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Bristol Show 2019 Feb 22-24.

Impossible to cover it all in a day but of what we did hear, the ATCs and JBL K2s were excellent and far better than many of the other speakers with their congested mids and soft boomy bass. Also very good were the Amphion speakers and Harbeth speakers. In fact the Harbeth room was an oasis away from the excitable pop stuff blasting out of so many rooms. We even heard Flanders and Swan, and what a pleasure to meet the genial Alan Shaw. The ATC speakers just sounded right and played music rather than just squirting out hifi.

The Chord electronics dem was a bit bizarre. They were demming the M-Scaler, perhaps a bit of a pointless excercise given the noise filtering in from the corridor. Having listened to without and then with the chap next to me asked if he could switch between with and without scaler on the fly. “I could but I am not going to” was the presenters no nonsense and somewhat arrogant sounding reply, apoarently we would have been confused. So off we shuffled bemused and with a poorer opinion of Chord. In complete contrast was the genial presenter in the Kef room. Informative, amusing and a good product to boot.

The PMC dem was impressive for home cinema film examples but when they played music, I found the sound sufficiently unpleasant that I vacated the room before the end of the session.

We finished the day back with the K2s, listening to a couple of orchestral tracks peaking at 99dB. My goodness those speakers could present the sheer scale of orchestral music like few others, albeit at a price tag of £40k per pair!

Oh, slightly away from the bar you can get a plate of curry and rice or jacket potato for not much more than £5; much better value than the rolls at the bar, but only IIRC between 12 and 2.
 
Well I just got back after a 20 hour day and only around 4 hours sleep Thurs night.. but I can't just flop into bed so I'll write up what I recall and wind down with the aid of some rather nice Couvoisier VSOP.

Firstly it was a huge downer to see the massive road works outside Temple Meads Station still grinding on. The resulting seemingly miles long pedestrian diversion meant that even my satnav couldn't find the way to the Marriot so we walked a good way further than we needed.

Caveat to all that follows is that I just can't listen attentively to everything there anymore, so what I thought was good doesn't mean that something I didn't hear properly was bad..IYSWIM. I'm also currently very happy with my system, so not really actively seeking any new kit. All of which makes many aspects of a Hi Fi Show rather similar to shopping for clothes when you aren't in the mood...

Couple of things I noted. Audio Note room sounding very nice in the evidently capable hands of PQs son. Arthur's 'RAGE' dem in the Funk Firm room was very interesting indeed. I wrote down 'NEAT Iota.. VG', though being already very tired didn't note much else. A couple of big name - big room manufacturers continued to disappoint as in previous years. More than a few rooms with stuff either too 'shouty', too 'bassy' or just plain too loud.
That said.. lots of very nice sounds too, at all price levels. I just couldn't be bothered to make notes.

This year though really came into its own for me as a bit of a nostalgia trip. I wandered into the Rogers/Talk room and asked what was going on. It seems they've come to some agreement with the Chinese owners of the name and are making Rogers speakers in the UK again. Very pleased to see Andy Whittle back in place as he was their last designer before they disappeared in around 1997 and t'was he who designed the Studio 3s I'm still using and also kindly went a bit 'off piste' at the time to make me AB3 bass extenders.. also still in use. I wish them every success.

Always good to have a quick chat with Steve Rowlands of Michell. Like so many in the business an unerringly helpful and all around decent chap.

Next up, at the Rega room, my attempt to look, as requested, for a new TT, was hi-jacked when I bumped into Paul Darwin. First time I'd seen him for almost 20 years, when he assisted myself and another in crying into our pints after the somewhat unfortunate closure of AX Preston. Paul was a NAIM rep at the time and like Steve above, is a thoroughly decent, helpful and understanding chap. A true gent and ideally suited IMHO to represent a straightforward and ethical Co. such as Rega.

Ended the day waiting for our train in a very noisy but jovial place called The Siding, which seems to be about the only tolerably decent boozer within safe walking distance of the station.

