Bristol HI Fi Show this Weekend.

[dari 178]

Great write-up Eddie-baby! Enjoyed that. Anyone can say something about the ATC room? The new small Harbeths cost more than ATC SCM19! Yeah, many manufacturers went bonkers.

[eddie-baby 1,655]

2 hours ago, MartinC said:

Regarding the SVS SB200 Pro this is a model that could potentially be of more interest to people here I think due to the built-in EQ options. Particularly for those with small standmount speakers. It does though rely on a phone app to configure which I worry somewhat may ultimately limit the life of the sub if future phones (or whatever) ultimately end up incompatible with it.

That is what interested me in the sb2000 or a pb. The more ways to tune and adjust with a sub the better I would say, and to do it on the fly from an app would be great. But to be frank I don't think they are that good. Their drivers are nothing like the standard of JLs. The Ultras are what svs do best but huge mainly, what they should have made was some smaller ultras. 

[Bigwig07 66]

Did Primare turn up ? 

I couldn't find them

Or Hi Fi Pig

[PeteVid 19]

And on the exhibitors list no mention of Nad, Yamaha or Q Acoustics? Basically my hifi.

[eddie-baby 1,655]

2 hours ago, dari said:

Great write-up Eddie-baby! Enjoyed that. Anyone can say something about the ATC room? The new small Harbeths cost more than ATC SCM19! Yeah, many manufacturers went bonkers.

I did spend a little time in the ATC room. The new little ones were sounding pretty good and very compact. I'm not really looking for any small speakers at the moment but they seemed to be doing a good job. The thing with ATC I don't like is they are a little like ProAc good, but maybe a tad overpriced. And I'd just rather ProAc if I was looking for something that small, or LS3/5A's of course.

[MartinC 2,902]

2 hours ago, dari said:

Anyone can say something about the ATC room?

Two years ago I was really impressed by the SCM40 actives at Bristol so I actually went to the ATC room before anywhere else. In the morning they had the SCM 7 passive standmounts playing which were decent but didn't wow me. The show guide had said they were going to run these with a sub but sadly they decided not to.

In the afternoon they had the SCM40 actives playing and I have to say I wasn't as impressed as previously. I don't know if it was because I was expecting more or something different in the setup but again they sounded decent but I wasn't left thinking it was one of the best sounding rooms at the show like I was before. (I'm pretty sure it was the same physical room actually.)

Edited February 23, 2020 by MartinC

[MartinC 2,902]

I'll just add that for me the two ATC offerings impressed me far more than than the two much more expensive ProAc speakers I heard which both left be totally underwhelmed. 

[eddie-baby 1,655]

24 minutes ago, MartinC said:

I'll just add that for me the two ATC offerings impressed me far more than than the two much more expensive ProAc speakers I heard which both left be totally underwhelmed. 

I liked the ProAc's, they all have a familiar sound but I wouldn't have gone for those even if I had the money, apart from the silly pricing and I really wasn't keen on the styling either, I think ProAc have had their best days, the earlier Response series were some real special speakers if you ask me. I would have just kept producing those if it was my company, just like they been doing all those years with the Studio range for the professional market. ATC just sound a little clean for me no life in them, ProAc's especially the older ones sounded alive, and instrument timbre and even vocals were so real, and you could focus on the music as a whole. I'm off again with my ProAc fanatics And I've just sold a set of long serving Response as well  

[Three sheds 73]

28 minutes ago, MartinC said:

Two years ago I was really impressed by the SCM40 actives at Bristol so I actually went to the ATC room before anywhere else. In the morning they had the SCM 7 passive standmounts playing which were decent but didn't wow me. The show guide had said they were going to run these with a sub but sadly they decided not to.

In the afternoon they had the SCM40 actives playing and I have to say I wasn't as impressed as previously. I don't know if it was because I was expecting more or something different in the setup but again they sounded decent but I wasn't left thinking it was one of the best sounding rooms at the show like I was before. (I'm pretty sure it was the same physical room actually.)

Last year I too was really impressed by the SCM40 actives and remember staying for an extended listen to them. This year when I went back to the room in the afternoon it was too busy to hear them properly. It was the same 'end' room as last year. Interestingly on another floor, Audio Note also had the same 'end' room and they were keeping the door closed to reduce the noise, and that meant you could appreciate the speakers much more. The Harbeth compact 7's were in an another end room. Whoever was either side of the Rel room probably wished they had been somewhere else, as other's have mentioned, it was a bit bonkers with their six sub set up. 

[eddie-baby 1,655]

45 minutes ago, Three sheds said:

Interestingly on another floor, Audio Note also had the same 'end' room and they were keeping the door closed to reduce the noise, and that meant you could appreciate the speakers much more.

Forgot to mention Audio Note. Again as always they put forward a lovely sounding system, and they had the live cellist who seems to have become a part of their sales pitch of recent years. The system sounded really though and it was hard to distinguish what was the hi-fi and what was the live performer in the room at times. But then instruments are not that hard to reproduce accurately with 'good' speakers, vocals are the real challenge, but overall a nice system as usual from AN.

[lordmortlock 211]

I should have got down there really as I’m pretty local but I got up to watch the fight so had a lunchtime nap instead.

Anyone get any pics of the AN or LV rooms?

[Tristan 172]

I'm just going to leave this here...

[eddie-baby 1,655]

Just now, Tristan said:

I'm just going to leave this here...

I knew there was something familiar about those

[eddie-baby 1,655]

You can see the family resemblance here as well

Why do impressive speakers always have to look like Darleks

We will exterminate ! (Your wallet)

 

[MartinC 2,902]

1 hour ago, eddie-baby said:

I liked the ProAc's, they all have a familiar sound but I wouldn't have gone for those even if I had the money, apart from the silly pricing and I really wasn't keen on the styling either, I think ProAc have had their best days, the earlier Response series were some real special speakers if you ask me. I would have just kept producing those if it was my company, just like they been doing all those years with the Studio range for the professional market. ATC just sound a little clean for me no life in them, ProAc's especially the older ones sounded alive, and instrument timbre and even vocals were so real, and you could focus on the music as a whole. I'm off again with my ProAc fanatics And I've just sold a set of long serving Response as well  

I've liked ProAcs in the past, particularly standmounts.

£30k of imaginary money would buy either the big ProAcs or the Focal Scala Utopias. Based on sound in the Bristol rooms I'd take the latter without hesitation. How about you? (Obviously in practice how they'd sound in my room would be rather more important!)