TEAM HIFI PIG ENJOY THE FANTASTIC AUDIO SHOW DELUXE 2024

Stu and Oscar bring you their joint report of the fabulous Audio Show Deluxe 2024, with photos from Lin and John…stay tuned for more from the team too.

A WORD FROM THE EDITOR

Audio Show Deluxe at Whittlebury Park near Silverstone was held last weekend and what a wonderful weekend it was, but don’t take our word for it – we will be peppering a few quotes pulled from social media throughout our report.

The idea for this show came about when Kris, who organises (and we work closely with) North West Audio Show at Cranage and I were out for Sunday lunch about a year and a half ago. Lin and I had been planning to fly to another show in the UK, but the death of the late Queen had meant that that show had been postponed and we thought we’d take the opportunity to fly into the UK and go see family in the North of England. Long story short is the conversation turned to the idea of another audio show, but this time focusing on the more luxury end of the market…and the seed of Audio Show Deluxe was planted.

Brilliant show guys.

We wanted a show that offered an experience for visitors and exhibitors alike, but also one that allowed those wanting to sit for a while and really take in a system’s sound without feeling that they had to be rushed or having the fear that they might miss out on something. We capped the number of rooms the first year at 30 and then raised it to 35 this year, with a marketplace where we had a record seller and a handful of other brands.

Amazing weekend and great show again. Thank you to the whole team, well done. And see you next year.

From the experience point of view, we wanted to put on music and refreshments (while stocks last) included in the price of entry and so a dedicated space was given over to hosting musical artists, where at lunch we offered a bottle of beer and later in the day canapés and a glass of wine.

Whittlebury was decided as the location given it has a history with audio shows and is pretty convenient for the majority of the country.

Going from strength to strength. Last year was good but this year was even better. Well done.

2023 was a roaring success, but Kris and I wanted to make 2024 better in every respect and I think it’s fair to say that we pulled it off with aplomb. Guests were welcomed with a glass of bubbles and a complementary show guide by the excellent Kasia and her team who were also positioned around the show directing people and asking any questions they might have.

This year we also decided to host a mixer evening on the Friday night where exhibitors, the press (thank you to you all for taking the time to attend), and folk staying over on Friday could enjoy a relaxing hour or so listening to the Rat Pack covers band The Debonairs whilst enjoying a few nibbles and a complimentary drink with us. This seemed to be a great success and popular with all that attended. Kind of our way of saying thank you to the exhibitors for putting their faith in us.

Thoroughly good weekend. I thank you all.

9:30 Saturday morning arrived and the show opened, and it seemed very busy, but given the layout of the show (around a quad and over two floors) the corridors never seemed too crowded and rooms were full but never overflowing or with people stood in the doorways because they couldn’t get a seat…one of my bugbears at most audio shows we attend around the world.

We’d gone for a Jazz theme this year and booked some excellent artists that visitors to the show were able to enjoy in Club Deluxe…and all included in the entrance fee. The Sweethearts were fabulously glamorous.  Sadly I missed The Lily Dior Band and Bow Fiddle, but I did get to see the incredibly talented acoustic guitarist Antonio Forcione on Sunday, where we had also laid on several buckets of bottled beers for visitors to enjoy free of charge.

Was really good, nice and relaxed, the refreshments were most welcome. Some nice systems and music to listen to. We’ll be back!

I think it’s fair to say that we have created a show that achieves everything we set out to do over that Sunday lunch at the back end of 2022 and I can’t wait to begin planning the 2025 Audio Show Deluxe which will be on the 22nd and 23rd of March at Whittlebury Hall.

Stuart Smith

AUDIO SHOW DELUXE 2024 REPORT

Now let HiFi PiG reviewer and reporter Oscar Stewart take you on a tour around the show…..

Audio Show Deluxe is shaping up nicely to be an important part of the audio show calendar.

Audio Show Deluxe is held at the Whittlebury Park hotel near Silverstone racetrack, this is only its second year running and promises to be a showcase of true high-end audio setups. Arriving you are greeted with a red-carpet entrance and a glass of bubbly, or orange juice for those who don’t drink. There is a great show guide with a clear map of the floors and rooms, and this show is an excellent size in my opinion. The rooms are well laid out and you can sit and listen to the systems without feeling rushed, there is a great atmosphere and complimentary coffee stops on both floors.

Another addition to this show is the inclusion of live music on both days a great addition to the event.

Well organised as before, nice one guys.

AUDIO NOTE

First up I went to the Audio Note room, it’s always a pleasure chatting with Micky and they had their AN-E/SPx Ltd speakers on demo with a TT-Three turntable, PSU4, ARM-Three/II front end, CDT-Four CD Transport, DAC 5 Special and a Konzertmeister Level 4 300B SET integrated amplifier.

