The HiFi Gods don’t appear to have been too kind in recent weeks. The Ascot Show was beset with rail strikes and this weekend’s UK Audio Show, at the Staverton Park Hotel, was surrounded by road works and traffic accidents. Fortunately, for me, George was doing the driving! We witnessed the bent remains of two cars on a low loader being removed from the penultimate turning before the hotel.
Having parked up we were rather later than we had hoped and so made our way straight to the Audio Consultants & Crescent Recordings suite next to the entrance, having attended two of their events, HERE and HERE, we were keen to see this rather more ad-hoc event; allowing attendees to hear the difference between live and recorded.
Unsurprisingly things had started, but the room was packed and so we sidled into a gap at the back. Alan West and Nicholas Bayes were performing country & western, on guitar and bass. There was an absentee, Mim Grey. She would later tell us that she hadn’t got to bed until 4 a.m., following a concert, and then had the same traffic issues that had plagued the rest of us. Mim took over musical duties after a coffee break.
I thoroughly enjoyed the music, that pulled at all sorts of emotional heart strings.
Once the live sessions were over Damen Sawyer took on the task of doing some fast-time mastering. We were asked to return at 2.30pm to hear the results played on a CD via two systems set up by Audio Consultants. Stephen Harper was not completely happy with the positioning of the HiFi, but that took second place to the musicians.
Playback was via: either the Hegel Viking (£4.5k) or Luxman D-07X (£10k); into either the Hegel H600 (£10.5k) or Luxman L-507Z (£8k); played back through either the Ophidian Incanto (£6k) or Golden Ear T66 (£6.5). Equipment supports and isolation bases by HRS, Puritan mains purification and Gutwire cables. On hand was also an Origin Live Calypso Mk 5 (£3.1k) with Origin Live Illustrious Mk 4 (£2.1k) and DS Audio DS-003 package (£6k).
The difference between the Hegel and Luxman amps was not subtle, and there were elements of both that I enjoyed. One telling point for me was the reproduction of the vocals, but you had to be there to truly appreciate it. Where you? What did you think?
Thank you Stephen and Damon for another enjoyable and thought-provoking demonstration!
We then started to make our way around the two floors, stopping off at G Point Audio, having spotted the word Lampizator:
Longdog Audio was an excellent stopping-off point, as some classic albums were played through a Technics SL1200G Turntable into Music First amplification and a pair of clear Perspex speakers. I especially enjoyed Deja Vue by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Excellent music well played.
We then popped into Henley Audio, where Klipsch Forte IV speakers raised a grin onto both of our faces. The HiFi Rose RA180 was attracting attention with its steampunk look. I was drawn by the Musical Fidelity LS3/5a.
We popped into the OSV Audio room where George recognised an amplifier he had reviewed for the site.
Last week Taran, from the ‘A British Audiophile’ YouTube Channel reviewed the 3 Square Audio Ayal speakers enthusiastically, HERE. We had a good chat with Stephen, and hope to set ears on them in due course.
Having attended their DeVore Event George stepped into the HiFi Lounge room.
We stopped off in the NVA room, where we were to return and listen to two pairs of their Cube Speakers via two of their integrated amps; and discuss their kind gift of a raffle prize at the WAM show: an NVA AP20 integrated amp; and, a pair of NVA Cube 3 speakers.
At this point we returned to listen to the Damon mastered Audio Consultants CD.
Having exchanged a few emails with Carlo from Bricasti we said hello in person, before going into their demonstration suite, for some very dynamic music.
Through the day we touched base with the chaps from Audio Note, who had hired three rooms. We sat and listened to their smaller system making some very pleasant sounds.
Comments by George:
Adding to Martin’s views of the Show, the Live vs Recorded event was a brave thing to do at a live audio show; but it worked. The musicians were relaxed and played really well and all the recordings were done in one take with included chat. Listening to the recorded music via a great Luxman-based system showed what a good job had been done in capturing the live feel of the music. It may not have been as good as the Luxmans and Hegels heard in Audio Consultants showrooms but that is the joys of an audio show in a hotel.
I have always had a soft spot for G Point Audio and their Lampizator DACs. Hearing them again reinforced why.
Although they were somewhat unusual the Longdog room had a pair of clear acrylic open baffle speakers. With the rest of their equipment, they made a clear transparent sound that untangled old standards like CSNY’s Déjà vu. So many systems reduce it to a mush of sound.
On to Henley Audio who were using the Rose 180 to really give the Klipsch Forte’s speakers a big fun sound that was really rattling the rafters. Effete, super sophisticated, nah…. great fun…yes.
The OSV amp was showing what a good amp can do without having to cost the earth.
The tiddly 3 Square Audio Ayals looked impressive as a lot of care and design has gone into these speakers. But even better was the sound. Can’t wait to see what Martin makes of these small gems.
I had to listen to the DeVore speakers and the fantastic Western Electric 91E 300B amplifier. Whilst it was not as good as I heard at Hifi Lounge: https://www.hifiwigwam.com/threads/hifi-lounge-devore-day.122411/ it was still a good sound.
And on to the cute-looking NVA amps and speakers. The small ones in the Wam Show auction sounded ideal in the smaller room and whilst they will not go down to 12Hz in the bass or reach 50 kHz at 120 db who wants that in a small room? They had great clarity and made it easy to hear into the music. The person who leaves with this system after the Wam Show is in for a treat; all for the price of a raffle ticket (or 10 of them).
The Bricasti system made the most of their power and dynamics in what was an enormous room, especially on classical music.
An audio oasis was found in the Audio Note room. I abandoned my audio sleuth mode and just listened to real music made by humans.
