In our timed session on the Terrace Jason rounded off an excellently presented programme with a fascinatingly good ‘Suspicious Minds’ from Elvis, and a strong favourite for me: ‘John Taylor’s Month Away’ from Diamond Mine by King Creosote and John Hopkins. The emotion and musicality clearly shone through particularly when the ND555, Statement Pre and IIRC NAP500 were switched in on those tracks. Outside my budget, but I’d be perfectly happy with the 300 series set up with 1 or 2 NPXs and different, more modest sized speakers (Kudos 505s and Wilson Benesch Discovery 3Zero along with Serhan Swift were lovely sounding in their own ways but giving superb mid-range and imagery). Very curious about further auditioning the WB with isobarik design that the WB playlist didn’t accentuate in the half hour I was there sadly. Another good show, with something for everyone and again a well presented demo with a variety of likeable tunes from Jason and the team. Thanks Naim. 
That’s strange. In the two timed Naim demos I went to yesterday, in both cases the 332 was never hooked up to the 500. They switched from 333/332/350 (with 2x 300) straight to Nd555/ps555/552/500.
I thought the selection of tracks was rather good, other than the Elvis track. It wasn’t a brilliant recording but the S1/500 system was more capable at pulling together the somewhat congested mastering/recording on this track.
A room not mentioned so far was the Chord new Ultima integrated with M Scaler/Qutest source and ATC SCM40 speakers. Rather good and they were playing some great music, which always helps.
The Kudos new crossover with Naim 222/2 x NC 250s and Kudos 505s (in active mode of course) was sounding rather good, if a little relentless. But I was forced to sit rather close to the speakers. Very promising though.
??
S1 Statement pre, ND555, PS555DR and NAP500DR, to be precise.
The thing is that smaller speakers would be driven just as well by the standard Nova. They wanted to show off the PE driving the big Sopras. I don’t know if it was the PE failing to drive the speakers well, or the speakers just not being all that great or a bad combination or the wrong set up for the size of room (it was a larger room which usually has 2 double beds in it, so not as small as the room with the Star/Aria X combo). They certainly should have had a greater variety of music. To not have any tracks with real instruments and nothing to show placement within a soundstage was a bad mistake. Not a great advert for that combo and for me the jury is still out on the class d amplification. I know it unfair to judge fully based on a show demo but it hasn’t exactly set me running to a dealer to upgrade.
Was there a big difference when the S1 was plugged in instead of the 552?
No 552 present.
As I said the switch was from the 300 system to the S1/ND555/500.
Not certain but in the demo I went to taken by Jason Gould (10.45 on Saturday) we had 333/332/350 (with 2x 300) straight to Nd555/ps555/S1/500 I think. The demo ended with Kiri Te Kanawa singing one of the Songs of the Auverne by Canteloube.
The rumours were true
Best room for me was Pearl Acoustics. So good in fact I forgot to take any pictures.
I had a very long and interesting discussion with the owner of Puritan. Fascinating stuff… Also a great chat with a guy on the Chord/EE stand who’s an independent dealer, talking about digital signal path.
I obviously found the Isoacoustics Gaia demo good as I bought a set with the 20% discount.
I found it interesting that PMC were using I think their smallest floor stander for their demo. Great sound I thought for the size as well!
Ok But you wrote like this in your first post hence my question 
I found the Chord offerings the best last year too. I see they have resurrected the name English Electric and the old logo.
Thoroughly enjoyed the show this year probably because I stayed over so had the whole day there. The best non Naim system for me was the Chord UK demo with the ATC speakers (I know not the model). I was focusing on speaker demos as my cat keeps knocking over my PMC Twenty 23s. Obviously they depend on the amps, but I didn’t rate the Neats or the ProACs. Surprisingly, I enjoyed both Focals in the Naim/Focal demo rooms. The new PMC Prodigy were good (but still too easy to knock over). And I thought the Rega room with the new MM cartridge and the awesome Aya speakers was the most memorable for me (especially as you can pick your own music - Main demos take note.
Did they offer similar discounts on Naim in the past?
ATC SCM40s apparently (noting i didn’t go). I have a pair and they weigh 33kg each. Your cat is not going to topple those bad boys…unless you keep a Leopard in the house.
Not back in my day, but that was 15 years ago…
Maybe it’s just me, but a closed door with no sign = go away. Most were either door open, or an invitation of some kind.
Near pmc were chord electronics - open door, 1 person inside, no music playing. Didn’t see quad/audiolab, or tannoy upstairs, and a few others, audio note at one end of a corridor, closed door.
We arrived by 1030 on Friday, did others have a similar experience?
I think supatrac were our first “listen”; invited us in as we were passing, spent a fair amount of time talking to the designer about his unique horizontal uni pivot design. Listened to the blackbird arm mounted on a rega p10. These were the successful rooms, and to be fair there were quite a few, but the memorable ones were eg rega where you just learn about what they are doing. Michell another one, when I asked about the differences between tecnodec orbe and gyro and which things change and are improved upon as you go up the range.
My cats like my SCM40s and have never knocked them over. They also sound excellent, so all are happy. There are pics on here of the cats enjoying the 40s and my LP12.