A great idea as long as you like the aesthetic of the stands.
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Interesting that you say that. I spoke to PMCās top designer before activating my speakers, and they explained that it was always the intention to supply the active versions, which is why the removable back plate is so large. The gap between the rear of the transmission line and the back panel makes for a perfect fit. Still, putting them in the stands is a nice idea.
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But if the sound quality is what youāre looking for, it would be sensible not to die in a ditch over the visual appearance of the stands.
For me, the aesthetics that matter in Hifi are the auditory ones.
Itās a good job I happen to love the visual appearance of rows and columns of monolithic black boxes with little green lights on them (and antique Naim loudspeakers) - because I have been addicted to the Naim sound for more than 20 years now.
The stands are not so different from the stands for the passive C20ās and presumably have the same āhumpā on the top of them to disperse the output of the bass port in the bottom of the cabinet.
So the aesthetics and the acoustics should work well for me. It would be a big step to give up the passives and Vitus though.
Gaz will you be at the show I should be there on Saturdayā¦.
No sorry.
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Totally agree with your sentiments.
Iāve bought a bit of kit off Pete and always found him to be knowledgeable and helpful.
Iām definitely going and looking forward to listening to the Sonus Faber speakers , I think that theyāve only just started to stock them
Called in this morning for a quick look see. Not in buying mode and attracted by the opportunity to hear from one of the commentators of my musical youth in Whispering Bob. Worth it just for the opening music for OGWT.
Lots of rooms available with a number of NC set ups plus two with S1. A lot of setup for a weekend so much appreciated.
The Dynaudio Confidence 20A speakers were being driven by 2 front ends. A bare 222 versus the NP555/2x552PS. No F/W details were revealed. The 40 minutes waiting for Bob were spent with a comparison between the two front end systems, with Christy Mooreās rendition of Fairytale of NY the unlikely track. Phil from Dynaudio clearly prefers the top end front end with the 20As and they obliged with a far degree of depth, colour and definition. Very nice if you have the budget. The 222 drove them very well too and my ears were not unhappy, so should I want to go active and reduce the box count, I have options with a not unattractive stand mount (just donāt try to put it on a bookshelf).
the 555 stayed there for the rest of the show with some Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl showing very well. Bob started early and was good fun. Only one irritant audience member who muttered to himself and wanted Bob to just talk about Pink Floyd. Interesting anecdotes and some great tracks all showing very well. Loved Keep yourself alive - Queen; really shone on the 20As.
Big thanks to Pete and Ross for doing this every year and all the suppliers for their support. If I ever need to look at different speakers Dynaudio are in the frame!
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I was in the Dynaudio room at the same time as you.
I thought Bob was absolutely fantastic and yes the blond haired guy muttering throughout ( he was stood directly in front of me) was annoying beyond belief.
I very much enjoyed the sound of the Confidence but , for me the Sonus Faber and Kef Reference 5 were revelations , much more pleasing to my ear than the Focals in the Statement system.
Thanks to Pete and colleagues at Acoustica for a most interesting and worthwhile show.
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I recall that the Statement didnāt sound great last year - any better now?
Hoping to pop in tomorrow morningā¦
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To my non expert ears it sounded great with the Sonus Faber , less so with Focal.
Interestingly Naim started out demoing the Focals with a 500 set up and then changed to a Statenent and the difference was significant.
To be honest Iāve heard the Focals before and Iām not a fan so perhaps my opinion is coloured by that
The show is well worth a visit and Iām sure that you will enjoy it
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Yes I was there and witnessed the irrantantā¦.I was quite impressed by Bob he was unflappableā¦.thoughout, the Dynaudio speakers were also pretty goodā¦ The Naim room with the Statement was a bit of a dissapointment the Utopia speakersā¦were not to my tasteā¦in my opinion they kinda had a sterile finish to what was a very open and dynamic performance. For me I enjoyed the Sonos Fabors driven by an S1/Nap500 combination this was pretty darn goodā¦ I also had a chance to listen to a set of active Titan 808āsā¦.they were very open and dynamicā¦.but I think the amps were getting a bit stressedā¦at the volumes being playedā¦but even so quite impressed. Enjoyed the eventā¦
Forgot to add a shout out to Chordā¦.they demod the Ethernet EE1+ which I think I may be purchasing after Xmas. Last but not least this was a high end showā¦and I missed seeing more budget friendly options ā¦
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Lol. Bloke is 79 and has some hearing loss which heās been in denial of for some time. Heās not āunflappableā. He simply doesnāt hear it.
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I thought that demo was good. I also got him to do a switch in-out while the music was still playing. He wasnāt sure about trying it, but went ahead, and you could hear an improvement which he also commended on (I say that because usually he wont comment on the differences, and leave it for the listener to decide). Hereās hoping for Black Friday offers
Oh, and BTW, Jason G has one!
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Iāve just got back from the show. This was my second time at the show and it was a very worthwhile visit.
All of the rooms were great and it was interesting to hear the differences. Iām going to buck the trend and say that my favourite room was the Statement room. In particular I spent a bit of time sitting on the rear bench, as far from the speakers as possible, and I think it sounded awesome. According to Pete the statement was sounding better today than the Saturday. During proceedings Jason obligingly played Hugh Masekelaās Stimela (The Coal Train) track from the Hope album, a track that I first heard in July 2024 when I was on the factory visit. After the track finished I had to stop myself from clapping..
I also took the opportunity to ask Jason if there was a turntable picture option available for the 333 display when phono is selected on the 332, similar to that on the 222. There isnāt but he said he might look into it..
2nd place for me and my friend went to the Sonus Faber room. Lovely speakers driven by ND555/S1/500. 3rd place went to the Kef room with the Reference 5ās being driven by a full 300 system.
All in all it was a very enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. Thanks to Pete, Dan, Ross and supplier representatives for putting the event on.
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I remember the BF times (before focal) when I would hear multiple Naim systems at the Bristol Show and enjoy all of them. I was looking forward to a reminder of those happy days on Saturday.
My experience, Saturday afternoon, was unfortunately not the return to those happy days I was hoping for. I started off in the Dynaudio room and it so happened we entered only a few minutes before BH was due to appear (so we didnāt hear much music in the nearly two hours we were in there). Joe Bonamassa, The Ballad of John Henry was playing on arrival. I donāt know which Naim source they were using but it sounded horrible; harsh, with so much digital glare it could blind you. Iāve heard a lot of Naim/Dynaudio systems over the last 25 years and this was by far and away the worst. The Contour Legacies at Bristol in Feb were a 1000x better. Christ knows why Dynaudio allowed him to choose Bob Dylanās I Want You as one of the few tracks played during his session because that only reinforced the very negative initial impression. I have not even the slightest thought I might want to swap out my passive Confidence 20ās on the basis of that showing(hearing).
As to the other rooms, the least said the better because Iāll only annoy people, but āOh dear, oh dearā sums it up pretty well.
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Thatās not great to hear, as normally this show goes down well. I wounder what went wrong or is going wrong here.
Assuming you are referring to the EE1 plus, I have one and itās excellent, and pretty good value for what it does. I got mine ex dem for 20% off.
Indeed I am. I did try the EE1, but impact wasnāt really noticeable. The plus seems more like an EE2