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Ana Sayfa Hifi Haberleri Makaleler Analog Kaynaklar Dijital Kaynaklar Aksesuarlar Amplifikatör Preamp Hoparlörler Söyleşiler Teknik Yazılar |
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Interview with Mike Valentine |
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Mike Valentine: My very first job was working in a HiFi shop in Manchester when I was 17 years old. I was too young to join the BBC as I had to be 18 years old and therfore found a great job until I was old enough. Working in the shop, I was introduced to the world of hifi and I can remember building my first amplifier, which was valve based on a design by Mullard. At the same time, we were using Quad 33/303 in the shop, with a Garrard 401/12" SME/Shure V15. We were using Kef Concerto loudspeakers. Overall not a bad sound, but early transistors did not have the warmth of a good valve amplifier even then.
Stereo Mecmuasi: Your BBC career is quite attractive, could you describe how your Sound Engineer backround effected your Hifi hobby. Mike Valentine: Upon joining the BBC when I was 18, I was so lucky for there were many applicants for the job of a Sound Engineer. In the early 70's the BBC led the world in it's training and technical quality. The engineering training we received was really second to none. How microphones worked along with mixing desks, loudspeakers, acoustics etc. was invaluable. The BBC also believed in training it's staff in other areas, such as television cameras, lighting and overall television studio engineering. It was a three month course in the country and then training continued at Television Centre in London. Here I worked on many programmes, even now well known, such as Monty Python's Flying Circus and Faulty Towers. I soon became a boom operator, where I had to place the microphone above the actor for the best sound pick up, without getting in shot. My training continued as I learnt about dubbing, where we create all the sound effects for a programme, which creates all the mood and atmosphere for a drama. In the late 70's I left and joined Outside Broadcasts department, where we had to learn to meet all the challenges facing us when shooting on location. Throughout this time, my interest in hifi increased and I can remember helping out in a hifi shop in London where I would take in Master tapes and work part time helping to sell Quad 57 loudspeakers and Spendor BC 1's. As my earning power increased, I was able to buy much better equipment to use at home and I was bitten by the hifi bug. I have had all the ups and downs of changing my gear for over 30 years and therefore learning quite a bit along the way.
Stereo Mecmuasi: What are your thoughts on one of the Hifi's most common
questions; How to setup a system and how to choose components to obtain a
good sounding system.
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Sponsor Linkler |
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Sponsor Linkler |
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Finally, the room and it's acoustics are also very important for high quality sound reproduction. One simple free trick you can try is to ask a friend to stand where you are going to place the speakers and listen to him talking. See what happens when he moves into the corner of the room! It is obvious that, the interest in vinyls has increased considerably in the next couple of years. As you have been dealing with turntables and any kind of analog sources for a long time, what are your suggestions about setting up a good sounding analog system. There is no doubt that each component of a turntable has different effects on sound quality, but how you would prioritize components (body, arm, cartridge etc.) according to effectivity on sound quality. There is now the dawning of a new vinyl age. Many records are available on the internet and can be the source of a really great system. The arm, cartridge and turntable obviously have to be compatible with eachother and it is vital to also consider the phono stage that you may be using within the system. These can range from $50 to a built in phono stage, all the way through to $20,000 for a separate phono stage at the very high end. It is however, amazing to hear how good even a $1000 record deck, arm and cartridge can perform in comparison with a CD player costing more than five times as much. Also don't forget it is very important what you put the record deck on. A wall shelf is a very good way of increasing the quality of vinyl playback which will reduce floor vibrations. Stereo Mecmuasi: Could you please briefly mention about the analog sources (especially turntables) you have experienced so far. Mike Valentine: In my own experience over the years I have owned a variety of decks which include Linn, Denon, Pink Triangle, Goldmund and my current favourite TW Acoustic AC3 "The Raven". Arms have included, The Graham B44 Mark 1 & 2 and a variety of SME's, which include my current favourite which is an SME V which has been internally wired with Kondo cable My cartridges have varied from, Shure V15 all the way through to Kondo IO-M. Most music companies increased vinyl production figures in recent years. What are your thoughts on the future of vinyl production. For how long music companies will continue to vinyl production. Stereo Mecmuasi: Vinyl production has increased in the last few years and can only do so if people continue to buy records. We must remember that just because it sounds better, it does not mean that they will always be available. Record companies are more interested in their profit margin than quality! Mike Valentine: Some vinyl producers like Speaker Corners or Pure Pleasure offer considerably high level of sound quality. What could be the secret about obtaining a high quality sound from very old master tapes. Modern records released from original master tapes can sound very good indeed. Even though most people know that a record's speed is 331/3 RPM, some reissues are released at 45 RPM. This increases the quality. The way a record is actually cut will also have a very important effect on the sound quality. It is a simple fact, that the potential of high quality vinyl sounds wonderful in comparison with a digital CD taken from the same master tape.
