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Tuesday 9:30am - 5pm Wednesday 9:30am - 5pm Thursday 9:30am - 5pm Friday 9:30am - 5pm Saturday 9:30am - 4:30pm

Audio Republic, 9 Keel Row, Riverside Business Park, Gateshead (2026)

26/09/2026

A busy Saturday draws to a close, with James Bond and co at play on the Tyne. At Audio Republic HQ we have been very impressed with the continuing upgrades released by one of our favourite suppliers, Vertere Acoustics. A few months ago they released the Luna power supply for their DG-X and MG-1 turntables. This brought a master tape like stability to proceedings. Then they shook the phono stage world with the incredibly good revised Phono 1LX which is one of the finest units below £3k and costs £1650. Now, they have once again revisited the DG-X and MG-1 fraternity bringing a new support base to the market. Available as both a wall shelf and a stand alone design, this impressive unit comprises of two crafted pieces of acrylic, decoupled from both each other and the supporting surface by height adjustable feet and flexible pins. As both are adjustable there is no reason not to get your turntable absolutely level. There are also cable clips for tonearm and mains leads to reduce microphony.

When placed upon the base, my first thoughts (particularly with the MG-1) was of revisiting the TMS, one of the past glories of chief designer, owner and chief bottle washer Touraj Moghaddan’s first company, Roksan Engineering. Although the complex suspension of the TMS may have been frequency specific (just a guess), the current platform possibly achieves its performance in a different way. However it does so, it upgrades the performance of both turntables in a very significant manner. This is really interesting, because if you start with a DG-X entry level deck and add the aforementioned upgrades, you get a very special record player indeed. Knocking on the door of other special record players………. The Phono LX allows you to hear all of this in technicolour.
We at the Audio Republic are delighted to represent this outstanding brand.

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12/09/2026

A lovely mid to late 80’s spec Linn LP12 turntable just delivered in for a service, Lingo 1 upgrade and probably a new cartridge as the Asaka has got to be in receipt of its state pension by now !. Sporting a really fine Ittok LVII tonearm, this deck will continue to delight its owner and is a great example of the enduring nature of the LP12. This is the third such deck that has been booked in this week by clients wishing to take advantage of our ability with high end turntable equipment.

Should he need a new cartridge, we are delighted to offer the most comprehensive range of cartridges in the North East of England. Any of these will be fitted in our in house service department free of charge if the cartridge is bought from us.

If the onset of darker nights and the thought of lots of 12” circular gifts for you know when has you thinking of revitalising your record player, or if you would like to discuss options for buying a new turntable, we would be delighted to help you. We are authorised agents for Linn Products, Rega Research, Vertere Ltd, VPI and Nottingham Analogue and we retail cartridges from the following, Audio Technica, Analogue Relax, Denon, Dynavector, Hana, Linn, Luxman, Lyra, Nagaoka, Ortofon, Rega, Sumiko and Van Den Hul amongst others. We have many years of experience and feel confident in being able to guide you through the myriad of options available.

The Audio Republic is your local, independent HiFi shop serving the North East and beyond offering a fine range of world class audio equipment backed up by many years of practical knowledge.

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05/09/2026

A beautiful blustery yet summery day at Audio Republic North HQ where we are reflecting on everything that has happened during the past month.

Last week saw the end of the Linn Summer Promotion which has been very successful for us. We managed to retail three Klimax level LP12’s, (pictures to follow when installed) although there were variances with tonearms and cartridges. One deck featured the wonderful Audio Origami PU8 tonearm which redefines the term transparency for this price.

One common element to all three builds was the deployment of the Tangerine Audio Karmen top plate. Precision engineered, this aluminium sheet has the bolt hangars for the LP12 suspension fixed precisely perpendicularly to the plinth, which in turn allows the suspension to work more effectively giving better sound quality. There is a ‘correctness’ to the bounce of a deck equipped with a Karmen.

One of the decks featured the Revolver platter also from Tangerine, which is a high quality replacement for the Linn platter but which has no air holes and is of an equal weight all the way around. Music takes on an enhanced brilliance and there is a sense of increased detail and atmosphere compared to the standard item.

