The 4th World Designs  Forum Members’ Valve Audio Festival,
Saturday 18th November 2006,
Eggborough Power Station North Yorkshire.
 
Another Great Show.
Pulling into the car park of the giant Eggborough power plant at around 9am, my son Anthony and I stepped out into the stark autumnal light to be greeted by Ed Swift who had got there first and was already unloading his fine looking pair of folded Voight Pipes. More of which later.
 
Steve had organised two rooms for this show; a large hall ideal for the big open baffle speakers we knew were coming and a much smaller room for the more compact variety of speaker. The idea was that each system should have an equal chance of showing off its best qualities in a reasonably sympathetic environment.
 
As we continued to unload the car into the small room, more people started arriving. Greetings exchanged, acquaintances renewed. Lots of new faces around and plenty of interesting looking gear being disgorged from sundry car boots into both rooms every few minutes. It looked like another great day was on the cards. So.... let’s get on with the report.
 
Al Newall, Phil (Pre65) and Tony Moore.
Here’s Al Newall  showing his latest speakers.
He had transplanted his Audio Nirvana drivers into a pair of Martin King tapered Quarter Wave Tubes.
 
Although they were only test beds constructed quickly from MDF the sound they produced was excellent.
 
Al was looking for a suitable amp to drive the speakers as his T amp sounded too thin and bass light with them.
 
 
 
 
Philip (pre65) duly obliged with his cool looking 832 “el cheapo” single-ended amp.
 
This had been Phil’s first build. Not being a big fan of breadboarding, Phil had made every effort to make sure that his amp was reasonably good looking whilst at the same time being easy to work on and modify as required.
 
Phil has used a modular approach to this design with the PSU and driver/power stages mounted,as you can see, on individual aluminium chassis’ that can be taken out and worked on at will. Countersunk fixings maintain the clean streamlined looks. I think Phil has definitely succeeded with his design objectives. His work is unusual and eye-catching and I think he ought to continue to refine this white/aluminium theme with his future designs. It is a refreshing change from the usual tube amp visual concepts. It sounds very nice as well. The Apple Macintosh of amps indeed.
 
Fed by Tony Moore’s Squeezebox and handsome blue-lit home designed DAC, the combination of Phil’s 832s and Al’s Quarter wave pipes produced a lovely clear open and unfatiguing sound, very reminiscent of my own Metronomes but without the need for a sub.
 
Al confided that although his wife had initially been a bit dubious about their appearance she was definitely coming round to them. Imagine these in oak or maple.....gorgeous.