BRISTOL HIFI SHOW 2025 REPORT FROM TEAM HiFi PiG

Stu, Lin, Oscar and Kelly report from the first big UK HiFi Show of the year, find out what they heard and saw at the Bristol HiFi Show 2025…there’s new products, fantastic sounds and loads to discover in the report…enjoy!

The Bristol Show is one of those events that you just can’t not attend and I think it’s fair to say that it’s something of an institution on the UK audio scene. It’s big, busy, and full of all the brands you would expect to see. We’ve been coming for years and every year we have an absolute blast. 

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THE BRISTOL HIFI SHOW 2025 REPORT

This year was no exception, and I’d suggest that this was the best Bristol Show ever! One of the innovations this year was the video “booth” set up where Brad of Audio T was interviewing exhibitors live and on video – very clever and a very positive addition to the event. Signposting was very good, the guide was excellent, and the hotel lifts working flawlessly for the duration was welcome.

A massive thank you to all the good people at Audio T and the Delta by Marriott hotel staff, who work so hard to make this show so successful, the people who turn up to look around and, of course, to the exhibitors who put an inordinate and often unrecognised amount of effort into the event.

We would also like to thank our Bristol HiFi Show 2025 coverage sponsors, Tellurium Q.

I’M A HiFi PiG FAN

This year we gave away “I’m a HiFi PiG Fan” fans on our stand but also gave away a whole load of HiFi PiG cupcakes to those visitors who got there early enough on the Saturday morning – they were delicious judging by the number of people that got in touch and thanked us for them.

Stu and Lin started from the lower ground floor of the show and worked up, with some press conference coverage on various floors too.

PMC AND MICHELL

The Bristol Show kicked off on Friday morning with a press conference with PMC who also distribute the turntable brand Michell. Interesting story, before I spent my first term’s grant on an LP12 I tried to buy a MIchell from a little shop in Sunderland called The Little Red Radio Shop. Sadly, the shop wouldn’t allow me to buy it for some reason unbeknown to me. Anyway, I ended up with an LP 12 that I couldn’t afford an arm or cartridge for.

So, the Michell team were here in strength and all my guesses about what the new product would be were wrong – I guessed a new arm or a new cartridge. Michell are a family run business that’s been running for around 50 years. The company was originally an engineering company which is a good place to start for a company that makes turntables. So the original Gyro was a bit of a departure from the norm for turntable design in the 80s – no wooden box and a skeletal design. One of the interesting things I didn’t know was that pretty much all the parts in their turntables are made in the UK…mostly by Michell themselves. Don’t forget that Michell made the Argo amp which is still the most interesting looking amplifier out there – in my opinion and all that.

So, following on from turntables and dabbling with electronics we have the Apollo phono stage partnered with the Muse power supply. Phonostages by their very nature are hugely prone to the vagaries of electrical noise and both products are designed to minimise the effects of noise. Apollo is all about design and not about bells and whistles. So essentially what we have here is a high quality PSU with a phonostage that are designed to work together. It’s all class-A electronics that will do both MM and MC cartridges, sorted by DIP switches which are (judging by the reaction in the room) are universally disliked. Price will be £3500 and will begin shipping in March and we are promised lots more new products from Michell, to be revealed in the coming months.

AUDIOQUEST

Always a cool room and playing some reggae which went down well with me. Audioquest were showing off their new power conditioner called the PQ505 that will retail for about 600 quid..ish.

CHORD COMPANY

One of the highlights of the Bristol show has always been the Chord Company press conference. From Nigel and his sticky sausages to the brilliant presentation skills of Alan, these are events not to be missed, though Alan was not in attendance due to recovering from an eye operation – hope you heal quickly, Alan, Patrick and Anthony filled his large shoes admirably. The first new product was the Phono Array which is designed to reduce noise from your record player. You get the box and a high quality cable in the package. The usual format was adhered to with them playing a snippet of a tune without the new doodad and then with it. More info on the PhonoARAY can be found here in our news story.

The second product, following on from the English Electric EE1 doodad that was launched last year at the show, was the EE1 Plus which does everything the EE1 did but now with their ARAY technology in place. The final group of new products were two USB-C cables, the C-USB and Clearway USB, the Leyline RCA/Leyline 2XL interconnects and speaker cable and the Epic Digital Tuned ARAY cable.

The demonstration on each of the products was excellent and each clearly work in that that they do something to the sound.