All three decks also included the Tangerine Evenstar stabiliser which again offers up greater detailing and focus. These upgrades work on any vintage LP12 and will inject new life into any system. We are grateful to both Linn Products and Tangerine Audio for the trust and faith they have in us to demonstrate their products correctly.

Away from Linn related matters our Rega sales have held up well during the hot months with RS3 and RS6 decks clearly the focus of customer attention. These units are very competitive both at their respective retail prices and above and will be high on the shopping list of prospective customers over the next few months.

We also had a visit from our friends at Chord Electronics who demonstrated to us the latest in upscaling wizardry courtesy of the Quartet, a new development of the existing Hugo Mscaler. Anybody who has a Chord DAVE DAC must hear this unit as it redefines the performance of a DAVE. It is expensive but we support our manufacturers and we will have one on demonstration from mid October. We are very happy to discuss the trade in value of your existing Mscaler.

For all owners of Vertere’s DG-X and MG1 turntables, they have just released a new, nifty support base which both enhances the look and sound of these spectacular record players. On demonstration shortly.

Lastly we have just received our demo pair of Proac DB1R loudspeakers and are running them in. In a way these hark back to the halcyon days of the Response 1SC, a diminutive mini monitor that could legitimately lay claim to being one of the best small loudspeakers of the 1990’s.

We just so happen to have a mint, new old stock pair of 1SC’s rescued from a well known auction site that have literally never been used. Look out for a shootout between the old and new shortly.

More of the above in our next FB post along with some very exciting news of things to come from your local specialist HiFi shop in Gateshead.

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01/08/2026

Despite the temperatures we have been busy at The Audio Republic North, however having just come back from a two day ‘road trip’ to Leeds to deliver some HiFi goodies, I was greeted by this wonderful sight in our store. Today was therefore going to be a WBD !.

A White Box Day is the sort of day you associate with Christmas, Birthdays etc, in other words it’s a special day. However, the ‘specialness’ here is provided by a delivery from one of America’s foremost HiFi companies, Audio Research. This company have been making exceptional audio equipment for a very very long time. And it shows.

Audio Research and I first crossed paths in the late 1980’s when I worked at Steve Boxshall Audio’s audio emporium on Victoria Road in Cambridge. He had such esoteric items as the SP11 preamp and D125 power amp. These were kept in the ‘big boys’ dem room (not for pesky student employees) alongside Krell, Magnaplanar, Roksan, Wadia and other products that made Steve the retailer that he was. I was besotted by the big silver faceplates, black grab handles and green led’s on the front panel. Oh, and the flick switches. So decadent. But it was the sound, fluid, transparent and big b***d. Steve’s favourite songstress at the time was Lisa Stansfield and I’ll never forget the time we drove a pair of Acoustic Energy AE1’s with a four box (!) Wadia cd player, SP11, Krell KSA 150 and reams of Magnum loudspeaker cable. The whole system just disappeared with Ms Stansfield singing for our pleasure at the other end of the room. Magic, pure magic.

Since then other components have come and gone but I have always had a few pieces in my system. Unboxing these gems has always been a pleasure and although prices have continued to rise, so has the performance. We have always had a commitment to the brand in the shop but at prices not necessarily for the faint hearted.

There is also the increasing cost of valves and their availability. Whist replacements are readily available they have increased markedly in cost due to the Ukrainian conflict.

Fast forward to today and here we have the latest results of the new ownership of this storied company. The LS-2 preamplifier (valve, but not many of them) and S-200 power amplifier (solid state) are the new kids on the block having been released in the first quarter of 2026. Patience is a virtue, seldom in a woman, never in a HiFi dealer.

We will be unboxing these and starting the onerous task of running them in and we will report back on our findings but we are truly delighted to have these available to demonstrate. Amplification that delivers absolutely.

