So who’s going?? Bristol has always been one of my favourite weekends of the year, the biggest range of the most diverse range of audio anywhere in the UK, thousands of people, amazing music, my shazam app catching fire with all the new musical discoveries!!
I’ve never understood why more people don’t go to hi-fi shows. Where else can you hear so much amazing music and audio under one roof? Where else can you talk to the designers and company reps themselves while rubbing shoulders with thousands of music fans…
Music when you are young is a social experience whether thats buying records in a gang and then heading back to someone’s house en masse to hear them or heading out with friends to see a band. As we get older it can often turn into sitting on your own playing a record and that is rather sad I think. Music and by extension great hi-fi is meant to be shared and shows do that in spades!!
I love feeling part of this industry and being part of the many thousands there enjoying it. Of course I’m usually busy as hell trying to get around the various rooms reporting for Soundstage Global but I hope to see at least some of you there too. You’ve got the benefit of course of not having to capture all the technical details of products for writing up later, as a punter you can just relax and let the sound envelop you…
And while we’re on the subject of technical details it still astounds me how many firms are so unbelievably crap at marketing. Many don’t even have a list of the equipment on demo in the room with prices!! Can you imagine walking into a major car dealer and not seeing the prices or model names displayed?? Of course an A4 printed sheet listing model names and prices makes life easier for us journos too because I can take a single photograph of that in a manufacturer room and know exactly what I’m reporting on without having to interrogate a rep!
There are lots of very negative things about shows so I’ll step back and let others cover them one by one. Somehow the responses always manage to wedge in a list of complaints from dealers and manufacturers about how hard they are for them which extends far beyond those of punters. Always sums up the industry for me.
Never done the Brizzle Show and have always wanted to. However, have done my obligatory “finding an excuse to visit a mate” weekend there this year for Rovers v Wrexham so today it’s the first birthday of the 2nd grand-child so that’s the absolute priority.
It’s always interesting to see/hear new products but these things are a closed shop and so much interesting British stuff doesn’t get a look in or even a hand to get a foot in the door so I look at the list of what’s there and my reaction tends toward “same old same old.” Long way to go for just that.
Neverheless, always interesting to hear the tales of others.
Some interesting points Mike but I guess some of the fun is seeing what your favourite manufacturers have up their sleeves which I guess falls into your “same old” criteria.
I think Bristol is actually one of the better shows for showcasing emerging brands but I agree it also has a lot of the same faces there, but then again I rather like that too.
Totally understand priority is with family though!
Jonathan, I’m planning to be there on the Saturday, at least for a few hours anyway, unless something crops up that means I can’t go. Will you be there on Saturday?
Hi Richard, I’m heading down Thursday- Sunday and staying at the Marriot so definately love to catch up Sat! I can’t pass my mobile number on here for whatsapp but Jason has it so just get it off him and drop me a whatsapp… Would be really nice to see you!
I’m only in Cheltenham so I tend to go quite regularly. I usually learn something from each visit and generally get my existing prejudices confirmed
I’m going mainly to listen to the Aqua La Scala mkiii. It seems as though Elite Audio are going to have it in a pretty decent system.
I’ll bug Naim about an N50 matching streamer again (assuming they’re not launching one) and likely buy some more Puritan mains cables. If Focal/Naim are playing the Utopia Divas it will be interesting to hear them and compare vs the active Dyns.
Thinking of going Saturday, it’s on,y an hour away for me.
I last went about 20 years ago, my memories were…
Some very very expensive kit, mega bucks turntables that amazed me as much for the aesthetics and technical detail as their ability to reproduce music
Some interesting demos of swapping components or cables - probably accounts for some of my purchases since
Disappointment that not a lot was actually for sale
I’d love to see a marketplace area selling used equipment, or end of lines. But there’s clearly much more money in showing new products
I’ll be there on a Saturday with my usual gang of friends.
Around 35 years ago my friends Chris, John and I started taking the day off work when they’d let punters into what was then the Heathrow show on the trade Friday. The group expanded over the years, sadly we lost John to an aneurysm a few years back, but I think the group is 6 this year. (If the software director of a well known hifi company is there I’ll do my best to stop his mad Uncle Peter telling embarrassing childhood stories. )
Positives: it’s fun to catch up on new stuff. This year I’ll be hoping the new Auralic streamer/CD player will be on dem. Enjoy talking hifi technicalities with other enthusiasts and dealers. I like rooms where they let you play a bit, choosing the music, volume etc.
Negatives: the music! It’s so very rarely anything I enjoy let alone what I’d choose to listen to, myself. Unrealistic sound: from a year or two back I recall a huge room playing LPs of a Mozart string quartet from Chasing the Dragon, I think. Impressive, sounding like an orchestra, but nothing like a quartet at any of the many chamber concerts I’ve been to. Too many middle-aged and elderly men (like me!) filling the chairs.
I’m booked in for the 2025 North West Audio Show which is only a short drive away, but that will probably be it for the year.
I’m easy to spot, I’m the bloke in his 60s with thin greying hair, won’t be many matching that description. I could bring my Naim water bottle in case that’s not enough.
If people fancy meeting up maybe we agree a time to be at the Naim room or somewhere else. (I’ll be reliant on my organised mate Chris to book timed demos so don’t know what slots they’ll be.)
As I am an impoverished OAP, I’ll be wearing my only serviceable jacket….twenty years old now, emblazened with the satellite project logo (think “The Terminator”). If anybody spots me I’d be happy to buy them a pint!
You might know my mate Chris I’ve been mentioning, he recently retired from a European aerospace consortium’s satellite team, I think he joined them in the late ‘90s if I remember when he left the telco he and I met in.