HiFi PiG CUPCAKES

As has become a bit of as tradition Saturday morning we got to there show bright and early to give out a whole load of HiFi PiG cupcakes for the hungry masses queuing up to get into the show. The cakes went down a storm with the early birds in the queue, huge thanks to Sam at Fakery Cakery of Bristol for her excellent baking skills again!

QUAD AND WHARFEDALE

The new Super Lintons were playing when we went in this room. They’re a smidge under 2K with stands and sounded excellent at the end of the new QUAD 33/303 that Janine reviewed for HiFi PiG. Obviously these British brands still command a good deal of respect with the buying public as this room was rammed, even at just after opening time!

Lin had visited the room on Friday for the QUAD press conference with Peter Comeau where he presented the new QUAD ESL 2912X speakers (which have been teased but not heard in public before). Based on the original design they are designed to disappear both sonically and visually, with their matt black design blending into darkness. They are cleverly lit with a ‘halo’ light at the base which can also be switched off. They have a nominal impedance of 8 ohms and a power consumption of 6 watts. More details and tech specs will be released nearer their summer 2025 release date but they should retail in the region of 12 to £13,000 …in keeping with the pricing structure of the original ESLs, to achieve this they are made in China rather than the UK. They look and sound like a lot of speaker for that kind of money.

INNUOS

What a lovely room. Branding and styling of the room was excellent. The full system was The Innuos ZEN Next Gen, Phoenix NET. Zenith MK3 with KEF Reference 5 speakers, Puritan power conditioning, with a HEGEL H600 amp supplying the juice. GIK supplied the panels and Chord the cables. Racks were the Lateral Audio Cadenz Vr.

They played some classical music and then an excellent version of Sitting On The Dock of the Bay by Sara Bareilles. This live recording sounded fabulously “live” on this system!

DECENT AUDIO

Lovely system from distributor Decent Audio, they do sister brands Raidho and Scansonic and had brought the excellent new Scansonic HD MB-3.5B, a slimline 2.5 way floorstander that retails at £5250 in black or white or £6k in walnut. Advance Paris electronics and Dual turntable on a Lateral Audio rack completed the set up.

Then ADVANCE PARIS electronics are relatively unknown in the UK at the moment, but I’m sure that’s likely to change. Excellent sounding room with very affordable electronics.

CYRUS AND AUDIO PHYSICS

Anniversary 40 Series amp, streamer and CD all had their own power supplies and the 40 PPA phono pre (about £2200) was here in a prototype. The speakers were Audio Physics Sparks (£5999 a pair). The TTP turntable was actually being fed into the existing phono. The new phono is a completely new design with 6 layers on the PCB, the PSU has been completely revised and reduces noise to 20% of the original, the DB steps have from 10dB to 5dB and the balanced outputs use pro drivers rather than OP amps.. Looks forward to hearing this one! The rack by Little HiFi Racks caused quite a stir when we first published images on social media.

ACOUSTIC ENERGY

Playing the 309 speakers (1200 quid) when we went in the room and a really interesting version of Wish You Were Here. Bluesound NODE streamer with REGA DAC and Amp.

CHORD ELECTRONICS

The ULTIMA integrated was being fed by DAVE and using a pair of KERR loudspeakers and making a very nice sound indeed. The level was loud enough to feel the music but not too loud to over-excite their room. An excellent sounding room! Playing Cosmic Dancer by Nick Cave who I am becoming a big fan of and quite how he passed me by is beyond me!

DYNAUDIO

Standing room only sadly, but the room was really nicely done.

Kit list as follows:

Dynaudio contour legacy speakers

Naim NSS 333 streamer and NAC 332 pre amp both fed with NPX 300 power supplies. NAP 350 mono blocks.

Naim uniti Core music server.

Rega NAIA turntable with matched power supply and Rega Aura phono stage.

Naim Full Fraim racks and a mixture of Naim Power Line and Power Line Lite mains leads connected via Music Works G5 mains block.

Naim superlumina speaker cables and XLR’s.

On display were the new Dynaudio confidence 20A’s and Contour 20 Black edition.

BRISTOL SUITE & GROUND FLOOR STANDS

The Bristol Suite is a huge space with lots of static stands. There are also stands in the corridor outside and through to the hotel entrance. This year there were also listening booths for Sound Service UK (formerly SCV) with Isotek, IsoAcoustics and Triangle and Manley Labs.

In this area you find stands for TONAR, GIK Acoustics, Innuos, Brandlifi, Puritan Audio Labs, Qobuz, Chord Electronics, Atacama, Black Rhodium, Solidsteel, Symphony Distribution, Keith Monks, Chord Company and English Electric and Lockwood Loudspeakers.

