Even in big cities as Barcelona, sometimes it's painful to see how hifi shops close its doors due to low sales. The spanish audiophile market hasn't had good health, although there're many audiophiles in the country, and it's difficult to see the birth of new shops or new importers. But this time things are a little bit different and this audition is special because, in addition to the audition itself, with this article we introduce to you a new hi-fi shop in Barcelona. In fact, it isn't a new shop because Pont Reyes was founded in 1939 and has very good reputation and a big experience in our city. What is really new is that now Pont Reyes is now in the hi-fi bussiness.

Some months ago Pont Reyes started a hifi section in their shop with a very good selection of high end equipment for the most demanding audiophile. There you can find some of the most important products in the market, not only for stereo use, but also for Home Theather. The company distributes many of the most important hifi brands with the objective of promoting hifi and high quality musical reproduction and has began the trip into the audio nirvana with strength, according to what I saw there and the explanations given by the people at the shop.

I contacted Pont Reyes during my summer holidays, on July 2003, after seeing in its shop window some hifi equipment, exposed very discretly. I entered the shop and I asked if they had a hifi section and the answer was afirmative. They show me their three listening rooms and also explained me that in a future they will have a bigger one devoted to hifi and HT. They also show me the equipment they distribute and, after seeing everything, I asked them if they would arrange an audition for me of some of their equipment. Again the answer was affirmative.

At the begining of August I contacted again Pont Reyes and I talk to them about the audition. I explained what I had thougth about what to listen to. Due to the great amount of emails I still receive with the question "what should I buy?", I asked to listen a entry level system. I hadn't thougth about brands or models, so they were absolutely free to prepare the system. The only constraint was the final price of the system: 1800 € was the limit (excluding cables) for a system with amplifier, CD player and speakers.

They prepared this system: Atoll IN50 integrated amplifier, Atoll CD50 CD player and Triangle Titus 202 speakers. They told me that I was completely free to try anything else in the shop and also explained that they offered some variations to this basic system, for example, changing the CD player to a Micromega Minium or the Triangle Titus to the Triangle Comette. I agreed with their selection and I began the audition.

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So, the first system was the Atoll IN50 (50 watts), Atoll CD50 and Triangle Titus 202, plus Supra Ply 2.0 speaker cable and Van den Hul The Source Hybrid interconnect. The price of this system was 1528 €. The listening room where I was, was a little bit brigth and some reverberations could be heard, for example, when clapping hands. I began the audition with Gloria Estefan "Por un beso" and the metal section was brigth. With Claire Martin "Partners in Crime" the hi-hat didn't sound as a hi-hat. With Livingston Taylor "Baker Street" I missed some body in the music. My very first impressions were that the room was too brigth and that the speakers were too small to fill it. As I said, the system sounded too brigth and the bass wasn't defined. I continued with Cassandra Wilson "Love is blindness" and Gianmaria Testa "La traiettoria delle Mongolfiere" and this time the system did it well with the voice of Miss Wilson, that was defined, although sometines silibant. Testa song lack some body. I tried again with voices with Norah Jones and again it sounded ok. I also listened to the Vivaldi's autumm by the Sonatori della Goiosa Marca and Joe Sample "Night Fligth". After listening to the system for, more or les, one and a half hours I got these ideas. First, the room was affecting the sound and the Titus were too smal for that room. I knew the Titus before this audition, because due to their sensitivity they're very good with tube amplifiers, and I have to say that in good conditions they sound very, very good. Maybe you can think that this system wasn't good enough but I have to say that it is, I have no doubt about it. The problem was the listenig room and its volume that had to be filled only with the Titus. So I decided to try to compensate that problems changing the speakers with Titus' big brother, the Comette 202.

With the Comette the price of the system increased to 1700 €, 100 € below the limit. The Comette were bigger than the Titus and had an 1db extra of sensitivity. With more volume, more sensitivity and a bigger woofer, things were better. In general terms the music had more body. Sometimes the treble was aggressive (how important is the room!) but the extra bass hid, partially, this problem.The Comette were fast. With Estefan "Por un beso" the extra bass was clear, although the metal was still a little bit aggressive. With Martin "Partners in Crime" the hi-hat was now a hi-hat. "Baker Street" and "La traiettoria delle Mongolfiere" were musical and Wilson singing "Love is blindness" was deeper. Norah Jones sounded more coherent, altough still sometines silibant. I began to enjoy more with the music. That doesn't mean that before, with the first system, I was sufering. But this system was working better in the room. Sinergy?

With the liberty I had I changed the system to something similar in price and I selected a Cambridge Audio amplifier and CD combination. The amplifier was the A-500 (65 watts) and the CD player was the D500SE (24 bits). The price of the system was 1700 €. I continued with the Triangle Comette 202. At first sigth I felt an improvement in the musical reproduction. The amplifier offered 15 extra watts in relation with the Atoll and the control of the speakers was also better. The voices were better focused, with more relaxed treble (the room was still "there") and better bass. The "S" were more controlled and, generally speaking, the general felling was of more control and definition. You should know that I'm talking about small changes, that I can hear because I'm a little bit trained (no, I'm not a golden ears) but that can be obviated without problems because they're little. The previous system, Atoll+Comette, was also very competent and can be considered almost as good as this one. Only these small differences.

Finally, just as a personal wish, I tried the Epos M12 (800 €) and I could see how good are these speakers. I wonder why I sold my ES14 some months ago! After some problems with different importers, now the audiophile in Barcelona, can enjoy again these wonderful british speakers.

In conclusion, if you have a small room and you want a good system try the Atoll+Titus combination. I'm sure that it is a great system when listened in good conditions. If you need more bass, because you lik eit or your room is larger, try with the Comette. If you want to follow the British path, try for example the Cambridge Audio system. Personally I consider both the Atoll+Comette and Cambridge+Comette combinations great options for beginners.

Finallly, thanks to Pont Reyes for their great work and all the easiness offered during this audition. Another great professionals working for the spanish audiophiles.