Administrator Marc Posted October 16, 2018 Administrator Share Posted October 16, 2018 1 hour ago, stevoz said: That's another aspect of the show I should have mentioned in my earlier assessment when I said the Krix set up was amazing but even if I could afford it, I'd never pay $500,000 for it.....ever! The clincher for me to make this statement was that we went straight to the Selby room with the 'under $5000' Atmos HT set up and watched the same 'Unbroken' clip that we had just witnessed in the Krix room. Conclusion? Why would you bother spending 100 times as much when the 'under $5000' (admittedly a 'show' offer, actual price $7600) system sounded so damn good and is way more suitable for the average home? Hugely impessive HT sound for the money.....and just one little sub. That's fair, and I was also impressed by the realistically priced Selby cinemas. But with respect, I do think you are missing the point just a little here though. Krix didn't exhibit a half-million dollar cinema in the hope of selling them. It was a branding exercise. It was a cost-no-object, here's what we can do display. It certainly achieved that, and then some! It got people talking about Krix, both locally and internationally as a result. I have no doubt they will sell more of their domestic cinema (and stereo) speakers to those that are actually in the market as a result and Krix's brand awareness is obviously at an all-time high now! But more than that, having spent a fair bit of time with Scott Krix (and the team) recently, they just wanted to have some fun and I can assure you they did! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Marc Posted October 16, 2018 Administrator Share Posted October 16, 2018 Hi @Neilsy - thanks for taking the time to offer constructive feedback. The Mark Dohmann seminars were a first for us, and it highlighted to me how much knowledge and talent was in the building from Australia and around the world across the weekend. Michael Gudinski even popped in for a look around, although I suspect the exhibitors would never even known he was there At future shows we will be running more of those talks across all 3 days. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volunteer sir sanders zingmore Posted October 16, 2018 Volunteer Share Posted October 16, 2018 Just now, Marc said: Hi @Neilsy - thanks for taking the time to offer constructive feedback. The Mark Dohmann seminars were a first for us, and it highlighted to me how much knowledge and talent was in the building from Australia and around the world across the weekend. From here on we will be running more of those talks across all 3 days. +1 to that Mark was a fascinating and informative speaker. I really enjoyed his presentation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussieamps Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 I would just like to thank everyone that came to our 1311 Room, both Hulgich Audio and Holton Audio had our most successful HiFi show yet! We both sold half our floor stock at the end of the last day and received lots of thumbs up from a lot of people that visited our room. I would like to personally thank Nick Hulgich and his great team for helping to make the show a great success with Holton Audio. Also I would like to thank Matthew Pullen from Solar Tasmania for been a great wing man for both Holton Audio and Hulgich Audio, he faithfully stood outside our room the entire weekend, directing people into our room and talked with great passion to people passing by about our products. A special mention and thanks to Aaron Reynolds from Vero Voce Audio for the use of The Metrum Jade DAC. Also thanks to Marc and his great team for another well organised and run HiFi Show! Looking forward to the next one... 6 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Marc Posted October 16, 2018 Administrator Share Posted October 16, 2018 5 minutes ago, Aussieamps said: I would just like to thank everyone that came to our 1311 Room, both Hulgich Audio and Holton Audio had our most successful HiFi show yet! We both sold half our floor stock at the end of the last day and received lots of thumbs up from a lot of people that visited our room. I would like to personally thank Nick Hulgich and his great team for helping to make the show a great success with Holton Audio. Also I would like to thank Matthew Pullen from Solar Tasmania for been a great wing man for both Holton Audio and Hulgich Audio, he faithfully stood outside our room the entire weekend, directing people into our room and talked with great passion to people passing by about our products. A special mention and thanks to Aaron Reynolds from Vero Voce Audio for the use of The Metrum Jade DAC. Also thanks to Marc and his great team for another well organised and run HiFi Show! Looking forward to the next one... You should be proud Anthony (and Nick) - the sound you had in that room is better than many rooms I've heard around the world at shows. World-class, no question. It killed me to refuse Nick's generous offer to drop the Duke's off to my place following the show (no space at the moment), but truthfully I'd love to get those amps in at the same time to see what the combination I heard can do in a more suited room. Well done! 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussieamps Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 1 minute ago, Marc said: You should be proud Anthony (and Nick) - the sound you had in that room is better than many rooms I've heard around the world at shows. World-class, no question. It killed me to refuse Nick's generous offer to drop the Duke's off to my place following the show (no space at the moment), but truthfully I'd love to get those amps in at the same time to see what the combination I heard can do in a more suited room. Well done! Will see what we can organise Marc, by then I should have the new 500 supreme mono blocks built, your audio room is one of the best sounding rooms I have been in, so should be fun to try them out! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevoz Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 (edited) 42 minutes ago, Marc said: That's fair, and I was also impressed by the realistically priced Selby cinemas. But with respect, I do think you are missing the point just a little here though. Krix didn't exhibit a half-million dollar cinema in the hope of selling them. It was a branding exercise. It was a cost-no-object, here's what we can do display. It certainly achieved that, and then some! It got people talking about Krix, both locally and internationally as a result. I have no doubt they will sell more of their domestic cinema (and stereo) speakers to those that are actually in the market as a result and Krix's brand awareness is obviously at an all-time high now! But more than that, having spent a fair bit of time with Scott Krix (and the team) recently, they just wanted to have some fun and I can assure you they did! Absolutely true @Marc . I see your point and as a branding exercise, it would have indeed achieved what it set out to do. It was a mind blowing demo! Having said that, I'm sure there are some people who would consider having something like this installed in their specially built theatre rooms.....you know those people with garages full of hypercars and honestly, good luck to them, they would be extremely happy! Edited October 16, 2018 by stevoz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hulgich Audio Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 I would like to thank all those who have visited us in room 1311, I was fortunate to partner with Antony Holton and achieve great sound with his amplifiers. Our speakers sounded remarkably well, although sometimes our larger model could not expose its full potential in a small room. The Nina model also produced a great sound, but its image was not the best, since it was very laborious to move the Dukes from their position, but that decision allowed us to exchange from one system to another without major inconveniences. In general, we are very happy with the results and we hope to form a team in the future with Hulton Audio, since all together they worked without problems and setbacks. A special mention and thanks to Aaron Reynolds of Vero Vero Audio for the use of The Metrum Jade DAC. Also a big thank you to Marc Rushton and his great team for the organization of the Show. I do not even want to think about the amount of time and effort invested in organizing such an event. Very grateful for giving us the opportunity to show what we love to do. 11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Marc Posted October 16, 2018 Administrator Share Posted October 16, 2018 You’re very welcome Nick. It was a pleasure hosting you. Nina was something special too and had the distinct Hulgich voicing, sweet and oh so very musical. Congratulations. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil c Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 You should be proud Anthony (and Nick) - the sound you had in that room is better than many rooms I've heard around the world at shows. World-class, no question. It killed me to refuse Nick's generous offer to drop the Duke's off to my place following the show (no space at the moment), but truthfully I'd love to get those amps in at the same time to see what the combination I heard can do in a more suited room. Well done!Damn - he could have dropped them off at my place and saved himself the trouble! [emoji53] 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hulgich Audio Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 We were to stay until 7 pm in the room doing private demonstrations (please no misunderstandings) and we sold one of Anthony's power amps, the Dukes, and almost all the interconnects and speaker cables that we had available. We can't complain. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ittaku Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 (edited) Now where's that $100k DAC that was promised for auditioning after the show... I'd love to give it a try, even if I'm looking more in the $20k range Edited October 16, 2018 by Ittaku Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legend Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 16 hours ago, BruceS said: The DEQX/legend room was another room offering great value, a friendly environment & just a nice place to be. Can't believe that those Legend speakers sounded so good - and what a bargain! Many thanks for your kind comments Bruce. The Kama 10 loudspeakers we demonstrated are at our knee/turnover point of the cost/ performance curve trying to show real hi-fi need not cost an arm or a leg. Also many thanks to Marc & Stereonet for putting on such a great show. Marc is a great person to deal with no request however small quickly responded. It certainly takes much of the stress out of presenting at the show. The only area he cannot help is choice of music – trying to keep a diverse range of listeners happy at least some of the time. And one of the pleasures of this show was the diversity of attendees – not just greying males! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blybo Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 18 hours ago, stevoz said: That's another aspect of the show I should have mentioned in my earlier assessment when I said the Krix set up was amazing but even if I could afford it, I'd never pay $500,000 for it.....ever! The clincher for me to make this statement was that we went straight to the Selby room with the 'under $5000' Atmos HT set up and watched the same 'Unbroken' clip that we had just witnessed in the Krix room. Conclusion? Why would you bother spending 100 times as much when the 'under $5000' (admittedly a 'show' offer, actual price $7600) system sounded so damn good and is way more suitable for the average home? Hugely impessive HT sound for the money.....and just one little sub. PS: I'm buying the blu-ray of 'Unbroken' to check the same scene on my HT set up. Should be interesting..... Bear in mind the $500k would have large chunks taken up by things like the Barco projector and Kaleidescape movie severs etc etc. There was also a truck load of absorbers in there that don't come cheap. Without knowing first hand I bet a down scaled standard home Atmos system with those same speakers/amps would be reasonably priced. I hope the projector in the $5k room was better than the 1 in the $10k room. I learnt at the show I can't deal with DLP style projectors and rainbow effect, but I know not everybody sees it. I remember about 5 years ago going to DTV member Prior's DIY home cinema under his house decked out with HT specific Krix stuff like this and it was incredible, but even with brilliant DIY talents I'd bet the construction and room treatments cost WAY more than the equipment. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whites Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 On 15/10/2018 at 2:59 PM, blybo said: ... let's see how this goes then... Yup these things work! I've gone from having my Audioengine A5+ office speakers installed on my desk with concrete pavers and their own brand of tilting rubberised stand to just these isoACOUSTICS and bloody hell, my speakers just got a hell of a lot clearer, more... air around the instruments, more bass and less glare. Now wondering what they could do with my home speakers. @blybo I bought the Gaia 2 for my floorstanding speakers after hearing the Isoacoustic demo at the show. They are amazing, the improvement has really surprised me, the bass is tighter, soundstage is larger, much more clarity. The Gaia aren't cheap, but they are a seriously awesome product. I should add that I have an old house, the speakers are on floorboards and there is a bit of noticeable spring when you walk around so I probably have the ideal situation to gain maximum benefit from the product. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blybo Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 3 minutes ago, Whites said: @blybo I bought the Gaia 2 for my floorstanding speakers after hearing the Isoacoustic demo at the show. They are amazing, the improvement has really surprised me, the bass is tighter, soundstage is larger, much more clarity. The Gaia aren't cheap, but they are a seriously awesome product. I should add that I have an old house, the speakers are on floorboards and there is a bit of noticeable spring when you walk around so I probably have the ideal situation to gain maximum benefit from the product. Excellent. Yeah I'm thinking about the Gaia III's for my main system, although I'm on a slab with floating floor and open baffle speakers, so not sure how much to expect, as my speakers have no box to reduce vibrations in... Waiting to hear from the designer to see if he has tried the Gaia's on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian McP Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 17 hours ago, Aussieamps said: I would just like to thank everyone that came to our 1311 Room, both Hulgich Audio and Holton Audio had our most successful HiFi show yet! We both sold half our floor stock at the end of the last day and received lots of thumbs up from a lot of people that visited our room. I would like to personally thank Nick Hulgich and his great team for helping to make the show a great success with Holton Audio. Also I would like to thank Matthew Pullen from Solar Tasmania for been a great wing man for both Holton Audio and Hulgich Audio, he faithfully stood outside our room the entire weekend, directing people into our room and talked with great passion to people passing by about our products. A special mention and thanks to Aaron Reynolds from Vero Voce Audio for the use of The Metrum Jade DAC. Also thanks to Marc and his great team for another well organised and run HiFi Show! Looking forward to the next one... I thought the two best sounding set ups by far at the show were Hulgich and McLean, interestingly they both used FPGA R2R DAC's (Hulgich: Metrum Jade, McLean: Aqua Formula) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krix Loudspeakers Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 52 minutes ago, blybo said: Bear in mind the $500k would have large chunks taken up by things like the Barco projector and Kaleidescape movie severs etc etc. There was also a truck load of absorbers in there that don't come cheap. Without knowing first hand I bet a down scaled standard home Atmos system with those same speakers/amps would be reasonably priced. You're right @blybo, it was the system total, which included speakers, projector, projector screen, amplifiers (all 58 channels), Trinnov processor + extension, video processor, media players, networking, automation, acoustic treatments and so on. The retail price of the speaker and subwoofer component came to around $130k, with $50k of that behind the screen with the 7 huge Cinematix. As @Marcmentioned, we wanted to show what was achievable with an almost unlimited budget in a residential space. We also wanted to show that our cinema heritage and years of development can be scaled to suit smaller rooms and budgets - so you can still get cinema sound at home without breaking the bank e.g. the MX-20 and MX-30 we had in the entry room, to our SX and home entertainment speakers. A 5.1.4 Series SX system, which features engineering and tech from our cinema range can be had from $8k. The system from our home entertainment range shown in the Selby room, $5.2k. It's not often you get a chance to produce a world first, and as Marc mentioned we had a lot of fun with it! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ando Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 1 hour ago, Ian McP said: I thought the two best sounding set ups by far at the show were Hulgich and McLean, interestingly they both used FPGA R2R DAC's (Hulgich: Metrum Jade, McLean: Aqua Formula) The McLean with Devore speakers ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volunteer sir sanders zingmore Posted October 17, 2018 Volunteer Share Posted October 17, 2018 5 hours ago, legend said: Many thanks for your kind comments Bruce. The Kama 10 loudspeakers we demonstrated are at our knee/turnover point of the cost/ performance curve trying to show real hi-fi need not cost an arm or a leg. Also many thanks to Marc & Stereonet for putting on such a great show. Marc is a great person to deal with no request however small quickly responded. It certainly takes much of the stress out of presenting at the show. The only area he cannot help is choice of music – trying to keep a diverse range of listeners happy at least some of the time. And one of the pleasures of this show was the diversity of attendees – not just greying males! Rod, I was really impressed with your setup. Your Kama speakers were in a way, the discovery of the show for me. They truly displayed that as you say, you don't need to spend crazy dollars for a superb outcome. Well done! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Marc Posted October 18, 2018 Administrator Share Posted October 18, 2018 Our show coverage is now online for those wanting a refresher of what was at the show: https://www.stereo.net.au/features/show-coverage-2018-melbourne-international-hi-fi-show 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFJ100 Posted October 18, 2018 Share Posted October 18, 2018 It is good to read everybody's highlights of the show, so I can compare to my own. I missed the Kharma room but definitely enjoyed the SGRs. A pity it requires $80k to bring those speakers home. One that hasn't got a lot of mentions so far is the Involve Audio room with their Akoustos Sound system. I found it difficult to divorce the sound quality from the quadrophonic trial they were running, but was anybody else surprised by these electrostats and their decent SQ plus the lack of need for a sweet spot? Maybe others have seen them before and so it was not new but, at the lower end of the audio price range they certainly got my attention. Not the most visually appealing, particularly on the industrial looking stands. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorkinClassAudio Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 After much thought my best sound for the show is Osborn speakers. I hate Mull of Kintyre. When I walked in and heard it was playing I nearly walked out. But I forced myself to sit down and listen because it sounded good. One of the few times I listened to style over substance. That sounded great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tripitaka Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 19 minutes ago, GroovyGuru said: After much thought my best sound for the show is Osborn speakers. I hate Mull of Kintyre. When I walked in and heard it was playing I nearly walked out. But I forced myself to sit down and listen because it sounded good. One of the few times I listened to style over substance. That sounded great. Indeed. I heard Dire Straights playing on the towers (Epitome) when I first popped in and it was a revelation. There seemed nothing between me and Knoffler's voice. My only reservation in hearing any system at a show is that the exhibitor (quite rightly) chooses tracks that make their system sound good. In the Osborne room I heard some audience selections which were markedly less impressive, but even that doesnt mean much unless one is already familiar with those recordings. Some wise person within this very thread has said that it is silly to try critical listening at a show, so I think the best bet for anyone so inclined might be to drag one's electronics over to the house of Mr Osborne, who struck me as a most welcoming fellow. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get off My lawn Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 (edited) A big thanks to Marc and his team for organising a great show, and also to all the exhibitors who were involved. It obviously takes a lot of time, effort and money to set up and demonstrate gear, everyone wants to get their rooms and equipment sounding as good as possible. I was only able to make to over to Melbourne for the day on Saturday, so unfortunately couldn't attend the dinner on sat night. At the show, I managed to catch up with few SNAers I hadn't seen for a while. For me, the 2 best sounding rooms were the SGR room with their flagship active system, and the Kharma/Soundsmith room. Stuart and his team from SGR got that room sounding very very good, but I would have liked to have heard it with the Brinkmann gear that they stock. The Kharma room with the analogue front end was sublime. I think the magic was in the Soundsmith Straingauge cartridge, as it there was definitely something lacking when they switched to the digital front end ( ? Chord Dave?) I think my family would notice if the big SGRs turned up at home, but I could probably slip the Straingauge into my system discretely! The other place I spent a fair bit of time was the Telos B&W/Dohman demo near the foyer. While the space wasn't ideal, the music selection was fun. The SGR and Kharma rooms made me wanted to just sit and listen to music. The Telos demo made want to listen to music and drink beer! The VAF room was my pick for "real world" hifi. A couple of their inexpensive systems sounded very good for the price , and did make you realise just how much "diminishing returns " kicks in with this hobby. It was great to see them showing a number of different TT based systems, some of which had the less expensive Soundsmith cartridges. I wished the Dutch and Dutch system, as well as the Huglich/Holton gear, were set up in bigger spaces, as I felt the rooms were too small and overwhelmed by the sound. There was a lot there to like, but with more space, I imagine they would sound even better. It's fascinating to read the feedback in this thread so far, as we seem to have quite different tastes how we prefer music to be presented. I wonder how much of that is due to what/how we listen to at home, which we become accustomed to as "normal" I'm used to a reasonably large room, and I dont listen at overly high volumes, so I guess thats the sound/presentation I gravitate to. Finally, I picked up some goodies at the record fair Overall, a very fun day. Edited October 20, 2018 by pine weasel 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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