THE BRISTOL HIFI SHOW 2023 REPORT

HiFi PiG’s Lin and Stu report from the much-welcomed return of the Bristol HiFi Show, join them as they have a look at and listen to a huge array of the finest HiFi at this hugely popular and busy UK HiFi Show.

Being back at the Bristol HiFi Show after what seems like years (it has been years) has been like meeting up with an old friend, one of those “ You didn’t know you had missed them so much until you met up again” kind of moments. If this was true for us at HiFi Pig the same was certainly true for the masses of people that turned up to make this, I assume, the busiest HiFi Show in the UK calendar. Even before the event there had been a terrific buzz about the return of the Bristol Show and many of the brands that you will be familiar with and we will talk about on these pages were sending in their news of what they would be exhibiting and what new products they were choosing to launch at the show.

The show is held at the Marriott hotel in the heart of Bristol in the South West of the UK and so pretty accessible for most folk in England and Wales and the crowds were indeed out in force, queuing down the street before opening to get a look at what audio delights waited inside. The organisers did their usual fantastic job with the show and the feedback we got from visitors and exhibitors was universally positive.

So, without further ado here is what we got to see at the Bristol HiFi Show 2023. If we didn’t get in your room or cover your stand then our apologies but we did try to cover absolutely everyone that was present.

We would also like to give a huge thank you to our Bristol HiFi Show 2023 news and coverage sponsor, Music First Audio.

NO PART OF THIS ARTICLE MAY BE COPIED IN ANY FORM. THIS INCLUDES WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS WHICH ARE THE PROPERTY OF HiFi PiG AND BIG PIG MEDIA

Why not listen to our HiFi PiG X Bristol HiFi Show Qobuz playlist while you read?

FALCON ACOUSTICS

Falcon Acoustics are a fabulous English brand and I have a great deal of time for them. We got to listen to the M10s which are a small standmount with a B1110 mid and SEAS tweeter in a rear ported box. They roll off at 38Hz which is mental for a small speaker with a 5” cone to deliver. The cabinet is made in Italy and Jerry says they went down a storm in the States at the Florida show which I can well believe.  They are £2399 a pair.

Music is what this system is about and they do it really nicely. Overall this is a small loudspeaker that is made to live with and to listen to music with.

BRAVO FALCON!!!

FOCAL & NAIM

In this Focal & NAIM room we had a listen to the Focal Vestia N2 florstanders being powered by a NAIM Uniti Nova and a Naim Uniti Core server. The speakers are a front-ported 3-way design with 2 bass, a mid and tweeter. This seemed to be a lot of speaker for the money and the sound was excellent at this price with a good soundstage standing out to me as the feature that was most evident at the show. As ever, this show environment isn’t the best place to listen to kit in any kind of critical way, but it does give you a feel for the product and these were very good.

KANTO AUDIO

Kanto is all about connectivity and seem to be offering excellent value for money. The sound was excellent in this room playing a prototype pair of speakers with no name yet. This speaker has Rca, Bluetooth, USB, DAC and will be around £300. Then they switched over to a pair of YU6 and things were not great, with the sound being a tad muddled and bass light. These speakers don’t have DSP tuning like the newer models and so that would explain that somewhat. Then they switched over again to the TUK speakers which were excellent and do have all the extras too!!!

Also in the rooms were headphones by Danish brand AIAIAI which are totally modular with bits that come on and off. Ultra-low latency lossless wireless audio is also a feature and you get a little doodad to transmit this to the headphones. £300 a pair. The modular headphones they are currently 30% made from recycled plastic with a view to moving to 90%. A cheaper pair are available at £180. There’s then Bluetooth wireless headphones from their MOVE range which are £360 and £200.

ROGERS

An AudioNote UK CD 0 providing the tunes to a Rogers’ E20aii amplifier and Rogers SL5/9 speakers made the music in this room. Originally conceived in 1995, the original Rogers E20a was designed to drive the Rogers LS3/5a loudspeakers to the highest possible sound quality and then in 2020 Rogers extensively revised the original E20a into the new E20a/ii to complement the new “Reborn” LS3/5a Classic and LS5/9 Classic loudspeakers. This was the first outing for the new amp since the onset of Covid. Rogers say that the amp is based around the existing circuit and Push-Pull 6L6 output valves, but the new E20a/ii has an updated circuit design and still operates in pure class A. Rogers says that optimizing the transformer matching to the LS3/5A impedance greatly improves the performance of the LS3/5A and the LS5/9 Classic

Nothing wrong at all with this room and clearly very popular with visitors to the show.

QUALIO

We ordered a pair of these speakers based on hearing them at the Warsaw show and whilst they haven’t fully run in yet, they are already sounding rather splendid. These speakers are about six grand and have an 8 inch bass driver in a ported box along with an open baffle mid and AMT.

They sounded great at the Warsaw show and they sounded great here at the Bristol Show which would suggest to me that they aren’t overly fussy over the room that you put them in – I found when setting them up in our space that it was a matter of getting them roughly in the positions we’d normally plonk speakers and then a bit of fine adjustment thereafter.

Bass in this room was surprisingly deep and controlled too.  I noticed they were using IsoAcoustic footers which hadn’t occurred to me on ours but I will be trying this out. One other person did mention they thought the sound in the room was a bit one note at the bass end but that’s just not what I heard at all.

Other kit in this room was a Lampizator Amber DAC with a SuperNait 3AN providing the juice.

AIR AUDIO/COPPICE AUDIO

Connected Fidelity are part of the Air Audio family and used the Bristol HiFi Show to launch an interesting looking new turntable called the HUB-TT. HUB-TT is made from a specially supplied bamboo material for the body and integral isolation platform, and the AC motor is driven by quartz-clocked electronics. The turntable comes in natural bamboo, and a dark stained finish, complemented by natural anodised finishes to the aluminium motor pod and arm-board. The arm used was a Sorane tone arm and the cartridge was the excellent sounding Hana MC.

The Coppice X2 speakers were being powered by Astin Trew electronics. The speakers are 87dB sensitive and cost £2.5K with stands being an extra £700.

You can read Janine’s review of Coppice X1speakers here.

Playing Dire Straits, though the new turntable in the dark finish this was a lovely sounding system. That Hana Umami Red is a fantastic cartridge and the turntable is bound to do very well on this showing.

There are new products for HiFi tuning coming from Air Audio in the coming weeks and months so watch this space for more information.

PINK TRIANGLE/FUNK FIRM

Closed for a presentation when we passed and sadly we just didn’t manage to get back up to the 4th floor, however, the lovely Arthur sent us over some pics from his room.

For those who haven’t heard of Pink Triangle, a quick Google will show it was a British HiFi manufacturer founded in London in 1979, by Neal Jackson and Arthur Khoubesserian, known for innovative turntable designs.

