Kegworth VS Scalford - First impressions

[Beckenham]

Hi everyone,

Despite the weather disruption of yesterday I decided to start a new topic to know the opinions of all those who have been to Kegworth, exhibitors, visitors and what else did you like, for example, the room acoustic sizes, the logistics or anything else you find interesting to be able to share with all those who could not go and also sharing with all big Wigwam forum community  compared to the iconic Scalford, and thanks again for all efforts and for the lovely pictures.

Cheers

Fernando

 

[craigmclellan]

Far more suitable venue for a hifi show. The rooms on average sounded far better and were bigger than what Scalford had to offer, which was a mix of tiny, adequate and so big that most systems which were ever shown in them sounded rubbish.

The hotel might not be as impressive or quaint to walk around once you learnt what the muddled layout for Scalford Hall was, but I can say, when I first went to the show when I didn't know anyone from the forum, the "charm" didn't outweigh how frustrating the place was to get around. It also didn't outweigh having no lift for getting heavy boxes up and downstairs. Parking seemed to be better, too.

I'm interested in exhibiting next year with different gear - the elevator and stairs are just better when you're carrying valuable/heavy equipment.

I enjoyed the show and hope it was a success for the team who arranged it.

 

[Tony_J]

Easy to get to, good parking, easy to load the gear into the lift, decent sized room with negligible sound bleed through from the neighbours, decent bar, close proximity to the village with 2 serviceable Indian restaurants. Ticks all the boxes as far as I am concerned.

 

[rdf]

From every practical point of view, it's far better.

 

[Fourlegs]

From every practical point of view, it's far better.

No, from every point of view it is far better at Kegworth!

 

[Lawrence001]

Far better for public transport too being a short bus ride/taxi from the mainline station, took me less than 2 hours from London.

 

[Kevin Wood]

I thought the standard of the systems was much higher this year. I'm not sure if that was because the room acoustics were better on the whole, because volumes didn't need to be turned up to uncomfortable levels to drown out noise from neighbouring rooms or just that we're betting better at this!

Far less time wasted trying to negotiate the maze that was the Scalford corridors meant more time listening.

A bit of a shame to have lost the larger rooms and communal areas with the more ambitious systems but overall I think it was definitely a change for the better.

 

[AdamK]

It's a win for Kegworth.

Firstly, access just off M1 (I wonder how accessible Salford was yesterday in the snow)

Secondly, a decent size car park vs. park & ride which was a turn off for me

Third, A Lift !!!, for those of us with beefy speakers, plus entry doors at both ends of the building

Fourth, the bedrooms are indeed larger and of a more solid construction than Scalford. Unless you were one of the lucky half dozen to get a syndicate room at Scalford, the bedrooms were wafer thin cells.

If the weather could just behave, then next year could really bring in the punters

 

[Guest]

It's a win for Kegworth.

Firstly, access just off M1 (I wonder how accessible Salford was yesterday in the snow)

Live just outside Melton Mowbray. Yesterday the main roads were treacherous with drifting snow in exposed areas. My better half tried to get into Melton around lunchtime & turned back.

 In view of the conditions I doubt Scalford would have been accessible without a 4 x 4.

 

[Bazzer]

because volumes didn't need to be turned up to uncomfortable levels to drown out noise from neighbouring rooms

Good point  :^

 

[insider9]

Having only attended one Scalford show (last year) my impressions are Kegworth was far better. 

Location, ease of parking, wider corridors (though not as many attended),  easier to navigate but most importantly larger rooms.

I felt at Scalford that it was difficult to listen to some otherwise great systems as room interaction was so big. This didn't happen at Kegworth. Yes there was a little room interaction as always but nothing that would put you off. 

Also after last year I was nearly deafened however this year with far better room acoustics I'm absolutely fine. 

And what a brilliant show it was!!! 

 

[Guest]

Its always a gamble even a calculated one because Kegworth seemed to tick so many boxes but that still is no guarantee. Infrastructure is the key thing for wam show . It has to be as accessible as possible . As i mentioned to those exhibitors yesterday if we had persevered with Scalford it would have just been us yesterday and no visitors . Scalford was great after five or six visits because you actually by then had worked the layout out. Then totally forgot it again when drunk . Even with the most accurate of floorpans I would still see visitors at Scalford scratching their heads and looking bemused.  The staff at Kegworth were a great crack . Very chatty and look thoroughly pleased to have us there . Bar prices seems very reasonable and the real ale pump saw some very good business. 

