BRISTOL HIFI SHOW 2026: SOUND OF THE SHOW AWARD FOR ATC (with a little help from dCS)

 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. You stole the show!

BRISTOL HIFI SHOW 2026: MOST PROMISING DEBUT AWARD FOR 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 noT displaying any signs of  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.

BRISTOL HIFI SHOW 2026: HEGEL AND AMPHION SCOOP 2 AWARDS

 

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 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 3S - 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 with.

Still a very enjoyable room and would be a stand out if it wasn't for Hegel Room 1...

BRISTOL HIFI SHOW 2026: VALUE FOR MONEY AWARD FOR BLUESOUND AND 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.

BRISTOL HIFI SHOW 2026: HIGHLY COMMENDED AWARD FOR 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 acquitted itself very well - musical, reasonably deep and well controlled bass, fun to listen to and no sign of inducing fatigue.  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.

BRISTOL HIFI SHOW 2026: HIGHLY COMMENDED AWARD FOR CYRUS AND 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.  For as long as I can remember the large room just off the main bar has been the Bristol home of a different manufacturer pairing.  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, making it a bit of a challenge.

This year Cyrus and Kerr had arranged curtains along both of those challenging elements - 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 - part of 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 the system 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 at all...

BRISTOL HIFI SHOW 2026: HIGHLY COMMENDED AWARD FOR LEEMA

 

We chose to take the lift to the 4th floor (and highest of the show) 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 those 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.

UK Audio Show Deluxe 2025 - Boyer Distribution Takes Sound of the Show Award with Wadax, Engstrom and Kroma Atelier

 

When you go to a show such as Audio Show Deluxe, and you know about the cost of the systems on demonstration, you might hope to be bowled over by the experience in every room.  If you've been reading through the full report, you'll know that this is not a given.  In fact, even at this level, it is still the exception. And here is the exception.

Here is a system that instantly grabs your attention. Not in a by-the-throat kind of way, but in a thats-so-much-more-believable kind of way. Its not that easy to describe a sound that's both outstandingly separated (each instrument or voice is distinct in its on right) whilst being a fully coherent part of the whole musical message. Clarity without being obvious or over emphasised, may be that's the way to explain it?  There's something here that's different - the ability to suspend disbelief, maybe? Sit back, relax and drink it all in.  As a veteran of tens of shows, its perhaps easy to become a little jaded, waiting for that room that you want to spend time in.  Over the weekend I probably spent nearly 2 hours in this room.  That's very disproportionate when there are 30 rooms and only 10 hours spent at the show.  One track that really stands out in the memory is Dim by Syml - its recorded in St Mark's Cathedral - on the Boyer system the acoustic is immense, giving a sense of the sheer scale of the venue - I listened to this tonight on my own system and it seems the Cathedral shrank when it came down my connection to Qobuz.

What goes to make up this experience?  A number of brands that many will not have heard of, never mind had the chance to listen to.  Wadax provided the CD player used as a streamer, being the Studio Player, launched this weekend. Power amplification is from Engstrom - the stunning looking LARS valve monoblocks.  Cables and power were provided by Shunyata Research. Finishing off the system is a pair of Kroma Atelia Jovita speakers in a dark blue finish. At times over the weekend, the amplification duties were delivered by the Orpheus Labs integrated in the front of the pictures.

If you wonder about paying 15 pounds to attend a manufacturer showroom such as Audio Show Deluxe, just consider the value for money you'd get from spending 6 hours in this room and you're sorted...

UK Audio Show Deluxe 2025 - Where the Value for Money Award takes on a new meaning. Congrats to Storgaard & Vestskov with Moon and Newontech

 What is value for money?  I think its a relative term.  Of course if the price stays the same and performance goes up, then that's an increase in VFM.  If the performance stays the same and the price goes down, then that's also an increase in VFM.  But what about something that has reduced performance and reduced price? Is that similar VFM or lower VFM or what?

The reason I raise this here is that I do like to spot VFM options at Hifi shows - usually its a case of a system that's performing above its price point in comparison to other systems at the show - hence its relative. A very good sounding system at 6,000 GBP compared to a poor performing system at 15,000 GBP is an easy call.  But can a 100,000 GBP system really be considered as VFM?  Well, yes and no.  In terms of absolutes, probably not.  But in terms of comparisons at a show that features multiple 500,000+ GBP systems and one at over 1,200,000 GBP, then yes, relative VFM is possible.

Both iterations of this set up involved mainly Moon by Simaudio electronics.  The Moon streamer fed a DAC08 from Danish company Newontech, at around the 5,000 GBP mark it was performing very well in the context of this show. The power amps made up the bulk of the cost at 50,000 GBP the pair.  A reasonably serious front end for a diminutive pair of standmounts from new to 'Musings brand Storgaard & Vestskov. Here they used special one-off versions of their speakers, featuring a finish inspired by the current Aston Martin F1 racing car livery - beautifully done.  This finish added around 6,000 - 8,000 GBP to the price of each pair of speakers, the standard standmounts are 13k GBP, the floorstanders 17k GBP.  Total system prices are therefore in the 100k GBP ballpark.

The speakers are constructed from 22mm High Density Fibreboard (HDF), and an internal layer of 7mm MDF coupled by bonding that remains flexible over time, hence acting as a damper.  The front baffle is a very substantial machined aluminium billet which is also bonded to the cabinet using the same damping material.  These boxes are very heavy for their compact size.  High quality drivers are said to come from SEAS for mid-bass and the tweeter looks like an SB Acoustics.

We start with the standmounts - and an observation that applied to both speakers - don't sit in the second row of the dem room - the room node effect in that row ruined the sound. But from the front row this system really sings.  On all kinds of material - rock, deep dirty electronic, opera, americana, EDM, you name it and there was little to nothing to criticise here.  Agile, crisp, flowing, coherent, well imaged, emotional content is all there. Even reasonably deep bass is available.  A really engaging listen.  The floorstanders are also a 2-way design and add more depth but retain all the qualities of the standmounts.  Remarkably high volumes are possible too - without apparent strain from the speakers. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Would like to hear what they can do with their flagship Fenja floorstanding speaker - but wisely they chose speakers that were suited to the size of the demo room.