Hi Fi Show 2017 Pics and Reviews..

[Hulgich Audio]

Hi everyone,

I take the opportunity to greet and to thank all those who have visited us this weekend at the International HIFI show.
Although we had some problems in trying to optimize the room for the event but with some acoustic panels that we took with us to the event, we believe we have managed to present a decent sound and we hope that you have been able to appreciate it.
We have worked very hard to arrive in time to present our new models Maestro and ELLA MKII since many measurements and extensive voicing tests have passed to achieve what we consider a balanced sound.
Once again we thank you and we hope to see you soon at a new opportunity.

 

Best regards.

Nicolas Hulgich

HULGICHAUDIO

[~Spyne~]

13 minutes ago, guru said:

The stand mounts are a Franco serblin speaker, not a wilson benesch. Somewhere between 17 and 20k from memory.

 

Thanks Guru. Must have been the ones next to it that were WBs, I just assumed they both were. Do recall the chap mentioning the smaller ones were around $16k!!

[Aussieamps]

Hi Guys and Girls!

 

Just wanted to thank everyone that visited the Holton Audio/Java Hifi/SGR Audio room.

We all had a great time and it was great to see a few familiar faces again this year.

Special thanks to my brothers in arms @125dBmonster and @Rob181 for doing a great job helping out in the Holton Audio room and graciously wearing the Holton Audio shirts and caps.

Also last but not least our show partners Martin from Java HiFi and Stuart from SGR Audio, what great people and great products to have on board with the 2017 show!

Better get back to the Lab and design some new stuff for the 2018 International HiFi Show.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2017 by Aussieamps

[stevoz]

4 minutes ago, Aussieamps said:

Hi Guys and Girls!

 

Just wanted to thank everyone that visited the Holton Audio/Jave Hifi/SGR Audio room.

We all had a great time and it was great to see a few familiar faces again this year.

Special thanks to my brothers in arms @125dBmonster and @Rob181 for doing a great job helping out in the Holton Audio room and graciously wearing the Holton Audio shirts and caps.

Also last but not least our show partners Martin from Java HiFi and Stuart from SGR Audio, what great people and great products to have on board with the 2017 show!

Better get back to the Lab and design some new stuff for the 2018 International HiFi Show.

 

Cheers Anthony

Holton Audio

.....and I thank you for being there. My brother and I visited that room more than once. SQ witnessed by all was truly outstanding!

[cazzesman]

 

Well you lot.................page 9 and I haven't seen one mention or one image of the Kii Three.

 

I went to the show for basically 3 reasons.

 

1. Support the show

2. Check out Stuarts new passive range

3. Listen again to the Kii Three speakers in the Pure Music room.

 

Loved the passive Range from SGR, in particular, the little stand mount guys.   Pocket Rockets.

 

Warrick had some passives on when I arrived at 1pm on Sunday.  He was playing that famous track 'Snap, Crackle and Pop' on some old black piece of vinyl.   $23,000 speakers can't hide that from the music.

 

 I have never missed that track from the moment I sold my record collection.

 

The Kii 3's were pencilled in for a 3pm kick off.

 

Perfect timing.  2 hours to wander and catch up with Stuart and his lovely wife.   Nice to see both of them were still beaming and upbeat after 3 days of shaking hands and smiling.     By all accounts, the response to the full SGR range had been terrific.      I love my Cx4F MkII so I was already convinced of their musical greatness.

 

I caught up with my old music buddy Katattack and we made the rounds.   As Kat mentioned in a previous post, we had a wonderful chat with Arthur Rappos.  One of life's gentlemen.    I finally saw my Elektra Pre with the lid off.   It is an absolute work of art so kudos to the man and his craft.   We are so lucky to have to persons such as Arthur and Stuart in our own backyard.

 

3.10 pm and I was back in room 1305.   Initially, I sat on the side of the room beside Warrick's assistant, chating about the system.   I have previously listened to the Kii's at the Pure Music demo room in Moorabbin so knew what to expect. 

 

Over the next hour I played musical chairs and finally made it to the sweet spot at Chair #1.   

 

As I said, I love my CX4F's but if ever I make a move, the Kii's will be on my short list of 1.