Pink Triangle was one of the first HiFi brands to talk about “Closer to the Master Tape” and now Arthur Khoubesserian’s Isolation Bubble theory has been fully exploited in the new Pink Triangle turntable that was exhibited at The Bristol HiFi Show 2023. Also on show was the Akutrak phono stage, which corrects for cartridge frequency response errors.

Pink Triangle’s first new turntable is Blue Danube. It can be ordered according to the customers’ colour taste and is highly customisable….as seen with the ‘Purple Rain’ version here.

LEEMA ACOUSTICS

Leema Acoustics are celebrating their 25^th year in business and were playing their Libra pre/DAC and the Hydra Anniversary power amplifier through Serhan and Swift MU2 Mkii loudspeakers on SolisSteel stands and a Melco N1 streamer.

Leema played us The Jam’s Mr Clean which was a real treat to hear at a show and it sounded really excellent. Unforced and at a volume that was perfectly considered for the room the system was playing in.

VIVID AUDIO

Lawrence Dickie and his team were showing off the KAYA series speakers in a rather gorgeous purple colour. Powered by the HiFi Rose amplifier this was a sweet sounding room filled with detail and unstressed and unhurried sound. There seemed to be a really nice purity of tone in this room that I enjoyed a great deal and the bass was low and controlled. A good few folk commented on the sound of this room being excellent when we chatted to readers and visitors to the show.

The Kaya are £6K with the stands £1500.

SENNHEISER

Soundbars and Headphones with Sennheiser.

ORIGIN LIVE

Origin Live had their remodelled, multi-layer platter on show, which now comes as standard on the Calypso, Resolution, Sovereign, Voyager, and the upcoming new Swift turntable, which is due to take its place between the Aurora and Calypso turntables in the range.

Turntables wise they had their Sovereign-S MK5, as well as the Calypso and Voyager Mk5.  Turntables. The new platter and an improved PSU take the range to the MK5 designation.

Probably of most interest in the Origin Live room was their new turntable and tonearm. Built in Britain, the Origin Live Sovereign-S has a three part heavyweight plinth, with improved decoupling of its main bearing and armboard. The S stands for Sovereign Special and also has the upgraded multi-layer platter. The Agile Tonearm features an armtube with an intricate, multilayered counterweight attached. The tonearm also features the Silver Hybrid-S cable.

Playing Dire Straits’ Walk of Life when we were in the room and it all sounded very good despite not really being to my taste with regards the music. AVIDM10 speakers were playing along with a Dave Rusby sub.

The phonostage was the OL discovery phono playing with the MK5 Sovereign S and the Agile Mk 4 tonearm.

VON GAYLORD AUDIO

Von Gaylord may have the one of the most intriguing names in audio but there’s no mistaking that they make nice noises with their kit.

Playing in the room when we went in there were the Legend two way standmount loudspeakers (91db) with a claimed response down to 24Hz and having a sensitivity of 91dB. Driving the Legends were a pair of 45W tubes amps using 4 x 6550,  and 4 x 6sn7 tubes per channel. These amps have self-adjusting bias and hand soldered point to point wiring throughout.

This was a smooth and very detailed sounding room that wasn’t overblown at all for the room and with a sweet overall sound.

One interesting point made by the woman I was sat next to was that the tube amps looked very futuristic, which I thought was a noteworthy take on what many assume to be old fashioned technology. Another lady at the front of the room was making very positive noises about the sound too.

And this was something else I  noticed at this year’s Bristol HiFi Show…there were a good number of couples doing the rounds.

AUDIO NOTE

People in the Audio Note (UK) room were making very appreciative noises about the sound in the room with the brand showing off their ANJ/SPe speakers, the Conqueror Silver 300B stereo power amplifier, the M3 phono pre taking a signal from the TT3 turntable with its PSU 3 power supply. The tonearm on this turntable was the Three/ii with the 10 1 MC cartridge and a AN SS SUT.

Also showing were the CDT 3 transport and the DAC 3.1x balanced DAC. The guitar playing of Roland Van Campenhout on his tune Blue Azul was in the room life-like and full of small details.

Nice sounding room this!

SVS/PRIMARE/SYSTEM AUDIO

Now regular readers will know that in the main big televisions and the associated etc are not really my cuppa, but I think I may actually be warming to the whole experience as I’ve really enjoyed the last few systems I’ve heard. Or perhaps the quality is getting beyond what I considered all boom and tizz and is getting to a level of fidelity that I can really enjoy….and this system by Primare, System Audio, and SVS was definitely of a fidelity I could appreciate and get into.

The system was System Audio Saxo speakers (about a gazillion of them) a Primare SPA 25 integrated amplifier and SVS 3000 subs. Playing music it was fab on this system. Playing a movie clip from Ford v Ferrari was terrifically immersive.

Loved this experience!

TRIANGLE HiFi/IOTAVX

The NP3 at the top of the rack is a streaming stereo streamer and CD player DAB and FM tuner plus Bluetooth and WiFi. Next down was the SA3 which is a stereo integrated amp with 50 W at 8 Ohms and 100 at 4 Ohm or bridged 180W. Then we have the PA3 power amplifier which is the same outputs as the SA3 as it has the same modules which are class AB. This kit is built in China but designed in the UK/France/Germany.

We heard Borea 3 from Triangles playing some Elton John and overall very nice and I’m guessing not wildly expensive.

MEZE/EARMEN

Meze, Earmen, SPL and Manley Headfi gear

ISO ACOUSTICS/SPL

French brand Triangle’s Antal 40^th Anniversary with SPL amplification using IsoAcoustic isolation were playing in this room.

The IsoAcoustic demonstration is a clever one with the same speakers and the same amplifiers but a switch between the speakers to allow listening and instant switching between the sound with and then without the Gaia footers and back again. The effect isn’t subtle at all and clearly an improvement in definition and also apparent volume…which is an odd one. This is perhaps THE most convincing demonstration I’ve heard at any show. I’ve heard this demonstration done with (if I recall correctly) Focal speakers in the past and the effect was exactly the same

We use IsoAcoustic Gaia with our Audiovector R6 and will be adding them to our new Qualio after having heard them using the speakers with them at Bristol.

TRIANGLE

A Pair of active Aio Twin speakers from Triangle along with a rebadged ProJect turntable gives a full system with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and multiroom. This is a bundle ready to go for £999. I love this kind of stuff that is accessible and good quality. Absolutely NOTHING wrong with this system and is an excellent introduction to anyone wanting to get into proper audio at home.

This is in my opinion how we get younger folk and those looking to dip their toes in the audiophile waters to make that step into this crazy world of ours. A grand is still a chunk of dosh for most folk but a bargain basement price need not mean that the sound is shabby and the features are lacking.