AIRT AUDIO

Next along you had Airt Audio with an array of Acustica Applicata products to help get better sound from your room, an Entreq Pluton grounding box, and a few products on demo and display. The main setup consisted of a Kalista DreamPlay X, Waversa WDAC 3C, Waversa WAMP2.7 driving the Avalon Acoustics Precision Monitor 1.2.

AUDEN DISTRIBUTION

Auden Distribution also had one of the larger rooms but in this, the smaller of the rooms they had the Egglestonworks Oso speakers paired with a Hegel H600 amplifier and Hegel Viking CD player – the cables used were Audiomica silver signature and they had a Music Works ReFlex lite power block, cables and AcouPlex isolation products.

It was an absolutely superb weekend, and congrats indeed to the exhibitors and organisers, plus the very helpful hotel staff. I actually missed it last year and was really glad to finally experience the often stratospheric quality of the kit on display. Not to mention some truly exceptional ‘real world’ equipment in addition. Can’t wait for next year’s show now!

ABSOLUTE SOUNDS

Next up was the first of Absolute Sounds rooms with a lovely pair of DeVore Q/96 speakers paired with a Trafomatic Rhapsody amplifier. The front end consisted of a Thiele TT-01 turntable, Thiele TA-01 tonearm, Analogue Relax EX300 cartridge, EAT Phono stage, LPSU and E-Glo Petite. They were also using an Innuos server with DCS Lina DAC, and had more products at the side of the room on display, such as the DCS Bartok DAC, WE 91E amplifier and a range of PrimaLuna amps too.

WELLBEING STRATEGIST

Wellbeing Strategist had a room with candles, books, gongs, and other bits – they also had a lovely main sound setup featuring the gorgeous Franco Serblin Accordo speakers paired with a Copland CSA100 amp, they were using an Innuos Zenith as the source. They also had the Copland CSA150 on display, this was a relaxing and atmospheric room and something a little different, the gong bath experience was wonderful.

ABSOLUTE SOUNDS – WILSON

Next up we had two Absolute Sounds rooms next to each other, the first had the Wilson Audio Sasha V speakers powered by a Dan D’Agostino Momentum integrated amplifier, the front end consisted of the Innuos Statement server, DCS RSD Apex CD Player/DAC, DCS RCK Master Clock and a Transparent Reference power isolator. Around the edges of this room were a few products from Krell and Dan D’Agostino, along with a pair of Wilson Audio Sabrina X’s.

ABSOLUTE SOUNDS – MAGICO

The next Absolute Sounds room had the Magico S3 speakers, darTZeel NHB-468 monobloc amplifiers, Dohmann Helix One MKIII turntable with Analogue Relax EX500 cartridge and Reed 5t tonearm, darTZeel NHB-18NS preamplifier and HSE Masterline 7 phono stage. They also had a full DCS digital setup (VDC DAC, VCK Master Clock, VTT CD Transport, VPP upsampler) with Innuos Statement Server. Mark Döhmann was on hand to talk about the turntable which is a fascinating bit of kit, look out for the interview on YouTube soon.

Absolutely brilliant weekend, you should all be very proud of what you have created….

DECENT AUDIO

Decent Audio were playing some rock music which was a nice change, they had the Raidho TD2.2 speakers on demo with Audio Analogue AA DAC, AA Drive CD transport and Bellini Anniversary pre-power combo.  Around the room they had some other products including the Raidho X-2T, Scansonic Q8, Ayre Acoustics CX8 CD player, KX-R Twenty and VX-R Twenty, Advance (Paris) CD9, X-P700 pre-amp, X-A160 Evo power amp and finally the SPL Elector pre-amp and Performer M1000 power amp.

INNUOS

Innuos had a full statement system setup featuring their Statement with next-gen power supply Server/Streamer and PhoenixNet audiophile network switch. This was running into a DCS Vivaldi DAC + Clock, Audio Research 6SE Reference pre-amplifier and 160M power amplifiers. The speakers were the huge Omnium from Wilson Benesch, the interconnects were from Transparent Audio and there was the Shunyata Hydra Delta D6 Power for the sources and the Typhon T2 for the power amps, along with Altaira grounding.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well done.

KEF

KEF brought along their flagship, the Muon speakers, these are literally huge and had the sound to back up their monstrous size. Driving them were the Soulution 511 Mono blocs paired with the 511 pre-amp fed by a Chord Dave DAC, they were using the Innuos Statement streamer with Phoenixnet network switch too and there were Chord cables throughout.

It was ace, thank you to everyone who made it happen.

