Bristol Sound & Vision 2015 Show HiFi Report

A bit surprised by your comments about the new Technics gear. Their designs look terribly dated to me - just reprising some of their classic designs. I would still dearly love to see and hear them though, as I'm a huge classic Technics fan. Likewise the fantastic looking Teac units!
 
The appearance I can take or leave but I don't hate it- I think the boldness is to arrive with a streamer transport and amp that does both decoding and amplification. It would have been easier for them to do a DAC and a normal amp but they have been braver and I appreciate that.
 
I've only been to Bristol once, a few years ago, and, enjoyable as it was, I was disappointed that the audio far outweighed the video. It sounds as though the balance has changed slightly, but not perhaps much more than that. I wonder if there would be enough support from trade and public for a show devoted entirely to home cinema?
 
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Yeah I'll grant the streamer, Technics are not ignoring the current market, but their design and even their pricing are very 'early nineties', especially the power amp. I love Technic's big old power amps, but Technics were very much an innovative, forward looking company and I would have hoped for less retro and more sci fi, honestly. It's kind of like how Yamaha tapped into their past, and IMO missed the mark aesthetically in doing so, and also with the pricing. Their AS4000 amp is never going to sell, and nor will the new Technics R1 amplifier. Well, we will see.

I hope you'll score a review system soon, and on that same note a review of that little red MF system would be cool too - I like the look of it!
 
Thanks Ed, I meant to go this year but.. well, got lazy and stayed indoors instead.

So arguably one of the most innovative and potentially great products (the Devialet Phantom) was... doing nothing? That should be a bit of a mark of shame on the rep / organiser of that stand. It promises a LOT, and in my view the proof is in the pudding - so where's the pudding?

The other stuff looks mostly interesting, good to see the more accessible end of the AV/Hi-Fi world is getting a decent look - after all, this is where most of the sales probably come in from; success by numbers?

Definitely good to see QAcoustics are still doing their thing with very decent yet accessible speakers (when the Concept came out I was very impressed) and Paradigm releasing less "LOOK AT ME, FOO'!!!" speakers.

At the other end of the spectrum, Technics' revival (while potentially a "good thing") does scream a bit of "rip-off" given the prices they're listing. If it's just meant to be the tip of the spear and that more accessible products will follow then great, else I really don't think they'll have much success at all.

I do wish the UK had more of an equivalent of the Berlin IFA, but I don't really see it happening anytime soon.
 
I went to the show on Friday and I have to say that it was a bit quieter than I've experienced before on a Friday which is the day we usually attend. I'm hoping it was a lot busier on Saturday and Sunday as I do enjoy my yearly pilgrimage to Bristol.

Like the reviewer, I have to say I was blown away by the Tannoy Revolution XT speakers. Even if the music they were playing at the time wasn't to my tastes you could really appreciate the sound quality which was stunning.

The AR ARM2 portable media player was also very impressive with some Grado SR-325is headphones we had taken with us. I would rather see the price down nearer ÂŁ500 like the Sony ZX1 from the ÂŁ800 we were quoted by the AR rep.

We also listened to three Dolby Atmos demo's. I was a little underwhelmed if I'm totally honest but it's good to see/hear they they are doing different things with multi-speaker systems and I might re-visit Dolby Atmos once the home speakers have matured a bit more.

Sergiup - Nah leave IFA in Berlin, nothing nicer than a visit to Berlin late August/early September :)
 
Having never been to a "hifi show" before I didn't know quite what to expect, however, I rather enjoyed it. I'll never be able to spend mega, mega amounts of money on a set of speakers or an amplifier, but listening to some of this high end stuff was good fun all the same.
If I had the money (and the approval from the financial controller) , I'd have stumped up there and then for the Arcam "big guns" setup which I thought sounded seriously wonderful. Was about ÂŁ20k plus worth of kit maybe?
I actually went to listen to the Anthem MRX710 AVR but it was running on some super expensive bookshelf speakers which aren't really comparable to my CM9/CM8's so will have to have a chat with a friendly dealer to see if I can have a listen. Currently, I have a Denon 2313 and Audiolab 8200A which quickly runs out of grunt so I'll be interested to see if the Anthem fairs any better.
Anyway, I'd go again, maybe even hang around overnight for a second day as there's a lot to get round. I'd have liked to have had a nose at some of the stuff I missed, at a bit more of a leisurely pace.
 
Did anybody check out ELACs new wall-mounted speakers? A year ago I hadn't even heard of ELAC and then I wandered into their room at the Bristol Show and ended up demoing and ordering a pair as a result of that visit.

Strangely enough, I've also recently replaced my amp and my outgoing amp is one of the old Technics pre/power combos (not one with the VU meters). I know the new 2015 model received a bit of a kicking on What Hi-fi's site - it will be interesting to hear the thoughts of those here as to whether they think anything different.

I was also wondering if the show was busy? I went on the Saturday last year and it was definitely busy. A number of the rooms had queues of people waiting outside to get in - was this the same this year?
 