TRIANGLE/MANLEY

Nice to see the Manley brand in the UK and distributed by SCV Distribution. In the system was the Manley Steelhead phonostage and preamplifier (£12K ish) into a pair of 12K Snapper monoblocs using EL34 tubes. Speakers were Triangle’s Magellan 40^th Duetto standmounts costing £6K – these are really beautifully finished and Matt from SCV was saying they have had some excellent feedback on the speakers particularly.

Matt played us FINK live (Perfect Darkness) and this is a big full sounding system that also has a lovely midband detail that’s as smooth and “luxurious” sounding as the speakers are looking. This Triangle and Manley pairing is definitely a good one and whilst it’s not a cheap option, nor is it particularly out of the range stupid expensive.

BLACK RHODIUM

Static display from British Cable brand Black Rhodium.

VOXATIV

Speakers in the system from Berlin based Voxativ was a pair of Ampeggio speakers (£11,500). These are a back loaded horn design using a 8” wideband AC1.9 driver being fed by a T211 amp using a pair of 211 power tubes to deliver 11W a channel and costing £19,400. Speaker cables were the Ampeggio Due costing £3500 for a 3m pair.

The speakers are the first speakers Ines that owns Voxativ developed 15 years ago and she recently developed the new driver with a stronger kick bass, unusual for a widebander, specifically for these speakers. This speaker with this driver was making its debut at the show and will be at the Munich show in May. We had a listen to a Jacques Loussier track with a hard kick bass and piano and the speaker does have a powerful response down to around 60Hz, accompanied with a very sweet midband that was brought out in the sweet piano sound. I liked these a lot. I know that our friend Stewart Cassell, who came to the show with his young son was making very positive noises about this system.

Voxativ also do an all in package for £7900 including the Das Absolut Box amp and streamer and a pair of Hagen loudspeakers. This is designed as an entry level system to the Voxativ universe and for those with smaller apartments.

MOOR AMPS

Moor Amps are based in Portland in Dorset and were showing off the Angel 6 and the Angel 4 along with an Angel pre. We had a listen to the flagship Angel 6 costing £11K. 150 in to 8 ohms and 580 into 2 which means it will drive just about anything you fancy. The speakers are a prototype called Ascalon but due for production in May at a price around 12K (but don’t quote me on that). The pre is the Angel Pre costing £3K.

This was a very nice and effortless sounding room that was foot-tappingly relaxed and natural.

TECHNICS

I make absolutely no apology for my love of this legendary Japanese brand going back to my youth when I had an SLDL1 turntable which I absolutely loved! We heard the SAC600 amp going through the SBC600 little bookshelves using a coaxial driver via Bluetooth – I would NEVER have guessed this was running on Bluetooth! The sound through these little speakers was phenomenally good. I know Technics may not have your audiophile credentials and esoteric gubbins but it is proper HiFi for proper people and I still have a great deal of time for them.

We then had a listen to a G through the SBG90 Mk2 speakers and the SUR100 amp playing some Orbital. This system rocked!!!

I was not there to witness it but I was told that Simon Pope playing Sleaford Mods and Orbital’s Dirty Rat at volume was a thing to behold, and I’m sure the rooms on either side of Technics room will have fully appreciated this modern classic tune about the state of the country.

SUPATRAC

The room was closed when we passed.

ISOTEK

Nice to see Bjorn back at Isotek. The brand were showing off their mains treatment products with a rather spectacular McIntosh (MA7200) and Sonus faber (Olympic standmounts) system provided by the good people at Fine Sounds UK, who are Isotek’s UK distributor.

The system was fed by power supplied by a V5 Polaris and V5 Elektra and V5 Aquarius and V5 Titan.

We didn’t get a with and without demonstration but this was a good sounding system with the Isotek kit in place.

REL ACOUSTICS

REL had a couple of rooms at the show and were launching no less than ten new subs. KEF, Hegel, and Anthem were used for speakers and amplification, with HiFi Racks providing the racks etc.

We got a listen after visiting the REL room on the Saturday. The system was a 2 channel system made up of a Hegel 590 amp with a pair of KEF Blade 2 and No31 subs from REL.

The dem’ was very interesting and not really what I was expecting…make vocals and harpsichord. Without the subs and using the Blade 2 this a was good sounding experience but adding the REL 31 subs had the immediate effect of filling out the soundstage a little and making it obviously more expansive. Tonally the sound became richer and somewhat (quite a bit) more detailed. We then got some FINK (heard these quite a bit at this show) with and without the subs. Again the effect was immediate and very apparent. Despite this being a more sub-bass rich song I think the former tune had a bigger impact sonically – for me anyway and YMMV.

We then went onto a surround system with the main speakers being “underpinned” but REL subs – essentially a full range surround system from centre to all the rest of the speakers (5 channels rather than your traditional 5.1.). The difference between this and the standard 5.1 we heard was…explosive.

FYNE AUDIO

We were asked to attend the press conference in the Fyne Audio room and I’m very pleased we did. We were invited to a late afternoon event with Fyne and the great and good of the audio press from the UK.

And we got to hear Keith Don’t Go for the first time at the show – result.

This event was used to launch the Vintage 5 (ships June) and the Vintage 15 (shipping nowish) with the number being relevant to the driver size in inches. All are made and designed in the UK which is a very cool and good thing. Both have the downward firing ports which Fyne are now famous for and which should be helpful when it comes to room placement.

This is a first time outing for the little and the large of the Fyne Vintage range and based on this demonstration both have a fyne (sic) future ahead of them.

All are point source drivers but now these speakers have all the from their other speakers produced by Fynes in a stunning looking and constructed cabinet that use match veneers. The big V15 are absolutely beautiful to look at and as much a piece of furniture as they are a product to make music in your home . There are also 97dB sensitive and so will work with pretty much anything but will work with amps up to 800 W.

Fyne now have 47 distributors in the world now which for a company that is only 6 years old is rather spectacular.

And we are told that they now have their own cryogenic unit where the critical items are treated to a slow cryogenic treatment.

The V15 are as rich and luscious sounding loudspeaker as I’ve experienced at a show. However, when the tempo goes up the 15” driver responds speedily and properly – yeh, I reckon I could live with these. The 15s are £30K and the 5s are £3750 which seems pretty reasonable for the fit, finish and sound of these speakers. Tentative enquiries about the V15s may have been made.

FYNE AUDIO

HARMAN CONSUMER/JBL

We got to listen to a £1300 soundbar in this room and whilst I’ve never really thought about a soundbar for our home telly set up this JBL soundbar really caught my attention for it’s innovative features and excellent sound. You get the soundbar and a sub but the thing that really impressed me was a pair of battery powered speakers that attach to and charge from the soundbar when not in use but then when you want to watch a movie, they detach and you can place them wherever you fancy.

