Manchester show, 27/28 jan

We copped out and went in the end after a few weeks of indecision.

I thought overall it was better than last years where they had a fair amount of mucho expensive stuff doing little. If you ask me most of the rooms, especially the bedrooms, in that place are just not upto scratch though.

Others have pretty much said it all regarding the stuff on show.

I was very happy to see the absence of the aweful sounding B&W800 5.1 setup that had appalled me last year. One of the worst sounds I've ever heard that one was, reminded me of some wideboys ICE install - all bass and treble, played way too loud.

The DCS room was good with the right music but complex stuff did it no favors I thought. Tended to be quite bright sounding most of the time but I personally think it was the speakers or the room ruining the show.

Was once again quite impressed with the MBL omni's and their rather huge soundstage. We spent a good portion of time in this room and enjoyed it.

The AN room I didn't stop in for long as it was packed - a good sign but what I heard sounded promising if in less than an ideal situation.

The Naim room just bored the hell out of me, sounds a bit harsh but I did try to enjoy it and got nothing back. Flat and small sounding was how I'd describe it.

Like someone else noted earlier in the thread, I too wondered where the ex-dem shop that's normally in the foyer had gone. We went on Sunday so perhaps they'd been cleaned out on Saturday?

I was happy enough at the end of it and also had a couple of ideas I could rip off for DIY purposes, so bonus.

 

It just goes to show how we hear things differently. I love Tannoys but I thought the ones at the show sounded pretty poor. Thin and uninvolving to me. I've heard Westminsters sound way better than that, normally on the end of AN valve amps or Kondos, which is what the likes of Westminsters should be paired with and a decent T/T source. The World Designs valve amps didn't sound great to me. The Minimax CD player and cheapo Pioneer D/D turntable were totally out of their league, although I liked the valve phono stage. And I bloody hate B&W speakers of any description :chunder:

All in all there was no WOW factor for me in any of the rooms, and certainly nothing that comes close to my system at home. A first for me though was I thought the Naim room sounded pretty good! Using an N-Sub to fill in the bass of the SL2s was a master stroke, and the 555 is one hell of a CD player. £15K though? That's feckin lunacy

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Paul

 

I'm not a huge B&W fan anymore (having lived with some for many years), but those big ones do get the bass pretty right. I've no doubt the tannoys could have sounded better, but they showed some good strengths. The setup that was in that upstairs room last year had me running screaming for the lift.

 

Isaac, B&Ws do bass just fine it's the metal dome tweeters that are bloody awful. The top end is horribly exposed and unnatural sounding. I've heard big B&Ws umpteen times and they always sound harsh and brittle because of the tweeters. They're seriously fugly too, but I'd forgive that if they sounded ok.

For proper kick-ass speakers check these out --

http://www.ultraaudio.com/equipment/jbl_k2_s9800.htm

Mmmmmm nice, and they rock! unk:

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Paul

 

Apparently, from an exhibitors point of view, it was a good show. There were pleanty of visitors (nearly 3,000) over the weekend and we didn't feel ripped off by the price of beverages. I resent paying a fiver for a crap cup of coffee at LHR.

I recon we'll be back next year.

 

First time for me at the show [Bristol and Heathrow veteren though] and I quite enjoyed it.

I thought lots of stuff was overrated and too expensive but some enduring classics still stood out for me.

1st time hearing Boulder and was impressed.

Wilson Benesch speakers reaffirmed my choice was wise.

I cant remember the room name but some Levinson electronics on Nautilus diamonds sounded good, and well done to the man running it for playing real music, instead of some of the norah jones or pluck-pop-bang notes rubbish u often hear.

Agree the dCS stuff did not exactly turn me on.

 

Did anyone buy some vinyl from Stamford or Diverse at the show? There were some good bargains to be had, and admittedly some expensive stuff, too!

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Paul