Just got back and thought I'd drop down some notes from my first time at a show like this.
Some caveats first, I didn't get to see absolutely everything as some rooms were packed, and sometimes they would be playing music I just didn't like. Plus my ears are no longer perfect, and I think really we all have different preferences in sound so what I like in system may be a bit dull or too much for others, so take it all with a generous pinch of salt.
General thoughts
- It's a tricky venue, and the rooms were too small for some systems (the Emotiva/SVS was a prime example), so not everything sounded as good as it could have. Some rooms sounded pretty bad, so much so that I walked pretty much straight out again.
- A lot of the experience was determined by the music being played. I felt if it wasn't to my taste then I found it difficult to take interest in how the hardware sounded.
- I'm not a fan of vinyl (there I've said it) and I felt some systems were let down by the scratchy/crackly records being played. That said there were a few demos which sounded superb with vinyl. There was a Master Re-release (or something) of Dire Straits that stood out for sure.
- Wow there's a lot of options out there, from amps to processors to digital audio sources, I wouldn't really know where to start if I was to spec up my own system from fresh.
- Funny to see large variety of massive power adapters that kit was connected through.
- Fyne Audio speakers seemed to be everywhere.
- I nearly went through the Martin Logan stand when I tripped on the small step onto it. Would've loved to have heard their elctrostatics being played.
Highlighted rooms/demos
Multichannel
What HiFi 8K OLED demo - it was a 77" TV not the 88" advertised, so looked a little small in the room. The LG 8K demos had the colour punched way too high so it was distracting and couldn't tell how lifelike stuff could be. It did look pretty detailed. Gemini Man looked dreadful in 60fps. It was nice and detailed, but the film felt like one of the cheap demos scenes you get on a sampler disk. 60fps films is a no from me. The sound was pretty good, but only 7.1.
KEF Atmos 7.2.4 - I felt the soundstage worked really well in terms of steering stuff around the room and giving it height. It was a tricky room for sure. I did feel the sound quality overall was a bit off, the subs maybe not able to deliver for the room size. And as someone else mentioend very unimpressed with the £15K Sony 4K laser projector, poor black levels. Could've been the way it was setup of course, and the room was still fairly bright. I need to get the Kraftwerk Dolby Atmos disc they demoed, that sounded amazing. I am going to look more at these KEF speakers for a future upgrade though, they impressed me.
Focal Atmos 5.1.2 - I was pretty impressed with the elevation of the sound again. The built in up firing speakers did a superb job of putting the sound in the ceiling. The Atmos Amaze and Rainfall demos and Everest sounded great. They also showed the GoT demo (which KEF did too) and I don't know why as I don't think it's the best Atmos demo. I think KEF did the soundstage for it better anyway, but then it should for the price. Overall the sound quality was good, but it did feel a bit lost at times in the room.
Emotiva/SVS Atmos 7.2.4(?) - the room was way too small for this setup so it sounded boomy and had little steering of effects. I even heard some clipping in the concert track they played. Didn't like it much.
Stereo
Kudos Sound Engineering speakers with Naim electronics - this sounded really nice, good bass and detail without being harsh. I liked the ominous look to the speakers.
Acoustic Energy - they were playing some great electronic music, but once you got in front of the speakers the bass was too boomy so I didn't last long. Above bass was good though.
Dynaudio - they were some massive speakers in a room that seemed to have a lot of acoustic treatment (seemed to a be a special demo room). They sounded incredible on the track I heard, detailed, balanced and well sound staged. Sounded expensive.
KOG Audio - T+A speakers, Taiko electronics - this was one of the first rooms I went into and I was blown away by how good the bass was on the speakers. I really enjoyed listening to these and went back for more. Mind you they should sound good as there was many thousands of £ worth of kit playing it. But hey that's why I went to see what some of this stuff was like.
Monitor Audio - they had some different Bronze speakers playing and while they sounded nice they never really hooked me into the music. I've got an older set of MA Bronze's in my AV so it's kind of a brand I know. These didn't sell me on changing them to newer ones.
Mitchell Engineering - this was one setup that had a nice vinyl album playing throught some ProAc speakers. They sounded pretty nice to me.
Dali - the wireless speakers they had on show sounded pretty good to me, although the music wasn't my bag.
Spendor/Auralic - there was a stunning demo of an acoustic Sugababes (I think) track that sounded lovely. They changed speakers midway through so I'm not sure what was actually producing the sound, but it was nice.
Lockwood Loudspeakers - bonkers 60s retro design that were probably too big for the room as it got uncomfortable to listen to when the volume increased. They sounded nice when there was less going on.
Bowers and Wilkins - disappointed in the room they had, it was more a showroom of there speakers rather than a dedicated demo on a stereo pair. I would've loved to hear a pair of their nice speakers in a focused demo.
Decent Audio - Magnepan LRS electrostatic speakers - oh boy these were my show highlight. I've wanted to listen to some electrostatics for years after reading about the Quad ones. They did not disappoint. A beautifully natural and balanced sound that staged nicely. I could've listened to these for a long time. Mind you it only had fairly chilled music playing so maybe they can't cope with everything but still, I loved them. Now where to find £1k (edit correction, I'd misheard the guy when he said 995. I heard too many 9s and thought they were £10k which wouldn't have been surprising after some of the telephone numbers I saw on some kit. They're now much more attainable to me at some point)
Edit: I've corrected my price of the Magnepan LRS speakers, they can be had for £995