HiFi Live Show 2016
- Thread starter ellisdj
- Start date
Infiniteloop
Well-known member
- Jul 23, 2010
- 59
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'Tis a long way from South Cheshire and I have other, more pressing stuff to do this weekend. So sadly no. Even though Sonus Faber should have updated Guarneri Evolutions ( for 2017 and, I believe, now being re-named Guarneri Traditional? ) which I am interested in.
If you get the chance, would you let me know what you think?
If you get the chance, would you let me know what you think?
According to the programme its the SF Il Cremonese speakers that are being demonstrated on the end of Audio Research kit - Nice.
Another highlight I cant wait to hear - DCS, Dagostino powering Wilson Audio Alexia - now thats worth going to listen to alone. Then they are doing a demo of the new Wilson speaker the Yvette on the end of Audio Research again.
Its gets better as well - loads of cracking stuff to listen to - very exciting.
I was hoping Gazzip might be going so we could say hello and arrange our personal demo / show down
Another highlight I cant wait to hear - DCS, Dagostino powering Wilson Audio Alexia - now thats worth going to listen to alone. Then they are doing a demo of the new Wilson speaker the Yvette on the end of Audio Research again.
Its gets better as well - loads of cracking stuff to listen to - very exciting.
I was hoping Gazzip might be going so we could say hello and arrange our personal demo / show down
If anyone is considering attending this show I would definitely go.
It's a very good show with in general a very high quality of sound on display. Much higher than shows I have been to be before.
It's generally a super high end show so you would expect it but it did deliver in general.
Not busy at all. Bigger rooms than Bristol for example and a better overall result.
I will do a write up with photos when I get time.
It's a very good show with in general a very high quality of sound on display. Much higher than shows I have been to be before.
It's generally a super high end show so you would expect it but it did deliver in general.
Not busy at all. Bigger rooms than Bristol for example and a better overall result.
I will do a write up with photos when I get time.
As promised some details about this show for those who didnt go. I was a good show, I didnt have nearly enough time there, got there late due to M25 traffic and leaving home far too late in hindsight.
Please bear with me I will do this bit by bit - this was a high end show but not all demos there were super high end but generally the sound from the show was very good indeed
I went because I wanted to hear some of these special systems but I also wanted to see how far there is to go from where I am now - and this showed me there is a long way for me to go within my contraints
This is the first room I went into - I headed for this section of the hotel where the Wilson and Magico speakers were on demo knowing they would be busy and they was, we had to book a demo slot for those, however this is the first room I went into and I could have stayed in here all day (wish I had). This was the best sound at the show for me from what I heard.
That system was outstanding - I listened to 2 cuts and both had the same attributes - lovely sweet sound, perfect scale. The second song was a Johnny Cash cut and the vocal was large and clear, but the most impressive part was the space the vocal had, the vocal was about 2 feet by 2 feet in size - presented so clear you could see it as well as hear it. Then you had silence all around it between the speakers and that is so nice to listen to and so impressive. If this is system noise floor related then the noise floor was the lowest I have ever heard by miles and the lowest of the day. Other systems were great but none had this level of spacial clarity. I heard better overall systems than this on paper but this system was powered off the Uber Isotek Products mains, take from that what you will in terms of effect
Few more pics
I can see why WHF fell in love with Gamut products and they are now the reference system are hearing this system.
Serious Vinyl Deck - no idea what it is but it looked amazing and sounded every bit of it
Please bear with me I will do this bit by bit - this was a high end show but not all demos there were super high end but generally the sound from the show was very good indeed
I went because I wanted to hear some of these special systems but I also wanted to see how far there is to go from where I am now - and this showed me there is a long way for me to go within my contraints
This is the first room I went into - I headed for this section of the hotel where the Wilson and Magico speakers were on demo knowing they would be busy and they was, we had to book a demo slot for those, however this is the first room I went into and I could have stayed in here all day (wish I had). This was the best sound at the show for me from what I heard.
That system was outstanding - I listened to 2 cuts and both had the same attributes - lovely sweet sound, perfect scale. The second song was a Johnny Cash cut and the vocal was large and clear, but the most impressive part was the space the vocal had, the vocal was about 2 feet by 2 feet in size - presented so clear you could see it as well as hear it. Then you had silence all around it between the speakers and that is so nice to listen to and so impressive. If this is system noise floor related then the noise floor was the lowest I have ever heard by miles and the lowest of the day. Other systems were great but none had this level of spacial clarity. I heard better overall systems than this on paper but this system was powered off the Uber Isotek Products mains, take from that what you will in terms of effect
Few more pics
I can see why WHF fell in love with Gamut products and they are now the reference system are hearing this system.
