Kudos Audio - Exclusive Factory Visit, August 2023

Now a very visible and significant player on the international high quality audio scene, Kudos Audio has taken a different approach to producing music for its enthusiastic customers and are actively pursuing new ideas, as I type.

Favourable reviews are now the norm for the company's Titan range, including a number on Audiophile Musings.  Step this way to get a flavour of what the reviewers are saying about the company's products and some of the numerous awards and accolades bestowed upon them:

HiFi Critic Titan 505 

The Ear Titan 606

HiFi+ Titan 707

HiFi+ Titan 808

Hifi Critic Super 20A

What Hifi? Super 10A 

Hifi Choice C10 

Audiophile Musings "Sound of the Show" (Titan 808) and "Highly Commended" (Titan 505) at Chester Show, 2019

Audiophile Musings "Sound of the Show" at Bristol 2020 with Titan 707

Audiophile Musings went to find out what makes the company tick, being invited for an exclusive factory tour in the North East of England, UK - it turned into a 5 hour history lesson, factory tour, Titan 808 listening session, and zero nonsense...

Most of you will be familiar with the old joke:

Tourist: "how do I get to Town X"

Local: "well, I wouldn't start from here if I was you..."

I came away with the impression that the Kudos story has a similar origin.  Derek Gilligan, founder and head honcho at Kudos has a solid background to work from with a family in the music and live music PA business, but the route from there to today took an interesting path. Today's Kudos is a testimony to thinking differently, building a team that incudes family & those you can trust, being obsessive about quality and ensuring the basics are right.

As a fellow Darlingtonian, it was easy to chat with Derek about the pros and cons of "Darlo" and the area in which we grew up.  Different schools though, so not totally parallel experiences. I very much remember my early forays into hifi in the 1980s and they were supported by some canny purchases from used audio specialists in High Northgate, Darlington "North East Audio Traders". Derek became part of the team there and may even have served me in the shop, but thankfully neither of us remember! North East Audio Traders was a novel idea in the region at the time and was reasonably successful. Going to hifi shows to demonstrate their equipment was part of the game, but speaker consistency proved a challenge. Hence the guys at N.E.A.T. put together a small standmount of their own to enable easy comparison between equipment that's just not possible when a stock of used speakers is constantly changing from day to day. Soon reviewers were asking to review the speaker in its very rudimentary form, but were very complementary about the way it performed. Derek was involved in the speaker using a renowed driver from earlier speaker products that needed to be sourced from wherever they were still available from stock. Eventually this driver had to be re-manufactured once the speaker took off in the market. It was partnered with a modern dome tweeter. The NEAT Petite is now a very well known speaker and continues in a revised form to this day, as the Petite Classic.

Original NEAT Petite Loudspeakers

The design process of Petite, based on listening for musicality and a try and re-try approach set the tone for the future. What Hifi? were impressed with the result "as tuneful as they come".  When demonstrating the speakers, N.E.A.T. used the exceptionally substantial Kudos speaker stands...

Derek parted ways with NEAT for a few years, pursuing other activities until he returned for a second stint with the company to work on speaker designs such as the Ultimatum, where we can see techniques such as isobaric bass loading being deployed, as it is in today's Titan range (also used elsewhere such as Linn's Akubarik). NEAT bought the Kudos brand as part of buying up the stock of speaker stands as Kudos' then owner moved on to different products and markets. During this time Derek had developed some design ideas he wanted to try but the opportunity wasn't presented to go in that direction.  Time for a new direction...

So we come to the inception of Kudos Audio as a speaker manufacturer in its own right - a "do or die", "all or nothing" decision for Derek and his wife.  With a good network of contacts in the industry and dealerships, understanding what was wanted in the market and what was possible from a design perspective, the initial Cardea products, although fairly conventional in construction, were very well received and the business was underway.  The basic tenets behind those early designs hold true today - listen, listen, listen, use high quality components, gentle slope crossovers to minimise component count and phase distortion, build in the UK using UK producers and components wherever possible. But the scale has moved on, as has the size and breadth of the product range.

Based in the North East of England (close to Derek's roots) isn't the UK hifi heartland, but everything is within easy reach and, of course, electronic communications mean distance isn't the blocker it used to be.  The company is split across 3 sites on the same compact business park - storage, manufacturing and design / demo buildings. This is the second location for the company and it has grown into the current arrangements organically - annexing a next door unit here, installing a mezzanine floor there, plus the major investment in the design / listening / demo suite. Its a compact, cleanly presented, logically laid out facility. This appears to work very well for the core workforce, consisting of Derek, production manager Mark with Derek's son Louis looking after quality control and his daughter Kay joining the team on the week of my visit to take on office management, accounting etc. after several years experience in similar roles in other companies. The extended team includes another 7 colleagues across sales, marketing and export colleagues based locally or where the dealer network needs them to be.

We talked through the design and manufacture of the higher, and very successful, Titan range of products to understand the Kudos approach.  Essentially Derek uses the experience of existing designs and applies new ideas to those products or completely new concepts to push the boundaries of what's possible and what's effective - sometimes it shows promise, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it takes very little refinement to be just what he's hoping for.  The exact percentage of those outcomes wasn't shared with me :)  An example is using isobaric loading for the mid-bass drivers in Titan 505, 606 and 707. Basically isobaric means 2x drivers - one internal, the other on the front baffle - linked by a sealed air chamber between those drivers, giving the impression of a much larger single drive unit in a larger cabinet. Its unusual in the industry to use isobaric so high in the frequency range, but Kudos found that allowing a minimal air gap around the voicecoil of the driver, coupled with "back to back" driver mounting reduced the effect of differences between drive units (even very expensive drive units are never identical) to give a better performance over a wider frequency range.

Another example of experienced based innovation is the cabinet construction of Titan.  Its core is a relatively thin MDF structure, the panels of which flex (the deflection is not visible to the eye) because the outer panels of the cabinet, in heavier gauge veneered MDF, are compliantly coupled to damp the flex of the inner cabinet wall. A mix of 2 existing, usually mutually exclusive, philosophies in the industry, but applied in a different way. The composition of the damping disks connecting inner cabinet to outer cabinet and the exact location of the mounting points were subject to the iterative try, listen, change, listen, change, listen approach until the best sounding materials and mounting locations were established. A further example of the design approach is that each panel in the internal cabinet has one of a number of thickness options - to vary the natural resonance of each panel rather than having all the panels contributing one resonance.

