Biggest Surprises of 2012

[Mr.Ian]

As always a great show, firstly my biggest thanks to "i_should_coco" for testing my valves I think it may have been more of a chore than was expected.

But for me to there were some real surprises - systems that sounded far far better than I ever imagined they would or could, so in no particular these really surprised me and brought a smile to my face. The:

• Linn Kans being powered by low end Naim integrated
• Behringer based set up
• £74 second hand system using JBL speakers (wish some one would give me a pair like that for free)

Not saying these were the best sounding of the day but surely proved that great music can be reproduced in many different ways and need not take a lot of cash or space.

[hifinutt]

BIG BIG THANKS to all who put in so much work, organisers , exhibitors , next year we need a bigger car park i think. so wonderful to hear so many systems ancient and modern . cracking

[ADPully]

I had a great day wandering around an meeting up. There was some very decent sounds going on.
Huge thanks to all those who grafted to get make this a success whether organising or presenting.

[IanG-UK]

Thanks to all involved in making a great event happen.

It looked busy inside and the cars parked up to half a mile away from the Scalford entrance confirmed that.

Many nice sounds, but like Mr Ian I thought the Kans and original Naim Nait (not a natural choice for me) sounded terrific.

[Bertiebee]

Great event, far too successful for my liking (if I'd have gotten my arse out of bed earlier I could have parked closer).

Nice to see so many different takes on music, large rooms, small rooms, big speaker etc etc.

Agree that some of the modestly priced systems sounded bloody great.

[Steveparadox]

Had a great day out today. Really enjoyed it. Heard some very nice systems.

Steve

[Bourney]

I too loved the nait and kans, just sounded so right and together. Also the big naim and neat set up again kept me listening the longest. Worrying really as they are probably the opposite of what I own. Gromits Royds as always sounded brilliant. Bob and Darrens Tannoys sounded great as did Deans snells.

[unclepuncle]

Bmtell (Mark) had a great sounding room considering how little it had all set him back. I was room sitting for an hour or so and could have happily sat there all day.

Despite it looking pretty rough and ready loads of people commented to me that it was making much more musically satisfying sounds than some of the bigger, and vastly more expensive, set-ups. In particular the butt ugly B&W speakers, which only cost him a tenner, seemed to surprise nearly everyone with how nimble and fleet footed they sounded - definitely an ugly duckling that turned into a swan.

[m7rso]

Massive thanks to all for giving us a great day out. Really enjoyed all that I heard and I heard an awful lot.
For my tastes it was a win for all of the home made speaker/active drivers/active crossovers brigade .......and Robin.
Congrats for all of the hard work and arranging. My thanks again to all.

Forgot to mention ....I really did miss papa L and jerry who were my favourites from last year.

[johnniebaby]

Bmtell (Mark) had a great sounding room considering how little it had all set him back. I was room sitting for an hour or so and could have happily sat there all day.

Despite it looking pretty rough and ready loads of people commented to me that it was making much more musically satisfying sounds than some of the bigger, and vastly more expensive, set-ups. In particular the butt ugly B&W speakers, which only cost him a tenner, seemed to surprise nearly everyone with how nimble and fleet footed they sounded - definitely an ugly duckling that turned into a swan.

Agreed

[ekallus]

Just got back from my first visit to Scalford. The standout rooms for me were :
AdamK in Colman room. The Linn/Naim/Neat combo was the best sound of the day, IMO.
Also Baggawire's NS1000 and Canary valve amp was great
S-man's set up was also very involving.

A great event, thanks for making it an excellent day out everyone.

Ernst

[Plato]

Enjoyed myself enormously - many thanks to organisers and exhibitors.
Memorable rooms? Well, I enjoyed most, but I keep thinking of BobC's and Coco's & Speedysteve's and those extraordinary horns.
Till next year.
Plato

[rory57]

A VERY BIG THANK YOU to ALL exhibitors and organisers of this years show. 3 of us came up from Colchester for our first ' real ' hi-fi show, and thoroughly enjoyed all of it. WELL DONE CHAPS.
It was great to hear such a varied selection of components and systems.
Food was good and sensibly priced. A very friendly bunch of people as well.
Only damper was the traffic on the way home, horrendous.

[oldius]

Best for me myrmans setup, df genius, baggawire, mr s.

Crazy horns something to behold and I liked the soulful dance room. Tannoy prestige playing future primitive drum and bass the coolest sounds of the day for me.

Thank you all

[sunbeamgls]

Neil, Richard and John's first visit to Scalford and probably not the last.

A really big thank you to all those enthusiasts involved in running and exhibiting at this show. Making all the effort to organise and carry and spend a whole weekend entertaining others with the show and with your systems makes everyone a winner.

For me, the stand out sounds were as follows:

bmtell's bargain TEAC / MF Pre / WAD valve powers / £10 B&W DM2a
glowingtones' SBT / V-DAC / Croft Vitale Pre / Icon Valve Power in Triode mode / Klipsch RF82
Myrman's Halcro EC800 / Emille Ara Integrated / Zingali Overture .3s
Adamk's LP12 with all the bells and whistles / Naim 252 & 300 / Neat Ultimatum MF7 (but only later in the day when it was all warmed up and settled in)

with glowingtone winning the £ / performance balance

[rdf]

Bmtell (Mark) had a great sounding room considering how little it had all set him back. I was room sitting for an hour or so and could have happily sat there all day.

Yep. I really liked that one too. +1 for the Kans and the NS1000M system as well - that was beautiful. The big Tannoy systems were all great, but that's hardly a surprise is it? Probably the most pleasant surprise for me was Beobloke's setup - old gear I thought I wouldn't like, in a room the width of a corridor, and I loved it.

The real shock for me was being repeatedly reminded just how much better a good turntable is than any digital source you can name.

[johnniebaby]

The biggest surprise for me was that Serge was playing some music


















And it sounded pretty damn good

[leenorris78]

Cheers to all for putting in so much effort lugging all that gear around.

Special thanks to Paul (Flapland) for the cup of lifesaving coffee and a chat.

Also to Serge for 105 dB of sound! I am beginning to realise that a flat frequency response is required purely to listen to music in a way the mixing engineer intended (like it or not)

And "I Should coco" for testing my valve

All systems sounded good. I listened to some very good music (not all to my taste but good)

Next year I will be coming on the train.

[robin]

just got back, had a fantastic weekend, all went really well, well done james and the mods, terrific job

[silencio]

The biggest surprise for me was that Serge was playing some music
And it sounded pretty damn good

Now, that is a shocker!!! Was he also listening to music, or just looking at the frequency response graphs?