Hi Folks…I used to always go to the Heathrow show every year and then the show at Whittlebury Park in Northampton. This year was my first at Bristol which I thought was very good and enjoyed. Is this Ascot show very similar or better, not been to the Ascot show before. I see a lot of brands are being represented but you can’t tell if this is the brand stand or just a dealer who is representing them and a few others. The The UK Hi-Fi Show Live is coming up Sept 29th-Oct 1st 2023
I went before lockdown. I preferred the environment to Bristol and there was a lot more high end/esoteric stuff at this show (as well as the more affordable kit). Very little AV that year but that could have changed. I’m going on Sunday.
I was there yesterday and today and am there again tomorrow too (covering the event for Soundstage) and have really enjoyed it. I strongly recommend Mike Valentine’s presentations and Cadence Distribution have a hugely impressive room with pretty much the entire SME range plus a lovely SME/Nagra/Boulder system. Absolute Sounds have a very nice Wilson room and the PMC room was sounding very fine with both the Martin Logan Electrostatics and also the PMC Fenestria.
A great opportunity to hear lots of great equipment and a good day/couple of days out…
Naim’s 300 series were certainly sounding good (despite my Focal reservations) and I liked the Origin Live turntable too from a design standpoint even if I wasn’t too keen on the speakers. Still got more to see tomorrow - Chord Electronics, Kuzma, some room treatment stuff and Kef of course. There’s a heck of a lot to see and hear actually…
Some brands I’d like to have seen there like Linn and Rega didn’t attend sadly.
Nagra/SME system driving Rockport Orion’s, the Fleetwood Mac master tapes sounded rather good. If I ever come in to any sort of decent money, it’s going in to Nagra kit!
Their talks and demos were standout from what was on offer, I went to the Naim 300 Series demo room a few times and found the reps there more interested in hiding on the balcony talking to each other, perhaps just my timing, but the room and the setup didn’t do it justice.
The Focal headphone reps were however very engaging and interactive in contrast.
