Manchester Show

I fall in that 50+ category, minus the disposable income

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Middle aged?? I am only 34

gbhsi1:

At the show today. What stood out for me the most was the proac speakers, the naim suite & the sugden suite was absolutely awesome. Another one that stood out was the suite with Art speakers, playing some vinyl on the townsend turnable (wow...goose bumps). As fas as home cinema, JVC's projector demo was brilliant. Unfortunately, what hi fi demo was too short but what I did like about it was the professional presentation & how good the wizard of Oz looked on blu-ray. All in all it was a good show.

I'd agree with you ref the pro-ac speakers.  I'd never heard any before and I was really impressed with the sound.  The marantz demo sounded amazing too.  The two reference pieces of kit being fed through some mordaunt short  performance speakers. Just beautiful.  The JVC projector demo was great too, and I really liked the KEF demo (was it 3005 speakers?).  For me the most impressive listen (for the money) was the £200 wharfedale diamonds.  Thought they looked great too.  The WHSV presentation was professional and yes didn't wizard of Oz look good on blu-ray?

I was however disappointed with the pioneer stand.  They had a lot of space and really didn't make the most of it at all.

oh and did anyone actually get to go inside the the chord demo room (214?)  it seemed to be locked every time I went past

As you say all in all, a good show and a good day out.

I am quite interested to know which models of the Proac were on demonstration and sounded so good ?

Also the Art speakers mentioned get little coverage on this forum - which model did you hear ?

crusaderlord:

I am quite interested to know which models of the Proac were on demonstration and sounded so good ? Also the Art speakers mentioned get little coverage on this forum - which model did you hear ?

 Re ProAc - the ones I listened to were Studio 140s and D18s .... both very good indeed.

 I am now considering a dem with the D18s, driven by Cyrus MonoXs.

PTM:

Sadly I didn't find the show to be all that good. I was particularly disappointed with What Hi-Fi, who are advertising a 'Chord Company Super Screen mains cable' as a subscription gift in the actual Show Guide and online, but when I arrived at the stand there was no such offer. So I ended up with a HDMI cable that I don't need. Not pleased at all.

Apologies again, but - as we clearly explained on the stand - that offer was not promoted by us, but by the shows' organisers, who mistakenly put the Chord Superscreen cable in as our subs gift when we are in fact giving away the Chord Active (sorry, all sold out yesterday!!) and Chord Silver Plus HDMI cables, or the Grado iGrado headphones.

Their error, not ours, but sorry it occurred all the same!
 

 Ok guys been reading what hi-fi for the last 15 years so i'm not a newbie but i've only just joined the foums so here goes...

Well I have to say i loved the show I stayed for about 4 and a half hours went in every room and got some good advice the systems were awsome i loved the Kef Room the kef eggs sounded awsome. The Yamaha had to be the best sounding system for me the amp and cd player along with the speakers sounded like the artist was singing right in front of you, i was shocked..

Got my what hi-fi subscription with my free IGrados awards mag and 3-d specs for £22.40 every 6 months its great value thanks alot for all the hard work guys....

Did any of you hear the Yamaha room set up it was fantastic it was like the artist was playing right in front of you for me this was the best sound of the show which really surprised me...

 The Kef Egg cinema room was really good the little eggs can go really loud...

Sony room was ok some good advice, as was the what hi-fi show i did think the projerctor was way to dark though when they switched the source on X-Men i couldnt tell the difference i was sat to the left right next to the amp and blu ray player though..

loved the show though every room had its own unique sound..

crusaderlord:

I am quite interested to know which models of the Proac were on demonstration and sounded so good ? Also the Art speakers mentioned get little coverage on this forum - which model did you hear ?

 They were the ART deco 15's - a brand new speaker that bridges the gap between the 10 and the 20. We had the show pair in store for a couple of days beforehand and they are something special indeed. A lengthy demonstration at a clients with the ARTs and a few other sets of speakers confirmed to me just how capable the Deco 15's are. If you are in the market at £10k + I would urge a listen.

As for the show it was good to see it nice and busy on the Saturday.

Too far for me to travel , so what was the Yamaha setup everyone enjoyed so much?

Did they have AV kit set up as well?

The show today was superb. Well organised, with a good mixture of kit. Some demos were well set-up and others less so but it was such a great occasion.

Highlights for me were:

1. Marantz. The Pearl kit through the Performance 6s was excellent but what really hit me very hard was the astonishing sound of the 6003 CD and amp through the MS Aviano 2s. I listened to the combination for quite some time on two seperate visits to the room and, for me, it really stood out as the best affordable kit at the entire show. It sounded fabulous even after hearing all the esoteric and expensive kit upstairs and I think you would have to spend a huge amount more to really improve on it. It was an excellent demo, really well set up and the Marantz guys were an absolute credit to the brand.

