Your Winners & Losers from Bristol

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Anonymous

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FrankHarveyHiFi:

Winners

The Naim room, with or without the DAC.

The Bryston/PMC room with the Fact 8's.

The Onkyo room with the THX AV system, although I thought it was the wrong choice of speakers to show off a THX system.

The Wilson Benesch room, but then it's always the expensive stuff playing!

Neat Acoustics showing off those cute little speakers! Might have to get those in.....

Great little iPod dock/system on the Shure stand - only £100! Bargain.

Losers

The Chord Electronics room - whatever was playing just sounded bad.

Yamaha room - they should get back to the dems they used to do - they have one of the best amps on the market to do it with...

Cyrus room - I wasn't too keen on the Vienna Acoustics speakers.

Didn't *** into the Leema room brittondave, so can't comment there. I didn't see much point as I've heard it in our demo room. There were some other rooms I didn't listen to, so can't comment on those either.

Hi Dave,

what speakers would you have put against the Onkyo THX AV system if the Platinums were not ideal?
 
Hello everyone,

I'm delighted to learn everyone was impressed by the higher end Grado headphones. The 'wooden' finish model was the the GS1000i and the 'brushed aluminium' finished model the even newer 'Professional Series' PS1000, which has a suggested retail price of a mere £1795 per pair.
emotion-2.gif


Needless to say, the eagle eyed Mr Duncan is absolutely correct, the headphone dem was 'driven' by a Myryad Z114 CD player and matching Myryad Z142 integrated amplifier, feeding a Musical Fidelity V-CAN.

Best regards,

Steve Reichert, PR Manager - Armour Home (Grado)
 

The_Lhc

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FrankHarveyHiFi: Losers
The Chord Electronics room - whatever was playing just sounded bad.

Couldn't agree more, a 3 grand pair of speakers and it sounded like a bad Aiwa midi system or something.
 

JamesOK

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My winners:

The PMC and Bryston room. Never heard these before and wow, amazing. Although the 4.5K Price tag was a little much for me.

The Neat Motive 2 SE - having just bought Naim kit I was interested to see how these sounded.

The NAIM demo. The guy demoed a mac through a DAC and then played the same tune through CD player. The CD was so much better, it was as if the DAC was holding back somewhat. Very interesting to have a direct comparison.

The 3D TV demo in WHF room. Although the glasses made my eyes a little twitchy.

Losers:

Nothing really. A few years ago I decided to stop going to the Bristol show as it seemed to be full of loud surround sound and TVs and not so much Hifi (no scientific proof, just my feeling). But I was really happy to go once again this year and find a whole heap of Hifi demos.

If anything my only real losers were those who insisted on playing some kind of jazz to demo their systems rather than anything else!
 
A

Anonymous

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Sadly I did not get the chance to make it around all the stands although I did get to see most of what I went along for.

Out of the 3D kit I have to say the polarised sets looked very promising, the active shutter kit has an annoying flicker and will cost about 20 times more for the specs. On the downside the polarised kit is not full HD but I am sure that will change with time.

The new REL Gibralter was absolutely awesome, complete overkill in the room it was housed in but showed what it was capable of. And at only £2.5k a sub an absolute erm bargain :S

The Wilson Benesch demo was fantastic, everyone who heard came away muttering something about winning the lottery and converting to vinyl.

Alot have mentioned the rooms were not ideal but overall they managed to do pretty well with what they had. I have also vowed to purchase a pair of Grado PS1000 using cash rather than card so I can tell the wife they were pretty cheap. They sounded stunning despite being an open design and letting all the noise from the show in. The HD800's also sounded pretty tasty and would be lighter on the wallet but overall the Grado's had the edge.

Next time I shall arrive very early to give myself time to work my way through all the stands.
 
A

Anonymous

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Hi

Winners

Wilson Bensch room was amazing. Still wouldn't spend that kind of money on HiFi even if I did win the lottery!

PMC - although the room was a bit small for the speakers, boomy bass. But in the right room you knew they were good speakers, IB2 I think.

Acoustic Energy - new reference speakers sounded great

Merlin cables - had a good chat with one of the guys there - ordereded the Bach and Mozart internconnects for a trial

BDI - good to see them at the show as I recently bought one of their racks, stunning looking and great build quality. About time whathifi got some review samples in.

Hi Audio room - they had some decent music playing in there, Leftfield, Yes. Nice guys to chat to as well.

Amazing how many rooms were streaming music and not using CD's. Shows you the direction hifi is going.

