Tír Na HiFi

Well,well well it's nice to be vindicated! The amp(s) that I was raving about on the old Forum got an Editors Choice
in this months Hi Fi News, specifically the Series 7 Power amp; So myself and Noel (Cloney) weren't imagining things
after all! Good old Glenn :) Beats me why they didn't review it with it's partnering pre, the Micro 25.. Anyway I found
out by complete accident whilst browsing and I ended up having to buy the darned rag :) BTW yis should read it as it's
a typical Kessler sizzler and very funny in places.

Nice to see the Micro 25/Series 7 get some visibility in the US. Some very positive reviews here.

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/croft-pair/
http://www.avguide.com/review/croft-aco ... er-tas-213

mcq wrote:Nice to see the Micro 25/Series 7 get some visibility in the US. Some very positive reviews here.

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/croft-pair/
http://www.avguide.com/review/croft-aco ... er-tas-213

Paul, you have made my night! Cannot wait to read it later in more detail :-))))))

My pleasure, Dermot. Hope the Crofts are sounding as good as ever.

mcq wrote:My pleasure, Dermot. Hope the Crofts are sounding as good as ever.

The Crofts continue to amaze and enthrall in equal measure leaving me with a sound I shall be happy with until the day where the heat of the sun no longer scares me ;-) I read both reviews and even though I was familiar with the Tone Publication review, I most certainly wasn't with the TAS one! To paraphrase Beckett slightly : I'll read it. I'll read it again. And again. And again.....and wonder why nobody will realise that these innocuous looking amps are the bargain of the century, any century.....Thanks again Paul, you've lifted my spirits sky high! Hope you're enjoying your new Anniversary Lavardin too....

Finally I'll leave you with two sections from the TAS review which tellingly says it all :

And something more, an ace up the Crofts’ collective sleeve which I’ve withheld until now: an ability to throw a three dimensional soundstage unsurpassed by any electronics I’ve used regardless of cost or complexity for sheer spatial integrity and solidity in the literal sense of stereophonic. This Carmen as staged for the microphone is one of the most convincing sonic recreations of a theatrical event I know. I’d be hard pressed to imagine even multichannel capable of a spatial presentation more holographic, and I’ve rarely heard it re presented with better focus, precision, and organic wholeness than from these Crofts. For all I know, their ability in this regard may be as much an artifact as their tendency toward romance, but if so, it’s a powerfully persuasive one that reaps considerable dividends in musical realism, however it may veer from absolute accuracy.




But cults have built up around components as distinctive as the Crofts, so I suggest you audition them, but only at your peril. If you are seduced—as I surely was—nothing anywhere near their cost and maybe nothing else period will quite reproduce their particular garden of delights, more heavenly no doubt than earthly, by which I mean, than real. But how many music lovers will complain of that?

That would be my dream second system. With some very good bookshelf speakers... Which speakers do people recommend with these amps?

There really is something delightful about a relatively modest piece of kit performing very well, in fact performing better than what would be expected against much more expensive systems. I think its something about the Irish psychic which has an affinity to the "underdog" which is nipping at the heals and sometimes surpassing the performance of topdog.

In addition there seems to be a sort of nostalgic relationship around Mr Croft and his products, which Cybot seems to understand much more than the rest of us.

I think that power amp you have there Cybot looks really great, all those valves sticking out the top, with the cage pushed to one side. What is the number of the big valve in the middle, any ideas? The new Croft gear reminds me of the old Audiolab amplifiers, anybody remember those, there was one the 8000LX, which was a line only amp, about 60W, it had a oblong on off button on the right, with the input and volume dials on the left.



Alas, I have found that I enjoyed my budget hi fi set up times much more than my more professional current set up. Maybe it was because life had less worries / problems then than it has now. Or maybe it was because it was just great to have a hi fi set up which was much better than the previous one, while still in the budget class and the allowance for upgrading was still very much there. A sort of enjoying "budget underdog status" while still knowing serious upgrading was a real possibility.

Unfortunately I think this sense of anticipation, excitment, reduces as more expensive upgrades occur. The more money one puts into the system, the more reduced your possibilities for future changes become. Unless of course your salary also goes up by double digit percentages every few years, which might happen for some of us, but I would imagine this does not happen for the majority.

While I am not in upgrade territory at the moment, and to be honest with the way things are going I will just batten down the hatches for the next 12 months I often wonder, if I did upgrade... would I be more happier than I was 10 years ago?

hmmmm.........decisions decisions...

