Some thoughts on Heathrow

Last month's Hifi World has a review and Noel Keywood measured around that, so I think it's probably accurate.

Sounds like I didn't miss much at the show, equipment-wise.

-- Ian

 

You missed us. Surely that's a loss.

 

Of course, Dev, of course

-- Ian

 

You missed the shirt Ian.

Seriously, I think you would have liked the Aspara horns. You'd have loved the Vintage Verdier in the Noteworthy room. We missed your music.

 

I have heard them at The HiFi Show this past October (also in Park Inn) and the sound was superb. The were using different speakers though.

I have to say that those SET 100 monos are one of the best looking amps on the market today.

 

Last year the speakers were also Ypsilon, but they did not have the Transport, DAC and Pre-amp then. Only the Ypsilon speakers and amps.

The room was small this year, I think that’s what ruined it.

It was excellant at the Manchester show I thought, with the bigger Rockport.

 

Pretty good show,and not too crowded.
I enjoyed a few systems 3 stand out rooms for me

MBL.......effortless and musical

Lyngdorf .....great demo......showed what room perfect RCS can do {at last}

Marten Design Coltrane speakers & the Rogue monoblocs + Esoteric CDP
spent an enjoyable 30mins or so playing some of my CD's
the guy just left us to it and went for a smoke I could have spent the afternoon in there great kit and my type of musical presentation

Also enjoyed the fundamental speakers with the Audionote valve mono's......shame about the salesman's hard sell stance from the moment I sat down

The most disapointing demo for me was the Art speakers

After all the hype surrounding the Emotions I was left hugely disapointed, maybe it was the Naim kit they were paired with either way I thought the demo system sucked.....

The other letdown for me was the Ypsilon based system
At the last show Ypsilon was for me far and away the most enjoyable listen, not convinced by the Rockport speakers either and the room was rather to small for the kit IMHO

also bumped into quite a few old and new ZG'ers nice to put names to faces

last mention for 7th Veil room......musical easygoing and relaxing
when sat at the front,however sat in the back row on the 2nd visit with more upbeat music...ummmmm not so good

Still have had a great day out and now researching the Accuton
drivers with great interest,

 

I do not know to which show you are reffering to, but on The HiFi Show (HiFi News sponsored) they have showed complete Ypsilon system, INCLUDING their CDT, DAC and pre.

Here are some pics I have taken during that show:

 

Thats the one! I take it back then they did have the transport. The DAC and Pre-amp are not Ypsilon though. I know that because the pre-amp was only finished on the 27th of January and the DAC slightly before that.

Did you know they made those speakers from design to finished item in under 2 weeks!

 

I heard that at the same show as you. I thought it was, in all essentials, quite profoundly average. I suspect the speakers are nothing special.

-- Ian

 

Hi,


Went to the show today. Some good sounds some not so good.



The Naim stuff with the Emotion speakers was interesting. It wasn't bad but I do think you can can do better for less money. The speakers seemed alot of money for what they offered.

I heard a the comparison between the Naim cd 555/555 ps and an Avid Volvere Tom Tom speacial edition with a SME V (not sure what cartridge, maybe a DNM). Very interesting a £14,295 cd player v a £4500 ish turntable combo. I prefered the turntable overall. The cd player had a leaner balance to it but the turntable seemed to resolve music more naturally.

The Audionote room always produced the good. Always sounding fine and enjoyable. I liked the look of the Audionote IO cartridge. Nice.

The Noteworthy roon with Verdier turntable and another Audionote cartridge sounded good as well. Some interesting looking items.

The Horn Audio room with the Lowther based speakers were very interesting. They produced some good coherent sounds. I tried out some reggae with them (Junior Mervin - Police and Theives). Not too bad. Lacked really deep bass extention. The source was a Linn Lp12 with a SME 3009 arm and some moving magnet cartridge. I would be interesting to try with a better front end and something like my Border Patrol amps.

The Emporium room was good with Viva amps and the Quad 57. It showed how good old speakers can sound. Very good clarity and detail.

The Lovington horns sounded pleasant but bass light.

Steve's Seventh Veil speakers with the EAR equipment worked well. Pity his new speakers were not on show as they looked promising.