Titan 606 Inner Cabinets and Connector / Crossover Panels

Kudos work very closely with Norwegian driver manufacturer SEAS who have been found to be exceptionally co-operative and collaborative on driver design changes - be that cone materials, coil winding, cone shape, doping etc. etc. Only the basic driver basket remains unchanged for mid-bass drivers, everything else is available to change and Kudos exploits that opportunity with drivers going through several iterations before being custom manufactured to their final spec.  The Krescendo tweeter used in Titan is another example of the collaboration with SEAS, being based on a existing metal dome driver but with the magnet from a different SEAS model and the dome using a fabric and shape of Kudos' choice. As a component, compared to those in many other loudspeakers, the Titan tweeter is "reassuringly expensive".

SEAS Mid-Bass Drivers to Kudos Custom Spec

 

We step through the build process.  Cabinets are, of course, Kudos designs, but built by specialist suppliers.  A subject of intense discussion in the UK speaker manufacturing industry right now as one of the major suppliers of cabinets to the vast majority of UK loudspeaker brands has abruptly ceased supply.  For a small company this means a great deal of disruption to source a new supplier, but this looks to be resolved for Kudos and supply will continue to be delivered to customers as there are good stocks of parts in place right now. Every cabinet (internal and external damping panels, stand components etc) are inspected for any imperfections before being accepted and placed into stock. With Titan the internal cabinet remains consistent and the external damping panels bring the differences in colours and veneers. A number of veneers are available as are piano black and white gloss.

Drive units come in from SEAS in batches, passive crossovers are constructed on the production benches. Crossovers for Titan are hand built on the connector panel with components being direct wired (no circuit board) and use very gentle crossover slopes and the natural roll-offs of the drivers in the cabinets as Kudos believe this reduces "stuff getting in the way of the music".  Its a relatively expensive way of making crossovers, but demonstrates the passion for getting the right end result.  All the components for a complete speaker pair - drivers, internal cabinet, external damping panels, crossover, stands, packaging, connector panels, etc, - are gathered together onto a single pallet.  This pallet is then transferred to the build area for assembly by one member of the team. Seeing the details of the drivers, and the layered construction of what look like relatively simple stands opens my eyes to how much effort has gone into the design of Titans, something not at all obvious to the customer. Every pair is then put through listening tests before being packaged ready for despatch. 

Alongside the build area is a newly constructed office unit and the basics needed to keep the team fed and watered through the day.

Titan 808 Crossovers - Bass on the Left, Mid and Treble on the Right

 

We move over to the design / listening / demo suite where, in typical Kudos fashion, we enjoy a straightforward sandwich and cuppa whilst listening to the system currently set up.  At this point we also discuss the "active" option for Super 10A, Super 20A and the Titan range, and why Kudos chose to go in that direction, another distinctive differentiator in the market. It is, unsurprisingly, a fairly simple answer - to get a better musical result.  As an independent manufacturer, with no ties to existing electronics partners, Kudos can work with multiple different active electronics partners with ease.  Linn, Naim, Exposure and Devialet options have been made available and the speakers can be converted to active operation with a simple change to links on the connection panel.  

Listening Room with Titan 808

Kudos have long been a favoured brand of speaker amongst Naim electronics customers and that manufacturer's kit has featured extensively during the development of Kudos products and demonstrations at hifi shows (in passive and active form), along with Linn's Exakt active option. But today we have a system fronted by an Innuos server / streamer, Chord DAVE DAC, Chord Ultima Pre and Ultima Power amps. This was a surprise choice for me, given my past experience with Chord amplification hasn't been so enjoyable.  But this new Ultima range changes that completely, being musical, with coherent timing.  This system was feeding Titan 808s passively through, of course, Kudos KS-1 speaker cables. We range through some church choral recordings (great representation of the space), electronic dance music (great pace, controlled impactful bass lines) and Leonard Cohen (expressive grumbling vocals) and the time passes very quickly enjoying the music (note, the music, not the treble nor bass nor mids!).

Chord Stack on the Left In Use for Our Demo - alongside Naim including the active SNAXO crossover option. Another rack in the room contained other manufacturer electronics including Linn, currently being refreshed to Selekt spec.

What of the future?  Well Kudos have lots more ideas to take through their iterative, listening based process of product innovation and improvement. Some interesting ideas on drive units and active options could be on the way if they meet that essential criteria - is it musically more enjoyable than what went before? If today's products are anything to go by, the results will be interesting indeed.

Thanks very much to Derek and the Kudos team for your time, openess, straightforward discussion and hospitality.

4 Lots of Kudos in One Night - Passive and Active

Kudos' Titan 808 has been around a few years now, and has given a great account of itsself at multiple shows 'musings has attended in the UK and Germany.
Most recently with the rather good Naim SNAXO active system at the Chester Hifi show earlier in the month.  I also chose a Linn Exakt driven pair when presenting a "MyTunes" playlist evening at Manchester dealer brianandtrevors, where they were augmented by a pair of REL No 25 subwoofers.

But there's more to Kudos than their well received top of the range T-808.  There are entry level "X" models, mid-range "Super" models and 4 different interpretations of the Titan formula.  So what's the rest of the range like?  To find out, 'musings returned to brianandtrevors for an evening of Kudos discovery.  The evening followed a fairly typical approach for a joint dealer / manufacturer evening - gradually stepping up the range, but perhaps with a little twist tonight.  To allow the comparison of the speakers, a pretty much "no compromise" system was put together from Scottish manufacturer Linn:

A largely Klimax level LP12 - Radikal PSU (in the Akurate casework), Ekos SE2, Kandid and a booplinth.  Onboard was a Urika 2 phono stage which fed an Exakt signal to a Linn Klimax DSM acting as pre-amp and streamer.
Initially the KDSM ran with its internal Katalyst equipped stereo DAC to a Linn Klimax Twin/D stereo power amp.
I/C cables were Linn silvers, with Chord Music making sure there were no compromises on the speaker cable side.

