Gale Silver Monitors

The British have landed again here at Speakerholic headquarters with a pair of Gale Silver Monitors.

Relatively unheard of here, these speakers compete against the likes of Paradigm Atom's with the same size drivers and cabinets. These are a little higher end with Bi-amp wiring on the rear.

The bass performance is pretty impressive for such a small box, surprisingly so.

The side to side imaging is pretty good but not as deep on the front to rear imaging.

Very nice through the tube amplifier although at 88db in efficiency it is best suited for solid state.

Piano and guitar are reproduced nicely with the proper depth and decay in the piano cords. A little bit chesty in the reproduction of male vocals.

All in all this is a pretty impressive little offering from England and very suitable for a near field monitors, bedrooms or small apartments.

The full specs can be found on Gale's site.

Akai UC-U2 Amplifier

This nice little Akai unit showed up this week, the UC-U2 amplifier, this 23WPC unit is from the early 80's and would have come as part of the micro systems that where popular during that time.

The build quality is pretty good on the inside with a large toriodal transformer and pretty impressive 6800uf filter caps. For 23WPC this means it will be pretty stable under 4 ohm loads.

There is two tape monitor loops and a decent phono stage.

It is a pretty nice sounding unit for 23WPC with plenty of punch.

Compared to the earlier Akai AM-2450 it is not as nice sonically or visually, still it is a super cool little unit.

NAD Model 20 Speakers

Following up on the NAD Model 30 featured back in March 15, 2015, this pair of NAD Model 20's showed up this week.

NAD made two pairs of speakers (Model 20 and Model 30) and the philosophy was to produce the best speaker possible to rival the best audiophile speakers at their price point.

The Model 20 uses an 8 inch Braun woofer connected to a brilliant Braun dome tweeter.

These speakers punch well above their size with amazing bass response and fantastic imaging, not quite as good the Model 30 with the large mid range dome.

NAD only made the these speakers for a couple of years with Braun drivers, so these speakers are pretty rare.

Hooked up to a tube amp these speakers really shine over a solid state amp.

ESS Model 9 Speakers

A pair of ESS Model 9 speakers arrived this past week as I wanted to hear what the HEIL Air Motion Transformer sounded like with the tube amp.

I was not disappointed in the clarity and accuracy of the tweeter. It is in essence an electrostatic tweeter which creates a real "Air" about it. Paired with a tube amp and its clarity these little 2 wayspeaker with 8 inch woofers really shine. These speakers are pretty efficient so they match well with a Single Ended Tube amp.

The bass notes are a little lacking due to the cabinet size but the sound stage depth and imaging suggest that you are listening to a much larger speaker. Mid range and the highs are pleasant with absolute clarity that electrostatic drivers can do.

The cabinets in this pair are solidly built with a real oak veneer, this pair has seen some "Wabi Sabi" nicks and and bumps, but that tells me that they have been well enjoyed in the past. this pair has already seen a re foam by the previous owner.

On Solid state equipment these speakers do not shine as well as they do on the tube amp, something the previous owner never got to hear.

A new set of caps might be in order and I will open them up to see if they went cheap on the inside of the box.

Over all rating on these are as follows:

Match well on tube amp:  *****
Match well on solid state: ***
Depth of imaging: ****
Spacial imaging: ****
Build Quality: ****

Rotel RX-1603 Receiver

One of the King Daddy of the "Monster" receivers came my way, the Rotel RX-1603.

This offering from Rotel comes in two parts with the pre amp tuner up front and the massive power amp in the rear.

This unit was rated at 180WPC into 8 ohms and 250WPC into 4 ohms.

An absolute stunning unit and rare to come by, these were $1100 USD back in the 70's.

Another write up can be found on the Classic Receiver site.

Tannoy Mercury M2 Speakers

Another deal I could not resist is this "Best Buy" rated entry level pair of Tannoy speakers. Not the dual concentric or horn loaded Tannoy's but a budget conscious offering.

Another British designed and built speaker once again using a 6 1/2 woofer and a textile dome tweeter, this speaker has a beautiful cabinet and is very well built.

Not the super efficient Tannoy Oxford Gold that has become my reference speaker connected to the tube amp, but a surprisingly good little speaker that produces amazing bottom end and a clean clean sound.

Not the highest efficiency and the mi range is a little laid back but non the lesss a great speaker and tops all the other speakers in its class that I have sampled on this blog.

Aesthetically these are little beauties and have a high wife friendly factor.

There is plenty of info and reviews on these speakers on the internet, well impressed and very deserving of their "Best Buy" status for under 250 Pounds Sterling.

Wharfdale Delta 30 Speakers

This entry level Wharfedale Delta 30 came my way this week. A nice little 6 1/2" woofer with a textile dome tweeter.

This speaker is a pretty good offering sound wise although the lime green motif is not my favorite. these speakers are very neutral and a little shallow in the bass department. Women vocals are smooth and the sound is very British, very good in the mid range. Imaging was good for their size.

I am sure these competed well against the B&W DM100i, the Mission 700 Leading Edge, EPI A70 or the Acoustic Research AR 18B featured on this blog before. My favorite out of the bunch is the Acoustic Research AR 18B.

Now that I have the Rotel RX-830 back from repair these speakers would match up well with a British designed amp for a starter system.