NWAS 2024 AT CRANAGE HALL HIFI SHOW REPORT PART 1 FROM STU AND LIN

Join Stu and Lin for the first of the HiFi PiG reports from the North West Audio Show 2024 at Cranage hall in Cheshire UK.

The North West Show at Cranage is my favourite event in the HiFi diary; it’s well organised by Kris and his team, it’s busy but not overly crowded and all the exhibitors put a lot of effort into making their rooms look great and sound good. However, with around 80 rooms it’s now become impossible for just Lin and I to get around the whole show and so this year we had a plan of attack where the venue was split between us doing a number of rooms and Oscar and Kelly doing the rest. While this strategy means that we don’t get to see every room that we would have liked, it does mean that we can sit in front of systems for a little longer. So, the report you are about to read is the first part of the HiFi PiG coverage and the next report will be published soon afterwards.

NWAS, A FANTASTIC WEEKEND FOR ALL THE FAMILY

Around 4000 tickets had been claimed and both Saturday and Sunday were lively but not too overcrowded. There were 2390 people through the door over the weekend, 12% up on last year. Folk were queuing well before the doors opened which was brilliant to see. The bar was another lively area and it was great to meet up with people that we only see at Cranage – some folk make a weekend of the show. One of the things that I did certainly notice, and others commented on, was that there were lots of couples at the show…and a good few kids too. This is encouraging and shows that HiFi and audio shows can be places that are open and welcoming to all.

A glass of fizz was offered to all people that arrived (a nice touch) and the ribbon cutting ceremony was accompanied by Metallica’s Enter Sandman…an odd choice I thought but it did work.

We also caught some very nice pics of our HiFi PiG turntable mats on various TTs around the show on set up day…definitely what all the best vinyl spinners are wearing this season.

Anyway, on with the report and photos…

FANTHORPES HiFi

After a fabulous and very encouraging start to our NWAS 2024 adventure we started at the top of the older part of the Cranage DeVere Estate hotel and with the legendary Hull retailers Fanthorpes HiFi. Fanthorpes that opened up shop in 1948 hold a special place in the collective HiFi PiG heart given that one of our piglets (Harry) worked there whilst he was at university. The guys at Fanthorpes always put on a good show and today was no exception with then showing of PS Audio DirectStream DACmk2, PS Audio Perfectwave SACD transport, PS Audio AirLens Music Streamer with (I’ve said PS Audio enough now) BHK Signature Preamp, BHK 250 power amp through Aspen FR10 and FR20 loudspeakers and a Powerplant 20 mains regenerator. Cabling throughout was from Chord Company Signature and Sarum cables.

What a lovely start to the day this system was and the folk from Fanthorpes certainly made the best of this room.

AURALIC AND ATC

For this years #NWAS2024 show, Auralic had partnered with ATC who make some rather splendid active loudspeakers. As an aside, as I was waiting at the top pf the stairs and a chap asked for directions and said this room was spectacularly good.

The system in full was the ATC 50th anniversary model loudspeakers using the same compliment of drivers from the SCM 50 but with better amps and a different cabinet (42K). Vega S1 streaming DAC (1999)with the S1 Pure-Power PSU (999). The Altair G2.2 Digital Audio Streamer was also on show and this combines many of the proprietary tech found in the Aries G2.2 and Vega 2.2 in one component.

This was a very interesting set up given the pricing of the bits and pieces. A very modest front end with a pretty pricey set of speakers. Very cool!

CHORD COMPANY

I love the Chord Company and their demos and they were introducing a new cable at the NWAS2024. The new hand-built Epic Digital Tuned ARAY interconnect is the latest addition to Chord Company’s premium-tier Epic range, which sits in the middle of the brand’s portfolio.

Designed to enhance digital connection quality between streamers, CD players and transports, and suitably equipped AV devices, the new Epic Digital Tuned ARAY benefits from the company’s exclusive Tuned ARAY mechanical tuning. The cable also receives premium Chord Company VEE3 plugs finished with the company’s unique ChorAlloy multi-metal plating system, which Chord say provides “a significant musical improvement over previous silver-plating techniques, offers much lower intermodulation, is tarnish-free, RoHS-compliant and solderable”.Price is £560 a metre.

The dem was very good as usual and the differences in the cables pretty obvious if you cared to listen and the crowd of people in the room were very appreciative. I don’t get how digital cables can sound any different, but they do! The concept according to Ian is that what they are doing is reducing the mechanical noise in the cable.

We got taken up the range of cables and again there are clear differences hear as was commented on by the folk in the room.

