have its roots in the land of Syrinx PU7 pehaps?), van den Hul Frog cart, Spa 2 phono stage, McIntosh integrated amp and ART speakers.

Steve Miller was playing as we entered and was sounding very crisp, good timing and deep solid bass guitar. Storm effects quite convincing.  We were offered a choice of music and the kids chose London Grammar. The room host engaged with them really well, asking for their favourite track and asking if they'd heard it on vinyl before. They chise Hey Now and Strong.  These both sounded excellent but even on such a new album,  there were the horrible cracks and pops. Very little sign of surface noise though.  A touch bright at times but I think this could be tamed just by turning it down a bit.

outside there was a front baffle on display. From the front it looks like pretty alu trim. However, from behind you can see the sheer solidity of this panel and the milling work that goes into it. Reminded me of  seeing the wing spar machining at Airbus. Very good to see some decent looking engineering. Last time I heard McIntosh and ART the thing was dire, but with a different turntable and in a different room of course.  This room put that right and was in the top 5 of the day.