HOUSE OF LINN

House of Linn brought along a lovely Klimax LP12 turntable running into a Klimax DSM/3 streaming pre-amp to a pair of Klimax Solo 800 monoblocs. These were powering a pair of ATC SCM100PSLT special edition speakers with a pair of ATC C4 MK2 subs. The rest of the system consisted of an Innuos Statement Server, Melco N1, Melco S10 network switch, Melco SFP+ cables, Linn Silver MK2 balanced signal cables, Mogami speaker cables and a Puritan PSM1512 Purifier and cables.

BOYER AUDIO

The Boyer room is always something special, this year they brought the Kroma Atelier Matilde speakers paired with the Engstrom Arne, Eric and Monica pre-amp. They were running from a full Wadax system with the Atlantis DAC/Server with level 4 PSU along with custom made glass optic cables and a full range of Shunyata power conditioners (including the new Typhon T30 distributor) and cables from amps to speakers (including the Omega speaker cable).

AUDIO GROUP DENMARK

Audio Group Denmark with their distributor Auditorium HiFi, had their £1m+ system that I saw last weekend in Oslo – the towering M6 Borresen speakers paired with a full Aavik amp setup (SD880 / I880 / P880) and Ansuz D-TC Gold cabling. They played Jimi Hendrix – Live at the Royal Albert Hall and it sounding rather special indeed, there was huge weight to the sound with excellent width and depth too.

Audio Show Deluxe is shaping up nicely to be an important part of the audio show calendar.

KARMA AV

Karma AV had a home-AV demo setup with a full Perlisten 7.3.4 setup using a Primare SU25 processor and A35.8 multi-channel amplifier, cabling was Inakustik. We managed to catch a clip from Top Gun – Maverick and this was a very impressive surround sound setup.

AUDEN DISTRIBUTION

The last room on the ground floor was the bigger Auden distribution room, I had a nice chat with Bill and this setup had the Hegel Viking CD player, P30A pre-amplifier, H30A power amplifiers and Egglestonworks Viginti speakers. They were also using a Merason DAC1 MKII, Audiomica silver signature interconnects, speaker cable and MusicWorks ReFlex G5 power block, power cables and AcouPlex isolation products.

Around the room they also had more Hegel products on display along with a range from Amphion, Merason and Egglestonworks plus the Luphonic Audio turntable which launched on the Newcomers Stand at High End Munich.

MARKETPLACE

Upstairs to the 1st floor now and you had a more open space with a few brands showcasing their products, firstly you had a display of Black Rhodium cables, next up you had Puritan with a good display of their products and cables. Orange Amps were also at the show with their Bluetooth speakers, headphones, and the new Tube Tester MKII – this one is compatible with a lot more “audiophile” valves compared to the original and could be an excellent tool for valve collectors.

Electromod had 2 headphone setups, one was worth around £8k and the other £13k. They had the Dan Clark Audio E3 and Stealth/Expanse on demo which are both lovely headphones, being driven by different Violectric models (DHA V590 Pro and Niimbus US5 Pro) and both had the Schiit Yggdrasil DAC (one with OG DAC, the other MIL DAC) in the setup, it was a pleasure catching up with Mark from Electromod.

Brittania Records had a stall with quite a variety of records, a few I really fancied myself. Music First were also present in this room, they had some brochures about their products and having heard some prior to the show they are worth checking out.

DALI AND LUXMAN

A great combination of the Dali Epikore II speakers powered by a Luxman M-10X power amp, C-10X control amp, D-10X SACD DAC, NT-07 Streamer, PD-191A turntable and E-250 phono stage. Around the edges of the room they had the cute little Dali Minuet SE, Luxman D-03X, MQ-88UC, L-509Z and L-507Z.

BLACKWOOD

When I went in the Blackwood room, they had a new prototype playing, they had dual aluminium sandwich bass drivers, Accuton ceramic mid and ceramic tweeter. They are an active speaker and were running their own amps which use puri-fi class D modules, there was a mini-DSP in the system for tuning too. They were using a HiFi Rose RS130 streamer and the cabling was all Viablue – these new speakers sounded very promising, at other times they had their Artanis speakers on demo.

CONNECTING MUSIC DISTRIBUTION

Connecting Music had a Lucas Domansky Music Server Minimax + LPSU, Mastersound Evolution 845 amp, Bricasti M1 DAC and M19 CD player running a pair of Sonus Faber Amator Maxima speakers. They also had some Shunyata devices to help clean up the mains, these were the Altaira, Hydra and Typhon, in this room we went from Choral music to Billie Eilish – something unexpected and these little speakers can put out a hell of a lot of bass for their size.

