HIfi Deluxe March 25/26 - Northamptonshire

[DUVET]

This is what makes hifi a great hobby . There is some agreement and disagreement about certain rooms and that’s fine . We all have varied tastes in what we look for . I must say an honourable mention to Stratton Acoustics

Aesthetically hmmmm challenging but Sunday Morning I asked them to play 5 years by Bowie ( original pressing ) and very nice too . Even very good off axis . The price at £63K well not so nice

 

[lostwin]

Ok, so I’m not very experienced at this as I think today was my first full scale commercial show.

Compared to the WAM Show it felt a little bit soulless, partly as it was hard to understand the commercial vs pleasure balance. I was there to hear what was possible, money no object, as I suspect most were. But how does that work if everyone is listening and no one is buying?

Anyway, a few other random thoughts as I was not lucky enough to pick up Richard’s brochure with more coherent impressions;

My ears have still not recovered from the Absolute Sounds demo, hopefully their amp that also melted down whilst trying to prove a point playing Frankie Goes To Hollywood also makes a full recovery.

Having said that, the same demo opened with The Rainbow from Spirit of Eden, so I am prepared to forgive.

Something strange seemed to be going on in the Falcon room, first impressions was that the sound was emasculated compared to every other room. Then I realised that it was the only room that had given a serious attempt at room treatment- substantial GIK absorption panels with scatter plates. In many ways it was the opposite of most of the rooms - seriously underwhelming when first walking in but increasingly pleasant and even handed the more you heard.

No system there quite pulled off the trick of the speakers disappearing as a point source whilst maintaining locked in stereo imaging. No system there used effective speaker isolation either…

I thought the music being played was reasonably varied, it is amazing how your opinion of a system can change recording by recording- at least a Show of this size allows you time to hear 3 or more tracks in each room.

I enjoyed the Audio Note room best, particularly after being patient and getting a chair in the sweet spot. Good music, good vibe and the field coil AN E’s are the best variant I’ve heard.

Finally, great to meet a new (fairly) local Wammer, thanks for your excellent company throughout the day John

 

[rabski]

This is what makes hifi a great hobby . There is some agreement and disagreement about certain rooms and that’s fine . We all have varied tastes in what we look for . I must say an honourable mention to Stratton Acoustics

Aesthetically hmmmm challenging but Sunday Morning I asked them to play 5 years by Bowie ( original pressing ) and very nice too . Even very good off axis . The price at £63K well not so nice

I quite liked the Strattons and I don't mind the looks, but the size would be as much of an issue as the price for a lot of people. Very good in the upper mids, IMO, but I was less convinced about the bass, which I thought was a little less defined. As you say, what people look for in presentation differs, as does what matters more to people.

The music choice and the volume levels make a massive difference, obviously. Interestingly, there were very few exhibitors who I actually saw turn something down a touch during a demo, to get the level to be more 'real'. Most just seemed to turn it up as far as seemed sensible, then a bit more to make it unsensible.

Virtually everyone with a real life system spends most of the time listening at normal volumes, and a lot of the time listening at relatively low levels. The first thing I look at when I'm auditioning or reviewing anything is how well it works at low volumes, because things that only come alive when you really wind it up can end up being very frustrating. At most shows, exhibitors tend to play at far too high levels, which actually tells you very little.

 

[Gizza]

They did sound great though and the tens of thousands of pounds worth of digital came in an honourable secondr place

I really wish I could have attended, I've yet to hear vinyl sounding as good as digital, let alone sounding better.

 

[Gizza]

I quite liked the Strattons and I don't mind the looks, but the size would be as much of an issue as the price for a lot of people. Very good in the upper mids, IMO, but I was less convinced about the bass, which I thought was a little less defined. As you say, what people look for in presentation differs, as does what matters more to people.

The music choice and the volume levels make a massive difference, obviously. Interestingly, there were very few exhibitors who I actually saw turn something down a touch during a demo, to get the level to be more 'real'. Most just seemed to turn it up as far as seemed sensible, then a bit more to make it unsensible.

Virtually everyone with a real life system spends most of the time listening at normal volumes, and a lot of the time listening at relatively low levels. The first thing I look at when I'm auditioning or reviewing anything is how well it works at low volumes, because things that only come alive when you really wind it up can end up being very frustrating. At most shows, exhibitors tend to play at far too high levels, which actually tells you very little.

I really find it hard to comprehend why systems are frequently demmed at higher volumes than would be 'normal'. What are they trying to achieve? It always gives me the impression that they don't really understand what great music reproduction sounds like. It certainly wouldn't give me a good enough impression of a system's capabilities to make me consider parting with my hard-earned, which surely defeats the object 9f a commercial show?

 

[zeta4]

Thanks for all the pics. I couldnt make it in the end. Ah well maybe the Wam show.

