Bristol Show 2017

I got my first Naim equipment in 1983 when I was 22, and paid for it with money from my part time job in the University bar, while doing my PhD. I got my first LP12 in 1979, paid for with money from a gap year job at B&Q. Back then, music seemed to be everything. But now it competes with computer games and allsorts. Despite growing up with our Naim system, the boys, who love music, seem content to listen to it via YouTube. It's highly likely that the days of enormous racks filled with dozens of boxes are numbered. Is that really a bad thing? A few years ago we had a huge record cabinet, thousands of CDs lining the walls and a great big system with eight or more boxes, all looking rather impressive. Today we have a little rack in the corner with three boxes, and not a CD to be seen. Where the ugly CDs were, we have a beautiful handmade oak sideboard. Nobody comes into the house these days and says 'wow, what are all those boxes, what to they do?' or 'blimey, what a lot of CDs you have' but they do say 'this music sounds nice'. That's why I think the Unitis and multifunctional boxes like the 272 are so significant - you can get an awful lot from not very much. Hifi itself is fundamentally a bit dull - it's simply a way of enjoying music, which is what matters. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

It's quite sad. And where are the women?

in all audio show I attended in Italy I always met a few women so now I find out that in England it is the same.

maybe if us to participate in a sewing fair things would change

Anyone know what my search entry on Spotify would be ?  Tried several I thought possible entries and haven't gotten close.  Thanks for any helpful reply.

Jeff A

Jeff Anderson posted:

Anyone know what my search entry on Spotify would be ?  Tried several I thought possible entries and haven't gotten close.  Thanks for any helpful reply.

Jeff A

Do you mean for the playlist above? The word Spotify in the post is a clickable link to the playlist. But if it helps, the playlist is called Sound & Vision: The Bristol Show 2017, and it's listed as being by Naimaudioltd.

Dave***t posted:

Jeff Anderson posted:

Anyone know what my search entry on Spotify would be ?  Tried several I thought possible entries and haven't gotten close.  Thanks for any helpful reply.

Jeff A

Do you mean for the playlist above? The word Spotify in the post is a clickable link to the playlist. But if it helps, the playlist is called Sound & Vision: The Bristol Show 2017, and it's listed as being by Naimaudioltd.

Thanks so much for the assist, Dave.

Hungryhalibut posted:

 Hifi itself is fundamentally a bit dull . 

Heresy! Infidel! Burn the witch! 

Anto68 posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

It's quite sad. And where are the women?

in all audio show I attended in Italy I always met a few women so now I find out that in England it is the same.

maybe if us to participate in a sewing fair things would change

You mean that you don't participate in the sewing fair already 

Interesting reading this thread. I agree that the lack of a younger audience in the crowd comes down to disposable income as well as lack of education in the subject. At 38 I find that I'm usually one of the youngest attendees at hi-fi shows or on forums such as this one. When I got my first HiFi at 18, it was a second hand JVC integrated and CD player. But it introduced me to separates and I've been interested ever since. However it has taken me a long time to save up and trade up to what I have today. And by hi-fi standards, it's still only an entry system. But even though I know quite a lot of people my age that love music, most don't care about the quality or what they use as playback, as long as it's easy to access. Hence why streaming services like Spotify and Apple are doing so well.

When I talk to my friends about music and hi-fi I try to make it clear how a good system will make all the difference, but once they hear prices, they usually say it's crazy to spend that much. Or that they would rather buy a holiday somewhere instead.

Hungryhalibut posted:

It's quite sad. And where are the women?

Amen.  Same thing here in Canada.  My friend and I had a chuckle waiting in line at TAVES in Toronto - two dozen, white men, average age between 50and 60.  

The headphone amps and DACs draw a younger and more diverse crowd.  One look at that photo and you understand why Naim have come out with the muso etc.

Dave***t posted:

Jeff Anderson posted:

Anyone know what my search entry on Spotify would be ?  Tried several I thought possible entries and haven't gotten close.  Thanks for any helpful reply.

Jeff A

Do you mean for the playlist above? The word Spotify in the post is a clickable link to the playlist. But if it helps, the playlist is called Sound & Vision: The Bristol Show 2017, and it's listed as being by Naimaudioltd.

Aside from the hyperlink which is how I've originally looked to the playlist, I've been unable to find it on Tidal using either the Web interface or Naim application. I've searched on various criteria but none worked. Is it just me being stupid or ...? It's almost as though it's not been tagged and/or indexed. It's no big deal but if I'm missing the obvious please tell me!

The playlist from last year seems to have vanished too although luckily I have the titles so can manually reconstruct it.

Anyone listened hugo2?

Emre posted:

Anyone listened hugo2?

Wrong thread Emre?

G

nigelb posted:

Additionally, today's Muso/Uniti buyers will hopefully be tomorrow's Classic buyers. Let's see.