 

They are so, so, so damn impressive.   Everything just sounds so right.   The imagining is sublime.    The alleged 100% accuracy in the timing and phase alignment mean that every instrument just pops into space in perfect cohesion.

 

They are stunning listening.    1 live track from a solo Diana Krall had her virtually sitting on my lap.   And that's not a bad bonus on top of the music.   

Warrick played a track that was obviously ripped from a record.   Mr Snap, crackle and pop was back.     I joked to Warrick about the noises and asked him if he could bring back the inky blackness of Digital.

 

The Kii's pricing is $17,000 for the speakers, $2400 for the pre amp/controller and $1600 for the Stands.

 

So RRP of $21,000 gets you 6 x 250 watt speakers per side (ncore amps), preamp, dac (based on the Mola Mola range) DSP, Digital and Analogue inputs, Remote control and no need to buy expensive speaker cable or room treatments.

 

The cabling is simply some Cat5 lan cable running from the controller to 1st speaker then the same cable across the 2nd speaker.    The USB cable in use from the Antipodes music servo to the controller/preamp was $300.

 

At one stage Bill Mclean came and sat next to me.  He was tapping his foot to the music.  After about 15 minutes he left and in parting he said 'Most musical speakers I have heard at the show'.   Nice one Bill.

 

If you missed out on listening to them......you missed out.

 

Great show Marc.  Kudos to you and your helpers.

 

Regards Cazzesman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Darren69]

@cazzesman I thoroughly enjoyed them too and they would be on my list for standmounts if I ever went down that path, excellent components in my opinion and massive bang for the buck when you factor in all the gear they replace.

 

Was great to meet Warwick too.

[~Spyne~]

Sadly I missed the Kiis - I didn't even realise they were there until Sunday morning when I saw them tucked off to the side of the room and by then, I was already locked in to a departure time and wouldn't be around for the next scheduled demo.

Oh well, next year I guess.

 

Also, seeing Arthur's Elektra amps with the lids off was really good. Such beautiful pieces of design inside, perfectly match the amazing performance they give.

[Guest Eggcup The Daft]

On 11/6/2017 at 5:21 PM, proftournesol said:

I agree that the musical choices were poor, there was no music that inspired me or excited me. What's the point of having a great system that just sounds beige?

I wasn't at the Melbourne show, but I would add that in my thirty plus years of visiting shows (with a large gap from 1998- recent) I noticed that attendees are far easier to clear out of a room with the "wrong" music than ever before. Classical? Rap? Prog (other than DSOTM and WYWH)? Anything vaguely heavy? Head for the doors! Back at my first show (Harrogate, 1980) I remember a roomful of people sitting in front of a pair of Quad ESL63s taking in every note of a late Beethoven quartet. I think any chance of that was gone ten years later.

 

People demonstrating at hi fi shows have to play music that shows off their equipment in the best light and attracts people to stay and listen. An empty room means no sales. At the end of the day it's not them to blame. You'll probably find them at home playing music that does inspire and excite. They aren't in the audio equipment business because they hate music, you know!

[mttel]

12 hours ago, ~Spyne~ said:

Echoing the comments made already, a great show Marc. Only the second year and you'd think it'd been running for 10 years, such was the efficiency of the organisation from a punter's viewpoint.

Yes, the vendors have to make do with tiny little rooms, often to display speakers that suit MUCH larger environments. Toe-in, volume control, minimal acoustic treatment possible and even use of a DEQX can only do so much to try and compensate for such poor environments.

As 'audiophiles' we should be aware and sympathetic to these unavoidable issues, while the vendors could perhaps also occasionally mention the contrast between the room they're demonstrating in and what an ideal room might be for the equipment on display...to assist those who either forget or are unaware of the difficulty in demoing in such cramped spaces.

 

Standouts for me were (again) the VAF room. Phil does a great job at informing visitors of the products on display and everything VAF is about as a company. Also some good music playing too.

The Krix soundwall was something to behold - incredible sound for HT, surprisingly shallow installation depth needed and convenient that you can put an acoustically transparent screen in front to infinitely increase WAF  Never got around to asking the ballpark cost for that set-up...

The two big surprises for me, sound-wise, came from the Sound Gallery room (Gold Note, Wilson Benesch) and the Grandinote room.

