Nothing like working on a Saturday, unless you love what you do. Passion, you see, is a persuasive audio mistress, and a word that is going to get a frequent outing in this report.
And the blame lies at the feet of Reference Audio, based in Witham, just off the high street (blink and you’ll miss the driveway, as our Editor did…twice 🙄).
The purpose was its Celebration of Analogue Music Day, which took us and guests on a journey from the recording studio, with production and mastering, through to the vinyl frontier, with engineering, philosophy and, of course, passion (I did warn you!) along the way.
The production side of the process was represented by Guy Sternberg of LowSwing Studio, together with one of his recent artists, Reema – brought together by Jason Ford, the Mastercut UK ambassador with some seriously good pressings to hand. The day offered live performances (can you get more analogue?) interspersed with stop-you-in-your-tracks hifi experiences.
The AVID A Team, we must have missed the matching outfits memo
An AVID listener
AVID was also there en masse with dedicated demos. And you only need spend a few minutes in the presence of company head honcho Conrad Mas to sense his continued passion for what he does and the results his gear brings (that’s three by the way, I hope you’re keeping count). He is someone who carefully considers every aspect of his art, and yes, I do think that is a suitable description.
Roll out the grey carpet…AVID’s in town
Conrad was first introduced to higher end turntables via Sugden’s BD Connoiseur, buying one from a friend after he decided to move on to other things. Here is where things take an inspiring turn, and I’ll leave you to find out more about that in Andrew’s interview last year.
AVID’s approach is all about controlling unwanted resonance, allowing the stylus to interact with the LP groove in an environment that is as free of extraneous frequencies as is possible.
To enable and test this, AVID has worked with universities and experts in technologies spanning metallurgy, paint, springs, resins and polymers – all in the pursuit of better sound. And it’s not simply a matter of which metals and materials are selected, but also the ways in which they are chosen, prepared and used.
Conrad is refreshingly free of technobabble, he relies on engineering principles plus first rate design and manufacturing, which frequently means bringing production in-house. Suffice-it-to-say, AVID equipment exudes quality.
At this point I found a rather fine looking pressing of Pink Floyd’s The Wall begging to be spun. With a line of three turntables, two integrateds plus a pre/power amp and a rather fine looking pair of speakers, the opportunity was too good to miss.
Rack ‘em up
The full AVID suite was comprised of its recently updated and most affordable Ingenium SE turntable (top left), partnered with Rega RB330 arm and Hana ML cartridge. Next up in the middleweight position was its Relveo deck with AVID’s Altus 2 tonearm and Ortofon 2M Black. And taking the vinyl top spot was the stunning Dark Iron, complete with AVID’s Nexus V2 tonearm (you’ll recall the MKI was our product of 2024) and Boron pick-up. We’ll be reviewing the latter deck in the coming weeks – so watch this space.
On amplifier duties was its Accent integrated (which we reviewed back in early 2025), followed by its more powerful (and also soon to be reviewed) Integra integrated. Topping off the trio was AVID’s soon to be formally released Opus pre/power combo, all driving AVID’s own Evo 2 loudspeakers, with AVID Platforms and its ASC speaker cable also in the mix.
The proof
With the gear all hooked up, we were able to progress up through AVID’s ranks via The Wall’s opening track, making comparisons along the way.
The Ingenium SE gave an excellent performance. Drums had punch, Wright lived to the right of the soundstage, while Gilmour did his trade-mark stuff. All this through the smallest of AVID’s amps (the Accent).
I was enjoying this.
So what was gained as we moved up the turntables? Resonance, drama and control.
Through the Relveo, the 3D imaging increased, with Waters standing further into the room – this despite the fact that we had moved from a moving-coil to a moving-magnet cartridge.
Conrad’s promise of his “turntable platforms being designed to get the best from the fitted cartridge” was being borne out in real time.
The Dark Iron, with one of the most stable bouncing suspension systems our Editor has experienced (if that’s not an oxymoron), showed its stuff. Its full capabilities really came to the fore when the Opus amps were called into action. Our time with this was just too short, and I feel a properly considered opinion is needed, if you know what I mean.
May the passion be with you
A few steps across the hall and here was another high-end system to savour, this time sporting an AMG deck and Nagra reel to reel feeding massive Gryphon amps and Marten speakers.
As Jason welcomed us, we exchanged “don’t I know you?” glances. My thought was, ‘ambassador indeed’.
Reema mid performance. It sounded like she was in the room…literally
But it wasn’t just the mouth watering hifi we were here for, it was also the live experience, brought to us by Reema and band. A singing artist whose husband is also a musician, and who had worked with Guy Sternberg, who now joined us, completing the circle from performance, to recording, to playback (all kept within the analogue domain).
Guy, Reema and Jason, with the latter clutching Reema’s latest live analogue LP: One For Sorrow, Two For Joy
These are two people who palpably live for their art. For Reema a recording session has to be as live as possible, so that the artists can play off one another, with a sympathetic studio and recording engineer being as important as the musicians.
Guy’s Berlin studio has been constructed to allow the performers it hosts to see and hear each other, whilst minimising reverb leakage.
If you fancy a vinyl treat then Reem’s LP is a superb quality pressing, available here
Their recent experiences also include recording a direct cut album in Abbey Road’s Studio 3. Wow.
Can doing a live recording lead to a tad more conservative performance?
“I expected that I might be a bit over-awed by being at the place where so much history had been made. But everyone there was just so supportive, from the technical staff to the people in the canteen. I felt almost cocooned and it wonderful experience, which allowed me to just give it my best”, says Reema.
As an aside, Guy normally takes two large suitcases of microphones and equipment to any session. Abbey Road provided a catalogue for Guy to choose from although as he’ll tell you, old equipment does not always perform as hoped. He should speak to my wife.
And the result? Passionate people creating an experience that is then made available to us. As I said to Reema, this is the point of great HiFi – emotional connection.
From a masterful performance to a Mastercut LP. The lights went down, as did the stylus. Nothing but utter silence ….until Ella started singing, right on cue. Well, this was simply excellent.
Ms Fitzgerald was then joined by Satchmo, and the fun ensued. Ella and Louis are mother’s milk to me, music my parents inculcated within me, but never quite like this. It’s amazing what can be done with old master-tapes…and a passion to get the best from them.
Never interrupt a man mid turntable set-up. Especially when wearing a head torch. Them the rules
The day ended with a track from Jack Savoretti, a live direct cut that reminded me of Joe Cocker, but with a better voice – I’ll await the hate mail.
Jason represents two vinyl brands, if you visit his site he maintains lists of their current albums. Excitingly there’s more main stream offerings on the way, including from the likes The Who, The Beach Boys and Cream, so stay tuned for more
To quote someone wiser than I, “I think this is going to cost me a lot of money”.
At this point Jason remembered where we had met, some twenty years before, when he looked less distinguished and my memory worked. An added bonus to a superb day.
A huge thanks to the Adam, Bob and the Reference Audio team, Conrad, AVID, Reema Jason, Guy and everyone who made it a day to remember.
