And Bailey's:

• 1. Help Is On Its Way. The Little River Band.
• 2. Fernando. ABBA.
• 3. The Dead Heart. Midnight Oil.
• 4. Suspicious Minds. Elvis Presley.
• 5. Breathing. Kate Bush.
• 6. When the War is Over. Cold Chisel.
• 7. Jealous Guy. Roxy Music.
• 8. The Logical Song. Supertramp.

  The equipment was a Denon PMA350Z power amp (1980), DCM Time Windows transmission line, floor-mount speakers (1979), and a WiiM DAC streamer (2025), the first two contributed by Ian Bouch, and the streamer owned by the club. Critically, and again a worthwhile innovation for a monthly meeting, the floor and stage lights were dimmed with only a small lamp on the lectern and at the rear of auditorium. By this artifice we were obliged to concentrate on the music and not on the sound.

  For once the tracks played did not draw heavily on the old audiophile standards, things we've heard ad nauseam during far too many other presentations. If I (PIB) have to endure one more playing during a monthly presentation of Leonard Cohen's You Want It Darker or Hallelujah, or Chris Jones' No Sanctuary or Nick Cave's Red Right Hand, or anything o Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon', or Dire Straits' 'Brothers in Arms', or the Eagles' 'Hotel California', or anything by Diana Krall or Norah Jones, I'll go even madder than I am currently. For PIB, we were instead treated to a mix of music we'd mostly never heard before (Tony's selection) or trusty old favourites (Bailey's). For HRD, much of the music - the Art Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell, Little River Band, Elvis Presley, Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel, Supertramp - brought back wonderful memories and I enjoyed them even more than when I first heard them all those decades back. [Note from PIB: see also the article in Headphonesty: '20 most over-used audiophile test albums that need to retire in 2026', available at https://www.headphonesty.com/2026/01/most-overused-audiophile-test-albums-need-retire/

  As we are an audiophile club, this review must address the vexed matter of sound quality. For my own view (HRD), where sound quality has always been a pivotal issue, I found the sound only average, both in amp and speakers, reflecting technical developments in the last 45 years. But oddly this did not detract from the presentation at all raising important issues of perception and reality. Your other reviewer (PIB) thought quite di erently: I've loved the DCM Time Windows from the moment I first heard them (e.g. see my positive review of them in issue 570 of the MAN, February 2023), when they were used during the 2023 members' request night. I love the spatial sense they create, even in a room as acoustically as hideous as the Willis Room. More and more, I feel that it is spatial 'reality' that's most important in a speaker, not its frequency response, its transient response or even its lack of colouration. The sense of 'being there' that some speakers can conjure out of thin air, even if only momentarily, is magical to me. And I thought the DCMs' bass was wonderful (again unusual in the wayward Willis Room, and given the small size of the bass-midrange drivers), the midrange insightful, and the treble more than adequate. Not bad, considering the speakers are, to be kind, of only average build quality and their drivers (Philips or Vifa) are far from state-of the-art. To add this, HRD feels that a good system creates a sense of engagement, and this leads to emotional enjoyment of the music. This system achieved this despite the technical shortcomings. As regards the di erence in conclusions between your two reviewers: Viva la di erence!

  The January presentation was trail-blazing in many ways. It was set in low lighting, with only a lectern dimly lit, and this added enormously to the atmosphere, helping us concentrate on the music rather than on the gear. The music, mostly from the 1960s to the late 2000s, aligned intimately with the lives of the two presenters, giving an evocative mix of the music, the lyrics, the history and significantly the biographic information from the presenters. They added their personal, subjective and fascinating appraisal to each piece. This is a very di erent presentation for the MAC and, judging from the strong engagement of the members we both saw at the end of the night, we think it represents a seismic change for our club and the members' enjoyment of the monthly meetings.

  We believe also that this presentation style has opened a new, fruitful source for our presenters and, significantly, draws directly from the resources of our own members rather than from invited retailers or distributors. It adds versatility, as we have found over the years that many outside presenters, and particularly vendors, often go AWOL a week before the event, throwing the club into a flat spin. In the past we have focussed on the equipment, with members concentrating on the source, or the amplifier, or the speakers; this audiophilia is obviously a major element of our club, but in truth the club's real core is the personalities and interactions and comradeship of our members. In fact the socialising preceding and following each monthly demonstration where members sit and chat and eagerly share experiences. This is for many of us the most enjoyable aspects of our club membership. The remarkable success of our home meetings provides confirmation. The January presentation demonstrated also that we are all exceptionally interested in the music journeys of our colleagues. Since we are no longer young, these individual journeys are often very, very interesting and highlight a wide diversity of musical tastes and experiences.

  Hugh Dean & Paul Boon