TRIANGLE

The new Capella (expect a review soon) speakers were on show but the whole system was made up of Manley electronics and ISOTEk mains conditioning. This was an excellent sounding system and a very good and busy room with the Cello Magellan 40 (11K) speakers playing. The speakers are wholly redesigned with new tweeters, a paper mid cone and a sandwich bass.

The vinyl playback was a Rega 10 (on an IsoAcoustics plinth) with the new OASIS phono from Manley. The 300B preamplifier needless to say uses the 300B tube and the amps were EL34 Snappers. The whole system was around 30K which seems to be very good value. I’ve a lot of time for Triangle speakers and always have. I was sat next to a couple of guys that asked the price of the Cellos and had to ask if that was for one or two speakers and I’m guessing they were expecting the price to be much higher.

WILSON BENESCH, TRILOGY AND CAD

The new Horizon speakers (£25995) were being demoed with Trilogy electronics and CAD grounding products. The Wilson Benesch Horizon Loudspeaker is a new compact floorstanding loudspeaker that will sit between the Discovery 3zero and the A.C.T. 3Zero. In common with all Fibonacci Series products, the Horizon is a direct outcome of the €7.4-million EU-funded SSUCHY Project, incorporating advanced bio-based composite materials into loudspeaker design for the first time. Its A.C.T. 3zero Monocoque enclosure is engineered to maximise internal air volume.

The Wilson Benesch Horizon Loudspeaker incorporates Wilson Benesch’s proprietary Tactic 3.0 drive units and Fibonacci Tweeter. Manufactured and hand-built in England with luxury automotive-grade craftsmanship, the Horizon is offered in an array of premium finishes, including real wood veneers and hand-polished premium pearlescent metallic paints.

Music was being streamed by the INNUOS streamer. The room was very busy and sounded very nice.

The Trilogy 994 monos are £21500 a pair and the 914 balanced pre is £13K.

Not being used at the time but there was also the 24k IGz infrasonic Generator.

CONSERVATORY

A whole load of stands including HiFi PiG and HiFi Plus, Kirmuss, MCRU and The Vinyl Adventure, Clarity Cap, Antrobus Audio.

FOCAL AND NAIM

Set off the bar, the Focal Naim room was very busy. Speakers are the Sopra N2 in orange with a full rack of NAIM electronics.

Over at the other side of the bar there was a second Headfi area from Focal and Naim.

RUARK AUDIO

Also a static stand with Ruark gear.

DIVERSE VINYL

By the bar of course there was the big Diverse Vinyl stand, always busy and always popular!

REL

A pair of Alumine Five SX speakers were being powered by the brand new flagship Audio Research 330M monoblock valve amps and three REL subs. This year there had a chance to have a bigger room rather than two rooms and scaled it all up. The concept is to show what REL can do with world-class electronics and a bigger room. The subs are Line array 31s and are 7K each. Dynamic and trouser flapping but without being slow playing GhostRider – you really did FEEL the bass here but there was balance from top to bottom.. This was LOUD but completely undistorted. A great way to start the Sunday.

Also new for the show were the multicoloured finishes on the SE subs.

ATC

ATC manage to bridge the pro and home market wonderfully well. At the Bristol show, they were showing off their 50th-anniversary stand mounters – ASL Limited Edition (10500 quids) Ancillary kit was a Technice 1200G record spinner, Auralic streamer and an ATC CA2 preamplifier – the speakers are active, though are also available in passive versions. There was also a C4MK2 sub that added a bit of bottom end when needed.

RUARK

This room featured the r610 and the SABRE R speakers CD transport RDD100. The whole system with the CD player is about 2150 beer tokens. The remote control (the bit you touch the most on a HiFi) is a little round doodad and very cool.

I guess this kind of price point is pretty comfortable for many people and it did sound rather splendid  – and not just for a 2K system. I think this entry level kind of kit is hugely important for the industry and is that gateway into home audio – and long may it continue.

NEAT

The new Neat Momentum Jet J-S standmount (from just under 5K) was playing. There is also the J6 floorstander (from 8.7K). The Iota 2 was also being shown and that made its debut in prototype form at Cranage. The electronics were from French brand Atoll.  Playing some acoustic blues which was a lovely way to start the Sunday morning.