 

[karlsushi]

This is what makes hifi a great hobby . There is some agreement and disagreement about certain rooms and that’s fine . We all have varied tastes in what we look for . I must say an honourable mention to Stratton Acoustics

Aesthetically hmmmm challenging but Sunday Morning I asked them to play 5 years by Bowie ( original pressing ) and very nice too . Even very good off axis . The price at £63K well not so nice

One-up to this. Ridiculously-sized speakers for a normal living space, but again, I thought they were a really nice listen. Had exactly the same thoughts as @rabski ; a really nice smooth and controlled mid and top-end, but the bass was a bit bloated and ill-defined, but still very listenable.

I guess their downfall is always going to be the number of cross-overs they need to contend with.

And are those silver drivers based on the old sony polyphonic ones?

And those speaker stands!? I thought they'd found some furniture from the hotel room to lift them up a bit until I realised they were bespoke stands. Even if they work acoustically, the aesthetics are well, err, a personal choice thing shall we say!

It's a testament to the ridiculous world we live in that Stratton are making a living selling these speakers at a £60k entry fee.

 

[Jules_S]

This is what makes hifi a great hobby . There is some agreement and disagreement about certain rooms and that’s fine . We all have varied tastes in what we look for . I must say an honourable mention to Stratton Acoustics

Aesthetically hmmmm challenging but Sunday Morning I asked them to play 5 years by Bowie ( original pressing ) and very nice too . Even very good off axis . The price at £63K well not so nice

Good lord, they're nasty.... First thought was of a 1990's ghetto-blaster, minus handle on the top. Still, as you say, to each their own.

I'm enjoying seeing all these photos from the show. It's nice to see some decent sized rooms for the systems to play in, although it seems that earplugs might have been a wise choice? Shame about this tendency to employ excessive volume, it can really spoil the experience. It's been said on here a number of times about finding the "appropriate" level for any given piece of music (and the space it's being played in) and I'd agree with that.

I've also noted that while a few of you have praised certain rooms there is no general consensus as to which were the "best" ones. So even at the very top level of audio reproduction there appears to be similar variation to that which exists at the more modest levels most of us work at. That's quite comforting to know. Not that I'm expecting to be in the market for any of this stuff any time soon...

 

[savvypaul]

I'd love to see a db limit at shows. I know this show is a bit different in that the buyer demographic will mostly have larger than average living space, but I really wonder whether some exhibitors actually like music.

 

[karlsushi]

I really find it hard to comprehend why systems are frequently demmed at higher volumes than would be 'normal'. What are they trying to achieve?

Agree with the sentiment about volumes too high, but equally, even at those high volumes, there was more than one occasion where I simply couldn't hear the music properly because of all the chatter in the room.

I don't begrudge people wanting to talk about stuff (that's a large part of why we're there after all), but take it into the corridor folks!!

 

[karlsushi]

One of the very few photos I took. Really enjoyed the addition of live music to this show, even if this performance just happened to be played through some crazy-looking horn speakers (AXJET Pro - RRP £90k). Didn't know whether to listen to them or sit in them!

Seriously though, the performance by BowFiddle was really nice (in summary: 90's indie classics played in a classical style on cello and violin )

 

[DomT]

I really wish I could have attended, I've yet to hear vinyl sounding as good as digital, let alone sounding better.

It’s a subjective opinion but the digital systems sounded a bit 2D pen and ink drawing whereas the vinyl based systems were more 3D oil painting. Maybe it’s not a great analogy and I am over emphasising for effect but the sound was quite different. I am sure that many people attending preferred the digital stuff.

 

[DomT]

This is what makes hifi a great hobby . There is some agreement and disagreement about certain rooms and that’s fine . We all have varied tastes in what we look for . I must say an honourable mention to Stratton Acoustics

Aesthetically hmmmm challenging but Sunday Morning I asked them to play 5 years by Bowie ( original pressing ) and very nice too . Even very good off axis . The price at £63K well not so nice

Wow great looking speakers. I ran out of time and didn’t get to see that room. What a shame as I love ghetto blasters and those old JBL speakers that these look similar to.

 

[DomT]

Looking at pictures, incidentally, the amp with the Devores is/was a Traffomatic Rhapsody parallel single ended 300B.

Also, the odd-shaped and remarkably lifelike speakers in Mike Valentine's room are/were Franco Serblin Ktêma.

Considering the ethos of the show, it goes without saying that neither are what you would call cheap. The Devores, mind you, seem to be around £10k, which looks quite sensible 'value'.

Richard it would be interesting to get your thoughts on the DeVore Orangutan room. I am wondering what components you thought contributed most to the sound. For example if we were to replace the amp with a more modest 300B maybe a pair of Audion mono blocks would we be in similar territory. I know that it’s an unfair question but I was seriously blown away. I also thought that it shared a lot of elements that I have heard in Audio Note systems. It’s a shame that I only got to hear good jazz LPs in that room though.

