Snigger, your review of the beefeater lived up to its name!
I had a steak one night, which somehow they managed to make the whole plate, steak, chips, garlic bread, mushrooms and onion rings stone cold. Plus there was not salad as promised. The girl put the plate in front of me and asked if I wanted cutlery (which dosn't say much for cheltnam!)
The second night I treated myself to one of their burgers, it was at least warm this time which was a bonus.
Nice to meet mr tone though. A very impressive system which I tried to get my head round.
Firstly, in many ways for me its just what naim does, and I wonder why Tony is so keen to bash naim. What it did better than my naim was the treble, however I don;t know if this was down to the supurb speakers he had there. The treble was a lot smoother, however tony did say he wanted to tame it some more, where as if anything I would want it a bit grungier.
Plenty of bass weight which was nice and a good sound all in all. My sbls do not come close to the scale and weight of tones, however for my room and sound requirements I am prepared to forgo a bit of this bass depth for the tightness I enjoy ( and neighbours don't hear!). This is not to say tones is wooly by any means, but I think he would agree the SBL is defo leaner in presentation.
I was intrigued by the big fat cables, most amusing, the system sounded great but we didn't tweak thank christ so I can;t say how the cables added to the whole system.
We did talk regarding value, as in straight retail value. I think tony said his would retail at around 26 grand, I wonder though with the after market mods, if this would be comparable to stuff up the ladder of his preferred kit, adn therefore would the sound that he enjoys now would be more on the market value. Now I didn;t hear tones kit prior to his mods, but if Tone is to be believed he has added arond 25% quality improvements to the system, so for simplicity lets say this would add 25% to retail value, so around 35 grands worth.
No doubt it sounded to me like a 35 grand system, or in context over twice the cost of mine retail.
I have heard a 45 grand system, and for me it sounded better than tones, overall (in my opinion of course), but then its more moeny.
What am I getting at? Well tonys sounded much better than mine, but it should do!
As an end note, sorry for my quick departure, I was getting very hungry for me above crappy steak, but of course in retrospect I would have blagged dinner off you!
One other thing, most relieved to find tony was not bleating about guitars being just there and piano behind us! He had a really well balanced sound stage that was not all over the room, infact Tony's system is much like naim in the way that it presents. A really great sound, I wouldn't mind those speaker at all!
I think Garyi enjoyed himself and may have even had 'food for thought' and he's quite a decent bloke, good sense of humor too, cheers mate Tone
for a total of £13k thats £9k off list, his Wadia 861 was £4500 £3500 off retail, I bet most of us have 'done a deal' at one point or another 
most of us would never dream (or afford) new prices, I've managed through careful buying and tweeking to build the system for around £8.5K still a lot of money for sure, but about 30% of the retail price. thanks again Garyi a good chat thanks mate Tone
& a nap 32.5/140 things I think, an lp 12 and regas? so i sorted liked it for a bit, hense my liking for drive and rythym, only now i have it as it should be.