CADENCE DISTRIBUTION

Spendor speakers along with Rotel MICHI electronics. The MICHI Q5 CD player (5499) is a bit of a beast with a puck to match. Speakers are the new Spendor A Line the 2.2 specifically (2K). The new speakers have new port arrangements and new drivers. The MICHI x3 amplifier used in the system is £5999. This is not a hugely expensive system, but one that just oozes high-end quality.

REGA RESEARCH

REGA are quite rightly a legend in the HIFi world and I remember the choices for entry-level turntables when I was first getting into this mad world were the REGA 3 or a DUAL – I ended up with a Technics. However, REGA now has a whole range of turntables with innovative materials and design at their heart. The company say that everything starts with the source, but also produce a range of electronics and speakers.

The system we heard was the BRIO Mk7 amp (799), Planar 3 turntable (999) and the speakers were there AYA at a smidge under 1500 quid. Another good-sounding system for not a great deal of money.

LYNGDORF

I’d heard good noises being made in the bar about this system and so was looking forward to finally getting a chance to sit in front of it. 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover was playing when we went in the room and it’s decades since I have heard it.

The amplifier is a digital amp with Room Perfect room correction built in. The room correction was turned on and off for us and it was pretty obvious, with more focus and depth to the recording.

The speakers are the FR2, and are a bit of a different design to what most other designers are doing at the moment. My thoughts on this kind of system are that it will appeal to those that don’t want a million and one boxes and the speaker design (they have to be placed against a wall) is also a stroke of genius. When you are in the HiFi world there’s a kind of box collecting addiction. But not everyone wants that in their home. The speakers come in black, white or Mocha and you can get different coloured baffles in a mix and match styleee.

Another good sounding and great looking system.

DALI

RUBIKORE 8 are the largest of the range and they were making the show debut and cost 6k. They were paired with a Lyngdorf TDAI 3400, Atlas cables and INNUOS streamer. You will be able to see DALI at the DELUXE show near Silverstone in a few weeks.

The whole of this floor was pretty quiet (it was early on Sunday) but this room was very busy. Another Nick Cave tune and another reason for me to explore this artist further. Bass was prodigious but well controlled.

Now we hand over to Oscar and Kelly for coverage of floors 4 down to 2.

FLOOR 4

ASTELL & KERN / CAMPFIRE AUDIO (HEA DISTRIBUTION)

Starting out with a head-fi-related room, HEA distribution had a selection of Astell & Kern DAPS including the SR35, SP3000t and more, being demoed with Meze Audio headphones.

In the Campfire Audio range, they had the usual Solaris, Andromeda Emerald Sea, Fathom and more, however, it was the new Clara that interested me. I had a listen to them with the Astell & Kern SE300 – the Clara have a highly enjoyable sound signature with punchy bass that has lots of body and energy. The midrange is nice and clean and the treble is crisp and well extended yet slightly subdued. This is a smoother tuning from Campfire audio, one that would be excellent for everyday listening.

OPTOMA

Optoma was showing off a new Ultra short throw projector from their range, really usable in most living spaces and with good image quality.

ORIGIN LIVE

Origin Live have a range of new tonearms which they launched here at Bristol, the demo system consisted of the Sovereign-S turntable, Agile tonearm, Lyra Atlas MC cartridge, Aesthetix: Mimas integrated amp and DeVore Fidelity O/Baby speakers. A wonderfully natural sounding system with excellent control and detail. The music flowed easily from the system without sounding constrained at all. They then did a Strata mat demo – the sound is noticeably tighter and note edges are more defined with the strata mat compared to the standard felt.

SENNHEISER

Sennheiser had a lot of their headphones on display and demo including the HD660 S2, HD620s, HD800s, HDVD820, Momentum 4 wireless, Accentum Plus Wireless, Momentum true wireless and their wireless TV headphones.

In the next room, they had their range of Ambeo soundbars with wireless subwoofers – impressive home theatre sound from a soundbar + sub system. I got to hear the Max model without the sub connected, and it creates quite a convincing surround sound from a soundbar, Dolby Atmos gives real height to the sound and there is good bass extension (however adding a sub does enhance the sound).

OPTOMA

In this room Optoma had one of their higher-end traditional projectors, with excellent video quality.

LEEMA ACOUSTICS

It’s always good to see Andy Moore, in this room the demo system consisted of the Leema Neutron pre-amp, Graviton power amp, Electron CD player, Serhan Swift MU2 speakers, paired with a SolidSteel rack and speaker stands. They were using an Innuos Pulse as the streaming source of choice, running SPDIF into the Neutrol pre-amp.

