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Hey Giancarlo, not sure how you see this as non-refined...I have no stake in the business but I can see that Blue Circle and AGY has been refining their craft for decades now. For sure this is for a specific user/consumer I agree, and maybe it's just semantics but I think you have to give credit to the continuous development.

I didn't bother doing a rinse, I had a drop of detergent in the whole bottle and I wiped it off afterwards. I suppose I can try a rinse and compare, do you find that it makes a difference?

@@davelistenstohifi No I did not find that it made a difference but those records were in really bad condition to begin with.

Hey 1999, thanks for watching! I am using a Nagaoka MP500, full equipment list is in the video description. Yes, better amplification has shown me how good my phono pre is, it keeps up with any improvement I make to the system. MC cartridge is something I'm looking into for future phono fun ;-)

@@davelistenstohifiThanks for reply, for many years I looked at & read about MC carts, the general rule is a low cost MC can have a harshness you won’t find on the higher end models. Maybe for the same $1,200 a MM will be much better sounding. I just purchased a used SME Model 10 Turntable from my local dealer that they just got it in as a trade, it came with a Lyra Skala MC cartridge mounted, in my wildest dreams I would have never bought a cartridge for that kind of money but it was part of the package so why not. Compared to my Grado Sonata it’s a different beast, not sure how much I’m hearing is the different Turntable. Always had floating Sub chassis and the SME is not. Trying to navigate what we hear and why is such joy in this crazy hobby.. Anyway, enjoy your day. 🫡

Maybe look at the Funky line?

Yes, unconventional build, but as I mentioned it's all done in the name of better sound and it's proven itself for decades now. I encourage a listen before you discount it!

Hey Donnie, that's amazing! I think that you will enjoy the amp, the AGY stuff is really built with care and is really capable of amazing sound.

Yes, many interesting details about the design, adjustments and upgrades available on the Angela Gilbert equipment. That's what I find so intriguing about the brand!

Thanks for watching. I want to be as objective and transparent as I can when talking about equipment, glad you enjoyed it!

My pleasure! This one turned out to be much deeper than I initially thought it might be. Thanks for tuning in.

Thanks for watching!

Yes, recommended to hear one of the AGY amps, especially if you have the option to add an SP cap pack, FCF or get one of the preamps with the interesting 'tone' adjustments!

Maybe suspicious, but I know Thomas has explored a service network and the amps have proven reliable so far...

Hi Jerry, There are 2 threaded inserts in the bottom horizontal panel, towards the back. My speakers came with feet that simply thread in and out to dial in the tilt back. It makes a big difference when you optimize the tilt, the speakers have limited vertical dispersion and it's important to get this right. Have you seen the directions on this in the manual? I can't find it now but I believe that the original recommendation was 4" tilt back, when measured from the top edge of the speaker to the bottom.

@ yeah I'm missing one of the threaded inserts and all the feet. I have been playing with the height with blocks and i have settled around that amount of tilt back. I have been dinking around with the ob for abt 2 years and was frustrated with getting everything right. Well i decided to go with some power hogs that i don't have to play with that much. Thanks for doing that video with Loic by the way. I laughed when i seen it and said to myself i should have done this to begin with

@ i haven't been able to find a manual for the first gen ones on setup of them. I found one with the listings for the parts for all the gens of them. I just got done polishing and cleaning them all up and was quite surprised by my wife loves them. I have been playing with the tilt with some wood blocks. Mine are missing one of the threaded inserts so i have some work to do yet on them and she's happy to shake the windows with these. I was told this is the best speaker i have brought home

Did I say it wrong haha

@@davelistenstohifi Yeah, just thought you'd like to know the correct pronunciation

When appropriate, yes!

I am glad you found it informative! Thanks for watching

I know, there was so much to talk about with the brand, very impressive ideas coming out of AGY

Hi Jason, thanks for watching and thank you for expressing that! Yes, a review of an Angela Gilbert piece is more complicated than just saying "this is the new NAD Master series" and talking about it.

For the batch of records that I just received, I will apply the wet solution 1 or 2 times per side, wipe it down 10x, dry with a cloth then 10 or so wipes with the carbon brush. The round brush I have found something similar on aliexpress for a few bucks, looks the same but I'm not sure if it is identical. I picked it up in one of the big department stores in Tokyo, they have EVERYTHING there!