The little Wilson Benesch standmounts had simply incredible sound for their diminutive size and I think was an example of the size of the speaker suiting the size of the room very well (of course, the quality of the speakers and connected components goes a long way, too). Does anyone know the model that was on display? The smaller of the two standmounts (shown below on the right), without the bottom-mounted bass driver?

 

As mentioned, the other surprise sound came from the Grandinote Mach 4 towers. A compliment of four 4" drivers with a tweeter, these things had incredible speed and dynamics in that room and produced a really enjoyable listening experience. The cabinets could be 'prettier' and no idea of the cost, but on sound alone they were fantastic.

 

Mentions also to the Hulgich speakers, Osborn Grand Monuments (too big even for the large room they were in), SGR & Holton, PMG room and the little Elac bookshelf speakers which also produced a much larger sound than they had any right to.

 

Krix sound wall is about $20k for what was on display, drops to 15 if you go with the smaller ones that are to the left of the tv in the  picture.

[Krispy Audio]

13 hours ago, Eggcup The Daft said:

People demonstrating at hi fi shows have to play music that shows off their equipment in the best light and attracts people to stay and listen. An empty room means no sales. At the end of the day it's not them to blame. You'll probably find them at home playing music that does inspire and excite. They aren't in the audio equipment business because they hate music, you know!

 

This is so true. If you broke it down including logistic costs, an exhibitor is roughly paying $10 PER MINUTE to exhibit their equipment to people. I've played a single record side that kept people in the room the entire 20min, and I've played 15 seconds of a track that has cleared the room. Due to this you really are forced to play it safe with a conservative selection. Follow-up auditions are the place to push the boundaries  

[Krispy Audio]

On 06/11/2017 at 3:00 PM, tellmidd said:

Next time, let's see:

• More turntables (in each and every room)
• More phono stages
• More tube components
• More cable selections
• More range for each brand. e.g, lets line some vertical stacks 3-4 0r 5 wide and swap in an out components
• More 'high end brands' and lesser known brands (smaller players that punch beyond their weight)
• More room -the place was cramped and like a rabbit warren and did not have a logical pathway from start to finish
• More involvement by the exhibitors. Just standing there and scrolling music choices through a phone on spotify is not enough
• More analogue (it was overwhelmingly digital and for a city like Melbourne that is a vinyl lovers paradise, this is puzzling)

 

It is challenging to fit more into a 4x5m box though! Always a trade-off between quantity and quality in this environment.

[Hulgich Audio]

6 minutes ago, Krispy Audio said:

 

This is so true. If you broke it down including logistic costs, an exhibitor is roughly paying $10 PER MINUTE to exhibit their equipment to people. I've played a single record side that kept people in the room the entire 20min, and I've played 15 seconds of a track that has cleared the room. Due to this you really are forced to play it safe with a conservative selection. Follow-up auditions are the place to push the boundaries  

I can't agree more with what you've said

[Marc]

On 11/6/2017 at 3:00 PM, tellmidd said:

Sorry, I can't say I agree with some posters saying this was a resounding success. I went Saturday and I'd give it a grade overall of 3/10.

 

Great to have a range of exhibitors in one location and I thank them all for the effort to put it all together. Essentially I go to something like this to see and experience a RANGE of what's on the market and felt it was mainly low to medium end hi fi. A few exceptions of course but I want to see the Lamborghini's of the HiFi world to knock my socks off and then work back from there when developing my own system

 

Issues:

 

Next time, let's see:

• More turntables (in each and every room)
• More phono stages
• More tube components
• More cable selections
• More range for each brand. e.g, lets line some vertical stacks 3-4 0r 5 wide and swap in an out components
• More 'high end brands' and lesser known brands (smaller players that punch beyond their weight)
• More room -the place was cramped and like a rabbit warren and did not have a logical pathway from start to finish
• More involvement by the exhibitors. Just standing there and scrolling music choices through a phone on spotify is not enough
• More analogue (it was overwhelmingly digital and for a city like Melbourne that is a vinyl lovers paradise, this is puzzling)

 

• Less mediocre or cliche music choices (DSOM, Dave Brubeck, Diana Krall and more rock, trance, garage, punk etc. People were hostile to suggestions beyond cliches. One guy thought a Beatles track and another thought a Pixies banger was too radical a departure from normal hi fi show pan pipe fare!!
• Less entry level stuff (not sure people go to a place like this to see entry level turntables /components)

 

The room with the most positive energy was the Head Fi room where people were engaged in their little cocoons and clearly enjoying themselves -can see this expanding over coming years!

