Scalford show 6th March 2011

[Alex_UK]

Well, a few words on my first Scalford Experience.

I won't name names, but it was really good to meet so many AoS members, although the circumstances are not conducive to having long conversations, so apologies to those who I didn't get to speak to much. It was still really good to put faces to names (and avatars!) and to meet some of the people behind the posts.

This was my first Scalford - to be honest, my first "hifi" event of any type. For me, it was really interesting to see and hear so many different systems in one location, and without there being vested interests at play. It would be rude of me to mention the systems I didn't particularly like, but let's just say I have no desire to go out looking for horn speakers, or re-mortgaging the house to pay for "badge" hifi....

Mark (Reid Malenfant) and I spent the day together, mainly because Mark didn't want to be stuck in Pie country as he doesn't have a mobile 'phone! It was interesting that we both pretty much came to the same conclusions after each visit to a room. We managed to get round to most, although not all - 49 rooms in a maximum of 7 hours is actually too much - divided amongst each room, that only gives you 8.5 minutes per system, and that is if you forego beer, fag, wee and food breaks - we chose to drop the latter, so that still only gave us a maximum of 8 minutes per room! Given that we naturally wanted to spend more than that in the AoS room, and make several visits, in reality, you just can't do it in a day, regardless of the fact that you also spend half the time trying to work out where the f*ck you are in the building!

Other personal observations, then. Everyone was really friendly, and despite it being heaving, we always managed to squeeze into a room. The main emphasis I think is on fun - no one was taking it too seriously, I felt. One slight criticism is that the usual hifi fare was being played in a lot of rooms - Miles Davies, Kate Bush, Dire Straits where probably the most common, but there was a general trend towards Jazz/acoustic type music (I know to a degree this is the listener's fault, for not asking for something else, but refer to the comment about time above...) I personally would have liked to hear a bit more variation, and perhaps it was there, and we just got unlucky on the rotation we were working on.

Down to the nitty gritty then - which rooms sounded the best? As a general observation, as already eluded to above, the systems with horns in them just didn't do it for me. Quite a lot of the rooms were not ideal matches for the systems, and I found that overall, the systems I preferred were those with smaller standmount speakers, which were more optimal for the rooms. I have certainly changed my opinion of "tiddly speakers" - the JR149s, AVI ADM 9.1's, Harbeth HL-P3ES's, and tiny PMCs all doing a great job.

Here's an interesting one - I found that I didn't prefer in any system valves over solid state, or vice versa. I know I'm a bit of a newbie here, but I really couldn't have told you in one single example just by listening, whether an amp was valve or transistor based. Probably just my lack of experience, but I certainly haven't come away thinking (apart from the looks) that I just have to have glowing bottles!

OK, well I've avoided it long enough - which system did I like the most? Well, it goes without saying (well it doesn't, so I'll say it!) that the AoS system did sound fab - Nick's (Beechwoods) Nagra in particular surprised me, as I wasn't expecting it to sound that good - just my preconceptions of tape, I guess, based on 80's Amstrad systems - I never realised how good a tape front end can be. Marco's Techie, Copper amp and 66's was a lovely combination. I also heard several people commenting on how good the AoS room sounded - they obviously weren't in their when Nick (Beechwoods) was choosing the music!

I also really enjoyed listening to the Quad ESL57 fronted system, with LP12 front end and Leak TL12 amps - maybe it was partly because I deliberately wanted to hear a pair of electrostatics, having never heard them before, or not, but they sounded very neutral and had a wonderful presentation. Maybe helped by the supertweeters, but also I suspect the big room they were in.

I could go on and on - really, there wasn't a "bad" system at all. But, in the final analysis, I think the sound I enjoyed the most was in Jerry's (Jandl100) room, with the combo of Wadia 830 CD player or Pioneer PL600X turntable, Unison Unico amp, and borrowed Tannoy 12" Golds in Lancaster cabinets. I don't know what it was about this system specifically that was so tantalising, but it just seemed so effortless - the image was so well defined, and the "picture" so clear, and overall the combination was just so full of soul and musicality that if I had to stick my neck out and say that is the one I would have, it would (probably) be it.

I hope I haven't offended anyone with my musings - it really was a fabulous day out, and a great experience, and I can't wait until the next one!

Well done everyone.