That's quite some front end to feed into the first speaker we heard tonight - the diminutive little Kudos X2 compact floorstander.  Bear in mind that, at £1600, it was being fed by a system that included speaker cables that come in at (assuming they were 3m in length) 4x the price of the speakers.
It has to be said that these little speakers probably weren't designed for use in a room the size of tonight's dem room.  Before they were played, Kudos' Dave White introduced himself and the company philosophy - keep things simple and use the best quality components and cabinets that can be achieved at a price point.  Drivers all come from SEAS, modified or created to Kudos's own requirements.  So until the top of the range, simplicity means 2-way designs, uncluttered crossovers and quality cabinet veneers.  So the little boxes played and did a pretty good job.  Yes, there was a looseness in the bass, which goes surprisingly low, there was some vagueness in the treble but the music was flowing, feet tapping, even the room joining in with some modes didn't detract from enjoying what was going on.  It would be great to listen to these in a smaller room, where I'm sure they'd work pretty well.  We listened to a few tracks from the streamer then moved on with a 3x price jump to the middle of the range Super 20 speakers.

This is another 2-way floorstander, but around 850mm high and sporting significantly higher quality components.  Again the finish is superb with matched veneers on the baffles. Well, this was a significant step-up in the musical presentation to match the price change.  The SEAS tweeter in the S20 is several steps up from the X2 in terms of detail, definition, believability and control. Similar improvements come from the mid-bass driver. Curiously the initial impression was of a speaker producing less bass output than the baby floorstanders, but in reality its just hugely better controlled and keyed into the hooks and rhythms of the tune.  The treble presentation, whilst far more refined, is just a little to forward in the mix for my personal taste, but there's no doubt the others in the group of 12 were enjoying what they were hearing.

The next step up was 2x on the price-o-meter and takes us into Titan territory.  We didn't hear the 505 standmount tonight, going straight to the first of the floorstanders, the 606.  This is similar in height to the Super 20, but the cabinent is very differently constructed.  Dave introduced the isobaric mid-bass driver and the thin-walled inner cabinet which is surrounded by heavy MDF side panels that are connected to the inner panels with damping material.  The tweeter too is from SEAS's upper end Krescendo family, amended to Kudos spec - the tweeter alone costs more to Kudos than all the drivers put together in a pair of X2s.  They're very substantially built speakers, needing a trolley to move them around, even though they're still under a metre high.  And how was this?  Well, it wasn't all a complete step up from the Super 20.  Bass a little deeper, treble that much more clear and definitive in the way it starts and stops, vocals carrying more emotion, along with tighter imaging, most if it was good.  But for me the Super 20 won out on the bass lines keeping pace with the rest of the music, and providing that foot-tapping drive.  So not a complete success for me.  After a short break to refresh glasses, along came the "twist" of the demo.  The Kudos Super and Titan ranges have a little trick up their sleeves - they have a clever but simple connection panel on the rear that means they can be converted to work in active mode - that is, effectively removing the internal passive crossovers to allow power amplifiers to be connected directly to each drive unit with the splitting of the frequencies delivered by an active crossover in front of the power amps.  This works with Naim analogue active crossovers and with Devialet and Linn digital crossovers.

So the Klimax DSM changed its role from digital to analogue converter, to one feeding a still digital Exakt feed to a Linn Klimax Exaktbox/1.  The Exaktbox does the digital to analogue conversion, along with some clever stuff such as phase correction of the drive units (and no crossover phase distortion), time aligning the drive units and adjusting the speakers' output to counteract room modes that normally causes "boominess".  Because each drive unit now needs its own power amplifier channel, an additional Klimax Twin was pressed into action, along with more Chord Music speaker cables.  Now the Titans are singing. This is a massive step up in performance for these speakers, much as we've experienced before when hooking the Super 20s up to an Exakt system back at 'musings base.  The reservations with the 606 in passive mode are almost gone - there's still a little reticence in the bass lines, but its very minor now and allows the other elements to shine through.  The live Eva Cassidy track we started with on the X2s is now in a huge venue, the soundstage goes back a long way beyond the speakers, Eva's voice is full of emotion, inflections and phrasing details. Nice.  We listen to a good few tracks from the streamer. Interesting set of feet on the 606s tonight, seem to tackle some of the shrillness I've heard from these speakers when sitting on standard spikes. Other than understanding they have some Sorbothane de-coupling, there wasn't time to discuss further tonight.

Another break follows, and the final set up of the evening is rolled into the room whilst more wine, coffee and juice is sorted out for the audience of a dozen or so listeners.  In the break we swap system information, who's interested in what and why Kudos is of interest.  Most have Linn front ends of some sort - vinyl and streaming, there's a few Naim front ends (streaming and CD) mostly Linn amplification but also Naim and a few others.  From a speaker comparison perspective, Linn, PMC, Kudos and others are in use.

Back to listening and we're now at the top of the Kudos range with the Titan 808.  Unlike last time in this room, the 808 was not supported by the big REL subs.  They had to fend for themselves.  It turns out that they're quite capable of looking after themselves thanks very much, and I ended up enjoying them more on their own.  The sense of scale of the Eva Cassidy venue is stunning on the 808 and they punch hard and fast.  Unlike the 505, 606 and 707 which have slightly (intentionally) leaky isobaric chambers, the lowest bass driver, in its separate box, is a more conventional sealed isobaric.  The 808 is a 3 way design but described as 2.5 way by Kudos by which I think they mean the lowest bass driver augments the lower end of the mid-bass rather than delivering a completely separate set of frequencies.  So this top-end speaker needs 6x power amp channels and as such another Klimax Twin and pair of Chord Music cables were helping out in this final system configuration.  The same tweeter is featured across the Titan range yet it somehow seems clearer and smoother in this configuration, but its the clarity, transparency and realism of the mid-bass combined with the sheer kick and tightness of the lower bass that stand out here.  We listen to lots of tracks and the LP12 is pressed into action for a few songs, including an album by one of my current favourites, Bob Moses from Canada.  There was some boominess with this system, Linn's SPACE optimisation wasn't in use until later in the evening, after the formal presentation has been completed.

