Bristol Show - England UK, Feb 23rd 2014

Lee Henley

Well-Known Member
Feb 21, 2014
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350
England, UK
Had a great time at the recent UK Bristol show, for those of you who don't know the Bristol show it caters more for the affordable systems and does not get carried away with mega high price tags, although in some rooms there was less attractive priced equipment....

You'll have to excuse the pictures as I only took the iPhone and some of the rooms were dark.

One of the highlights was that Naim UK were exhibiting their Statement range of Amplification which will retail at around $200 which is a bold move for this company. As for the sound for once I actually thought that Naim have done a very good job, if you have ever heard Naim in the past then this does not resemble anything that they have down before. They used some Focal speakers which were, well, very large to say the least, the amplifier controlled the bass very well indeed.






Other highlights were for me the Audio Note UK room with quite a modest set up by their standards, think it only retailed for around $15,000. Comprised on AN/E Spkrs, Conquerer Power Amp, M2 Pre, AN TT / Arm / IO Cart, AN 2.1 Dac and Transport







Next highlight was GRAHAM Audio who were selling BBC designed speakers fronted by a Vintage Nagra reel to reel, sounded very BBC ish but very nice t listen too. They also had an EMT TT but this wasn't hooked up.





These were the stand out systems for me from what I can recall, the following are pictures from the various rooms on display all making some nice tunes

Cyrus with the new all in one streamer, sounded ok





Dynavector with $25,000 speakers, although they were ok I would have expected a bit more to be honest



PMC - They don't do it for me, sound a bit HiFi!



QUAD c/w elcrostats and a new amp / streamer all in one, sounded quite flat, Ive heard QUAD sound better that this



They also had some of the new amps on display, kind of reminded me of amps from the 90's that were for sale in local shops



Chord Electronics, quite poor in all honesty, very thin sounding

 

Lee Henley

Well-Known Member
Feb 21, 2014
178
120
350
England, UK
Wilson Benesch - Sounded ok, this was frond by DCS.







RUARK - Playing an all in one retro styled media centre, this actually sounded quite decent, better than I was expecting, RUARK are engineering there kit towards the lifestyle approach



Spendor and Devialet, sounded really nice, quite impressive



Michell, really nice sounds from these people



PROAC, nice sounding



REGA, a really nice sound they were using the new RP10 and must admit it sounded wonderful





CLEARAUDIO, a whopping $50,000 Turntable, quite sexy looking and sounded very nice indeed



ELAC and their bizarre looking speakers



CAD Systems, real nice sounding stuff but quite expensive



AMPHION and Antelpope Audio, wasn't that impressed



 

Lee Henley

Well-Known Member
Feb 21, 2014
178
120
350
England, UK
ATLAS Cables using T+A doing some cable demos, the speaker cables were $10,000!



HEED Audio, first time Id heard these and they were quite impressive





CABASSE, bizarre looking but sound wise they were OK if you could live with the looks, they had some nice T+A Tubes doing the amplification!







VDH and Cocttail audio, sounded really nice and the highlight was watching the guy do a re-tip on a VDH Cart!





PRIMARE and GOLDENEAR, sounded quite good



Magneplanar, they don't do it for me, Im sure lots will disagree though all the same



EDGE with AVALON, nice!



BMC, a new one for me but it did sound quite nice, they guy said the speakers were extruded from Aluminium



 

Lee Henley

Well-Known Member
Feb 21, 2014
178
120
350
England, UK
I had to post the pictures over 3 threads but thats about it from me

Lee
 

Barry2013

VIP/Donor
Oct 12, 2013
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Thanks for the Bristol post Lee.
I had thought of going if only to hear the Naim Statement but other things intervened and your post, comments and pictures are very much appreciated
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
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Agree!! Thanks for posting. Also interested in your thoughts on the Naim Statement amps...I have heard the Focal Grande Utopia which they were apparently using. (Note: While the bass drivers are passive (ie they require an amp), I believe they do have an electronically powered magnet or something (ie, vastly more powerful than a standard magnet of comparable size)...this apparently creates the effect of much greater (and also variable) control over the bass drivers.
 

Orb

New Member
Sep 8, 2010
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Lee,
any idea what the speakers were with the Chord setup and what digital source of theirs they used?
From my own experience they can sound lean but interested to know the speakers and if possible if remember the digital source.
You are not the only one to comment on AN standing out compared to many of the other exhibitors at the show.

Thanks for you take on the show.
Orb
 

wizard

Member
Oct 17, 2010
856
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wizard-highend.blogspot.com
Lee,
any idea what the speakers were with the Chord setup and what digital source of theirs they used?
From my own experience they can sound lean but interested to know the speakers and if possible if remember the digital source.
You are not the only one to comment on AN standing out compared to many of the other exhibitors at the show.

Thanks for you take on the show.
Orb

PMC Fact 8 speakers.
 

puroagave

Member Sponsor
Sep 29, 2011
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Was AJ actually building cartridges at the show? I never heard of the Graham LS5/9, I found their URL and they have a dist in NA :cool:

thanks for posting.
 

Orb

New Member
Sep 8, 2010
3,010
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0
Thanks Wizard,
ouch, not good if they sounded thin with those.
Any idea what the source was?
Thanks again
Orb
 

Lee Henley

Well-Known Member
Feb 21, 2014
178
120
350
England, UK
Thanks Wizard,
ouch, not good if they sounded thin with those.
Any idea what the source was?
Thanks again
Orb

Hi Orb

Sorry mate no idea what it was

Lee
 

Lee Henley

Well-Known Member
Feb 21, 2014
178
120
350
England, UK
Was AJ actually building cartridges at the show? I never heard of the Graham LS5/9, I found their URL and they have a dist in NA :cool:

thanks for posting.

Yes mate, quite interesting to see him work, they had a monitor hooked unto the microscope of all to see
 

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