Stereo Mecmuasi: We have shared the photo of your Nagra reel to reel player
with our readers through our web page and it attracted quite attention. In
Turkey many audiophiles own reel to reel players but general concern is how
to supply appropriate media. We know that you have subscribed to Tape
Project. Could you please give some information about your current reel
player and your thoughts about Tape Project. Stereo Mecmuasi: It is now possible in my system, to listen to a high quality CD player versus a high quality record player and a copy of the original master tape, from which they are all made. Which sounds best? Mike Valentine: Actually, there is no clear winner, but most of the time the tapes come first, the records have a more warm continuous sound, but you would be surprised at how good modern CD playback (although not quite as good as the tapes) can be. The problem with buying the master tapes from the Tape Project, is that they are released in very low numbers (10 every 18 months) and obviously you cannot choose what they are going to release. However, with a good reel to reel machine (Revok, Ampex, Nagra, Studer) they really do sound fantastic.
Stereo Mecmuasi: As per our Izmir meeting we know that you have experienced
many different audio equipments that most audiophiles dream about. What are
your feelings on your recent system. However, my experience is that you really have to buy a lot of their components and use them altogether to get the very best sound, but they appear to be very over priced, especially with the current exchange rate with the Yen. Recently, I have been changing over equipment to Wavac which is also ridiculously priced and been very excited about the quality of their construction and their sound. Stereo Mecmuasi: How frequently do you update your system. Mike Valentine: I have in the past updated various components within my system every six months. Although this may sound expensive, I have been able to buy a lot of equipment at trade price, because of my relationship with so many importers and designers, so I have been lucky enough not to lose any money. Stereo Mecmuasi: One of our readers requested us to ask you which system has most impressed you so far. Mike Valentine: The most outstanding system I have ever heard was at a shop in England called Definitive Audio. This is run by the loudspeaker designer Kevin Scott, who is also the importer of Kondo equipment into the UK. He is currently designing a Horn loudspeaker system which will probably cost about $300,000 just for the loudspeakers. The day I heard that system powered by six Kondo amplifiers, well it was as if I had died and gone to Heaven!
Mike Valentine: Digital versus Analogue... We can talk about the merits of one versus the other as audiophiles, but the battle has been won by digital. Just look at how many iPods' have been sold as well as other MP3 players. High resolution digital can sound exceptionally good and whether we like to admit it or not digital is here to stay and we can only benefit from the increased research carried out, which will continue to improve digital playback in the years to come. Stereo Mecmuasi: Do you think these loseless formats will become dominant in hifi industry and replace cd's. Mike Valentine: We audiophiles are obviously in the minority and again we must understand that the real world revolves around the Yen or the $ and we have a very small voice in comparison with people buying MP3's etc, so whether we like it or not lossless formats will increase in the future. Stereo Mecmuasi: SACD players become popular recently, what are your thoughts about SACD technology.
Mike Valentine: SA CD can actually sound better than an ordinary CD. It all
depends on the original recording and the care taken to produce the CD, as
well as how the SA CD player is designed. Again the world revolves around the Yen and the $! Recently Sony appear to have abandoned SA CD, again proving the fact that quantity is better than quality. However, a high quality CD is still far ahead of MP3's etc.
