"What a refreshingly honest blog about listening to music through hi-fi. So happy to see views based upon the enjoyment of music rather than so-called sound 'quality'." - Peter Comeau, Director of Acoustic Design at Mission / Wharfedale

Sunday, 22 February 2026

BRISTOL HIFI SHOW FEBRUARY 2026 - PHOTOS AND LISTENING NOTES

Its that time of the year again - the show that kicks of the UK show season - the Bristol Hifi Show in the UK,  20-22 February 2026.

Some good news about the Marriott by Delta hotel - the show's traditional home - they've actually fixed the elevators, so all 3 were running this weekend, and the bedrooms have had a refurbishment, which lifts the atmosphere significantly. The staircase still has council car park vibes though.  There have been some changes to the show layout this year - more later - but some elements remain such as the long queue outside more than 30 minutes before opening, the bizarre little one and a half person wide corridor between the bar and the conservatory area and the overcrowded terrace bar.

Friday felt like the busier of the 2 days when 'Musings attended, but Saturday was well attended too.  Some rooms required a re-visit just to get the chance to sit and listen.

Lunch options are available - the sandwiches and hot dogs in the terrace bar area seem very popular, but the hot plates, jacket potatoes and soup options in the grill restaurant are well priced and you get a nice table to sit at while you eat.

A couple of rooms around the show had a stock of reduced price products from retailer Audio T.  Examples such as £50 off a Wiim Ultra, a Naim Nait 5si for £799, 20% off Benchmark products etc.  So it could be a good way to recoup the ticket price, if they had what you are looking for.

There was, thankfully, a good variety of music being played this weekend - see the end of the report if you fancy trying the tracks on your own system.  After the generally underwhelming sounds at the 2025 Ascot show, Bristol managed to restore some faith in the industry with a similar outcome of simpler, more reasonably priced systems leading the way.  Having said that, this year's Sound of the Show does go to something at the pricer end of the scale.  A good number of awards to share this year - a very positive sign.

But the building is just the vehicle, the systems and the music are the important part, so let's get started...


LEEMA ACOUSTICS


And what a start!  We chose to take the lift to the 4th (and highest of the show floors) floor so that we'd avoid the initial rush on the lower floors and allow us to walk down between floors, hence avoiding the lifts and using the stairs.  At almost the furthest room from the reception, Leema were fielding their brand new 100 series products - launched at this show.  This will gradually replace the Quantum series products.
i85 is a stereo integrated amp with 85W per channel and the i150 is a 150W per channel version in the same chassis. Each of these amps is available as a "D" version with an onboard ESS based DAC module. i85 gets a smaller transformer compared to i150 which also gets 3 pairs of output transformers rather than 2 pairs.
Leema chose to demo the 1750 GBP i85, using an analogue input fed by their own Elements streamer.  ScanSonic M15.2 standmount speakers completed the set up.  Interconnect in use was a 5 GBP Amazon Basics item and speaker cable was equally cost effective.  In all, an approximately 4000 GBP set up - reasonable value at today's prices.
Sheep feature in the room due to Leema's location in Wales, but they didn't distract from the important element here - this is a high performing system.  It's crisp, full of impact and that amp has a good grip on these speakers.  Its not the last word in resolution, but considering the price it does a great job of taking the listener on the musical journey.
A good start to our show.







CYRUS / KERR ACOUSTIC


Sometimes its a gamble for both manufacturers when they team up for the first time.  Add in to that mix a notoriously "difficult" room at Bristol and the risk increases.  In what has been, for as long as I can remember, Naim Audio (laterly the Focal and Naim room) have occupied the room just off the main bar at Bristol.  One long wall is all glass and the opposite side of the room has a large open area that is a few steps higher than the listening area.
This year Cyrus and Kerr had arranged curtains along both of those challenges - with the higher floor dedicated to static displays of the whole range of both manufacturers' products - very nicely presented.