Attended on Sunday having been previously around two years ago. My aim was to see and hear the 4K with Dolby Atmos demonstrations but alas the demo's were every half-hour and owing to the queues being quite lengthy I couldn't be bothered to queue. The show itself is definitely geared towards middle to top hi-fi and was somewhat disappointed in the lack of audio/visual gear though I was glad to see the new a/v amps and blu-ray players offered by Pioneer.

The big bonus for me was having the opportunity to hear hi-res audio played through Sennheiser 800 headphones using a very good headphone amplifier whose brand I cannot remember. Simply stunning. Up to that point I'd always believed that hi-res audio was a lot of hype. All this hype about wide soundstage, separation of instruments etc I thought was simply a load of b*llocks but having heard the real deal for myself, you better believe the hype. the 2.5 hr drive to Bristol from London was justified for that experience alone.
 
You sure it wasn't down to the headphones or even just the quality of the recordings themselves?
 
There's probably a lot I could write bt I will keep it brief. This was only my second visit to the show and I still enjoyed it. It didn't really bother me too much that there seemed to be more hi-fi demonstrations and setups on show this year as I am just as interested in both. And what all the reviews go to show is that both audio and visual impressions are quite personal. For me, I agree with many of the omments about the impressive things eg. The Tannoy Revolution speakers sounded beautiful and definitely competition for floorstanders around that price point. In fact, for the demo room I thought they outshone last years Prestige speakers. I also agree with the impressions of the Paradigm speakers. All sounded very fine indeed - but at a price. Same for the PMC. That sub was unconventional looking but did sound great.

Disappointing for me was the Devialet and Spendor combination. Didn't sound that compelling to me. It may have been the music choice but the vocals sounded "tainted" to me and it wasn't a sound that I would be happy to spend a lot of time listening to. Likewise the Arcam A39 with the Spendor speakers. Not a captivating (to me) sound. Hard to know if that was down to the amp or the speakers. My gut feel is that for me it is a Spendor thing. It was also nice (for me) to confim thst Naim is not a brand for me either. Not a sound I warm to. And, for me, the Muso is massively over hyped. It sounded very boxy and not something I would be wanting to spend my money on. To me, the sound quality from the Dali Kubik One bows it out of the water. yes, I know, slightly different products and not exactly competing with each other, but sonically, the Dali's ate the Muso.

Overall though, I enjoyed my day out. Was it as impressive as last year? Probably not. Did I enjoy it? Yes I did. Will I be back next year? Quite probably! :)
 
Hi all, I was told that show was 7% up on attendance numbers this year over a good year last year and all demo rooms were sold. The guys at Hi-Fi Racks sold more on Friday than the whole of the last show. Not bad for a show based in Bristol (-:
 
I'd love to hear a few thoughts about the new Creek 100A / Epos K Series that was on show.

As a long standing devotee of the Creek/Epos products I've yet to read anything from anyone on any forum about their Bristol show performance.

Having said that I'm in no rush to change my current Creek/Epos set-up which I love.

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The main impression this year's show made on me was the large number of very musically engaging systems at quite real-world prices. Only on the 4th floor were several of the dem's spoiled by horrible choices of music that could hardly have been expected to showcase the finer aspects of the systems through which they were being played.

Outstanding dem's for me were both the Tannoy rooms and the Musical Fidelity Merlin system (with PMC speakers).

A really enjoyable event.
 
Can anyone tell me why the show is held in Bristol? It's far to far for anyone in the north of England, much less Scotland... Just curious.
 
Well they ditched the corresponding Manchester show a couple of years ago which was a shame for me. The last one I went to appeared to be pretty busy, but not busy enough it would seem.

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@DIBSTER - there's a really good show in Cranage (just outside of Holmes Chapel nr. Knutsford) at the end of June. Last year's show was excellent and admission is free too. Details are available at North West Audio Show though I don't expect that the full list of exhibitors will be available until close to the actual date. From memory there were around 60 exhibitors there last year.
 
Why is anything held anywhere? It's just a regional show that seems to have become preeminent. One reason may be that its original organisers were Cardiff-based Audio Excellence and London-based Audio T. Plus, of course, Bristol is a regional route centre close to the M4/M5 interchange.
 
Well, I live 30mins the road, and based on the Friday feedback (almost all Sound and pretty much no Vision, might have to report them under the Trade Descriptions act) I didn't bother going.

It seems to me that the organisers are missing quite a trick; I mean surely overall in the general population there is a really large market for the visual side of things? Attracting those visitors surely would ensure the future of the event more fully...

I had not been before, so spent Thursday evening reading back through the reviews of the past few years and they all made it sound pretty irrelevant to my interests...hence not bothering to turn up. I think this is a pity, and I had money buring a hole in my pocket for a new AVR, Projector and Screen...all of which I have bought last weekend!

I heard some pretty woeful comments (including some from some well known members of the forum) on the general lack of products to interest the cinema market, and also that of those which were present many were really poorly set up? Was that the case? Is there a show somewhere that caters to the great number of people out here who are more interested in the video/ home cinema side of things?
 
I just loved listing to AudioNote!
 

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