Serious Vinyl Deck - no idea what it is but it looked amazing and sounded every bit of it
Gazzip said:
Gazzip I cant believe you attended and didnt say, I wanted to say hello so we could arrange our cables shoot out. Nevermind
The Magico's were the biggest dissapointment for me (behind the Kef Muon). AbsoluteSounds were demoing them. They were tremendous above 30Hz-ish or so, but when they dropped lower than that the bass was all over the place. Not sure which model they were, but nothing that expensive should be so fundamentally flawed.
The Muon's always maked me laugh. How they have managed to make $200,000 sound like a school disco DJ's kit is beyond me. Flat, undynamic garbage.
The Muon's always maked me laugh. How they have managed to make $200,000 sound like a school disco DJ's kit is beyond me. Flat, undynamic garbage.
I found the Muon room late in the day, straight after hearing the Wilson Alexx.
I was buzzing to hear these after just becoming a Kef owner for the forst time but as Gazzip said this room sounded Terrible. Its serious Kit so should have been amazing - the sound was huge in scale but it was awful - no clarity, no layering, just like a crap disco (I used to dj discos so thats a good shout).
This wasnt the system this was the room it was in - someone in their wisdom installed 2 huge diffusors to the side of the speakers - the room was already way too live and echoy - so adding diuffison in this instance just killed any chance of any imaging from this system. They got it totally wrong - had the whole show been this level of dissapointment I would never go again, gladly it wasnt.
It was a serious Chord Electronics setup
This should tell you everything - Wilson Audio speaker demo - good sound room full.
The Muon room terrible sound, room was empty when I went in - there was more Kef employees in there than hifi nerds - for a system like this, that is just wrong
ellisdj said:
This was the first room we went in to and we were all extremely surprised and impressed by what this (relatively) little system was doing. The speakers litterly disapeared and soundstaging was truly excellent. Yes, they didn't plumb the low frequency depths, but Revel also do a series of floorstanders that may well address that, which I would also like to hear at some stage... Why did the i32 only get 3 stars? Bizzare!
The other dissapointment for me was with the Magico demo. - but for a different reason to Gazzip.
You have to book slots for the Magico and Wilson Audio demos - getting to hear these systems was a huge attraction to me and probably the reason I went.
I had a 3pm slot booked for the Magico and 3.45pm for the Wilson. 45 minutes should have been plenty bearing in mind the demo rooms were next to each other.
I got there early for the Magico demo to get a good seat. Come 3.15 I am still standing outside they had not let anyone in yet.
Eventually they let us in and I got a good seat as you can see
However reps from Absolute sound werre chatting and doing photos - then Ken Kessler came in and they were speaking about demos later on, completely ignoring the people sitting and waiting for their demo. It was about 3.35pm before they started to play a song, I got to hear about 2-3 minutes of music on this system before I had to leave to make the Wilson Demo and as a result I wasnt in a good spot in the cue and didnt get a good seat for the Wilson Demo.
I doubt if anyone from Absolute Sounds is reading this but if they do that wasnt very fair and you wasted a good 30 minutes of my show time which was limited enough and I didnt get to hear one of the main attractions of the show the Magico
You have to book slots for the Magico and Wilson Audio demos - getting to hear these systems was a huge attraction to me and probably the reason I went.
I had a 3pm slot booked for the Magico and 3.45pm for the Wilson. 45 minutes should have been plenty bearing in mind the demo rooms were next to each other.
I got there early for the Magico demo to get a good seat. Come 3.15 I am still standing outside they had not let anyone in yet.
Eventually they let us in and I got a good seat as you can see
However reps from Absolute sound werre chatting and doing photos - then Ken Kessler came in and they were speaking about demos later on, completely ignoring the people sitting and waiting for their demo. It was about 3.35pm before they started to play a song, I got to hear about 2-3 minutes of music on this system before I had to leave to make the Wilson Demo and as a result I wasnt in a good spot in the cue and didnt get a good seat for the Wilson Demo.
I doubt if anyone from Absolute Sounds is reading this but if they do that wasnt very fair and you wasted a good 30 minutes of my show time which was limited enough and I didnt get to hear one of the main attractions of the show the Magico
Gazzip did you see the cables for the Magico and Wilson system from Transparent Cables.
One had a dead chicken attached to it
The other had a George Foreman Grill attached
I asked this guy for the food menu and his face told me everything 🙂
One had a dead chicken attached to it
The other had a George Foreman Grill attached
I asked this guy for the food menu and his face told me everything 🙂
Now onto the main highlight - the Wilson Audio, Dagonstino demo and I was delighted that is was the Alex I got to hear and not the Yvette.
