Bristol show - some impressions
 

Just been to the 1st Hi Fi show in over 12yrs. Went with my GF, a friend &
met up with another couple. It was actually good fun & I managed to leave my
cynical persona behind.

The high point was listening to (& watching a DVD through an Arcam) of
Steely Dan through Leema Acoustics Xen's, albeit with their subs & in
surround. Was in there for over 30mins - long for me. The only real
criticism was the surround mix where the backing vocals were fed to the rear
pair of Xen speakers & not only sounded artificial but got in the way of
sound staging - either mix properly or leave surround for movies! Bass nice
& tight - food for thought on how to get decent bass from my ancient SL6s or
to replace them.

For out & out quality, it had to be a pair of DPLs which gave some idea of
the original acoustic. Not quite Tannoy Westminster in volume but big brutes
apart from the sound. Never really liked Naim either. Must listen to some of
their dirt cheapo speakers! My girlfriend came out with a priceless question
while we were leaving: "Oooh what do all the little buttons do?" I'm
definitely taking her next year!

The worst sound was from the Cyrus room - no excuse as this was in the
basement & not a bedroom. Never did work out just what speakers they were
using (Triangular x-section towers with the tops sloping down forwards). The
volume was up far to high until we screamed for it to be lowered, then the
sound was less hard but never more than so-so. The B+W MT30 theatre system
sounded OK - never really got on with their speakers. I heard a pair of
Spendor S6Es & wasn't that struck - must listen to them elsewhere. Not too
many LCD panels to be seen, I noticed. The new Rogers sounded fine through
the E40a valve amp - could do without the meters though. The Rega system
sounded pretty musical - shame about top loading... Was hoping to listen to
a Primare I30 but what sound was in the room was low enough not to interfere
with the sales spin. Never mind.

Bristol show - some impressions
 

"Paul B" wrote in message
...
Just been to the 1st Hi Fi show in over 12yrs. Went with my GF, a friend &
met up with another couple. It was actually good fun & I managed to leave
my cynical persona behind.


snip


The worst sound was from the Cyrus room


Well, who'da thunk it.....??

;-)

Bristol show - some impressions
 

Thus spake Keith G:
"Paul B" wrote in message
...
Just been to the 1st Hi Fi show in over 12yrs. Went with my GF, a
friend & met up with another couple. It was actually good fun & I
managed to leave my cynical persona behind.


snip


The worst sound was from the Cyrus room


Well, who'da thunk it.....??

I can remember salivating over the Audiolab 8000A & eagerly awaiting its
release as a replacement for my Sansui AU217. It had so many rave reviews, I
couldn't possibly go wrong by buying one.

It duly arrived & I was somewhat underwhelmed by its sound. For starters,
its crosstalk between inputs was poor on its phono input. I whipped the lid
off & discovered that although the PCB layout has been CAD designed as
advertised, it was for digital topology & all the phono inputs spread out
across much of the rear panel all came together with tiny track widths with
equally tiny gaps between them. I sold the damn thing & returned to my
Sansui.

The moral being that rave reviews mean jack ****. I eventually sold on the
Sansui & am still using a Linx Quasar that replaced it. A friend bought a
much later version of the Audiolab 8000A which sounded fine as it happens.

Alarm bells start ringing when reviews state "partner with care" or best
suited to a particular kind of music as is often said of Cyrus gear. I was
not that enthralled with the triple amp'd Linn system - just didn't light a
fire under my seat, the last part I heard was from an LP12 - the only vinyl
I heard in a demo - didn't see a deck in the Rega room.

Bristol show - some impressions
 

Paul B wrote:

For out & out quality, it had to be a pair of DPLs which gave some
idea of the original acoustic. Not quite Tannoy Westminster in volume
but big brutes apart from the sound. Never really liked Naim either.
Must listen to some of their dirt cheapo speakers!

I thought the best sounding system at the show this year was the
Lyngdorf (formerly TACT Audio) all-digital amplifier with Dali speakers.
This blew me away last year, and is even better now, especially as
they'd been able to set up the room acoustics correction this year.

Oh, and if anyone heard ABBA being played somewhere on the 3rd floor,
that was probably me. :-)

Only thing I ended up buying this year were two pairs of 8" ceiling
mount speakers from the Sennheiser stand to go in the kitchen and
bathroom of my new house. Probably going to hook them up to a Hifidelio
client unit - which theoretically should run from any box with daapd
running. Apparently Hifidelio's own server runs Linux (just been looking
into another thread), so the client should run with a generic *nix box
and daapd/howl. Have got DAAP running from my media server anyway,
iTunes sometimes connects to it when it feels like it, other DAAP
clients (AppleRecords, TunesBrowser, One2OhMyGod etc) stream from it
fine though.

Also got a free HDMI cable from What Hi-Fi, which I figured would come
in handy if/when I ever buy an HD telly. Currently only my Arcam DV-79
DVD-A/CD player has HDMI though.