CAD, KERR AND MUSIC FIRST AUDIO

We have never reviewed KERR’s speakers which is a real shame, but based on their performance here at NWAS 2024, I can understand why they have their fans, though there were a few room node issues in this room at the very bottom end. I suppose the take on this is that the speakers do go VERY low.

Linette commented that the Trilogy 994 amps were absolutely beautiful and she was quite animatedly excited in her enthusiasm for their design – I get that!

The full system was:

Streamer: Innuos Zen Mini + LPSU Power supply
DAC: CAD 1543 mk.2
Pre-amplifier: Music First Audio Baby Reference V2
Power amplifier (K320): Trilogy 944 Mono Blocks
Power amplifier (K200): Chord Ultima 5
Loudspeakers: Kerr Acoustic K200 + Kerr Acoustic K320 mk.3
Cables & Isolation: Townshend Audio

Now after the show I spoke to a number of people who attended later in the day, and they all said the room was very good and the volume was reasonable. The room also got a number of the “best of show” cards left in there, suggesting I had caught it at a bad moment.

KUDOS

We got the lowdown on the new SIGAO DRIVE from Kudos at the Motorworld show that was on at the same time as Munich High End show. It’s an interesting product in that is an unpowered external crossover sited before the amplifiers in the audio signal chain, that works with any Kudos loudspeaker, and virtually any amplifier brand you wish to use. The benefits of it are pretty obvious sonically when you listen to it in and out the system and whilst I don’t really “get” the concept, the proof of the pudding is in the listening. You can find out more about this interesting product by following this link

OPHIDIAN AND TRILOGY

Those lovely Trilogy 994 monos and 903 pre were twinned with the new FFION speakers from Ophidian in this room. These are an interesting looking loudspeaker with an 8” downward firing woofer with a high power 2” voice coil, a 5” alloy mid-bass driver and a 0.9” soft dome tweeter. They go down to a claimed 29Hz and are 87dB sensitive. The shape is very elegant and something a little different to the usual box shaped speakers we are used to. Sonically this combo was excellent in this space with a very wide soundstage and a nice balanced sound that was played at a volume that was loud enough, but not too much, for the room.

Great sounding room!

MOOR AMPS

I really like Moor Amps whenever I’ve heard them; and this was no exception. The system at NWAS2024 was an Angel 6 amp (£10997) an Angel Pre (£2995) with Ascalon speakers at £11495. That amplifier with its “width and a half” sizing is spectacularly impressive. Expect a review soon.

ALCHRIS AUDIO

Now here is a brand I have a great deal of time for. Alan and Christine from Alchris Audio are based in Wakefield in West Yorkshire and are something of a legendary name in audio if you are in the know. Alan is an unassuming fella but certainly knows how to put a pair of loudspeakers together.

ALCHRIS were showing off their new TX range of speakers that range from a standpoint TX -1 at £1250 a pair up tp the TX-55 and TX 66 floor standers. The TX -66 are a splendid looking loudspeaker and look like daft value for money at £5250 a pair. Seriously, these should be on your radar if you are looking for a proper speaker at (frankly) a price that is unusual in this day and age.

The New TX range consists of 6 new speakers and 2 updated existing models with something for everyone from bookshelf to stand mounted and floor standing. The little BOOK 1 also looks an interesting if tiny proposition at less than 800 quid.

Fabulous room that was very busy, all the time, ALCHRIS are VERY popular with the punters. Other gear in this excellent system was: Cambridge CXA-81 amplifier, Cambridge CXN-V2 streamer, Yaqin SD-33A cd player, Pioneer PDS-901 cd player, CTC 301 turntable, SME 3009 arm and a Pickering ZLM cartridge.

SOUND FOWNDATIONS

As I say every time at this and other shows where Alex and Chris are showing, these guys know how to put a room together and know how their music inside out. You are always guaranteed to hear something new in this room and today we got treated to a record I’ve never heard…but it’s always very cool.

The same KERR speakers (as used in the KERR room) in this room sounded much, much better in this room than in the room I had a bit of a moan about further up this report!

VINYL PASSION / MISSING LINK

Mark at VP is a bit of a veteran of the industry and it’s always nice to catch up with him. The speakers being used were new to me and were the OEPHI IMMANENCE 2.5 that are 12K and the TRANCENDENCE 2.5 a 9K.

Needless to say the record player was the Vinyl Passion J 12 Carbon Elite based on the Linn LP12 but with upgrades done by Vinyl Passion. The cartridge was the ART 100X from Audio Technical (4.7K) and the tonearm was the Audio Mods 6.

Cables were Missing Links’ and the pre was the Vincent SA-T7 Diamond feeding a SP-t7 hybrid monos at a very reasonable £4799 a pair,.

