AUDIO SHOW DELUXE 2023 REPORT

So it would seem that there is a new kid on the block with regards to the high-end and luxury audio show scene in the UK and despite this being this particular new kid’s first outing, we can take it that they are well-rounded and sophisticated.

The show was a fantastic success with feedback from exhibitors and visitors to the show being universally complimentary and at times somewhat gushing!

AUDIO SHOW DELUXE 2023

The scene was set on arrival as guests were guided to the entrance where they were met by well-dressed hosts and a complimentary glass of bucks-fizz. That pretty much set the tone for what was to come.

OK, as one of the organisers, along with Kris that organises the excellent North West Audio Show that we are media partners with, I’m a little biased, but this is without a doubt the best audio show I’ve attended in the United Kingdom and given some of the comments on social media (universally positive, I might add), it would seem that I’m not on my own. The benchmark has been set high and I think will be very difficult to match.

Obviously, the standard of the rooms was exceptional, but there was so much more to this show than a run-of-the-mill HiFi show that made it more of an experience to relish than to just turn up and listen to some tunes on a load of different bits of audio kit.

Not all of the rooms were specifically audio-based, or rather one room was something wholly different. Wellbeing Strategist hosted by Kasia Richter was something really out of the ordinary for a show like this. Kasia’s pre-show promised visitors to Audio Show Deluxe 2023 “Wellbeing Through Sound Healing” and that “guests would have the chance to explore different instruments such as gongs and tank drums”.  Before the show began and following our usual arduous round of planes, trains and automobiles (well, not trains, but the less said about that the better) that had left us somewhat frazzled, we went for a look around the show and to take a few videos of the many brands and their setups at the show. Kasia’s room was filled with candles, copies of her latest book and had a large gong with an OM sign dominating the room. Eyes closed we were guided through a fifteen minute or so session that included Kasia gently banging the gong with different beaters (mallets) and using other percussive instruments. I was a little apprehensive but thoroughly enjoyed this experience that left me feeling hyper-relaxed and uber-chilled…but also ready for action and ready to go. Do I think this kind of thing has a place at a deluxe audio show? To be absolutely honest, I was apprehensive beforehand but this show was about luxury, about attracting not only the diehard audiophile but also a more diverse group of visitors, and I feel that Wellbeing Strategist fully fitted in with what we were looking to achieve at Audio Show Deluxe and I will be pushing at our next meeting for similar attractions at the 2024 edition of the show.

Wellbeing Strategist Kasia gave us a truly relaxing and energising experience

If you do have an opportunity to check out what Kasia has to offer then do it. Sonically it’s oddly electronic but it does envelop your whole body and the whole of your senses to leave you feeling, as I said, relaxed and invigorated and with one visitor to the event saying “ The best acoustic experience from the show. And something I have not ever experienced before. It just blows my mind what I have seen and heard when she touched the gong and the beautiful aroma of the room which makes this experience even more sensing. Almost fell asleep.”

A lovely Copland and DeVore Fidelity system was used in the room

Now, that is a bit of a diversion from how I would normally begin a report from an audio show, but what I wanted to get across to you, dear reader, is that this was, as billed, an audio show like no other! Twenty five or so large rooms with pretty strict  criteria for exhibitors to adhere to (and which I expect will become stricter), set in a wing of Whittlebury Park over two floors and with lots of attractions over and above the usual room after room of boxes and boxes of audio kit.

Audio Show Deluxe was magical!

For example William Poliet, a close-magic magician, was on hand on both the Saturday and Sunday to delight those in the lounge and airy corridors to some wonderful feats of prestidigitation. Talking about the lounge, we had organised a number of internationally renowned artists to perform through the fantastic AxJet PA system including Elles Springs, Scott Wainwright, BowFiddle and Will McNicol…if you turned up at the right time in the lounge you were treated to a complimentary glass or two of wine and delicious canapés….now you don’t get that at any other audio show that I’ve been to, and this is the kind of treatment you could expect to find at a deluxe watch or jewellery store. I visited the lounge on a couple of occasions and the sound was fantastic with visitors on social media exclaiming things such as Richard Danis’s comment “…a magical experience as you had a very close, almost sitting on stage experiencing. Just amazing.”

The Axjet pro loudspeakers used for the PA system in The Lounge

Bowfiddle performing in The Lounge

Scott Wainwright performing at Audio Show Deluxe

Will McNicol performing in The Lounge

So, yes you paid your ten pounds to get in, but you got so much more than a free cup of coffee and some HiFi to listen to.  But yes, there was free tea, coffee and biscotti too…

You could take a pit stop for a coffee and sweet treats in the morning

We won’t be growing the show in regards to the number of rooms of fantastic audio kit we have on offer by very much, though we have decided to add, If I remember correctly, five more of the large syndicate rooms on the first floor to allow for expected demand from potential exhibitors. But beyond that Kris and I have the collective thought that a luxury such as Audio Show Deluxe experience can only be achieved at this kind of capacity and where visitors have the time to sit and enjoy each and every one of the systems without a feeling of being hurried or that they might miss something.