I will take a chance on answering your concern. In order to understand how to repair any of my design. You can ask anyone who has repaired it. There aren't many and unfortunately one of them was Dan Santino of DTS Audio Electronics who passed away 2 years ago. He has repaired the most in the last 15 years and never need any document nor schematics from me. The only things he need was replacement part. The current person who has the most experience is Damien Norwick of Quark Audio. He has repair anything from 30 years ago to 10 years ago. Again, never need any document except replacement parts. The trick of the silicone is placement. Know what parts would go bad and where to put silicone and not to put them. It takes experience and skill to understand and I totally understand most of the audiophile would have hesitation. If you want to contact Damien to ask him his experience of repairing Blue Circle equipment, he has his own TH-cam channel and also active on Facebook.

The silicone can definitely be daunting to some for repair, but honestly it has become my favorite medium to work with as well. A lot of vintage components used plastic that snaps into place that tends to degrade over time, zip ties have their own issues in use and removal. Silicone is simple because it can be cut off and replaced where needed. If you see large amounts in any one area or on components such as capacitors, these are the ones with the smallest chance of failure. Silicone has fantastic tensile strength that keeps everything solidly in place while also offering vibration / resonance control.

Hey Peter, thanks for watching! I think the experts have answered the question regarding the silicone better than I could have ;-) I should have part 2 next week, keep tuned!

At this point it feels like I'm piling on, but having been both an Angela-Gilbert dealer and a Blue Circle dealer for the past 23 years, silicone has never been an impediment to a repair issue... not that repairs are very frequent with this stuff. As both Angel-Gilbert and Damien have both pointed out, silicone is easy to work with, and Angela-Gilbert equipment is very repairable in most cases.

Hey Peter, thanks for the kind words! If you don't understand some of the concepts, surely others are in the same situation. I'll try to explain the concepts further as I talk about them, hopefully I can bring some more understanding to my viewers. Yes, the Funky products are pretty out there visually, I am also curious to know how well they actually perform. If the i802 is any indication, they should be pretty good.

Is it "too" funky to be good? Absolutely not - it's just funky enough 😁. What people need to understand is that the Funky is a slightly lower powered i800 in a reclaimed chassis with some of the infrastructure being re-used in the new build. The up-cycled chassis allows Angela-Gilbert to make a bit of an artistic statement, but the Funky should be taken seriously. It was created to provide an entry level product at a more reasonable price, but performs well above its price point. This is not a product for everybody to be sure, but those that have them like them a lot. I believe the last system that Dave listened to had a Funky in it. Maybe he would care to weigh in with his opinion?

The last system I listened to was the i800, which I really liked. If the Funky is like that, then it should be amazing!

@@davelistenstohifi I appreciate the further info on the "Funky" series. The i802 is a bit beyond my budget & it is nice he is recycling old components & making them more affordable. My question still is, in future if the internals are covered in so much silicone how can they be serviced in future?

See the previous comment on this, the silicone is pretty much negligible in affecting the future serviceability of these amps. In my particular case, the i800 may be better sounding for me than the i802, and if the Funkys are comparable to the i800 and in your budget, then I recommend you seek one out!

Hi Jon, yes I got that same sense about AGY. I am happy that they are able to go about creating the way they do, that there is a market that is supported for their components. Makes it better for all of us, I think!

Thanks Carmine! Yes, they are unique and that is why I sought them out originally. I'm glad that I was able to try the i802, it is a great piece and i'm looking forward to give my opinions in part 2.

@ I look forward to seeing it 👍

Hello RobJames, check the video at 4:40...Just wondering what your objections to amps made in China is? The TS A20 is made in Canada though. Thanks for watching!

​@@davelistenstohifi lol where do I start, theres so much horrible facts about china, that makes me sick, and disgusted. I despise those tiny commies and the fact that much of our imports now come from there. really ticks me off. in all honesty I wanna like this amp but I cant because of the price range and the horrible fact that they're made in communist china the same china that created and released the bio weapon we shall not name because that word police on here aka the youtube overlords we remove this that same bio weapone they released caused a plague that ended my fathers life along with many other peoples loved ones. if that wasn't bad enough we're been in a cold war with china for many years, theyve been spying on USA from cuba. they've been using cyber war fair as well. when you get over a certain price point you shouldn't be buying anything from china. the same china that forcing child labor camps and abusing them!!, the same china that abuses Muslims even after throwing them in concentration camps in china for muslims, google "China's Repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang" .. ask yourself why is the media not reporting on this horrible truth. its most obvious. I cannot as a man of God condone what the commies of china are up to. and neither should you. its extremely evil and unacceptable to say the least. Because of that fact I must boycott all chinese made products, also china is making billions sending their Fentanyl into USA which is causing 100+ thousand drug overdose each year. many of them are kids! thanks to the open borders of this corrupt admin'.. we must bring back our manufacturing from china to help our economy grow, not theirs. now china wants to buy our biggest steel plant!. ask yourself why does china want to own our steel plants, and our cell phones towers and our land and our electronics. God forbid if we are dragged into war with china, we are screwed. they know exactly what theyre doing to become the worlds superpower leader along with russian whos their ally, china and russia are not out for our best interests , but foolish careless americans seemingly only care about buyin cheap crap from china, far too much of our most important manufacturing has gone to china, most thanks to the corrupt Clintons through the 2000 china trade deal under the BS lie that it would help our economy, but it only made things worse while the DC swamp rats made $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