This was both a clever and practical solution for those that might want to experience surround sound but really don’t want to go the full hog and invest I a full on permanent system.

I can see one of these being used here at HiFi PiG Towers in the near future for films and Netflix.

HARBETH

I didn’t get a  chance to get into all the Harbeth rooms but in the first room they had a small pair of P3ESR XD costing £2700 being powered by a Hegel amp and a Denon DAC and CD player.

In the room I did get a chance to sit and listen for a while I got to listen to the M30.2 running off a Hegel amp and Marantz CD player. Everything was very, very nice but I’d have really loved to have been able to hear these speakers being put through their paces a little more to show what they can do when pushed a little with regards to volume.

The final Harbeth room had the larger M40 D Concept speakers in Exotic Ash playing. These are an all-digital and all active loudspeaker with every part of them being done by Harbeth, including DSP which is in a separate box to the speakers. This is a very cool concept for what is largely seen as a very traditional British company and I really do hope that these speakers make into full production. Yes, I’m sure there will be some comments from some quarters but for me I’m really impressed that Harbeth are grabbing daring to do this kind of thing.

Played some Diana Krall which is not really my cup of tea but it did sound very nice indeed on these speakers with a richness to the presentation and particularly to the contra-bass. An excellent room with the speakers very much being in control of the music playing and the room.

ELAC

The speakers in this room were the new lac Vela 404 costing £3000. Everything in the room was on SolidSteel stands and looked very elegant and striking.

This was a really cool room belting out psytrance and really filling the room. Bass was very nicely controlled and the room filled with music at proper levels with the speakers barely feeling like they were breaking a sweat.

LOCKWOOD LOUDSPEAKERS

Lockwood Loudspeakers was founded by carpenter Stanley Timms IN THE 1930s. Following a pause in production due to the second world war, Lockwood worked closely with engineers at the BBC to develop what was to become the Lockwood Monitors. These legendary loudspeakers became renowned for their sound quality and were used during the recording and mixing of such bands as: The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Rollings Stones, Queen, Led Zeppelin and thousands of other artists around the world.

At this year’s Bristol HiFi Show, some of these original recordings were being played through their loudspeakers. On demonstration was the Lockwood Mini (10” driver) stand-mount loudspeakers accompanied by two floor-standing models, the Lockwood Academy (12” driver) and the Lockwood LE1 with their 15” drivers.

Playing in the Lockwood Loudspeakers room when we went in was their Mini with the 10” drivers using a little Quad amp. A lot of folk had got very excited about this room when we ran the news of them being at the show and one of the questions we were asked in the bar a fair bit was “Have you heard the Lockwood room yet?

Sadly, I thought this was a pretty poor sounding demonstration of the speakers but maybe that can be explained by the room combined with the number of models of speakers at the front of the room and them interacting with the speakers playing.

REGA

Rega too know how to put a room together that attracts people in and feel welcome. They had a You Are The Dj where you chose a record from the wall of albums and they would play it for you on their entry level system.

A Rega Planar 1, an io amplifier and some Kyte loudspeakers including cables came in at a very reasonable £999. Personally, I love that Rega has done this. This is a system that sounded great listening to London Grammar and hugely affordable. I’ve heard much more expensive systems sound a lot worse than this at shows!

In their second room Rega had a static display and also had the new Rega Naia, their 50th anniversary celebration turntable, which was a tad more high end, The Rega Naia will actually launch this autumn and is the production version of the Naiad, a limited edition project that Rega engineered at the cost of £30k. The Rega Naia will retail at £9,200. It features a titanium tonearm and a zirconium-toughened ceramic bearing, along with a skeletal carbon fibre plinth.

AMPHION/HEGEL

Amphion and Hegel had a couple of rooms at the show hosted by Bill and team from Auden Distribution. They won Most Welcoming Room from the Clarity Alliance and I totally get why they got this accolade.

Room One was given over to a static display of products where visitors could ask questions and were actually engaged by the team in the room. The room was also nicely set up and “dressed”. These guys get that you can no longer just plonk a system in a room and a few seats in front and get away with it. They understand the need for visitors to feel that effort has been made both to get visitors in the room, give them a nice space to be in and to be treated like a valuable customer or potential customer.

In room 2 a Rega P8 turntable, Hegel V10 Preamplifier (phono) which reviewed here and a H120 amp running a pair of  Amphion Argon 1 speakers made up the system which in total cost around £7500 including cables. Johann Coorg was running the room and doing a splendid job of engaging with people with some early Fleetwood Mac sounding wonderful.

The sound, even in this packed room, was punching way above the asking price to my ears and what’s more is that it looked great in itself and was well presented by the team.

I can only give top marks to every aspect of the Amphion/Hegel experience and whilst we don’t give awards out at shows, I think that Clarity got this one absolutely bang on the money!

YAMAHA

PROAC

Now, this was an interesting looking loudspeaker.

The K Series K1 from ProAc which as a 6.5” Kevlar coned unit which covers the frequencies up to 3KHz where the ProAC ribbon tweeter takes over, the latter has an alnico magnet and a damped rear chamber. Claimed response from this large standmounter is down to 28Hz.

Price is £7240. I’d assumed that the speaker had an integral stand but the stand is a £1000 extra.

Sounds were made by an Audio Research CD player playing through a Trilogy amp.

MICHELL

Turntables were obviously the order of the day in this VERY busy room with Proac speakers making the noise.

Full system was a Michell TecnoDec with the t2 Improved arm and a Goldring E3 cartridge. Trichord Research provided the phonostage and an Audio Flight FLs10 amp provided the juice to the Response D2rs.

Paul Simon was playing whilst we were in the room and it was very good, though, again, very busy!

EXPOSURE

British brand Exposure are a favourite from when I was first getting into the whole HiFi world and it’s great to see them still out there and making great kit.

A 3510 CD player, 3510 Pre and 3510 monos made up the system with a pair of Graham Audio speakers moving the air. The new toploading 3510 CD player will retail at around £2500, we will have more info a little later.

Nice sounds and an appreciative audience.

KERR ACOUSTICS

We had to come back to the Kerr room as it was so rammed the first time we passed that we couldn’t get in – so we went in the next room and popped back.

The two way standmount  K300 MK3 (£4995) with ribbon tweeter was being fed by a system comprising a Townshend Allegro reference pre, DCs Bartok and Sudgen Sapphire 40w class A power amplifier.

This was a sweet sounding system with excellent response throughout the range and a nice controlled bass…enhanced somewhat by the GIK room treatment that had been use in the room.

SOUND FOWNDATIONS

Chris and the team at Sound Fowndations always play the most interesting tunes at shows and I have never been in one of their dems and not experienced something new to tickle my ear drums. This time we got to hear some Caribbean Disco by Lobos from 1982 that a visitor had brought along.