Andy played HAEVN – Trade it for the Night (live), what a sound from these small stand mounts, deep reverberating bass that’s well controlled, clear vocals and huge scale from such a small speaker.

CONNECTED FIDELITY

Connected Fidelity had a range of Hana cartridges, Connected Fidelity cables and isolation products, along with their mains balancing devices. In the demo system was their new two arm version of the TT-Hub turntable – one arm being the Sorane SA1.2 tonearm with Hana Umami Red and the other a Sorane TA-1 tonearm with Hana SH MKII. They were using an Astintrew AT1000 pre-amplifier and AT2-5100 power amplifier, and Coppice Audio X-3 speakers. Power was running through the AC-2K which now has a new RF filter on the input, and they were using one of their star-wired distribution blocks.

MORGAN ACOUSTICS

New Morgan Acoustics 1012 speakers, Chord Dave, UnitiQute, Naim 82, NAP300, HiCap for the pre-amp. The 1012 are a true 4-way design with AMT tweeter, 6.5” midrange, 10” midbass and a 12” side firing woofer.

Clean and detailed sound, airy and precise yet with enough drive and punch to make them fun when required.

Expect a world exclusive review of these on HiFi PiG soon.

ELITE AUDIO

Elite had quite a few “UK debut” products on demo in system two which was playing when I went in the room. The system consisted of the Lindemann Muiscbook:SOURCE II streamer DAC (UK debut), ModWright Analog Bridge buffer (UK debut), Octave V70 Class A integrated tube amp, Revival Audio Atalante 5 speakers, HiDiamond Top Gold RCA & speaker cables (UK debut) and ZenSati Zorro speaker cables.

This setup was great, very energetic and crisp whilst the big bass driver provided plenty of depth when required. A snappy, yet natural-sounding system with huge scale and a deep soundstage.

KANTO

This was the UK debut of the UKI, a tiny little speaker that is perfect for near-field listening and desktop setups. They have a great demo setup where they can switch between the models playing in the room to allow you to hear them side-by-side. Kanto are great at making affordable speakers, a great gateway into HiFi, the wide colour range also means they’re Not Boring. They have a sub too which gives some added depth should it be required (great when paired with the smaller models).

AUDIO NOTE UK

Micky was running the Audio Note UK room as usual, with the AN-E/SPx LTD speakers, CDT Four CD transport, DAC 4.1x Balanced Signature DAC, Meishu Phono 300B integrated amplifier and the TT3 turntable with the IO-2 MC cartridge.

I’ve come to like the Audio Note UK sound; it is incredibly clean yet punchy and fun. The AN-E/PSx LTD field coil speakers are far from being dull, and have a really effortless presentation.

FLOOR 3

HIFIMAN / FIIO / CRAFT EARS / IBASSO

Well, a lot of lovely head-fi kit in this room, including the new Fiio FT7, Fiio S15, Fiio K19 combo. I’m looking forward to spending some more time with the FT7 in the future as these sound exceptionally good. Very detailed, open and clear with excellent transient response and natural presentation.

The S15 streamer and K19 DAC/Amp are both great too, easy to use and excellent finish (with a ton of functionality built in!)

Next up I had a listen to the HiFiMAN Arya Unveiled, I got a sneak peak of these in Warsaw however, I can now talk about them properly as they have since been released. I usually like HiFiMAN tunings and these are no different, great energy, punch, and dynamics – well worth an audition if you are looking for headphones in this range.

Craft ears had the Omnium, Aurum, Six and Argentum on demo, I had a good listen to these in Warsaw and hope to feature some more from them in the near-ish future. They really do make some excellent custom in-ears with fantastic tunings.

There were also a couple of iBasso products in the room.

LYN STANLEY

It’s a pleasure to see Lyn at the show and in this room she had her new Tribute to 1924 album playing on a Rega P10 through the Rega Aria MK3 phono stage, Rega Aethos integrated amplifier, Marantz SACD 30N and Spendor A7 speakers. Lyn’s recordings are top quality, and the new album sounded beautiful through this setup, a true testament to the old adage that the source material comes first in terms of sound quality.

TANNOY

Tannoy had their HUGE Autograph 12 speakers on demo with a full Esoteric system including the K-01XD SE SACD player, N-01XD SE network player/DAC, F-01 class-A integrated amplifier with accompanying power supply and MontAudio HiFi rack with MontAudio cabling throughout. Big bold speakers with a smooth sound that’s befitting of their classic looks. They are more than adept at keeping up with modern music too, showing off their ability to both hit hard and dig deep when playing Had Some Drinks by Two Feet.

