Cranage 2023

[hifinutt]

One if the rooms that i really liked was yorkshire av .the guys were incredibly helpful and knowledgable .but they had no classical available !!! Mad really

 

[Space is the Place]

Kendrik Lamar was being played in one of the rooms i was in, can't remember which room... XXXft.U2... cover your ears children.
Death Grips Guillotine would make a great demo track, same for Kojey Radicals Kwame Nkrumah, exhibitors are missing a trick not playing some of this, especially if the system has a wide dynamic range. Some of the music they were playing to demonstrate the "bass" impact was very generic IMO.
Still an awesome "free" show, wonderful organizers and people demoing the gear, it's always a pleasure to attend.
Before i left i had nice a chat with the guy who owned the 911 and runs the Car hifi place (sorry can't remember the name!) we swapped stories about bumping into Robert Plant in Moseley.
Even though I live more or less across the field from the venue, if i didn't live close i'd still make the journey to attend, a great show.

 

[Tony L]

Music at shows can be a bit baffling. I get the Absolute Sound plinky plonky, and Classical does seem to empty a room but people like Kevin Scott, Sean Casey, Bob Surgeoner have pretty eclectic musical tastes.

I’m sure it is the room-emptying thing. Most audiophiles I know have very good and diverse taste, but we all live in our various niches so a dealer or manufacturer is going to want to play it safe and keep the maximum number of people in the room. If I was in that situation I’d find it just too tempting to provide a choice of say Pil’s Metal Box, Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel’s Nail, John Coltrane’s Interstellar Space, Berg’s Wozzeck, Stockhausen’s Hymnen, and Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, each played in its entirety, but I doubt I’d sell much hi-fi despite each one being a truly wonderful album. I guarantee some folk there would love every one, but on the whole each is likely a room emptier in that scenario. I totally understand rooms playing it safe. I assume given streaming technology a lot of punter choice is allowed too. Back when I went to these things folk bringing some CDs or vinyl was commonplace.

PS I remember emptying the Nottingham Analogue room at one of the London shows with an LSG 12” (Discogs). I mean emptying too. Just me and Tom Fletcher left. Had a great chat with him. Great bloke and sadly missed.

 

[Heckyman]

I'd agree, people will somehow politely sit through the plinkety plonk, yet get up when something a bit more "polarising" is played.

 

[Heckyman]

One if the rooms that i really liked was yorkshire av .the guys were incredibly helpful and knowledgable .but they had no classical available !!! Mad really

The Dali Epicon 6/Primare system? Such a pleasing and well-balanced listen. My friend also asked them for classical FWIW!

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

The AudioWorks room played some of the (fabulous but not well-known) Bernstein Mass to a bemused room, which emptied shortly afterwards. I doubt they were all that bothered, because they were too busy enjoying the music. They always take a very wide selection, The Bad Plus usually gets an airing, for example.

 

[sunbeamgls]

Lots of my photos at the link. I might get around to writing some words, but time to do so is hard to find right now!

https://audiophilemusings.blogspot.com/2023/06/north-west-audio-show-cranage-june-2023.html

Preferred rooms for me, in no particularly order:

Kudos / Chord (but absolutely NOT the Chord / Kudos room - not sure how they made Tital 505s sound thin!)

Auralic / ATC

Fanthorpes AVM with the new "budget" PMC Prodigy 5

Vertere / ATC

Nuprime / ELAC

Ophidian (with the new Incanto)

Coppice and chums

Innuos / Hegel / Kef Ref

moor AMPS

 

[Paul Mc]

A couple of reflections: I have to echo the positive sentiments about the show. It's a free day out and very well organised. It must be a nightmare to keep everyone involved in an event like this, happy. In terms of the rooms, I found myself enjoying the vinyl systems and were I could find them, CD systems. Overall I find a lot of the presentations rather loud, in both senses of the word. But I salute all those involved.

 

[sunbeamgls]

Anyone have any idea what was going on here please? And no, its not the camera angle - that's the way the arm was set up in relation to the playing surface.

 

[Beobloke]

Then I'm sorry but you must be very easily pleased. Each to their own I guess, but I had to stop at 15 seconds in, couldn't stand another moment of it.

Couldn’t agree more!

 

[Tony L]

Anyone have any idea what was going on here please? And no, its not the camera angle - that's the way the arm was set up in relation to the playing surface.