This was a splendid sounding room! Best sounding so far (for Stu) with ALCHRIS being very close behind!

G-POINT AUDIO

Greg at G-Point has had this same room at North West Audio Show since the very first show and in my opinion, it is the best of all the rooms in the hotel for its size and airiness. Greg at G-Point has been in business for pretty much exactly the same amount of time that HiFi PiG has been running and it’s really great to see how his business has grown over those years. He also always goes over  and above what is expected at a show and this year flew in Lukasz from Lampizator, Sam from Destination Audio, and Robert Sikora.

There was a vinyl front end (SIKORA) when we went in the room but switching to a digital front end lifted the sound immensely. I was lucky enough to get to sit in the front row hot-seat and could have stopped there for ages. That Lampizator (I’ve had a Lampizator DAC in our system for at least a decade) Horizon DAC is something else!

The speakers (DESTINATION AUDIO) are a Polish brand which we have enjoyed at the Warsaw show, and the NIKA model being used in this system were right up my street. The amps were also by Destination Audio.

Greg started out G-Point with the idea being to promote high-end artisanal audio and it is brilliant to see his determination pay off! This is high-end audio done properly and great to see at NWAS 2024!

Best sound of the event…so far!

And that was our cue to retire to the very lively bar where Kris and the team had laid on live music every day at 13:00.

KARMA AV

So, after a refreshing lunch in the bar we had a bit of a change of direction and deviated from our plan of attack to take on one of the corridors off the bar and first up was this incredible room put together by Karma AV. Yes, there was a massive telly but there was also a whole host of speakers from SVS (Ultra Evolution Pinnacles made up the left and right speakers with an Ultra Evolution centre speakers, Ultra Evolution Bookshelves making uo the sides and rears and then the Evolution Elevations doing the “heights”. There ewer also several subs in the room. Primare made up the electronics and Inakustik the cables.

This could easily have been overblown and overdone but the truth is that it was kept to reasonable levels and sounded very good indeed.

AUDEN DISTRIBUTION

First of all I’d like to thank Bill and the team at AUDEN DISTRIBUTION for sponsoring HiFi PiG’s coverage of the North West Audio Show. Both Lin and I have followed Auden for a number of years and at a lot of shows and what has always impressed is the way these guys put together their rooms in a way that feels very “homely” and yet very professional.

At the front of the room was the main system made up of a Hegel H600 amp at 10.5K with a Hegel V10 phono stage (£1350) through a pair of Amphion Krypton 3X loudspeakers at £17,600. Now, that is a lot of money in most people’s books fro a pair of speakers, but I really have never failed to be wildly impressed by this brands speakers whenever I’ve had the pleasure of hearing them. The record player on show is a new one to the UK but one I think you are all going to be hearing a lot more about in the coming months and year. The turntable in question is the Luphonic R3-12 and arm at £5750..with a Audio Technical WM760SLC cartridge.

Cables were Audiomica other than the power blocs, power cables and isolation products that were all from MusicWorks.

The rest of the room was all very nicely dressed with static displays of AUDEN’s brands such as Mersason, Egglestone Works and Audiomica.

DOOLEYS HIFI

This was a smaller room but the team from Dooley’s had done a fab job of putting together a system that was just right for the room. The system was made up of a Musical Fidelity M8xTT record spinner with a Sumiko Palo Santos Presentation cartridge, and a Musical Fidelity NuVista Vinyl MK1 phono stage.

Advance Paris made up the power end and Acoustic Energy Corundum loudspeakers moved the air.

AUDIO DREAMS

The digital source in this room was an ATOLL Electronique CD300 SE with an EMM LAB Element C201 Line Precision pre and 362A Limited Edition amp. The loudspeakers were from Sigma Acoustics and were the T10 monitors 25th anniversary models.

The music in the room wasn’t really to my taste but it was such a nice and chilled system that that didn’t really matter overly.

The whole system just gelled so nicely and played lovely music. Very nice. VERY!

ACOUSTIC ORIGIN

This was all a bit new to me but one that a good few folk had been talking about in the bar. The system was a PARA DAC streamer and SESU low noise DC power supply and a couple of KARA monos.

The speakers were the star of the show for me (Stu) and were the 10K OMKRI 2 dipole full rangers.

LOVELY!

AUDEN DISTRIBUTUON

The second of the Auden rooms was another oasis of tranquillity and lovely sounds. The Luphonic H2 is just shy of 4K and with the H190 V amp from Hegel partnered with it made a fabulous sytem with the Amphion speakers. What was interesting was the folk in the room were VERy enthusiastic about this system and were obviously buyers looking to get their next system. I’d be very surprised if the people don’t come back and buy from one of Auden’s retailers.