​@@davelistenstohifi lol where do I start, theres so much horrible facts about china, that makes me sick, and disgusted. I despise those tiny commies and the fact that much of our imports now come from there. really ticks me off. in all honesty I wanna like this amp but I cant because of the price range and the horrible fact that they're made in communist china the same china that created and released the bio weapon we shall not name because that word police on here aka the youtube overlords we remove this that same bio weapone they released caused a plague that ended my fathers life along with many other peoples loved ones. if that wasn't bad enough we're been in a cold war with china for many years, theyve been spying on USA from cuba. they've been using cyber war fair as well. when you get over a certain price point you shouldn't be buying anything from china. the same china that forcing child labor camps and abusing them!!, the same china that abuses Muslims even after throwing them in concentration camps in china for muslims, google "China's Repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang" .. ask yourself why is the media not reporting on this horrible truth. its most obvious. I cannot as a man of God condone what the commies of china are up to. and neither should you. its extremely evil and unacceptable to say the least. Because of that fact I must boycott all chinese made products, also china is making billions sending their Fentanyl into USA which is causing 100+ thousand drug overdose each year. many of them are kids! thanks to the open borders of this corrupt admin'.. we must bring back our manufacturing from china to help our economy grow, not theirs. now china wants to buy our biggest steel plant!. ask yourself why does china want to own our steel plants, and our cell phones towers and our land and our electronics. God forbid if we are dragged into war with china, we are screwed. they know exactly what their doing to become the worlds superpower leader along with russian whos their ally, china and russia are not out for our best interests , but foolish careless americans seemingly only care about buyin cheap crap from china, far too much of our most important manufacturing has gone to china, most thanks to the corrupt Clintons through the 2000 china trade deal under the BS lie that it would help our economy, but it only made things worse while the DC swamp rats made $$$$$$$$$$$, oh who can forget the 3+ chinese spy balloons that were allowed to fly over the entire country

Yes, bad people can be found everywhere...I agree that the central government in some countries can be much more objectionable than others, but really if you compare the actual policies and actions it is hard to say who are the good guys sometimes. If we just look at the individual companies, their policies and conditions vary as much as individual countries do, and I know that these products are sourced from one of the good ones. It's up to you to spend your money where you like, often I think that's our real democratic power, and not voting every few years. Draw the line where you feel comfortable, make informed decisions and above all enjoy the music!!

​@@davelistenstohifi if you are still supporting china after all they've done by way of buying their crap you are in turn saying "I dont care what you do, I will still support you" and they know that, because they know some Americans are very cheap. we must start a huge chinese made boycott and bring back our much needed manufacturing to help our economy more so instead of theirs. its not rocket science and its not my fault that so many hate to hear the harsh truth. Americans have become far too dependent on cheap chinese crap china knows that. I hope Pres' Trump hits them with the most tariffs ever. theres plenty of great electronics that are made elsewhere. and I'm all for it, anywhere but china is fine with me, now China has repeatedly said it could invade Taiwan. in other words chinas CCP govt is out of control and out of their minds. I for one refuse to support that insanity. but to each their own, i guess

Interesting, I will have to look into this. In my test between the SS chip amp and the TS34 drove them both at the same SPL, but the solid state amp was losing bass and sounded more distorted, so I am not sure how compression of the tube amp would have been a factor. I need to do more research...

Yes, it would be great if our market was big enough for Bosch to take an interest in making a turntable, I'm sure it would work great! I purchased the TT used, it had already been fitted with an Origin Live arm. I'm curious about the linear tracker that it should have originally come with, but I'm sure the glass parts on most of the originals have been destroyed in transit or something!

Yes, a great find. I bought it locally, it was not working-it would not read a disc. I cleaned the transport and used a bit of silicone lube and it has worked flawlessly for a couple of years now. Matches my tape deck, too ;-)

@@davelistenstohifi I think this is one of the nicest looking CD players out there.

