Windsor Hi-Fi Show Live 2018 - Any views?

[graham67]

Hi,

Did anyone go to this today? And what was it like?

I went to the very first show where you had to book timeslots and found it infuriating spending too much time in corridors outside locked rooms. And then when/if you finally got in a room you were stuck in there for 25 mins as lots of audiophile muzak was played. I swore never to go again.

I have been to and enjoyed most shows in the UK but this first effort was dreadful..

However I understand it is not so regimented nowadays. So I am thinking of tempting fate and giving it another go.

Any AOS visitor views most welcome!

Graham

[Primalsea]

I went yesterday. Pretty good actually and not all rooms had times slots, only really Absolute Sounds. My friends wanted to do 2 of the AS slots but I wish I never bothered. One room was mostly dcs equipment and Magico speakers and the speakers didn’t sound right to me. The other was mostly Audio Research and Wilson Audio. This was better but they only seemed to play music I don’t like in the demos and I wasn’t blown away buy the very expensive equipment.

BW was disappointing too. The sound seemed very safe and a bit lifeless to me. They used Chord and a Rega P8 which normally I like the sound of.

The Karma AV room with Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a speakers and Primare electronics was fantastic, just perfect for small listening rooms. Stunning really and much better than some of the other rooms that I just didn’t bother with because of what I could hear from the door.

The Kii room was really good too. The amount of work and technology that went onto these speakers is huge and they are great, another stunning listen.

CAD had some Wilson Benesch speakers that sounded good, if looked a little strange with a bottom mounted woofer that hung backwards out of the bottom of the speaker. Good but for £28K just for the speakers they seemed expensive, especially when you think that the Kii are £23K for something that includes DACS and amps and seemed at the very least on the same par.

Had a chat with a guy from Atlas cables who showed us their top of the range speaker cables at £5K per stereo metre. These are beautifully made cables that ooze quality and actually involve a lot of work but the main expense is the solid silver conductors that is purified and drawn by a proprietary method by only 3 factories in the world!

Didn’t get to see anymore. Next year I won’t bother with the AS demos as they take up too much time and I didn’t enjoy them this year or last year either, now that I think about it.

Overall a good day but a shame that I missed many of the rooms.

[graham67]

hi paul,

thanks for feedback. I will it a skip and maybe do next year with an advance tix. At least most of the rooms are not closed by sound of it!

Graham.

[YNWaN]

This was the show that was charging £22.00 entry wasn’t it?

———-
Wilson Benesch are overpriced IMO.

[Manicatel]

£20 a pop for Hifi companies to persuade punters to buy their products in rooms that are far from ideal, using music that’s not to the buyers taste................Hmmm.

[User211]

Decided to go today as I have never been.

Actually I thought it was pretty good. Nice grounds, nice building, not too crowded at all. But I hear Saturday was.

Was anything outstanding? No. I didn't get really impressed in any room. Only Munich can really do that it would seem. But there was some good stuff. Bit tired but I might manage a few photos and some banter/subjective rubbish in a bit after a glass or two of Disaronno, the sickly sweet but yummy stuff

[User211]

Quick bit of Techie porn...

This thing really is looking nice with the Glanz. I almost want one.

All shots are mobile only I am afraid. A OnePlus 6 with a recent upgrade to Android Pie. Which is full of bugs and even the recent update to the initial release has some way to go. The camera app was completely unfamiliar today and the camera really has a flash that is completely pathetic by normal camera standards. I must replace my Sony RX100, which is bust.

[User211]

The grounds and place is quite nice...











etc etc

[User211]

OK. So now for some more serious stuff.

KEF Muons. For the third and undoubtedly best time I have encountered them. A room to do them justice. And they do need space.

A huge Chord set up. It actually sounded good. Chord gear never sounds good. Something was wrong with this show. Chord gear didn't sound bad in another system, but more on that later.

So - effortless scale, something I value a lot. Smooth refined sound. Plenty of weight, but not excessive. Not a lot identifiably wrong, yet I didn't find it that engaging. They were playing loud, and decent enough music to boot. Not you average audiophile crap. Brownie points.

I guess I found it a little lacking in bite and speed. That's why I didn't get too immersed. I like to be overwhelmed to get really impressed - bombarded in fact. Didn't happen here. But it was good.

You could have fun in this room with some electronic dance music and the volume control. I suspect the SPL levels possible would be quite impressive.








The room was about 3 times as long as in looks in the pic. I was sat in the front row there.

Impressive room.

[User211]

I didn't find the 'locked rooms' issue particularly valid. I walked straight in and got tickets immediately for 10:15 and 11 am showings of Ricardo's Absolute Sounds kit.

The first demo was a massive disappointment. Magico M6. The music selection for me was dire, which didn't help in any way, shape or form.

But basically, I could hear a boxy colouration, zero excitement factor/high zzzzzzzzz factor, quite a dry sound and a lack of detail that I would expect at this price, which is POA. The M3 costs £100K. So what do these cost?

Fed with Constellation amps (the Performance and Virgo), instead of the Jadis JA200 which were in the photo and had been promised at the door. That said, I am not sure the JA200 would really help matters, as this system needed an injection of brightness and dynamics that just WAS NOT there.





In the same room - the Air Force 3, which I'd probably take over the Techie.



And the Two. Which isn't as pretty.