The speakers in the room were by Kerr Acoustics, front end by Clearaudio using the DS Audio optical cartridge.  The pre was David Brook from MCRU’s own Kondo.

What I like about this attitude is that it is about the music in the room and the enthusiasm Chris has for music and getting new music in front of new ears. Yep, it sounded great but the thing I took away from this room was that it is music that brings us to buying all this kit.

Great room that I really enjoyed!!!

Again, we don’t do awards but these guys would get the Most Interesting Music Award for sure.

ROTEL

The Rotel room was absolutely rammed and I couldn’t get in for a listen sadly. Clearly they are doing something right and were showing off their S14 all in one solution at a smidge under £2500.

KOG AUDIO

I’d been looking forward to the KOG room since I heard what was going to be in their room. SoulNote electronics from Japan have been a favourite since I heard them many years ago and now they have upped their game and gone a tad more high-end.

And they were going to be partnered with the new Epos ES1 4N (£3750 or £4000 with their matching stands) speakers that we saw when they were launched at Munich last year.

Tellurium Q supplied all the cables for this excellent sounding system.

Specifically, the electronics from Soulnote were the A2 amplifier and the D2 DAC at £6300 and £7700 respectively.

This was a lovely and lively (in an agile sense) room that had my feet tapping in time to the tunes we had the pleasure of listening to.

ASTELL & KERN

TOWNSHEND AUDIO

The guys at Townshend Audio were demonstrating their range of Seismic Isolation products with both loudspeakers and electronics as well as showing off their supertweeters. Now, we’ve been using their supertweeters on our Avantgarde horns and on our Audiovector R6 loudspeakers for ages now and their effect is excellent – they really do something interesting to the spatial aspect of the presentation of a loudspeaker. Tony from Townshend was doing the dem of the supertweeters and the effect is absolutely obvious.

The heart of the system was the Townshend Allegri Reference preamp before Sugden pure Class-A amplification which in turn were powering a pair of Kerr Acoustic K320 loudspeakers.

System sources both analogue and digital will be on demonstration. Matt the The Rockdoc was around and doing a bit of a selector spot which we sadly couldn’t make but he’s fast becoming the person to call with reference to setting up and refurbing the Townshend Rock turntables. Apparently, the hour ran over a tad but tunes ranged from Suzanne Vega, to The The to Radical Dance Faction (a fave of mine) to Yello, Eat Static, The Alan Parsons Project and loads more. Good stuff and a bit of an antidote to much of the usual audiophile fodder we get to hear at shows.

Digital sources were from Auralic Altair G2.1 and dCS Bartok and there was an experimental Townshend DAC and power supply on show.

We were also told that we were listening to a DAC that is in the “experimental” stage and judging by the sound in this room the digital buying public is in for a treat when this comes out for general consumption.

DALI

Dali were showing off their Opticon 8 MK 2 loudspeakers (£2800) and this seems like an awfully lot of loudspeaker for less than three grand. There’s an unusual tweeter arrangement that has a dome tweeter (up to 13KHz)and a ribbon for everything above that.  I’m not sure I’ve seen this anywhere before but I like what that ribbon brings to the party in terms of airiness.

The Opticon series sits in the middle of the DALI range but this is their top speaker in that range with 2 x 8” bass drivers that are at the top and bottom. The 6” mid and tweeter hybrid sits in the middle of the speaker. Again, this is a really interesting and unusual (but sensible) set up. The speakers were paired with a Lyngdorf tdai 3400 all in one and cables were the Atlas Ailsa.

There was a Transcriptor tunrtable with an Origin Live arm and Sumiko cart which came in at less than £3000 which seems a lot of turntable for the money.

We listened to War On Drugs on the record player through the optional phono card and I had no complaints.

LYNGDORF

Lyngdorf used the Bristol Show to launch their new Cue-100 loudspeaker which includes something the Dansih company call Neutral Surround Geometry, where the ring shape consists of alternating mountain ridges to the surround of the main cone. Lyngdorf’s own Air Motion is used for the highest frequencies.

Made in Denmark the Cue-100 uses aluminium Purifi drivers with cabinets finished in satin-black or satin-white with solid oak elements, and available with a selection of five all-around fabric covers by Gabriel from Denmark.

I spied these at ISE but sadly didn’t get a chance to get a listen. Playing Kraftwerk this is as clean a sounding loudspeaker as I’ve heard with it sounding like a much bigger speaker than it actually is. Bass response on Autobahn was spectacularly good and you have two passive drivers on the side to help the speaker to get down low

The look of the speaker is going to divide opinion but what I particularly like is that they do look different and will fit into that Scandi kind of aesthetic really perfectly.

These are not a cheap speaker by any stretch of the imagination but I spoke to a good few people that were raving about them during the Bristol HiFi Show.

CHORD COMPANY

We were invited to a press conference by the Chord Company, which was the first with this mainstay of the UK HiFi scene in what seems like years….oh, it is years.

We were told about the new mains blocks and you can read about the review of them here that talks about both the lower price S6 and the M6.

We got to listen to the new PowerARAY and PowerARAY Professional which were being launched in the UK at the show. This is a product that just plugs into the wall and does “something” – apparently by “targeting HF noise”.

Listening to Johnny Cash with PowerARAY in the wall seemed to give a somewhat “cleaner” sound than without. We then listened to the Power Array PRO box and the effect was quite dramatic. In a show environment it’s impossible to say what, but something is going on.

Interesting stuff!

Price for the PowerARAY is £550 and the PowerARAY Professional is £5,500 (with SignatureX power cable), £6,000 (SarumT), and £7,000 (ChordMusic).

SPENDOR/AURALIC/CYRUS

What a cool partnership this was and was one I was really looking forward to. We own one of the Auralic streamers and have championed them for some time now.

Cyrus had their external power supply, the PSU-XR on demonstration alongside their integrated amplifier the Cyrus i9-XR. You can read more about the PSU here in our HiFi PiG Review.

The Spendor Loudspeakers were the A7 and D7.2 models and the source for the system was the excellent Auralic Altair G1.1 digital audio streamer.

This room probably gets one of the prizes for best put together room and it was both very cool and very professionally presented. Lots of products on static display, 12 seats in the middle of the room and a set of podiums at the front displaying the system gave an air of professionalism and of a team that know what they are doing. It’s small things like this and the way that these companies and others present themselves to the buying public that can set them apart and is likely to draw in an audience over and above the usual audiophile crowd.

Sonically this was a really effortless and good sounding system that also has the appeal of looking very compact, neat and modern looking.

NEAT ACOUSTICS

British brand NEAT are a favourite of ours and chose the Bristol show to launch their new NEAT Elite Classic loudspeaker.

The new ELITE features Neat’s 168mm bass-mid drive unit, as used in the company’s flagship Ultimatum range, plus the AMT tweeter from the Neat Petite.