MUSICAL FIDELITY (HENLEY AUDIO)

Brand new kit from Musical Fidelity, the B1xi integrated amplifier coming in at £699 which includes a plethora of inputs including analogue, digital, and HDMI Arc – very accessible and affordable. Equally affordable is the B1x CD, coming in at £599, this is a back-to-basics CD player however, it does feature digital output should you want to run it as a transport.

These were powering a pair of Piega Premium 301 Gen 2 speakers, and they had a Pro-Ject Debut Pro B and Phono Box S3 B phono stage on the vinyl front. The new Musical Fidelity integrated was powering the little Piega’s brilliantly, with a tight, punchy and open sound.

ULTRAFIDE

Ultrafide are the sister brand of pro-audio industry greats MC2/XTA – they have a line of home HiFi components already (a pre/power combo) however, at this show they were unveiling their new statement product. The DIAS power amplifier, a 1KW class A/B monster weighing in at 50Kg and with a hefty price tag of £27,500. This was powering a pair of Kudos 808 speakers and they were using a Linn LP12 turntable with their U4PRE pre-amplifier. Listening to Radiohead – Paranoid Android, this amp has impeccable control over the speakers and has a ton of power on tap for demanding speakers.

WIIM (HENLEY AUDIO)

Distributed by Henley Audio in the UK, Wiim make a wide range of very affordable streamers and streaming amplifiers. On demo they had the new Vibelink amplifier paired with the Ultra streamer, this was powering a pair of Klipsch R-60M speakers. At just over £1k, this system provides a lot of bang for your buck.

They also had the Wiim Mini, Pro Plus and Amp on static display, along with the new Roon Nucleus One.

PRO-JECT

Also distributed by Henley in the UK, Pro-Ject were showing off their new Colourful Audio System 2 – retailing at £1799 it includes the Debut Evo 2 turntable, MaiA S3 amplifier, Speaker Box 5 S2 speakers, Connect Iit LS E cable and the Damp it damping feet. Lyn Stanley was in this room when we went in, and was playing her new album through the system – for the money the sound was beautifully dynamic and clear. They also come in lot of different colours too.

Around the room, they had a couple of other bits on display including the Stereo Set E1 and Jukebox E1 set.

JBL

JBL had a full 5.1.2 surround setup in their first room, using the MA9100HP AV receiver and their Stage series of speakers. I got lucky enough to sit in the sweet spot and this is a great surround system for the money, very convincing positioning of everything going on in the scene. JBL have done a great job at creating an affordable surround system and I can see these selling very well.

ARCAM

Next up was the Arcam room, using their new SA45 streaming amplifier into a pair of JBL S3900 speakers. They also had the new SA35 and ST25 in the rack on display.

Around the side of the room, they had a static display of the A5, CD5, A15, ST5 and A25.

The SA35 looks great with a bright and clear screen and great sound when paired with the JBLs, with a punchy and detailed presentation.

VOXATIV

Voxativ were using a Weiss streamer and DAC, and their own 211 valve amplifier (2x10w).

The speakers in use (Voxativ’s 9.88 system) were a full-range driver monitor model made in-house (95dB sensitivity), it goes down to 45Hz on its own, and the matching woofer in use goes down to 20Hz linearly. The woofer is not a sub-woofer as such, it is a fast woofer and has 500w of class-D power built in. An intriguing system and one that creates a full range sound with ease, the sweetness of the valve amp working perfectly with the sensitive driver of the monitors.

FYNE AUDIO

Fyne had their F501S speakers on demo with a Rega P8 turntable, Aria MK3 phono stage, Aethos integrated amplifier and Saturn MK3 CD player. As always, this was a fyne-sounding room with a dynamic and engaging sound along with a wide sound stage. They were using Reson solid-core speaker cable, it’s an old design and is the same as used in the Fyne audio demo room.

Around the room they had the Vintage Classic Gold VIII SP speakers and the Vintage Supertrax super tweeter. 

Lin and Stu visited the Fyne Audio press conference where they updated us on the new factory and all the exciting things happening for Fyne. The synergy between the team was brilliant, also great to see Max looking so well, his motor sport hobby obviously agreeing with him (read more here about that here). Also brilliant to meet Christopher Mills, son of Dr Paul Mills, Fyne’s lead designer who is taking more of a back seat and working on some different Fyne projects while Christopher takes the reins.