WILLOW TREE AUDIO

Willow Tree Audio had a new rack to show off, the Lateral Counterpoint 1.0 and 1.1, along with a full setup consisting of the JMR Cantabile floorstanders, Dayens Menuetto custom integrated amplifier, Lector Digidrive CD transport MK3 and CenGrande DAC 1.0 Superclock.

Fantastic service from the staff in red dresses and free coffee. Congratulations to who ever organised this event. Some fantastic equipment.

CONNECTED FIDELITY

Connected Fidelity had a new turntable to show off, the TT-Hub which uses a bamboo plinth. The demo setup had a TT-Hub with Sorane tonearm, Hana Umami Red cartridge running in to a Moor Amps Angel-Pre, Moor Amps Angel 6 power amp into the Moor Amps Ascalon-8 speakers. They also had a Trichord CM-PSU, Trichord Neo Phono stage and AC-2K balanced power supply. Around the room they also had some power distribution blocks on display along with fuses, isolation products and tonearms.

Audio Deluxe I’d say is the best value for money show. Prosecco/orange juice on entry. Morning pastries. Free tea/coffee/hot chocolate. Free beer during the first live performance. Free wine & canapés during the second live performance.

TECHNICS

Technics don’t often appear at this kind of show, but what a pleasure it was to see them. In the main demo setup, they had the SL-1210G with Ortofon Quintet Blue cartridge running into an SU-R1000 amplifier driving the SB-G90 MK2 speakers. Digital source wise they had the SL-G700M2, SL-G1200 SACD/Network player, on display they had the SB-C600, SA-C600 and SL-1200GR2… and of course, banging music choices from the Technics team.

The show was incredibly well organised, with great entertainment and what felt like a high number of attendees on both days – it’s a sign of great things to come next year!

CYRUS AUDIO AND AUDIO PHYSIC

Cyrus Audio / Audio Physic shared a room, they were using the Audio Physic Avanti speakers, Atlas cables and a full Cyrus setup. This included the TTP turntable, the new Phono Signature, PSX-R2, Pre-XR, Stream-XR, Power-XR and PSU-XR. The Avanti speakers have a subwoofer in them that isn’t visible, but it sure is audible, in the best way possible.

Been to quite a few hi-fi shows in my time but have to say, Audio Show Deluxe 2024 really hit the musical G-spot.

REFERENCE AUDIO DISTRIBUTION

Reference Audio / Titan Audio also had a room together, there were lots of nice bits around the room like the Audia Flight FL59, Acoustic Solid Solid Brake turntable, Diapason Adamantes V, Titan audio record weight and Ares mains block along with Spirit Torino headphones. The main system though was made up of the Silent Pound Challenger open baffle speakers, the rear baffle is open for the bass drivers yet enclosed for the mid/high to help reduce any phase issues. These were being powered by an Audia Flight pre-power combo with an Acoustic Solid Vintage turntable that was fitted with a Titanic Audio model G MC cartridge. This cartridge uses OCC copper windings and has a carbon cantilever base that is decoupled from the main body.

VERTERE

Vertere had the new Stratton Acoustics Element 12 speakers (world debut at the show) powered by 4 x FM 108 mono bloc amps (each speaker was bi-amped), FM 255 MK2 pre-amplifier, Vertere Phono 1 phono stages, SG-1 turntable with HB tonearm and lead, XtraX cartridge, Imperium motor driver, Reference iso-shelf with silencer feet – all with Power HB power + signal cabling throughout. Miles Showell from Abbey Road was also doing talks on his ½ speed mastering techniques which is always insightful and interesting.

Simply the best audio/hifi show in the country. Already looking forward to 2025 which I bet is going to be even better.

SYMMETRY SYSTEMS

Lastly, we come to the Symmetry / Brinkman / Chasing the Dragon room – Mike Valentine was doing a talk about recording techniques along with sound demo’s between old and new microphones, the old valve microphone really did sound a lot better. The Sonus Faber Stradivari G2 speakers were quite something, these were run off Brinkman Mono power amps, a Nyquist streaming DAC, Marconi MK2 pre-amp and Addison MK2 phono stage. They had two turntables, the Brinkman Oasis with a valve PSU and Pi cartridge alongside a Brinkman Taurus with solid state PSU and Goldberg cartridge.

Much like last year, I thoroughly enjoyed the Audio Show Deluxe, it is well laid out with a good number of rooms and a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, a really different show for the UK calendar!

Unforgettable energy at the Audio Show Deluxe!

See you next year at Audio Show Deluxe 2025…

Now read Janine Elliot’s report from Audio Show Deluxe, where she picks her favourite rooms

Stuart Smith, Oscar Stewart, Linette Smith and John Scott