The Phonosophie stuff & Alr Jordan speakers didn't really do it for me. It seemed a bit brash.


Avantgarde horns in the Gt Audio room produced some good sounds. Nice funky, looking stuff. There was an interesting looking phono stage on offer. The music flowed quited well.

The Aspara hornspeakers were very interesting. They have been developed by Brian Taylor. He developed the Impulse range of speakers. The new speakers are more efficent (100 db/w/m) and different looking to the old Impulse. They use a 12" driver and a bigger horn opening. I liked the sound and get the feeling of these being more refined than the H2 speakers. I think they cost around £6000. I enjoyed the sound.

The Zu cable Driuds loudspeakers looked interesting. With a high quoted sensitivity (101db/w/m). They sounded good on simple vocals stuff but were lacking on punchy stuff. Disappointing when I tried my Ernest Ranglin cd.

The Audiocraft room sounded ok. It gets the thumbs from me for playing non audiophile music. Anyone who plays the Chi-lites gets my vote.

Not a bad day out.

SCIDB

 

Yes, he was at the show. Aspara is his new venture. Got to speak to him about Impulse speakers. He was quite surprised that there are many fans of his speakers.

SCIDB

 

Hay ....glad you liked the Horn Audio room.
After I asked if I could listen to one of my IC's [AgAu] in the system, as it sounded a little lacking.....

I was pleased to hear it opened up the sound [bigger sound stage better dynamics etc.], when used with the rega cdp, i don't know what the cable it replaced was it seemed churlish to ask. But they asked if they could use my IC for the rest of the show [ post 11am sat] !

 

It was great to see so many ZGers at the show and thanks to everyone who played DJ so I could go and get a sandwich. Mind you, a couple of times I just put a cd on and left the room unattended for 10 minutes and when I got back the room was full. Not to worry though, it emptied pretty quickly once I was there again.

I enjoyed chatting and having a drink with some of the other speaker designers - they're all mad as mud hoppers of course, so I felt right at home. It was particularly a pleasure to talk design and speaker history with the Aspara (ex Impulse) designer, the Vivid guy (did you know he also designed the B & W Nautilus 'snaily' things?) and of course the designer of the Best Loudspeaker in the World (Resolution).

Commercially, it was my most successful show to date with a couple of new dealers coming on board for the new Nonsuch 2 and more people than ever before adding themselves to my mailing list. I can't wait for the new range.

Anyway, I had a great time.

All the best
Steve

 

Ypsilon was using their prototype DAC and pre during the october show. They may have changed the design though (and obviously added a nice box).

 

So then, the inevitable "Heathrow show 2006" thread begins !

Obviously, I didn't get a chance to visit all the rooms, and most of my impressions are based on ten-minute listening sessions, so take them with a truck-load of salt:

Good set-ups & kit:

T+A SACD player & amp - lovely looking stuff that's so well built it looks cheap! Shame they were using those enormous T+A speakers (absolutely no mid-range whatsoever - just boom & tizz all the way). You could tell the amp & sacd player were doing something special. Lovely airy sound and very "hi-fi" if you know what I mean?

The DALI Helicons in the Tusk room sounded nice - particularly good with vocals I thought. Not convinced by the top-end, but that's probably more to do with the Tusk pre/power with was way to polite & recessed in the treble.

The Alium/Consonance room sounded great - get the size of that Droplet CD player - ridiculous! Amazing levels of (boomy) bass from those coincident speakers. Very nice, liquid sound overall, if tonally inept - acoustic guitars DON'T sound like that!!

Hi-Fi Emporium room - One of the nicest sounds I heard all day. The Lector CDP + Viva 845 amp + ESL57's was a magical combination - truly sublime. Those ESL's are incredibly easy on the ear - the sound really does "waft" towards you, rather than being rammed down your throat. Incredibly smooth & analogue sounding CD player too. Great value for £1900 IMO. Lovely looking beast too.

Metropolis / Sounds of Music room - brilliant stuff. That Lumley Stratosphere turntable was amazing - incredible bass. The whole set-up was interesting - I was surprised to see a DK intergated power the speakers. Not too expensive for the incredible grip & drive it has! Real "grab you by the balls and throw you around the room" kind of sound. Wow.

