Tír Na HiFi

Diapason wrote:Actually, on that note I think it's a bit of a difficult comparison to do in reality under show conditions. My feeling is that you're hearing hifi in the Burlo in the absolute worst imaginable situation, and while comparing to other stuff at the show seems somewhat reasonable, comparing to something external probably isn't. Honestly Fran, I doubt you'd have learned all that much.

Of course what you really need to do is borrow something of that ilk at some point and do a shoot-out at home. Don't know if you could charge us a tenner in, but we could bring some biscuits...

You may well be right, but would have been nice to hear it all the same....


A date for a meet up is being thrashed out as I type!!! Hopefully towards the end of November or into early December....


Fran

Thoroughly enjoyed reading all that especially Simon's piece which really summed it all up perfectly. Pity you didn't get a chance to try out your new camera ;-) The thing that really amazed me was the extrememely low volume used in the most expensive room at the show, where the big Kharmas were supposed to be showing off their stuff! Also my suspicians were confirmed with the over hyped and over stuffed Triton speakers; what a let down! My oh my!!! As Johnny put it so well when he said, they looked like something you'd see in Harvey Normans!!! The only promise they showed was the performance of the ribbon tweeter which was a blessed relief after the SA Master Rangers onslaught! The £599.00 a pair marble like finish newbies sounded very promising indeed especially with some brilliant blues guitar licks bouncing around the room :-) The lovely SA guy was obviously enjoying my reaction to the music, which incidentally, was from a guy I never heard of, who I think went by the name of David Knowles!! The only anomaly was the usual midrange spit that for me is the curse of modern speakers....When I called back later he had the much more expensive Master Rangers on demo and suffice to say I didn't stick around for long!

I completely missed the Lars room so thanks to Fergus and Johnny for alerting me. When the nice lady let me in, my first thought was, "How am I going to sneak back out!!!" Seriously though I've always loved watching his reaction when he does something to the system.....the way he stares at the audience is priceless :-) And, no, I couldn't hear the slightest difference no matter what he did....But the sound from the system was good anyway.

So I'll end off by saying that now, more than ever before, I really,really appreciate the qualities of my own system. Big time :-)

I was there yesterday , I thought it was a great show , spoke briefly to Ivan and he was genuinely concerned that nobody would turn up ..
However the place did fill up in the latter part of the afternoon .. Highlights for me were
The Small Kharma's - Sound was really rich , Bass was slightly heavy on some tracks but overall superb . actually preferred these to the larger Kaharma's .. Strange ...
Next into the Arcam Room , playing a Blue ray of Peter Gabriel concert , i thought this was excellent , Arcam BRD , AMP and Muso speakers ..
Played around with some computer /Ipod sound (Quite impressive) and then some CDs ...Promised Myself that the Credit card would not be produced but ended up buying an R cube dock -- In fairness i got it for a very good price and have to say its very impressive ..
Next into the Cyrus room , i am interested in the whole streaming concept and the 1600 euro all in one unit with the new B&W P1s sounded really good ..
I avoided the Lars room ...
Briefly listened to the Big B&Ws but thought they sounded a bit harsh , possibly played way to loud or maybe the track being played was suspect ..
Primare and System Audio always sound good to me having Owned both over the years they show great sound stage and dept , a really easy sound to listen to..
Thats about it , went in and out of the Absolute sounds room , Cant believe that there is still a market for such expensive gear in this climate .
What i would like to see at the next one is some more Modest Mid range systems more within Budget (well mine anyway ) .

Cheers to Noel and the crew - a great show and a great way for people to hear and see some exotic gear that most of us only ever dream of ..

Interesting to see some quite varied opinions on some of the rooms at the show. As has been said already, it can be difficult to judge the gear in such an enviroment. Modest had the right idea in the Lavardin room by shutting the door and listening to his own music at his preffered volume levels.

Very little if any mention of the B&W room. I went in a few times where some 2D/3D films were being demoed. I'm not convinced that 3D HT is mature enough yet. Its cool to experience the effect alright but I think I'm more comfortable just watching it in 2D on a big screen.
I heard from one of the Cloney lads that the power in that room was on a different ring from every other room. The voltage kept dropping to 180v and the DSP processors in the Classe gear would shut down or reboot. The B&W guy was on the phone to his boss. Wasnt a happy guy!

I went on sunday morning.
I felt that generally it was a good show. Well done Cloney Audio.

The Lavardin room impressed me. There was a piano jazz thing playing and it was very easy to listen to.
The smaller Kharma room was more enjoyable for me than the big crazy Kharma stuff.

If I had €4K to spare I'd be tempted by a lovely Stax system that I listened to. Sweet ! Best earspeaker experience I've ever had.

My 14 year old son was with me and we both heard a big difference in the €150 power lead compared to a really, really expensive one.
I am now a strong believer in that 'begins with the mains' theory.
But sort cones under a distro ? Not even if I won the Euromillions.

The biggest and most satisfying thing for me was to come home, play a CD and realise, again, that I have a nice system and the Frugal Horns really are good.
My problem, sometimes, is the high end bug side effect of wondering what might be better ?
The cure ? Put on some of my favourite tracks and drift away with the music.

I bought some inner sleeves. I wonder if Cloney made any sales or is it really a tyre kicking session in the hope of switching people on to new stuff ?

Gerry D wrote:I wonder if Cloney made any sales or is it really a tyre kicking session in the hope of switching people on to new stuff ?

I really hope they did and it was worth their (and the exhibitors) while (so they'll do it again next year). I would imagine that they'll reap the benefit into the future though ... the show will probably plant a few seeds that will lead to sales down the line.

In previous years that show has succeeded in giving me back "the bug", and the same goes for some friends. I'd be surprised if they don't generate something out of it!

JFK wrote: What i would like to see at the next one is some more Modest Mid range systems more within Budget (well mine anyway ) .

I have to say, JFK, on this score I feel completely differently. I can't aspire to a lot of the stuff on display, but I wouldn't have much interest in paying in to a show of "normal" stuff that I can see and hear in the shop any time. That'd be like going to a car show to look at Ford Focuses and VW Golfs. I want to see Ferraris and Lamborghinis dammit!

Gerry D wrote: My problem, sometimes, is the high end bug side effect of wondering what might be better ?
The cure ? Put on some of my favourite tracks and drift away with the music.

Sound advice. I'd follow it too if I hadn't just loaned somebody my amp...

DaveF wrote: This is probably a rant for another thread! :-)

Good idea. Do you want to start or will I...?

Diapason wrote:

DaveF wrote: This is probably a rant for another thread! :-)

Good idea. Do you want to start or will I...?

I was waiting for you to get it going! What's keeping you! :)