What did we learn?  Well, in passive form, mostly spending more gets a better result, but not always in all areas.  But once Exakt was deployed, the whole experience was a huge improvement in performance and consistency. And, yet again, the 808 produced a great result - personally I think they performed better than with the REL subs in this room - not quite so jaw-dropping in terms of sheer power and impact, but more musically satisfying.  The X2's are good for their price and did a reasonable job of filling the big room.  But then again there's no real substitute for box volume, driver quality, cabinet construction and, most importantly, a high quality front-end active system. It would've been nice to hear the Super 20 moving from passive to active, but you can't fit everything into one evening.  I do wonder about those in the audience who might've been contemplating the 606 - were they satisfied, or do they now spend a longer time saving for the 808?  But then again, there's the 707 in between, and that's definitely worth a listen. I won't be changing my Twenty.26s for the 606s as they didn't do absolutely everything comprehensively better.  Perhaps the 707s?  Will have to leave it until another time to find out.

Thanks once again to Brian, Trevor, Dave and the other attendees for another enjoyable and instructive evening.

Kudos and Exposure Collaborate on Active Crossovers

Its a long saga...

Kudos have been enthusiastic about active electronics to drive their "Super" and "Titan" range speakers for around 3 years.  There are Linn Exakt digital crossover configurations for their speakers and a Devialet option too.

In parallel, a project was underway to develop a Naim SNAXO active crossover too.  It rumbled on for a couple of years, with previews at a number of shows that proved the solution to be a good idea.  it would, of course, have encouraged existing Naim amplifier owners to not only buy a SNAXO, but also to buy extra amplifiers.  You'd think that Naim would be keen on that.  But, for whatever reason, Naim have chosen to shelve the project for the foreseeable future.  There are some Naim dealers that will modify existing SNAXOs for Kudos use, but that's not exactly mainstream.

But now the news, for non-Linn and non-Devialet users, is much better.  Kudos and Exposure have announced a collaboration to produce an active crossover for Kudos speakers.  This will be a stand-alone unit that will allow the customer to choose any pre-amp and any power amp combination.  Excellent. I look forward to hearing the prototype at the 2019 Bristol Hifi Show.

https://www.stereonet.co.uk/news/exposure-launch-xm-cd-player-and-preview-vxn-crossover

LINN, KUDOS & AUDIOQUEST AT THE BRISTOL SHOW 2018 - SOUND OF THE SHOW

AUDIOQUEST / LINN / KUDOS
- Linn Akurate Exakt DSM Streamer / Pre-Amp
- Linn Akurate Exaktbox 10 DAC/DSP
- Linn Akurate 4200/1 4 Channel Power Amp
- Audioquest Cables
- Kudos Titan 606 Floorstanding Speakers

Well at last, a chance to hear the T-606 Kudos with Linn Exakt technology.  Not yet launched publically, the Exakt filters for T-606 are on their way. The main purpose of this room was to demonstrate Audioquest power cables.  The demo went from all stock power leads from a typcial high street Belkin distribution block and then gradually replace bits with Audioquest products.  First the standard Linn mains leads were replaced with AQ's starter product, the £160 NRG2 (soon to be replaced by Monsoon) - one for each of the 3 Linn components, but still plugged into the Belkin power strip.  A nice improvement in dynamics and clarity.  Then these were connected into the AQ Niagara 1000 power distribution block. This has a number of lightly filtered sockets and one unfiltered socket into which the power amplificer was connected.  Most of the design of this block is around care an attention to earthing and making sure that the earth has a lower impedence at the wall socket than it does at the component end - said to ensure that high frequency noise flows down the earth away from the system.  Another improvement here with similar quality and magnitude to the first change.  Then everything was swapped back to the standard leads and power strip and the sound became less clear and the imaging shrank significantly.  A clear change, but not as big a change as some other cable demos.  Worthwhile though, but as ever, VFM is a personal perspective.  What about the system itsself?  Well, those T-606s continue to shine - but with Linn Exakt are a step above what I've heard from them so far with standard Naim amps and their internal passive crossovers.  What Exakt brings to them is a real sense of purpose - a purpose to deliver the music in the cleanest and most convincing way.  There's lots of good technical attributes to talk about - the outstandingly deep bass from a reasonably compact enclosure, stunningly pin-point and ultra stable imaging being good examples - but its the way you just get wrapped up in the music and the message from the artist.  I go back a couple more times to this room, spending about 45 minutes in there later in the day, enjoying each visit. I later learn that the team hadn't had the time to set up SPACE optimisation for this room, so there's potentially more to come from this system.  Deeply impressive.

SOUND AND VISION - THE BRISTOL SHOW - REPORT 2018

Sound and Vision - The Bristol Show.  I think probably the biggest and busiest annual commercial show in the UK.  Organised by retail chain Audio T and heavily supported by What HiFi? magazine, it aims at a wide range of customers from the Sonos user through to the lower end of the high end, if that makes sense.  The observant will have noticed that it takes place in Bristol, in the South West of the UK.  Not a bad place to get to with good motorway and rail links.  The Marriott hotel hosts the event and it's the usual "efficient" concrete hotel that gets the job done, with little flair or imagination.  But most of the bedrooms are not too small and there are some decent larger rooms too.

So, what to expect of this show?  Well, in the main, people, and lots of them.  This is not like a Friday at Indulgence where you can wander the halls and get the best seat in every room, nor does it have the relaxed atmosphere of Cranage Hall. This is full-on busy - busy rooms, busy corridors, busy bars etc.  And that's on the Friday - the day I attended this and previous years - but I understand Saturday and Sunday are busier still. Arranged over 8 floors (although the rather lonely 3 rooms on the 10th floor don't really count a floor in itsself), I find its best to list out the room numbers you want to visit based on the floorplans on the website then get a lift to the top floor then walk down the stairs making your way eventually to the basement, picking off your chosen rooms as you go.  In this way, you can avoid too much use of the lift which is slow and time wasting.  With this approach you can probably cover every room you're really interested in, then, if there's time left over, go back to pick up on any rooms that may still be of interest.  Who's there?  Well most of the main magazines (and their reporters) are there, as are major manufacturers such as Naim, Cyrus, KEF, Mission, Arcam etc., many smaller manufacturers such as Kudos, Harbeth, Audio Note etc, cable providers such as Chord & Audioquest then a number of accessory providers or dealers and a few stalls selling vinyl.

