Stereonet Awards: 2018 Melbourne International Hi-FI Show

A testament to the marketing of the StereoNET backed and organised show; there were even some high-profile music executives were spotted traversing the halls at times.

Riding on the back of the vinyl revival, stereo sound has seen a resurgence which is evident by the amount of interest in 2-channel demonstrations. The drawcard of the world-first Krix 24.10.10 Dolby Atmos cinema simply cannot be ignored, and certainly attracted many more home cinema enthusiasts who were treated to four different price-point home cinema systems.

It was clear to all that the show has evolved and exhibitors went to a lot of trouble to treat rooms with acoustic solutions this year, and the result was the best sounding rooms of the show's three years of existence. A special mention also goes to Sonitus Acoustics who offered acoustic solution packages to this year's exhibitors.

Judges for this year's StereoNET Awards included members of our review team, senior forum members, and other members of the Hi-Fi and Tech press.

StereoNET's full show coverage can be found here, and without further ado, we 'd like to announce our picks from this year's show.

BEST SOUND IN SHOW (Australian Manufacturer)

WINNER - SGR Audio Maestro Active System (Park Room)
Highly Commended - Hulgich Audio / Holton Audio (Room 1311)

BEST SOUND IN SHOW (International Manufacturer)

WINNER: Kharma International (Radiance AV, Room M4)
Highly Commended- Dutch & Dutch 8c / Kii Audio THREE

BEST SOUND IN SHOW (Overall)

WINNER: Kharma International (Radiance AV, Room M4)

BEST CINEMA / AV

WINNER: Krix 24.10.10 Dolby Atmos Cinema
(in conjunction with Barco and Trinnov Audio)
Highly Commended - Selby Acoustics (Room 1206/1207)

OUTSTANDING VALUE

WINNER - Legend Loudspeakers (Room 1315)
Highly Commended - Osborn Loudspeakers (Albert Room)

BEST HEAD-FI DEMONSTRATION

WINNER - Chord Electronics (Park Room)
Highly Commended - Beyerdynamic (Pullman Lobby)

BEST NEWCOMER

WINNER - M8Audio (Room 1201)
Highly Commended - Lucie Audio / Microphase Audio Design (Room 1203)

BEST PRESENTED SPACE

WINNER - SGR Audio (Park Room)
Highly Commended- Lucie Audio / Microphase Audio Design (Room 1203)

BEST PRODUCT DEBUT

WINNER - Yamaha 5000 Series (Lake 3)
Highly Commended - Mark Levinson / Revel Speakers (State Ballroom)
Highly Commended - Aequo Audio Stilla Active Speakers (Lake 4)

BEST RETAILER EXHIBITION

WINNER - VAF Research (Lake 1/2)
Highly Commended - Selby Acoustics (1206/1207/1310)

BEST SYSTEM DEMONSTRATION / PRESENTER

WINNER - Tom Garrett (Trinnov Audio) Krix Cinema
Highly Commended - Paul Morrison (Isoacoustics)
Highly Commended - Mark Dohmann (Telos Audio)

BEST INNOVATION

WINNER - Involve Audio (Room 1203)

Congratulations to all exhibitors for their efforts at the 2018 Melbourne International HiFi Show to put on a show for Australian consumers and enthusiasts that has no equal.

For more information on any of the exhibitors, please visit this page.