So, having had a relatively quick dash along the end of the top corridor at Sound and Vision – The Bristol Show 2017 before we had to go to a meeting we’re back up on the fourth floor and in the thick of it. The floor has filled up nicely with paying punters and there’s a really good buzz going on with plenty of folk making positive noises.

Leema Acoustics

Leema, from Wales, had a great sounding room and both Linette and I commented on the sound coming out the room…and they were playing UK Garage which was a bonus.

On show was the company’s Quasar amp/DAC/streamer that is pretty much an all in one solution – just add speakers and a NAS drive or other source and you are away and playing.

Since its launch I’d been wanting to hear the new Sirius streamer as it has been developed in partnership with the people at Innuos which our reviewer Dan has raved about recently. It’s the flagship of the Constellation range and can rip your collection to its onboard hard drive and has a DAC built in using the ESS Sabre DAC chip and Xmos USB interface supporting up to 32 bit depth and 374 kHz and DSD to 256.

Amp for the day was the Tucana Anniversary that celebrates ten years of the original Tucana and powering a pair of ATC floorstanders the sound was powerful and controlled.

Chord Company

We were invited along to the launch of the latest cable range from this UK based company. Sally, Alan and the team were on their usual good form but sadly Nigel Finn wasn’t able to attend…we hope you have a speedy recovery and that we see you soon.

The new cable is called Sarum T that updates the already well established Sarum range with the exclusive Taylon insulation that had previously only been available on the range topping ChordMusic cables. Alan Gibb explained that whilst Teflon (PTFE) is used most often in audio applications, the company thought that it had its limitations and flaws. Taylon, Alan continued has been developed primarily for precision weapons systems and “eliminates the temperature related phase instability and mechanical variation that mars the sonic and musical performance of PTFE”.

The new Sarum T combines Taylon insulated conductors with the Super ARAY geometry with owners of the original Sarum digital, interconnects and power cables being able to send them back to Chord and have them updated to Sarum T specs for around 40% the cost of the new cables. Where Sarum T differs significantly from the ChordMusic cables is in the shielding, with T having two shields and Music having six.

Elipson/Tangent

Tangent are based in Denmark and make very affordable products that look very nice in an understated kind of way – think clean lines and natural wood highlights. Elipson on the other hand are located in France and make interesting loudspeakers, a cool circular shaped music player and now the Alpha and Omega turntable range.

Whilst these company’s products may certainly not be the costliest at the show they are designed for people that are both style conscious and want a good looking system that is unobtrusive and easy to use. Again, many “ultra orthodox” audiophiles may scoff at this as lo-fi but again I’m very much of the opinion that this is where the future lies in getting people on the Hifi ladder and buying into the more esoteric end of the music listening experience. Of course many manufacturers are now waking up to this concept that Hifi Pig have been banging on about for the last five years.

Mission

The speakers used in Mission’s room, a name people into Hifi in the eighties will be well familiar with, were the LX2 costing sub £200. These are unashamedly built in China and built to a price but they sound way better than they should for this kind of money.

Canton

Soundbars are a great solution for people looking to get a better sound out of their television, and perhaps something to play music too, without the need to go the whole Hifi route and have boxes all over the place. They are accessible, easy to use and unobtrusive. This was the case too for the Canton DM100 soundbar on show in this room. It fits under a flat screen, has 200 watts of output, virtual sound tech’ and uses only one cable to connect to the flat screen TV. IT also comes with Bluetooth so you can stream music from your phone or Bluetooth connected device.

Canton’s second room consisted of more conventional home loudspeakers as can be seen in the picture below.

Ophidian

Ophidian presented the new P series loudspeakers at the Bristol Hifi show but sadly these weren’t playing when we were in the room so I can’t really pass judgement…but there is a review of the Ophidian P2 due imminently on Hifi Pig.

The diminutive speakers that were playing, The Mojos, were sounding much bigger than they have any right doing being driven by Exposure electronics.

Stuart Smith 

MUCH MORE TO COME

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