My girlfriend came out with a priceless question while we were
leaving: "Oooh what do all the little buttons do?" I'm definitely
taking her next year!

I made the mistake of taking the girlfriend to that show once (2001, I
think). She was, errm, bored. To put it mildly.

The following year she went for a wander around Bristol while me and a
fellow audiophile friend went round the show...

--
Glenn Richards Tel: (01453) 845735
Squirrel Solutions http://www.squirrelsolutions.co.uk/

IT consultancy, hardware and software support, broadband installation

Bristol show - some impressions
 

"Paul B" wrote in message
...
Thus spake Keith G:
"Paul B" wrote in message
...
Just been to the 1st Hi Fi show in over 12yrs. Went with my GF, a
friend & met up with another couple. It was actually good fun & I
managed to leave my cynical persona behind.


snip


The worst sound was from the Cyrus room


Well, who'da thunk it.....??

I can remember salivating over the Audiolab 8000A & eagerly awaiting its
release as a replacement for my Sansui AU217. It had so many rave reviews,
I couldn't possibly go wrong by buying one.

It duly arrived & I was somewhat underwhelmed by its sound. For starters,
its crosstalk between inputs was poor on its phono input. I whipped the
lid off & discovered that although the PCB layout has been CAD designed as
advertised, it was for digital topology & all the phono inputs spread out
across much of the rear panel all came together with tiny track widths
with equally tiny gaps between them. I sold the damn thing & returned to
my Sansui.

The moral being that rave reviews mean jack ****. I eventually sold on the
Sansui & am still using a Linx Quasar that replaced it. A friend bought a
much later version of the Audiolab 8000A which sounded fine as it happens.

Alarm bells start ringing when reviews state "partner with care" or best
suited to a particular kind of music as is often said of Cyrus gear. I was
not that enthralled with the triple amp'd Linn system - just didn't light
a fire under my seat, the last part I heard was from an LP12 - the only
vinyl I heard in a demo - didn't see a deck in the Rega room.



I'm afraid my seat also remains spectacularly unscorched by SS amplification
these days......

Bristol show - some impressions
 

Thus spake Keith G:
snip

I'm afraid my seat also remains spectacularly unscorched by SS
amplification these days......

Although My brother drives his Radford BBC monitors (huge) with a 33/303, he
did use a Fisher valve amp. All that I can remember was the shiny gold front
panel surround, brushed gold panel & maroon coloured knobs (with gold
coloured caps!). Probably still in the loft.

Bristol show - some impressions
 

"Paul B" wrote in message
...
Thus spake Keith G:
snip

I'm afraid my seat also remains spectacularly unscorched by SS
amplification these days......

Although My brother drives his Radford BBC monitors (huge) with a 33/303,
he did use a Fisher valve amp. All that I can remember was the shiny gold
front panel surround, brushed gold panel & maroon coloured knobs (with
gold coloured caps!). Probably still in the loft.



Is it broken?

Bristol show - some impressions
 

Thus spake Keith G:
"Paul B" wrote in message
...
Thus spake Keith G:
snip

I'm afraid my seat also remains spectacularly unscorched by SS
amplification these days......

Although My brother drives his Radford BBC monitors (huge) with a
33/303, he did use a Fisher valve amp. All that I can remember was
the shiny gold front panel surround, brushed gold panel & maroon
coloured knobs (with gold coloured caps!). Probably still in the
loft.



Is it broken?

I'm not sure - it wasn't broken. He had an operation on his gut today & will
not be home for a while yet but will ask if he wants to part with it or have
me service it for him. It hasn't been powered up for probably ~30yrs & new
electrolytics wouldn't be a bad idea.

I can remember he bought it from G O Moorhen's in Henley - long since gone.
He later bought a very expensive Fisher tuner - never did work properly,
ended up a fairly good Sony FM only model, now broken.

Bristol show - some impressions
 

"Paul B" wrote in message
...
Thus spake Keith G:
"Paul B" wrote in message
...
Thus spake Keith G:
snip

I'm afraid my seat also remains spectacularly unscorched by SS
amplification these days......

Although My brother drives his Radford BBC monitors (huge) with a
33/303, he did use a Fisher valve amp. All that I can remember was
the shiny gold front panel surround, brushed gold panel & maroon
coloured knobs (with gold coloured caps!). Probably still in the
loft.



Is it broken?

I'm not sure - it wasn't broken. He had an operation on his gut today &
will not be home for a while yet



Hope that all goes well. My younger brother has recently had his 3rd heart
valve fitted and a bypass, I gather!!


but will ask if he wants to part with it or have
me service it for him. It hasn't been powered up for probably ~30yrs & new
electrolytics wouldn't be a bad idea.

I can remember he bought it from G O Moorhen's in Henley - long since
gone. He later bought a very expensive Fisher tuner - never did work
properly, ended up a fairly good Sony FM only model, now broken.


Sounds like an interesting project. Pix would be appreciated if you decide
to rescue it!!