Losers

The safe music they were all playing. I took some CD's with me and managed to play a load in the Focal room. I also managed to play 2 tracks in the Dynaudio room (DM2/6), although I took a lot of persuasion on my part. He kept asking whether it was well recorded, sorry not everyone has a collection of well recorded music. It tells me that they and other companies are not confident in their kit to play anything other than well recorded music. Luckily I though it sounded good.

The person that had really bad BO in the entrance of the Whathifi room.

It was my first and probably last time. Next year I'll spend the £8 on a few new CD's.

Cheers

Jay
 

Clare Newsome

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jaybed:Hi

BDI - good to see them at the show as I recently bought one of their racks, stunning looking and great build quality. About time whathifi got some review samples in.

Fear not - we had a good long chat with Optimum, the new UK distributor of BDI, and will be getting a range of kit in soon.
 
Clare Newsome:

jaybed:Hi

BDI - good to see them at the show as I recently bought one of their racks, stunning looking and great build quality. About time whathifi got some review samples in.

Fear not - we had a good long chat with Optimum, the new UK distributor of BDI, and will be getting a range of kit in soon.

Slightly off topic - wondered whether you guys were able to pick-up any vibes on whether consumer confidence was starting to turn? Green shoots and all that jazz.....
 
A

Anonymous

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gregvet:

Hate to say it, but the What HIFI demo was very disappointing. I normally love Kef reference but the sound was very poor. The 3d effect was rubbish, double images very apparent for most of what I could see (I could only really see one of the two screens). The extra height channels also added very little in my opinion.

My system after the Chord cables demo, as it now sounds broken!

I too noticed the double images very badly on the screen (the right-hand of the two, showing some american football and a concert), although I thought the left screen didn't seem to suffer from this as much - I was in the front row of the right hand screen though so couldn't get a proper look.I'm not sure if this is distance-related - can anyone clarify if there is a calibration for right/left eye image offset that's related to your viewing distance? Personally felt that the ProLogic IIz really added something to the movie experience, the at-height speakers were definitely noticeable in a good way - although I was listening out for it and the volume was cranked right up, so I guess it's going to make an impact.

The Samsung 3D I felt was much better, no noticeable double image ghosting; although I did notice flickering similar to using an old CRT screen on a PC with a low refresh rate. I was hoping to try the Panasonic demo that was touring last year, but it never made it to Bristol for reasons I've not been able to unearth. I'd be interested to find out if there is a limitation with the current technology that limits to 120Hz refresh rate (I believe this is what's used?), and if a faster refresh would solve these problems or if it's related to the response time in the LC glasses. Presumably any faster refresh rate would have to be a multiple of 24, 25 and 30 to encompass all existing frame rates, which would mean a move to 240Hz if the problems are indeed linked to refresh rates? I'd love to hear the opinion of a What HiFi member who's had more exposure to both sets with the same content, to attempt to get to the bottom of these things. As it was, I couldn't decide if the effects I experienced were related to the content, the sets or the setup. Definitely feel like keeping hold of my cash for a while though having seen where the technology is currently at.
 

Clare Newsome

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plastic penguin:Clare Newsome:

jaybed:Hi

BDI - good to see them at the show as I recently bought one of their racks, stunning looking and great build quality. About time whathifi got some review samples in.

Fear not - we had a good long chat with Optimum, the new UK distributor of BDI, and will be getting a range of kit in soon.

Slightly off topic - wondered whether you guys were able to pick-up any vibes on whether consumer confidence was starting to turn? Green shoots and all that jazz.....

Well the tills were certainly ringing more this year at the show, and the official consumer-confidence index is picking up. Generally a more positive vibe than last year, but i'd be wary of saying everything's rosy!

We certainly had a busier show than ever, which is great. Thanks to everyone who came along
emotion-21.gif
 

Frank Harvey

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benharlley:Hi Dave,

what speakers would you have put against the Onkyo THX AV system if the Platinums were not ideal?

Hi Ben

Personally, I don't think someone splashing out £4k on a THX system are going to go for speakers like the Platinums. I think it's more of an Arcam AVR600 or pre/power type of customer to me. That's not to say it doesn't match or isn't going to work for someone, because it's all personal preference. But if I was in charge at Onkyo, and I was showcasing a new, highly anticipated THX 9.2 system, I'd have used MK's 150 package. Even if my boss told me that it was my neck on the block as far as it's promotion for that show was concerned, I'd have no hesitation. MK has always been the best sounding AV rooms at Bristol (except the big KEF Reference/Denon one last year), and seeing as there was no MK this year, Onkyo could've walked "the most memorable AV system" of Bristol 2010.
 