And ohh, my friend managed to buy three double vinyl albums for a mere £190 the lot.... 'Show Price'.. I'd hate to know 'normal price'.
 
Here's my report on the Bristol Hi-Fi show. It's not intended to be a comprehensive review: it covers the exhibitors that interested me. I’m in the market for some new stand mount speakers for my No 2 system as the sound has deteriorated on my 30 year old Bostons and I’m also interested in getting into streaming on both my systems.

I arrived on Friday morning just before 10.00 and got in just after it opened. Priority was to get a ticket to the first demo in the main Naim room. Disclosure: I own a mid-range Naim system. The aim of their demo was to show and compare their three streamer products – ND5 XS2, NDX2 and ND555. Speakers were rather large Focal Sopra 3 and amplification from the 500 series. The music was in 44.1 khz Wav format which Naim favours over other formats. Their line is that streaming gives better sound than CDs as there are no errors in the digital files. Ripping a CD to digital file reduces the errors which is why you should buy their new ripper.

On to the sound. Beginning with a Pat Metheny track on the ND5 XS2 the dynamics and transients were good but there was a slight boom. The speaker mid-range cones were moving a surprisingly large amount. On a Tracy Chapman track the transients were powerful again and the percussion sounds were well differentiated. The boom had gone but there was a harsh edge to the sound, particularly in the vocals, that I couldn't live with.

Moving to the NDX2 the sound had more drive but the harshness was still there, albeit reduced. A 555PS power supply was added which kept the impressive “slam” in the transients. I thought the system really belted out the sound but was slightly sibilant. On a Robbie Robertson track you could clearly hear the texture of the drum beats.

Moving to the ND555 the music was fuller and well defined and the harshness had almost gone. There were great transients, dynamics and clarity. A track from Level 42 had great transients and no harshness. Finishing with an orchestral track you could really feel the ebb and flow of the music but there was a touch of harshness again.

Overall I thought the sound of all the systems had impressive dynamics and clarity and improved as the source equipment progressed up the range as you would expect. Nevertheless I couldn't live with any of them due to the varying degree of harshness. My Naim system at home isn't like this. The demo itself was well structured and run.

Next to the ProAc room where they demonstrated their Response D2R with a low-end Naim front end. The dynamics and transients were superb with no harshness in the tracks that I heard. The treble was quite strong, though always pleasant. If I was buying I would want to hear more tracks to be sure that the treble strength didn't turn into harshness.

I passed the Elac room and heard some really good sounds spilling into the corridor. They weren't on my list of rooms to visit as they are a company I've never heard of before. They were demonstrating their Navis speakers – both active (stand mount) and passive (floor mount). The sound was superb with excellent dynamics and clarity. Really “out of the box” with no harshness. On this forum I see quite a few people looking for systems with a low box count which is something the Elac kit delivers along with excellent sound and good value considering that the electronics are built into the speakers. Looking at their web site I think they're a German company. Worth investigating if you can find a dealer near you: unfortunately there aren't many in the UK.

Fyne Audio are on my short list but unfortunately the demo was a set of large speakers – the F702 – when I wanted to hear stand mounts. The sound had great dynamics and transients with no harshness. On the downside I didn't notice any deep bass on the tracks played while I was there.

After lunch I visited the B&W demo. I’ve not previously heard B&W speakers as I’ve been happy with my existing speakers up to now so this was a chance to familiarise myself with their sound before I go speaker shopping. This was a really slick, impressive and thorough demo of various low end to mid range speakers. Different models were swapped in and out. Tracks were repeated on different models and kept fairly short while still giving the track enough time to demonstrate the differences between equipment. It was a very good use of the limited time available and, for me, an ideal demo. If you're reading this B&W guys – well done. The electronics setup was a Mac front end with a fairly modest Rotel integrated amp which I'd never seen before but it sounded great.