 

On an administrative level, give some thought to the entry. People who pre-book should have separate entry and should not have to wait in the same queue as people buying tickets on the day. It took forever for each of these people to complete transactions whilst people behind them had ticket in hand.

 

All of the above can be improved easily and I hope the next one takes on board these constructive suggestions.

 

cheers T

 

12

There's certianly going to be mixed opinions in over two thousands attendees to the show. Some of that started with the completely unnecessary attitudes and rudeness displayed to our wonderful staff on the front desk who are clearly more patitent than I (and they're the reason they staff the desk and not me!). I don't understand why some people are treated so badly for no apparent reason or what could be so bad in their lives that they need to treat others the way they do. All in all though, most were very friendly.

 

But with respect, perhaps I can offer a little balance to your opinion.

 

In fairness, I think there were most certainly "Lamborghinis" on display, along with a heavy mix of BMWs and a good dose of Camrys.

 

My aim with these shows:

1. Promote HiFi to a new audience.
2. Promote the reality that HiFi does not (but can) need to cost many tens of thousands of dollars.

In order to address point 1, I market the show heavily via various methods to a completely new audience that has not been exposed to HiFi before. I won't go into all the methods I used to achieve this, but it did work as the dominate average age of attendees was 38-45 years old. Sunday also saw a lot of couples, families, toddlers and strollers.

 

Based on your feedback, it sounds to me that you would only be satisfied with a show the nature of Munich's High End Show. Sadly, for commercial and logistical reasons, a show of that nature would never be possible in Australia.

 

That type of show also appeals only to the very wealth in terms of actual buyers, and would do nothing to drive our industry here in Australia. In Europe, it's a different story of course.

 

There was a very high number of turntables scattered throughout the rooms (and of course their corresponding phono stages). However, digital streaming is arguably still more popular, and certainly more convenient at a show where you are constantly (and for 8 hours at a time) trying to please all the punters with music choices. To expect every single room to use a turntable when our world is all about connectivity and technology right now it perhaps a little unrealistic.

 

I'm not entirely sure how exhibitors could offer more cable selections other than what they were using. In Europe, it's not uncommon for a cable manufacturer to be the actual exhibitor, and in turn, run demonstrations across the weekend of various cables. I have witnessed this with Audioquest, and Nordost at International shows. Sadly, we have no cable manufacturers in Australia that could justify being an exhibitor by themselves.

The distributors that do represent the cable brands also represent countless hardware brands and obviously focus their limited exhibition time on those products.

 

In regards to more room, my wife and I scouted out and (in some cases) stayed at over 30 hotels around Melbourne trying to find a suitable venue for such a show. There are many requirements not obvious to the average attendee in operating a show like this, and despite the 1200-1300 room corridor being cramped, this venue is simply making the best of a bad situation. The pros do however outweigh the cons, and that particularly tight corridor is the price we have to pay for compromise.

 

I do completely agree with you however about exhibitors being more involved. Many of them in 2017 were exhibiting for the very first time and don't have sales people with sales and presentation experience. I won't apologise on their behalf because I do agree they need to make the effort. For this reason, we, the organisers, will be producing a "how to get the most from your exhibition" type document prior to the 2018 show with tips on how best to stimulate those in attendance, and make the most of the money and time invested by being there.

 

Music choices - this is an age-old debate about HiFi Shows. Many ideas how to address this have been thrown around forever, but no suggestion has ever worked and no solution has ever stuck. Many attendees did bring material with them however and I personally saw many of them asking for it to be played with no objection from the vendor.

 

"Less entry level stuff" - I don't necessarily agree with this as mentioned previously. The show had a good mix of entry, mid and high-end. With the majority of attendees being exposed to HiFi for the very first time, it is crucial we don't have them leaving impressed, but thinking they need to spend upwards of $10,000 to achieve that enjoyable sound. If we as an industry continue to only pursue and promote high-end, there will be no customers of tomorrow and no industry itself. Let's get punters in at a realistic price-point, and take them on the journey that many thousands of StereoNET members are on ourselves, over a decade or more as the interest and disposable income increases.