Cyrus 80 Power

Cyrus 80 Pre

Cyrus 80 Amp





For the demo Kerr fielded their one-from-the-top large standmount, the K200.  Cyrus brought along the 80 Amp for its UK debut - their first range of full width components - this unit being a streamer, DAC, pre-amp and power amp combined in one box.  There is also an 80 pre and 80 power with more products in the pipeline.  So a 4300 GBP all in one driving a 24,000 GBP pair of speakers - was that wise?
Well, yes.  This is one seriously impressive piece of kit from Cyrus, and with the Kerr K200 they've finally found a speaker partner that shows off their capability - something their recent forays with 
Audio Physic haven't achieved.  I enjoyed all the tracks played in this room and it filled this room very well indeed.  There was a touch of bass boom if you were in the wrong row of seats, but moving a row or 2 allowed this to be avoided.  Dynamics, detail, believability were all present and correct.  There was never any doubt about the 80 Amp's ability to drive and deliver to those Kerrs.
So the challenges with this room might really have nothing to do with the room....




LYNGDORF


Following on from the theme at Ascot of simpler, lower cost systems delivering the goods, Lyngdorf are a perfect example.  Its also good to see a manufacturer that recognises not all homes have room for a pair of speakers a metre or so out into the living space.  So here their speakers are deliberately designed to work with the back wall rather than hoping it wasn't there...
The 3500 GBP all in one streamer, DAC and power amp was driving the 4500 GBP speakers (here, Lyngdorf are not using the purifi drivers seen in their more expensive models).  This system acquited itsself very well - musical, reasonably deep and well controlled bass, fun to listen to and no sign of inducing fatique.  Not exactly bargain basement, but a great way to show that thinking about the reality of living spaces can give a good result and give more people to ability to enjoy good music in smaller homes.




REGA



As ever, Rega are at the more sensible end of the audio pricing spectrum, although they do sell a 10k GBP turntable for those who can enjoy such products.  At Bristol this year a special edition 2000 GBP Planar 6 was playing into Fono MM and an Elex Mk4 integrated amplifier.  The system was finished off with the intriguing Aya loudspeaker - this features a cast cabinet that's not concrete but is similar to that - comprised of a number of different elements including short glass fibre strands - the front baffle is more traditional MDF.


Maybe this system needed to be played a bit louder for it lacked something in absolute dynamics and sounded a little lightweight.  Some of the all-in-one systems on offer this weekend were delivering a little more.



NEAT ACOUSTICS


NEAT used an all-in-one Atoll to show off the latest iteration of the Iota Alpha - a diminutive little floorstander that has an upward sloping baffle featuring Iota drivers to direct the sound up towards listeners.  A downward firing bass driver augments the visible array.
It has to be said that this Iota Alpha has always astonished with its capabilities form such a compact form factor.  That tradition continues with the new iteration, giving a very enjoyable listen.



ATC

ATC's large 50 loudspeaker is probably what would be called an industry stalwart, after so long in production.  At Bristol ATC launched a special version, the EL50 at 50k GBP.  They promoted this as an evolution, but really that might be just terminology to protect the existing product.
This new iteration actually uses the same drivers as the "standard" 50.  What is a major change is the cabinet - rather than a rather angular and utilitarian look, the EL50 has gone all curvaceous. This is one of the first outputs of their new cabinet facility - now next door to the main manufacturing buildings.



There are more changes to the electronics too - this is an active loudspeaker so it has analogue  electronic crossovers before 3x amplifiers, one for each driver, built into a module in the back of each cabinet.  Today the system comprised a dCS digital front end, ATC pre-amp and the active EL50 speakers.  On Friday this system sounded good, certainly better than many in the rest of the show, but not outstanding.  But come Saturday they were really singing.  Its possible that some set up changes were made overnight, or it was just these speakers running in if they were particularly new build. Perhaps a bit of both.
On Saturday, except when partnered with the Technics turntable, they were exceptionally good.  For me the standard 50 seems a bit bass light, almost as if things are too stiffly sprung between the driver and the cabinet - here that reservation had completely disappeared - maybe the big room was letting them breathe more.  Another improvement was to imaging - this probably being attributable to the centring of the driver complement and the gently curving edges of the baffle - its probably sensible to not even call them edges as the curves are continuous from front to the back panel. Overall this system provided excitement without irritating edges, good lateral and front to back imaging (with one proviso, common to quite a few larger loudspeakers - vocals and instruments can come across as larger than life), superbly articulated vocals and a real feel for the meaning in a track.
Not cheap, but somewhat magnificent and significantly better than the product that they have evolved from.






DEVIALET


Presenting a couple of versions of the Phantom active speakers and their integrated amp with Sonus Faber loudspeakers, Devialet did what Devialet does.  Very impressive sounding but not musical active speakers built more to impress than pass along any emotions and a system that does nothing much wrong, but nothing much to excite the senses.