Obviously, HiFi PiG is a HiFi and audio-based portal, and it is the law that I must now discuss the various bits of audio that we heard at the show (and I am getting on to this) but I think that without exception each and every one of the exhibitors had gone over and above what they would normally do for a show and each and every one of them delivered not just an opportunity to listen to some tunes on some different systems, but, over and above that, also a musical and audio experience that I think visitors to this inaugural Audio Show Deluxe will remember for a long time to come…well, at least until next year and the 2024 edition of the event!

Anyway, here are my thoughts and experiences in the rooms at Audio Show Deluxe.

STRATTON ACOUSTICS

I’ve been speaking to new UK brand Stratton Acoustics for months now and have been fully primed for what I was about to experience. The concept is fabulous and the Elypsis1512  speakers are absolutely stunning in the flesh – pictures, though very nicely done, really do not do these speakers justice. The finish and look is very deserving of the “high-end” audio moniker. These particular speakers have an olive wood veneer and to get the veneer they have 0.6mm slithers that are booked matched (on the back it’s 8-way). This is difficult to do and all is done by hand by expert craftsmen. And it shows.

Stratton Acoustics at Audio Show Deluxe 2023

Amy Richards, one of Stratton’s founding partners, defined the company philosophy: “While our products always have to create an exhilarating musical performance, they also have to provide excitement through all aspects of their ownership. When not making music, they must be stunning pieces of fine furniture capable of complementing and defining any interior design. After years of development, we can fulfill this goal with various materials and finishes limited by the customer’s tastes and daring. I can’t wait to see how our customers will challenge us and what wonderfully unique, bespoke pieces we will be lucky enough to produce.”

Stratton Acoustics also takes a no-compromise approach to cabinet design through engineering complex, comprehensively braced birch plywood enclosures finished to the finest bespoke furniture standards.

The team works with suppliers to conceive unique finishes, which they can manufacture to the highest standards, with all aspects designed and engineered in-house using advanced technologies and materials.

Stratton Acoustics’ manufacturing processes are equally fastidious, exclusively employing a combination of high-accuracy computer-controlled production techniques allied to the finest artisanal, hand-finished, low-volume manufacture.

The Elypsis1512 is a three-way passive speaker built around a driver complement of twin 380mm bass drivers, a single 300mm midrange driver and a mechanically decoupled, 29mm soft dome tweeter with a precision waveguide. The drivers on the enclosure front panel are in an asymmetric array, which results in similarly asymmetric horizontal dispersion. Pairs of Elypsis1512 speakers are built in mirror image format in front panel component arrangement. The phase relationship through the crossover region between the midrange driver and tweeter ensures that the off-axis frequency response on the midrange side of the speaker remains linear. In most installations, position a pair of Elypsis1512 so that the tweeters are positioned outermost.

This speaker is starting at £69K and depending on the finish. You can have pretty much ANY finish you want from wood, engraved, precious metals, carbon-fibre…pretty much whatever you want.

Manufactured from a combination of 24mm and 18mm precision CNC routed birch ply panels, the Elypsis1512 enclosure also includes a 46mm Front Baffle capped with a solid CNC machined acrylic outer baffle. Complex and comprehensive internal bracing ensures that the construction is effectively inert, and the internally divided midrange enclosure volume incorporates non-parallel panels to help suppress internal resonance.

“A product that is as unique as our customer” and the intention is that these are handed down through families.

Team Stratton Acoustics

We listened to Moroder off the RAM Daft Punk album. As mentioned, distortion is said to be less than 0.3% above 100Hz and I get this. The clarity of the track from top to bottom was obvious. At low volume they are fantastic…as the volume goes up they get better.

The stands are very cool and are designed on the same principal as a dragonfly’s wing. There’s not much to them but they will take a quarter of a ton each. And being mostly air, they don’t vibrate …they weigh 8Kg. This is the kind of attention to detail that warrants this kind of price!

If you get the chance to experience these then do, they are brilliant!!!

Supporting cast in this room was Bryston amps, Vertere vinyl front end, and Innuos for the digital side of things.

It would seem that heirloom audio has arrived – you can use that, Dave!

