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21.11.09
A fantastic success was the verdict on the - twenty-second and most recent Bristol Sound & Vision Show at the clty's central Marrlott Hotel.
The crowds had clearly not been listening to how strapped for cash we all are - on each day of the Show, and before the doors opened, more than 500 eager punters were waiting to get in.
Attendance on the Friday and Sunday was about the same as last year, where as Saturday exceeded 2008 on numbers. More importantly, spending at the show on Saturday was Exceptionally good in view of the terrible economic situation. lt was a real shot in the arm.
Commenting on the Show, Tony Revelle, Joint Partner/Organiser with Jerry
Lewin, said: “The chances of us doing the same level of business in the current climate was virtually zero. As it turned out, the show was way better than we could have possibly expected, attendance held up extremely well and there was more trade on the Saturday this year. Our overall sales were only eight per cent down on last year's figures so we cant complain. Again, Bristol Is the show with the most exhibitors and, we think, the highest attendance too.
"We are now looking forward to having a really successful Manchester Sound and Vision Show in October. The name-change from a 'Practical' Show at Manchester is a result of the merger of three companies Audio T, Audio Excellence and Practical Hi-Fi, now trading as the Audio T Group. What Hi-Fi will be in association with Manchester as it is with Bristol. This will help make an already good show event better. Our plan is to provide the industry with one event in the north and another in the south before and after the season."
Show firsts
A burgeoning list of show 'firsts’, always guaranteed to pull in the crowds, contributed to the excitement at Bristol. lt was a chance to see and listen to speakers from a newcomer to the UK, the French manufacturer Cabasse. Other appearances Included Eclipse, Tannoy with its Definition range, Martin Logan Spires, PMC with the new PBII with a big mid-range dome, Waterfall's all-glass enclosure Niagara, AE’s exciting new Radiance and Yamaha's additions to the Soavo range.
Notable source units included the first UK public demonstration of the new Denon Blu-ray player, new Cyrus equipment and the rarefied Anthem Statement AV preamplifier.
Demonstration room sessions - another key component in any successful Show – were as popular as ever with inspirational and aspirational systems from the likes of Yamaha with its awesome Zl 1 HD AV receiver with a full 11.2 system.
"Every half-hour demo was fully-attended across the whole three days," said Ed Selley, Marketing Manager of Yamaha Music's AV and Hi-fi Division. "Our hi-fi room was also kept busy, demonstrating the 700 and 1000 Series equipment and Soavo speakers, with their new, classy piano finish.”
Elsewhere, new Cyrus XP amplifier products had a suitably large demo room, and company head Peter Bartlett explained the thinking behind the XP series.
"The SE CD platform raised the bar at Cyrus and we needed to look at how we could bring our amplifiers up several rungs on the quality ladder by taking the preamp section of the DAC XP model from our X series and using it to replace our models using vs2 preamps. We added a new power supply that we have been working on, which isolates the control circuitry from audio signals. It's a completely separate show second power supply section from a separate transformer that's not a low cost solution, but brings a big step-change in its performance."
Peter is pleased with the resulting performance of the new digital option based around a new Cyrus DAC, "lt has five digital inputs including a USB input expand it into a home audio hub," he said. "Users can play high quality analogue and digital sources through a single component, which includes items such as satellite decoders and computersl'
Peter added: "Some may think that we were mad to add a USB input and high performance DAC, as this would encourage users to by-pass CD altogether and use iTunes through the DAC. The Bristol Show demos confirm that the opposite is true. Play an Apple Lossless or WAV file back through the XP and everyone thought the sound was surprisingly good. Especially as many skeptics had never listened to uncompressed audio before. We played the same track from a CD through 85E player, and the difference is so striking that all the consumers decided to buy a CD player for main playback, but also wanted the USB feature for convenience."
Serious interruptions
Two-way crowd flow was seriously interrupted in the front corridors by the many cable specialists offering show discounts. Among the discounted Products was Armour's new QED Signature Series. Audio cables in the series come in half and on metre lengths and use twisted pair geometry with silver-plated copper wire.
French manufacturer Cabasse, meanwhile, was showing it’s wooden-legged,
Art Deco-style i02 models with their near-spherical enclosures housing point-source coaxial drive units. They come as a complete set with a subwoofer for around £2,600. The same drive units were used in the new and more conventional Altura MC range demoed in the form of the Egea3 model.
Managing Director Tony Sallis of Gloucestershire based Coherent Systems was in attendance at the Cabasse demo room. He was not only an enthusiast about the Gallic company's Sound, but likes the way it fits nicely into his product line-up.
"Some purists were dismissing the iO2 because it incorporates a subwoofer into the system,” said Tony. "lt's very well integrated though, and its minimalist format and unusual design is well received by women. We incorporate them a lot into systems ranging from a few thousand, to tens of thousands of pounds."
