Bristol Show 2015

Hugh56

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Should there be a play list of what music should played at this show. Less Jazz and Guitar solos, more Rock and definitely no Daft Punk.
 

macdiddy

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when I go to any shows I try to take some music that I know, most people will play it if you ask, if they don't want to, then I tend to avoid them for the rest of the show.

I went to a local show last year and I heard many different types of music being played from pop to classical plus nearly everything in between.

*music2*
 

Frank Harvey

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Hugh56 said:
Should there be a play list of what music should played at this show. Less Jazz and Guitar solos, more Rock and definitely no Daft Punk.
I don't know about that. If Derezzed (from Tron Legacy soundtrack) doesn't leave you breathless at the point of its abrupt end, then your system needs "pepping up".
 

Frank Harvey

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The problem is that you can't please everyone. On the one hand, they could play all the "classics" (Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Paul Simon, The Eagles etc) which is good as it's a handy reference point for many people. But then again, many people would be saying, "they're all playing the same old crap again". The last thing most of us want to hear is Hotel California. Then again, if a system produces something like nothing you've ever heard before, it really doesn't matter what you're listening to.

Then again, they could play some more obscure artists/tracks which can sound stunning, and it will show off what a system is capable of, but it's usually the stuff people have never heard of, so there's no point of reference.

I welcome the diverse music choices that manufacturers make to showcase their products at shows. Sometimes this can be a fine art, and really shows whether some of these manufacturers/reps actually know their music or not, and know what to use to really make them shine, particularly in the confines of the less than ideal hotel rooms. I also think that this hobby is more about sharing music than analysing it, and there's nothing wrong in hearing something different/new. Thanks to AudioQuest, I now have The Dead Weather in my CD/record collection, to give just one example.

I think you should be allowed to take your own music along to audition everything, and a manufacturer should be confident enough to play absolutely anything on the systems they claim to be so good (although there are some albums that will just sound naff full stop). Give me a room for the day and I'd be playing all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff that would be guaranteed to impress.
 

Hugh56

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David,

I fully agree with your comments, in particular paragraph 2. A reference set of music would be useful so we can compare one system with another. Our music taste will differ, but there seems to be too much safe music played, which often not fully test the manufacture's system. Not all manufactures (including one big player) seems to be happy to play their prospecting customer's taste of music.

I agree, I do draw the line on 70's/80's music which are often constantly played at these shows in the past such as Hotel California, however there are number of new music around that are played on radio 2 often, which are not played.

Dead Weather is a brilliant CD and it is great place to listen to a deverse range of music as well.
 

Frank Harvey

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I suppose we have to bear in mind that a show like this isn't the best place to audition and compare products from different manufacturers. I'd use a show as more of a place to see new products, or products you wouldn't normally get to see in many dealer's showrooms. By all means listen to the products and make initial assessments, but ideally, some time spent in a dealer's demo room is better for comparing products directly.
 

Hugh56

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Thank you David.

All I can say from my visit on last year, one of the demos (behind closed doors) music nearly drove me insane. I think most people who attend it, knows who I am talking about. I even take back what I said about the Eagles, rather than go back to that audition.
 

Leeps

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As always, Bristol's show threw up some interesting surprises and quite a bit of shouty boom tish rubbish coming from ridiculously oversized speakers trying to sound good (and failing) in hotel rooms equating in size to 90% of British living rooms. So many rooms I walked in and thought "my ears hurt" so I walked back out again...swiftly. Some of it had to do with some pretty appalling music choice by some reps...no accounting for taste I guess.

Anyway onto the positives:

A very informative well-prepared demonstration at Hegel. A little too bright (and slightly unnatural) sounding for my tastes through the LS50's, but the range of music chosen and the way the demonstrator explained how the product was developed was very interesting indeed. Full marks for the demo.

But for me, the show stealer was the Anthem MRX710. Playing 2-channel music through some £1500 Paradigm standmounts and a Paradigm sub. Just beautiful. No forced boom tish. Bass was well controlled and the entire frequency range just sounded completely natural, unforced and right. Interesting that an AV receiver manufacturer chose to demonstrate their product with 2-channel, which I suppose gives evidence in their (IMO) well-founded confidence in their product. Again a well-planned demo with a thoughtfully varied playlist.

I'd like to also acknowledge helpful and accommodating staff at Creek, Exposure, Roksan, Monitor Audio and Arcam who did the best they could and some of the above changed what they were playing to play the products I was interested in. So 'well done to the staff'. Although given the inherant limitations of the room and the speakers the amps were attached too, both Creek and Exposure disappointed. I really expected better.

Which takes me back to the Anthem. It doesn't exactly look pretty which is perhaps why they kept the lighting pretty subdued in the demo room, but sound for pound, simply leagues ahead of anything else I heard all day.
 

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