Certainly looks all kinds of wrong. Cart looks very Lyra-like, so I’d expect it to work best flat to the record. I trust Jonathan Carr to stick the stylus on the cantilever in the right place, and that VTA is clearly nothing close!

 

[tenpercenter]

Couldn’t agree more!

Reduce bass boom perhaps ?

 

[paulfromcamden]

Music at shows can be a bit baffling. I get the Absolute Sound plinky plonky, and Classical does seem to empty a room but people like Kevin Scott, Sean Casey, Bob Surgeoner have pretty eclectic musical tastes. Bob always plays good stuff but are the exhibitors afraid their equipment will fall apart (Wilson speakers usually do if you play something like the Eels) or do they just think the attendees want to hear what predominantly gets played? Is pfm just a sub-section of the largely old white demographic but with actual variety in musical taste?

My guess is the breathy female vocals and acoustic guitar type stuff is quite flattering for most systems in a way that Borbetomagus isn't.

And I do think as a forum pfm punches above its weight when it comes to the music room - main reason I visit.

 

[Mike Hughes]

Why would one go to a hifi show to listen to headphones when can jam London exists? You'd go to the specialist event

Might it be because London is hundreds of miles away for most people.

 

[Midlandaudiox]

Oh dear that’s so bad for whoever it was
So unprofessional and totally wrong
Makes a mockery of our profession

 

[Mullardman]

I think we have a duty to try to understand and appreciate just about every kind of music. Sometimes it's difficult, but hidden surprises still await us all.

Whilst I think it's a good idea to widen exposure to music, I think 'duty' is a bit OTT.
I also reserve the right, ...having listened to some artist, or genre, to decide it/they are not for me, and move on.
I have neither the time nor inclination to spend hours trying to like stuff that doesn't do anything for me.
I've already said that my test is simple. Does the music 'move' me? If not..I move on.

 

[pacman]

I loved the Hifonix room for the headphone rigs. I could have spent the whole day in here. The guys were really accommodating even quickly setting things up before 10 for me to have a listen. On the whole the show was excellent. Someone mentioned a special acetate version of Bohemian Rhapsody they were going to play in the Vertere room but couldn't hang around as it was beer and hog roast butty time.

 

[sunbeamgls]

I loved the Hifonix room for the headphone rigs. I could have spent the whole day in here. The guys were really accommodating even quickly setting things up before 10 for me to have a listen. On the whole the show was excellent. Someone mentioned a special acetate version of Bohemian Rhapsody they were going to play in the Vertere room but couldn't hang around as it was beer and hog roast butty time.

It was stunning - one of the guys I was with wanted to burst into applause at the end, but caught the embarrassment just in time

 

[timpy]

Spent both days at the show, associated with one of the exhibitors for old times sake.

I think it’s sometimes missed just how much time and expense goes into a show. For us it was essentially a 5 day exercise. It’s easy enough to criticise - but remember no one goes there to disappoint people. Shows remain the best way to get a feel for what’s available and what can be achieved. It is just that though, you’d be really hard pressed to get a purchasing level quality of demonstration for a number of reasons, not least the bleed through from the rooms around. That’s what loan equipment and dealers is/are for.

And no, you can’t really play a 48 minute version of some niche special interest track no matter how “significant” it may be musically, or personally. However we did try to accommodate requests, but if you want one, it’s handy if you can bring it with you on appropriate formats, remembering many rooms run streamers - because it’s 2023. We tried the download route several times and it didn’t really work. We tend to try and play stuff appropriate for the current demographic of the room at the time, at that includes entire families - it was Father’s Day after all.

I didn’t get to every room, but I was impressed with some I went to, and went back the second day to make sure they were worthy of mention
1 audioemotion’s demonstration of the Larsen speakers
2 the 3 Square Audio room,
3 the Goldenear room
4 Neat’s Mystique Classic

The Kudos room was good, and so were the Serhan Swift Mu2 MkII but I don’t think they were entirely happy in their room.

We were of course happy enough with the sound in the room I was in, but it would be a bit crass to include that.

 

[Shuggie]

Certainly looks all kinds of wrong. Cart looks very Lyra-like, so I’d expect it to work best flat to the record. I trust Jonathan Carr to stick the stylus on the cantilever in the right place, and that VTA is clearly nothing close!

The cartridge looks like an Aidas, certainly not a Lyra. It's entirely possible that the Primary Control arm and cartridge are set up perfectly at this angle.