Stereo Mecmuasi: Here is one of the most popular question in current audiophile discussions; anolog vs digital or both? Which one is your favourite and why. Mike Valentine: I have several records which because they have been badly cut, sound worse than the same performance on CD, but overall I prefer analogue to digital. However, in the real world it is almost impossible to get hold of LP's of modern recordings, so it is best to try and enjoy both worlds. We must not forget that we are trying to enjoy a musical performance. It is amazing how far CD playback has come in 25 years. Stereo Mecmuasi: We have been informed that you are so active in UK audiophile community and you attend many audio shows even as advisor. As it is very difficult for us to participate most important audio shows and meet audio designers, could you tell us about designers approach. Are they open minded people / open to criticism or not. Mike Valentine: I have been lucky enough over the years to meet many well known audio designers here in the UK. Peter Walker of Quad fame, Tim de Paravicini from EAR, Leif Olofson, the designer of Marten loudspeakers, Kevin Scott, the designer of Living Voice loudspeakers and David Wilson are some of them. It is fascinating to see what drives them to create their products. Obviously, they have to balance their musical goal with the cost of their product and all of them were very open minded when approached by the public, who had their own views as to how successful they had been in meeting those challenges. Everyone has an opinion about sound reproduction, but all of these designers need nurturing, for without them pushing forward the boundaries, we may still be listening to wind up record players. Stereo Mecmuasi: In the next couple of years we have been observing an increase trend especially in high end audio gear prices. How the global crisis will effect the audio industry.
Mike Valentine: The current global crisis will no doubt have a detrimental
effect on the high quality end of the audio industry. In one year alone, the
cost of a Kondo amplifier, because of the strength of the Yen, has doubled.
Perhaps what separates the high end is the fact that usually equipment is
made up to a standard and not down to a price. Stereo Mecmuasi: UK has always been one of the most important countries in audio industry. However many of UK's hifi brands have been sold to foreigners recently and many of them switched their production outside UK. What do you think about the future of UK's hifi industry and mass production. Mike Valentine: Market forces have recently dictated the sad fact of life that many UK companies have been sold to foreign investors. We just have to accept that for brands to continue, this is one of the facts of life or we can hope that the investors are audiophiles as well as businessmen. Although they have to balance the books, the love of music is international and we cannot afford in this day and age to be xenophobic.
Stereo Mecmuasi: Hifi magazines and relevant web pages influence many
people's buying decision. What are your thoughts about this situation and
importance of Hifi press.
Mike Valentine: Over 20 years ago, I left the BBC to work in feature film production and you can share many of my experiences through my website www.valentinefilms.com. Although I now have developing liquid running through my veins, music still runs through my arteries and even when I discuss digital cameras versus film, I still have an analogue heart. Stereo Mecmuasi: You have worked with many celebrities for quite important films. What are the difficulties and enjoyable memories you have encountered so far. Mike Valentine: I have had the opportunity within the film business of working on over 65 feature films, including everything from Star Wars to the Bourne Supremacy, to Casino Royale and Tomb Raider 2. All the actors have been incredibly professional, but the one that stands out has been Angelina Jolie.
Stereo Mecmuasi: Most young readers which have visited your web page insisted on asking you a question about Angelina Jolie. Is she really as beautiful as she looks on photos. Mike Valentine: Somebody has asked me if Angelina is really as beautiful as she looks in the photos. Actually she is not. In real life she is even better! Stereo Mecmuasi: We have briefly informed our readers about your connection with Turkey but could you also mention about that. Mike Valentine: My connection with Turkey comes from marrying my wife Françoise in Izmir. I regularly visit my wife's family and have always been impressed by the generosity and spirit of the Turkish people. It is for that reason that I take such pleasure in being associated with this magazine. Stereo Mecmuasi: Finally, last words to our readers.. Mike Valentine: Finally I would like to say that the most important thing that we audiophiles can do is to try and go to as many live musical events as possible. This is so that we can remind ourselves what our goal should be. The joy of music has no international boundaries and surely belongs to every one of us.
Stereo Mecmuasi: Mike thank you very much!
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