SPENDOR


Spendor brought along an impressive array of Rega electronics and an SME turntable to demo their latest slim floorstander.  All nice enough in a very non-exciting kind of way.

VOXATIV



And now for something completely different...
Let's get the easy bit out of the way first - this system was fronted by a Lumin streamer / DAC.
Beyond that things become a little more complex.
The integrated valve amp has 2x output levels - one at pre-amp level, the other at loudspeaker level - both are controlled by the same volume control.  In this Voxativ "Alberich" system, the pre-amp level output goes directly to the subwoofer which is an active unit and acts as a stand for the main mid / treble speaker.  This upper speaker is a traditional passive design and contains a mid / treble passive crossover.  However, the speaker level output from the amplifier goes through a passive high pass filter before it gets to these speakers - it can be seen on the floor and is connect by speaker cables to the amp at one side and speaker cables to the upper speaker cabinet at the other side.  The upper cabinets can be run as traditional speakers too, without the subwoofer and without the high pass filter boxes.  The amp, too, can be used in a more traditional fashion if required.  We were advised by the room hosts that a revised version of the subwoofer is on the way - one where the wires will be connected at the rear of the cabinet, rather than the current visually challenging side connections.
If you like valve amps and wide range single driver type sounds, this one is probably worth a listen - articulate, delicate and relaxed.


BLUESOUND / MARTIN LOGAN


The above sign from the Bluesound / ML room is the best way to introduce it - clearly they are tired of having to explain.
In a show full of (in context) reasonably priced one box and a pair of speakers systems, this was one of the stand outs.  You can see the price above - that was for a Bluesound Powernode and a pair of Martin Logan Motion standmount loudspeakers (stands and cables extra).  The show system was available for just over 2000 GBP.
For the price this is a remarkably accomplished system - bouncing along with enthusiasm, delivering punch, good imaging and a fair amount of detail.  There are some limitations in terms of detail / resolution, deep bass and subtlety, but at this price, there's very little to complain about.  Its good to hear something so attainable at a hifi show, and that there are still bargains to be hard in a hifi World full of stratospherically expensive kit.





PROAC

At the last few shows 'Musings has attended ProAc have demonstrated their most recent high-end offerings and they just didn't gel with me.  At Bristol they went somewhat more down to Earth with a new iteration of the beautifully made DB-1.  Available with a dome or ribbon tweeter, the ribbon version was on dem.  Here powered by Exposure electronics they acquitted themselves well - a sweet and cultured presentation with great imaging and timing - nicely resolved vocals but lacking in weight and punch.  If you like a smooth presentation without too much fuss - give them a listen.


SYSTEMDEK / ART /SUGDEN


Its intentional to kick off these listening notes with the above close up of the Nagaoka MP-110 cartridge and the ART speakers below.  The very first music generating element of this system is a (very well respected at the price) 150 GBP MM cartridge.  At the very last stage of getting music to the listener is a 29,000 GBP pair of ART loudspeakers.  Sandwiched in between are the Sugden electronics.
As such, it sounded a bit compromised - limited dynamics and resolution.  I suspect there's a lot more available from the electronics and speakers.




HEGEL ROOM 1


In the first of two rooms, Hegel presented their 2100 GBP H150 streamer / amplifier and a pair of Amphion Argon 1 standmount speakers (Amphion have been upgrading the Argon range, but the 1 remains unchanged and priced at 1650 GBP). 
Sometimes, everything just gels.  In this case - streamer, speakers, stands, cables and, importantly, the room.  We listened in here to 3 tracks then I went back for another 2 sessions of 3 or 4 tracks just to check.  This system is so flowing, musical, effortless, unedgy without been smoothed out, it didn't overwhelm the room or set off any nasty nodes and the picture it drew in the space was believable and well proportioned.  Yes, other systems can do more detail, but may fail in other areas, other systems can produce deeper bass but you'd be amazed at the bass these little speakers can produce, others might look more sensational but not provide musical enjoyment.
If ATC hadn't fielded the EL50 at this show, because the award includes an element of budget, this room would've taken the Sound of the Show award.
If you have a smallish room and just want to relax into your music every evening after work, take a listen to this combination, regardless of your budget.






