One thing that I discovered yesterday was that I’m happy with my system. The £100ks worth of Naim and Focal kit didn’t sound like I thought it would, I’m still in love with PMC although paying £6k for a box full of air and cheap foam will always grind my gears. The small Harbeth speakers were great. The Natural Japanese wood cartridge was a joke too, surely all wood is natural?
Bare in mind what you hear in shows is terrible compared to how these CAN actually sound when put in a proper room and with proper setup and acoustic treatment. Just the noise makes it useless to compare it to your home system. At the same time I agree, many “high-end” products are overpriced. Harbeth is one of them with their cheap crossovers and cabinet design. It’s very interesting to look inside these products and see what’s actually there. Many new amps are $100 POS class-D topologies with half-decent power supplies, really sad.
@Hi. Whilst i agree wholeheartedly that it's challenging to set up a system well with limited time and there being noise from other rooms,chattering etc,the excuse of poor room acoustics ,although relevant to an extent,isn't a good enough excuse for something that gives a "poor", performance as it's very likely that most people's listening rooms at home will be just as far from optimal too much of the time.
@barrywhite5899 I thought the same thing. I came home, listened to my system and was very happy. It was interesting hearing some of the speakers in person. Even taking the potential poor setup into account. There were plenty of speakers which didn't sound good to me. Either too bright or weirdly the voices sounded unnatural. I think the standout rooms for me were Dali Minuets paired with the lyngdorf amp using room perfect, defied physics. Lockwood speakers sounded amazing, great for those with big listening rooms and like vintage looks. Acoustic energy corinium, great imaging and sound stage. Pearl Sabalis with the new tube amp, I could definitely listen to those for hours on end. Diora acoustics too. I'm not a vinyl person but the Origin Live, I think it's called, turn tables looked and sounded awesome. The new JBL portables / one box systems also impressed, for their price and the fact it's an all in one, they did a great job on those, obviously not main system material. The room modes in some of the rooms were terrible, bit of base and it all falls apart with reverb boominess. I think the best thing people could do for their systems would be, isoacoustics type products, room correction/room perfect and room treatment (hardest one for most people without a dedicated listening room and agreeable partner). All in all was a fun day out, will definitely be back again.
Two essentials: Audio/Video Cable Installer's Pocket Guide (Pocket Reference) Stephen Lampen Music and Audio: A User Guide To Better Sound Mark Waldrep
It was a good show and I enjoyed it as always. I particularly liked the PMC active floorstanders and was also tempted by the Rega 6 turntable with the new cartridge (can't remember the number of it, but it's due out in about a month apparently). Unfortunately I missed the What HiFi TV demo, which would have been interesting as I'm a big fan of OLED. Hopefully the show will keep going, despite Bristol City Council's obsession with bulldozing everything to build 28 storey blocks of flats in the area.
I think you may have missed the Rega room where they were showcasing a new separates range with a power & preamp!! What a shame to omit a famous British hifi brand from your 'round up'.
@@richardsinger01 Cómo desea que le responda a su pregunta? Como cliente, como ex-dealer de Naim, como ingeniero electrónico especializado en audio, como conocedor de los circuitos electrónicos que ofrece el mercado para desarrollar esta topologia de amplificación mediocre, o como audiofilo que esta viendo hacia dónde pretenden llevar el mercado algunas marcas, abusando de su reputación y engañar al público?
Yes you have missed something...ACURRACY! ACCOUSTIC CENTRE IS NOT BELOW A DRIVER . And tells aren't hifi As usual what hifi site magazine.....A COMICBOOK