The Audio Republic North is an independently owned stereo HiFi dealership based in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. We sell a range of wonderful equipment designed to enhance the results and increase your enjoyment of music at home. We also have over fifty years experience of installing and repairing HiFi. We would be delighted to hear from you.

15/07/2026

Just a quick reminder that the Audio Republic North are the area’s authorised retailer for Stax headphones, the leaders in electrostatic ear speaker technology. This wonderful pairing will soon be on its way to one of our valued clients who has been a Stax user for many years. We stock a select range from this manufacturer but most models are available to audition by arrangement.

14/07/2026

If you are in the market for a good phono stage then we have some great news for you. One of our favourite designs over the years has been the Vertere Phono 1 L, a beautifully built and very versatile mm/ mc compatible device which has found its way into some seriously good HiFi systems. It is not a romantic sounding device, rather it is a detail excavator par excellence which it combines with a vanishingly low noise floor. In a far from crowded market place it has always stood out as offering great performance at a sane price as prices have continued to rise. Its excellence has been recognised by the many awards that it has won over the years.

Some time ago Mike Burn from Vertere mentioned that some design improvements from the Reference Calon phono stage (£15k) were being implemented into the Phono 1 and would we like to hear the improvements for ourselves ?.

Cosmetically the only changes made are a move away from the orange led of yore (hurrah) to a much more soothing green / blue one, and a sturdier feeling cover. The colour options are the same as before, black, silver, orange front / silver case and the DG-X matching style. The full title of the new product is the Phono 1 LX and it retails for £1650 as opposed to the previous price of £1500.

The internal changes made are retrofittable to most earlier Phono 1’s (those after serial number 1224) for a modest sum (£150 - £250) so to be fair I was not expecting to hear a great deal of difference.

We still have our demo Phono 1 L on hand for comparison although it will soon be converted to X spec so a shootout was the order of the day.

Onto our resident SME Model 15 with IV arm and Sumiko Songbird low output cartridge with its .5 millivolt output went Nightmares on Wax’s Smokers Delight, a lovely trippy album full of wandering bass lines and intricate percussion. The differences between the old and new are staggering, transformational even. The soundstage is vast, CinemaScope vast, with a level of transparency unheard of for the money. The noise floor has been lowered even further resulting in a new found level of definition and dynamics. Music has developed into an almost 3-D entity where you can see around the performers and instruments.This is an incredible result for £1650 and I would estimate that you would have to spend at least double that to better it. But would you need to ?. It’s that good.

I often think of phono stages as microscopes, the best ones let you dial in to tiny details not normally heard / seen. The very best ones continually surprise you with new information from albums you thought that you knew well.

To cut to the chase, the improvements made to an already impressive product here are huge. How this has happened is beyond me, but what we have here is a truly phenomenal product which rewrites rule books. This is an endgame product. Most low to medium priced phono stages end up being a bottleneck in an aspirational system. Not here. The king is dead, long live the king !.

The Audio Republic North is an independent HiFi specialist in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, that sells a range of wonderful equipment for enjoying records, CD’s and music streams on.
Our stock is hand picked to be the best in its respective marketplace. Retailers of Rega Research, Vertere Ltd, Linn Products, Simaudio, Sugden, Naim Audio and many others.

07/07/2026

A customer enquiry led to the demonstration and sale of a rather superb Sumiko Songbird low output moving coil cartridge this morning. Fitted to our resident SME Model 15 turntable and set up with the tonearm slightly up at the rear, this cartridge lives up to its reputation as a ‘mini Koetsu’ giving a very sweet, colourful sound. Definately not the last word in dynamics, it compensates by providing a huge soundstage populated by big rich slabs of music. The Cure’s Mixed Up is a case in point, a literal wall of music with deep bass lines punctuated by a cowbell (?), guitars and voice. It’s real, organic and a valid contrast to ‘speed merchant’ cartridges which can be very articulate, fast, clean and clear but which somehow sometimes miss the point. These Japanese built wonders are all about colour, texture and tone. They have real personalities and are available in both high and low output. The H/O version, if you need the extra output, is particularly good into quality mm phono stages and indeed one of our customers has one running into an old but wonderful EAR 834p valve phono stage where it sounds tremendous.