HEGEL ROOM 2


Next door, you could say that Hegel and Amphion had just replicated Room 1 and turned the "make it bigger" knob a couple of notches.  The Hegel H150 was replaced by H400 at 5900 GBP and Amphion Argon 1 by the newly released Argon 3X (as mentioned above, this is the upgraded version of the 3LS - which remains on sale - featuring a tweeter from the Krypton range) at 3500 GBP.
Was this a techically better solution than Room 1?  Yes - that tweeter in particular brings greater resolution, subtlety and crispness without any harshness.  There's more extension to the bass too.  Of note was that the photos here were taken on day 1 of the show, on day 2 they were further into the room.  This improved the interaction with the room, but the whole wasn't as complete as Room 1 as the speakers could use more space to work within.
Still a very enjoyable room and would be a stand out if it wasn't for Room 1...





TRIANGLE


Triangle were demonstrating the above system in a curtained off area inside the large Terrace area.  The environment was too noisy to make any kind of assessment.  Nice dark green finish on these speakers.

CHORD ELECTRONICS (HEADPHONES)

I don't spend time on headphones at shows, but here is a photo of one of the Chord set ups with their Qutest DAC



MAJORITY



Look more closely at the photos and study the prices on the labels.  Majority weren't demonstrating any of their equipment but they had a large range of streamers, amps, all-in-ones, turntables and speakers on an array of shelves in the large Terrace display room.
So no chance to listen, but these prices are an eye-opener.  The idea behind the brand is to make hifi available to a wider audience - particularly younger people.  The gear is available in Richer Sounds and other appropriate retailers such as Currys.  Interesting.

CHORD ELECTRONICS


Innuos Zen Next-Gen, Quartet upscaler launched at the 2026 Bristol show (with its dedicated power supply), DAVE DAC, Ultima Pre 3 and 2x Ultima 3 power amps all from Chord were driving Wilson Audio Sabrina speakers.  Later the Michel Orbe SE turntable was also in use.

This was a good sounding system and its interesting to hear something at this price point that doesn't pursue one or two parameters at the expense of everything else.  Previously Chord electronics have sounded impressive but sterile - there more recent releases have gone away from that and this latest stack of products makes another step in the direction of music rather than technology.  WA speakers still seem to struggle to image well though.







PMC

As distributors of Bryston electronics in the UK, PMC were demonstrating with their new Bi200 integrated amp fed by a Bryston DAC.  Throughout the day different models in the new Prophesy range were being demonstrated.  On first visit it was the largest floorstander - Prophecy 9.  Unfortunately they over drove a node in the room and that was too distracting to work out what this speaker was capable of.  Moving around the room didn't really resolve the issue.
Later the standmount Prophecy 1 was playing and this was struggling as it is too small to work in a room this large, from a bass perspective.  However it was possible to enjoy the rest of the musical range which is nicely resolved, balanced and sounds sophisticated.  Would be good to hear both of these speakers under better circumstances.





WILSON BENESCH /  CAD / TRILOGY


CAD were launching their 1543 MKIII DAC and Wilson Benesch were launching their new Horizon floorstanding speaker.  Trilogy 925 integrated amplifier completed the, err, triology.  WB have occupied this conservatory room for well over a decade, so should know how to get the best out of it.
When we arrived in the room the standmount isobaric Discovery speakers were playing.  Very good idea and filling the room way more than you would expect for relatively small speakers.  Articulate bass in a space this size is impressive.  The usual smoothness and delicacy from WB was present.
After a presentation of WB as a company, the Discoveries were replaced by the new Horizon floorstanders.  They shared similar qualities but suprisingly sounded lightweight (not in absolute terms, but in comparison to Discovery).








ROGERS


Rogers used an Audio Note CD player, their own valve integrated amp and their iteration of the LS3/5a on their bass augmentation stands.  A nice enough sounding room, but difficult to see the value for money in this particular combination of products.

LOCKWOOD


Apparently Lockwood are the oldest family owned hifi brand in the UK.  Despite this the are anything but traditional in their approach to speaker design and finishes, which is refreshing.  I've heard their products at a few shows and they continue to offer politeness with muted dynamics and constrained bass depth.


HARBETH ROOM 1


Like Rogers, Harbeth were demonstrating their LS3/5a interpretation using a bass augmentation stand (the Nelson, because its a column...).  On first encounter this system was producing a surprisingly full (fuller than I recall from previous encounters) and enjoyable sound.  Then the augmentation system was added and it became fuller, slightly deeper with these stands being set up to be subtle rather than the centre of attention.  Nice.