YORKSHIRE AV

Monitor Audio HYPHN flagship loudspeakers with an all-new Luxman system which consists of the M10X, D10X, C10X, NT07 and the PD-191 turntable with a complete ATLAS Cables Arran loom. The Audio Rowe streamer was also playing the digital files. Playing some Keith Jarrett the sound on this system was very good. This was only the second time I’ve had the chance to hear the HYPHN but I am pretty impressed. They played Crass Big A Little A for us which I thought was brave and it sounded brilliant.

The second room of Yorkshire AV was next door but this one had the DALI with a Lyngdorf streaming amplifier and an Innuos Zenith. Fully digital and very very nice sounding. The Lyngdorf runs “room perfect” DSP and whilst some might think that this digital from front to end concept is a bit much, I actually think this kind of tech should be embraced!

TANNOY

Tannoy is a very well known brand and their Sterling III LZ speakers sounded lovely in this room with Sugden class A amplifiers. These are a 2-way 10” dual concentric design in oiled walnut…lovely looking and very nice sounding loudspeakers.

DNA AUDIO

Burmester electronics and ATC speakers were in DNA’s first room whilst Naim Electronics and Tannoy SGM10s. were in the second one.

RMB LOUDSPEAKERS

We reviewed the RMB 40-4 loudspeakers back in 2018 and Dave Robson who did the review enjoyed them very much. The speakers at NWAS 2024 are an updated version called the 35/4 and they sound very good. The look isn’t going to be for everyone but they certainly sound excellent playing some Supertramp.

ORIGIN LIVE

Sunday morning and we spent the first hour or so giving out our slipmats in the foyer before starting with the lovely people at Origin Live who were showing the Stratomat (£295) that Oscar will be reviewing in due course.

REEL RESILIENCE

We caught part of an interesting talk on buying a R2R machine.

REPLAY AUDIO

AUDIUM and ATOLL are two names that go together very well. The 8.3 Actives (6.5K) were running off a ST300 (3K) streamer. The speakers come in passive or active or semi active versions and have a point source driver with a downward-firing bass driver. These really do deserve to do very well in the UK and now they have a proper distributor this is much more likely. Great sounding kit that that punches above its price point in my opinion.

SOUND DESIGN DISTRIBUTION

SDD were showing off the absolutely brilliant Kii 7s (7K) which are an active speaker that we heard when they were launched in Eindhoven. Loved them then and NWAS didn’t change my opinion. The Kii brand are born of the pro market and it really shows. They are flat and accurate sounding, but also lively and a lot of fun, and I reckon that they represent excellent value for money!

MALVERN AUDIO RESEARCH

For some reason, MAR is always left to the last minute with us at Cranage and so this year we made a special effort to arrive much earlier in the day so we got chance for a really good listen.

The  system was a HUB TT, SORANO SA1 with a HANA UMAMI RED, Audio Detail 101D phono, Celia premium preamplifier into GM70 mono blocs by MAR. Cables are the Connected Fidelity throughout and the AC-2K balanced power unit, which we reviewed, and a 6Star distribution block. The Hana Umami is in my opinion the best cartridge at under 5K at the moment (that we’ve heard) and I have zero intention of changing it any time soon! The FLOAT isolation pucks from Connected Distribution were also being used throughout.

Coppice Audio speakers are made of solid wood from sustainable sources, Coppice also produced the other wooden pieces in the room including panels.

Overall this room always impresses and this year was no exception.

WILLOW TREE AUDIO

Willow Tree Audio were in a new room this year but still showing off a very, very nice sounding system made up of the Lector Digidrive MK3 transport, CenGrand DAC 1.0 Deluxe. CenGrande 9i-958 Deluxe mono bloc Amos (19K a pair and making their debut at the show). Speakers were the excellent Horning Zeus at just shy of 10K and the whole kit and caboodle were on Lateral Audio racks.

This was a very natural sounding system that was just effortless. Lin particularly liked the amps and their ‘Music is my Soul’ engraving on them…a nice detail and message!

KEF

The very last room on our list but don’t worry, all the rooms at the show have been covered by one or other of Team PiG.

Hegel electronics were being used with the Blades from KEF with an INNUOS Zenith server and what a lovely sounding system it was. You don’t get to be one of the biggest and perhaps best-known loudspeaker brands in the UK by not doing something right and KEF have been at the top for years. The room was beautifully done with very cool lighting and the volume was just right too – not too loud and not too quiet.

Now read Part 2 of our show report here!

Stuart and Linette Smith

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