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
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