AUDIO REFERENCE

Audiopax’ Silvio Pereira had flown over from Brazil specifically to show off the Mandolin loudspeakers for their first time out of the Brazilian market with Martin from Audio Reference. The speakers use Accuton drivers and SB acoustic Sartori bass drivers made of Egyptian papyrus. The crossover uses high-end crossover parts such as Jupiter caps. The tweeter is the Accuton top of the ceramic line. Price for the wonderfully natural sounding Mandolins is €36K a pair. Silvio says that his speakers have wooden baffles of Ipe and Tigerwood which are both very dense and the border is soft wood. This damps the baffle like the fretboard of a guitar with ebony over a softwood.

The amps in the room were also from Audiopax in the form of the single ended 30W MODEL A8 reference costing €18K. The amp uses the KT88 by KR Audio which Silvio says are the best he has yet encountered and he uses NOS Mullards etc from the 50s and 60s to compliment them. The Audiopax preamplifier was the Majore L50 Hybrid …because it is a valve/solid state. Silvio described it as unusual because it uses a very HT (160V) power supply and a coil as the load to deliver current more quickly than other preamplifier. The pre has no negative feedback and uses a shunt power supply with the advantage of their being no real feedback loop and a fast PSU. The pre is €18K.

Silvio from Audiopax and Martin from Audio Reference

The record player in the room was from Primary Control and their Kinea turntable and Gravity tonearm with My Sonic Lab Signature Platinum cartridge. A Grimm MU1 server and Mola Mola Tambaqui dealt with digital signals and was supplied by Ultimate Stream.

British brand Puritan provided all the mains conditioning in the room and cables were by ZenSati.

This was a big room and Silvio reckoned the speakers were pretty much at their limit of the size of room they could be used in. Personally, I though the whole system sounded fantastically sweet and unforced.

SYMMETRY

Chasing the Dragon were sharing the room with Symmetry and selling their fantastic array of vinyl, CDs and reel-to-reel tapes. Mike Valentine from CTD was speaking in the lounge and was his usual very entertaining self.

Chasing the Dragon’s reel to reel equipment

The Brinkmann Turntable was a direct drive Taurus with aspirate vacuum tube PSU called Ront III and the arm was a 12.1 12” arm with a Lyra Kleos feeding into a SUT by Quadratic MC-1. That then fed into an Eddison II tube phono pre into the Marconi II preamplifier.

Matthias Luck of Brinkmann with the copper record

Brinkmann are now producing records and have 9 albums out with the album we heard having been recorded in a church in Copenhagen. We heard a one-step tune of just the guitarist performing after the other musicians had left for the day and it was as if the guitar and amplifier were in the room. Electronics from Brinkmann did a fantastic job. I as particularly taken by the mono amplifiers from Brinkmann which are compact and yet powerful, delivering 150 W each in to 8 Ohms. Finally we were played a 14” copper “record” on the Brinkmann turntable. This was the first time I had experienced this and we heard “In a Little Spanish Town” with Steve Gadd. This was yet another fabulous experience at Audio Show Deluxe. Not specifically my kind of music but the whole idea and the fact that this was all new to me was great. There’s no denying that the press was something very special and apparently the stylus on the Lyra Ethna SL cartridge will be fine on the 14” copper plate…which fortunately the Brinkmann TT was able to accommodate. It also sounded great with the Hammond organ being particularly “in the room” live.

What a great thing to have had the opportunity to experience.

The Franco Serblin Ktema were a very dynamic partnership when playing the Steve Gadd (precise) drum solo in a very vibrant and frankly exhilarating manner. Stunningly lifelike!!! I genuinely wanted to applaud as the solo finished…and so I did!

VERTERE

RG 1 Record player with the GM3 tonearm and an RG Motor Drive. The Stage 1 and Stand 1 for the platform. The cartridge used on the day was Mystic into an FM 223 Phono and a 226 ARC  (acoustic Room Correction that is all done in the analogue domain). This fed into the a pair of 108 power amps and a 111 power amps. Speakers were an XS 3C which are the smallest speakers from FM Acoustics.

This was a great room playing music requested from the audience and the same guy we heard playing tunes at the Bristol show… I don’t know the guys name but I’m going to start following him around at shows as he has all the best tunes and does get them played by exhibitors!

The full system included: RG-1 Reference Record Player, Reference Tonearm Gen III, RG-1 Reference Motor Drive, Mystic MC Phono Cartridge mall from Vertere and from FM Acoustics: Resolution series Phono Linearizer, Resolution series Preamplifier, Resolution series Power Amplifiers and Inspiration Loudspeaker System.

Touraj and his team put on a real treat of a show at Audio Show Deluxe and this is what we wanted from our exhibitors. The room was filled with kit but also had a stage area where the Vertere team went the extra mile and presented a series of intimate musical encounters with some of the artists on their own Vertere Records label that got applause from everyone I spoke to at the show!

