Bristol Hi-fi Show 19/2 - 21/2/99
This being the first hi-fi show I have attended, I was a little unsure of what to expect. Getting to the show was not easy - I went on the Saturday (20th) and had to catch a coach at 3.45am, finally returning to Manchester at 1.30am Sunday, each way taking 5 hours. I shouldn't moan however, as this coach had come from Glasgow, and there was a guy on exactly the same trip as me but on the coach for 11 and a half hours each way!
I concentrated my attention mainly on speakers, as 1) IMHO amps, CD players and cables are pretty damn good nowadays in general and hearing the difference between them is generally harder than that between speakers, and 2) I'm mainly interested in speakers... I believe that major improvements in source accuracy and loudspeaker reproducation are possible, and this was bourne out by what I heard at the show.
SOURCES: What Hi-fi was demonstrating SACD (Super-Audio CD) using a prototype Sony player and B&W Nautilus 802's. The difference between the same recordings played in both SACD and standard CD format is certainly audible - SACD sounds much more accurate and detailed. The difference is not the major jump over CD that you might expect (so there is no need to desert CD, even in the distant future) but the improvements in clarity and naturalness are worth having if the rest of your system is up to it. Technically, the system works at 1 bit/8MHz (each bit indicating up or down rather than a discrete voltage as in ordinary CD) which gives an equivalent dynamic range of between 20 and 24 bits.
I also heard several supposedly pukka vinyl setups, and I was deeply dissapointed. Obvious surface noise, tracing distortion, treble rolloff and woolly bass were present, as was the "airy/spacious" effect due to HF crosstalk. Surely at a hi-fi show the turntable manufacturers would be demonstrating their best working at its best, and if this was it, then I'm sticking with digital.
SPEAKERS: The show was full of lookalike narrow 2-way ported 1" tweeter/6" bass boxes that all sounded essentially the same - the boring "hi-fi sound" - which is not true hi-fi. Audio Note has a solution, in the form of their very anonymous and out-dated looking AN-E speakers - but the sound is anything but anonymous. These speakers are tonally neutral, very natural, and possess the best soundstage I have ever heard (at least in a small/simple speaker) - congratulations to Audio Note for doing something different - and it works! There's even a sealed cabinet in their range.
Also different were the Veritas H2 folded horn speakers. Using familiar Lowther full range drive units (with a second bass driver crossing over at low frequency) these have an excellent soundstage, marred only by poor treble and ridiculous smoothness (no doubt due to the valve amplification used) which made them boring and lifeless to listen to. Cyrus were displaying a SOTA NXT speaker, which again has a crossover acting at low frequency, but unfortunately it was not running. All the running NXTs had the usual problems (sounding too bright due to the flat power response), which the Quad stand made a (dodgy) attempt to compensate for - by rolling off all the high treble - which sounded worse than the standard NXT!
Worthy of note was the REL Studio 2 sub - clean crisp bass for all us UK bass nuts! I was expecting the Wilson Watt Cubs that the RELs were partnered with to be brilliant, but they came over as forward and very incisive - maybe they shouldn't have been toed in? Also standing out were the aforementioned B&W Nautilus 802's being used on the SACD demo. Despite the terrible demo room and rather incisive treble, these speakers clearly showed the difference between the formats.
Speaker of the show however was without a doubt the KEF Reference Model 109, the Maidstone. These speakers are huge, being approx 60cm wide by 1.2m tall, using three seperate cabinets with a 6.5" Uni-Q HF/upper mid driver, 10" lowermid/upper bass driver and 18" low bass driver. They are completely neutral, and simply disappear into the soundstage (it is impossible to hear where they are). They certainly fulfill the design aim of distortion free dynamic range, and they go incredibly (and cleanly) loud. The only drawback is the price tag - £12,000.

Vinyl update
After my dissapointing introduction to high end vinyl at the Bristol show, my friend and Electroacoustics coursemate Andy Vepers invited me to listen to his all Linn system (and make recordings of it for my final project). Andy has a Linn LP12 with Akito arm, K18 Mk2 cart and Valhalla power supply, running through a Majik amp and D'Appolito Linn speakers (I can't remember their model and the university has got my project logbook where I wrote it down!). What a revelation! It was obvious that this system performs much better than those at the hi-fi show, and indeed is the best vinyl system I have ever heard. I can not go so far as to say it is better than CD (it was better than my system is yes, but I only have a £100 CD player) but simply that it was a very exciting listen. I particularly remember Massive Attack's Angel (track 1 of Mezzanine) which was so much more involving than my CD copy!

Wilson Stereo Library
We all like music, and we all like a bargain. So the offer of up to date CD's at cost price was too good to miss, and I sent off the enqiry, after reading the ad in the hi-fi magazines. After several fliers arrived at my university flat, each offering membership for progressively less cash (it started at £47), I replied to the one offering membership for £17 - but gave my parents address, knowing I would be out of the flat before the year was up. I should of seen it coming, but the £7 and then for free fliers subsequently came through the door. Then there was the CD catalogues. A very limited range, of only those discs that had been "approved" - and at high street prices, or even more expensive! I wrote to WSL to complain - but my letter was ignored. I saw nothing of the promised "Massive Warehouse Sale" catalogues, only fliers inviting me to credit my account and then receive some particular offer. Of the few sale fliers I did receive, the one CD I tried to order was out of stock.
Take the most recent flier. Two years free membership, Free CD offer, 'Massive Millennium Clearance Sale & New Year newsletter', Website password... I quote: "Just two conditions. That you nod (accept out offer) before 21st. December 1999, And that you credit your account with £20.00. This is not a fee and we'll add a free £5.00 to make your credit £25.00 to spend just as you please." The one before offered essentially the same - but asked for a credit of £30. It doesn't sound particularly free, does it? And as they always do, it would have arrived two days before the deadline, leaving no time for a considered decision.
The adverts and fliers promise so much, but I've been a member of this "exclusive" club for over a year, and I still haven't seen any of the promises delivered. My advice is this - by all means join, but wait for the flier that gives you truly free membership, and don't pay anything without knowing what you're getting. I'm not here to fund WSL's business by paying before I've bought anything, and neither should you be.