 

[Tony_J]

Aesthetically hmmmm challenging

No kidding!

 

[karlsushi]

Richard it would be interesting to get your thoughts on the DeVore Orangutan room. I am wondering what components you thought contributed most to the sound. For example if we were to replace the amp with a more modest 300B maybe a pair of Audio mono blocks would we be in similar territory. I know that it’s an unfair question but I was seriously blown away. I also thought that it shared a lot of elements that I have heard in Audio Note systems. It’s a shame that I only got to hear good jazz LPs in that room though.

For what it's worth, I thought the DeVore O/93s were one of the more enjoyable sounding systems at the show. Good balance from top to bottom and a lovely smooth, relaxed and natural sound. Much more like the real-world domestic systems we hear on not (quite) so silly budgets.

Kind of Blue was playing when I went in which may have helped the enjoyment factor.

93dB sensitivity speakers, so always a good match for valvey goodness. There's an O/96 version available for a few more quid too (I'll let you guess the sensitivity of those!).

I can certainly see why they are popular speakers.

(hold on, another of my favourite systems at the show and it turns out it was, once again, on the end of valves...something fishy going on here... ).

 

[Gizza]

It’s a subjective opinion but the digital systems sounded a bit 2D pen and ink drawing whereas the vinyl based systems were more 3D oil painting. Maybe it’s not a great analogy and I am over emphasising for effect but the sound was quite different. I am sure that many people attending preferred the digital stuff.

It's probably my dislike of colourations, Dom. Digital sounds much more neutral to my ears. I agree, it has often sounded more 2d and I think that's possibly usually down to a lack of dynamics, but I find that it portrays tonality and textures much more accurately. The fairly recent purchase of JBL horn loaded studio monitor speakers has brought untold improvements in dynamics and realism over my outgoing Quad 63's.
I found early digital more 2d, but in my system, it was the purchase of my Audio Synthesis Dax Discrete Dac (as far back as 2002!) that upped the game for me. I found this so much better than the outgoing Dax2 from the same manufacturer. A subsequent purchase of a Gyrodec, Origin Live arm, Benz Micro cart and Audio Synthesis phono stage still didn't draw me back to vinyl. I'd love to be blown away by vinyl, perhaps I haven't heard the right vinyl setup yet. However, It would probably cost a heck of lot more than the 6.5k retail of my Dax Discrete and AS modded multi-format disc player and/ or my Raspberry Pi 4b with Allo Digione Signature hat with Temple Audio Supercharger power supply.

 

[rabski]

Richard it would be interesting to get your thoughts on the DeVore Orangutan room. I am wondering what components you thought contributed most to the sound. For example if we were to replace the amp with a more modest 300B maybe a pair of Audio mono blocks would we be in similar territory. I know that it’s an unfair question but I was seriously blown away. I also thought that it shared a lot of elements that I have heard in Audio Note systems. It’s a shame that I only got to hear good jazz LPs in that room though.

I liked it a lot in terms of dynamics, tonal presentation and the sense of reality. I thought the room was too small to do them proper justice, because I'd have wanted some more distance between my ears and the speakers, and to have the space to try shifting them further apart and mess around with toe in, as well as getting them a touch further away from room boundaries. I didn't get any idea of how they image, which is important to me, but it's impossible to tell in show situations.

At a guess, I imagine they'd work extremely well with anything single ended and north of just a few watts. Pretty much any competently built 300B, 845 or even 211 (overkill) should be fine. They seem a relatively benign load. What contributed most? The speakers IMHO. There were loads of amps and sources at the show that would have been fine with them, but few speakers that I thought did the same job in terms of timbre and dynamics.

They're on my radar for a proper listen at some stage. My own funding is already allocated in the Definitive Audio direction, but I have to say that if it wasn't, the Devores would definitely be on my shortlist based on the weekend listen.

 

[George 47]

As Richard is busy solder flinging allow me, his able assistant, to respond on DeVore speakers.

I have been trying to get a set of speakers in for review. Audio friends in the US have said they are different but very similar to Audiote in their sound/construction and efficiency with a love of valves. But they have a 10" bass and 1" tweeter in the 96db (94db measured by Hifi News) efficient O/96 speakers. It is no secret that AN is working on a 10" +1" Big Es but as always, Peter will not allow them out until he is absolutely certain they are sounding superb. So DeVore has good credentials.

But no joy.

Ah, but at the Show, I have tried and possibly succeeded in mending bridges with Absolute Sounds (long boring story) so maybe......they may make an appearance.

They did sound rather nice at the Show and they did play something other than Jazz noodles.

 

[George 47]

Beaten to it!!!!! But who could we get to review them?????????