showguide

Welcome to the third year of signals’ Audio Show East. Thank you for coming. If you pre registered to attend, you will have been entered into the free raffle. There are three prizes to be won and the draw will take place at around 17:45 on Saturday 5th September. Good luck! As well as teas, coffees and various soft drinks, the bar can supply alcohol. There are also a variety of rolls and snacks available. The show is split over two buildings and a room plan is on the back page. There is a door to the second building from the bar area. I will mention this more than once. So . . . what to expect:

Working clockwise from the bar, Kudos Audio are providing one of the star attractions, the new, and only just finished in its final form, T808 ‘Super” Titan loudspeaker. The previous T88 Titan was a great success for us, so it was slightly disquieting when Derek told us at the same event last year that he was working on a new one. A listen to some ‘almost there’ examples at this February’s Bristol Show reassured us greatly. To give listeners a proper perspective on this, Kudos have two rooms this year, one each for Linn and Naim electronics. Derek and Dave from Kudos are your hosts. All the current Kudos loudspeakers are fully compatible with active or passive operation. All have been measured for Linn ‘Exakt’ so, a full Exakt system is being deployed. Keeping standards high, it’s all Klimax, with the emphasis on ‘max’, comprising six Klimax Solo power amplifiers, an Exakt Tunebox and Klimax DSM source-cum-preamplifier. A very modern ‘six pack’. For analogue, there is a fully specced Klimax LP12 - with a little bit of Tiger Paw magic. In the Naim Kudos room, we have another Tiger Paw’d LP12. In fact, Roger from Tiger Paw will be on hand to explain the reasoning behind his clever and beautifully executed designs. For amplification, we are using a single NAP 500 power amplifier but have cheekily slipped in the rather lovely Statement S1 preamplifier. And a Melco N1Z solid state server too. The Naim NDS network player is in safe hands!

Across the hallway, Naim and Focal are using the new Focal Sopra loudspeakers to provide a window on the new ‘DR’ power amplifiers. Comparisons will be made between the outgoing models and the new and you are in the capable hands of Mark and Maurice from Naim. The Sopra loudspeakers (model No. 2 is pictured above) are the latest Focal products to be ‘voiced’ on the end of Naim electronics. It shows too. As with last years Aria range, the compatibility with the Naim character is very evident. Having hit the heights at last years show with a full Statement system running into ultra high end Focal Utopia speakers, we and Naim were both keen to showcase rather more modest but nevertheless high-achieving products. The NAC-N 272 streamer / preamp has proved to be surprisingly effective right up to NAP 300 power amplifier level, so it has been chosen to drive the demonstration system. In early summer, Naim launched a revision to their ‘classic’ power amplifiers. The new models are differentiated by the “DR’ moniker already appled to the Discrete Regulator power supplies. For the NAP 200, the new DR version has an im-proved (discrete regulated) power supply for the pre-amp feed but is otherwise unchanged. The NAP 250, 300 and 500 have rather more extensive changes and have now acquired new output transistors based on the ones designed for the new Statement power amplifier. This is part of the ‘trickle down’ of developments and is, of course part of the reason that Naim were so keen to present the Statement products at our show last year. The gains on the 250 and 300 are substantial. At the time of writing, we have yet to try a new NAP 500 DR.

Chord and DACs have been synonymous for many years but something big happened in the last 18 months. First it was Hugo a game-changing portable DAC that has ended up in a lot of domestic music systems. In the early part of 2015, along came the 2Qute and higher end version of Hugo, called Hugo TT. Then there was some pre-advice of something called Dave and a lot of people got excited. For the show we have the new CPM2800MkII integrated amplifier - one that contains a DAC very closely related to the seminal Hugo. Making some people very happy, it is joined by Dave (a super high end DAC) which is making its first UK outing. These will run in two separate systems and

will be fed from a Melco music server via USB. Speakers are from PMC. Fact 12 for the system containing Dave and Twenty 26 for the CPM 2800 MkII. Ross from PMC is there to talk you through the loudspeaker range and Colin from Chord Electronics to ensure that they play some utterly inappropriate music.

Next along the corridor we are pleased to welcome the return of Magnepan loudspeakers to Audio Show East. Chris from distributor Decent Audio is showing the two new entry level models, Magneplanar MG 0.7 & MG 1.7i, in a system that is known to give excellent results. These speakers will be rotated within the room system over the two show days, however a little patience maybe of benefit on this! On the source front, Chris will be concentrating on vinyl replay to maximise the impact of the exceptional Transfiguration cartridge range from Japan. The featured cartridge is the entry level Axia S model fully set up in a Rega RP 6 turntable. This low output moving coil cartridge is running through a Rega Aria phono stage to complete the main vinyl source. With electronics in mind, the powerhouse of the system is from the Audio Analogue stable. This Italianmanufacturer has recently introduced an anniversary version

of its Puccini Integrated Amplifier, a potent zero feedback design which is ideally suited to driving the Magnepan loudspeakers. The Audio Analogue Fortissimo CD player will be an alternative source. Completing the show system are: Chord speaker cables & interconnects,Musicworks Power Distribution Products and Quadraspire equipment tables.

Rega have very recently launched their new RX series of speakers. The previous RS range were real favourites of ours so there was some unease from this quarter about the changes. Thankfully, no harm done! Rega have managed to improve the build and finish quality without losing the spirit of the previous generation. In fact, sound quality has taken a step forward, not always the case when products are refined. Featuring new, but still in-house drivers, the RX products are all more sophisticated and capable than their ‘RS’ predecessors. The veneers now look lovely rather than simply managing to be real wood. Styling is a subjective matter but we think they look all the better for the redesign. To drive these little darlings, the resolutely laid back Paul from Rega will be using a collection of their turntables, right up to RP10 level but majoring on the RP6. Ooh, just like next door! Aria Phono stage, Saturn-R DAC/CD player and the Elicit -R amplifier complete a high performing yet realistically priced system. Rega’s electronics designer, Terry Bateman is planning to come along too. I expect they’ll play some Public Service Broadcasting when he arrives . . .