If you like steak instead of mince, full fat milk instead of skimmed and Rioja instead of Gewurtztraminer, the next time you change your cartridge these are deserving of your attention and we would be delighted to demonstrate them to you.

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04/07/2026

Two sales this week that have demonstrated the breadth of equipment available at the Audio Republic in Gateshead. The first was a perennial favourite of ours, a Sugden A21a amplifier with onboard phono stage. Although ‘only’ rated at 25 watts output power, this has always been enough to drive many very worthy loudspeakers in normal rooms. It will partner a Linn LP12 turntable and Cyrus CD player. On demonstration it impressed with its fluid, tonally lifelike sound that makes many other amplifiers sound flat and expressionless. It has always sounded fabulous with vinyl but feed it a good digital signal and it will amaze you, no harshness, thinness or listening fatigue. This is where the real magic in audio starts. Hard to believe that this amplifier can trace its roots back to the 1960’s and is based on 50-60 year old technology. Pure audio gold !.

Our second notable event was the installation of a wonderful, very modern and up to date system for a lovely client in Northumberland. It comprised of the futuristic looking Vertere DG-X turntable with Sabre moving magnet cartridge, the ever popular Moon 260T cd transport, the phenomenal Moon 371 streaming amplifier and the unassailable Audiovector QR5SE loudspeakers.

This is a system that truly has no weaknesses. The DG-X has matured into the consummate mid priced super deck, capable of taking on established favourites sonically in a fuss free low maintenance package for those who would rather simply play records. Its performance has recently been boosted by the availability of the Lunar dc power supply which adds a solidity and ability to unravel complex vocal and instrumentation passages. This is a simple bolt on upgrade to all DG turntables.

The two Moon products showcase the brand’s expertise and product longevity. The 260T transport has been available in this guise for over a decade and still sells well. As the transport is a bespoke unit made specifically for this unit, Moon are not at the mercy of a supplier who will discontinue it. Its performance is superb whether purchased as a transport or a full cd player. We have clients using this unit into DCS level digital converters such is its quality.

Perhaps the star of a very star studded system is the new(ish) 371 streaming integrated amplifier, showcasing many of the technologies that have made Moon a serious player in high end audio. Hardware upgradable streaming boards, new power supply technologies but most of all a sound of incredible refinement and subtlety / delicacy that you could almost believe that there were valves in the signal path. This amp breaks new ground for how texturally rich solid state can sound and represents all the amp many of us will ever need, although it’s dearer cousins, the 491 and 461 are soon to be with us and will possibly disprove the above statement. This is truly technology in the service of music.

Lastly the system is rounded off by our very capable favourite loudspeakers, the QR5SE’s. It is fair to say that most people would have high expectations of a pair of £4k loudspeakers and we would include ourselves in this. The thing is, every time we wire these up to a good system they keep surprising us with a level of sophistication previously unattainable at the price. The frequency extremes are the standout areas, solid, weighty articulate bass that punches fast then stops, no overhang here !. This is coupled to a seamless high frequency unit which has banished listener fatigue.

Stick it all together and you have a delightful Time Machine that will transport performers to your front room. We played some Nina Simone and our client commented that she was indeed ‘just over there’.

The Audio Republic North is a specialist HiFi shop based in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. We offer a continually evolving selection of wonderful audio equipment backed up by real expertise gained over many years. We have a workshop facility for repairs and specialise in high end turntable and streaming based systems. We are friendly, approachable and will always do our best to help where possible.

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27/06/2026

We took a call from a customer who had recently purchased a new system which included a pair of the (very fine) Acoustic Energy AE1 40th Anniversary loudspeakers. It was bought online without audition but was comprised of worthy enough components. Would we come and have a listen to it as it was a bit hard and bright and despite running it in for a couple of weeks its character had not changed ?.

