@toetapaudio,
I went to the show to mainly hear the Vivid Audio and the Audio Note speakers. I was a little concerned that there weren't more familiar names (Arcam, B&W, Marantz, Sony, Tannoy, ProAc, Living Voice, Rega, Pro-ject etc) on show. So naturally I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality of some of the unfamiliar products on offer.
It's often said that hotel rooms are often not a good place to demonstrate Hi-Fi but this didn't seem to be true last Saturday. I did notice that the smaller rooms tended to be playing bookshelf speakers, makes sense. Also, there seemed to careful use of the volume control this time. Some of the previous shows I remember were almost guaranteed to give you a headache by lunchtime.
It was also touching to see enthusiasts, (designers and dealers), who could probably easily make a good living by other far less risk means, choosing to try their hand in audio. Good luck to all of them (except the quick buck cable peddlers - only joking, I'm probably just jealous).
Anyway, for any potential visitor I can recommend taking some form of notes as you go from room to room, via smartphone in my case. It can help focus your thoughts and is a great memory aid at the small risk of looking like a good plated audio nerd.
A good plan/ route of action is also useful as it's all too easy to miss certain rooms in the melee or excitement if the music grips you too much. I seem to have missed both the Townshend room and the bookshelf Kerr Acoustics room - and probably a few others.
I went to the show to mainly hear the Vivid Audio and the Audio Note speakers. I was a little concerned that there weren't more familiar names (Arcam, B&W, Marantz, Sony, Tannoy, ProAc, Living Voice, Rega, Pro-ject etc) on show. So naturally I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality of some of the unfamiliar products on offer.
It's often said that hotel rooms are often not a good place to demonstrate Hi-Fi but this didn't seem to be true last Saturday. I did notice that the smaller rooms tended to be playing bookshelf speakers, makes sense. Also, there seemed to careful use of the volume control this time. Some of the previous shows I remember were almost guaranteed to give you a headache by lunchtime.
It was also touching to see enthusiasts, (designers and dealers), who could probably easily make a good living by other far less risk means, choosing to try their hand in audio. Good luck to all of them (except the quick buck cable peddlers - only joking, I'm probably just jealous).
Anyway, for any potential visitor I can recommend taking some form of notes as you go from room to room, via smartphone in my case. It can help focus your thoughts and is a great memory aid at the small risk of looking like a good plated audio nerd.
A good plan/ route of action is also useful as it's all too easy to miss certain rooms in the melee or excitement if the music grips you too much. I seem to have missed both the Townshend room and the bookshelf Kerr Acoustics room - and probably a few others.