 

Finally, in regards to the entry. This has had much thought already and is the way it is after an evolution of last year. Many would have not noticed the barcode ticketing system that we developed in-house that allowed for smartphone or print-out scanning. This significantly decreased the time it took to get into the show from last year.

 

Now as the clear majority of tickets are purchased online, the queue for pre-paid tickets would actually be longer than a dedicated one for purchasing at the door. As it was we had three "spots" serving those waiting to get in, and the queue moved very fast as it was.

There was only one day where there was a significant queue to get in at opening time and despite it's length, the queue lasted only for the first 35 minutes at show opening. The people within this queue certainly didn't have to wait that long though due to the speed in which tickets were being processed.

 

All the above is merely to offer some balance to what was an overly negative experience it seems you had, and that's unfortunate for you. We do welcome feedback good and bad, and that is why the 2017 show improved again on the 2016 show. Some things are purely out of our control however, while others are simply not being looked at from the outside and what can realistically be achieved in world that is just not perfect.

 

I do hope you choose to visit again in 2018 - but who knows what trends and new technology will dictate what and how things are showcased by then?

 

[Darren69]

On ‎7‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 11:35 AM, HA_Nick said:

Hi everyone,

I take the opportunity to greet and to thank all those who have visited us this weekend at the International HIFI show.
Although we had some problems in trying to optimize the room for the event but with some acoustic panels that we took with us to the event, we believe we have managed to present a decent sound and we hope that you have been able to appreciate it.
We have worked very hard to arrive in time to present our new models Maestro and ELLA MKII since many measurements and extensive voicing tests have passed to achieve what we consider a balanced sound.
Once again we thank you and we hope to see you soon at a new opportunity.

 

Best regards.

Nicolas Hulgich

HULGICHAUDIO

It's a lovely sound Nic, you guys/girls have done something really special there with that floorstander, absolutely gorgeous, congrats, I hope you shift a truckload of them. Didn't hear the stand mounts.

 

The little Nords powered them really well too!!

 

Really interested in what the big suckers can do now.

 

Daz

[Marc]

1 minute ago, Darren69 said:

It's a lovely sound Nic, you guys/girls have done something really special there with that floorstander, absolutely gorgeous, congrats, I hope you shift a truckload of them. Didn't hear the stand mounts.

 

The little Nords powered them really well too!!

 

Really interested in what the big suckers can do now.

 

Daz

Welcome to drop in next time you're in Melbourne. I bought the Hulgich Astors only a matter of days after they turned up here for a no-obligation audition and review if I felt them worthy. Needless to say, there were most worthy and now serve my daily duties as a reference point in the under $15,000 floor-standing range. They really are exceptional. Congratulations to Nick all round on his creations that are winning people over.

[blybo]

On 11/7/2017 at 10:29 AM, Marc said:

What a week it's been. I'm still absolutely exhausted. The highlight for me though has been reading through these forums and the social media comments. There's always room for improvements from an organiser's perspective and I've taken all of what I have read onboard. All in all though, it seems all certainly enjoyed themselves and the exhibitors in virtually all cases were and are ready to sign up to 2018's show, and that to me is validation of a good event.

 

I can't thank you all enough for your support of StereoNET's show, that as Ed Kramer said best:

 

 

Peter Familari and I are still working on our show report, but in the meantime here's my gallery: https://www.stereo.net.au/features/gallery-2017-melbourne-international-hifi-show

If I could make 1 suggestion... Being a quasi long weekend in Melbourne only, would have hurt local attendances without necessarily helping interstaters. I had organised a short break long before you changed dates, I left on Thursday and the airport was packed as was the long term car park, took over 10 minutes to find a spot. Was also very busy with people returning yesterday, had to wait for a 3rd bus before I could get on, to the long term car park. I've never experienced that before.

 

I'll continue to use that weekend as a chance to get away.

[Hulgich Audio]

24 minutes ago, Darren69 said:

It's a lovely sound Nic, you guys/girls have done something really special there with that floorstander, absolutely gorgeous, congrats, I hope you shift a truckload of them. Didn't hear the stand mounts.

 

The little Nords powered them really well too!!

 

Really interested in what the big suckers can do now.