HARBETH ROOM 2

The SHL5plus XD2 was playing classical music in room 2 and sounded exactly as you might expect the more substantial Harbeth to sound.  Cultured, polite, just what some consider a British made loudspeaker should sound.  The UK is actually one of Harbeth's smaller markets - most sales are in the US and Japan / China.


HARBETH ROOM 3


NLE stands for New Listening Experience.  Here we found a large 3-way standmount speaker driven by DSP and Class D nCore electronics. At the the rear of the room, a pair of small 2-way NLE standmounts.  I really didn't get this room at all, it was just a smeary mess.  I know Harbeth can be a bit controversial about their view on electronics not being all that important, but this seems to have been an exercise in adding lots and lots of electronics that really didn't do these speakers any favours.

ONKYO / KLIPSCH

I'm not too sure about the recent history of the Onkyo brand, but I can't recall seeing it in the UK for a very long time indeed.  A few amps with a distinctive large knobs and large meters were on static display.
The demo system consisted of a Roon Nucleus streamer, Onkyo  P80 network pre-amp (1350 GBP), M80 power amp (with nice big meters at 1450GBP) and Klipsch RP-6000F MkII speakers offering what seems to be good value for money at 1100 GBP.
Sound wise this was just about okay, a little lightweight and vocals sounding like they're further away than the rest of the music.  I know Klipsch have a big following, but the reasons are not obvious to me.




PRO-JECT



A complete system from Pro-ject at Bristol this time.  Turntable, integrated amp, phono stage, CD player and floorstanding speakers.  The S3 range of electronics is remarkably compact, undoubtedly suiting a lot of today's more compact living rooms.  It all performs well though - this system didn't do deep bass, but what it does do is very enjoyable.

ROTEL


Rotel were playing a pre-power into Piega loudspeakers.  Piega seem to be more orientated around style over sound (based on a number of encounters), so this probably wasn't showing off the Rotel electronics at their best.

MUSICAL FIDELITY


Pro-ject also made an appearance fronting up Musical Fidelity M series integrated amplifier - the middle of their electronics range.  A100 is back, but not on demo this time.  Feeding the very distinctive HECO loudspeakers this system made a decent sound and we enjoyed a few tracks being played, including Caravan Palace that doesn't appear in the track list below because Shazam was baffled.




WIIM


An fun low cost sat-sub system from Wiim, the Sound.  Could be a good fit as a supplement to a TV or as a second system in an office, study, bedroom etc. 



ULTRAFIDE BY MC2


Now around 3 years old in the home hifi market, Ultrafide is a spin-off from the MC2 professional audio company.  They launched initially with a pre-power combination that was making a good impression at the UK Audio Show in 2024.
Newly launched at Bristol is the ENSO integrated amplifier at 3500 GBP.  This was paired with a Bremen SL1Plus streamer (800 GBP) from Silent Angel and Kudos Titan 505 standmount speakers (10k GBP including the stands).  This integrated amp has an AB pre-amp and a Class D power amp combined with a toroidal transformer and linear power supply.
Musically this combination was enjoyable and there's plenty of information on offer.  The 505s can sound a little bright if everything's not perfectly in tune with them, and occasionally that was evident here - I've also heard them sound more weighty than today.  I'm not familiar with the streamer, so perhaps this amp has more to offer with a different front end.


MARCH AUDIO



A newcomer to the British market, March is an Australian brand that only sells direct to customers - no distributors, no retailers.  Bristol was their first show in the UK.
Their products are very heavily invested in Purifi technology - such as the power amplifier modules and the mid / bass drivers in the loudspeakers.  Their newest loudspeaker - the Kuoro launched here and seen in white below - also features a tweeter from Purifi - a first driver of its type from that company.
From a digital source perspective we have a very low cost front end, in hifi terms.  Roon running on a NUC computer (tiny box, bottom left), an SMSL DAC (circa 700 GBP) fed the March Pre-1 pre-amp (launched here at Bristol) and mono class D P481 power amps (1100 GBP each).  In the morning the Ukkonen (5700 GBP) speakers were playing - in a very impressive red metallic finish - and in the afternoon the Kuoro (estimated at 4500 GBP) was playing - here presented in an equally impressive put more restrained metallic white.