The Alex at £115k and Dagostino Mono Blocks at £65k Full DCS front end no idea £ lots - its is hifi porn no doubt.
It was a typical demo of this sort - a chat from a rep from the main companies about the products - that was all good actually organised and quick.
Then the music - I can only think of one word to describe the sound of this system and funny enough it was advertised on their promo board
I was in a bad seat off to the left - I would have loved to have been in the hot seat to get the full stereo image. It wasnt as perfect a presentation as the Sound Fowndations - it was redbook CD content not Vinyl - but it still had something very special about it. I wanted to listen to more content and I would have done the whole demo again straight after if I could have heard the system in the hot seat.
Its nothing to do with any of them names of kit or the price it was just how the music was presented made me want to listen to more music presented this way.
Few more pics
The Alex at £115k and Dagostino Mono Blocks at £65k Full DCS front end no idea £ lots - its is hifi porn no doubt.
It was a typical demo of this sort - a chat from a rep from the main companies about the products - that was all good actually organised and quick.
Then the music - I can only think of one word to describe the sound of this system and funny enough it was advertised on their promo board
I was in a bad seat off to the left - I would have loved to have been in the hot seat to get the full stereo image. It wasnt as perfect a presentation as the Sound Fowndations - it was redbook CD content not Vinyl - but it still had something very special about it. I wanted to listen to more content and I would have done the whole demo again straight after if I could have heard the system in the hot seat.
Its nothing to do with any of them names of kit or the price it was just how the music was presented made me want to listen to more music presented this way.
Few more pics
This was the surprise Good Sound for me at the Show
It was Revel B1 I think speakers £950
Primare I32 with media board £3300 - Streamer, Dac and Integrated all in one
Torus Power Conditioner - not sure price but it was a small one
Average Cable from Straight Wire or similar company.
Obviously this system didnt have the scale of the larger systems, or the rich sweetness but the sound was completely free of the speakers - totally transparent and clear. Again sound so clear you can see it as well as hear it - totally free of the speakers I cant stress that bit enough
This room was put together by Karma AV I think was the co. - the chap from there played a few different songs - one was a pure drum track and the clarity of the kick drum notes was staggering. Literally a shock that such full, clear and 3D sound was coming from these little speakers in this little room. Really impressive and at that price point compared to the £££££££ other systems this little system shone. Quite a few people in the room were commenting on how good it was - real surprise
WHF only gave the Pirmare i32 a 3 star review - thats another surprise seems like they listened to a different product to this one
It was Revel B1 I think speakers £950
Primare I32 with media board £3300 - Streamer, Dac and Integrated all in one
Torus Power Conditioner - not sure price but it was a small one
Average Cable from Straight Wire or similar company.
Obviously this system didnt have the scale of the larger systems, or the rich sweetness but the sound was completely free of the speakers - totally transparent and clear. Again sound so clear you can see it as well as hear it - totally free of the speakers I cant stress that bit enough
This room was put together by Karma AV I think was the co. - the chap from there played a few different songs - one was a pure drum track and the clarity of the kick drum notes was staggering. Literally a shock that such full, clear and 3D sound was coming from these little speakers in this little room. Really impressive and at that price point compared to the £££££££ other systems this little system shone. Quite a few people in the room were commenting on how good it was - real surprise
WHF only gave the Pirmare i32 a 3 star review - thats another surprise seems like they listened to a different product to this one
Some more photos and info about what I heard
Raidho Speakers of a Kronos Limited Edition Turntable - sounded good but didnt have the magic of the Sownd Foundations room I was in shortly before
Vivid Audio and Mola Mola - the Giya G4 - were tiny little speakers, I was expecting big speakers, but I do mean tiny. £23k a pair For me this system didnt have the mid range fullness I like, the mid range was too recessed for me. Considering the whole design philosphy of these speakers they didnt have that out of box sound that some of the other systems had.
Audio Note - this system was absolutely fantastic - it serious clarity, speed and detail with brilliant resolution from CD. Vincent Ballanger was there to play his cello at the same time as the system but I did not see this sadly. This was a very impressive sounding system - big sound.
Dali and Luxman I think - this was sounding very nice actually but after hearing the sound fowndations room shortly before I didnt stay long in here
One for LindseyT - Mark Levinson on some Old School Modernised JBL Horns
This was sounding good and again you can see my position is poor I was hoping to move into the sweetspot when someone left. However sods law it was 2pm and they started a spoken demo from a rep from Mark Levinson about the products. Typical just wanted to hear the system not sit through a presentation as interesting as it would have been on a dedicated evening for the products. It was interesting in their DAC they use 6 individual power supplies - they have 4 power supplies for the dac chips alone. Thats awesome and you cna see why they are expensive.