In the bar area,Theme One Records are selling the very best of new and used vinyl. Titles covered include some very important releases from the last 50 years encompassing the worlds of jazz, blues, folk, country, soul, rock & classical. Also stocked are some rare, long gone, audiophile label releases. Special (show price) Offer: Chesky compact discs at just £5.00 each.

Melco Audio have turned the music streaming world on its head with their impressively high-performing music servers. We have Alan and Tim with us to explain the technology. There are two models, one with 4 tb of hard disk space and another, higher end, model with solid state storage. These can be used as UPnP servers or straight into a USB - capable DAC. There is a clever and simple arrangement to get verified Hi Res downloads onto them too. The Melco stand is in the bar area but examples are dotted around the various demo rooms. They will have some very special comparisons of 2 x DSD, DSD, 192k, 96k, 44.1 – all of the same original studio masters.

Exiting from the bar area into the howling gales and passed the rain soaked outdoor seating takes you to the main entrance of the second building. The door with the Audio Show East Flags leads you into what we have decided to unpretentiously call our Technology Suite. Oh yes . . . Music streaming is an area that confuses a lot of existing and potential buyers so Phil Harris from Naim Audio is in there holding a networking surgery. There isn’t a lot that Phil does not know, so feel free to push the boundaries. On reflection, best stick to networking or TVR cars. We don’t want complaints :) Within the same room, sorry, suite, we have Mark from Electromod. Whilst Schiit Audio is not something we can sell normally, for the duration of the show, you can buy these remarkably high value products and get to hear them too. It’s pronounced S C H E E T, by the way. Revelling in this, the matching cables are called PYST (Put Your Schiit Together). Look, he’s only there for the two days and is a very nice chap. A new Headphone brand, Ether, made by MrSpeakers is making its debut in our hands. Sennheiser are represented with a cross-section of models. We have a collection of headphone amplifiers and, increasingly, headphone amp / DACs from Sennheiser, Trilogy, Chord, Lehmann, Rega and Naim. All are available to be mix and matched in the headphone zone. Sources for these include computers, Melco server and Rega CD players. Mark and Tom from Chord Electronics are there to assist.

On the right-hand end of the building is the Arcam room. This was the scene of ‘road to Damascus’ style conversions last year when the A49 amplifier was launched. With the recent arrival of the class G A29 and A39 amplifiers, most Arcam amplifiers are now using this technology. Only the A19 retains the older design. This years big Arcam news is the debut of the new and long awaited Solo Music. It’s twelve years since the original Solo brought a new level of musical replay to the all-in-one audio system market. Times have changed and Arcam are fully aware that the new Solo Music is entering a far more aggressive market. “This’ll take no prisoners’ said UK sales manager, Richard Trotter. Richard and Andy Moore are your hosts and they are aiming to impress. The bullet point list certainly covers all bases:• 2x 80W in 8 ohms (all channels driven) Class G• SACD/CD playback• FM/DAB/DAB+ tuner• 1x extra line level input• Built-in Bluetooth/aptX receiver• UPnP audio streaming (MusicLife app)• Dedicated subwoofer output• HDMI switching for set top box As last year, the speakers are supplied by PMC.

At the opposite end of the building is a brand that will be unfamiliar to most, Russell K. I’ve known Russell Kauffman for well over twenty years and, in the early days of Signals, he was something of a mentor figure albeit one (very) slightly younger than the pupil. As you may have spotted, our endless shameless self-promotion has led to us reprinting the unbelievably kind article written by Ed Selley at HiFi Choice. One of the three systems set up for review included the Red 100 speakers and Ed was utterly captivated.

“ We’ve had the Red50 and Red100 speakers for a few months now and I am conscious that we’ve not perhaps made enough of them. Oh, and they don’t actually have to come in red either. We had a session recently with the new Red150 floor-standing speakers that Russell is launching at the show. Whilst we were working to put together a suitable affordable partnering system - we’ve opted for Naim NAC-N 272, NAP250 and an XPS with some Super Lumina cabling - the temptation to put them on the end of the Naim NDS / Statement S1 / NAP500 system was too great to ignore. The Red150s sounded so completely in their element in that system that it was hard to tear ourselves away. These speakers definitely punch above their weight.

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Sincere thanks to everyone who has come along and to all the suppliers who have made such a huge effort in putting this show together. Weekends are lost, late nights spent, alcohol consumed. It is appreciated, especially the alcohol. . .

Thanks are also owed to the staff at Trinity Park and to Andy Dann at Midas Productions for his help inresolving some of the power requirements for the show.

We hope that everyone, showing or attending, has a great time. It’s what it’s all about, really.

Anthem, ARCAM, Atacama Audio, Audioplan, Audio Technica, Chord Electronics, Dynavector, Epos, Focal / JM Labs,Isoblue (and special branch), Kiseki, Kudos Audio, Lehmann Audio, Linn Products, Lyra, Melco Audio, Naim Audio, Neat Acoustics,

Ortofon, Nottingham Analogue, PMC, Primare, Rega, Russell K, Something Solid, Sony Projectors, Sumiko, The Chord Company, Tiger Paw, Transfiguration, Trilogy, Wireworld

01473 655171 + 655172 enq@signals.uk.com www.signals.uk.com