freefallrob

Well based on my initial test the Trends does indeed sound better than my usual ROTEL RA-1060 INTEGRATED AMP in my system in my room at low to medium level ( which is how I have to listen unfortunatly at the moment ). My Dad is coming over at the weekend, and he's responsible for my interest in music and hifi, he has a very nice system himself, i'll see if he agree ( he doesn't know i've got the trends and the amp is out of view so i'll see if he notices.....hehehehe ). I don't know anything about theory........all I know is what I hear, in my situation.

I do this instead of bi-wiring on my RB-25's, mid and top sounds better to me this way instead of the standard links. It's CAT 5 cable, Boggo standard Kimber 4 PR from amp. Cheap too ! YMMV.

My findings/experience so far ( a few days ) on the Trends TA-10.1 with Klipsch RB-25's. Just thought i'd post my views so far, I posted this on the vinyl asylum earlier :- was very skeptical about this. I read alot of reviews on the Internet, magazines and comments on the various forums and they all said the same thing basically, if you don't mind only 6 watts or so of decent power with no features apart from a volume knob then it's a no brainer... So I thought what the hell i'll give it a go for 95 GBP, I'll be using less electric ( lower bills ) saving the planet ( lower carbon footprint, I guess ) and better sound, plus if I sell my old amp almost definatly money in the bank ( happy wife ! ). If it worked out it was an all round win win win situation ! Sound.( System etc as profile but without Rotel amp obviously ). In the past i've used EL84 valve amplifiers, one from China and one built from a kit by World Audio Design ( KEL84 - very very good 15 watt amp ). I also used an EAR834P phonostage with these. The sound of the Trends amp reminded me very much of the KEL84 WAD amp but better. The Trends sounds extremely clear with vivid stereo separation and superb midrange central focus/projection. Yet at the same time it sounds fast/incisive and dynamic yet smooth and none fatiguing. The bass is quick deep and tightly controlled, Mid is glass clear, top is very open sounding with the leading edges and decays clearly portrayed. Depth, and width are the best i've heard on my system. The amp seems to follow the waveforms of each sound independently well, yet present the sound in a beautifully layered 'whole'. It sounds 'easy' and uncongested when things get busy, my wife Donna wasn't really listening but remarked 'That sounds musical, is that the right thing to say ?!' Previously she had complained about the change of speakers from little Missions to the Klipsch...saying it sounded 'in your face'. The bottom line is, when i'm listening it's not difficult now....I didn't think it was before, but it must have been, it's easier to listen to now, I hear sounds i've not heard before, my foot is tapping, and when someone is singing it sounds like THAT persons singing with their lifes experiences on board and not just from piece of paper pinned to the microphone..... Greetings from Rob in the UK.

Pictures posted in under tag - 2 channel, have a look, I guess you can find them by my username freefallrob too...

Well I've played a few more records and they are definatly keepers[]. They really do get to the heart of the music, bringing acroos the ENERGY of the music. I've taken some pictures of my system, i'll post them up shortly !

Thanks for the replies chaps. Well in three words, I like them ! As I'd mentioned earlier I like the build quality and packaging, the magnetic grilles are also great and decent enough to keep little fingers away ( ! ) although I do my listening with the GRILLES OFF. The Cherry vinyl wrap is.... well vinyl wrap, but it matches in well enough in our living room which has quite a lot of Pine in.... I have them Blu Tacked ( Fun Tak in the US ? ) to Atacama Nexus stands with a bit of silver sand in them to reduce ringing, spiked to a concrete carpeted floor so the horn is just about ear level, they are very slightly angled up and about 7 feet apart, about 6" from the rear wall and around 4-5 feet from the side walls, I have them toe'd in so I can just see the outside edge of the cabinet, this seemed to give best imaging and horn/woofer integration. I didn't really know how much these had been used, judging by the condition of them, they'd had very little use, or a VERY carefull owner ( ! ) so I wired them out of phase put the two fronts together, threw a duvet over them, turned up the volume to a resonable level and fed them some varied CD's for a day on repeat to 'run them in abit'. My main source is really vinyl, that's what I like listening to most, so nearly all of my listening was done with this, I used Fleetwood Mac - Tango In The Night, Dire Straits ( self titled 1st album ), Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing, David Gilmour - On an Island, Wet Wet Wet - High On The Happy Side, Elton John - Blue moves. You can see the rest of my system in the profile thingy. I plan on using some Jazz, Blues and Classical soon too.......when I get time ! First impressions: Wow clear but nasal, I found replacing the brass jumpers between the binding posts with chunks of CAT5 cable cleared and smoothed things up alot ( I don't have enough Kimber 4 PR to biwire right now ). Second impressions: I messed about with placement etc ( not sure if it's totally right yet but it'll do for now ). The sound has an even balance across the the range, bass is very even and not overblown with a fake 'punch hump' like many designs ( so they can sound lean....), tight and goes deep when required. The midrange does stand out to me, being well positioned, focused, male voices come across with great insight, this design catches the bottom and leading edges of the voices very cleanly which helps you understand the words and what the performer intended. They are also very open and don't compress when the music gets busy, which is a nice experience ! Female voices are smoothly dealt with too, singers being able to soar thoughout their range without restriction. One notable point about these speakers is they are FAST, they start and stop very well giving good rythym and timing but also cymbols, guitar strings and the like are very impressive, with good leading edge attack on instruments and effects. Treble was good, helping give an accurate stable 3D sound scape, with plenty of width, depth and projection, and OK height, however it does 'beam' a little meaning the sound does change more than i'm used to with seating position, however I don't find this a particular problem to be honest. Overall these are keepers and are one of the better speakers ( to my ears ) that I have tried in the past few years around this price point in the UK. I'll post more after more records ![][][][]

Hi there i've just bought a very slightly 2nd hand pair ( virtually new ) of RB-25's. These things are rare in the UK so I thought i'd have a go ! I haven't had chance to really listen to them yet ( just to see if they actually work okay ) but i'm looking forward to setting them up this weekend. I'm impressed by the build and finish so far, hopefully that's a good sign, these are my 1st pair of 'hornloaded' hifi speakers ( apart from some Peavey PA speakers used for disco etc ), i've used allsorts of 'Brit' hifi speakers in the past, so these should be a change ! I'll get back and post my thought's after the weekend[] I understand these are a discontinued model now. Rob. P.s I've posted my system in my profile thingy.