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I thought I would share some of my extremely amateur pictures and videos from the recent Bangkok Audio Video show. Apologies for the quality but it is all just recorded poorly on my phone but something is better than nothing right? There is a really good scene here in Thailand for high end gear and some really good retailers. It has exceeded my expectations of what is here and surpases Aus in some respects. Anyways here is a few pics and vids and I will try to talk about each a little. The rooms at the show were really well sized and a lot better than in videos we see from the states etc (not just hotel bedrooms). The rooms where all conference rooms and decently sized for the majority. My favourite room roughly 8x14x3.5m Equipment is Proac Response K8, Rel No.25 array @Sime, Acoustic Arts Mono 3 Amps, The Beast server and an Audioquest Niagara. TT was unfortunately not used. (The speakers were meant to be the new top Elac Concentro but they unfortunately weren't there. The Proacs were very impressive regardless) This system was incredible and was demo'd by a Rel representative who did comparisons of sub vs no sub, 2 sub vs 6 sub array. The sound with no subs was seriously good but with the array was something else. It gave the feel of a live concert with the benefits of a HIFI system. It was never over powering at low volumes 60dB or at over 100dB and made it so much better at either volume level too. The subs filled in effect and made it so much more appealing, natural with a soundstage that was just amazing. They really transformed it into something other-worldly. My next project at home is to integrate my SVS into my system and after this it is a must. I will be buying a second if anyone is considering selling theirs though I wish I could afford the Rel array........ It was great speaking with the Rel guy alone and picking his brain. I have videos I will attach at the end of this post. Next is a room roughly the same as above though with no room treatment whatsoever. Equipment is Focal Grand Utopia 3 (roughly $260k AUD), Esoteric Grandioso stack with Fidelizer server, VTL Siegfried Series 2 monos and TL7.5 pre, Entreq Tellus 2 and more, In the pic is Stirling Trayle who did a talk on system optimisation and another on speaker positioning. The speaker positioning was really good and gave a scientific method rather than just constantly shuffling in semi bling hope. The optimization was good too. The sound of this system was of course amazing especially at higher volumes. At lower it was just so different to the Proac Rel room. It was what you would expect from a >500k system though and was something very special. Stirling travels the world setting up peoples speakers and believes in minimal room treatment after the speakers have been positioned. Got to speak with Stirling for quite a while and learnt quite a bit. The loom with more Entreq This room was about 6x5 with a lot of room treatment including little timber dots everywhere EDIT...Wilson Alexia with some Serbian Nat amps with valves as big as a football, Bergmann Galder TT This was a really nice room but didn't grab me. This next room was roughly 7x9 and had both a Wilson and Avantgarde setup EDIT...Wilson Alexia, D'Agostino Progression, dCS Rossini and Fidelizer server. This was incredible and from memory the monoblocks are a decent step up from the system presented at Audio Connection for their dCS launch which had the same DAC/clock, speakers were Sasha and used the Momentum integrated. I just wish this had it's own room because it was amazing. The other in this room was Avantgarde Duo Mezzo XD and Cary CAD 805AE it was beautiful though played a lot of music that wasn't really my taste and I don't think it was the best recordings. Classical on the Focal Grand Utopias gave me goosebumps but this didn't. Another good room Cessaro Alpha 2, Ayon S10 and Vulcan Evo amps. This was really lovely and the Cessaro rep enjoyed having someone to speak English with. The speakers use TAD drivers and were really special to listen to. He said there is a pair in Sydney and he travels to every customers house to set them up. Bad pic sorry Tannoy Westminster Royal SE and Kengsington GR, Sun Audio and Esoteric Sounded good but didn't grab me. ML ESL 15A and Burmester 911 MK3 This was really really nice and I think the ARC did really well. Burmester amps have always sounded really good everytime I hear them This room had black Focal Sopra 2s. Red Sopra 3s and Orange Sopra 1s (not shown) I was amazed at how the little naim all in one sounded on the Sopra 2s and would happily live with this system. The Micromega all in one amps were pretty crappy on all 3 sets of speakers. The Naim stack with Sopra 3 was beautiful and the best attainable system (for most) that I heard there. Naim really is incredible. 7.3 Elac Unifi, 3x Rel 2 12/SE Rotel RA1580 and 2x RMB-1585 This was pretty cool and I think the Rotel processor is brilliant. A few other systems Stealth 25th Anniversary Karp Horns. Claiming to be the best home theatre speakers in the world. These Daniel Hertz M7 were pretty good. Unsure... There were some other really good systems especially a Stenheim and Vitus room though I don't have pics. A locally made 300b amp for $800 AUD was absolutely beautiful with his own homemade speakers for roughly $3000 AUD One room had Magico bookshelves but he didn't want to set them up same goes with Avantgarde Zero1s The new Paradigm Persona Bookshelves sounded pretty average but had a little amp and not a good space It was a good show with a decent turn out and I was very impressed with the room sizes. I think all shows should try to use conference rooms and not tiny little hotel bedrooms. I'll try to add some videos soon EDITED.. Wilson speakers are Alexia not Sasha S2