For us a highlight in the industry calender, I imagine it is much the same for you folks out there also! A chance to check out new kit, meet the people behind it, and get a listen to things we could only dream about, as well as prospective buys in the future. From the quirky to mainstream there is something for everyone.
I will not bore you with a large volume of words, the show is about kit – this blog will be also! The following pictures will be from the Sunday, a quieter day allowing for greater listening time and a easier journey from our home in Birmingham!
Upon arrival the sky may have been overcast but at least the promise of heavenly sounds put a smile on our face!
Firstly, you are confronted by The Chord Company, offering what I would guess to be one of the largest collections of cables available form any manufacturer – on the day they were offering expert advice to customers looking for a significant upgrade in sound. I quickly dragged myself away from the allure of Sarum and around the corner to Tannoy’s striking display – the new GR range!
The new Prestige GR range features re-designed dual concentric drives, an impressive nod to the past with a sound footprint firmly in the future!
A sense of scale may be good idea here, Tannoy also bought a long the Westminster Royal – they are huge, not just in price!
“These would fit lovely in the living room Richard”
We also popped into see the guys over at Henley Designs, having just taken over distribution of Acoustic Energy loudspeakers – we are expecting great things. They were also showing the Pro-Ject box design kit – we were especially fond of the new RS products – top loading CD player, what more can you say!
The 103 in Walnut, AE finishes were always exceptional for the money, it is nice to see this continuing.
Those of you who have been to Bristol this year or in previous years will know the “issue” with the lifts! I am not having a moan – they were clearly never designed to take such volume and button presses, I can set you up a great Hi-Fi but I struggle with lifts! Having worked out how get up and down courtesy of my extremely patient lady we hit the warren of smaller rooms upstairs!
This is my favorite bit, yes the rooms aren’t great in terms of acoustics or size, but this makes the sound designer work harder to achieve sonic nirvana, lets have a look at some of my favourites!
Forget R&R what you need is V&V, valves and vinyl!
This sign always brings a smile to by face, I think it dates back to last year when the room next door had one of the most unruly subwoofers I have ever heard! Anyway, you are guaranteed one thing in the Audio Note room, sublime sound!
ProAc, I have a great respect for these guys – if I was going to build loudspeakers this is what I would hope to achieve – to some of you that may come as no surprise. Under the control of David this room sounded great, they were showing a a brand new speaker this year the D20R – following on the from the highly acclaimed D18 (seen this year in the Nordost room, and Michell room, amongst others!) a ribbon tweeter has been fitted (replacing the silk dome), similar to that seen on the D30/40R. The wood finishes available on ProAc speakers are among the best I have ever seen.
Seen here in Ebony (left D30R) and Rosewood (right D20R)
Focal also seem to be going from strength to strength, the new Aria 9 series range is proving to be their most popular yet – seen here drawing quite a crowd:
Aria 926 with Naim electronics, available for demo at Audio Affair now!
One bonus of going to the show is getting to see the esoteric kit, hyper systems that possibly only a re-mortgage or lottery win would assist in attaining! Some of the most beautiful systems available.
Not quite as grandiose as last year the Wilson Benesch room still sounded fantastic!
Meanwhile over on the moon – here we have the Cabasse room – fantastic looks!
Finally, I almost missed this bit myself downstairs where KEF where demonstrating the blades, B&W had a sublime sounding room and Quad were showing the new Vena, a new move for them – an amp/DAC combination with Bluetooth, It is nice to see Quad move into a new arena and given their past collection I am sure it sounds fantastic as well!
The Vena, Amplifier/DAC a move into the future for Quad!
So, my most favourite room, you may be expecting a photo and yes I would like to show you one – however – I was enjoying the sound that much I forgot to take it, my usual favourite room is Audionote and this year was no exception, it did sound fantastic – however the LDA room this year swung it for me – Long Dog Audio, headed up by Nick Gorham and based in Halifax. In here I was confronted with a Music First Pre, 300b monoblocks and MCRU loudspeakers (which I have never heard before) the sound was sharp, controlled with bags of definition but more importantly hit an emotional chord that a lot of good analytical systems seem devoid of, LDA – a brand to watch out for in 2014 and beyond.
So there you have it, the sights the sounds of a thoroughly enjoyable Bristol Show, if you have seen anything in the above you are interested in please give a member of our team a call and as always, happy listening!