Bear in mind that these notes are about the rooms I visited - probably between 70 and 80% of the rooms were covered, so I might've missed some gems, but equally, I might've missed some howlers too. As usual, these are my own opinions and are based on what I've heard, nothing more, nothing less.  Allowance should be given for the constraints of large floorstanders in small rooms - sometimes boom is very difficult to avoid, although some exhibitors do seem to manage.

You can click on each image to see a larger version.

Leema and ATC (main system)
- Leema Sirius ripper / NAS / DAC
- Leema Tuscan II
- Leema Hydra II
- ATC SCM100 passive speakers

A decent start to the day, up in the wilds of the 10th floor.  Here we have a system that's playing music in a very fluid way, great vocals in particular.  Controlled, deep bass lines and very little of any effect from the room.  Just a couple of minor points - the imaging was very narrow - crowded into the space between the speakers, and I thought there'd be a bit more slam from the big ATCs. But overall, very enjoyable.

Leema and ATC (Elements system)
- Leema Elements CD Player
- Leema Pulse IV amp
- ATC SCM11 speakers

Just along the corridor from the bigger Leema system, this little set up was making a reasonable fist of things, but just felt a bit underwhelming, warm and lacking in detail in comparison with the bigger system. I really enjoyed the Elements stuff with Leema's own little Xen speakers a couple of years ago at the National Audio Show, so perhaps the ATCs were letting the side down here.


FALCON ACOUSTICS AND SUGDEN

In this room there were 2 pairs of speakers - Falcon's little LS3/5a standmounts and their much larger 3-way RAM Stuido 30 floorstanders.  Electronics from Sugden.  When we went in the room it seemed that the LS3/5a speakers were playing - lightweight, flat, a little unclear. But no, it was the large floorstanders and the big Sugden boxes. Disappointing.

TOTEM
- Rega RP3 TT
- BlueSound Node and Rega DAC
- Rega Integrated Amp
- TOTEM Sky floorstanding speakers

The last time I heard the tiny Totem Sky floorstanders was on a side wall in a largish room at the Munich High End Show back in May 2017 (reports here and here). There they sounded fun, musical, lively, refined - mighty impressive for such a slender, diminutive speaker.  But here was a great example of why its worth spending more than just a couple of minutes in a room.  Because on entering, the album "Avalon" was playing.  The sound was thin, dull, almost muffled and in colour terms - very grey, lacking colour, insight and detail.  A major disappointment.  A second track on the album was just as dull.  But then we asked for the BlueSound / Rega digital source to be fired up, and what a revelation.  Now we had a system that was full of detail, depth, emotion, light and shade, great imaging and musical engagement.  Superb.  Two tracks later and we were convinced of the little Sky's capabilities.  But then on came the P3 again and it all fell flat and dull again.  A suprising result as the P3 is such a well respected turntable, but here, if you'd only heard the Totems with the turntable, you'd be looking elsewhere for something far better.  With the better source, they were fantastic.

XTZ SPEAKERS

Here we had a cinema system blasting out crashes, bangs and other effects stuff to great effect at high decibels.  Dynamically impressive.

VON GAYLORD
- ART CD Player
- Von Gaylord Nirvana Valve Amps
- Von Gaylord Legend Standmount Speakers

Substantial looking valve amps stood on the floor. Substantial looking cabling, neatly laid out across the floor, but very conspicuous as it reached behind the stands to bi-wire the Legend boxes - themselves a chunky looking slope sided pair of substantial standmounts.  All the kit looked very well made.  I enjoyed this system - it avoided that bloomy warmth that seems to afflict many valve amps - it was incisive, detailed, dynamic and very very clear.  Great vocal quality with subtelty and expression coming through well.  On top of that, the imaging was expansive but stable and the taut, suprisingly deep bass lead to a very engaging system.

MISSION
- Audiolab CD Player
- Audiolab Integrated Amplifier
- Mission QX2

I first heard this combination at the Indulgence Show at the end of 2017 (report here) - a "soft launch" of the new QX range with the Bristol Show being the full official launch of the range. It sits above the LX in the Mission hierarchy and the chunky looking QX2 standmount comes in at a very reasonable £399.  Looks are, of course, a personal thing.  For me the proportions - short, squat, square in profile - look a little odd.  The rounded edges and brushed metal top and bottom plates add a touch of class, but give me the impression of something lacking in substance.  The trim around the mid-bass driver is, I suspect, a devisive styling piece - I'm not keen - it looks "technical" for the sake of it - our room host didn't have a reason for its existence. There are grilles which clip in place but only cover the drivers giving a "double circle" look.  As for the sound of this system - well, at Indulgence I thought they were out of their depth - too many other high end systems to be sat alongside.  Here, probably in a better room, they sounded OK at moderate volume.  They move along OK without ever really being outstanding, nor offensive.  So, not the giant killers of old like to original 700 or the 760s or the 751s but nice enough.  It would be interesting to compare them against other similar speakers from competitors such as MA, Tannoy etc., I suspect in that company they might fair quite well.

AUDIO NOTE
- CDT One/II CD Transport
- DAC 2.1x DAC
- P2-SE Amp
- Type E Speakers

Now I know Audio Note have a very loyal following, and some who enjoy their systems are very vocal about their preference, and that's fair enough.  Yet every time I've heard them at shows, they do so many things so well, but there's always been something that makes me not enjoy the music - most frequently its been a tendancy to become hard or strident or both as the volume ramps up.  But here, today at Bristol, it all came together very well indeed.  There was superb treble detail without harshness, subtle vocals and excellent imaging. Trumpet occasionally pushed towards the strident but it never became too much.  The sheer scale and depth of the bass pedals and the acoustics of the building on a church organ recording was truly excellent.
Much better than usual.

FYNE AUDIO
- Rega Isis CD Player and Amp
- Fyne Audio Floorstanding Speakers

I apologise for this, as it will probably never get out of your mind when you see these speakers again, but a friend at the show described them as Minions, and once that was in his head it was difficult to shake off. But get past that and these Scottish speakers have some fine attributes.  They use a large concentric driver, rather like a Tannoy Westminster, but in a slimmer, substantial cabinet that is kind of teardrop shaped in plan view.  Lovely veneer and very well built.  A couple of controls on the front make "presence" and "level" adjustable.  So they're very good at vocals, there's an open spacious quality to their finely etched treble detail and they're fast to respond to the incoming signal. But, where is the bass?  What happened to the driving beat, the kick of the kick-drum?  Perhaps they'd been tuned via their controls or through positioning to avoid a boomy room mode, perhaps that's just the way they are.  A mixed bag then.

