- Feb 15, 2009
- 4,176
- 3,760
- 33,570
A quick canter through what I recall, though a few rooms I passed by, so by no means an exhaustive list. Lots of folks snapping and filming, so doubtless YouTube and other social media will carry the results.
I thought British brands had a great showing this year. Stalwarts like Acoustic Energy, ATC, PMC, Harbeth, Rega, Russell K, AudioNote, Fyne, Exposure, and ProAc had some nice kit with several new or upgraded models. I could have happily enjoyed the Russell K 120SE or the ATCs at home!
Quad showed the re-imagined 33/303 with Wharfedale Super Lintons, and the latest Quad ESL-2912X waiting to be rolled out later on. The X models are about £12.5k a pair!
No KEF or Linn this year, but there were some KEF Ref 5 in (I think) the Innuos room. Several rooms used Hegel amps, and in their own two Hegel rooms they repeated their preferred ‘across the room’ layout, when the majority choose ‘along the length’ layouts. I didn’t dare ask the price of their new Reference DAC!
I hadn’t attended on a Saturday for a long time, but with fewer exhibitors and not so many crowded rooms, I found it more relaxing than it has sometimes been.
Musical Fidelity are relaunching those cylindrical X designs, including a Tube Buffer, and some mains/power supply models, and a new B series amp and CD is on the way.
Michell showed a pricy phono stage, and an upgraded turntable or two are in the pipeline. They are now distributed by PMC who didn’t play records, but had a turntable in their room.
Rega demo’d a new Brio mark 7 amp, at £799, alongside their 3RS turntable and the ‘concrete’ £1500 speakers, making one of the more affordable complete systems. They also showed a new pre+power amp combo, with Perspex tops so the nerdier amongst us could ponder the layout.
PMC had the new Prophecy speaker range on demo each hour. I heard the 11am presentation on the 9, the top 3-way. Mighty impressive sound with brief excepts of very loud but exciting electronic music, that showed their impact, but it wasn’t possible to gauge realism. The presenter was an Oliver Thomas, presumably Peter’s son.
ATC played their active SCM20 stand mount in the Anniversary blue finish. Beautiful sound with ‘normal’ recordings, but not a look I could enjoy domestically, with shiny metal cone surrounds and that paint finish.
Harbeth have a new cone material, so their range is now XD2 suffix, but pricing is the same on the ones I heard - the M30.3 and the P3 ESR with Nelson.
Not too huge Fyne Classic speakers showed what Tannoy could have become - traditional cabinets with 21st century sound. Lovely!
Audio Note had new speakers in their usual corner placement with costly low-wattage tube amps and CD source, and their trademark dynamic sound with such high efficiency speakers and glowing amplifiers.
Acoustic Energy had some quite modest models playing very enjoyably, while I drooled again at the luxurious Corinium models.
Elite Audio had a huge variety of their imports on show, with the Revival speakers again looking good value.
I didn’t detain myself with headphones, AV systems, soundbars or Bluetooth speakers, though there were quite a few on offer, including JBL with that reticulated foam front. Talking of which Arcam had an impressive display, with a super luxurious brochure, thanks presumably to their Samsung ownership?
Quite a few familiar faces too, as Hifi isn’t such a big world really!
I thought British brands had a great showing this year. Stalwarts like Acoustic Energy, ATC, PMC, Harbeth, Rega, Russell K, AudioNote, Fyne, Exposure, and ProAc had some nice kit with several new or upgraded models. I could have happily enjoyed the Russell K 120SE or the ATCs at home!
Quad showed the re-imagined 33/303 with Wharfedale Super Lintons, and the latest Quad ESL-2912X waiting to be rolled out later on. The X models are about £12.5k a pair!
No KEF or Linn this year, but there were some KEF Ref 5 in (I think) the Innuos room. Several rooms used Hegel amps, and in their own two Hegel rooms they repeated their preferred ‘across the room’ layout, when the majority choose ‘along the length’ layouts. I didn’t dare ask the price of their new Reference DAC!
I hadn’t attended on a Saturday for a long time, but with fewer exhibitors and not so many crowded rooms, I found it more relaxing than it has sometimes been.
Musical Fidelity are relaunching those cylindrical X designs, including a Tube Buffer, and some mains/power supply models, and a new B series amp and CD is on the way.
Michell showed a pricy phono stage, and an upgraded turntable or two are in the pipeline. They are now distributed by PMC who didn’t play records, but had a turntable in their room.
Rega demo’d a new Brio mark 7 amp, at £799, alongside their 3RS turntable and the ‘concrete’ £1500 speakers, making one of the more affordable complete systems. They also showed a new pre+power amp combo, with Perspex tops so the nerdier amongst us could ponder the layout.
PMC had the new Prophecy speaker range on demo each hour. I heard the 11am presentation on the 9, the top 3-way. Mighty impressive sound with brief excepts of very loud but exciting electronic music, that showed their impact, but it wasn’t possible to gauge realism. The presenter was an Oliver Thomas, presumably Peter’s son.
ATC played their active SCM20 stand mount in the Anniversary blue finish. Beautiful sound with ‘normal’ recordings, but not a look I could enjoy domestically, with shiny metal cone surrounds and that paint finish.
Harbeth have a new cone material, so their range is now XD2 suffix, but pricing is the same on the ones I heard - the M30.3 and the P3 ESR with Nelson.
Not too huge Fyne Classic speakers showed what Tannoy could have become - traditional cabinets with 21st century sound. Lovely!
Audio Note had new speakers in their usual corner placement with costly low-wattage tube amps and CD source, and their trademark dynamic sound with such high efficiency speakers and glowing amplifiers.
Acoustic Energy had some quite modest models playing very enjoyably, while I drooled again at the luxurious Corinium models.
Elite Audio had a huge variety of their imports on show, with the Revival speakers again looking good value.
I didn’t detain myself with headphones, AV systems, soundbars or Bluetooth speakers, though there were quite a few on offer, including JBL with that reticulated foam front. Talking of which Arcam had an impressive display, with a super luxurious brochure, thanks presumably to their Samsung ownership?
Quite a few familiar faces too, as Hifi isn’t such a big world really!
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram