Bristol Hifi Show 24to to 26th Feb 2023

[chiily]

Hello Guys

I just uploaded the video report from the show. Needed to edit some parts due to copyright blocks, but still there is nearly 2 hours of material

Thank you very much for the great show.

Spooky, just spotted myself in that video...

Great video, not withstanding me being in it.

 

[HifiDan]

Grzegorz's video might give the impression that it was quiet chez SUPATRAC, but in fact a lot of the time it was like this:

There were quiet spells, but often it was standing room only. I wished I had requested more chairs. Occasional listeners would remain in the room for an hour or more to really take in what they were hearing, and many requested a/b comparisons between the 1210G and 1210Mk5/Blackbird. I'm sure I didn't recognise some notable visitors, but I couldn't miss Roy Gandy, Alan Sircom and Rafael Todes.

Having just listened with headphones I'm not sure why the bass in my room sounds messed up in Grzegorz's video, but it wasn't that bad in reality. I make no great claims for the relatively portable speakers I bought a week before the show, but they were good enough to give pleasure and reveal a bit of detail, dynamics timbre and soundstage. The buzz which one (Hungarian?) listener noticed from the Mk5 was a nuisance but I didn't have the time or energy to track it down.

The system was
SL-1210 Mk5
229mm/24⁰ Blackbird
AT VM540ML
Linn Uphorik
Creek OBH-22
KEF KC62
Behringer A500
KEF LS50 Meta passive

When I played a bit of Louis Armstrong to Roy Gandy on Saturday morning I noticed a slight sibilance/scratchiness. On Sunday afternoon I swapped styluses between the 1210G and Mk5/Blackbird and found that I had been doing a/b comparisons throughout Saturday and Sunday with a slightly less-worn/cleaner stylus on the G. It didn't really matter as the dynamics were the biggest difference.

Thanks to all who made the effort to show up and listen - I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Think I missed this room, just don’t remember it

 

[littleaudioco]

Just come back from the show - my first ever outing at one of these. Is it just me, most of the sound in the bedrooms seems to emanate from very high, almost like it was coming from the ceiling? Not what I expect from a pair of speakers. The rooms, in the main, seem to be a poor environment to listen to the wares - lots of flutter echo, glaring treble, poor imaging (though to be fair some of the seats I used were not going to be good for imaging). Is this the norm for these things or was this a particularly bad location?

The bedrooms are and small and pretty bare, and unless you add some physical treatment, you’ll hear HF reflections from walls and the ceiling, which will likely be why you heard systems image “very high”. Anyone who nipped into the Hegel/Amphion room will have heard how well Amphion speakers can sound in an untreated room.

 

[Grzegorz Rulka]

Thank you for your very positive words and feedback.

I know that doing a show report is not either easy and always fair.

Since we have a room that we also have to present our gear I used first hours of Friday to record since it's the least busy and hence perfect for recordings so all rooms upstairs were empty due to visitors flow patterns

I tested multiple recorders, mics, iphones etc and even though it's not my final setup I am quite happy with the sound quality. The big issue are copyrights since I had to reupload 3 times to cut out all copyright blocks

Long time ago I was into DJ stuff and my hint for all exhibitors is to put mellow music only if the room is full since you can attract the visitors from the hallway by high energy music way easier

Great show and great people amazing atmosphere

 

[PerF]

the grand tradition of the British hi-fi show is alive and well.

Not UK only, these traditionally shows happens many places around, Germany, Poland, Spain, USA and so on..
Hopefully we are fully behind Corona restrictions and indeed Warsaw and Munich 2023 will be full scale.

 

[GT]

Old Skool opinion.

Old school fact. As soon as you digitise the audio signal you flatten the sound stage and stereo image, which you can clearly hear when you listen to any active digital speaker. There is significantly less to degrade the signal with a hand full of crossover parts than it is to digitise and process the signal. Not withstanding all the extra noise that is introduced into the process by the digital electronics...

 

[sonddek]

Think I missed this room, just don’t remember it

It was like Woodstock: if you remember it, you weren't there.

 

[sonddek]

Old school fact. As soon as you digitise the audio signal you flatten the sound stage and stereo image, which you can clearly hear when you listen to any active digital speaker. There is significantly less to degrade the signal with a hand full of crossover parts than it is to digitise and process the signal. Not withstanding all the extra noise that is introduced into the process by the digital electronics...

Very interesting comment. Officially this is supposed not to be true, but I imagine that I have heard this effect many times, and the excuses are running out. I was in two minds about whether to run my show system through the subs which presumably have AD-DSP-DA. Before the next show I am going to test extensively to see if I prefer an all-analogue chain.

 

[Alex S]

My main takeaway is I want something from Von Gaylord.

 

[rag987]

As soon as you digitise the audio signal you flatten the sound stage and stereo image, which you can clearly hear when you listen to any active digital speaker.

Kal mentioned something similar in his Stereophile review of the LS60.

