An event we always look forward to, a staple part of the UK Hifi calendar. Bristol is a vibrant city stooped in character with many interesting people and places to visit. We’ve enjoyed many nights out there, this time meeting up with The Chord Company team for a few drinks and a bite to eat.
Clayton Hotel, our home for the evening, very nice and highly recommended.Doug presenting the new Chord Company connections display, simple but effective. A bit like the man himself 😉Tannoy were very well represented at the show and were seen in various locations with this stand being particularly impressive.SCV Distribution had multiple demonstration areas with Manley Labs catching our eye and a great headphone display (which I forgot to picture…)The new Manley Oasis phono stage, if the Chinook is anything to go by this tube preamp should be very impressive indeed. Will be certain to be on demonstration in store once launched!Innuos had their complete range on display and remain a firm favourite here at The ‘Barn’.Ashamed to admit this was the first time we got to experience the Linn 360 speakers. Available in active Exakt or passive configuration, these were driven this time by the brand new Solo 800 Mono’s. The room was always full when we passed, Linn can certainly round up an audience.The 360’s have five finish options, we have viewed three with particular interest. I have to say the Single Malt finish here was exquisite, I’d like to see the “Clyde Built” and “Linn Heritage” finishes sometime too.Linn have always been great presenters and Gordon Inch was no exception. If you ever want to see a company driven by passion, look no further. Hats off to Gordon, he did a great job on our recent factory tour too, it was a pleasure to see him in action again.In the basement level we saw the new Chord Ultima integrated paired with the ever popular ATC SCM40’s. A combination we know and cherish here at the ‘Barn… rumour has it we told a couple of people at Chord they should hear their electronics with ATC many moons ago, needless to say they now own ATC’s at home!As everyone will know by now we are proud to be Wilson Benesch’s first UK retailer for over a decade. Everything they do exudes quality and they’re lucky enough to always have one of the best rooms at the show in the conservatory area.The Discovery 3Zero did an incredible job considering the size of the room they had to work with. This was another room we didn’t manage to spot an empty seat at any point, testament to their captivating performance.The IGx Infrasonic generator was on show here with a complete unit along with an open model to see what’s inside. We have a video of one of Lukes presentations of the IGx but it ended up being 7.5 minutes long, there is a lot more than meets the eye with the IGx and it was great to hear the A/B demonstration once more.A picture of Luke mid-speech. For someone so natural presenting and in front of the camera I could still sense he knew we were onto him!Wilson Benesch partnered up with Trilogy Audio and CAD for the show. British manufacturing at its best, the Trilogy Mono’s running a mere 20W in pure class A did a fine job with the Disco’s.CAD have released a few new products lately and it was a pleasant surprise to hear they’re rather affordable (ish) and very compact too. Dare I say you can sneak them in to most systems!Lovely to see Isabel from CAD at the show again, we’ve since been dropped off some goodies to try! Naim always have one of the most impressive rooms with a big demonstration space and display areas to the side. There were plenty of opportunities to chat outside the room with Mark Raggett and Jason Gould, both of Naim royalty. We couldn’t get a look in!We’ve known of their existence for a while but that didn’t stop Graeme looking bemused at the white lights on 500 series!Have to say it looks better in the flesh… something odd about white lights but it works!A welcome break. No not the service station but we did need refuelling! Focal had a great headphone display, I don’t think there was a seat free at any point.Good to see to SE’s get a run out and chat with Ben Lilly in the ATC room.Cyrus have just started to distribute Audio Physics, I think this may have been the first show they’ve been partnered together. Good to see some new kit at the show as I don’t remember either being present in 2023!Cadence have “put the band back together”, with Paul Clewes and Ian Sutton now running the show just like they did for years with B&W. It was good to see the Spendor D7.2 at home in such a large room – sounded terrific!The newly launched Naim Nova PE was doing a stellar job driving the Focal Sopra 2. SimplesThe new Focal Aria EVO X were a pleasant surprise for the money. Mike Smith of Focal and Naim. Not such a pleasant surprise but at least he was happy!Even after we recently installed a pair of the tiny Dali Minuets we have to admit we’d forgotten just how small they were. So impressive, if there was an award for size vs performance they’d have it!Just as impressive as last time out. The bass extension was frightening from the Lyngdorf Cue-100’s!Regrettably a room we could only poke our head into. The new all-in-one system from T+A is bound to be a winner. The DAC 200 and AMP 200 is a great solution, if this is a bigger brother to the 200 series they’re no doubt onto another winner.We were treated to a sneak preview of the new Rega Pre/Power. Here is the Mercury pre-amp with integrated DAC. We already have interest in these even though they were static prototypes…The matching Solis power amplifier. A chunky box compared to what we know of Rega, looking forward to trying some demanding speakers with this one.Following on from the great success of the P3 Anniversary which looked great in Walnut, Rega have decided to offer the legendary P3 in Oak. Sorry to anyone who bought the anniversary but I thought this looked even better!Simon from Rega with the show blues, we did ask him to smile (!)… The new ND7 (catchy name!) moving magnet cartridge is bound to be popular, the gap between MM and MC has been crying out for something to fill the space for years and this (estimated to be £500-600) is hotly anticipated.A great display of records. I tried to show the speakers but my skills with a camera let me down. I actually quite like the end result – arty!One of Graeme’s stand out rooms, the bass extension and control the 505’s exuded was quite something. I think we can contribute a lot of this to the new Sigao Drive active crossover!The aforementioned Sigao Drive. A passive, active crossover… whatever that means!Derek Gilligan of Kudos proudly holding his latest product, the Sigao drive. Again a recurring theme, we did request a smile !!The back panel of the Sigao drive, configurable depending on your kit. This has RCA and DIN so perfect for Naim but is totally universal and the DIN’s could be switched for XLR as required.Quite a bold statement, got to love their confidence.Don’t try this at home kids! I’m not sure double stacking is the best I’ve heard the Audio Note AX-One and AX-Two but appreciate the attempt!! Good to see a level zero system being shown to prove you can get an Audio Note system with minimal fuss and minimal strain on the bank balance.Love the simplicity of Audio Note’s display. Never a Hifi Rack or tweeky gizmo in sight!Daniel Qvortrup everyone… I love how this picture turned out. Very inquisitive. The room sounded sensational and the best in show to these ears!Stunning Burl Walnut finish on the AN-E’s. Could these be the best looking speaker at the show?!
The Audio Note AN-E has always been a fan favourite. I was treated to a preview of these a few years back before they made the production line officially, a field coil speaker with the power supply casually resting on the floor in front. How very Audio Note.
The Meishu Konzertmeister. WOW, Incredible. We have the Tonmeister Silver in the shop and it’s quickly become our “go to” amplifier in the valve room. This was another level, is another WOW too much?Something a little different we were keen to see, Anthos Audio. A complete turnkey solution for the paltry sum of £100k. Sadly we didn’t get to hear anything we were familiar with but there were moments it really caught our attention with its direct portrayal (direct in a good/unfiltered way).And that’s it… we’d completed the show for another year. Many familiar faces and a few new ones, it’s always good to get out and about on the Hifi scene. Looking forward to new products arriving in store from Kudos, Rega, Wilson Benesch and many more throughout 2024!