This was an impressive debut from March with both speakers playing musically and now displaying any real signs of any class D greyness.  With the larger Ukkonen playing, there was a little too much bass energy in the room, but the rest of the frequency range was well portrayed and enjoyable to listen to.  In the afternoon the Kuoro was better matched to the characteristics of the room and didn't suffer from the same level of bass bloom.  I found the new Purifi tweeter a little over emphasised and preferred the less upfront presentation of the Ukkonen. 
An impressive debut.




D'VON

Another debut at the show - this time for D'Von loudspeakers, based in Devon in the UK.  For the show 3x of the Aurora range were demonstrated - each with a black cabinet and a veneered ply front baffle.  The larger of the standmounts - SQ-20 at around 2500 GBP were playing on our visit to the room.  The front end was a Cyrus 40 streamer feeding a Rotel integrated.  This is a lively and energetic system but bordering on the over bright in presentation.  Perhaps the speakers would perform better when not surrounded by more speakers.


ERA ACOUSTICS


The debuts keep on coming!  Perhaps the choice of a Naim integrated wasn't the wisest way to demo these speakers - the pair being overbearingly bright - a revisit on the second day confirmed the first impression.


AUDIO RESURGENCE

A much better showing here for the Kraken amp than was heard at Ascot.  Experience suggests that Ophidian's Fiion speakers need a smoother and weightier sounding amp to deliver their best.


AUDIO3


Apologies for the above photo, just a bit too much contrast to get a decent shot.
Audio3 are another debutante, playing a system that is expected to be available in Autumn 2026 as amplifier design details are finalised over the Summer.  At an anticipated 10k GBP this system comprises the streamer / amplifier module seen on top of the left speaker (although the final product may be a little taller to help with heat dissipation) and the pair of 2 way speakers and stands.  The amp contains a DSP crossover and 4 power amp channels to drive the speakers actively.  The quality of finish is impressive for a prototype product.  The speakers will be available separately with a passive crossover with what looks like a high quality component choice, shown below.
Music choice in this room was very safe indeed, the system played it well enough.  One worth watching for the future.






CREEK


Creek is a well established UK brand best known for value for money compact amplifiers.  Here they demonstrated their Voyage i20 integrated amp fed from the DAC section of the Voyage DC player the was receiving files over USB from a laptop.  This combination was driving the new Cymatics 6 standmount speaker - their first new speaker in over 30 years.
A musical and dynamic listen which could do with a little more weight to the lower frequencies.



BARGAIN ROOMS

Hosted by Audio T who organise this show.





DALI


The new SONIK series from DALI replaces the very popular Oberon range. The one from the top SONIK 7 was on demo, driven by one of parent company Lyngdorf's all-in-one streamer amplifiers, the TDAI 2210.  I haven't been convinced by Oberon, but this system was much better aligned to my tastes.  Dynamic but controlled and delivering this without being shouty was quite an enjoyable listen.  The live version of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' Red Right Hand had powerful anvil effects and it was easy to get caught up in the excitement of the audience. Interesting to note that this was achieved with the relatively modest electronics rather than the more esoteric systems I've heard driving Oberons. This same Lyngdorf unit was doing good stuff in their own room at the show too.

MONITOR AUDIO / ROKSAN

Monitor Audio's Platinum 300 3G is an 11,000 GBP speaker that was outshone by many other offerings at the show.  The Blok furniture looks good.



FYNE


Fyne took an extremely large room at the show on the ground floor which allowed them to surround visitors with a huge range of product offerings - given that the company is still relatively young, they've done a great job of offering speakers from budget right up to luxury and all points in between.  Their colourful gloss finishes are superb and really catch the eye.


Fyne have added a couple of super tweeters to their range, said to enhance any of their own loudspeakers and any other with a flat top.  The driver points upwards then a cone distributes the sound outwards in all directions.



The demo system was a serious affair, as it needed to be to fill such a large room.  Around 120,000 GBP of Accuphase electronics, including their new 3900 pre-amp launched at Bristol and the Fyne F704SP speakers - the larger ones in the picture below featuring 2x 12" drivers, the upper being concentric with the tweeter - these retail at 20k GBP.  The demo track was played on a Linn LP12 (no details of the actual spec were shared) and was claimed to be showing off dynamics, scale and detail.  But the reality was sadly a bit of a mess with little of any of those qualities in evidence.  Other Fyne demos have been significantly better.




ORIGIN LIVE


OL originally provided DC PSU and motor upgrades for turntables such as the Linn LP12, then modified tone arms such as those from Rega, but are now a fully fledged turntable manufacturer in their own right.
I must say that I'm not a fan of the deVore loudspeakers being used, but its fair to say that they sounded like they do with very expensive partnering equipment, so that suggests OL were doing a good job.