ASTINtrew
- TEAC Reel to Reel tape deck
- ASTINtrew Integrated Amp
- Chartwell LS6 Standmount Speakers

Playing an STS Jazz Masters tape (on beautiful metal tape reels - how geeky is that comment?) this simple but very well recorded jazz was presented exceptionally well on this system, which was probably designed with this kind of material in mind.  I felt engaged with the musicians, even though this isn't my kind of music (and being engaged by music I don't normally enjoy is usually a very good sign of a good system) and the breathy raspy qualities of the sax was beguiling.  As they'd say on The Fast Show - "Niiiice"

AMPHION
- Amphion Argon0 Speakers
- Hegel Integrated Streamer / DAC / Amp
- Ikea Furniture

Do you have one of those cool all-white designer apartments / flat / bedsit / whatever else estate agents call these things of limited space and close proximity to your neighbours?  Are you limited for space but want a decent sounding system?  Give this one a try.  For such tiny, £700 speakers, this was playing some great sounding music - particularly good with Jackson Browne.  Of course, these speakers don't go deep, but they go deeper than you'd expect and they don't try and do stuff they can't so, they just do what they can do very well.  Very enjoyable.

HEGEL
- Hegel Ripper / NAS
- Hegel 360 DAC / Integrated Amp
- Amphion Floorstanding Speakers

This Scandanavian brand is relatively new to these shores, having had no UK dealers at all when they first rocked up at Bristol 4 years back.  But it hasn't taken them long to start to build up a decent following, with the 360 amp getting lots of favourable comments on one of the UK's main HiFi forums of late. And this praise would seem to be reasonably well deserved.  I enjoyed my time in this room with a good, lucid and flowing sound.  That kind of detail that comes without it being shoved down your throat. Nice.


REL
- Arcam Disc Player
- Rotel Amplifiers
- B&W 805D3 Floorstanding Speakers
- 2x REL Subwoofers

Well, what a mess. Amazingly overbright sound, splashy treble that was hard to listen to. Then there was the bass - massively, out of control and booming into, across, up and down and wallowing around in the room.  A good approximation of the effects of sea sickness.  "Electrified" completely trashed.  All of these manufacturers are capable of far better than this, so not sure what was going on today.  'nuff said.


BLUESOUND
- BlueSound Node with built-in amplification
- B&W 700 Series Floorstanding Speakers

We had a convincing demo of a Tidal streamed track played on "the World's best selling streaming system" (I'm guessing Sonos, but the player wasn't visible) and the same track on the BlueSound - with the BlueSound giving a far more convincing rendition.  Then we had the "CD quality" vs MQA version of the same track - both again streamed from Tidal (rather intermittently in the case of the MQA track - it would seem that using a 4G signal to stream your demonstration isn't the most reliable approach).  We were asked if we preferred the CD quality version or the MQA version.  Trouble is, the MQA version of the track was at least 6dB louder than the CD version.  Not good. But most in the room thought the MQA sounded better - I found it better to reserve judgement due to the volume disparity which essentially rendered the comparison invalid.  We tried again with some tracks streamed from local storage - Stevie Wonder's "Superstition".  Here there was possibly no volume difference or at least if there was it wasn't detectable.  The CD sounded quite natural and of decent quality - the MQA version sounded more detailed and punchy, but a bit "false".  Moving on to a Fleetwood Mac track from Rumours and again the CD vs MQA comparison - this time the MQA sounded more detailed in the top end, but the mid and bass were muddled and a bit sluggish compared to the CD.  So a mixed result.  But then the best thing to do would be to compare an MQA track against the un-"folded" 24 bit track.  But this wasn't available.  Across about 8 or 10 sample tracks, not one was available with an MQA vs full fat 24bit version.  Not very convincing. Comparing a CD quality track against an MQA track is mildly interesting, but as soon as the challenge of a real and meaningful comparison between a folded 24 bit track and a non-folded 24 bit track is requested then the comparison wasn't possible. This felt very much like an MQA selling exercise rather than a demonstration to prove the worth of MQA (which isn't necessary for streaming, as proven by Qobuz).  Hmmm.  Time to move on, but not before observing that the BlueSound / B&W pairing sounded OK, if not outstanding, considering the price of the speakers.

AUDIOQUEST / LINN / KUDOS
- Linn Akurate Exakt DSM Streamer / Pre-Amp
- Linn Akurate Exaktbox 10 DAC/DSP
- Linn Akurate 4200/1 4 Channel Power Amp
- Audioquest Cables
- Kudos Titan 606 Floorstanding Speakers

Well at last, a chance to hear the T-606 Kudos with Linn Exakt technology.  Not yet launched publically, the Exakt filters for T-606 are on their way. The main purpose of this room was to demonstrate Audioquest power cables.  The demo went from all stock power leads from a typcial high street Belkin distribution block and then gradually replace bits with Audioquest products.  First the standard Linn mains leads were replaced with AQ's starter product, the £160 NRG2 (soon to be replaced by Monsoon) - one for each of the 3 Linn components, but still plugged into the Belkin power strip.  A nice improvement in dynamics and clarity.  Then these were connected into the AQ Niagara 1000 power distribution block. This has a number of lightly filtered sockets and one unfiltered socket into which the power amplificer was connected.  Most of the design of this block is around care and attention to earthing and making sure that the earth has a lower impedence at the wall socket than it does at the component end - said to ensure that high frequency noise flows down the earth away from the system.  Another improvement here with similar quality and magnitude to the first change.  Then everything was swapped back to the standard leads and power strip and the sound became less clear and the imaging shrank significantly.  A clear change, but not as big a change as some other cable demos.  Worthwhile though, but as ever, VFM is a personal perspective.  What about the system itsself?  Well, those T-606s continue to shine - but with Linn Exakt are a step above what I've heard from them so far with standard Naim amps and their internal passive crossovers.  What Exakt brings to them is a real sense of purpose - a purpose to deliver the music in the cleanest and most convincing way.  There's lots of good technical attributes to talk about - the outstandingly deep bass from a reasonably compact enclosure, stunningly pin-point and ultra stable imaging being good examples - but its the way you just get wrapped up in the music and the message from the artist.  I go back a couple more times to this room, spending about 45 minutes in there later in the day, enjoying each visit. I later learn that the team hadn't had the time to set up SPACE optimisation for this room, so there's potentially more to come from this system.  Deeply impressive.

