Hi Fi Show 2017 Pics and Reviews..

[frankn]

On 03/11/2017 at 9:36 PM, BruceS said:

 

But a great speaker it really was!

An electrostat that goes down to 30Hz.

 

 

Yes they did sound good but an electrostatic speaker that goes down to 30Hz isn’t new or unusual. The Quad 2905/2912 has been doing that for years. The big Sound Lab (USA) electrostatics mid-20s. 

[KeithL]

29 minutes ago, stevoz said:

It's all subjective.....

It certainly is. Don't get me wrong, I liked the SGRs but they didn't engage me as much as some of the other rooms I mentioned.

 

Curious to hear what other people thought about the Legend/DEQX setup in the Mcleans room. For me, this was one of the best I heard on the day.

[BruceS]

Frankn, of course you are right.

Most of the SoundLabs do, only three of their speakers don't reach 30Hz.

Still not all electrostats get down that low, which is why some electrostats use a cone speaker to get down low.

Say the Martin Logans.

Still enjoyed those Halcro electrostats!

Were they better than my spectra 22s?

Very probably.

Loved those Halcro electrostats to death and they were the only speakers that coped with my female vocal CD.

Hey, they gave me goose bumps!!!

Bruce

 

 

[frankn]

16 minutes ago, Qwertyqaz said:

Did anyone try the Sennheiser Orpheus?

You mean the HE1s?  Yes I did, lovely sound. Very refined. Handled both pop Annie Lenox - Little bird, Pink Floyd, Vangelis with aplomb. 

[Qwertyqaz]

12 minutes ago, KeithL said:

It certainly is. Don't get me wrong, I liked the SGRs but they didn't engage me as much as some of the other rooms I mentioned.

 

Curious to hear what other people thought about the Legend/DEQX setup in the Mcleans room. For me, this was one of the best I heard on the day.

Deqx gave the open baffles bass.

[KeithL]

4 minutes ago, Qwertyqaz said:

Deqx gave the open baffles bass.

Yes it did but I meant the Legend bookshelves (Isobaric Small Reds I think) not the Spatials. Did you have a chance to listen to them?

[mttel]

6 hours ago, pass the bass said:

Just as there are trolls on internet forums, there are equivalent music trolls at hi-fi shows. These people are intolerant of music other than their own, and what's more, they are discourteous and don't realise their music often has the same adverse effect on others. One of the things I enjoy about hi-fi shows is discovering new music. Of course, I also hear music I do not like, but I always respect other people's choices, I at least listen to it before I judge, and put up with it or leave the room quietly. I commend exhibitors who facilitate attendees' request to play they have brought themselves.

To call someone a troll just because they choose to say they don’t like something is a bit harsh. I think I listen to a diverse range of music but I am pretty sure I could clear the room pretty quickly at most hifi shows with Daft Punk or many other EDM artist that I like to listen to.

[Kaynin]

I went Friday and listened to the lot, but went back today and spent more time in front of what piqued my interest.  My thoughts -

 

• The Sennhesier HE-1 head-fi set-up was superb.  It was so smooth, the sound stage was wide and no notes of sibilance with a reference track I use that often shows up in other set-ups.  Plus the free champagne was a nice touch...quite the experience!
• The VAF i93's new active range sounded fantastic, well balanced and engaging.  It was the first time I've heard these speakers, despite seeing them in the flesh, and they was brilliant;
• The PMG room was the most engaging warm sound.  I sat there for an hour and it was effortless.  I think this was the best sound for me;
• The Osborn room was good, he had the space this year to let his speakers breathe.  Value for money is still nigh impossible to beat, and I mean in all of his products;
• The Hulgich room was a very, very nice sound coupled with beautiful looking speakers.  A modern design that is very appealing.

 

 

A Gold medal goes to VAF for being so productive over the past 12 months in working to bring out new ranges of high quality products for us.

 

A Gold medal goes to South Australia for producing the quantity of quality gear, they're excelling.

