Avondale Audio Reviews 

I have bought many items from AvondaleAudio and never been disappointed, well packaged, fast shipping and service second to none. Highly recommended.........Les you are an absolute gentleman.

Excellent service and products, I had the following work done on a my Naim 250 and Naima72 the following comments are my opinion on improvement made to my equipment. Well after few weeks my ncc200/hcr200 equipped Naim 250 sounds absolutely stunning, I also took the opportunity to install the 821 cards into my Naim 72. The Naim PRAT is still very much in evidence, but there is also a massive improvement in the amount of musical detail. The issue of a somewhat booming bass from my Linn Keleidh speakers has been completely eradicated, they sound amazing, especially with the Hiquphon tweeters which replaced the originals​, one of which blew. If anyone has a Naim 250, I wholeheartedly recommend these upgrades. I am curious as to how the 821AR cards would sound though, but for the time being I am a very happy bunny indeed, thanks Les and to the guys at Witchhat who did the work.I would like to also say that the extra detail you hear is totally natural and realistic in the way it's portrayed, not at all etched. Instrument decay on things like acoustic guitar, cymbals, piano amongst others has to heard to be believed. Female and male vocals are very realistic, pocessing an in the room quality. Bass is impressively deep, but at the same time controlled. The other plus there is no more hiss from the speakers, I believe this to be an effect of the 821 cards. The gain is a little lower than the original naim boards, but is more than enough for my Lp12 / Ittok and Karma.
Full system including the Linn and a Sony tuner is as follows, Naim CDX/XPS, NAC72 with 821 boards, TPX1.5, Naim 250 with mods as above, Linn Keleidh speakers with upgraded Hiquphon tweeters. Cables used Nordost Red Dawn and Nordost Solar Wind interconnects and Nordost Blue Heaven speaker cables. One thing however, the 250 does run quite a lot hotter than a standard 250 though.

I am a very happy customer of Avondale Audio and have known Les Wolstenholme for several years. Avondale's customer service is 100% exemplary as is their commitment to quality and innovation. Currently I run a dual mono power amp containing the Minicap 6 modules and NCC200 amplifier boards. It's a brilliant amp and I have no desire to change it. It does the job supremely and massively outperforms the Naim amplifier it replaced.

I had a supercap restored and upgraded to the best spec offered. I mailed the supercap to Les, and 2 weeks later, I collected the Supercap from him.

In short - it sounds fantastic. Music sounds very realistic.

Thats what I wanted.

My experience of dealing with Avondale Audio goes back more years than I care to remember !
I first contacted Les Wolstenholme, the owner of Avondale Audio many years ago now, enquiring and wanting to discuss my ideas for building a really good Hifi amplifier.
Les’s response to my enquiries was as ever quick, supportive and interestingly reassuring ! Les wanted to share his experience and empower my efforts to succeed ! Very refreshingly, he’s not that interested at all in just selling - ‘stuff’.
This approach, I believe, is unique in most fields of commerce that I’ve come across, but though rare, not totally unheard of in the Hifi field.
To be clear; Les Wolstenholme of Avondale Audio is a true audio enthusiast, a man passionate about his art and craft. A true devotee of real old fashioned no compromise quality, excellence, attention to detail and the very best customer service.

He offers these paradigms as he expects no less from himself, or others. He is man of the very highest standards – so please don’t pressure him to come down to yours. Very quickly I realised Les of Avondale Audio is definitely NOT some electrical repair man, and people would be under a severe misapprehension, if that is what they might require.

As it happens I never did get around to building that amp ( yet ). But Avondale's and Les excellent reputation preceded him, and when I finally did need to address an urgent need for a decent and cost effective power supply solution for my Naim active Naxo cross over, I had the suspicion there was only one place to go – Avondale Audio !
Even back then a used Naim HICAP was going cost around the best part of £350 hard earned great British pounds.
So, after brief enquiries I was rapidly lead to understand, by very many Hifi enthusiasts around the country, that Les at Avondale was the man to see and speak to !
I was told that not only could he supply me with a superior product, that I could construct myself, but also that it that would also easily out perform Naims finest ! The rest, as they say, is now - history……

So began for me a long association with Avondale Audio which I hold in highest regard, and carefully cherish to this day ! For purely selfish reasons of course, because : I want the very best - and Les is the man whom delivers - Every time !

