This weekend Hifi Pig took itself to Paris and the Paris Hifi Home Cinema Show 2012.
Here’s the first part of our coverage of the show.
Don’t forget to let us know what you think by submitting your comments.
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And so to Gay Paris and the ‘Salon Hifi and Home Cinema and Interior Technologies’. I’ll say one thing for the French and that’s that they certainly know how to come up with a snappy title for an event!
First up came the DEA International room who had an impressive array of kit on show that would be enough to get many audiophiles drooling. More »
Don’t forget to check out our coverage of the National Audio Show 2012 ( Whittlebury). We have lots of pictures of high
end audio from some of the biggest names and some less well known names in hifi and audio.
National Audio Show 2012 – Show Report Part 1
National Audio Show 2012 – Show Report Part 2
National Audio Show 2012 – Show Report Part 3
National Audio Show 2012 – Paul’s Top Six Rooms
National Audio Show 2012 – Show Report Part 2
Part 1 of the National Audio Show 2012 – Show report can be found here.
OK, then … continuing my adventures at the Show, I’ll start with one of the very top highlights of the show for me, and a big surprise from a name completely unknown to me before now – Analogue Alchemy.
Wowzer! – my eyes were out on stalks when I entered this room. Just take a look at this lot …. More »
Paul’s personal views on his top six rooms at this years Whittlebury Hifi Show.
For those with ears to listen, one thing stood out at Whittlebury despite not all rooms being taken this year and that was the up-beat vibes and feedback from the traders, big and small. I spoke to many of them and all had a similar message, and that’s the continued enthusiasm from the public and the support for the industry has been great considering the world recession. People haven’t lost their love of music and continue to strive for ever more refined systems, for value and for quality. All three of these virtues were on display this weekend.
Top 6 systems for me: More »
The National Audio Show organised by the Chester Group seems to have settled comfortably into its current home at the Whittlebury Hall in beautiful rural Northamptonshire, England.
Quite a few of the mainstream brands and distributors were absent this year, but to be honest that just seemed to make room for other offerings that may well even have been more interesting and unusual! The diversity of audio offerings at the Show was very wide and fascinating, and some excellent sounds were to be heard. More »
The Dublin Hi End hifi show this weekend (26th and 27th May) at the Bewleys Hotel in Leaopardstown (10am – 5pm) is the culmination of over a years work in bringing a host of quality hi-fi and home cinema systems and manufacturers to Ireland. Products will range from turntables to the very latest computer audio products and so there promises to be something for everyone.
It is credit to the organisers of the Dublin Hi End show that many of the exhibited items will not have been seen in the UK and Ireland previously and to top the whole event off music lovers will be able to indulge in their passion and buy CDs and vinyl.
On Saturday 26th May Cool Gales will sponsor the Bath AudioFest 2012 which will take place at the Bath & County Club, just off Queen Square. In Addition there will be a couple more large rooms in the Royal Literary and Scientific Institution just a short walk away. 
The Bath AudioFest is fast becoming the high-end hifi show in the UK according to its organisers, featuring turntables, CD players, amplifiers, speakers, cabling, and other hi-fi components.
Systems will range from the budget to the stratospheric, but interestingly all will feature a vinyl front end as well as digital sources.
The press release from the organisers has the following to say about the Bath AudioFest “No stuffy hotel rooms, no shoulder-to-shoulder masses, no home cinema – just wonderful music played through high quality two-channel audio, served up with tea and coffee in a very spacious, family-friendly atmosphere.”
Doors open at 10 AM, and close at 5:00 PM. The £3 admission includes tea and coffee, with all admission proceeds going to The Musicians Benevolent Fund charity. A huge selection of new vinyl will be for sale on the day too.
Thanks to Thomas at Scherer Audio Engineering, whose loudspeakers we highlighted in our news section a few weeks ago, for taking time out of his busy schedule at Munich and taking a few photographs of the Munich High End show for Hifi Pig. More »
Sunshine, surf, and music are on tap when T.H.E. Home Entertainment Show returns to Newport Beach, CA on June 1-3, 2012 for the second year in a row! This year, the event will take place in two locations: the Newport Hilton and the adjacent Atrium Hotel—both located across the street from the Orange County Airport. 
Open to the public, the three-day Show offers a matchless experience for everyone from music lovers, gearheads, and home-theater and audio enthusiasts of all levels. Show attendees will enjoy live musical performances from popular Jazz musicians Mike Garson, Tierney Sutton, Audra Lee, Paul Gormley, Dean Peer, and William Artope Jr. And show attendees can attend a variety of educational seminars on timely audio/video topics moderated by manufacturers and editors. Additional attractions include wine tastings, a cigar bar, gourmet food trucks, and even a high-end car show.
Richard Beers, Show organizer and former reporter/anchor for NBC TV said, “We are delighted to bring T.H.E. Home Entertainment Show back to Southern CA and we expect it to be even more spectacular than last year. Our expansion into the adjacent hotel enables us to host even more exhibitors for consumers to touch, look, listen, and feel the latest in home entertainment today.”
T.H.E. Home Entertainment Show is the West Coast’s largest and most spectacular Audio and Home Theater Event. The event is produced in conjunction with the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society. Now celebrating its nineteenth year, it is the largest audio society in the world with over 1000 members.
Autotech, the Polish manufacturer of front loaded horns, Diy horns and waveguide loudspeakers have contacted us to tell us that they will be in attendance at this years High End show in Munich (May 
3-6).