FALCON ACOUSTICS

Falcon Acoustics were playing an Origin Live Sovereign with an Agile tonearm and Koetsu Rosewood Signature cartridge. The preamplifier was from BAT (VK80) into a BAT REX 500 stereo power amp. The business end of the system was Falcon’s M50. These are a 3 -way reflex loaded to the floor system with a pair of Falcon b110s and a Falcon b139 with a custom SEAS 1” tweeter. Cables were from StrightWire and a SolidSteel rack. GIK panels were used in the room to help deliver a fab sound.

A couple enjoying the Falcon room

Falcon also had a series of carbon fibre shark and fish sculptures in the room by Alastair Gibson of the Carbon Art 45 Studio and this all added to the show and it being an experience for all the senses rather than just another round of room after room of audio kit.

Jerry from Falcon

DECENT AUDIO

The turntable in the Decent Audio room was the KRONOS Pro with Kronoscope tonearm (both by the wonderful and a VDH MC1 cartridge with a price of around £70K. The Ayre CD player (£5.5K) was playing when we were in the room along with an Audio Analogue ABsolute integrated which is switchable between Class A and Class AB and retails for around £20K. The Raidho TD2,2 that we reviewed here and cost around £40K. I gave these speakers our Editor’s Choice Award and rightly so…I still think they are one of the very best speakers I have heard in our system.

There was a pair of Magneplanar MG 20.7 in the room but weren’t playing costing around 20K.

The music playing was Mary Gaultier, the same as in Bristol… AND IT ALL SOUNDED FAB.

That amp and speakers is a brilliant combination!

AUDIO NOTE

British legend Audio Note UK were playing a Grace Jones in Dub record that I’ve not heard before but will certainly be buying.

The system was obviously all Audio Note and sounding sweet as a nut and all this was enhanced by low lights, dub, and chilled folk…what’s not to love. All that was missing was a joint doing the rounds and the scene was set for an ultimately chilled and sonically exhilarating experience.

The system consisted of the Audio Note (UK) CD5.1x integrated CD player, TT3 turntable with a PSU 4 power supply with IO 2 cartridge, The SUT on the day was and S9. Other kit included the M9 phono preamplifier, monos using 4300E tubes (300B but Audio Note’s own version of this iconic tube), ANEs with field coils with outboard PSUs.

The ANEs with field-coils are not in production yet but sounded utterly fantastic with the tunes we got to listen to and I fully expect these to be a massive hit…though I expect they will add a considerable amount to the cost of the standard ANEs – however, this was Audio Show Deluxe and the price of components really wasn’t needed to be discussed.

ABSLOUTE SOUNDS DEMO (RICARDO)

Ricardo from Absolute Sounds was joined by Mark Dohmann that designs the Helix One MK3 turntable. This supplied the analogue side of things in this room and is what we got to listen to, but there was also a full dCs system for digital and all this was based around the Magico A5 loudspeakers and Dartzeel electronics (NHB 108 pre and 468 monos).

The Helix One MK3 (and we will be talking to Mark in the near future) is a stunner. Mark was with the Continuum brand that you may know and that made very expensive and large turntables. Ricardo claims this (the Helix One Mk30 is the first turntable to hit “the Formula 1” level and I thought it very clever of him to use this analogy given the proximity of the venue to the legendary motor-racing circuit of Silverstone.  Mark is from an commercial aeronautical background and worked on Airbus in the pat and this, he says, has modelled to an extent his turntable.

Dohmann Audio Helix One Mk3 turntable at Audio Show Deluxe

Dohmann Audio Helix One Mk3 turntable with Reed tonearm and Koetsu cartridge

The Dohmann Audio Helix One

The HSE phonostage that was used in this system is built by a REVOX engineer that loves vinyl and is claimed to be very quiet and neutral.  The cartridge was the Koetsu Coralstone that Mark remarked was “Not your Grandfather’s Koetsu”, meaning that he considered it to be a modern Koetsu with real dynamics and not at all pipe and slippers.

Ricardo of Absolute Sounds

Ricardo is a highly entertaining speaker and is obviously very passionate about the products he represents… and he is obviously very passionate about the music, over and above the actual electronics. He pretty much echoed my thoughts on what makes a good system and I’m sure he will forgive me for paraphrasing – “…you forget about the system and listen to the music!” I found Ricardo to be not only highly entertaining but also engaging in his chat when he introduced the system.

Interestingly, I thought, Ricardo says he doesn’t like the whole audiophile recording thing and prefers original records. I get this and we did get to listen to some fabulous records on vinyl!

Also on show was the new Western Electronic 300B amplifier, a Dartzeel streamer and more DCS kit.

