By: Ferdinand Sy
Though many upon hearing the phrase British Sound will automatically visualize BBC-influenced LS3/5a – and they’ll be right by the way. But there’s more to the British Sound than the result of BBC’s research into loudspeakers back in the 1970s that led to the widespread use of mineral-filled polypropylene and Bextrene loudspeaker cones because they tend to be tonally neutral. Which sadly immortalized the phrase “The Dead BBC Sound” describing BBC-designed LS3/5a plastic coned loudspeakers as being dead-sounding, lifeless, or dynamically flat. Given the BBC’s quest for neutrality above all had made them decide not to air a Gaza Aid advert on their networks back in January 2009 can only attest to that. Earning the “Beeb” tons of criticism like their “Dead BBC Sound”. Fortunately, there are other aspects of the British Sound that most – if not all – audiophiles still talk about.
The Quad II amplifier and the original Quad ESL electrostatic loudspeaker (the 1957 ESL-57) is one of those aspect of the British Sound that most audiophiles who live in other parts of the world hold in reverence. The Quad II amplifier’s design is often praised for being a product of British post-World War II frugality and sensibility - which some often cite as the timelessness of the famed tube amplifier design. By paring it with the original Quad Electrostatic – and even with the newer Quad ESL-63 or its 21st Century variants – many swear that audio designer Peter Walker really did achieve the closest approach to natural sound.
Those large 15-inch Tannoy dual concentric speakers, usually on a plank of wood propped up against the wall and a home built single-ended tube amp good for a couple of watts that started the British DIY audio in the first place. The speaker manufacturer Tannoy – named after their famous World War I – era tantalum alloy rechargeable batteries for portable tube/valve based wireless equipment – couldn’t have been any more British when it comes to the do-it-yourself aspect of the British Sound that gained worldwide acclaim.
Those family-car-sized Living Voice horn loaded loudspeakers and their variants, though somewhat a bit expensive for most British audio enthusiasts during the Golden Age of Stereo, it nevertheless contributed to the mystique – albeit a factual one – to the superiority of UK-made audio gear. Well-heeled Japanese audiophiles never seem to get enough of these though, especially during the single-ended triode revival of the 1990s.
An all Naim system, even though many hi-fi enthusiasts have found it wanting in terms of timbral accuracy when playing back musical instruments. It has nonetheless become the most popular aspect of the famed British Sound. Though in my opinion I’ve always seen all Naim set-ups as nothing more than a solid-state – and a less timbrally accurate – version of a Quad II amp driving a very efficient horn loaded loudspeaker. Nonetheless, many audiophiles see it as a more exciting incarnation than the “Dead BBC Sound” ideology of the polypropylene-coned LS3/5a.
The Flat Earth hi-fi ideology is probably an aspect of the British Sound that while promoting the importance of pace, rhythm, and timing, it seriously endangered the existence of the aspect of the British Sound that was established during the Golden Age of Stereo. Like those low powered tube / valve amplifiers driving sensitive loudspeakers. Made popular by a now defunct hi-fi publication called The Flat Response, which advocated the use of Linn speakers and extolling the idea that the first priority of an audio system is the way it plays rhythms. This caused many British audio enthusiasts to junk their Leaks, Pye Mozarts, Radfords, and other low-powered tube amps unable to drive those gruesomely inefficient early 1980s flat earth speakers. Selling their tube / valve-based heirlooms instead to Far Eastern hi-fi enthusiasts.
Even though it is only tenuously related to hi-fi, the 1962 Marshall JTM45 has been referred by every high-decibel electric guitarists around the world as the British Sound. Though Marshall amps had been born in the UK and many British Invasion-era bands have staked their fame and fortune on this classic Marshall amp, the 1962 Marshall JTM45 nevertheless qualifies as a true aspect of the famed British Sound. Even the early 1990s-era Iron Maiden guitarist Jannick Gers have searched high and low back then for a skilled Marshall shop to make his 230-watt Marshall amp louder while still sounding like a 1962 Marshall JTM45. I wonder if he ever succeeded?
So there you have it, the various aspects of the British Sound – that I currently know of. If anyone out there knew some parts that I have inadvertently omitted, please drop me a line. Or if there is already a 1,000-paged book about the history of the British Sound, please give me the details on how I can acquire one.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Audiophile Geographic
By: Ferdinand Sy
Yes, it is not a myth that audiophiles around the world tend to have geographically specific tastes and / or preferences. The “preferential” phenomenon is by no means geographically localized by any sense of the word. But a typical audiophile’s preference – wherever in the world he or she may live - can be specifically traced to a particularly geographically localized hi-fi zeitgeist.
Have you ever heard of the “British Sound”? Yes, it does exist and it is a real socially quantifiable phenomenon despite of the overwhelming hordes of non-audiophiles dismissing its existence. Many seasoned audiophiles – especially those who are entrenched in the hi-fi press – cite the existence of the British Sound because Britain had been making hi-fi kit longer (since the end of World War II) and in greater variety than other nations. And also, a typical British audiophile has a living room that does double duty as a listening room which can be described as medium sized in world terms. Has wooden floors and walls made of either plaster or brick.