 

Daz

It has been a year of hard work and sacrifice and your words help us move forward and continue to believe in our project.
Best regards

 

Nicolas Hulgich

HULGICHAUDIO

[Marc]

16 minutes ago, blybo said:

If I could make 1 suggestion... Being a quasi long weekend in Melbourne only, would have hurt local attendances without necessarily helping interstaters. I had organised a short break long before you changed dates, I left on Thursday and the airport was packed as was the long term car park, took over 10 minutes to find a spot. Was also very busy with people returning yesterday, had to wait for a 3rd bus before I could get on, to the long term car park. I've never experienced that before.

 

I'll continue to use that weekend as a chance to get away.

I don't want to keep making excuses, but again, the date wasn't necessarily our first choice. There's limitations to work to, but we're confident our October 2018 date finally misses all other sporting events, holidays, international hifi shows, and elections!

[Martykt]

21 minutes ago, Marc said:

Welcome to drop in next time you're in Melbourne. I bought the Hulgich Astors only a matter of days after they turned up here for a no-obligation audition and review if I felt them worthy. Needless to say, there were most worthy and now serve my daily duties as a reference point in the under $15,000 floor-standing range. They really are exceptional. Congratulations to Nick all round on his creations that are winning people over.

 

25 minutes ago, Darren69 said:

It's a lovely sound Nic, you guys/girls have done something really special there with that floorstander, absolutely gorgeous, congrats, I hope you shift a truckload of them. Didn't hear the stand mounts.

 

The little Nords powered them really well too!!

 

Really interested in what the big suckers can do now.

 

Daz

 

I completely have to agree.

The Hulgich room was one of the best sounding rooms in the show in my opinion.

Great work @HA_Nick !! 

 

In the Australian contingent despite being plagued with bad luck when I finally got to hear then I was super impressed by Halcro's new electrostats.

I reckon easily a match for Martin Logans Neoliths.

My other pick for sound of the show !! 

 

It's great to see Aussies kicking goals with world class products !!

[Hulgich Audio]

7 minutes ago, Martykt said:

 

 

I completely have to agree.

The Hulgich room was one of the best sounding rooms in the show in my opinion.

Great work @HA_Nick !! 

 

In the Australian contingent despite being plagued with bad luck when I finally got to hear then I was super impressed by Halcro's new electrostats.

I reckon easily a match for Martin Logans Neoliths.

My other pick for sound of the show !! 

 

It's great to see Aussies kicking goals with world class products !!

Very happy that you like our room.

Regards.

 

Nicolas Hulgich

HULGICHAUDIO

[Candyflip]

That's it then - decision made - I'm saving for some big f@#$-off Hulgich's, like Marc has.

See - Hi Fi Show's do work!

 

Of course, donations are welcome.  

[sir sanders zingmore]

2 hours ago, Marc said:

Sunday also saw a lot of couples, families, toddlers and strollers.

I noticed this too and was very pleased  

[Darren69]

22 minutes ago, candyflip said:

That's it then - decision made - I'm saving for some big f@#$-off Hulgich's, like Marc has.

See - Hi Fi Show's do work!

 

Of course, donations are welcome.  

I saw the property prices in Melbourne while I was there, the kitchen is worth more than my 1 hectare block and house, you're clearly loaded.

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by Darren69

[PorkBun69s]

On ‎7‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 1:15 PM, cazzesman said:

As I said, I love my CX4F's but if ever I make a move, the Kii's will be on my short list of 1.

They are so, so, so damn impressive.   Everything just sounds so right.   The imagining is sublime.    The alleged 100% accuracy in the timing and phase alignment mean that every instrument just pops into space in perfect cohesion.

I'm still spewing that I had to leave before that demo..now, after hearing your comments on the Kii 3's, I'm glad '$$$$' I did! 

[PorkBun69s]

On ‎7‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 1:15 PM, cazzesman said:

I caught up with my old music buddy Katattack and we made the rounds.   As Kat mentioned in a previous post, we had a wonderful chat with Arthur Rappos.  One of life's gentlemen.    I finally saw my Elektra Pre with the lid off.   It is an absolute work of art so kudos to the man and his craft.   We are so lucky to have to persons such as Arthur and Stuart in our own backyard.

Happy to be your wingman anytime Cazz!