Audio Show Deluxe 2024 is set to be a truly luxury audio experience

The room had a lovely feel with the scented candles

We got to hear the analogue side of things first and it is a very natural-sounding system. Obviously, and as I always say, you cannot judge a system properly in a show environment, but this did sound lovely and I do get Ricardo’s comment about forgetting about the system and just relax into the music. The album that was new to me was Talk Talk Spirit of Eden and it’s a record I will be buying on my return to HiFi PiG Towers.

I LOVE this about shows like this – they are filled with people that first and foremost are passionate about MUSIC and you get to hear stuff (music) that perhaps passed you by in the first instance.

After the Talk Talk record we got to listen, at volume, to Frankie Goes to Hollywood and this system proved to be hugely dynamic. Interestingly, when introducing this record Ricardo mentioned that he liked to have the volume control to hand when listening to music as he finds that everything has its own “perfect” volume…and I agree whole-heartedly with this comment; there is certainly a point (in volume) when everything (the record playing and the system playing it) just clicks in to place.

I have a thoroughly enjoyable time listening to MUSIC in this room and it was clear that the other folk in the room, as well as the people hosting it, had a fabulous experience.

AUDIOFREAKS

AUDIOFREAKS was formed in late 1987 and their commitment is to providing high quality systems that deliver music to the people that buy them.

For Audio Show Deluxe AUDIOFREAKS had chosen a ROCKNA AUDIO Wavedream NET (network-streaming CD transport/server) and Wavedream Signature XLR DAC (high-resolution true balanced design), KARAN ACOUSTICS Master Collection LINEb (line preamplifier) and POWERb STEREO (power amplifier), with Pagode Signature MkII/ Master Reference equipment supports by FINITE ELEMENTE and CARDAS AUDIO Clear Beyond cables throughout.

The speakers in the room hosted by the legendary Branco of AUDIOFREAKS were the Wilson Audio Sasha DAW

Classical music was playing to an appreciative Sunday morning crowd and whilst this music isn’t really to my taste… I get it. What was apparent, even in this situation was the scale of the recording and the orchestra laid out in front of you. For me this was a system that did as Branco set out to deliver…MUSIC!

Branco of Audiofreaks

LATERAL

Kevin at Lateral makes audio stands but is branching out and has brought Jean Marie Reynaud speakers to the UK. At Audio Show Deluxe he had their Cantabile Jubilee at £5K was being fed by a New Audio Frontiers Legend MKII 18 W KT 66 amplifier costing £10K.

The digital player was the Audio Reference CD8 (£10K) and for playing records there was the STST Motus II DQ (£7.5K) with a Vertex arm and Etsuro Urushi cartridge. Needles to say stands were all by Lateral. The Vida phonostage was in the room and sounded great.

It’s good to see the Jean Marie Reynaud speakers in the UK and the system sounded very good indeed. These are not massive speakers but they did fill this relatively large and high-ceilinged room.

I sat in the room with a lovely chap I have met at Bristol and other shows and who I always enjoy chatting to, despite my thorough ignorance and not having caught his name. He said that he was looking for a pair of speakers for his niece and that these JMRs would probably fit the bill very nicely.

For me, this room is the proof of the pudding that excellent quality sound needn’t cost a fortune.

ABSOLUTE SOUNDS TEN COLLECTION

Absolute Sounds have something called the Ten Collection which is a series of products that could broadly be called artisanal. Now, artisanal can mean a lot of things in the real world, but Ricardo at Absolute Sounds seems to have grasped the true meaning of the word and is pulling together a series of products that are superb quality, put together in small numbers and built largely by the people that own the companies.

The amplifier in this room was the Trafomatic Rhapsody built by Saša Čokić and is a 20W a channel amp using the 300B in PSE (Parallel Single Ended) configuration. This amplifier was feeding the DeVore Fidelity O-93 speakers from John DeVore who as well as being an excellent loudspeaker manufacturer based in Brooklyn, New York, is also an accomplished pen-and-ink artist and something of a mechanical watch aficionado. He describes himself as “Top Banana” at DeVore Fidelity which gets across his personality very well, I think.

The front end of this system was the EAT JO8 cartridge on the EAT Fortissimo turntable that was spinning the tunes through an EAT phono with the LPS PSU supplying power to the turntable and phonostage.

Kind OF Blue was playing when we were in the room when we were playing and the sound was totally unforced, relaxed and chilled.

INNUOS

Innuos and their products were chosen to provide the digital front-end in a lot of the rooms at Audio Show Deluxe. In heir own room, which was (as always) tastefully and cooly put together, the system was the Innuos Statement and Phoenix NET playing along with D’Agostino, dCs DAC, and Magico.

We have had the Innuos experience many, many times and sonically their streaming products never fail to impress. It’s obviously difficult to say what is making what contribution to a system in this kind of situation but it was very nice.

