What a great local show at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Reading. Audio Consultants had a busy day on the Saturday and I chose lucky by going on Sunday, when it was less busy, but there were still a fair number of people there. The guys had clearly spent a lot of time and effort in getting the room to sound very good with treatments, gently added so as to not over dampen things and suitably hidden behind posters.
The main system was an Innous streamer, Aqua La Scala MK 2 Optologic DAC, Aqua La Diva Mk 2 Transport and a Luxman D-10 CD Player. Amplification was the Luxman 509 X integrated and the AVM A6.3. The speakers were the Kudos Titan 707. Cables were mainly Gutwire with most digital from Audioquest. And a rather nice variant of the Puritan PSM1512 with special mains sockets from Furutech, just for Audio Consultants.
The speakers do not look as though they have a lot in the bass department but they are Isobaric (Yes like that ONE) and have a deep bass that is tight and informative, especially with the AVM, but my preference overall is still with the Luxman amplifier. Each to their own flavour.
Stephen played some albums including the ones I had brought along with some nice dynamics and drama coming from the system. And then he suggested that we could compare and contrast as someone wanted to hear the differences (if any) between streaming, ripped CD and CD. Yes, the cards were stacked in favour of the streamer; it was playing hires music, the playing system was more expensive and it was using better cables. Off we went with a track brought in (didn't get the name of it) and playing high res it was clearly a great tune with a beautiful melody and the sound was relaxed and easy to listen into. Onto the ripped CD and what a difference. The bass had greater definition and what was some low notes on the bass, which I thought was people moving things upstairs, resolved into deep bass. The timing improved and there was a real lilt to the music. I really enjoyed this nice tune now. But it had a bit if an edge but I could live with it.
Finally onto the CD all on the Luxman D-10 CD player. This did everything the ripped CD did but without that edge. It was probably more dynamic.
When the comparison finished the original person said he preferred the original high res track. And Stephen was the perfect gent.
We then carried on playing tunes. The music was not always to my taste but it was easy to get lost in the music. This was a great musical system and did real dynamics, not just loudness. Yes, I preferred their demo room but this was a hotel. It was certainly good enough to show the differences in the front ends and why you would have a preference.
I know a few people could not make it (such is life) BUT if enough people hassle (call?) Audio Consultants there may be another show in late June. If it as good as this one you will not want to miss. Oh but watch the cost of beer and food as it is a posh hotel.