We took along various items to improve the sound, however by far the biggest improvement was gained by substituting our favourite Cardas Parsec interconnect and loudspeaker cables into the system. These removed the harsh and brittle top edge and added tonal colour, texture and richness, bass solidity and weight. There was also an almost 3-D sense of depth emanating from these diminutive loudspeakers. Quite a transformation !.

We have had a long and fruitful history with Cardas cables. Despite suffering from less than ideal distribution in the past, they have always been the first port of call for natural sounding harmonically sweet cables that prioritise listenability over hyped up levels of detail that ultimately become tiring. For almost two decades their Golden Reference and Golden Cross mains, interconnect and speaker cables helped music lovers access the best from their systems. The Holy Trinity of Conrad Johnson electronics, Avalon Loudspeakers and Cardas cables formed the basis of many a superb system. Part of the problem however was the cost of these cables due to the complexity of construction.
Even today, on second hand and auction sites these cables still command decent money.

Progress and time wait for no one however and Cardas started to restructure their range in the early 2000’s. Out went the old guard to be replaced by the new. There was no fanfare, yet something had changed. A new sound direction and new names heralded a move to a different direction with cables universally more open and clearer, dropping the rich hues of earlier models for greater consistency. The best Cardas cables are undoubtedly the most expensive, but the results are undeniable.

But there, second from bottom in the Cardas lineup is the Parsec range. This range of dark olive coloured wires is an unsung star. It combines the transparency of the newer ranges with much of the sweetness of the Golden Reference wires but it does so at prices nearly half of those previously asked for. The £670 1m RCA or XLR analogue interconnect supersedes the £1100 Golden Reference equivalent. That is a phenomenal result.

Better still, the brand is now distributed by the ever helpful Cambridge Acoustic Sciences, who have made these wonderful cables more widely available. For anyone wishing to add a large dose of believability, realism, texture or plain listenability to their system, these cables will weave their magic. Yes, there are better cables available, but these can be a stopping point or an endgame, such is their quality.

The Audio Republic North Ltd is a two channel specialist HiFi shop based in Gateshead, Newcastle Upon Tyne. We sell award winning HiFi backed up by over fifty years worth of experience. We undertake repairs to most brands and specialise in all things turntable related.

25/06/2026

Soon to be fitted to one of our demonstration LP12’s for an audition next week, our stunning Audio Origami PU7 GTS tonearm with internal Cardas wiring. This product has evolved to a point where it represents a mandatory audition for anyone considering a ‘super arm’ for an LP12 level deck. Everything about it displays the utmost precision with which it has been manufactured, from the threaded counterweight stub to allow for fractions of downforce to be added or subtracted, to the highly polished titanium armtube that will hold any cartridge in a vice like grip. This is a weapons grade device that means business.

Each bespoke device, (as there are armtube materials, colour and cabling options available to specify depending on individual requirements), is a perfect example of the evolution of an already great product to one that challenges the best already available. It sounds different to its competitors but whilst rivalling them in dynamic energy it has to be the most transparent arm at its price point within the market place. This gives a different but ultimately very rewarding interpretation of any music that you care to play on a deck equipped with this arm.

We are delighted to be able to offer this option for individuals looking to maximise their experience when playing LP’s on a quality turntable. You really need to experience the difference that a cutting edge product like this can make, the amount of resolution that even a modest cartridge can generate when it is optimally aligned in this arm is quite staggering.

Available from the Audio Republic North Ltd, your local specialist HiFi dealer. Presenting the largest selection of analogue equipment in the North East including but not limited to Audio Origami, Linn Products inc Klimax level LP12, Rega Research, Vertere Ltd, VPI, Nottingham Analogue, cartridges from Lyra, Ortofon, Sumiko, Vertere, Dynavector, Nagaoka, Hana, Audio Technica, Luxman, Linn and Shelter.

Full workshop facilities on site, cartridge fitting service free if cartridge purchased from us.

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Audio Republic

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Tuesday	9:30am - 5pm
Wednesday	9:30am - 5pm
Thursday	9:30am - 5pm
Friday	9:30am - 5pm
Saturday	9:30am - 4:30pm