JBL

In the next JBL room they had their range of Authentics speakers alongside the Spinner BT turntable – you can read the Authentics 500 review HERE and the Spinner BT review HERE. This always seems to be a popular room, a lot of people are really surprised at how big the sound can be from a lifestyle speaker.

I also got to have a look at the new JBL Tour One M3 headphones with their little dongle transmitter alongside the new Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 9, a great-looking Bluetooth speaker that feels very well built for it’s £280 price point. It is battery or mains-powered, and I’m keen to have a listen in the future.

FLOOR 2

HARBETH (3 ROOMS)

Room 1

UK debut of the NLE1 – DSP controlled speakers with no crossover, class-d amplifiers in the back panel. Using DSP allows the speakers to sound a lot bigger than they should, and they have impressive imaging with pin point accuracy. Impressive sound from a small speaker, the midrange is simply sublime, and the overall voicing is lovely.

Room 2

In the second Harbeth room they had the M30.3 XD speakers paired with a Hegel H390 integrated amplifier. Once again that signature Harbeth voicing shines through and these had wonderful imaging too, with a real sense of depth and height to the sound. New bass unit and new crossover in this model.

Room 3

In this room you had the P3ESR speakers with the Nelson bass extender and stand – this setup gives extra weight and body to the sound of the P3 whilst providing them with a solid stand to sit on. The stand incorporates a 50w class D amplifier, 110mm up-firing woofer and DSP board that divides the frequencies for the main speaker and the sub. They were using a Hegel H390 in this room too.

LOCKWOOD

A lot of the recordings you listen to have been mastered on Lockwood speakers, such is their heritage in the industry. On demo they had their Academy 1 speakers powered by a pair of Quad Artera mono blocks and an Artera Solus Play streamer/pre.

They were playing a bass heavy electronic track (Martin Garrix – Animals) and these classic looking speakers were doing a great job at presenting this complex mix with ease. Effortless bass extension, great clarity and a hugely engaging sound. Whilst they may be tuned for studio use, they certainly aren’t dry or lifeless.

At the side of the room they had a prototype of the Mini Major – as it says in the name, it is a mini version of their Major. Launching towards the middle of the year they incorporate an internal acoustic shelf to prevent port resonance. Using a 5” drive unit they are, like all Lockwood models, built in the UK by a 3rd generation, family-owned company.

ROGERS

On demo were the classic LS3/5A speakers with the dedicated stands that have active bass drivers in to give the sound more scale and depth. These are such a great addition to these speakers, they retain that signature sound with just a little extra body and scale. They were using an Audio Note CD4.1x cd player and a Rogers E20a/ii integrated valve amplifier.

HEGEL (AUDEN DISTRIBUTION)

Room 1

In the first Hegel room you had their H190V integrated amplifier paired with a Luphonic H2 turntable, Amphion Argon 1 speakers and Audiomica cables, with MusicWorks power isolation products.

The high damping factor Hegel amp paired with the Argons leads to a punchy and fast sound with excellent extension and body. A very well put together system in this room, with great synergy between the products.

Room 2

In this room they had the new Hegel D50 reference DAC paired with the H600 integrated amplifier (digital from the H600 > D50 then analogue back to the H600). This setup was power a pair of EgglestonWorks Nico speakers, Audiomica cabling and MusicWorks power isolation products.

The new D50 DAC has a special main power supply for minimal noise, all the signal paths are optimised to be as short as possible and great care has been taken in ensuring all the local power supplies and grounding related to the digital board. This ensures precise switching in the circuits, resulting in lower phase noise.

The setup sounded very spacious and clear, the detail retrieval was quite something and there was body when required. The layering of the tracks, the coherency, and fullness of the sound were impressive.

AURALIC/SUGDEN

Auralic had their latest Vega S1 streamer with S1 PSU (Reviewed HERE) feeding into a Sugden setup consisting of the Sapphire DAP800 pre-amplifier and Sapphire FBA800 power amplifier. These were powering a pair of Graham Audio LS5/9 speakers. Around the room you could find other Sugden amplifiers and the Auralic Altair G2.2 on static display. The demo setup had great control, clarity and warmth – a highly enjoyable sound.

PROAC

ProAc had the K3 speakers on demo paired with Exposure electronics kit, the 3510 pre-amp, 3510 CD player and 3510 stereo power amp – an all-British setup. The dual mid-bass drivers paired with the ribbon tweeters give these some kick with great transient response and a clear yet well-balanced sound. They dig deep and sound very well controlled at all times. They also had a pair of DB1 speakers on static display at the side of the room.

