. BAGKLIS'I'
LISTINGS
We’ve assumed a basic -‘ system consists of CD player, amplifier and speakers. Some shops will do you a special deal on a complete system or throw in extras like connecting cables, so it’s always worth asking. The best buys detailed here are those recommended by the shops themselves.
W equipment and some forays into the top end. The shop is popular with grant
I Ni-Fi Corner 52 Gordon Street, 248 2840. Mid- to upper-range, but stocking less of the really esoteric equipment than it used to. A basic separates system would start at around £350 and midi-systems from £270. Popular brands include Denon, Technics and Mission. There are two demonstration rooms. Current best buy they recommend is the Technics SLPG 4-40 CD player at £170.
I iii-Fl Select 145 Bath Street, 226 4268. Formerly HioFi Experience, this shop is part of the Hi-Fi Corner group and concentrates on ‘the upper end of the mid- range to the lower end of the top‘.
towards the budget end, with NAD and Denon two fast selling brands. It doesn't sell midis and a basic separates system starts at around £500. They recommend
Hl-Fl
the Aiwa ADF 410 cassette deck at £120 as a consistently good buy. There are two demonstration rooms.
I Bill Hutchinson 43 Hope Street, 248 2857. Mainly mid-range equipment - you could buy a basic separates system or midi from around £300 —- moving towards the top-end, but nothing too exotic. it's part of a chain. which means frequent special deals on tnost major brands, but in a proper hi-fi shop environment. Pioneer PDS 801 CD at £200 is a recommended value-for-money deal. It also specialises in home entertainment systems.
I Janos Kerr 8 Co 98 Woodlands Road. 332 0988. One of the oldest hi-ft shops in Glasgow and now part of the ubiquitous Hi-Fi Comer group. Basic systems start at around £400 and Denon midis from £700. Denon and Kenwood are fast-selling Japanese brands with British equipment coming in slightly further up the scale with Arcam amps. This a solidly mid- range shop with selected budget
cheque-wielding students and offers a discount with a matriculation card.
'_ I Victor Morris 340 Argyle Street, 221
8958. This shop unashamedly caters for the budget end of the hi-fi spectrum, while still selling some serious separates. A basic system would start at around £350
a but it also sells secondhand equipment so ; you could pick up something much I cheaper, with CD players starting at £60.
NAD and Aiwa are the shop’s staple
I separates brands and it also has some : midis. ‘ I The Music lloom 98 Bath Street, 332
However it is currently extending its reach
5012. This shop doesn‘t stock the ‘cheap
and cheerful‘ end of the market and starts
‘ somewhere the near the beginning of mid-
; range and goes right up to top end equipment. A basic system costs upwards
Free
Demonstrations
Free
Delivery and Installation
From
a range of the best sounding British made Hi-Fi separates.
Whether you want the very best or a modest system we have the products to suit your needs.
Give us a try, you may be surprised, at
Russ Andrews Hi-Fi
34 Northumberland Street, Edinburgh EH3 6LS 031-557 1672
I Was A Teenage Armchair Amstrad Music Centre Fanatic. It’s true, in the lost decade oi music technological advancement that ensued aiter the death oi the eight-track cartridge in 1969, the Music Centre was the state- oi-the-arteiact to enjoy pride oi place in the shag-piled ilock-wallpapered lounges oi the great and chic. We shall never see its like again.
A sleek and dubioust-wired combination oi cassette deck, tuner and turntable in one attractive plastic and ‘wood-eiiect’ moulding, the Music Centre was the adult answer to the teenage oansette, capable oi playing only one album at a time but the natural medium tor the James last, Bert Kaemplert or Manuel And Ills Music 0i The Mountains lPs that dominated the taste oi thirtysomething suburbia at the time.
The prime exponent oi this slice oi
RETURN TO CENTRE
British ingenuity in not-so-miniature was the deceptively Teutonic- sounding iinn oi Amstrad, working out of an industrial estate in South-East Essex. Dismantling an Amstrad Music Centre (as many oi as did in those heady days oi punk) was like unpeeling the social iabric oi Britain: beneath the giant silvery knobs and huge speaker casings lurked recycled chipboard and cardboard bass drivers. The cassette deck had a nasty habit oi absorbing spilt Cinzano as we irugged to Paper lace, and the tuner got stuck on Radio luxembourg aiter three weeks. Amstrad were obviously on to a winner, and branched out into reliable word prxceszytrs and buying Spurs. There’s a moral there somewhere. (Tom Kaempiert)
Amstrad Music Centres are currently available at a car boot sale near you.
of £500 but no midis — they believe that after a demo of separates, you won‘t want to buy one. At the lower end of the price scale the Arcam Alpha amp at £230 and Marantz CD52 at £300 are recommended buys. There is a listening room and customers, particularly those considering a high-end purchase, can borrow equipment to try at home.
