And there is a RIAA R for sale here. Would be an upgrade from my RIAA. Anybody went from the RIAA to RIAA R?
That's an RIAA with separate PSU isn't it? It's going to be better, surely? However I'm really impressed with the phono stage of my 25R into an SUT so I'd probably not move up personally. Hard to believe, I know!
I also have a separated RIAA now. My phono isn’t build into the Micro 25. So this will be just a phono upgrade. Tough call. Might keep an eye out for the 25RS if it’s still there end of the year.
The very reputable German seller Phono Phono in Berlin claims that https://www.phonophono.de/hifi-elek...tegrated-amplifier/croft-vollverstaerker.html Does anyone have any information whether that's true or not?
The Croft website doesn't suggest anything other than business as usual, but it's rarely updated anyway, so I've emailed Glenn for an update. It will be a shame if Croft is gone, but Glenn deserves a life of his own as much as any of us.
He was, but the cricket season is over and he told me by email that he would return to work. Further info suggests that it was the German distributor who spread the rumour and that it is now an old rumour. Let's see what Glenn says....
Glenn has replied. He says that he is fine. He also says that he has cut down on his workload, and is now only shipping product to England, Wales, Scotland, and the USA. He explained that he found sending goods to the EU hit or miss in terms of getting anything delivered there, and he therefore no longer ships to the EU. So... mixed news. (Sorry RemyM.)
That's sad indeed. While typing this i just got a email in from him! I had a question regarding the 25RS SE that is offered here.
Thought i would be a bit annoyed by the two volume pots but damn these things are great. Really easy to use soundstage wise. Adjust it a bit so it's in the middle etc.
Care to give a little synopsis of where you are at croft wise right now, how you like it and where you came from (again, talking only croft universe) , what changes / enhancements you noticed when upgrading? I kind of lost track of what components you received, but as a fellow croft integrated phono user I am very interested in your findings.
Sure. I started with the Micro 25, 7 Power and RIAA, all separated. A pleasure to listen to, they make music and in combination with my Spendors a lovely and detailed soundstage. I bought the separated because i already thought i wanted to upgrade someday. Though after Brexit it isn't really possible to send stuff over directly to Glenn, makes it expensive. On the Dutch second hand website there were a pair of Croft 25RS Special Edition for sale, probably since the beginning of this year. I was keeping an eye out for that but didn't really gave it to much thought. A couple of weeks ago somebody on the same website wanted to sell his RIAA R (800 euro's, new 1400 here). Don't really see them often so thought why not. He didn't use it a lot as he also had the Micro 25 pre with phono built in. Soundwise that was a big upgrade, more detail, wide soundstage but most of all more depth and instrumental separation. Like you could here more layers of the recording and notice stuff happening in the background. Last week i contacted the second hand shop who wanted to sell the 25RS Special Edition (new here 3990 euro's). Contacted Glenn if it really was a Special Edition and he told me it's from 2017. I couldn't resist. Once something is stuck in my head it's hard to get it out. Also thought lets just get over with this upgrade thing and take it to the end of the Croft line. Otherwise i'm spending all my evenings reading about the differences between the 25, 25R, 25RS, 25RS SE. Well, still doing that but now while listening to the 25RS SE, RIAA R and Power 7. To be honest, i don't have a lot of reference. Everything i have now is bought the last 2 years. Just when corona hit. I have around 1300 records, i'm 35 and buying more stuff than ever. These amps in combination with the rest of my set just makes it so addictive to listen to music. I noticed the Spendors lower frequencies were tighter with the new amps. The depth and details are crazy sometimes, especially with vocals and acoustic stuff. It's a cliche but i'm hearing things in recordings which i never knew were there. I think these are end game amps for me. Also don't really feel the need now to roll tubes etc. Compared to the 25. They do everything a bit better. The 25 is a bargain for it's price. I think most people also agree that everything from Croft is worth much more than what it cost. By trading in my RIAA and 25 i had to pay 1350 for the top of the line Croft. I haven't listened to a lot of other sets to be honest so i'm also curious how good this is. But from what i feel, i used to work in music for a while and did attent some album recordings in well known studio's, they just do what they should do. They sound like music, not hifi. Get as close as possible to the recordings. It also feels like being part of this exclusive nerd club. Which is fun. I also couldn't let them go because, as mentioned here, we won't be able to buy Croft in mainland Europe. Something like that. Besides that i also think the synergy with Spendor and Thorens is great. Glenn uses Quad ESL57 as reference speakers. It's all a bit from the same era and i only play vinyl. EDIT: They still have a pair of 7 mono's for sale (insert crying emoji).
Thank you for your response. I am still listening to my initial setup: 1210 with 2m bronze into croft into integrated into blumenhofer fun13mk2. Still debating where to upgrade next to get better soundstage and more tube-ish midrange (if the croft can do that at all?)... 2m black is on the list... Maybe a new power chord for the croft...
I tried a new power cable for my Croft Micro 25 and didn't like the results, so please ensure that you can audition prior to purchase.
