I've been to the Bristol Hifi show a few times and I went to the Bath Audiofest the day before but they were nothing like Scalford.
First of all the Park and Ride was excellent, allowing people to get chatting on the way, the badges were also great although I wish I'd thought to write my name on the reverse side as well as that's what was displayed 50% of the time.
One thing that really struck me was that it was very well organised, more so than the other shows which I wasn't expecting. Having printouts of the equipment on the doors was good, the hotel staff were helpful, the pavilion was a great place to stop and have lunch and I think I found every room even without a map.
Right, onto the hifi:
My favourite set up was in the Lenco room, the big dark brown wooden horn speakers all the way from Germany. All that bass somehow without any boom was very different, I went back several times. Not sure I'd want that type of sound in my own home but it was great to hear.
Next favourites were Harv's Focal's (I liked the slam and the fat sound provided by the valve monoblocks).
Third were Meyebaza's strangely positioned Opera Callas speakers (for those not there they were positioned firing at the side walls, I'm guessing that instead of hearing direct sound plus first reflection a moment later you just hear first reflection, and also you get more bass and less treble). The turntable seemed nicely setup and I enjoyed his taste in vinyl, not sure what any of it was though, I wish I'd made a note.
I think I must have had a need for bass as my top 3 were all quite deep sounding. Others I liked were the big white horns, flawed sound but somehow magical at the same time, definitely something special, the room with the Triangle speakers and the Graham Audio speakers. Plenty of other rooms sounded good so I'm probably forgetting to mention some others.
One thing I noticed was the lack of digital sources, definitely a strong bias towards vinyl on this forum and most of the systems I liked were playing vinyl. Good to see it's not dead yet and nice to hear some vinyl that's not been bought in a charity shop
Also a surprising lack of foo and most systems seemed to just be plonked down on a table or the floor.
After waiting almost a year and then missing last year's show I had to wait another year for this year's one. It was a long wait but definitely worth it so thanks to everyone for all the hard work.
First of all the Park and Ride was excellent, allowing people to get chatting on the way, the badges were also great although I wish I'd thought to write my name on the reverse side as well as that's what was displayed 50% of the time.
One thing that really struck me was that it was very well organised, more so than the other shows which I wasn't expecting. Having printouts of the equipment on the doors was good, the hotel staff were helpful, the pavilion was a great place to stop and have lunch and I think I found every room even without a map.
Right, onto the hifi:
My favourite set up was in the Lenco room, the big dark brown wooden horn speakers all the way from Germany. All that bass somehow without any boom was very different, I went back several times. Not sure I'd want that type of sound in my own home but it was great to hear.
Next favourites were Harv's Focal's (I liked the slam and the fat sound provided by the valve monoblocks).
Third were Meyebaza's strangely positioned Opera Callas speakers (for those not there they were positioned firing at the side walls, I'm guessing that instead of hearing direct sound plus first reflection a moment later you just hear first reflection, and also you get more bass and less treble). The turntable seemed nicely setup and I enjoyed his taste in vinyl, not sure what any of it was though, I wish I'd made a note.
I think I must have had a need for bass as my top 3 were all quite deep sounding. Others I liked were the big white horns, flawed sound but somehow magical at the same time, definitely something special, the room with the Triangle speakers and the Graham Audio speakers. Plenty of other rooms sounded good so I'm probably forgetting to mention some others.
One thing I noticed was the lack of digital sources, definitely a strong bias towards vinyl on this forum and most of the systems I liked were playing vinyl. Good to see it's not dead yet and nice to hear some vinyl that's not been bought in a charity shop
Also a surprising lack of foo and most systems seemed to just be plonked down on a table or the floor.
After waiting almost a year and then missing last year's show I had to wait another year for this year's one. It was a long wait but definitely worth it so thanks to everyone for all the hard work.