Somehow I doubt it. I suspect this is partly the marketing plan from Naim Audio and the reason for the release of all the integrated solutions. Nigel makes some valid points above. When I was in my teens, music was everything - we thought it could change the world. It played an important part in the lives of all of my friends and, no doubt, teenagers all over the western world, which I guess is why the most popular musicians became very wealthy.  But youngsters of today have so many other things to absorb their time and money and, besides, the SQ from the new Uniti range is probably good enough if music does not play a central role in their lives.

Just a thought!

And let's face it £1800 for the smallest Uniti is a hell of a lot of money when rent of a two bed house is pushing £1,000 a month (a lot more in some places) and buying a house is more of a dream. 

GraemeH posted:

Emre posted:

Anyone listened hugo2?

Wrong thread Emre?

G

Sorry I thought it is a hifi show with different brands, including hugo2

Isn't It? 

Back in 1985 when I purchased my Ariston/Rotel/Heybrook stuff I can remember telling guys at work what I was buying and getting glazed expressions "you can't beat Sony".    

Always a cult thing really.   But music is transitioning no doubt YouTube etc is completely overhauling access.  However, some of the younger lads at work are still into the idea of "forming a band". Playing bass in particular seems to attract. 

Regards,

Lindsay

The Strat (Fender) posted:

 ...music is transitioning...

Hi Lindsay, Please promise me that you have changed out of the corporate polo shirt and chinos now that it's the weekend  ;-)))

Best, Chris

Clive B posted:

nigelb posted:

Additionally, today's Muso/Uniti buyers will hopefully be tomorrow's Classic buyers. Let's see.

, besides, the SQ from the new Uniti range is probably good enough if music does not play a central role in their lives.

Just a thought!

Hmmm...   Music does play a central role in my life. I listen to it on my way to work, at work via iFi DSD DAC with IE80 headphones. At home with the UnitiQute/NAP100, which I had up to a few months ago, and the SuperUniti which I have on loan now. But the Unit Atom which I have on order, I believe, will be more than enough of a system to satisfy all my music needs. But maybe I am part of that younger generation. I don't need 6 black boxes on a rack cluttering my lounge, or to max out 4 credit cards just to own them.

Well affordability is always a factor.   But that doesn't mean that a high end separates system is a bad idea in itself - far from it.    Statement anyone

I think that youngsters these days are just as much into litening to music as 40-50 years ago, though it seems to be in a more disposable way (as, sadly, is too much in the modern world). As fo disposable income, certainly my children and their friends seem to have more disposable income than I did at their ages, and  spend more on their music downloads than I could afford to do on LPs.

My first hifi system cost me about the price of  about 35 albums, which was a lot of money to me, though through DIY it provided a quality of sound worth rather more - but of course far less than a Naim system (I am excluding Qb and Muso here, as to me they are not full hifi systems). But from somewhere I had learnt about better things and to me it was the start of something I knew would evolve to better sound quality. However, even at that time mine was not a common view: my friends, every one of them, were content to buy something off the shelf, the more convenient the better, with no view to upgrading. So, maybe things are not really that different, other than that there is a proliferation of relatively cheaper replay systems available nowadays, and that disposability means online streaming, or where people buy music (often mp3), they accumulate many thousands most of which they never go back to after a few months.

DomTomLondon posted:

Clive B posted:

nigelb posted:

Additionally, today's Muso/Uniti buyers will hopefully be tomorrow's Classic buyers. Let's see.

, besides, the SQ from the new Uniti range is probably good enough if music does not play a central role in their lives.

Just a thought!

Hmmm...   Music does play a central role in my life. I listen to it on my way to work, at work via iFi DSD DAC with IE80 headphones. At home with the UnitiQute/NAP100, which I had up to a few months ago, and the SuperUniti which I have on loan now. But the Unit Atom which I have on order, I believe, will be more than enough of a system to satisfy all my music needs. But maybe I am part of that younger generation. I don't need 6 black boxes on a rack cluttering my lounge, or to max out 4 credit cards just to own them.

You will( ownership of black boxes) we all started like that.... but first get a nice noble audio iem for ifi, it is great dac/amp.

Drewy posted:

Looks like they're sat at a funeral. All looks rather awkward, someone needs to crack a bad joke or something to break the ice 

 

I thought it just looked like one of those corporate AGMs where the shareholders want to sack the directors...

The Quad, Harbeth and Spendor rooms had plenty of younger listeners. Which is ironic!

We recently bought our 18 yr old niece (who loves music) a wireless bose mini thingy and she said thats great I don't have to listen to music on my phone anymore!  I think people who love music do not always have to love quality hifi for some listening on an iPhone or a relatively cheap wireless speaker is enough, she did love the sound the little Bose through out though I just hope were not responsible of supplying her with a gateway drug!!!!!

Bob the Builder posted:

We recently bought our 18 yr old niece (who loves music) a wireless bose...

You meant mu-so, didn't you?

Chag -

Chag... posted:

Bob the Builder posted:

We recently bought our 18 yr old niece (who loves music) a wireless bose...

You meant mu-so, didn't you?

Chag -

Err..yes in another dimension were people spend 500 pounds on presents for the 18 yr old Nieces and then said Niece takes care of that 500 pound present!