I was invited by Les to attend Avondale Towers to chat with him and his then assistant Ben, regarding my Hifi needs. I must say it was not without a great deal of excitement and not a little trepidation, that I drove to Chesterfield that day to meet the famous
(some would say infamous LOL !) man himself! As Les has a reputation for being a rather larger than life character !

On arrival I was treated to a fascinating tour of his artisan workshop along with a patient, understanding, and listening ear from the start.
Even today on my regular visits to Chesterfield, I still have the same excitement as I ponder what startling and stunning electronic wonders I will be blessed to see when I arrive!

Les usually has some new and fascinating engineering project in full swing as he exercises his strikingly imaginative and uniquely inventive mind to the full. The place where Les works his electronic miracles is an electrical AND mechanical engineering technicians dream. Stacked from floor to ceiling with all manner of specialist electronic measuring equipment, that Les has carefully assembled over many long decades of dedication to his craft.

Oh - and of course, a vast and most probably unmatched collection of Naim equipment spare parts, of all vintages, the like of which is probably not exceeded outside of Southampton road Salisbury!

This is not to mention Les’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the Hifi industry and it’s many designers and characters stretching back more decades than he might care to remember. Yes Les was there, some might say before the beginning, in the thick of it, when other Hifi legends such as Julian Vereker were just getting going. Les can tell a tale or two ! Sadly that's a whole other story !

At my personal Avondale Audio visit, soon conversation was flowing, lubricated with liberal quantities of freshly brewed coffee and delicious sandwiches supplied by Les’s wonderful good lady - Jen. Les was particularly concerned that I should receive from him EXACTLY what I needed to meet my precise requirements, and even though my order was trifling, he spent a whole enlightening afternoon helping me work through my options and making sure I had just what I needed.

Nothing was too much trouble for Les, and I left with everything I needed to complete my power supply. – It goes without saying it worked flawlessly and still does to this day I’m informed, as I sold it on ( at healthy profit I might add, as by then it was a built item ) to a new and very satisfied owner, as I moved up the Avondale upgrade path.
Another time I contacted Les in bit of flap, as I required some speaker terminals for a Naim 250. The terminals arrived within the week, with a brief note from Les apologising for the delay. And what was the cost of this wonderful service you might ask? For a man to go searching around for a piffling little order ? To put the said trifling item into padded envelope and get them off to the post office ? Probably the work of near on a couple of hours ? – FREE OF CHARGE ! – that’s how much – unbelievable! But I assure you this is true. I still have the note to prove it. Now that's what I call customer service !

Avondale is a bijou artisan company set up to carefully craft hand made bespoke electronic sonic gems to individual order. Les has to slave for long long hours, often deep into the night to produce Hifi equipment that will rival the worlds very best. He may not be able to instantly answer the very many phone call he gets, from all over the world, each and every single day. Not to mention the scores of emails! Not to mention keeping in line all those wonderfully busy chaps on the Hifi forums and social media and the like !
Avondale is not the kind of company that has a large call centre to deal with customer enquiries. If you are looking for that kind of gear, may I recommend Dixons?

Most likely when you do call Les at Avondale, you may be privileged enough speak to the man himself. He will do his very level best to help you, assist and support you in obtaining what you need, or build it to your specification. I suggest when you do call him you have a semblance of an idea of what you need. Because he has a long waiting list, and has little time to spare, although he always seems to make time for all the vast following of loyal clients and customers Avondale Audio has, whom would never dream of going anywhere else to have the their bespoke Hifi equipment, made especially for them by Avondale Audio.
Be it from turntable tone arms, to the finest world class amplifiers, to innovative speaker systems and everything in-between, and all loving and painstakingly bespoke built to order by hand by Les and his small team.

