The Hi-Fi Show 2014

[Rufus McDufus]

I am!

[Confused]

I can't decide whether to go or have even more fun at home trying to get white noise from AIR 2.1.3. For those that have been before, what's parking like? I see there is off site parking and a shuttle bus service. Is this a reasonably efficient service?

[f1eng]

I am planning to get there early and get brekkie at the hotel, if possible.
The designer/manufacturer of Tune Audio is due to be there so my main interest is to meet him.

[GuillaumeB]

I can't decide whether to go or have even more fun at home trying to get white noise from AIR 2.1.3.

Oh joy! Get your jolly self down. I'll be there for 9am.

Guillaume

[GuillaumeB]

Great day at the Hi-Fi Show yesterday! Good to see IanG-UK again and meet f1eng, thanks for the pizza guys!

Lots of great gear on display... got to hear the Tune Audio Anima speakers for the first time. Spectacular!

I was very impressed by the very small and beautiful looking Crystal Cables Arabesque Minissimo speakers which were being driven by a Devialet 250. Despite their diminutive size these projected a very realistic and enjoyable soundstage. I understand they are being SAMified next week. Anyone in the market for high-end bookshelf-size speakers should definitely try and audition these. They really do sound very good.

Guillaume

   
   

[thumb5]

Sounds like a good day - a shame I couldn't visit.

Those Arabesque Minissimos look very pretty. Didn't they also make a monster version in glass?

[Jwg1749]

Sounds like a good day - a shame I couldn't visit.

Those Arabesque Minissimos look very pretty. Didn't they also make a monster version in glass?

They were showing some small glass Arabesques at the show last year, powered by a Dev. I'm sure they're very good in the right context, but last year they were playing opera through them at high volume in a large room, and I found it painful.

Did they use the Dev with any other speakers this weekend? Last year they did, but seemingly only on request -- at least while I was there. I got them to try the SF Olympica IIs. I found this odd: a Dev is easily capable of driving much bigger speakers that would be more suited to the space, so why choose the Arabesques?

[GuillaumeB]

Sounds like a good day - a shame I couldn't visit.

Those Arabesque Minissimos look very pretty. Didn't they also make a monster version in glass?

They were showing some small glass Arabesques at the show last year, powered by a Dev. I'm sure they're very good in the right context, but last year they were playing opera through them at high volume in a large room, and I found it painful.

Did they use the Dev with any other speakers this weekend? Last year they did, but seemingly only on request -- at least while I was there. I got them to try the SF Olympica IIs. I found this odd: a Dev is easily capable of driving much bigger speakers that would be more suited to the space, so why choose the Arabesques?

I'm guessing it's because they have only just come out and they are very attractive so fit in well with the Devialet minimalist/lifestyle form factor. To my ears they sounded excellent in this room which was quite large and busy with people talking. In fact I was really surprised by quite how good they did sound. There was not a hint of harshness and they projected really well into the room. In fact Rufus thought they were so good he's thinking of trading in his Raidhos... joke!

As to the larger speakers Absolute Sounds were showing these off with Constellation Audio/Audio Research rigs and various sources including the excellent Metronome CD player. In one room they had the fantastic Magico S3 and in the other the Wilson Sasha 2s. Both rooms were very good indeed. I enjoyed the Constellation Audio + Magico S3 room so much I went in twice!

Guillaume

[Rufus McDufus]

You'll have to prise my Raidhos from my cold dead hands!
I'm surprised they didn't use larger speakers such as the Olympics with Devialet. It's one thing displaying "lifestyle" speakers (though they were very good) in a shop, but you can be pretty sure a hifi show crowd are not your typical Paris salon customers. Not that we're one or the other - he says trying to dig himself out of the hole that's getting deeper.

[f1eng]

Sounds like a good day - a shame I couldn't visit.

Those Arabesque Minissimos look very pretty. Didn't they also make a monster version in glass?

They were showing some small glass Arabesques at the show last year, powered by a Dev. I'm sure they're very good in the right context, but last year they were playing opera through them at high volume in a large room, and I found it painful.

Did they use the Dev with any other speakers this weekend? Last year they did, but seemingly only on request -- at least while I was there. I got them to try the SF Olympica IIs. I found this odd: a Dev is easily capable of driving much bigger speakers that would be more suited to the space, so why choose the Arabesques?

I'm guessing it's because they have only just come out and they are very attractive so fit in well with the Devialet minimalist/lifestyle form factor. To my ears they sounded excellent in this room which was quite large and busy with people talking. In fact I was really surprised by quite how good they did sound. There was not a hint of harshness and they projected really well into the room. In fact Rufus thought they were so good he's thinking of trading in his Raidhos... joke!

As to the larger speakers Absolute Sounds were showing these off with Constellation Audio/Audio Research rigs and various sources including the excellent Metronome CD player. In one room they had the fantastic Magico S3 and in the other the Wilson Sasha 2s. Both rooms were very good indeed. I enjoyed the Constellation Audio + Magico S3 room so much I went in twice!

Guillaume

I am a big fan of the Magicos too. My problem is I am not so keen on the looks of the S range. I know it is good cost effective engineering to use a painted extrusion and jam the diaphragms in place the way they do, but i just prefer the machined parts of the Q range. Looking at the complex machining, parts count and assembly time I am amazed they can make the Q range profitably even at their prices.
Riccardo is still determined to sell me Q3s or Q5s despite me having bought the Animas.

I was particularly impressed by the S1 which performs way better than I had expected.

Nice to meet you and Rufus, if only briefly. I did make my grandson's birthday party in Oxford on time.