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.