DIORA ACOUSTICS

Diora were here last year and made quite the impression, since then we’ve seen them in Warsaw and Vienna. This year they were showing off the new Polaris range that were first shown at the Warsaw show. This is a slightly more affordable range from Diora, with the big Polaris 5 on demo coming in at £2000. They use a 2.5-way design with passive radiators and offer up a hell of a lot of sound for the money. They were using Tellurium Q cabling throughout with (what I assumed was the Gryphon kit on display) a little Mezzo 600w class-D amplifier. I was genuinely shocked as I had assumed they would be using the Gryphon kit on display, instead all this clean power was coming from a small class-D amp. Diora have managed to make a brilliantly balanced pair of speakers for an incredibly reasonable price, well worth a listen if you get the chance.

EXPOSURE ELECTRONICS

Exposure Electronics are a British manufacturer based in Sussex, they have a new DAC in development that was on static display, alongside the new 5510 (100w per channel) integrated amplifier. The new 5510 integrated was being fed by a 3510 CD player and, on the vinyl side they had the 360 turntable with XM3 phono stage. They were powering a pair of ProAc D20R speakers with ProAc cabling. The 5510 should be on sale in 3-4 months, the DAC in 4-5 months’ time and they do have a pre-amplifier and power amplifiers in the 55 range coming too. 5510 – £4500 / DAC – £2500 (estimated prices)

I appreciate their approach to no-nonsense British HiFi and engineering, it sounds brilliant through the ProAc speakers, and it’s great to see some new products coming from them soon.

KERR ACOUSTIC

Jes from Kerr Acoustic was at the show with his K300 MK3 stand-mount speakers which use a 6.5” mid-bass driver paired with a ribbon tweeter in a compact transmission line design. Electronics wise they were using an Innuos Zenith MK3 streamer, Isotek mains conditioning, a Chord Ultima integrated amplifier, Chord Hugo TT2 and MScaler. The stands were placed on Townshend isolation platforms. These speakers offer great bass from a compact design due to their transmission line design, a punchy presentation with airy treble, good height and excellent imaging.

SOUND FOUNDATIONS

Room 1

In this room they had a static display of various Furutech products, cables, connectors and a demagnetizing machine.

Room 2

In their second room they had a new turntable brand called Soulines from Slovakia (a new brand for the distributor but a brand we have known since HiFi PiG started), this was paired with the DS Audio DS E3 optical cartridge running into the DS Audio phono stage, Music First Audio Baby Reference V2 pre-amplifier, GamuT power amplifier into a pair of Kerr Acoustics K320 floorstanding speakers. It was a fraction too loud at times however, the speakers handled it well and the DS Audio cartridges are very clean sounding. They were using Furutech cables throughout.

DEVIALET

Devialet were using their new Astra streaming amplifier in this room with a pair of YG acoustics Carmel 3 speakers. This was a really neat pairing both in looks and sound, the Devialet packs a lot of tech into a slim package that has plenty of drive for its size. The Carmel 3 speakers are a great pair of speakers and this combo delivered really good sound quality. I got to listen to one of my test tracks, Sleep Token – The Night Does Not Belong To God on this system, the piano notes had great weight and vocals were lifelike and clear. Crisp yet not fatiguing treble, and a great balance overall, this was a really enjoyable system to listen to.

MARTIN LOGAN / BLUESOUND

Martin Logan / Bluesound had a room with a Bluesound Node Icon running into a Rega Aethos amplifier powering the Martin Logan Electromotion ESL electrostatic speakers. These feature a 34” electrostatic transducer paired with an 8” ported woofer allowing for full range playback. These had an easy going, and quite sweet sound. They also had the Martin Logan Motion XT B100 on display along with the Bluesound Powernode and Vault 2i.

RUSSELL K

The RED 120Se speakers were on demo in this room, paired with the Accuphase DP-570 SACD player and E700 integrated amplifier. There is something very right about the sound from Russell K speakers, these have such linear extension in the bass and the atmosphere they portray is huge. The sound emanates from well behind the cabinets and they sound very open and natural.

And so ends the HiFi PiG Bristol HiFi Show 2025 report…what a brilliant show and start to the main HiFi Shows of 2025…see you soon at the next one, which will be Audio Show Deluxe at Whittlebury in March.

ALL IMAGES AND TEXT ARE COPYRIGHT HiFi PiG AND MAY NOT BE USED WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT FROM THE EDITOR

Linette and Stuart Smith

Oscar Stewart

Additional photography by Kelly Bowden