MUSIC HEARD AROUND THE SHOW

Of course, the show would be pointless if there wasn't music.  Thankfully exhibitors showed some imagination this year - there were still a few cliche tracks, but not one Diana Krall song was heard in 2 days - phew!  Here's a list of most of the tracks encountered over nearly 2 days:

Norman Brown                                        Won't You Stay
Keith Washington & Chante Moore        I Love You
Go Go Penguin                                        All Res
Malia & Boris Blank                               Raising Venus
Submotion Orchestra                               Sunshine
Kessoncoda                                              KTO
Zach Bryan                                              South & Pine (Acoustic)
KOAN Sound & Asa                               Fuego
Dan Patlansky                                          Big Things Going Down
Rob Araujo & Anomalie                          Hang Glide
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds                   Red Right Hand (Live God)
Lorde                                                       Man of the Year
Joy Orbison                                             flight fm
HAEVN                                                   Trade It For The Night
Billie Eillish                                             when the party's over
Abdullah Ibrahim                                    Calypso Minor
The Trials of Cato                                    Difyrrwch
Sons of Legion                                         Carolina
Milky Chance                                           Stolen Dance
Buddy Guy                                               Ain't No Sunshine (feat. Tracy Chapman)
Simple Minds                                           Woman
Naima Joris                                               What If
Sara K.                                                      Ball 'n Joint
Patricia Petibon                                         Trois chansons bretonnes - La rencontre
Flanger                                                      So What
Lusaint                                                      Wicked Game
HAEVN                                                    Promise (Symphonic Version)
Hedegaard                                                 Rachets
Ren & CHINCHILLA                               Chalk Outlines
Donald Fagen                                            What I Do
Sting & Eric Clapton                                It's Probably Me
Dave's True Story                                      Like a Rock
Peggy Lee                                                  Big Spender
John Martyn                                              Solid Air
Peggy Lee                                                  Fever
Jimmy Smith                                             Theme From The Carpetbaggers
Sofie Letitre                                               Slip (Original)
Dominique Fils-Anime                              Birds
Phaxe & Morten Granau                            The Collective
Grace Jones                                                I've Seen That Face Before
Kublaii                                                       Berlin
Dumpster Grooves                                     He Talked a Big Game, Played A Small Tune (feat. Bertha May Lightning)
Tracy Chapman                                          Mountains O'Things
Matt Lange                                                Testarossa
Fink                                                            Trouble's What You're In (Live from Union Chapel)
Orange Goblin                                           Beginners Guide to Suicide
Fourplay                                                     Monterey
Fourplay                                                     Chant
Cat Stevens                                                 Wild World (Live at KCET Studios, Los Angeles, USA)
Luca Sestak                                                 Solfeggietto
Leifur James                                                Mumma Don't Tell
Mana                                                            Coladito (Unplugged)
Avi Kaplan                                                  Peace Somehow
Kevin Mahogany                                         Teach Me Tonight
Natalie Merchant                                         The Peppery Man
Till Bronner & Dieter Ilg                             A Thousand Kisses Deep
Max Richter, BBC Philharmonic                Sarajevo
Alice In Chains                                            Nutshell (Unplugged)
Chris Cornell                                               Thank You (Live At Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre)
Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca & Giuliano Carmingnoloa The 4 Seasons Violin Concerto in G Minor Op 8
Genesis                                                        Firth of Fifth (New Stereo Mix)
Massive Attack                                            Silent Spring
Talvin Singh                                                Butterfly
Ferruccio Spinetti & Petra Magoni             Roxanne
Boz Scaggs                                                  Thanks To You
Walkerton fet Yount FIT & Vino                 Radio Skit / let Me See What You Working With Girl
Greg Brown                                                 Mose Allison Played Here
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra                     Serenade for Strings in E Minor Op 20 III
Pink Floyd                                                    Time
Dire Straits                                                   Money For Nothing
Talk Talk                                                      Happiness Is Easy
DubXanne                                                    Roxanne (Dubxanne)
Jamie Woon                                                  Skin
The Police                                                    Wrapped Around Your Finger
Oregon                                                          Dolomiti Dance
Stella Starlight Trio & Karen Souza            Tainted Love
Anne Marie Almedal                                    Lovesong