wam show 2018

[Dickchy]

Despite the snow my flight from the Channel Islands managed to get in and out again, albeit a little late. This was my first WAM show and I know nothing about past politics but I was made to feel very welcome. I thought the venue was very good and the show very well organised.

I really enjoyed the Saturday evening - after all, what’s not to like about sitting around drinking wine, listening to music till the early hours with a bunch of Hi Fi fans on a variety of very good systems?

Highlights for me:

Spyder’s lovely trio of turntables all sounding wonderful though a lovely Gamma Reference 211 and Club 27 Kurt speakers.

Hearing Paul/Maverick’s Boenicke W8s fed by a thumping great John Wood Audio KT88 amp

The sheer enthusiasm and sound from SCIDB himself and his Avid Acura’s/SME front ended system. If you left there without a big grin, something is wrong.

Hearing a system that cost less than 1K from Tony-J and Ed Howarth sounding so good and proving you don’t have to spend a fortune for decent SQ.

A great way to spend a weekend.

Richard

[oldius]

Hear hear. We were there for the weekend, attending the Lenco Heaven bake off on the Saturday. It was a shame that the attendance was low but I thought it a good venue.
My best moments were getting to hear a Paradise phono stage (plus very mini bake off) and Yamaha NS1000 speakers. The yams were very electrostatic in presentation, right up my street.

Thanks. They were mine with the Lentek. I bloody love them!

[YNWaN]

Unfortunately Saturday nights heavy snowfall (here at least) meant that I didn’t attend this years show. I must say I was very (extremely) disappointed to miss it, particularly as I have been to every other one. I’m also very sorry to hear that visitor numbers were effected by the poor weather but the organisers couldn’t have helped that - it’s just very unfortunate .

[oldius]

Unfortunately Saturday nights heavy snowfall (here at least) meant that I didn’t attend this years show. I must say I was very (extremely) disappointed to miss it, particularly as I have been to every other one. I’m also very sorry to hear that visitor numbers were effected by the poor weather but the organisers couldn’t have helped that - it’s just very unfortunate .

It really is but it didn't overly detract from the event IMO.
The weather was very severe and no one could really predict that in March.

[Edward]

Second year I went and again highly enjoyable. I thought my system (ever changing) sounds good but, once again, seeing/hearing so many systems was an eye opener and shows me the potential of even going further. Is is quite clear the enormous effort the exhibitors made in getting their systems fine tuned and then just out of sheer pleasure sharing their fruits with like minded enthusiasts.

Just been looking through the room plans and see there are so many that struck home. My main focus were speakers so some standouts. Tannoy 10 inch homebrew by Cable Monkey, Greybeard's DIY LS35a, The Sony Guy had a lovely pair of AR-7s singing when I went in. Room 108 had a lovely pair of Usher Dancers driven by Icon Audio monos. The Philipps MFD 545 speakers had stunning bass, but I can't imagine having these monsters in my living room. The owner (Hondola) took a chance on them a few years ago buying sight unseen from Germany and listed as requiring repair. Did an amazing job getting them back working to spec. Room 110 had a small 2-way diy standmount made from Corian with external xovers driven by Pass Aleph 60 monos. Room filling sound from such a tiny package (xovers boxes larger than the cabs!). The Boenicke W8s, given its small factor size, had no business filling the room with such glorious sound, but it did - helped a bit with a sub wired in for the show.

Loved the old-school NS100N driven by The Lentek and shown off by Oldius and his son. Sunbeamgls really showed what was possible having an active xover, in his case a pair of PMC 20.21 with Linn active system. Precise, 3d, controlled and balanced. Similarly in room 204 there were various items in an active system. When I visited some Lowther PM2Cs were singing driven by various items such as a Behringer A500 and a Linkwitz-Riley 2 way active.

Last year Steve57 had massive open ported baffles in a large room. This year he brought along his 'smaller' open baffles housed in a more friendly package (but still enormous) driven by a 5w DIY px25 SET amp. I asked, above the music filled room, is that enough? Apparently the amp was only using 1w at that time. Talk about sensitive speakers. The SET was sporting original valves (e.g. GEC) dating from the 30s and 40s.