First up was their low end standmount that has just been discontinued which was compared against its successor that had a new driver. The old model was quite dynamic and clean but the new model demonstrated a clear improvement. Then they played the slightly bigger 685 and its replacement the 606. The sound was clearer and more dynamic than the smaller models and the new mode better than its predecessor. When the volume went up the little 606s could handle the sound very well which was very “out of the box” with no nasties. Plenty of bass, clear and great dynamics.

The Mission room was the next stop where I wanted to hear their new range of standmounts to compare with the B&Ws. They were demo’ing their QX range with electronics that I didn’t recognise. I stayed for a couple of tracks as I hoped the second would improve on the first but it didn’t. The sound was easily the worst of the show with a fierce confused treble and an overall sound that was flat and undynamic. The best analogy I can give is that it was like a building site transistor radio turned up loud. I was really disappointed after seeing so many good reviews of Mission speakers.

I dipped into the Audiolab / Wharfedale room a couple of times but left after a couple of tracks as the sound was flat and undynamic, rather like the Mission room, but not as bad.

There were a few rooms with speakers that interested me but as they were using vinyl front ends I left. I grew up with vinyl albums with all their limitations and much prefer CD or digital files.

Overall I enjoyed the show. There were some excellent demos: Naim, B&W and Elac. The visitors were overwhelmingly older men (like me !) and the hotel was well filled. There was more vinyl than I expected with lots of streaming and no CDs. For my own shopping the B&W 606 has gone to the top of my speaker shopping list. For the streaming I didn’t see anything that stood out. Apart from the Naim demo I think it’s too complicated to explain streaming options to the casual visitor. This is where forums contribute to building knowledge and awareness. Speakers are very different to demonstrate: any ears can appreciate them provided the partnering equipment is up to the job.
 
Thanks for the reports. I’ve only ever heard Naim/Focal once and it sounded like you describe it - harsh and edgy. Pretty lofi in fact. I’m always suspicious of the room, but this was in a large one, and while the room might have a considerable effect in the bass and lower treble I’d expect its effect to be less in the upper mid and treble.

ELAC have a good reputation, and the designer Andrew Jones is held in high regard.
 
Top day out in Bristol, sunshine, a trip to st Nicholas market for lunch, coffee in Department of coffee and social affairs. Klipsch system was real fun £800 speakers, £500 and £300 turntable, plus another two rooms with Klipsch including some heritage . Spendor classic speakers driving the room, fabulous. Wilson Beensch and CH, fabulous again. ATC and Linn demos of stuff which I would consider buying. Only did half the show.
 
enjoyed the show , especially the malvern audio research room . once again so many rooms including sadly the audionote room are just far too loud at stupid listening levels . the spendor room was like a nightclub disco .. crazy . might give it a miss next year
 
Dave J said:
Exposure room with active Kudos 606’s suffered from a dodgy crossover configuration. They need Derek in there to sort it out as it’s doing no one any favours at the moment.
Click to expand...

Heard some 606s last week on demonstration in passive mode they looked beautifully finished but I was quite disappointed in the sound. I thought they were too 'hot'. Some ATC SCM40s after that were a blessed relief.
 
Possibly not fully run in? I’m using 606’s at home and the tweeter is one of their highlights, not hot at all. I did check out the ATCs yesterday and they had real punch but they were if anything a bit “spitty”. I can understand their appeal, though.
 
I did put my head through the door, but not much more. It occurred to me that since Falcon have been the major carrier of the LS3/5A flag since Rogers disappeared 20 years ago, the interplay between them and a revived Rogers could be interesting. I'm not taking sides.. just interested.

Mull
 
Just on my way home now, Falcon room was highlight for me, LS3/5s being driven by Primare i35 streaming amp & MoFi TT sounded superb, slightly warmer tonally than P3ESRs to my ears. Intriguingly Falcon had another room on 4th floor with some prototype active LS3s also being driven by Primare with MoFi TT showcasing Mobile Fidelity Reference albums. Other highlights were the Spendor Classics & Pro-ac DB1 with ribbon tweeter.
 
The above posts remind me why I don't go to shows anymore. Rooms are generally terrible, demos often meaningless & full of overpriced vinyl.
 
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