As well as building rather fine loudspeakers, Bob Surgeoner of NEAT is also something of a performer and you can find his work on You Tube…here’s an example

We got a listen to the new Elite Classic playing Hesitation Blues by  Hot Tuna and it did sound very live and in the room with the ribbon tweeter making for a very airy and detailed presentation.

LATERAL AUDIO

The British stands and rack manufacturer were present in the NEAT ACOUSTICS room and were showcasing their new Arena APX along with their new Cadenz speaker stand. The Lateral Audio Arena APX for audio player isolation uses carbon fibre and viscous damping within a compact and robust design. This design is placed on the underside of a CD player/processor/amplifier’s feet. Cadenz speaker stand joins and completes the UK manufacturer’s established audio stand range. Its design uses a compound base with an open and classic design. Top plate options then enable its use with a range of standmount speakers sizes and manufacturers.

LINN

Glaswegian brand Linn need absolutely no introduction and if you have even had the slightest interest in audio over the last 40 or 50 years there will be no doubt that you will have heard of, owned, or at least lusted after one of their products…and most likely that will have been the iconic LP12 turntable that dominated the turntable market for a long time.

Needless to say the room was packed and people obviously seemed to be enjoying the experience.

We were listening to the Selekt DSM edition hub stereo Organik DAC,  Selekt LP12 and a pair of Kudos Titan 505. The Selekt DSM is around 18K and the LP12 is around 10K.

Thank you to Linn for indulging me and playing Paulo Nutini’s Acid Eyes despite having just played one of his tunes!

Linn has its detractors (success always breeds a degree of jealousy and the associated bitching) but you don’t get anywhere in today’s audio world with the plethora of high quality kit about without offering something that the buying public want and clearly in the case of LINN, the punters are lapping it up. Personally, I really enjoyed this room and its stress-free presentation of a wonderful tune.

ATC

British Brand ATC were showing off their  SCM 50 ASL Actives with a variety of sources including a Technics turntable. These are a medium sized floorstander on short stands with a front ports. The cost £16500. On the digital side a Roon Nucleus was been fed from ATC CDA2 CD/DAC and preamp.

Playing some classical music this was a big sounding and very dynamic sounding system that clearly had the people in the room totally drawn in and enthralled, as was I. A very nice sounding room, indeed with a mid-band presentation that was really superb on the day.

The Terrace and Conservatory area had several display stands and also a couple of rooms.

RUARK AUDIO

NAIM & FOCAL

NAIM/FOCAL ROOM

The Naim focal room was large and looked out onto a terrace – good move and a very cool space that was well set out and showcasing static products and a “live” system that presented the 200 Series of electronics from Naim through a pair of Sopra 2.

This was another good sounding system with a very large and expansive stage in this space. Got a chance to listen to Solid Air by John Martyn and whilst it was hard to hear over a good deal of folk talking, it was clear that this was an excellent system.

DIVERSE VINYL

We partnered with the Welsh vinyl pedlars Diverse Vinyl with them giving away Diverse Vinyl/HiFi PiG tote bags to folk who spent £100 or more. They appeared to be doing a roaring trade throughout the show.

Wherever you go, Diverse seem to have a stand that is rammed with vinyl that punters clearly want and I suppose this is about knowing your audience and knowing what they want to buy. Sadly, I had not been given very much pocket money for the Bristol HiFi Show and didn’t make any purchases but I’m sure I’ll remedy this at North West Audio Show where Diverse will be in their usual position just outside the bar.

QOBUZ

Streaming service QOBUZ were this year’s Official Music Sponsor for the Bristol HiFi Show and brought along their team to offer advice about packages and services that they can offer.

David Solomon had flown in from the States to help out and it’s always a pleasure to be in his company.

We’ve been long time advocates of Qobuz here at HiFi PiG Towers and have been using it for a few years now. They started out as what seemed a very much classical music-leaning service but this has expanded significantly and I remember by first foray into the improved service some years ago and searching for something obscure to put it to the test. Lo and behold if they didn’t have Anarcho-Punks CRASS on there and, specifically, the somewhat obscure Batu Motel. Along with ROON I’ve found Qobuz meets our needs perfectly and recommend it highly to anyone that is looking to get into or go further into the online streaming world.

GA POWER

VINYL ADVENTURE

MCRU

First of all a massive thanks to David at MCRU for helping us out with our HiFi PiG stand – something very simple can make a world of difference but if no one tells you these things then you will never know. A simple piece of sticky-backed Velcro saved our day and allowed us to display the I’m a HiFi PiG Fan! fans on the stand to great effect.

As always David seemed to be doing a roaring trade with his own and others’ cables and audio accessories.

KIRMUSS AUDIO

HIFI PLUS

WILSON BENESCH

Based in Sheffield, Yorkshire, Wilson Benesch were launching their new A.C.T. 3zero loudspeaker from the company’s new reference Fibonacci Series. They tell us that monocoque construction of the new speakers is made  “of next-generation biocomposite materials technology” and replaces the previous generation’s carbon fibre monocoque with natural materials which are sustainably sourced.

This is certainly an eye-catching design, though the purple colour in the pre show promotion hasn’t yet materialised.

Playing along with a pair of Ypsilon Aelius II special edition monos (£44.5L each) and a PST-100 pre (£45.5K). Am RCM TheRIAA phonostage (13.5K). On the digital side of things WB had a 1543 DAC from CAD and a CAT server and various ground controls from CAD.

This was a very smooth sounding and relaxed sounding system that for me was the best I’ve heard Bilson Benesch sound at the Bristol HiFi show. Definitely up there with one of my favouritre systems at this event with a real musicality and connection to what we were listening to…even in the show environment. I’m told there will be a sub available later in the year and the new turntable that we glimpsed at the last Munich show will be making its full debut there…can’t wait for that one!

PROAC

ProAc were showing off their K series K10 loudspeakers that are a three way design made up of two 8” bass drivers fitted with pure polymer impregnated and polished Kevlar weave cones. The mids are 3” dome affairs whilst the tweeter is a ribbon. Price on the K10s starts at £38K.

The rest of the system was an Accuphase E800 amplifier and an Accuphase phonostage with a Michell Orb turntable. The turntable and electronics were on an Atacama rack.

These are big loudspeakers with a big sound that also seems in this space to be very well controlled throughout even when pushed a little. Even at the show it was clear that this is a dynamic loudspeaker that I’m sure when used in a properly sorted room will sound spectacular. Liked this very much!

ARCAM/JBL

Timed demonstrations in this room but we were intrigued and so queued up and had a listen to this JBL and Arcam Atmos system.

JBL Studio 6 speakers were being played with them making their European debut at the Bristol show. A big screen completed the BIG home cinema experience and the Atmos system had sounds coming from all over the place and putting you right in the middle of the film we were watching.