They will have on demonstration the Universum 3-way horn (Pictured) which uses the JMLC-200T mid and JMLC-1400 high frequency horns. This interesting looking loudspeaker uses premium drivers and an aperiodic vented bass enclosure with a 15” driver. The construction methods and horn contour used are said to give a “smooth and relaxed sound” with very low distortion figures and a “wonderfully natural sound”. More »
Chester Group, the company that brings audio shows to Australia, UK and Sweden will be the host of this coming weekend’s Audio and AV Show in New York.
The New York Audio and Av Show will take place in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel at 301 Park Avenue on Friday 13, Saturday 14 and April 15.
This is set to be a great event for audiophiles and as well as plethora of exhibitors there will also be host of performers including Amber Rubarth, Louise Rogers, Valerie Joyce, Attention Screen and Jessy Tomsko who will perform in the 18th Floor, Starlight Roof room of the hotel. The Starlight will also serve as the registration area and on Friday and Saturday nights Bill Pfeiffer will DJ through a half a million dollar Burmester sound system.
There will be the usual raft of seminars and one that particularly caught the eye of Hifi Pig is Alan Sircom’s “The State We’re In – Rebooting High End Audio”.
At last count there were 105 exhibiting companies including: Abingdon Music Research, Audio Note UK, Blue Light Audio, Brinkmann audio, Burmester, Cayin, Cessaro Horn Acoustics, darTZeel, Emm Labs, Hansen Audio, Harbeth Audio, Kaiser Akustik, Kef, Lavry Engineering, Manley Labs, MBL, Pass Labs, TAD, TRON Electric, VAC, VPI and Woo Audio.
The weekend of Saturday 24th March sees the Weybridge Hifi show. It’s billed as being “A High End Audio and Home Entertainment” event and takes place at the Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge, Surrey. A weekend ticket £18 if you buy it on the door and £15 if you buy it on line.
The show is hardly a massive affair with just 28 exhibitors at time of writing, but is this necessarily a bad thing; the argument goes that with so few exhibitors visitors will be able to get around the show more easily and actually be able to listen to the systems on show.
Highlights of the show, as advertised on Chester Groups website, are Inspire Hifi demonstrating of their direct drive Monarch turntable, Fidelity Arts new Akkus loudspeakers and the appearance of German manufacturer Burmester’ products at an English show after an absence of almost 10 years.
For the 4th successive year, the HiFi Wigwam internet hifi & music forum has organised its very own hifi show. This is hosted in the spacious Scalford Hall Hotel in the heart of rural Leicestershire UK, just outside the town of Melton Mowbray, which is otherwise famous for its pork pies! Hifi Pigs beware …
For the first 2 years the Show was held in collaboration with Chester Group, who are experienced with organising hifi shows worldwide. For 2011 and 2012, though, the Hifi Wigwam forum has been solely responsible.
Other than in the main reception area, hifi dealers and manufacturers are not allowed in! Instead the show’s focus is on the real life hifi systems belonging to forum members.
Some 50 systems were presented this year, each in their own room, ranging from the small and low cost end of the spectrum to no holds barred super systems, and with components from well known established manufacturers to vintage hifi, and DIY constructions of amazing appearance! More »
Earlier this month Hifi Pig reported on the “Pie Fi Show” – the Hifi show organized by the Hifi Wigwam forum. The show will take place at the Scalford Hall Hotel in Melton Mowbray on Sunday 4th March, from 10 am – 5pm and is certainly the one that you should really make the effort to attend.
This is not your usual hifi show by any stretch of the imagination and offers people the opportunity to listen to forum members own real life systems. You can buy advance tickets on the dedicated website (linked above) for just £10 if you want to avoid the queue, or you can pay on the door.
Scalford Hall the Venue for this year's Pie Fi Show.
Hifi Pig is pleased to announce that we have just got wind that the owner of the Hifi Wigwam Forum, James, will be getting interviewed on radio 103 The Eye this coming Tuesday morning around 11.30am on the station’s Steve Edwards Show.
You can tune in on 103.0 FM in Leicestershire & Nottinghamshire “if wind is in the right direction”. Or listen online www.103theeye.co.uk where you’ll find a listen live button, top right, on their home page.
Now, Hifi Pig would love to be at the show as he was last year, but alas this year pigs are not destined to fly and he’s a bit afraid he may well become a pie himself.
A little late on reporting this but this weekend (Friday 24th Feb – Sunday 26th Feb) sees the 25th annual “Sound and Vision –The Bristol Show” taking place at the Marriott City Hotel in Bristol.
This is the UKs largest hi-fi, home cinema and audiophile show and all the major industry players, large and small will be in attendance.
The show boasts a great location right in the heart of Bristol with easy access by train, plane or car. Prices are Adults £9, Senior Citizens (over 65)/Student £6 Accompanied Children under 16 free and students can even claim a free pair of Headphones worth £14.95 when producing valid Student ID. Sadly that was a long long time ago for this porker.
At the time of writing there are 192 exhibitors taking part.
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Is the Acceptance of Mediocrity Killing the Hifi Industry?
It seemed that just a few short years ago, you couldn’t visit any major town or city without tripping over audiophiles in the foyers of hotels all intent on seeing the latest and greatest in hifi. Well perhaps not, but there did seem to be more shows of an international bias, drawing crowds from far and wide. Today, it’s refreshing to see shows such as the Wigwam Festival (this year re-named the Pie-Fi show due to its location at Melton Mowbray, home of the Pork Pie!) in addition to trade shows and fairs. It demonstrates that hifi is alive and kicking, but for me there’s still one issue with many hifi shows. They are speaking to the “converted” and are geared at either demonstrating wares to the hifi buying public or showing off very individual systems for those already bitten by the bug. More »