Now, Innuos never fail to impress with how they put together a room and this was no exception. This was a dark room with Innuos branding throughout to create a space conducive to sitting down, chilling out, and listening to tunes. Certainly, the people in the room were all quietly absorbed in the music we got to hear.

HIFONIX

Assim from HiFonix had brought a wonderfully high-end selection of head-fi to Audio Show deluxe. When we think of head-fi, I suppose there is the danger of seeing listening on headphones as being the poorer cousin of the audiophile world, but that just is not the case and HiFonix demonstrated this perfectly with an array of ultra-high-end headphones and associated equipment for those who demand the very best from their solitary music listening.

The HiFi Man Shangri-La electrostatic headphone system in the Hifonix room

KEF

The demonstration in the really nicely put-together KEF room was between a Reference and the Blades with a view to demonstrating the sound. Both are a lovely sounding product. However, I had heard WILDLY conflicting comments about this room; these ranges from “flat” to “best of show”. I suppose this goes a good way to demonstrate that we all have our own personal preferences with regard to sonic signatures of products and why shows like Audio Show Deluxe are so important, particularly ASD where people have the opportunity to sit for a good while and actually sit into the experience and enjoy without feeling rushed!

For me the systems that KEF put in front of us sounded relaxed and with the confidence of a speaker manufacturer that knows what they are doing. Nothing was shouty, nothing was over-played. The difference in scale once the BLADES went in the system was immediately apparent with a more dynamic presentation that was on a bigger scale.

The KEF room was very nicely and very corporately put together – it could only have been a KEF room. I really love that the team had put together a space that whilst being highly branded, was also a chilled and relaxing space.

Earlier at the show KEF also showed off the LS60 wireless floorstanders

THE VINYL ADVENTURE

David Brook from The Vinyl Adventure had brought along a selection of vinyl including labels: Analogue Productions, Blue Note, ORG, Mobile Fidelity Soundlabs, Impex Records, Reference Recordings, Chasing the Dragon, Gearbox Records, Pure Pleasure and The Lost Recordings. Big thanks to David for selling me the last copy he has of Nils Lofgren live!

David and Stu chatting about which records we were buying

CHORD COMPANY

UK cable brand Chord Company had a static display of their products including their latest products. Following the world debut of the Wiltshire AV cable specialist’s new PowerARAY and PowerARAY Professional noise-reducing power devices at the Bristol HiFi Show, Chord Company were showing off their brand new noise-suppression technology. The PowerARAY plug-type device directly connects to unused mains power sockets, either on walls or distribution blocks, adjacent to sockets used to power audio systems. PowerARAY is designed to provide a low-impedance ‘escape route’ for high-frequency (HF) noise, reducing the amount of noise entering the system, and lowering the noise floor. It is available with UK, Euro (Shuko) or US connections.

PowerARAY Professional uses the same application principles as PowerARAY, yet takes performance to the next level, deploying a separate, larger capacity case with damping isolation feet, connected via a captive power cable from Chord Company’s premium Signature, Sarum or ChordMusic collections.

PowerARAY Professional draws on technologies developed for Chord Company’s proprietary SuperARAY and GroundARAY products, and similarly, operates in parallel with the electricity supply: it does not get between the electricity supply and equipment. This approach is designed for wide-ranging flexibility across all manner of audio systems and power supplies etc.

PowerARAY Professional does not use power: it targets HF noise by introducing a potential gradient that turns noise into heat. Inside, the internal earth, live and neutral parts benefit from connection to their own MainsARAYs, plus individual SuperARAYs. All other internal parts are securely held in place by machined aluminium billet, with internal components enveloped by a special damping resin. PowerARAY Professional: £5,500 (with SignatureX power cable); £6,000 (SarumT); £7,000 (ChordMusic)

LIVING VOICE

There was a huge amount of excitement when we published the news that UK legends Living Voice would be launching a new loudspeaker at Audio Show Deluxe and this goes someway to demonstrate the passion for this company in the audiophile world…and this passion is reflected in Kevin and Lyn’s passion for the music they play and the products they produce.

Kevin from Living Voice and Definitive Audio

In the pre-release PR material, Kevin was quoted as saying “We wanted to create a speaker that combined the lyricism, coherence, and innate musicality of the OBX-RW4, with the scale, dynamic range, and visceral thrill of the Vox Olympian. To reach our goal we chose a symmetrical mid/treble / mid (MTM) two-way driver topology in a reflex-loaded enclosure using two state-of-the-art 8’’ bass/mid drivers and a 34mm tweeter. We set out on this path three years ago and here we are – the R80 is born”.

