Acoustica Hi-Fi Show 2014

The world of audio seems to be turning full circle. In the 1980s, a lot of new audio was presented at small, dealer-based shows dotted around the country. Then came the rise, and subsequent fall, of the national hi-fi shows. That has all moved international today, with audiophiles the world over now conglomerating on places like Munich and Denver, and the smaller, more friendly dealer-based event is back on the radar. And few are as friendly, or as professional as Chester dealer Acoustica’s Hi-Fi Show, hosted over the weekend of April 12 and 13, at the nearby Doubletree by Hilton hotel.

Acoustica, Geoff Coleman’s cozy yet well-stocked store, has stocked many of the UK’s best known brands for years and has developed a loyal base of both clients and suppliers. This is not the kind of ‘flavour of the month’ store that will stock a fashionable brand for a year or two, only to leave a group of customers high and dry when that brand gets replaced by yet another product du jour. As a result, the store’s clients trust the company’s judgment, and when it’s time to put on an event, there’s a keen group of Best of the Best manufacturers and distributors only too willing to make the journey.

The show itself is split across two sections, because of the layout of the hotel itself. The small conference section of the Doubletree was given over to some of the larger exhibits, such as Bowers & Wilkins, Classé, Focal, Naim Audio, and Kudos, with the intersecting corridors taken up record dealers, and open-plan headphone demonstrations. In addition, Cabasse was showing its wireless, network streaming Stream Source digital hub system.

The Bowers & Wilkins/Classé demonstration comprised the latest revised version of the CP800 processor, coupled with the new £3,950 Classé CA-D200 stereo power amplifier, a unique DSP-controlled 200w Class D design demonstrated for the first time in the UK. The whole system was being run from an old white Apple iBook.

Next to this was the Symmetry demonstration of a range of Stax headphones, played through a basic Ayre CD and amplifier combination. The SR-009 headphones were doing their usually job of surprising people at how good recorded music can sound, and not just how good recorded music sounds through headphones.

Opposite the Bowers & Wilkins room were two rooms run by Naim Audio (although Naim electronics also appeared in every other demonstration room in the show, except the ones run by companies making amplifiers, these were the two actually run by Naim itself). The first, the most expensive system in the show, consisted of Naim’s NDS streamer (fed by a HDX hard disk player/server) with a 555PS power supply, a NAC 252 preamplifier, powered by a SUPERCAP power supply and a NAP 300 two-box power amplifier, all on Fraim supports and connected to a pair of Focal Utopia Scala V2 standmount loudspeakers.

One of the demonstrations of the show was next door, again run by Naim Audio. This time, the system was more middle-of-the-range, with a NDX network streamer, feeding into a HICAP-powered Naim NAP 282 preamp, with a NAC 250 power amp and Ovator S-400 loudspeakers. This system als sported a range of different ways of getting a signal to a streamer, including the company’s own UnitiServe and NS01 ripping servers, and a pair of Macs; one running Windows, the other MacOS. Why this was so useful a demonstration is they were running a full networking Q&A session, as well as blind tests on the difference between 16/44 and 24/88 versions of the same Daft Punk track. They were all but indistinguishable to me, although some did correctly identify the tracks.

Kudos Audio was flipping between its popular Cardea Super 20 loudspeaker, and the forthcoming X3 design. Intended to cost a lot less than the C20 (somewhere close to £2,200 per pair), the speakers were being played through a DPS turntable, Naim Aro arm and Dynavector XV-1t cartridge, or a Linn Klimax DS network streamer, and yet more Naim electronics, but this time using Chord Sarum interconnects and speaker cables. The speakers were mounted inTrack Audio platforms; not for some special magic mojo reason, but because the carpet in the room was so thick, Kudos’ regular spikes wouldn’t drive home! The new speakers sound promising and we look forward to testing a pair soon.