Personally I’d never go anywhere else.

The man Les Wolstenholme and the company he has built up for well over 30 years – Avondale - is quite frankly - a legend. Though he hates the title, and though he can be of course incisive, an bold at times, he is, in all actuality, far too modest to actually admit his true status in the Hifi world, and the world beyond for that matter. But for me *legend* is the only word I have for him.

I think you might, see I can thoroughly and whole heartedly recommend Les and his company Avondale Audio.
If you’d like to talk to me personally about my recommendation please feel free to call me any time – 07957 203218.
If don’t answer immediately, I might be busy so forgive me and just leave a message and I’ll call you back.

Thanks !

I was recommended Les by my father as 'the man to go to' for any Naim hi-fi equipment and I was excited by this prospect. I have (or should I say 'had') a Naim Nait 3 which was in need of a service, so I telephoned Les who told me to send it down to him. On the day I sent it I telephoned to check the best postal service as I was worried about placing such an item in the hands of a courier. I spoke to his wife, who was lovely, she put my mind at rest and told me Les would be expecting it.
This was at the start of September. Three days after I had sent it I became a little concerned as I hadn't had an email to confirm receipt. I sent an email, but got no response. Several days later I tried to telephone but got no answer. Again I sent another email, but got no response. This went on for a couple of weeks. I checked the couriers website and found that the amp had been signed for, which gave me some relief.
Weeks passed and I heard nothing on the status of my amp. I sent another email, but received nothing back. Finally after a couple more phone calls I got an answer from Les who told me he was on holiday and that the amp had arrived safely and that 'someone' had signed for it. I was told that it had been serviced and all he needed to do was check it when he got home and that it would be back with me soon after. I waited another week or so - but received no amp, invoice or correspondence. By this time, I myself was going on holiday. I wrote to Les again to say that should he try sending it back to me to hold off until mid October when I would be back - I received no response. When I returned home I checked my emails, still nothing. So, again I chased it up and again my emails were ignored. Eventually, I got a response telling me that the amp was good to go and that he just needed an address (a covering letter had been sent with the amp, so this had obviously been lost). I quickly responded with an address and expected my amp and invoice to be with me that week. Sadly not. So - again I emailed and again I received nothing back. Today, I telephoned and got a reply - I explained, very politely, who I was and what I was waiting for. As soon as I had Les became very abrupt with me and gruffly told me he had sent an invoice. I told him I had not received it. Then he became very rude and argumentative and told me that because another client had 'done him over' I would get an invoice before I got my amp. I have no issue with this, but I don't even know if it HAS been repaired. I didn't manage to say very much - instead I had Les shouting over me as I tried to speak. When I told him that I was unhappy that he had had my property for so long, without even a word as to its whereabouts, he told me that he was doing this as a favour and I should be happy! I remained calm and explained that this was not a favour and was in fact a service that he advertises and that I was also paying for. I asked him how he would feel should someone take as long paying for an invoice. He told me 'the world isn't a fair place'. I am unsure as to how this was even a point of fact. I told him I didn't think it acceptable to be talking to a client the way he was now talking to me - he told me to 'put it in a letter' and he put the phone down on me. I gave it a few minutes as I wanted to know if my amp was fixed before I received and paid for an invoice. This time his wife answered. She told me Les ended the conversation as 'he could see where it was going'. Which makes me wonder if this has happened to clients before. I asked her if she could see my point of view, which she said she could but then also added that I had been on holiday. I am unsure as to how my two weeks away had any bearing when the amp, according to Les, had already been repaired at this point. The fact of the matter is, I could live with the length of time this has taken, had he just told me so. Had he responded to emails - or if he had been honest and told me that he didn't have the time to repair it. Instead I have been worrying about where my property is - or STILL is. Something I worked hard to pay for and that Les showed no respect for. I am bitterly disappointed as Les did not live up to expectations. I STILL don't have my amp back, nor have I received an invoice after I have asked for it to be sent again. My next step is to take further action after having taken advice from the CAB.