The unique cabinet construction of the R80 is a development of what Living Voice has evolved for the Auditorium Series over the past 30 years and translates into this new design, being stiff, light, and diffusive. The R80’s form factor is clean and simple, relying on classic golden ratio proportions and formal relationships, making for what Living Voice say they hope is a timeless appearance.

Not only had Living Voice brought along some wonderful kit, but they had also brought their legendary power supply system to isolate their products from the hotel’s power supply. This kind of dedication to the pursuit of audio excellence is wonderful to see and I love this.

The Living Voice power plant!

The full system was a Grand Prix Audio Monaco V2.0 turntable with Kuzma Safir 9 tonearm and Kuzma CAR 50 cartridge with Consolidated Audio Copper Nano Monster Can transformer. A second turntable in the shape of the Kuzma Stabi M turntable with 4P14 tonearm, Kuzma CAR 60 cartridge with Consolidate Audio Silver Nano Monster Can transformer. All this fired into an SJS Model 3 premier Phono stage, SJS Model 7 Silver Premier Line stage and an SJS Model 5 Silver Enhanced 300B power amplifier.

Speed and rhythm were my takeaways from the Living Voice room. There was a naturalness to the beats and the way the music “felt” and it was certainly a toe-tapping experience. Kevin played us some Sly and Robbie dub reggae and the whole “this could be a bit polite” went out the window. This kind of music demands finesse, but to get it right it also demands dynamics and being able to go low…

tick and tick!

AUDEN DISTRIBUTION

We were lucky enough to have a listen to this room whilst it was being set up and it was brilliant then. It was seemingly better with more people in it. This was the first time the Hegel monos had been used and demonstrated in the UK and with the magnificent Egglestonworks speakers the sound was nothing short of magnificent.

The sound on a Bob Dylan track was dynamic and detailed but not overly analytically sounding! Bill and team clearly know how to put a system together with components that compliment each of the others characteristics to get the best from them all.

This is high-end but done well and without pretension!

We didn’t get a chance to hear the AVID HIFI analogue front end but the Merason DAC from Switzerland being fed by an INNUOS front end was doing an admiral job.

Bill won an award for his room at Bristol back in January and him and his team always go to a great deal of effort to dress their rooms in a sympathetic and cool manner, and they had just this with this large suite at Audio Show Deluxe. Now, as one of the two organisers at the show I can see Kris and I having a discussion about the kind of rooms we will want to see and how they are dressed and whilst pretty much all the rooms were dressed very nicely, I think it’s likely that we will use Auden as an example to others, though not the only one, for the forthcoming Audio Show Deluxe 2024

As well as the live system there was a great static display of Hegel, Amphion and Audiomica that was attractively and cooly done.

Definitely in the top three rooms for me…again, particularly when they played Ghostrider (which is becoming the modern day Keith Don’t Go”) for us at volume!

FABULOUS!

KARMA AV

Primare electronics along with Perlisten loudspeakers in a multi-channel setup with inakustik wiring throughout, a big screen and a projector was the order of the day in here. We walked into the end of a demonstration playing some film or other but then got to listen to some Hans Zimmer on the same system and with video.

There are four subs on the go here and it would be quite easy to push the system and the room too far, and whilst it was played at good volume (probably not far off what the concert we were listening to/watching would have been, nothing sounded overly done or too much for the room.

Karma had to build structures in which to fit the integrated speakers to the sides of the room and this was nicely done creating a huge home cinema experience.

That whole being enveloped in the sound was very interesting and enjoyable.

HUGELY ENTERTAINING!

MBL

Many people had said that this was the best room in the show and it didn’t disappoint when we went in on the Sunday with Cris from Sound Fowndations spinning vinyl on a ClearAudio record player. However, for me the very best experience was when we got to listen to the system on the Friday night during set up. I have experienced MBL many, many times at shows around the world and every single time the room has been packed to the point that it was uncomfortable and impossible to really appreciate what this German brand’s speakers and electronics can deliver.

How fantastic to be able to sit and enjoy a few tunes (particularly Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel) on this truly deluxe and high-end system. The speakers are fantastic and Antoine from MBL told us a little about the back-story to their omni-directional design. Obviously the supporting MBL cast of CD player and DAC sending the information to the wonderfully stylish 9008A amplifiers are designed to work with the 101E speakers but what a sonic experiences to hear them as a whole.

Cheers MBL and I look forward to taking you up on your offer of hearing the speakers in our very own system at HiFi PiG Towers in the very near future.

A PRIVILEGE TO EXPERIENCE!

BOYER

A good few people I had spoken to during the Sunday had said that this had been their favourite room of all the rooms and I suppose it was somewhat remiss of us, given their comments, to leave it almost until last.

