AUDIO SHOW DELUXE 2023 – SHOW REPORT BY JANINE ELLIOT

Janine, seen here on the right, gives us her thoughts on AUdio Show Deluxe 2023

“Welcome to Audio Show Deluxe 2023” was the greeting that awaited all those attending a very new hi-fi show at a proven and, in my opinion, excellent venue of Whittlebury Hall that once had the national show back a few years. For those who didn’t get there, Whittlebury is next to the Silverstone F1 circuit and a few miles away from Towcester. Having a new show, and one that was slightly more select in being just top-end products was going to perhaps be a bit of a risk, but this was going to be a very special event in the HiFi calendar; occupied on the ground and first-floor main hall-ways this meant I wouldn’t get lost ending up in a guest’s bedroom down ancillary corridors. I could visit every manufacturer and dealer and spend a decent amount of time listening rather than worrying I wouldn’t get round the whole show by end of the day! That said, it still took me four hours chatting and listening, plus enjoying complimentary coffee and canapés before my back told me I needed to call it a day!

As well as the HiFi there was a list of presentations from folk plus live music which really added to the event. There was even a lady with a gong and tank drums, the Wellbeing Strategist founder, Kasia Richter, to relax us on this hectic day. Sound healing can reduce our stress, anxiety, and even depression. This was enlightening.

Of the HiFi, there were a lot of new products on show, and the total brand list took up a whole A4 page. For me there were several products that really stuck out; Firstly, it was great to see Audiopax at the hall, presented by Audio Reference. I have followed Audiopax for many years, loving the design philosophy and performance. To see an old favourite, but now improved – the Model 88 Reference – was a great moment for me. I have always loved the highly musical sound of the original KT88-based mono-blocks and the unusual loudspeakers, in this case, the new Maggiore Mandolin.  The M88 Reference has something called “adaptive timbre lock” which locks in the amplifier with the speakers to create the best sound that is possible. These valves were some 40,000 hours old but still played beautifully. The speakers have two types of wood in their cabinet separated by purfling – a decorative edge as used in the design of violins, guitars and other instruments. It looked gorgeous.

KEF was on hand to display their iconic Blade loudspeaker, busily playing Pink Floyd when I visited them and Zenith amplification. This is the latest version with their Metamaterial Absorption Technology, MAT,  producing an even tighter sound with a great soundstage.

Stratton Acoustics, making their debut appearance, exhibited their 8 ohm loudspeaker was again quite unique in shape and not for the small or even middling living room. This was huge! Two 15-inch bass units and a slightly smaller 12 inch mid plus a 1.2” waveguide loaded tweeter all working together to give a great performance. Talking of big, my eyes couldn’t believe just how big the new Axjet Pro speaker was, a horn speaker with no crossover from Welsh manufacturer AX Horn Loudspeakers. My house couldn’t accommodate these behemoth 132cm high and 93cm wide speakers but wow, they are good!

There were so many rooms to talk about; It was great to see a (Rockna) CD player performing into a Karan amp and Wilson loudspeakers in the AudioFreaks room and to see Mike Valentine from Chasing the Dragon showing off his excellent vinyl and tape. There was even a talk by Iain Betson on the basics of reel-to-reel recording and ownership, himself a BBC-trained studio support engineer, having worked in the studios of Broadcasting House and Maida Vale studios, my own background.

For me, the most exciting room was Falcon Acoustics showing off their new £17,000 M50. Falcon is largely associated with recreating BBC-designed speakers and manufacturing their own versions of the iconic T27 tweeter, B110 and B139 bass units from Kef. Here, the speaker has a 1” SEAS-based tweeter, though it maintains two of their in-house B110 mids and a B139 oblong-shaped bass unit a sandwich of aluminium – Styrofoam – aluminium skin. Playing deep bass these cones travelled quite a distance with very little effort. It brought me back to the first speaker kit I built in the 70’s!

Playing speakers in rooms designed for conferences and sleeping is always going to be a demanding affair, but I was pleased with the musical performances of most of the presentations. Of the best-sounding room, for me that had to be the Egglestone Works Viginti speaker, coming in at £46,000. With Hegel P30A and H30A pre and power amps respectively and Audiomica cables, this was an excellent performance from Auden Distribution.

Of the most unique product for me was the £70,000 Döhmann Helix One turntable with a tangential pivot Reed 5A arm. The sound was great through a Masterline 1 phono amp with Dartzeel NHB468 into Magico A5 speakers. The turntable is servo belt drive unit with very sophisticated suspension with the motor needing some 300 rotations to get one rotation of the platter. Speed is calibrated 0ver 130,000 times a second in order to produce accurate 33 1/3 and 45 rpm speeds.

This was the first year of the Audio Show Deluxe, and it really lived up to its name. It was a good show, no, it was a really great show and I really hope it will return in a year’s time.

Read the main Audio Show Deluxe 2023 report here!

Janine Elliot