It must have been Christmas recently, because we staff have got a whole bunch of cool new presents to play with.

You may have already read about them on the site, but I thought I'd give you some impressions of them rather than just the stoic product details. I'll focus on the stereo stuff for today, although there's plenty of new visual stuff too, expect an update on what we think of some of the new displays shortly.

Musical Fidelity have released the A5 series, which has really impressed the staff. Its solidly built stuff, with a return to sleek simple styling as seen in previous MF products like the F series. The A5 integrated amplifier is sensational, with bags of grip and dynamics, ready to inject life into your speakers.  Its smooth and quick and not just a muscle amp, its got some real detail where it needs it too.  

The A5 CD player is great too; very open and controlled, with plenty of warmth.  Its a limited edition - only 1500 world wide.  In other words, if your interested in one, make sure you come in for an audition before they're all gone. It sounded great fresh from the box, but as most MF stuff takes a while to burn in, we're expecting thigs to get even better!

Cyrus have released some great new gear, in the form of the new Cyrus CD8x and 8vs.  The CD player is superb, engaging and lively, sure to elevate your system to new levels of CD playback.  Its an improvement on the CD8, which was already a staff fave. It probably needs some more run time too, but I've no doubt in my mind that its a classic.

Which brings me to the Cyrus 8vs.  I've been waiting a while to write about this one! Cyrus have redesigned the preamp section of their integrated and pre-amps, with a new design they are calling the 'virtual servo'. They are tight lipped on what this means, but I can tell you now, it sounds incredible. So incredible, I bought one! I've been running it in for over a month now, and I've absolutely smitten by my new amp. Detail, imaging, timing and above all a superbly musical presentation has endeared me to this little box of tricks. Its going to be a centre piece of my hi-fi system for years to come.  Its even better when you plug in the PSX-R power supply, upgrading it to previously unheard levels or dynamics and grip.

Speaker wise we've just got in the Monitor Audio Gold GR10s.  Immediately impressive with their high quality real wood finishes, the sound they produce is just as captivating. Amazingly fast and open, the GR10s are an expressive communicator, carefully pronouncing subtle details from within the music.  The imaging is wild, conveying not only a wide soundstage, but one with plenty of depth too.  They need a good pair of stands, but are a bargain for the price.

PMC have announced an upgrade path for owners of DB1s, TB2s and FB1s. You can now upgrade your speakers to their 'plus' counterparts. The upgrade replaces the tweeter with a new soft-dome unit, a newly upgraded crossover board and in the case of the large two models, new damping foam.  The tweeter we've seen before in the bigger PMC models is incredibly sweet and can counteract some of the 'zing' of the previous metal dome unit. The big surprise was the change of damping foam, its really improved the speed of the bass, although it wasn't a slouch before. We've got them for demo so come in a have a listen to the new models.  Prices vary, so if your interested in an upgrade kit for your speakers, contact the store for details.

Well, thats probably enough for now, this is starting to read like a school excursion report from the trip to the candy store.  I'm sorry, I'm over excitable, but I'm just surrounded by so much Hi-fi goodness and so much Lygon St Coffee.

So as usual, contact us if you have any questions, or drop in with some of your favourite discs for a demo!
Cheers