Yep, very impressive if you have the space!

PMC/AVM/BRYSTON

I do like the whole set up at PMC. I like the fact they bridge the consumer and the professional markets and do both exceptionally well.

At this year’s Bristol HiFi Show they had two new products from German brand AVM on show (PMC are the UK distributors for the brand).

The AVM CS5.3 all-in-one streaming CD player was being partnered with the new Martin Logan Motion Series loudspeakers. The AVM EVOLUTION range of all-in-one devices has been developed, based on the AVM X-Stream Engine and new RC X APP which they tell us offers complete control of the CS 5.3. It has a 2×350 watt output, built-in CD player and the streaming of all high-resolution formats up to resolutions of 384kHz/32bit, including DSD (256). This looks to be an excellent product.

In the next room there was the AVM OVATION CS 8.3 all-in-one streaming CD player was powering the PMC twenty5i series. You can read our review of the PMC Twenty5.23i  here. The AVM OVATION CS 8.3 Black Edition features 2×500 watts output. It is equipped with an extra special grade of valves, reserved just for this model. We managed to get a seat in this room and got to listen to the standmounters  with the AVM box and it was understandable why this room won the Clarity Awards for Best Sound at the show. Noise and the number of people in the room made any critical listening impossible but you can still get an idea and feel for this set up and I enjoyed what I heard. It’s clear these speakers image really well and the bass is tight and taut allied with a sweet midmand and not at all harsh top end. I liked these a lot!

MARTIN LOGAN/AVM PRESENTATION (Martin Logan Motion Series loudspeakers)

Early (ish) Friday morning we were invited to the PMC and Martin Logan room to take a listen to the new speaker range from this Canadian company that are distributed the UK by PMC. AVM, another PMC-distributed brand powered this new Motion range of loudspeakers.

A small standmount, a compact floorstander, and a large floorstander make up this range on show but there are 9 in the series and they are bound to prove popular at their pricepoint. The speakers main drivers are available in a range of different coloured trims with the gold trim on show looking really rather splendid. Interestingly, the stand for the standmount has a matching trim on the front that can be switched out to match the speakers trim. Stands are £495 a set.

All the speakers feature a folded motion tweeter which increased in size and dispersion qualities which is going to be useful for those using these in home-theatre setups. It’s also changed colour from yellow to “obsidian” (read black). There are woven fiberglass mid-frequency drivers in the Motion series and the XT series features a reinforced woven Kevlar mid unit.

Premium isolation feet in the tower models are included with built-in isolation and these are adjustable from the top which I thought was a cool feature.

Walnut, gloss black, and gloss white are the colours available.

The range is split into Motion and Motion XT with their being 5 models in the motion range and 4 in the XT range.

The presentation made a big deal of the damping and bracing of the speakers with that being built in to the speakers construction and within the structure of the bass-port.

The MP 10 (Multi-Purpose) speakers is as its name suggests for bookshelf, on the wall, height effect for Dolby and many more positions. There are two centre channels in the range, again for the home cinema crowd.

We had a listen to the F10 (£3000 floorstanders from the M range) with the AVM CS5.3 driving them and, despite being a show environment it was clear that this is a pretty refined loudspeaker for the asking price with that tweeter doing nice things to the tops. All is controlled and not overblown throughout the lower frequencies and mids. These are what I’d consider to the sweetspot for this range of speakers. Three grand isn’t a massive amount of money for a pair of well finished 3 driver (plus FMT tweeter) floorstanding loudspeaker and I reckon these will fly out of retailers!

Prices and full range:

F20 floorstanding £3,995, F10 floorstanding £2,995, B10 standmount £1,395, C10 centre channel £1,195, MP10 multi-purpose £1,195.

Motion XT Prices: F200 floorstanding £6,495, F100 floorstanding £5,595, B100 standmount £1,895, C100 centre channel £1,795.

CHORD ELECTRONICS

Iconic British brand Chord Electronics was showing off a lovely room that had Kudos Titan 606 speakers being fed their own electronics. A Hugo M Scaler, DAVE DAC, Ultima PRE 3 and Ultima 5 power amplifier made up the system. I’d overheard someone say in the bar that this syste sounded mushy but I’m afraid I don’t agree with this statement in ANY way! What I got in this room was what I would suggest is an accurate sounding system across the board that even at the low volume we got to listen it had bags of detail from top to bottom.

AUDIOQUEST/GOLDENEAR

A lot of people had raved about this room and so I was glad we made it (by the skin of our teeth) to have a listen.

There was a Niagra 5000 power conditioner, a ROON Nucleus server, the amp was a NAD, and the speakers were the GoldenEar BRX standmounters and Triton 3+ floorstanders…we got to hear the standmounters. The BRX are just £1699 and the Triton 3 are £3300. Audioquest William Tell speaker cable and Vodka ethernet cables made the rest of the system.

The sound from these speakers is much bigger than you would expect and very dynamic. Yep, I get what people were raving aboutand I would have loved to have had a chance to listen to the floorstanders. Sadly time constraints dictated we didn’t have that luxury!

DYNAUDIO

Dynaudio was another room that a few had said was very cool in the way it had been presented and Bill and the team do know how to put a room together aesthetically to create and environment that’s conducive to listening to tunes.

We got a chance to listen to the Focus 50 (£8700). This is a clever concept of a loudspeaker system that is fully active and has onboard DSP, DAC and all the rest of the stuff you need to connect to a streamer, or whatever else you fancy (TV, games etc).

Bill played us Old Man from Live at the Massey Hall. Young’s younger voice on this then unknown record is pure and sweet and this system got his across beautifully. What was also apparent was the acoustic of the hall.

Like it or not the future for mass market, quality HiFi is likely to be in the form of one box solutions connected to a pair of passive speakers or a speaker like this that does it all and just needs connecting to the mains and to a source.

Less than ten grand. Yep, I get that!

PURUITAN AUDIO LABS

NAGAOKA

GIK ACOUSTICS

GIK Acoustics make panels to use in your rooms so you can get the best out of the system you have spent a lot of money on. I’ve said it before but room treatment from GIK is probably the most cost effective upgrade you can make to your system and the excuse of it not being domestically acceptable really no longer applies given they have loads of different colours and cut out shapes you can choose from. You can even choose to have images printed on to the panels which we have used in our upstairs listening space.

I did spy a new range of cloud panels that had built in lighting and I can see these being very popular with folk.

CHORD ELECTRONICS

SOLIDSTEEL

ATACAMA

HIFI RACKS

MELCO AUDIO

Melco brought its entire Japanese-engineered product range to Bristol via its European distributor Audiophile Digital Music Masters (ADMM).