 

A Gold medal goes to Jaben Audio who sold me a pair of LCD-3's for a price that almost made me fall over backwards!  It was a fire sale by 3:30 P.M. on the Sunday...

[Qwertyqaz]

17 minutes ago, KeithL said:

Yes it did but I meant the Legend bookshelves (Isobaric Small Reds I think) not the Spatials. Did you have a chance to listen to them?

They weren’t playing the few times I visited the room.

[audiofeline]

Music I heard on Sunday {I may add to this list when I think of more):

 

Various blues

Rolling Stones

Pink Floyd

Brubeck's Take Five

Daft Punk

Kylie Minogue (a nice vocal-only track, compared with the released version with backing)

Jack Johnson

Soft Jazz (as expected, but not as much as last year)

Deep Purple

Lou Reed

The Eagles

Donald Fagen

Nick Cave

 

One visitor requested heavy metal, which the exhibitor couldn't deliver.  The exhibitor suggested that it didn't really matter what speakers metal was played on - this was disagreed by the visitor.

 

Edited November 5, 2017 by audiofeline
Updating...

[Kaynin]

3 minutes ago, audiofeline said:

The exhibitor suggested that it didn't really matter what speakers metal was played on - this was disagreed by the visitor.

 

 

The visitor was right.

[frankn]

I really enjoyed the Gauder Acoustik speakers. The JBLs sounded good - not the Everest’s the ones 2 sizes down  

I was very surprised at the baby Krix speakers. 

 

[The Spider]

13 minutes ago, Kaynin said:

 

The visitor was right.

Damn right he was! Heavy metal has the same right to good reproduction as everything else!

[audiofeline]

Some of my impressions. 

 

As with last year, I loved the VAF speakers.  Phillip was good to talk to as well.  I kept returning to hear them again.

As with last year, the Melody+JBL's weren't to my taste.  Very dynamic though. 

I liked the Ocean open-baffle speakers (shaped like the surfboard), the Hulgich room, thought the SGR speakers were good. I only listened to the horn speakers briefly, I would have liked to have heard more (I intended to go back to the room later but didn't). 

The Halcro panels sounded nice but there was too much noise in the open area for me to be able to fully appreciate them.

It was nice to have the opportunity to compare Ortofon cartridges. 

 

Edited November 6, 2017 by audiofeline

[audiofeline]

• A big thank-you to the few exhibitors who put a "now playing" card on their speakers.
   
• A big thank-you to all the exhibitors, who are probably very exhausted by now.
   
• A big thank-you to Marc and his team for a well-organised show - their attention to detail made it an enjoyable experience.

[PorkBun69s]

Was a very enjoyable day today.  Had lots of ear/eye candy, went home very content.  Kudos to  Marc and the exhibitors for putting up an excellent show.

Highlight of my day were the SGR and PMG rooms.  I was impressed with the passive offerings from SGR, powered by excellent electronics from Holton audio and Karan.  Such effortless, musical sound from these combos.  The CX4F MkII's was great, as expected.  I didnt think the upgrade over MK1 was small but to hear it being played with TT and digital rigs, i'm now sold on this.  Challenge now is to sell a convincing case the finance minister this evening. 

 

The Mcleans room was quite enjoyable.  Especially with the before/after demos with the DEXQ unit.  The improvements with the DEXQs unit in was not small and has a very positive effort to the sound.

Small mention goes to the BenQ room.  Was blown away with the mini Benq projector being powered by a usb battery projecting on a white wall, with a kazillion connectivity options.. Just WoW!!

 

And last but not least was sharing a very insightful chat with Arthur Rappos from Elektra Audio - Thanks Arthur!.  What a wonderful gentleman who took time to explain his design philosophy on the elektra preamp and also parting some insight into the hifi audio industry. 

[russell66]

Great show, spoiled only by some Muppet who kept coming into the rooms wanting to play Acapello!  I had to get up and leave. LOL.

 

No seriously i ended up in a room where they must of played your CD because I Shazaamed it came up Pentatonix so thanks for that.

[illusion]

Thoroughly enjoyable day at the Hi Fi show today.