Ok, just 3 more for here now. TheReelBBC guy was, I guess, the most visually impactful with his Nagra and Studer R2Rs and outputting via Quad 405-2s to Rogers LS5/8 speakers. Fourlegs did an absolutely amazing job tweeking his Dali 104s to stonking levels. I was almost tempted to ask him how much he wanted for them. Lastly the Frugal Horns and Ergo IX produced a lovely sweet sound - both very WAF friendly.

[oldius]

Second year I went and again highly enjoyable. I thought my system (ever changing) sounds good but, once again, seeing/hearing so many systems was an eye opener and shows me the potential of even going further. Is is quite clear the enormous effort the exhibitors made in getting their systems fine tuned and then just out of sheer pleasure sharing their fruits with like minded enthusiasts.

Just been looking through the room plans and see there are so many that struck home. My main focus were speakers so some standouts. Tannoy 10 inch homebrew by Cable Monkey, Greybeard's DIY LS35a, The Sony Guy had a lovely pair of AR-7s singing when I went in. Room 108 had a lovely pair of Usher Dancers driven by Icon Audio monos. The Philipps MFD 545 speakers had stunning bass, but I can't imagine having these monsters in my living room. The owner (Hondola) took a chance on them a few years ago buying sight unseen from Germany and listed as requiring repair. Did an amazing job getting them back working to spec. Room 110 had a small 2-way diy standmount made from Corian with external xovers driven by Pass Aleph 60 monos. Room filling sound from such a tiny package (xovers boxes larger than the cabs!). The Boenicke W8s, given its small factor size, had no business filling the room with such glorious sound, but it did - helped a bit with a sub wired in for the show.

Loved the old-school NS100N driven by The Lentek and shown off by Oldius and his son. Sunbeamgls really showed what was possible having an active xover, in his case a pair of PMC 20.21 with Linn active system. Precise, 3d, controlled and balanced. Similarly in room 204 there were various items in an active system. When I visited some Lowther PM2Cs were singing driven by various items such as a Behringer A500 and a Linkwitz-Riley 2 way active.

Last year Steve57 had massive open ported baffles in a large room. This year he brought along his 'smaller' open baffles housed in a more friendly package (but still enormous) driven by a 5w DIY px25 SET amp. I asked, above the music filled room, is that enough? Apparently the amp was only using 1w at that time. Talk about sensitive speakers. The SET was sporting original valves (e.g. GEC) dating from the 30s and 40s.

Ok, just 3 more for here now. TheReelBBC guy was, I guess, the most visually impactful with his Nagra and Studer R2Rs and outputting via Quad 405-2s to Rogers LS5/8 speakers. Fourlegs did an absolutely amazing job tweeking his Dali 104s to stonking levels. I was almost tempted to ask him how much he wanted for them. Lastly the Frugal Horns and Ergo IX produced a lovely sweet sound - both very WAF friendly.

Thanks Edward. We really enjoyed showing off the NS1000 and Lentek. The DAC is not quite as old as those but gives them a signal of incredible clarity.

If we exhibit again I need to get forum names so we can say. "Hi!"

[YNWaN]

Hear hear. We were there for the weekend, attending the Lenco Heaven bake off on the Saturday. It was a shame that the attendance was low but I thought it a good venue.
My best moments were getting to hear a Paradise phono stage (plus very mini bake off) and Yamaha NS1000 speakers. The yams were very electrostatic in presentation, right up my street.

Oh, who took the Paradise and what other equipment was it partnered with? Also, how did it sound?

[narabdela]

Did TheReelBBC guy's room have a tribute to Stewart (Lodgesound)?

[Bazil]

Did TheReelBBC guy's room have a tribute to Stewart (Lodgesound)?

Top of speaker , go into Flickr and click again to enlarge .

P1000784_DxO by Baz, on Flickr

[narabdela]

Top of speaker , go into Flickr and click again to enlarge .

Thanks for the reply. I enjoyed my chats with Stewart at Scalford. Top man and sadly missed.