We’d heard a few rumours that something rather special was going to be launched at the show in the form of a 12K streamer and this is what we got as well as the entry-level N100, which is available in either 2 or 5 TB configurations, plus the flagship two-box N10, which comes with a separate high-performance linear power supply.

The new flagship digital music library is the Melco N1-S38, an all-new SSD-based machine retailing at £11,995 or 14,000€. The new ground-up design is based around a new platform, with a new chassis and casework, plus new power supplies. A full-width design, the all-new N1-S38 benefits from a totally new set of system electronics, a new mainboard, plus a new mains transformer, supply and local regulators.

An audio-specific custom 3.84 TB SSD drive, which features Melco’s proprietary layered, rigid SSD mounter, is directly connected to the data path without any intervening RAID controller; on-board memory is increased, too.

KEITH MONKS

FINE SOUNDS UK

McIntosh, Sonus faber and Isotek…really, what’s not to love about the Fine Sounds brands. We got to hear their system as mentioned earlier and very good it was too, but for me seeing the sheer scale of products that Fine Sounds offer on their static display that dominated the middle of the Bristol Suite really brought home the luxury and scope of their brands.

Sonus Faber speakers are pretty much impossible not to run your hands over and the iconic McIntosh design is unmistakable.

 

TONAR

CHORD COMPANY

JBL

HENLEY AUDIO

UK distributor Henley used the Bristol HiFi Show to announce the latest record cleaning machines from ProJect.

The VC-E2 and VC-S3 machines take over from previous models and now feature new improved cabinet design utilising 5mm aluminium composite panels, new magnetic clamps for quicker set-up, new improved motors for fast and effective cleaning, new self-adhesive arm strips for better interaction between the record and the vacuum arm and a new eco-friendly, pre-mixed and alcohol-free Wash it 2 cleaning fluid. There will be a 7” kit for both machines available later in the year.

Henley tell us that the VC-S3 is made for advanced users with bigger record collections, and more time required for proper record cleaning. The VC-E2 is designed to be easier to accommodate for smaller spaces and for those with smaller collections. The VC-E2 has further improved upon its predecessor thanks to its new improved vacuum steam outlet, redirecting all exhaust fumes away from the lower record surface.

Prices for the two machines are: VC-E2: £349.00 (UK SRP) VC-S3: £499.00 (UK SRP) and they will be available from March.

As well as the record cleaning machines Henley were also showing off Korean brand HiFi Rose which causes quite the stir whenever we run news that mentions it. Specifically, Henley were showcasing the HiFi Rose RS520 which is the company’s new all-in-one network audio streamer that was announced last autumn. It borrows design cues (and GaN-based Class AD Amplifier technology)  from previous models from the brand but is essentially a “just add speakers” product which I think is an excellent concept and one that will find favour with many people who are not hardened audiophiles but still want excellence in sound.

DECENT AUDIO

Decent Audio had a lovely pair of Raidho Acoustic X1T standmounters (£6500) being run from Ayre electronics including the EX8 CD player and the EX 8  amplifier (both at around the £6K mark). These little speakers are fantastic performers with a relaxed and spacious sound that really does something nice in the top end. Listened to some Mary Gaulthier on this system and could have sat for a lot longer than time allowed.

We didn’t get to listen to it but there was a Dual CS618Q turntable on show. Dual is a name I recall from when I was getting into HiFi in the 80s and it was THE entry level turntable to buy and so it’s good to see them still in the marketplace.

INNUOS

I make no excuses for saying I really love the whole Innuos concept. I like the people, I like the energy of the company and I love the products too. I’ve long said that the presentation by Nuno explaining the differences and changes to sound as you go up the Innuos chain is one of the very best demonstrations in the audio world.

This system was a Phoenix Net going into a Phoenix USB into a Chord Hugo TT2 and a Pair of ATC SCM40 active loudspeakers.

We had Giorgio by Daft Punk played for us and it was a very non-digital sounding presentation. Digital is getting better and better and where I think Innuos have it right in this particular system is that they seem to be able to present the accuracy of the digital file in a manner that isn’t overly bright and, well, digital. Getting this kind of relaxed performance from a digital system is not something all companies are able to achieve but I found that the Innuos system seemed to move digital away from that imperceptible-but-always-there high frequency nattering and towards a more organic and natural sounding presentation.

Innuos also had their stand over in the Bristol Suite

BOWERS AND WILKINS

This was a busy and really nicely put together room with both a live system and a good static selection of the company’s products. Nice sounding system too!

ACOUSTIC ENERGY/WIREWORLD

This was a big suite room that was nicely laid out and very well presented. The Rega electronics were supplying the signal to the Acoustic EnergyAE 520 speakers £3600) via Bluesound Powernode 3. This was a very good sounding system despite their being a lot of noise in the room from other rooms.

I’d have liked to have got a better listen to this as the system clearly has a lot of potential and even with the stuff I’ve moaned about still managed to get a very good sound across with me particularly liking the very solid bass presentation.

AUDIOLAB/WHARFEDALE/MISSION

Listened to the 9000 (2K for the amp and a grand for the CDT) series Audiolab electronics through a pair of Mission 770s (3500 inc stands) in this room that was packed with a very appreciative audience. Again this was a system that had my toes tapping along to the tunes playing. Good, plenty loud and plenty controlled. I actually thought this was a system that punched above its asking price and it felt like “proper” HiFi in the sense it’s the kind of system I would have lusted after in my teens…if that makes sense.

I didn’t get a chance to hear them but The final production version of the Heritage-edition Dovedale speakers from Wharfedale were also being played at the event….and they had turned one into a really cool drinks cabinet.

MAIN TAKEAWAYS FROM BRISTOL HiFi SHOW 2023

1. Audio T and the team involved in putting the show together do a fantastic job. Thank you!
2. The hotel seems better than it has in previous years…and all the lifts worked.
3. There is still a huge demand and passion for audio and HiFi in the UK with folks turning out in their droves for Bristol HiFi Show 2023.
4. More couples and a good few younger people seemed to be in attendance.
5. Some exhibitors are leading the way and showing visitors to these kind of shows that home audio can be beautifully presented, the people promoting the products can be enthusiastic and enthusing, and having a fantastic HiFi at home can be domestically acceptable and even aspirational.
6. HiFi needn’t be prohibitively expensive to get into.
7. People really do love HiFi PiG.

So, on behalf of Linette, myself and the HiFi PiG team, I’d like to say a huge thank you to Audio T and the team that put on the show for making us feel so welcome and appreciated. To all the exhibitors I’d like to congratulate them on taking part and putting a huge amount of effort into making sure that the Bristol HiFi Show 2023 was a fabulous success. To all the people that came up and said hello to us, we’d all like to thank you for doing so and thank you for reminding us why we love this thing so much.

Well done to everyone involved and we will see you next year at the 2024 edition of the Bristol HiFi Show.

Stu and Lin Smith

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