JamesOK

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JamesOK:
My winners:

The PMC and Bryston room. Never heard these before and wow, amazing. Although the 4.5K Price tag was a little much for me.

The Neat Motive 2 SE - having just bought Naim kit I was interested to see how these sounded.

The NAIM demo. The guy demoed a mac through a DAC and then played the same tune through CD player. The CD was so much better, it was as if the DAC was holding back somewhat. Very interesting to have a direct comparison.

The 3D TV demo in WHF room. Although the glasses made my eyes a little twitchy.

Losers:

Nothing really. A few years ago I decided to stop going to the Bristol show as it seemed to be full of loud surround sound and TVs and not so much Hifi (no scientific proof, just my feeling). But I was really happy to go once again this year and find a whole heap of Hifi demos.

If anything my only real losers were those who insisted on playing some kind of jazz to demo their systems rather than anything else!

As several other people have mentioned, I should also put the Wilson Benesch room down as a winner. They never fail to impress.
 
A

Anonymous

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Went 2 days there was so much to see. Picked up some chord cable bargains including a chord Indigo for a price I'm too scared to mention.

Cyrus was rubbish and has actually cancelled a purchase i already made. No black boxes and was told to look at my local dealer. He didn't offer any help circumnavigating all the options for DAC and pre amp - don't think he even knew.

Focal was there but not hooked up - what was point?

Naim was impressive - but arrogance in the staff was astounding.... still debating a Naim Dac or Chord QBD76
 

The_Lhc

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woollyjoe:Focal was there but not hooked up - what was point?

They had the Chorus 806's hooked up and playing, granted the big stuff wasn't but then stuck out in that area opposite the cafe it probably wasn't ideal.
 

Frank Harvey

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woollyjoe:Cyrus was rubbish and has actually cancelled a purchase i already made.

I think the pairing with the Vienna Acoustics speakers they were using was a wrong 'un. I know that Cyrus doesn't sound like that. It sounds far better with Dynaudio, KEF Reference, Spendor to name but a few. But then, they're distributing them, so I suppose they had no choice. Still, could've chosen something a little easier on the ear though, I think.

Naim was impressive - but arrogance in the staff was astounding.... still debating a Naim Dac or Chord QBD76

Arrogance, or confidence? They're very similar.....
 

The_Lhc

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MUSICRAFT:
Hi the_lhc

Aiwa midi systems are just fine.

Thanks

Rick @ Musicraft

Rick, I've had all night to ponder on this and I still can't work out the point you're trying to make, could you elaborate?
 

sheehanjuk

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>>> Winners

1st Arcam AV amp demo with Sting playing, a really beautiful sound, realistic, absorbing, the best Arcam for me for years.

2nd Chord cables demo, this witty guy really helped explained the different between the Chord range, the difference for me was listening to the Anthem compared to the Chameleon and the Epic twin versus the Silver carnival silverscreen. The Chord Anthem was simply a breath of fresh air, it's what ive been looking for ie open soundstage with clarity. it's a must buy simple as. Couple this with the Epic twin which really helped separate the different sounds within a track, I was/am literally sold on the Anthem/Epic combo.. aahhh just remembering it makes me smile :O)

>>> Losers

1st Yamaha What an awful demo, the sound was awful, the guys demoing it were stepping up the volume but the sound was a shrieking hell of noise. Awful worse demo Ive heard in a good number of years.

2nd Cyrus Am i missing something here? Ive listened to their stuff for a few years now and have never been even slightly impressed. Five stars? Nah dont think so. Hype and name maybe..

3rd Russ Andrews.. Have to include him even though i didnt go see simply because their over hyped underperforming hugely over priced stuff.. nuff said.

Overall awesome show.. really really enjoyable.. too much to see and hear even! :O)
 

Andrew Everard

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sheehanjuk:3rd Russ Andrews.. Have to include him even though i didnt go see simply because their over hyped underperforming hugely over priced stuff.. nuff said.

Not that you're prejudging, or anything...
 
A

Anonymous

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Overall winner for me was the hand dryers in the gents toilet, think they were designed by b&o or bugatti, stainless steel heaven
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
which room did you demo the hand dryers - in the mezzanine level they weren't up to much and seemed to lack depth. I opted for the hand towels in the end, although I was told that with better water, the hand dryer is more responsive.

being serious quickly - Russ Andrews had a shocker (pardon pun) with that awful demo - what was he thinking?
 

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