I liobert Smith 113 Union Street, 248 5242. Firmly aimed at the budget to mid- range market with a basic separates system from £350 and midis from as little as £200. Sony, NAD and Yamaha are popular brands with the Marantz CD52 at £230 one of their recommended buys. This shop covers the crossover between hi-fi and audio visual with a wide range of TVs and videos. A Marantz surround- sound system from £280 is a cheap way into “home cinema‘.
I Stereo Stereo 278 St Vincent Street. 248 4079. Serious hi-ft shop for music- lovers that prides itself on not ‘running the place like a supermarket’, but promises not to blind you with science either. A basic separates system starts at
, around £600 or £500 for a midi. The ' emphasis is on finding alternatives to
mass market Japanese equipment with Naim and Linn amongst the shop’s mainstays. There are three demonstration rooms set up to resemble different-sized living rooms and there is a fourteen~day refund scheme if you decide you don’t like something when you get it home.
EDINBURGH
I Buss Andrews ill-Fl 34 Northumberland Street, 557 1672. Stocks some mid-range separates (no midis) but the emphasis is on serious hi-fi equipment with customers encouraged to spend plenty of time listening to different set-ups in its two demonstration rooms. (You can try stuff at home too.) A basic system starts at around £800 with popular brands including Linn (the LP-12 from £1000 has remained a benchmark turntable in the hi-fi world for years), Naim and Rega. Certainly not the cheapest shop in town, but Russ Andrews prides itself on offering best sound quality for the rice.
I Cart 17 Shandwick Place, 229 2522. Also at 386 Momingside Road, 447 9609 and 10 Hamilton Place 225 1771. This is Edinburgh's only dealer of Bang & Olufsen, which specialises in up-market hi-fi intended to appeal to the eye as well as the ear. 8&0 has reclaimed the term
‘music centre’ and its systems start at £1000. The shop also sells some . separates, mainly Sony and Philips,
starting at around £600 for a basic system and mini/midis from around £250. They currently recommend the Grundig Mini 10 at £380. I Ni-Fi Corner Rose Street Pedestrian Precinct. 220 1535. Similar to the Glasgow shop with slight variations on the brands stocked (see above). Also at 1 Haddington Place. 556 7901 which stocks more of the higher range equipment (see Hi-Fi Select in Glasgow). I Bill Hutchinson 43 South Clerk Street. 667 2877. See Glasgow for details. I In Ni-Fi 8—10 Bakers Place (comer of St Stephen Street), 225 8854. Prices start in the middle of the mid-range and head up towards the five grand mark for an amp. A basic separates system starts at £500 and a combination of a Marantz 53 CD and PM 44 amp with Mission 760i speakers, is a special deal currently on offer at that price. Yamaha and Meridian are also popular brands but no midis. There are three demonstration rooms but In Hi-Fi also specialises in wiring whole houses for sound, at a cost of £3000 upwards. The more modestly-priced Arcam Alpha amp at £230 is a currently reccomended as a best buy. I The Music Mill 72 Newhaven Road. 555 3963. Still in its first year, this is less of a shop and more of a consultancy. lt specialises in European makes you're unlikely to have heard of. including DNM and Micromega. No midis and a basic separates system starts at around £600. though people have been known to spend £25,000 apparently. An Audio Innovations Alto amp at £300 is a bit more affordable and highly recommended. I Richer Sounds lb Chambers Street, 226 3544. Well-known for its no-frills approach, promising to sell you anything in stock £10 cheaper than any other shop in the area. You can take equipment back within fourteen days ifyou don't like it. A basic separates system starts from as little as £180, with most mass-market brands in stock. The Philips CD-950 at £199 is a current good deal. A Glasgow shop is promised in the Spring. I Andrew Thomson 195 Momingside Road, 447 5229. Also at 161 St Johns Road, 334 6465. Mainly budget and mid- range with a separates system starting from £400 and midis from £230. Technics, Kenwood and Denon are the shops' staples with the Marantz CD 53 at £200 currently recommended as a best buy. The shop also specialises in audio visual systems and sells a range of ‘home cinema‘ equipment.
78 The List 1 1—24 February 1994