Took along a couple of friends who have never previously had any exposure to hi end audio, so was interesting to see their responses.

Both were quite gobsmacked at the quality of local products such as VAF, SGR, Redgum, Osborn.

A special mention to the guys that had the Holton Audio / SGR room. Loved the equipment and the sound.

And also these brilliant speakers, which had me engrossed for over an hour.

 

[LogicprObe]

5 minutes ago, russell66 said:

Great show, spoiled only by some Muppet who kept coming into the rooms wanting to play Acapello!  I had to get up and leave. LOL.

 

 

POTM!

[Luc]

1 hour ago, katattack74 said:

Was a very enjoyable day today.  Had lots of ear/eye candy, went home very content.  Kudos to  Marc and the exhibitors for putting up an excellent show.

Highlight of my day were the SGR and PMG rooms.  I was impressed with the passive offerings from SGR, powered by excellent electronics from Holton audio and Karan.  Such effortless, musical sound from these combos.  The CX4F MkII's was great, as expected.  I didnt think the upgrade over MK1 was small but to hear it being played with TT and digital rigs, i'm now sold on this.  Challenge now is to sell a convincing case the finance minister this evening. 

 

The Mcleans room was quite enjoyable.  Especially with the before/after demos with the DEXQ unit.  The improvements with the DEXQs unit in was not small and has a very positive effort to the sound.

Small mention goes to the BenQ room.  Was blown away with the mini Benq projector being powered by a usb battery projecting on a white wall, with a kazillion connectivity options.. Just WoW!!

 

And last but not least was sharing a very insightful chat with Arthur Rappos from Elektra Audio - Thanks Arthur!.  What a wonderful gentleman who took time to explain his design philosophy on the elektra preamp and also parting some insight into the hifi audio industry. 

Arthur is good value.

[Mauro]

Went on Friday somewhat early as I prefer to cool down excitement wise and view the surroundings. Nice Hotel, like the internal architecture.

My likes in no order.

The first surprise was the Melody JBL room. I was amazed at the quality of their product. Super uniform craftsmanship, built to a very top standard indeed and beautiful to look at. The JBL speakers sounded impressive although felt they needed a bit more space width wise, just a tad. The Mega amp 212 Everest was truly colossal in size and I mean colossal.

The Avantgarde duo XD’s were very surprising although if the room was more accommodating the sound would follow suite I believe. They were stuffed in the corners of the room nevertheless very exciting and nicely rich in the upper spectrum, my bias. When I found their price to be around 35K I took a step backwards though.

The SGR Cx4F MII speakers delighted to no end. Amazing bass and active powered as you know. I enjoyed and appreciated their articulation and superb separation of instruments in the sound. I would seriously consider this speaker when the time comes for me to visit my next purchase.

The Osborn room never disappoints as his Grand Monument this time had right of place. Massive scale of sound and as others have pointed out, unbelievable value for money. He has finally been able to 'remove' those ugly focal emblems on the (Grand Monuments') large woofers now. He has spray painted them black and they now look fantastic. When inspected closely they look like Focal logo engravings in the plastic cone. The finish on his speakers are so beautiful and just about perfect. Another speaker to good to pass up considering what you are able to get for the money. Lacquered Sassafras finish for me.

Another joy for me was the  Mcintosh/Sonus Faber room. I have always liked the Mcintosh gear and have now decided to add it my short list of amplification come purchase time even if it is quite expensive. I'm a sucker for over engineered gear. The Amp and associated gear though needed larger speakers than the Sonus Faber model on hand. Don't get me wrong they sounded wonderful although you could sense the gear had this larger offering and this necessitated a larger speaker. One side note was the opposite room was played a surround sound setup quite loudly and the noise bleed was excessive and annoying.

The Jaben audio room was absolutely packed with gear that I had to more on very quickly. You could easily spend an entire day there listening to all those headphones and other gear on offer.

Thanks to all for organizing this event and as others have spelled out, we do make some incredible gear here in OZ and have no real need to purchase from that mythical greener pasture that's not any greener than on our patch.