2. UKD. Unison Research turntable, CD player and valve amps with a Thorens phono stage and some Opera floorstanding speakers, beautifully set up and demonstrated with a good range of music on CD and vinyl. It was the best hi-fi I have ever heard. Spine-tingling good. I'll never be able to justify the expense of such a system but it was a privilege to hear and see that kit making such glorious music.

3. Focal. A pair of Focal anniversary floorstanders, driven by Sugden's new Mystro CD and amp. Wonderfully dynamic with a superb sense of the recorded acoustic and great tonal reproduction.

4. Sugden. The Masterclass set-up with the Sugden floorstanding speakers, playing Pink Floyd. I couldn't leave until I'd heard the whole of '...Crazy Diamond'. A fabulous demonstration of some seriously good kit and the Sugden representative was clearly a true music lover.

5. Naim. The Uniti with a pair of Naim floorstanders. This is another extremely musical piece of kit and, again, it was a well set-up demonstration.

6. Henley. Roksan Radius V turntable, Ortofon Bronze cart, Kandy K2 amp, Kandy K2 CD player the Roksan Kandy speakers. Superb.

I also enjoyed hearing the new Onkyo seperates with the MA RX2 speakers but it could have been set up much better to really demonstrate the abilities of the kit. Those RX2s sound very capable and I'd love to have heard them set further apart.

Dislikes?

The Cyrus set-up did absolutely nothing for me and I thought the Quad electronics with the Wharfedale Diamond 10.1s sounded terrible. The speakers were very boxy sounding and the treble very splashy.

The Denon hi-fi display was very poor. The kit wasn't connected together and the only way to listen to the CD players was by connected the headphones directly to them. The DCD510 and DCD710 both sounded very flat and uninvolving.

The Yamaha 2-channel set-up was CD-S2000, A-S2000, and Suavo speakers. It was very hi-fi, but not very involving. I actually enjoyed the Marantz 6003 combination far more.

Ultimately, for me, that 6003/Aviano 2 combination was the star of the whole show. It proved, unequivocally, that affordable hi-fi can make wonderfully vital, involving and enjoyable music and it proved very much that beyond its price point, the law of diminishing returns does indeed set in.

It was great to see some of our own suppliers there (Alphason, Off The Wall, and of course Sony). Off The Wall's new stands (which I first saw a few weeks ago when the rep bought them to our store) looked superb and the Alphason Fine Wood range stood out amongst the stand offerings.

Thanks to Audio T and WHFS&V for a superb day out.

I was there today and really enjoyed it. Left the little laddo at home, good job it was a bit crowded. I was really impressed with the Kef Eggs. Amazing what they can do when given the right care and attention in setting up. I think I'll have another bash at teaking my set up.

Highlights for me were:-

 Dynaudio playing some Nine Inch Nails. Much better than the drab jazzy, folky stuff that everyone else was playing. If your gonna give it some volume then give some Grrrr as well. Then I suppose that goes with the age group of the audience.

The Samsung / Panasonic TV's. I've never seen LCD/Plasma sets in their full glory only in major electrical stores and at friends houses who are just into plugging in and away you go. A major incentive to get my a** in gear and finish the back garden so I can decorate the lounge so we can get a new T.V.

The Epson projector - wow I was knocked back by the quality and how solid the picture was. Brilliant.

Special mention to the bloke from Chord who sold me a Superscreen mains cable. Great down to earth guy who gave me some good little tips and advice.

Having read so mugh aout moniyor audio speskers needing to be paired with Wam amps I was pleasantly surprised to hear them (RX8's) WIth th onkyo receiver sounded prety good.the Kef atend was good too

Digitaljunior:

I agree with the observation regarding gents to ladies but what was interesting for me that the age group was middle aged and above.  I felt a lot of the gents that attended were mostly older than 30 and quite a proporation in the 50+ age group.  Came to conclusion it was them that had the disposable income to spend.

yep count me as one af the silver listeners don't know about disposebsle ino cincome though I figure I deserve some luxuries at my age after spending out in the past on others (wife kids and grandkids etc}} don' brgrudge it tjough

Well, a mate and I spent 3 hours in the show today.....

Saw Andy, Dom, but no Clare

Very impressed with the whole show, to be honest.....first one I have attended, but I reckon I'll be back for another one very soon....

The guys at Alphason were very helpful, and not pushy at all (makes for a pleasant surprise!!)

The Marantz room was playing the PM6003/CD6003 combo, and to be honest we were not overly impressed....to us the Quad and Wharfdale 10 combo was a major highlight. What a sound from £200 speakers!! 

We also thought the Proac speakers were exceptional........

Loved the KEF eggs, and it was interesting for my mate to hear them, as he has the 2005.2's. And it was also interesting to hear 'high end' stereo equipment including all the valve amps on show..

On a negative note, I felt the cable companies missed a trick at the show! With such a divided opinion about cables, would it have been a good idea to be demostrating the improvements certain cables can give, rather than just having them for sale?

All in all, it was a fantastic day out, which I highly recommend to any hifi/av enthusiast.