KUDOS
- Naim Uniti Nova Integrated Streamer/DAC/Amplifier
- Kudos Titan 505 Standmount Speakers

A launch event for the latest in the Titan range from Kudos.  This time its the 505 - a reasonably substantial standmount speaker, but also the baby of the Titan range.  The speakers playing today are the first (and only ones at the moment) to be built.  Probably they won't change much for production - Kudos seem to have got the "knack" of the Titan forumla now.  And they're a chip off the old block in terms of performance. The tweeter is now familiar from the 606, 707 and 808 but this time it's paired with another isobarically loaded mid-bass driver - something quite unusual in a standmount speaker.  Does it work?  Well on the basis of this first listen, its a qualified "yes".  The room was rather stark, and the sound notably improved when the room filled up with absorbent humans, suggesting that the speakers would benefit from a more substantially filled room - sofas, curtains etc.  But a good showing - the family characteristics of engaging music, drive without forcefulness and a decently deep bass (as long as you were sat in the right place in the room - there was a substantial suck-out of bass in the middle of the room). So there's probably more to come (they were stood on Kudos's out of production 50 stands and its unclear which stands Kudos will offer for the T-505 at the moment).  Looking forward to another listen, possibly at the Acoustica Show in April.

ISOACOUSTICS
- Gaia Speaker Supports

Another simple and clear demo from IsoAcoustics.  One pair of Focal Aria floorstanders on their standard spikes compared against an identical pair, identically spaced in the room, fitted with the IsoAcoustic feet.  The change is very clear, with the Arias fitted with feet benefitting in terms of tautness of the sound and expanse and precision of the imaging.  Going to have to try a set on the PMCs.

ATC
- ATC CD Player
- ATC Integrated Amp
- ATC SCM40 Passive Floorstanding Speakers

Great top end and mid-range from this system, but rather overshadowed by a curiously out of control bass.  Not typical of ATC systems, but that's how it was today - probably a room interaction issue.

AURALIC & SPENDOR
- Auralic Streamer
- Spendor D9 Floorstanding Speakers

The last couple of times I've heard the latest from Spendor, they've underwhelmed - coming across as a little too safe and therefore not too engaging.  But today they were more open, there were some dynamics and there was much to admire. Perhaps its this part of the building, but they suffered very much from the same bass boominess noted in the ATC room above - they were at the same end of the same corridor, so perhaps there's something about those rooms.

WILSON BENESCH
- WB Circle Turntable fitted with Laser Cartridge
- CH Electronics Amplification
- Latest top of the range WB Resolution Floorstanding Speakers

I'm going to reserve judgement on this system - I suspect its very good. But after the 3rd different vinyl disk of twinky-twonky meandering jazz music, we gave up.  What we heard was good, but there just wasn't enough variety in the music.  Interesting pick-up on the turntable though - it reads the movement of the stylus using a laser in the cart - which seems to need a very complex and expensive looking phono stage - its the one with the clear lid and massive capacitors shown below. Not sure I would give these speakers house space. Even with the elastic band 'grilles' you have to look and the back of 2 bass drivers per channel, and their associated wiring.

NAIM/FOCAL KANTA
- Naim Unit Nova Streamer/DAC/Integrated Amp
- Focal Kanta No 2 Floorstanding Speakers

First chance to hear the new speakers from Focal - a range that sits (price wise) between Aria at the lower end and Sopra in the mid-range.  At first these were pretty enjoyable with a decently smooth treble, particularly by Focal standards.  The music was flowing OK and was very listenable.  Until the bass came along, and it didn't matter which row of seats you're in, it was massively boomy in this room - despite what looked like some big bass-trap type boxes along the wall/floor interface.  Tricky shaped room, to be fair, but it needs to be better than this.  Bizarrely, Focal's lower priced Aria range are still the most musical I've heard from the brand.

NAIM/FOCAL UTOPIA
- Naim NDS Streamer
- Naim Classic / 500 Series Pre-Amps, Power Amps and PSUs
- Focal Utopia Floorstanders

Still a major turn-off for me, the Utopias are unfriendly, sharp and curiously unmusical. They're seriously masking some very capable electronics.

Here today there was a number of major updates to the Naim streamer range - on display, but not being played. A new version of the 5XS streamer, a new NDX2 mid-range streamer and the very interesting new addition to the top of the range (above the NDS), the ND555.  The NDS has been discontined with some saying the NDX 2 will outperform the NDS.  These new boxes all adopt the Uniti style streaming platform with a nice (larger) colour screen on the front panel, along with the proximity sensor to wake up the controls as you approach the box.  The electronics are revised too, although based on discussion elsewhere (the Naim Forum) it would seem that the DAC chips themselves are not changed, but the SHARC DSPs may be different.  Of course a DAC can be implemented in different ways so there may be more to come from this older chip.  Digital inputs on the back panel allow external digital sources to feed through the 555's DAC.  The ND555 is a replacement for the CD555 at the top of Naim's range of digital sources, the CD555 going out of production a few months back.  The ND555 uses some of the CD555's ideas such as floaty circuit boards (there are transit screws to clamp these down for transporting) and copper plated parts etc.  New DAC architecture too - I was told this uses SHARC DACs, but I'm not sure that's the full story.  A single PS555DR external power supply is required.  A second such supply is optional.  Looking forward to hearing this new streamer, but I suspect it'll be hampered by the use of Focal speakers, so it will be better heard in a dealer or a friend's system with some more familiar / enjoyable speakers of choice.