 

[bencat]

Sadly I never made it to Scalfold so nothing to compare it with . Kegworth was a great venue . Decent sized rooms (WiFi is the only gripe I would have and if that could be looked at and improved it would be a bonus) wide corridors , good parking reasonable bar prices and excellent staff who would do anything to help . I loved it and enjoyed Saturday night (a little too much) and Sunday the show and then a good curry Sunday night . Thanks to Peter and Danny for all there hard work and will be looking forward to next year.

 

[GLB]

I Can only echo what's been said above with the great location of the new venue ,  the ease of parking ,  ease of getting around the hotel , better size / sounding rooms on average , members of staff very welcoming  well run bar and very efficient food service , one or two minor quibbles to iron out for me would be although the syndicate rooms at scalford where very large they did enable some very large curious and curiouser  speakers and system's to be shown , I hope we can find a way of accommodating them in the future as kegworth is a keeper , apart from this and maybe the fixed side furniture that we all managed to get around , cant think of anything, that subtracts . 

 

[eddie-baby]

A fantastic show, and the same fantastic experience as usual!

Scalford Hall is a beautiful place and I will always have fond memories of it, its kind of surreal walking around a Scooby Doo haunted mystery type mansion seeing all kinds of hi-fi, old, new and sometimes very different. But Kegworth seemed a better venue really for a public show.

Incredible enthusiasm as always from exhibitors, it is highly commendable the effort the enthusiasts go to share their hobby with other enthusiasts and the interested public. Best public hi-fi show or show in general I've been to, there's nothing like it!

The exhibitors and organisers made it work very well and it was very well received, you cant plan for the weather, but surprising even given the circumstances I thought it was really busy on the day. The bar and restaurant area was packed for ages.

Would have been nice to put 'a really huge 'hi-end' system' at one end of the big 'sales' room on the bottom floor though I think, roped off, and just had it playing away quietly in the background, that would have been a nice feature. But Danny's fancy stand mounts that were for sale did look very nice tho

 

[bobovox]

Thanks to all involved in the organisation and to those who exhibited - I really enjoyed the show.

As everyone has said, Kegworth was much more convenient and having headed home via Melton, I think the weather would have had a more severe impact on attendance had it still been at Scalford. As many above have said, the soundproofing between rooms was much better at Kegworth. 

I might be alone, but as a visitor I did miss the quirkiness of Scalford Hall. Granted, had it been me lugging my gear up two flights of stairs, I might have a different view of "quirkiness".

 

[Pete the Feet]

Only 1 mile off the M1 which was the main plus point for me. Oh no it wasn't it was not having to bugger about with the park and ride which took a considerable amount of time off the day, especially when you want to get home and have other things planned. The lifts are a bonus not only for the exhibitors but people visitors with mobility problems. I mean what hotels or large public buildings don't have lifts in this day and age? I did like some of the larger rooms at Scalford as the smaller ones can get a bit stuffy when there is a large visitor footfall. However the standard rooms at Kegworth seemed marginally larger but the sound leakage seemed better unless the exhibitors were more restrained. As said though the overall quality of sound did seem to be better so the rooms may have had a significant impact here.

Selecting Kegworth as the new venue was an inspired choice and as it turned out a good move due to the weather. With luck like that I would be buying a lottery ticket.

 

[Lurch]

 Scalford: weird,  wonderful, confusing, lots of memories for old hands, but Nightmare logistics & acoustics. 

Kegworth: It just works!!

Easy access no matter the mode of travel

Onsite access/logistics for exhibitors brilliant

Room size and acoustics ideal + no sound bleed through

Cheerful helpful staff, and superb breakfast choices, bar meals also good. 

Very easy layout for punters (and pissed wammers) 

Roll on next year, I will have room 106 again please

 

[rdf]

No, from every point of view it is far better at Kegworth!

Ha! I was going to say that, but, y'know, sentimental reasons and all that.

I do think the venue worked very well though, and the organisation could not have been better. It's such a shame, after so much hard work, that we got dumped on by the weather. But I don't think that spoiled the enjoyment of anyone who did make it.

I've been home about two hours, and I've already gone from "I'm never doing that again" to "maybe I could put a different system together next time".