The very large room was very nicely put together with low lighting and a wonderfully displayed line-up of very expensive audio equipment laid out in front of a very appreciative crowd of people.

Timo Engstrom presenting the system

Kroma Atelier Stella Extreme speakers (£29.5K) were being powered by the magnificent Engstrom Eric Encore amplifiers that are billed as following:  “Weighing in at 65kg per monoblock, the ERIC ENCORE is a titan of the industry in both size and sound. The Engstrom amps are fully balanced to give around 70 W a channel using 845 power tubes and have to be one of the most (if not THE most) attractive looking amplifiers on the planet, though they do cost £130K a pair which drew a few gasps from the assembled audience…I’d personally LOVE them to be sat adorning our main listening space and I think they would complement our small collection of street art wonderfully, though I think I will need to get saving up. The Monica Pre that was feeding the ERICs is also fully balanced and (interestingly) named after a famous Swedish singer.

Guillaume Boyer of distributor Boyer Audio

Furniture was from Austrian brand FalkenOhr,

The Sunyata Research Omega cables were making their debut at the show. These are huge speaker cables with platinum-coated connectors. Also, the Altaira grounding system from Shunyata Research was being used.

OK, this is a super high-end system and it shows. The detail of the guitar on the track we listened to was pretty incredible to say the least. Again. I think there’s a bit of misunderstanding with regards to high-end systems; this is not about shouting and fireworks, it is about clarity, detail and something that is hard to quantify. I think I “get it” and had I the money I’d be going down this very high-end route without a doubt. It’s about a visual and sonic experience that, like we hoped to do with this show, thrills and excites. No, not everyone can afford this system, but we can all aspire to this level of excitement and thrill!

Here’s a full list of kit in the Boyer suite:

ABSOLUTE SOUNDS

The final audio room we had the pleasure of visiting at Audio Show Deluxe was another of the Absolute Sounds rooms. The Wilson Alexia V in a spearmint green colour were striking, different and subtle…all at once. I enquired about the colour of the speakers and was told that it was actually a colour used on the Fiat 500 motorcar…and I do recall the advertisement for this car that had the attention-grabbing headline ” KEEP IT FRESH”, a model in matching green frock holding a bottle of milk and with the blurb talking about how the pint-sized Fiat 500 was chic and having a “gazillion ways to make it your own!”

All this talk about adverts for funny little cars may well seem to be getting away from the point of a show report from an audio show, but this was AUDIO SHOW DELUXE, and people that know the meaning of deluxe know that making a product your own.

The amp used in the room was the Constellation Centaur 500 amp, Pictaur pre, DCS Rossini DAC, DCS Rossini Clock and transport and Transparent Power and interconnects.

The system was playing very quietly playing Riders on the Storm but it was still clearly a very nice show.

ROUND UP AND DATES FOR 2024

We’ve yet to have our wrap up meeting but both Kris and I think that the inaugural Audio Show Deluxe went exceptionally well and that we have set the bar very high for ourselves for 2024 when we will be in the same venue with just 28 suites and rooms. We do not want and will not grow exponentially – this event is about offering something a little different to the audio calendar and whilst we know there are areas for improvement, we are delighted with how the event went and the feedback from visitors, one of whom announced on social media that “THIS IS HOW A HiFi SHOW SHOULD BE!”

The UK has a fabulous and complete set of audio shows now. We have Bristol which is fantastic and caters to everyone, is huge and takes place at the start of the year, Audio Show Deluxe in March about which you have just read, North West Audio Show in June organised by Kris and with HiFi PiG as exclusive media partners, and then later in the year you have the enthusiasts’ show by the WAM (this year in Barnsley) and then Paul Miller’s high-end event at Ascot. What’s not to love about the UK’s audio show diary?

From both Kris and myself, I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to everyone that helped make Audio Show 2023 a phenomenal success; the exhibitors who put so much effort in, the hotel staff that helped everything run smoothly, the staff we had on the day to welcome and guide people around the show, and the audio press that turned up to report on the show. On a personal note, I would like to thank Kris for his patience over the last year with me and my persistent demands for excellence! I know I’m not “easy” in this respect!

However, and to quote Neil Young from the Live Rust album “WHAT A GREAT AUDIENCE!”

And that’s a wrap, Kris and Stu, the organisers of the Audio Show Deluxe

BOOK THE DATES FOR AUDIO SHOW DELUXE 2024

23^rd and 24^th MARCH 2024 AT WHITTLEBURY PARK!!!

Tickets will go on sale shortly and will be announced through the usual channels.

THANK YOU ALL!!!

Stuart Smith

Read Lin’s Bird’s Eye View of the Audio Show Deluxe here, along with the People of Audio Show Deluxe.

Read Janine’s Audio Show Deluxe 2023 Show Report here.