ND5 XS 2 Front

ND5 XS 2 Rear

NDX 2 Rear

NDX 2 Front

ND555 Streamer Above PS555DR power supply

ND555 Streamer Above PS555DR power supply

TECHNICS
- SL-1000R Turntable with Audio Technica AT-ART1000 Cart
- Technics SU-R1 Pre-Amp
- Technics SE-R1 Power Amp
- Technics Floorstanding Speakers

SL-1000R

The UK launch of the new SP1000R turntable and arm.  A further refinement of the SP-10 / SL-1000 of the past but with new materials, motors and electronics.  The SP will spin its 7kg platter up to speed in under a quarter of a second - that's some torquey motor.
A Luxman phono stage was in use today along with a Quadraspire X-Rack and Audioquest cables.  We only heard one track on this system, but its a long one at around 15 minutes and has lots of variety of music, including electronic, orchestral sounding sweeps and is very well produced.  Have a listen to Nils Frahm's 'Sunson' on the album "All Melody" - its something I've been listening to at home recently and is quite some piece of music, building gradually but demonstrating the artist's imagination and maturity.
What of the turntable?  Well, as a digital source user, this is probably the least turntable sounding turntable I can recall hearing.  Its timing stability is absolutely stunning.  Perhaps this is something that puts me off vinyl but I've never really identified it as an issue, perhaps timing problems associated with a mechanical device attempting to produce stable timing is something I'm sensitive too, but in a subconcious way.  Anyway, this was a very enjoyable and accomplished performance from this turntable.  Impressively musical, something I must admit to not really expecting from Technics.

SP-10

DYNAUDIO
- Naim NDS Streamer
- Naim Classic Pre-Amp and Amp
- Dynaudio Anniversary Special Forty Standmount Speakers

I've rather grown to like the red stained deep lackered wood veneer on these speakers - I prefer it to the light grey.  Having first seen these medium sized standmounts at the Munich High End Show in May 2017 (where they were on display but not being played), it was good to finally hear them.  And for Dynaudio fans they'll be familiary territory - smooth, dynamic without being shouty, great mid-range and taut but not really that deep bass. But just a bit "more so" in all of those areas.  Nice sounding speakers without being stunning.  I would personally question their VFM compared to others at that kind of price point.

REVEL
- Mark Levinson Streamer
- Mark Levinson DAC/Integrated Amp
- Revel Floorstanding Speakers

Potentially a good sounding system.  Played too quietly next to a curtained off section of the room full of multiple loud conversations.  Not a good demo.

CYRUS
- Cyrus Signature Streaming System
- KEF Blade Speakers

Cyrus were launching Qobuz integration and had a speaker from Qobuz presenting the service.  A Q&A session about Qobuz.  2/3 of a high-res Qobuz stream of a Coldplay track which was too loud and played on the KEFs which were curiously toed-in at about 45 degrees.  Another inconclusive and poorly thought through demo really. (edit:  I understand from other reports that there were longer periods of music being played in the room, so shame I missed this).

NEAT
- Rega TT
- Melco, Rega and Heel Electronics
- NEAT IOTA EXPLORER

I really enjoyed this system. It was simple enough but the new, bigger, Iotas with their downward facing isobaric loaded bass driver worked extremely well today.  There was no issue with room boominess (it is possible!), everything was clear without being aggressive and the sound filled the room (at the expense of imaging, which is distinctly blurry, but that's just a different balance of compromises).  Music on this system was easy going (and I mean that positively, not that it lacked any dynamics at all), but pretty crisp and precise at the same time.  I really enjoyed my time in this room.

DALI AUDIO
- Dali Sound Hub with BlueSound Module
- Dali Callisto Wireless Active Floorstanding Speakers

This system was streaming via the BlueSound module in the control hub.  This sends the signal wirelessly to the Callisto active speakers.  Strangely, the room host didn't know if the DAC was in the hub with an analogue signal sent to the Callistos or if it is sent in digital format with DACs in the speakers.  Either way, this system was OK, but didn't deliver the clarity, dynamics nor musical enjoyment that is provided by Dynaudio's equivalent

ELAC
- ELAC Streamer
- Audio Alchemy Electronics
- ELAC Adante Standmount Speakers

I liked the sound of this system.  Nicely balanced and another good speaker design from Andrew Jones, using a concentric treble and mid-range driver (which is unconventional in that the mid-bass driver is in an internally ported enclosure which then vents to the front mounted passive radiator).  There was no exceptional performance here, but, equally, no exceptional mistakes either.  Enjoyable.

MITCHELL & JOHNSON
- Leema CD Player
- M&J Pre-Amp and Power Amp
- Leema Floorstanding Speakers

M&J are a new British based amplifier brand.  They have used a Leema designer and the electronics are built in the same Welsh factory as Leema products.  In terms of market positioning they sit below the Leema full size range.  Playing through the Leema floorstanders these amps gave a good account of themselves, being tuneful and enjoyable to listen to.  Another system that didn't "wow" but didn't disappoint either.

NORDOST
- Lots of Moon Electronics
- Lots of Sort Kone supports
- QKore Virtual Grounding
- ProAc Response D30R Floorstanding Speakers

Like the demo of QKore at Indulgence last year, the QKore virtual grounding box was connected to the mains distribution block, then to the source/control components and finally to the power amps.  In between each change a track was played before and after for comparison.  The difference wasn't so stark as it was at Indulgence (where I thought the music was more musical without the QKore) - here, it seemed different with small changes rather than something definitive, with the balance just about tipping to preferring the system without.  Nice sounding system though.


PMC and AVM
- AVM Streamer / DAC / Pre
- AVM Monoblock Power Amps
- PMC Twenty5.26

Good sounding system with engagement into the music.  The AVM and Twenty5 seem to work very well together.  I would've given this system a HIGHLY COMMENDED award but I hadn't realised how much more expensive the Twenty5.26 is compared to Twenty.26. They're not an easy choice at that kind of price where as in Twenty form they pretty much had that lower price point sewn up.

Q ACOUSTICS
- Linn Akurate Sondek LP12 (not heard)
- Marantz Electronics
- Q Acoustics Concept 500 Floorstanding Speakers

I've been waiting a while to hear these speakers, having seen them as only static exhibits at Munich last year.  Since then they've received lots of high praise in the HiFi press.  Today they sounded very good and I enjoyed spending 15 minutes with them. Not the miracle that I'd read about, but certainly should be on the shortlist of anyone looking in that part of the market.

MUSIC AT THE SHOW

I enjoyed the following:

Lots of Boris Blank / Yello (with and without Malia), Jackson Browne's 'Casino Nation' on the album 'The Naked Ride Home'; 

'Thanks To You' by Boz Scaggs

And favourite by far was Nils Frahm's 'Sunson' on the album 'All Melody' which helped the Technics turntable shine