Biggest Surprises of 2012

[occasional thinker]

from another first-time visitor. A wondrous collection, something for everyone, and a really warm atmosphere. Hope to put in a system next year.

[Pete the Feet]

First visit to the show and would like to visit again. I didn’t realise it would be so busy. There wasn’t really a bad sounding system there. Every system seemed to have its good points [Even in a less than an ideal setup for some] and I can understand what the owners saw in their respective systems.
For myself the sytems of note in no particular order were:
The big Tannoys in the Quorn room, big room big sound.
Myrman, that deck was a work or art and it all sounded great. A system what could be appreciated by the deaf as it looked so good.
AdamK in the Colman room, great to hear a good system in a big room cranked up a bit.
JonR’s system was one of the most musical of the day, lovely full and none fatiguing sound.
Beobloke’s system had no right to sound that good, I mean come on its B&O! I think a few perceptions will have been changed there.
Sq225917, he may have a cracking Dac but that record deck sounded wonderful.
Steven Toy’s room was a rockin with those Tannoys and 3 hundred weight of copper amp. Chain it down Steven the gypo’s will have it weighed in, in a flash.
Alphatoner I think it was with those kinky speakers [Duevel], great sound and looked good too.
Bagga’s room sounded just right when I was in and very easy on the ear.
Alex with his Cheap As Chips, I'm glad the Mrs wasn't here.
On the whole the vinyl had the most pleasing sound but I’m not going back on that route again.

A big plus point of the day was that I didn't hear a single track from The Wall, hats of to you Sirs, or was I just lucky?

[Griffi]

my second scalford show and very enjoyable.
very impressed by how well balanced the cheaper systems were. Interesting to note that very few cd players were playing but computers and Dacs providing the majority od digital duties. ultimately I felt vinyl was still king. Loved every minute of the show and well done on the food front. simple but effective.
Well done to everybody.

[HoopsOnToast]

Biggest surprise for me, well that was the single most cuntish thing to have happened in my time on the Wam.

Least surprise? Lots of great-sounding systems, lots of genuinely mad systems, lots of beer, curry and chinwagging. No surprises, just great fun.

[deggie]

GREAT DAY OUT......thanks to all the organisers,top job......many highlights.....alphatoners omnis gorgeous unforced sound...many tannoys, not all sounding the same,

jon palmer tt, and the man himself..nice meeting you again.....harbie fives still nice , cheap as chips jbl s.....brill.......both sets of kharma ceramices sounded excellent,

thanks to my two sidekicks alanb @ lee henley for there

[hearingisbelieving]

I guess the fact that noone has mentioned my system yet means that noone was surprised it would sound so good lol

[Valvebloke]

We've just got back. This was my third year exhibiting and the experience just gets better . Loads of visitors, intelligent and appreciative comments, plenty of requests to play stuff and a REALLY GREAT delivery of vinyl from Brian (take5) just before we got going - apologies to the neighbours for playing Thelma Houston's 'I've got the music in me' again and again and again but it really is FABULOUS. I've also come up with a business opportunity: several people came in, sniffed, smiled and said "Ah, lovely smell of valves ...". So next year I will have bargain-priced 'scratch-and-sniff' cards impregnated with the smells of your favourite amps. £2.99 each or £5.99 for the gift 'pack of three' Quad/Leak/Radford. Please form an orderly queue. Seriously though, we had a great time and just want to thank EVERYONE who contributed to it.

Valvebloke

[Pete the Feet]

The Manchester Show will be a bit shit after this.

[dangermouse]

First visit to Scalford and first post here. Kudos to all involved.

Personal highlights in no particular order.

Cable Monkey. Best sounding Tannoys at the show. Great music, nice chat.

Mike2000. Those Missions made some very nice noises.

Alphatoner. I love omnidirectionals and those Duevells were the best I've ever heard.

Valvebloke. That Rogers HG88 Mk.1. A thing of beauty is a joy forever...and it sounded bloody good too!

Thanks for a great day.

[Hap Hazzard]

Phew, What a day.

Best for me was Dean/SCIDB wayheyyyyyy that 80's system, and his musical taste, well the best. I Just couldn't keep away, must of been there at least 5 times.
His system was better last year though.

Next, Biggawire, it just keeps driving and pumping.

Karlinamillions was a great easy sound to relax to, i could of sat their all day. (nice speakers)

Last but not least. Hearing is Believing, just something i liked about the sound but haven't worked it out yet. (audio note oto se maybe)

Thanks to everyone for making me grin for another year.

[ronc]

Biggest surprise for me, well that was the single most cuntish thing to have happened in my time on the Wam.

???