"...are all eerily realistic and present, with or without Phase Correction. However, with it switched off, the depth of the soundstage increased to such a degree that I imagined I could see the space. I suspect KEF would profess that the enhanced soundstage is an anomaly of phase shifts, which is corrected by their all-pass filters. I won't argue the point. On the other hand, I've long enjoyed that deep soundstage on this album, with the best systems. "

 

[gustav_errata]

Say, who's that handsome fellow in the light blue jumper?



Ps - I thought your room sounded good. I'm not sure what's going on in the video.

 

[sonddek]

Kal mentioned something similar in his Stereophile review of the LS60.

"...are all eerily realistic and present, with or without Phase Correction. However, with it switched off, the depth of the soundstage increased to such a degree that I imagined I could see the space. I suspect KEF would profess that the enhanced soundstage is an anomaly of phase shifts, which is corrected by their all-pass filters. I won't argue the point. On the other hand, I've long enjoyed that deep soundstage on this album, with the best systems. "

This was precisely my impression when comparing my Uphorik analogue phono stage to my Puffin which converts to digital before RIAA EQ. The Puffin is superb in every respect and in some ways better than the Uphorik for a quarter the price, but I prefer the Uphorik because the sound field isn't flattened to wall paper so that it sounds like CD. Sometimes the acoustic cues which convey distance sound like effects rather than the echoes which occur in a real space. It's hard to perceive reliably - a subtle effect which can reduce the sense of reality which makes music seem present and important. Yet nobody seems to be able to present measured evidence that anything is lost.

 

[gustav_errata]

If Grzegorz's video is any indication, then the grand tradition of the British hi-fi show is alive and well.

Room after room after room of lowest common denominator muzak accompanied by incessant chatting (to drown out the music?).

Honourable exception - Yamaha! (Also, a few seconds of solo piano in the Kog/Soulnote room that threatened to become interesting.)

The Qualio room had some bangin' psy-trance (or something thereabouts) at times. In other rooms I was also happy to hear Orbital (in the Rogers room, no less), GusGus, Cowboy Junkies, Fever Ray, Ásgeir, The Roots, Air, and Yosi Horikawa.

But yes, I did hear Hotel California and Wish You Were Here at least twice each.

 

[sonddek]

Say, who's that handsome fellow in the light blue jumper?



Ps - I thought your room sounded good. I'm not sure what's going on in the video.

Hi Gustav - I noticed you spent plenty of time to listen very carefully. Thank you! I think I played you a comparison between the decks too - correct me if I'm wrong.

In the video you can hear that the noise from the corridor sounds quite loud in my room. I think this is because we hadn't really got started and my system was on quite a low volume, so the auto-level of Grzegorz's recorder pumped itself up. I may not have even adjusted the subs by this stage. I was much happier with the sound on Saturday due to deployment of spare bedding. Also it definitely sounded better in the front row. Head back against the wall sounded a bit thumpy, as you would expect. Even leaning forward helped a lot in the back row. I'm learning.

 

[sonddek]

But yes, I did hear Hotel California and Wish You Were Here at least twice each.

I was repeatedly asked for Fleetwood Mac Rumours. It is a great album, but I think the main reason people ask for those tracks is that they provide a benchmark against which you can judge systems because the recordings are so familiar. Fair enough - it's almost impossible to assess systems using unfamiliar music.

 

[RoA]

The bedrooms are and small and pretty bare, and unless you add some physical treatment, you’ll hear HF reflections from walls and the ceiling, which will likely be why you heard systems image “very high”. Anyone who nipped into the Hegel/Amphion room will have heard how well Amphion speakers can sound in an untreated room.

I thought the little Amphion and Hegel system did well amongst the many more high end ones. One of the better rooms without doubt imho.

yes, it was hanging.

 

[RoA]

... as was Rega's little £1000 system. Add a WiiM Mini or CCA and it will be a well featured, enjoyable set-up for smaller spaces.

 

[Ptah]

... as was Rega's little £1000 system. Add a WiiM Mini or CCA and it will be an enjoyable set-up for smaller spaces.

The (latest) P1 is remarkable for the money and the Carbon cartridge, though it can occasionally distort, is remarkably musical and revealing. Sounds great through a Fono MM.

The Hegel H120 amp was also very engaging.

 

[gustav_errata]

Hi Gustav - I noticed you spent plenty of time to listen very carefully. Thank you! I think I played you a comparison between the decks too - correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes, that was me but as luck would have it, the room got really busy right after I asked about the comparison, as seen in the photo. I wish I had the chance to revisit (although as I don't have a turntable yet, it would have possibly been unfruitful for you to dedicate much time and effort to me...I've just been curious since you first started posting about the project here and was excited to hear/see it in person finally).

 

[vesuvian]

The Qualio room had some bangin' psy-trance (or something thereabouts) at times. In other rooms I was also happy to hear Orbital (in the Rogers room, no less), GusGus, Cowboy Junkies, Fever Ray, Ásgeir, The Roots, Air, and Yosi Horikawa.

But yes, I did hear Hotel California and Wish You Were Here at least twice each.

My musical interests lie more in the direction of jazz, which was notable by its absence.

I wonder if this is a cultural thing because Michael Fremer's video coverage of US hi-fi shows always includes a few sound clips of Blue Note LPs?