Adrian wrote:There really is something delightful about a relatively modest piece of kit performing very well, in fact performing better than what would be expected against much more expensive systems. I think its something about the Irish psychic which has an affinity to the "underdog" which is nipping at the heals and sometimes surpassing the performance of topdog.

In addition there seems to be a sort of nostalgic relationship around Mr Croft and his products, which Cybot seems to understand much more than the rest of us.

I think that power amp you have there Cybot looks really great, all those valves sticking out the top, with the cage pushed to one side. What is the number of the big valve in the middle, any ideas? The new Croft gear reminds me of the old Audiolab amplifiers, anybody remember those, there was one the 8000LX, which was a line only amp, about 60W, it had a oblong on off button on the right, with the input and volume dials on the left.



Alas, I have found that I enjoyed my budget hi fi set up times much more than my more professional current set up. Maybe it was because life had less worries / problems then than it has now. Or maybe it was because it was just great to have a hi fi set up which was much better than the previous one, while still in the budget class and the allowance for upgrading was still very much there. A sort of enjoying "budget underdog status" while still knowing serious upgrading was a real possibility.

Unfortunately I think this sense of anticipation, excitment, reduces as more expensive upgrades occur. The more money one puts into the system, the more reduced your possibilities for future changes become. Unless of course your salary also goes up by double digit percentages every few years, which might happen for some of us, but I would imagine this does not happen for the majority.

While I am not in upgrade territory at the moment, and to be honest with the way things are going I will just batten down the hatches for the next 12 months I often wonder, if I did upgrade... would I be more happier than I was 10 years ago?

hmmmm.........decisions decisions...

That's a lovely piece of writing Adrian! You've hit so many nails on the head I don't know where to start! I'll start with the big valve in the middle of the old Croft Series 5 power amp: as far as I remember it's an 85A2 Regulator valve - it's unmarked, you see. Went trawling through some of the old reviews I have but unfortunately the big one doesn't get a mention!

You mention budget gear and one's reduced level of expectation and therefore higher levels of enjoyment while dreaming about the ultimate system. While Croft gear is budget priced it most definitely doesn't have a 'budget' sound, whatever that means! Anyway in my opinion as you go further up the ladder you get into a more 'personalised' sound as evinced by the designer which then has to have an almost perfect synergistic relationship with it's partnering equipment etc etc
You can slot the likes of Croft gear into almost any system and it will still sound as it should because of it's beautifully balanced nature ie neither too transparent or too warm, just right....

As regards whether you'd be more happier with a current upgrade than you were 10 years ago, I would say most definitely as long you know what you are looking for and can get the all important synergy cookin'! Get it wrong then it's time to get back into that time machine! Seriously though our rose tinted nostalgia for previous systems can and does get in the way. Our sound memory is notoriously unreliable as anyone here can vouch for. Try doing a component A-B demo after,say, a half an hour and you'll be thoroughly confused unless the differences are dramatic...Anyway that's neither here nor there and all I can say is that it's not an easy ride when one mounts the ever revolving and bumpy hi fi carousel! What is your current system anyway Adrian?

Claus wrote:That would be my dream second system. With some very good bookshelf speakers... Which speakers do people recommend with these amps?

Any decent bookshelf speaker is fine with a Croft IMO. I've heard Proac, Epos, Spendor, Castle and System Audio sound good with the current Croft gear....

Interesting comments there Cybot, "sound memory" "personalised design, synergy cookin" etc.

Perhaps you are right, nostalgia getting in the way etc etc.

Well currently I still have the B&W 801's with which I am very happy with. To be honest I cannot ever see myself changing from them, unless the wife gets out a serious set of thumb screws and threatens to deport me to Guantanamo.

I am currently using a Chinese amplifier Ming Da MC 3008 AB which is a 40W integrated running 805 power tubes with 300B valves.





This amp has two line inputs and no tape loop. However it sounds great and Caramel prisoner (10,000hz Air) sounds really great. I have since bought two more 805 (FU-5) power tubes on ebay, as these valves run hot and eventually the thorium tungsten filament does go. I got them new for about 150E, there was a set of Marconi 805's for over 350E which was out my range, and as ken Moreland and Ivor mentioned sometimes the cheaper Chinese valves sound better!!



Wavac also have a 805 amplifier, I would imagine you would require deep pockets for one of these,



In addition I managed to get into Cloneys during the snow and give the Unison Research Unico CD a go with which I am happy with at the moment.

But my main problem is time, I rarely have the time to listen at the moment, however hopefully that will change next year.