At the other end of the hotel, there were several newer hotel suites with systems playing. The rooms were almost universally dreadful from an acoustic standpoint (a large, live room with a low ceiling and a central Sheetrock ‘pillar’ containing a flat TV), but the six brands showing made the best of a bad job. In fact, no one grumbled about this, no-one blamed the room for poor sound, they just got on with making a good sound in a bad room.

Audiovector (actually, Audiovector’s UK distributor, Henley Designs) was showing the new Si 3 Signature Discreet Active loudspeakers, being driven by a Pro-Ject 6 Perspex turntable and arm combination, with an Ortofon MM cartridge. This was fed into a Pro-Ject Phono Box RS phono stage. Digital source was a laptop, and the demonstrator’s phone.

Dynaudio was also showing a ‘next-gen’ audio solution, in the small, but perfectly formed shape of the Xeo 3 powered bookshelves, being driven wirelessly from a Mac with a dongle (not as rude as it sounds) in another room.

Dynaudio was also showing a more conventional system, comprising a pair of Excite X34 floorstanders, driven by the distributor’s own system pulled out of his house: a Naim UnitiServe and SuperUniti. The distributor, Bill Livingston, commented that he was asked about the smaller-scale system a lot at the show, because so many people are intent on downshifting their systems, but retaining performance.

Arcam was the only company running a home cinema (home theater) system, but even this had a distinct two-channel twist. Alongside the BDP-300 Blu-ray player, and the company’s entry-level AVR-300 multi-channel amp (driving a complete Bowers & Wilkins multi-channel speaker system), the system also sported Arcam’s new Apple Airplay-equipped AirDAC, its popular irDAC and the brand new (and extremely impressive) £90 MiniBlink Bluetooth adaptor. The accent is on the ‘mini’ – it was about the size of a large egg. Many couldn’t tell the difference, flipping between CD played through the BDP-300 and music played from the hotel’s Wi-Fi network into the MiniBlink via an iPhone. That’s how good these systems have become!

Rega Research was taking a more old-school approach to music replay (albeit with many of its latest products), and many were loving the system because of that. Rega’s system comprised its new top RP10 turntable and arm, with an Apheta MC cartridge, into an Aria phono stage. Digital audio was through CD, with its Saturn-R player (which is a very capable DAC in its own right, as well as a CD spinner, but in his case it was a CD-only player). This was fed into the Elicit-R integrated amplifier, into a pair of RP5 loudspeakers, the whole system taking up just one small rack space. This is always a pleasure, not least because the choice of music is so refreshing: anyone playing the Avett Brothers and Swedish nu-folksters First Aid Kit must be up to some good in my estimation.

Alongside working with Naim Audio in the big system room, Focal had its own, smaller set-up, playing a pair of Focal Aria 926 being driven by a Naim Audio NS01 server into a Naim Uniti2. On passive display were a pair of Aria 906 standmounts and the top of the range Aria 948 floorstanders. These needed a larger room than was on offer, but are reputed to be the loudspeakers you buy if you want a pair of Scalas but are only prepared to pay 1/10th the asking price. We shall see…

Finally, The Chord Company was running demonstrations of its latest interconnects, loudspeaker and (wait for it) Ethernet cables. Using the same Naim streamer and pre/power, into the same Kudos standmount loudspeakers throughout, these regular listening tests were frying a lot of show-goer grey matter as they discovered why (and even how) things that aren’t supposed to make a difference wound up making a difference! This is a contentious subject, with people seemingly ready to go ape crazy at the mention of the concept, and even by the reporting of it. Still, The Chord Company makes Ethernet cables, it demonstrates Ethernet cables, and people buy Ethernet cables from The Chord Company as a result of such demonstrations. In every other branch of audio, I could describe such events without need to don a flak jacket and run for cover, but somehow I suspect that won’t be the end of the story…

Acoustica’s show is small, friendly, and it is very Naim-oriented, as is Acoustica itself. The people attending the show are bright and passionate about what they do, and the show-goers themselves are not the ‘legion of the lost’ that, sadly, so often frequent audio events. We need more events of this calibre around the world, and next year, you should make your way over to Chester for one of the friendliest events on the calendar. I know I will!