And their higher end products labelled XTC (IIRC) - excellent.
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Yup I have their excellent DAC and Pow 1 power amp in my 2nd system
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My small contribution:
Two speaker companies to contribute, and I would be grateful for any information about either of these companies.
Cura Speakers, made four models CA10, CA5 and a floor standing CA20 (?I think, a C10 in a floor standing cabinet), and a C30 which was a C21 with an extra reflex loaded bass driver. They were quite expensive, and not budget speakers, perhaps why they did not last as a company. They were active in the late 1990’s and gone in the early 2000’s. Maybe the millennium bug got them!
Omar Speakers made at least small stand speaker, two way and remarkable good for the size, and maybe a range of others.
Maybe someone can help here please?
Pretty sure there was a UK brand “Deva” which IIRC didn’t sell into the UK market. Anyone own anything?
I can’t see that anyone has mentioned AVI. They were based in Gloucestershire and made traditional amps etc. which I believe were well thought of. They then got ahead of the game by developing active speakers that incorporated a DAC. I still have a pair of their DM10s and although they are no longer in my main system I still use them daily when at the computer. Sadly, the company is now mothballed and unlikely to be heard from again as far as I know.
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The first speakers I took to Uni were Omar Wendovers. A friend I shared a flat with bought the smaller Omar Gorings because he liked them. The tweeters on the Omars were coarse sounding in relation to my Dad’s KEF Chorales. The sound of the Gorings was a little bit more out of the box than the Wendovers. I used my next year’s grant cheque to buy a pair of Tangent TM1s. I took those apart because one of the crossovers buzzed and taped up a coil to stop the buzz, and they lasted until I finished Uni. The Tangents used the same T27/B200 KEF drivers as the Chorales and were a ported design.
Thank you, I got a pair of Omar Speakers but I have no idea what they were, and they may have been Wendovers or Gorings, there are no indications on the box, and they were part of a deal from a well respected, though short lived, dealer who also had very expensive (perhaps known as High End - whatever that means) stuff, and they went off to University with my son, who still has them. The tuner amp has been lost somewhere.
The speaker dust plugs were mangled, and I replaced the drivers, and improved the connection panels to proper binding posts that accept a 4mm speaker plug. I used a direct replacement Audax TW010F1, and the tweeter remains unchanged Audax HT130G8. The cabinet size is something like 350mm x 200mm x150mm deep - guessing here…
Do you remember the size of the Omar speakers, and which model they were?
I think you may have the Gorings as they had a 130mm(ish) bass unit. The Wendovers had a 200mm bass unit, and so the cabinet was around 250mm wide and 450mm deep(ish). There was a bigger Omar CR251 which hade a dome tweeter. They were made by Omar Skinner and Sons of Bracknell.
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Anyone remember Lynx ( I think it was called ) didn’t last that long before disappearing……before the internet, can’t even find pics
And Ruark, ok Ruark is still around but no longer making Loudspeakers.
Yeah I had some Ruark speakers back in the day in a surround system. Can’t say the made a massive impression though.
Steve, do you mean Linx?
I used to have their Theta tuner. Very good actually, and under the rather snazzy casework it was Canadian - Magnum Dynalab!
Deva was a model designation for amplifiers made by a company called Morgan Audio. I still have an excellent Deva 300 integrated amplifier . The company also made 2 CD players, one of which used a valve somewhere in the circuitry. The designer was a talented individual called Robin Stephens who had previously worked as a sound engineer for a small film company. Most of the product was exported, mainly to Taiwan and Germany. The company was based in Warrington originally, then moved to Liverpool.
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I had a pair of passive AVI Neutron IV speakers for many years. Loved them, as they delivered a very musical sound and superb mid range for vocals. Regret selling them and often wonder how they’d sound on the end of a Naim system.
The owners of AVI were seen as somewhat unconventional and set in their ways. Probably where some of their innovative and forward thinking came from.
I had some Morgan Audio Deva equipment as well.
I had the Deva 500 Integrated amp and also the CD player, the one without valves in it. The CD player was very well reviewed, potentially being one of the best and was very analogue sounding.
I also had a pre-production prototype DAC which was superb.
I believe the people designing this were working on a new range for Ion and when they folded went on to do their own thing. It was hard to obtain in the UK but my ex dealer who became ex production manager at Ion sourced them for me. The integrated amp replaced my Ion Nexus monoblock setup, it was a seriously good amp!
The kit is long sold, but I kept some pictures. Build quality was superb, almost up to the standards of a well known audio company based in Salisbury.
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Looked a nice piece of kit in and out.
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And looks like a DIN for CD input (“Pro”-?) - and Cannons - balanced pre outs? all in all could have been rather handy.
Anyone remember Rose. Northwood Audio in Aylesbury used to sell them and rated them quite highly if my recollection is correct
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That was my first amplifier. Talk about problems with volume pot. It had to be at 09 o clock to be a balanced output.
Getting off topic, but the next one was a Trio KA-1500 integrated
Then came the Naim NAC42 and NAP110
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The XLR’s are actually for connecting to speakers. The cable had 3 wires with 2 wires being connected to one speaker terminal. My understanding is that there was circuity in the amp that took a return feed from this extra 3rd wire allowing it to comensatate for the cable. It was supplied with speaker cables made from 13amp mains flex and that’s what I used.
The CD input was a dedicated socket that only worked with the CD player that matched the series to enhance performance. not sure how that worked.
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