Australian Hi-Fi 49SOUND TRAVELS
Colin. It’s a superb English amp from the
south of England; it produces a perfect
synergy with my speakers.
PX:How important to you is the most
underrated element of good sound—room
acoustics?
GC:It’s critical... absolutely funda-
mental. I built my first house at Glen
Waverley. According to Ron Newbound,
our MAC speakers expert, the acoustics of
my current listening room in Vermont are
superb—in part because the floorboards
sitting on the joists are along the axis of
the speakers. I also have soft furnishings
and have organised the room for best
sound quality.
PX:What would be your ‘desert island’
albums if you could only choose three?
GC:‘Hello Herbie’ (Oscar Peterson with
Herbie Ellis on MPS), ‘An Evening at Char-
lie’s’ (Mel Torme with George Shearing on
Concord) and Rachmaninov’s ‘Symphonic
Dances’ (Eiji Oue and The Minnesota Or-
chestra on Reference Recordings).understand why mine sounded so differ-
ent from his, I asked Colin: ‘How come
Kevin’s speakers are so much better than
mine?’ Colin told me that the Cambridge
crossovers in my speakers were a disaster!
He suggested using his air-cored induc-
tors; they had lots of copper wire, not just
a coil with a magnet in it like the Cam-
bridge crossovers. That design affected
the sound negatively, he said. Colin then
made some crossovers for me at his place
at Springvale. Boy they were great! Colin
also suggested that I remove the original
Coles super tweeters and instead use KEF
T27 super tweeters, which I did. Tragically,
Colin passed away in January 2010. He
was a great friend.
PX:Your first real hi-fi system?
GC:I had the locally-made turntable,
the Orpheus. I then bought the Kenwood
amp, then I bought Johnson’s American
solid-state amplifier, the SAE. It was a
damn’ good amp. I then bought an Art
Audio Quintet tube power amp from
PX: What do you think are the most
important sound qualities for best repro-
duction?
GC: Tonal quality—a violin must sound
like a real violin—then comes spatial qual-
ity. Sound stage. I want to hear where
each section of the orchestra is located in
the sound stage correctly. I expect to hear
the artists as realistically as possible in the
room, and the orchestra sections in the
proper location across the stage—unless
of course, we’re listening to a symphony
orchestra close-up. That would be unreal-
istic to produce in your living room. At a
distance, it can sound life-like.
PX: How important is attendance at a
live concert to assess a hi-fi system?
GC: It’s the ultimate! You don’t know
what something sounds like unless you
hear it in the real world. Acoustic music
must be the reference point. Electric instru-
ments do NOT give you a reference as to
how the music really sounds. The voice re-
corded properly and realistically is the only
element that can be a point of reference in
a recording of electric instruments. That’s
absolutely obvious to me.
PX:How important are cable and inter-
connects to sound quality, in your opinion?
GC:There’s some discussion in hi-fi
about this, and I personally think they are
important...really important, actually. Colin
and I spent about six months determining
what would be best for my system and
agreed on Olex power cable; it has lots of
copper. We used it as a conductor and the
more strands of copper of it we added,
the better the sound. You could hear it, no
question. All the components go together
to make listening a pleasurable experience.
I have loved music and hi-fi for my entire
life: it’s in my family’s blood...
Interview by Peter Xeni
(As well as being a contributor to Australian
Hi-Fi Magazine, Peter Xeni is also a member of
the Melbourne Audio Club.)MELBOURNE AUDIO CLUB
More than 40 years ago, Graham
Cobb thought he was the only man
in Melbourne with a passion for
audio. One day in 1974 he saw an
advertisement in The Age that had
been placed by Alex Encel (Encel
Hi-Fi) for people interested in Hartley
speakers and audio in general. His
shop was unexpectedly filled ham to
hock with hi-fi buffs. It inspired Alex
to form the popular Melbourne Audio
Club, which was officially convened on
March 8, 1974 at Encel Hi-Fi’s showroom
in Richmond.
The inaugural general meeting
of the new hi-fi club was held at
Camberwell Civic Centre, in Melbourne,
and when Graham threw open the
doors of the centre to see one hundred
like-minded people who shared his
passion for audio, he paused for
a moment and stood alone in the
doorway surveying the scene, almost
bemused. ‘I was stunned to see therewere so many people like me who loved
audio... who wanted to reproduce
music in their homes as realistically as
possible, just like me.’
These were people who didn’t know
each other—people from different
walks of life—who somehow bonded
through their shared commitment,
many of whom remain close friends to
this day. They still meet in their homes
in special interest groups (SIGs) and at
the monthly general meetings.
Anyone interested in joining the
Melbourne Audio Club can contact
the club at [email protected]
or check out the website at http://www.
melbourneaudioclub.org.au Prospective
members are also cordially invited to
attend the general meeting that is
held on every third Wednesday of the
month in the ‘Willis Room’ at the City of
Whitehorse Offices, Canterbury Road,
Nunawading.
Everyone is welcome. Peter XeniEQUIPMENT LIST
Turntable: Linn Sondek
Tonearm: Decca
Phono Cartridge: Ortofon Super-S MC
SACD Player: Marantz SA-8250
Preamp: NVA PSU-43
Power Amplifier: Art Audio Quintet
Loudspeakers: Hand-built to Chris Rogers
design but with KEF T27 super tweeters
and Whatmough crossover
Cables: Hand-made OlexYou don’t
know what
something sounds
like unless you hear
it in the real world