British audiophiles tend to prefer a more upbeat sound in comparison to their counterparts elsewhere in the world. Hence the term “pace, rhythm, and timing” – the three qualities that seem to be in abundance of a typical British hi-fi system. The British Sound is typified in its more contemporary incarnation of an all Naim system – i.e. the source (CD, tuner, and turntable), amplification, and speakers are made by UK-based hi-fi manufacturer called Naim.
On the other side of the English Channel, the French seem to prefer a more efficient and very exuberant sounding systems that are typically characterized by efficient loudspeakers and somewhat expensive (over 3,000 US dollars) solid-state integrated amplifiers that seldom exceed 50 watts. While the Germans, on the other hand, like a relatively “forward” balance – i.e. an audio system that has really generous sounding midrange frequencies. Another characteristic of most German audio gear tends to be over-engineered to achieve an excellent sound quality that they usually become too expensive for the average European audiophile.
Across the Atlantic, American audiophiles seem to go for firepower above all. Thus preferring instead to operate their British tube amps in pentode and ultralinear mode to achieve higher wattage – as opposed to the more musically friendly triode mode. While in the other side of the Pacific, the Japanese prefer a silky relaxed balanced that in order to achieve their hi-fi preference, the Japanese probably invented the Rubicon Black Gate capacitor and started a single-ended triode revival in the 1970s in order to achieve this.
Even though the preferences of audiophiles can be traced to a particular region in the globe, it is by no means that their sonic tastes follow strict geographical delineation. Your typical Japanese audiophile usually has a collection of American and British vintage audio gear that dates back to the 1950s and the 1960s – i.e. The Golden Age of Stereo. Another very sought after vintage audio gear in Japan is the German-made EMT 927 broadcast turntable built in the early 1950s. So your typical Japanese audiophile can not only be described as having a very egalitarian UN-like preference when it comes to hi-fi, but there are also doing more to preserve the American and the British hi-fi heritage than either the Americans and the British themselves. Unbelievable!
Yes, it is not a myth that audiophiles around the world tend to have geographically specific tastes and / or preferences. The “preferential” phenomenon is by no means geographically localized by any sense of the word. But a typical audiophile’s preference – wherever in the world he or she may live - can be specifically traced to a particularly geographically localized hi-fi zeitgeist.
Have you ever heard of the “British Sound”? Yes, it does exist and it is a real socially quantifiable phenomenon despite of the overwhelming hordes of non-audiophiles dismissing its existence. Many seasoned audiophiles – especially those who are entrenched in the hi-fi press – cite the existence of the British Sound because Britain had been making hi-fi kit longer (since the end of World War II) and in greater variety than other nations. And also, a typical British audiophile has a living room that does double duty as a listening room which can be described as medium sized in world terms. Has wooden floors and walls made of either plaster or brick.
British audiophiles tend to prefer a more upbeat sound in comparison to their counterparts elsewhere in the world. Hence the term “pace, rhythm, and timing” – the three qualities that seem to be in abundance of a typical British hi-fi system. The British Sound is typified in its more contemporary incarnation of an all Naim system – i.e. the source (CD, tuner, and turntable), amplification, and speakers are made by UK-based hi-fi manufacturer called Naim.
On the other side of the English Channel, the French seem to prefer a more efficient and very exuberant sounding systems that are typically characterized by efficient loudspeakers and somewhat expensive (over 3,000 US dollars) solid-state integrated amplifiers that seldom exceed 50 watts. While the Germans, on the other hand, like a relatively “forward” balance – i.e. an audio system that has really generous sounding midrange frequencies. Another characteristic of most German audio gear tends to be over-engineered to achieve an excellent sound quality that they usually become too expensive for the average European audiophile.
Across the Atlantic, American audiophiles seem to go for firepower above all. Thus preferring instead to operate their British tube amps in pentode and ultralinear mode to achieve higher wattage – as opposed to the more musically friendly triode mode. While in the other side of the Pacific, the Japanese prefer a silky relaxed balanced that in order to achieve their hi-fi preference, the Japanese probably invented the Rubicon Black Gate capacitor and started a single-ended triode revival in the 1970s in order to achieve this.
Even though the preferences of audiophiles can be traced to a particular region in the globe, it is by no means that their sonic tastes follow strict geographical delineation. Your typical Japanese audiophile usually has a collection of American and British vintage audio gear that dates back to the 1950s and the 1960s – i.e. The Golden Age of Stereo. Another very sought after vintage audio gear in Japan is the German-made EMT 927 broadcast turntable built in the early 1950s. So your typical Japanese audiophile can not only be described as having a very egalitarian UN-like preference when it comes to hi-fi, but there are also doing more to preserve the American and the British hi-fi heritage than either the Americans and the British themselves. Unbelievable!
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