They was using a Monsterous Torus Power Conditioner size of a suit case for this demo
B&W 802 D - Gutted I managed to get in here for about 5 minutes part way through an oganised session - you can see I am standing at the back and the room is full. This room was next to the empty Muon room - again says a lot. This sounded like it had really great potential but not from standing where I was. Also once you have heard the scale of sound from the likes of the Wilson Alexx to go back to normal system scale like you get off these is a hard step down. As I said somehting about that Wilson system you would find yourself listenening to music literally all day - now its expensive but does it fulfil its duty if that is how you feel when listening to it - I think it does
Raidho Speakers of a Kronos Limited Edition Turntable - sounded good but didnt have the magic of the Sownd Foundations room I was in shortly before
Vivid Audio and Mola Mola - the Giya G4 - were tiny little speakers, I was expecting big speakers, but I do mean tiny. £23k a pair For me this system didnt have the mid range fullness I like, the mid range was too recessed for me. Considering the whole design philosphy of these speakers they didnt have that out of box sound that some of the other systems had.
Audio Note - this system was absolutely fantastic - it serious clarity, speed and detail with brilliant resolution from CD. Vincent Ballanger was there to play his cello at the same time as the system but I did not see this sadly. This was a very impressive sounding system - big sound.
Dali and Luxman I think - this was sounding very nice actually but after hearing the sound fowndations room shortly before I didnt stay long in here
One for LindseyT - Mark Levinson on some Old School Modernised JBL Horns
This was sounding good and again you can see my position is poor I was hoping to move into the sweetspot when someone left. However sods law it was 2pm and they started a spoken demo from a rep from Mark Levinson about the products. Typical just wanted to hear the system not sit through a presentation as interesting as it would have been on a dedicated evening for the products. It was interesting in their DAC they use 6 individual power supplies - they have 4 power supplies for the dac chips alone. Thats awesome and you cna see why they are expensive.
They was using a Monsterous Torus Power Conditioner size of a suit case for this demo
B&W 802 D - Gutted I managed to get in here for about 5 minutes part way through an oganised session - you can see I am standing at the back and the room is full. This room was next to the empty Muon room - again says a lot. This sounded like it had really great potential but not from standing where I was. Also once you have heard the scale of sound from the likes of the Wilson Alexx to go back to normal system scale like you get off these is a hard step down. As I said somehting about that Wilson system you would find yourself listenening to music literally all day - now its expensive but does it fulfil its duty if that is how you feel when listening to it - I think it does
Infiniteloop
Well-known member
- Jul 23, 2010
- 59
- 21
- 18,545
Nice informative write-up ellisdj.
An appreciative nod to valves too. Looks like a pair of 845's (my favourite power triode) doing the business in the power Amp in the Audio Note room. These almost always sound big, bold, romantic and effortless.
- Just don't tell TrevC.
An appreciative nod to valves too. Looks like a pair of 845's (my favourite power triode) doing the business in the power Amp in the Audio Note room. These almost always sound big, bold, romantic and effortless.
- Just don't tell TrevC.
The AudioNote room was truly fantastic - that was a very good room.
The chap in front of me to the left got up and started man handling the record deck - he was swiftly moved on by the staff and in there and told "Do Not Touch" - which made me chuckle - like he was a kid in an antique shop or similar
But he was proper man handling the platter I think to test its vibration rejection - but the reps didnt look happy with him doing it lol.
The chap in front of me to the left got up and started man handling the record deck - he was swiftly moved on by the staff and in there and told "Do Not Touch" - which made me chuckle - like he was a kid in an antique shop or similar
But he was proper man handling the platter I think to test its vibration rejection - but the reps didnt look happy with him doing it lol.
I have just bought the 2 CD albums of the songs that were playing in the Sound Fowndations room - that was vinyl but I will be able to see how they sound here by comparison - poor I would guess. Good old ebay cost £6.41 for them both delivered and one is brand new 🙂
That system and the Wilson system has left a mark on me - my system holds its own with most of the others in its own way but they set a bar that I want to strive to now.
Its got me even more interested in mains conditoning products dont tell TrevC that either 🙂
That system and the Wilson system has left a mark on me - my system holds its own with most of the others in its own way but they set a bar that I want to strive to now.
Its got me even more interested in mains conditoning products dont tell TrevC that either 🙂
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