 

My only regret was not seeing the Line Magnetic range of amps. I read here that they where to make a show alas no presence. Hopefully next year.

Edited November 5, 2017 by Mauro
Ommision.

[Addicted to music]

6 hours ago, Hensa said:

Stumbled into this room today and got the perfect hangover cure involving beer and 100dB Pink Floyd! My favourite room of the show weekend!

 

 

Excellent way to finish off 2017 HIFI show, no entry fee; bonus!   

 

Best bit of this is to catch up with the usual suspects and also meet other members interstate.     

 

Many thanks to the host @joz   

[theking]

Anyone has visited neudrum room?can you share your findings? It is the least favourite room for me somehow it sounds like mono.

I could be wrong as i wasnt staying a long time, may be the music played when I was there, or may be just the characteristic of the speakers that does not suit to my taste.

[Guest Misterioso]

2 hours ago, audiofeline said:

It was nice to have the opportunity to compare Ortofon cartridges. 

Pity, I missed this. Would have liked to hear this. 

[PorkBun69s]

1 hour ago, Mauro said:

Went on Friday somewhat early as I prefer to cool down excitement wise and view the surroundings. Nice Hotel, like the internal architecture.

My likes in no order.

The first surprise was the Melody JBL room. I was amazed at the quality of their product. Super uniform craftsmanship, built to a very top standard indeed and beautiful to look at. The JBL speakers sounded impressive although felt they needed a bit more space width wise, just a tad. The Mega amp 212 Everest was truly colossal in size and I mean colossal.

The Avantgarde duo XD’s were very surprising although if the room was more accommodating the sound would follow suite I believe. They were stuffed in the corners of the room nevertheless very exciting and nicely rich in the upper spectrum, my bias. When I found their price to be around 35K I took a step backwards though.

The SGR Cx4F MII speakers delighted to no end. Amazing bass and active powered as you know. I enjoyed and appreciated their articulation and superb separation of instruments in the sound. I would seriously consider this speaker when the time comes for me to visit my next purchase.

The Osborn room never disappoints as his Grand Monument this time had right of place. Massive scale of sound and as others have pointed out, unbelievable value for money. He has finally been able to 'remove' those ugly focal emblems on the (Grand Monuments') large woofers now. He has spray painted them black and they now look fantastic. When inspected closely they look like Focal logo engravings in the plastic cone. The finish on his speakers are so beautiful and just about perfect. Another speaker to good to pass up considering what you are able to get for the money. Lacquered Sassafras finish for me.

Another joy for me was the  Mcintosh/Sonus Faber room. I have always liked the Mcintosh gear and have now decided to add it my short list of amplification come purchase time even if it is quite expensive. I'm a sucker for over engineered gear. The Amp and associated gear though needed larger speakers than the Sonus Faber model on hand. Don't get me wrong they sounded wonderful although you could sense the gear had this larger offering and this necessitated a larger speaker. One side note was the opposite room was played a surround sound setup quite loudly and the noise bleed was excessive and annoying.

The Jaben audio room was absolutely packed with gear that I had to more on very quickly. You could easily spend an entire day there listening to all those headphones and other gear on offer.

Thanks to all for organizing this event and as others have spelled out, we do make some incredible gear here in OZ and have no real need to purchase from that mythical greener pasture that's not any greener than on our patch.

 

My only regret was not seeing the Line Magnetic range of amps. I read here that they where to make a show alas no presence. Hopefully next year.

The Melody/JBL were just massive in very aspect..physical size and soundstage.   Agreed on your thoughts about the AG's, CX4's.  The Osborn room was pleasant sounding, but they were demoing the Epitomes at the time i walked in.  Those AM mono's powering the Grand Epitomes put out a bit of heat, me and another guy both said these things could heat up a room in winter and provide sweet sound at the same time - bonus!    I really enjoyed the McIntosh/Sonus Faber room.  I've always had a lusted a Mc pre for years..and still am.  

If there was one room that didnt do it for me was the Devialet room. 

Edited November 5, 2017 by katattack74