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Indulgence Show, London

Indulgence Show, London

The new kid on the show block is called Indulgence. Based in the Novotel hotel in London’s Hammersmith, the show was organised by the same team that has a roaring success with its first-of-the-year Headroom show, and the show itself was divided into three sections – traditional hi-fi, headphones, and luxury goods. At least that was the theory; with the exception of Tesla and a candle maker, the luxury goods world serially didn’t appear.

Although the Headroom section was both packed and extremely successful, coming hot on the heels of RMAF, new products were relatively thin on the ground, so we will concentrate on the products launched in the hi-fi sector at Indulgence. This was a fine attempt at bringing together many of the big names in the UK and European audio world, especially those who produce products in the affordable/attainable end of the market. Many of the big names were there, pitching up at the Novotel’s large open-plan spaces and smaller hotel rooms, and the overall layout was excellent.

The only things that were missing were visitors!

The event is great, and such is the stock exhibitors have placed in this event that they are prepared to give it another shot next year, but visitor numbers were very low. The collective audio industry wants to get behind this show, but it needs more people coming off the street and visiting. I suspect with Indulgence being sandwiched between the more long-standing National Audio and Hi-Fi News shows, there was some reticence by show-goers to pony up for three similar events so close to one another. Nevertheless, the event was the launch-pad for several important product releases in the audio world, and we look forward to seeing more next year. Here are some of the highlights…

, Indulgence Show, London

Arcam’s new rHEAD might elicit more than its fair share of snickering from the more puerile parts of the audio world (as in, me) but this £400 one input (switched between XLR and phono) Class A design features a resistive ladder volume control and delivers up to 2W to a 16ohm load.

, Indulgence Show, London

Bowers & Wilkins just announced its P7 Wireless headphone, when it followed up with the new £700 P9 Signature edition. Designed as part of the company’s 50th Anniversary, the flagship over-ear model has gimballed ear cups with a decoupled headband, and an angled pistonic driver for better soundstaging properties.

, Indulgence Show, London

The Chord Company has been showing prototype forms of its ChordMusic flagship cable for some time, but Indulgence was the first real show outing for the finalised form. Using unique Taylon insulation from the hushest of hush-hush parts of the military, which unlike PTFE is phase-stable at room. We could say more, but we’d have to kill you afterward. Prices start from £3,800 for a stereo metre of interconnects and £1,100 per metre for speaker cables.

, Indulgence Show, London

Chord Electronics launched its TToby power amplifier – a 130W stereo chassis designed to match the Hugo TT desktop amplifier – at Munich, but at that time it was a box in a glass case. Now, the £2,995 power amp was demonstrated in full song, in an effective Mojo-Hugo-DAVE presentation.

 

, Indulgence Show, London

Computer Audio Design’s latest venture uses the technology from the brand’s digital models to create a new set of noise reducing grounding blocks, the GD1 and GD3 Ground Control. The £1,650 CG1 was first seen at Munich, but the larger CG3 was seen for the first time at Indulgence.

, Indulgence Show, London

Not really much to say about the Dynaudio Contour loudspeakers that wasn’t said at the Munich show, save to say this one showed precisely what a professional display can do for a pair of loudspeakers. Moody and intensely photogenic… the perfect excuse for inclusion!

, Indulgence Show, London

KEF’s ever-popular LS50 standmount now comes in a sophisticated £2,000 Wireless version, sporting a Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB or Ethernet wired hub, active amplifiers, and some DSP to allow for a range of different installation options. It even includes a set of analogue line inputs, sounds damn good too.

, Indulgence Show, London

Kudos’ Titan 808 floorstander lives up to its name, and Indulgence was the first outing of this active loudspeaker driven entirely by a sextet of Devialet Expert amplifiers, fed by a laptop, a DPS turntable and using plenty of AudioQuest cable.. This sounded remarkably good.

, Indulgence Show, London

Leema Acoustics chose Indulgence to showcase a new crop of products, perhaps the most interesting being the company’s first server, the £3,995, innuOS-infused, Sirus. This is ideally designed to talk with the company’s devices, but includes a high-grade Sabre DAC circuit. It’s joined by the £2,995 Quasar streamer and the £4,995 Tucana Anniversary integrated amp.

, Indulgence Show, London

This was the first UK showing of Meridian’s new £15,000 Ultra DAC first seen over at Newport Beach. A matching power amp was expected for the does-it-all decoder, but is still a few weeks away from launch. The system sounded very fine in the context of a pair of DALI Epicon 8 floorstanders.

 

, Indulgence Show, London

Naim Audio’s recent Uniti launch was shown for the first time to the UK dealers and visitors to the Indulgence show. The company successfully punched above its weight by partnering the £1,650 Atom integrated amp with a pair of Focal Sopra One standmounts.

, Indulgence Show, London

The company has also announced a Bentley-specific version of the Naim Mu-so Qb, with a special logo, a knurled main dial, a textured top-plate… and a £300 larger price tag. Only available from Bentley dealers (your butler knows where these are).

, Indulgence Show, London

In order to cope with the throngs of people, the show also featured an open plan room with smaller, hand-selected systems rather than one-brand affairs. This was a good idea, except for the whole lack of thronging.

, Indulgence Show, London

Oracle doesn’t make a new turntable every day, so the appearance of the new £2,200 Origine turntable and arm from the Canadian brand was a pleasant surprise. The deck will be bundled (in the UK at least) with the Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge.

, Indulgence Show, London

It’s not often we talk cars in an audio show, so Tesla pitching up with its upcoming Model X people carrier – complete with smart gullwing doors – proved an irresistible draw to many. And, in the context of super-high-end audio, the £130,000 or so needed for the top model doesn’t seem that expensive!

, Indulgence Show, London

Tidal – the hi-fi brand, not the music provider – is a relative newcomer to the UK market, but the brand’s £40,000 Contiva G2 loudspeakers, shown here with the £25,000 Precos D full-function preamplifier and matching £21,000 Impulse power amplifier, show much promise.

, Indulgence Show, London

Vertere Acoustics is developing a wholly new MM/MC Phono Preamp, to accompany its range of turntables, arms, cables, and most recently, equipment supports. This is destined to be an ‘entry level’ for the brand, although given the company also distributes FM Acoustics electronics, Vertere’s concept of ‘entry level’ might be higher than most!

, Indulgence Show, London

VPI has been extremely busy of late, developing the Avenger series, coming up with a wood-finished Prime, and now the £6,000 Prime Reference, with an aluminium sandwich chassis, Classic Signature feet and a metallic black finish JMW 3D-10 Reference arm. We look forward to checking that out in 2017!

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