Yes, im curious to know if an ultrasonic cleaner would get into the grooves and clean it up further.

@ As am I, but not curious enough to spend the money. The Kirmuss videos are nuts… not just the cost of the unit but also the effort to clean a single record…

Well, if you bought them new or they are clean, just wipe them with a brush and you are probably fine! Maybe for those with streaming front ends, I'll do a video on cleaning your screen with wipes...

@@davelistenstohifi - I actually have a few very old pressings of Thriller .. and some Bob Marley stuff. No turn table tho.

Glad you liked it!

Hello MCMTL! Yes, I'm in Montreal as well.

Cool! We should all get together sometime, maybe at the next hifi show.

Hi Paul, yes it's hard to trust some sketchy builds, but I have been pretty lucky with most everything I have owned. I only had issues when I made a mistake (removing a tube when the preamp was powered on!) or on some very old (40+ years) amplifiers.

Thanks for watching and subscribing!

I know, right!!

Wow, so it really didn't work for you? May I ask what kind of speakers you are running?

Hi Don! Thanks for subscribing! I cannot comment on the Parasound as I don;t have experience with them (but likely in the same ballpark), but compared to a Hypex it will be certainly less powerful, fuller bass and more holographic presentation. Likely less glare in the high end. Depending on your speakers and specific setup, it may or may not suit your tastes. If you like expansive soundstage and palpable midrange, solid midbass, then the TS A75 is a really good deal!

Hey Ran, yes there was certainly some great stuff produced in that timeframe. My current DAC and power amplifier are from that era!

​​@@davelistenstohifiHi Dave, me too , I am proud owner of ADCOM GFA 555 MK2 , GFA 545 MK2 power amplifiers, they are both mint condition, and for pre amp I use the GFP 565. The sound they produce is stunning. Have a wonderful day. By the way just to hear different sounds I play with the Fosi audio P3 tube preamp and my DAC is topping E30.

Yes, I think a wiim streamer should be paired with powered speakers, probably a much better result sonically!

Thanks for watching! Let me know if there are other topics you would like to see me cover

So, never??

Yes, I can see how high quality convenience would tick all the boxes. At some point, I still think that a certain group is happy to have some inconvenience and more flexibility in building a system, that makes it customizable and something you can feel a part of.

@davelistenstohifi Interesting to hear others speculations on this. With fads and fashions being what they are,who knows? I guess it also depends on how far into the future we go and whether imagination and technology allow something new to come among.Maybe AI will offer something besides potential doom and gloom?

Yes, that's one way of looking at it. For sure streaming is a huge part of the future, but the alure of physical media cannot be discounted. HiFi is not just playing back a dense file with low measured distortion, but experiencing music in an immersive and involved way that touches you emotionally. I think that analogue and digital media will still be a significant part of the future.

a very good friend opened a vinyl shop (alos selling Pro-Ject, Musical fidelity) and business is booming. Sales of Vinyl are doing very well indeed. They do sell reeditions but mostly new music released on Vinyl. They stream all day long into a great system.$ and coffee is free.

Yes, that sounds like kind of a lifeless future, but you are probably right! haha

Not sure you need evidence for other peoples opinions, but watch for entertainment and listen for yourself!

@@davelistenstohifi When people make claims about what they can do, I'm going to ask them to prove it. Talk is cheap

I'm old, but I still don't feel that jaded. I generally trust what people say, if they said they hear something, ill play along. When it comes to dropping my own hard earned cash, that's a different story.

They want you to hear the gear, the music is just a vehicle to hear their overpriced gear, doesn't it sound great? 😂

Yes, subjective for sure...but I agree I would not be rushing out to buy that piece to relax to at home!

@@crazyprayingmantis5596 Crappy music, people talking all the time, people walking in front of you, I don't see the point of HiFi shows.

@@itk2493 And ugly old dudes everywhere 😆

For me, I enjoy seeing and hearing what is new and possible, also reaching out and talking to people with the same interests is always good for the soul. I usually have a list of music I've been listening to at home that I request to hear, makes it relevant for me.

BINGO!!!!

I think that music still engages people, and getting the highest quality sound will still interest people. Maybe it will bounce back, culture seems to have a way of boomeraning.

@@davelistenstohifi The problem is modern music is absolute crap, it sounds crap it's recorded crap, it's for listening on your phone, there is no need for good audio gear for music of today unfortunately.

And what kind of amplification and speakers do you pair with this?