Avantgarde horns - Amazing soundstage in that tiny room but they gave me a real sense of "being there". Enormous and was to upfront/shouty in the treble region, but interesting sound nonetheless.

MBL's - ultra-expensive and incredibly ugly, but that there is a Wiiiiiiide soundstage. Feels like there's a band in the room. Having the speakers 30 metres apart helps, no doubt. Heaviest bass I heard all day.

PMC OB1's - wonderful sounding floorstanders with bass that belies their (very neat & tidy - almost wife friendly) cabinet dimensions. Would be interesting to see what they could really be capable of with some proper amps behind them. Those Arcam's sounded brittle, dry & uninvolving to me.

Bad set-ups & Kit

UKD room/Triangle speakers - Nothing special going on here. Those triangles may be cheap, but they certainly sounded it!

T+A speakers - horrid boom & tizz with no mid-range that you could feel was really letting down the amp & sacd player.

ACA Acoustics set-up - Consonance droplet + Quinpu £1400 integrated + JAS Audio Orsa. Worse sound of the show by far. Absolutely terrible and a major disappointment (was expecting great things from the Orsa's) The droplet sounded great in the Alium room, so that's probably not to blame. Couldn't believe the owner thought the sound was acceptable.

Lovington Speakers - Terrible sound - no body or weight. Tonally off the mark. Butt-ugly too.
Townshend - Major disappointment. Speakers letting the side down here methinks. Very liquid/analogue sounding cdp though. Nice timing. Horrid Cylon bling bling finish on all the gear too.

Pinsch/Icon audio room - Sounded terrible (which is hard to swallow, as he was using an Icon/Ming-Da pre/power!!). Just really dull & lifeless. What went wrong?

Martin Design/Esoteric X-01 system. IS THIS LOUD ENOUGH MATE? I'M TRYING TO BLOW THE GLASS OUT WITH THE BASS - COOL HUH? No idea how this sounded becasue my ears were too busy bleeding...

Tusk - long way to go in terms of design & sound. Shut-in/dull sound - very little treble energy. Too rolled-off for my ears. DALI's sounded great with vocals though.

Vivid Audio - yep, that's pistonic bass alright, but flipping hec, what happened to the music, man? Bass bullets hit you in the chest, but they've over-egged the pudding here methinks. Smooth mid-range & treble though. Overlooked by that scary bass power though.

So there you go. Hope you agree/disagree with my mini report?

Another thing - people certainly have a different concept of "loud" - what's with the volume at these shows? I don't need to be blasted out of my seat to appreciate your speakers - for christ's sake, turn them down! Also, if you want to chat, turn the volume down - I can't bark like a sargeant major all day....

DT

 

Volume is a tricky one, DT.

You want to have the door a little open so that people are freer to enter and leave but then sounds from other rooms interfere with the listening in your own room. So you have to turn the volume up a little just to hear it. Over time, the volume levels everywhere can tend to get louder and louder.

If the hotel room doors closed without locking, the situation would be much improved IMO.

When I had a fairly full room, I found that closing the door gave the best no-cost upgrade I could provide.

 

Really, I was forever asking them to turn it up so I could actually hear what the system could do! Who listens to proper music at the same level as a transistor radio?

 

Hi,

Funny, we have now three polar opposite views on the Pinch Setup:

1) I felt it was a little bright but generally nice
2) Petergc felt it sounded very harsh and constricted
3) We have you saying it sounded dull and lifeless.

I noticed that Pinch seemed to switch between three different speakers of theirs without repositioning them.

I suspect that contributed.

Past that I suspect you like a sound a wee bit bit brighter than I do, I flet Tusk/Dali had enough detail/resolution/brightness and any more would not have been pleasant or natural.

Just goes to show....

Ciao T

 

Hi,

Word is, like, GaffaTape, Dude!

Just two layer of universal tape (which is also gread for some bondage games with your beloved) over the latch does it nicely every time.

Good thing we have one of the rooms at the lift in September (same as 2 Years ago), you can leave the doors open without getting too much of the neighbours sound bleeding in play something nice and give it a lil "Wack fol me daddy'o" and the people are coming in droves.

Ciao T