[andreweast]

Very much enjoyed my first experience of Scalford. The highlight for me was S-Man's system playing jazz. He played an original master tape of Sonny Rollins' 'Saxophone Colossus' and the way that system got the saxophone was just wonderful - great depth and realism all across the range of the tenor. Really very special, I felt. I was treated to very interesting explanations of his PhD research which were unfortunately over my head, but it seems his theory works in practice.

Thanks to those (including S-Man) who played my copy of Miles Davis's 'ESP' - it sounded good in all the places I played it. I'm too tired to give a full account, but lots of good things; thanks to the organizers and those who showed.

[browellm]

the manchester show will be a bit shit after this.

qft.

[Nick1881]

It was my first visit and I really enjoyed it, I got to speak to a few people too, thanks to freefallrob and radical for some great quality sounds.

I also really enjoyed glowingtones shaking the building to bits and I got very comfy in def & cambs12 room.

So many great systems so thank you to everyone.

[bmtell]

Just got home. Filling my belly with pie. Will unpack car in a mo. Thanks for the positive comments about my system. I'd have to agree that the speakers are a little butt-ugly. Sorry I didn't get the tt (butt-ugly as well) running 'til after lunch.

Nick's (Myrman) system sounded the best I'd heard it. Very nice new amp. Very pretty too (system, not Nick). Negative marks for criticising my music choice later in the day, though. ;)
The Karmas sounded bloody good.
I really liked Rob and his dad's system up on the second floor. Thought it sounded most excellent.

I missed half the stuff due to time constraints. Thanks to Unclepuncle for looking after the system for a bit. And also to those that helped me get the stuff in the room.

Fucking massive horns are cool.

Thanks to the organisers. Especially for staying cool during the interesting room issues earlier.

[diceman]

Fantastic event and well done to all the organisers and thanks to BigDur for letting us sneak on the curry run at last minute.

Some really fantastic systems - it amzes me how so many rooms sound so good in rooms that have very different characteristics to the systems regular location (hotel rooms are never the best acoustically).

Highlights/surprises for me were (in no particular order)
1) Speedysteves horns - sounded fantastic and as a horn non-lover normally I was very surprised at how much I liked them. Even my dance track was handled very well - thanks to Steve for letting me play something so different to the norm for his usual listening choices (it did help that we had just had some Austrian Death Machine on beforehand!)
2) Adams Lampizator speakers - whilst the room was probably less than ideal they were still amazingly good and a real credit to Adam.
3) The Tannoy mini Autographs - much bigger sound than you were expecting, incredibly wide dispersion and soundstage.

A fine show and thanks to all the exhibitors for a cracking day.

[syep2001]

So heres my review of my first ever Scalford weekend (bear with me, 600 miles all but in a weekend!)

Many great systems, I tried to get to each and every one, i'll try and pick my top 5 for now (I might not remember all usernames!)

1. rockmeister - such a natural system, as said in a pig of a room, so good I went back 4 times. I really really want some Harbeths now. I really felt this had the best sound of any system there this weekend, to my ears that is. It did nothing wrong, and perhaps didn't have the pizzaz of some systems, heard my favourite track of the day on this too - Richard Thomson - The Reckless Kind, beautfiul,

2. AdamK - now i've had Naim for what 6 months, not having heard high end Naim before, I was blown away by the "scale" and "slam" this system provided. Again I went back for multiple listens, I even got up to walk out and move on at one point, just to sit back down again and be mesmerized by Madonna - Frozen!

3. BMtell - B&W DM2a based system, with WAD Monoblocs - that was great, I loved the way the B&Ws despite the presence in the room managed to dissapear so well.

4. Nait 1/Linn Kan 1 - simple, so simple, so great....

5. Tannoy Autograph Minis - yes I was also looking for a sub....special!

Cheers guys, great day.

[bmtell]

Forgot to mention that one of the biggest surprises was that the Earl didn't appear to be a c**t at all. Maybe he was being on his best behavior for the show.

[Petrat]

My second show, and enjoyed it enormously ... thanks to all!

Flippin' heck, those horns in Quorn!! I'm amazed anyone would even attempt such a thing ... but, in my book, the fact that they sounded great puts it up there with the moonshot in terms of human achievement. Brilliant effort Steve and Coco!
I loved the sound in Myrman's room ...had everything I could want. Also great were the big Rutland Tannoys and Steve Toy's smaller Tannoys. For straight-forward, top-notch sound I thought Russ Abbot - Royds brother's system would be hard to beat, too. All very inspirational ....

[TIU]

Forgot to mention that one of the biggest surprises was that the Earl didn't appear to be a c**t at all. Maybe he was being on his best behavior for the show.

Forum appearances can be deceptive, he's a top bloke (but still a cnut) :p