The Indulgence Show, London, 14th-16th October

Got my ticket for Saturday

Fancy it - would like to do some of the presentations - depends on the sciatica!

The Strat (Fender) posted:

Fancy it - would like to do some of the presentations - depends on the sciatica!

Urgh...Like an angle grinder on the hip as I once described it to a colleague (whilst on Cocodamol). You have my sympathy...Got to keep moving too.

G

GraemeH posted:

The Strat (Fender) posted:

Fancy it - would like to do some of the presentations - depends on the sciatica!

Urgh...Like an angle grinder on the hip as I once described it to a colleague (whilst on Cocodamol). You have my sympathy...Got to keep moving too.

G

Been there myself - ended up on mega doses of Tramadol and Gabapentin for nearly a year in 2013 (and still have them in reserve even now) before they cut me open to do four shot discs in my back ... you have my sympathies!!!

"Angle grinder on the hip" is a good description...

Phil

Thanks guys!!

I'm inclined to go on the Sunday, arriving at about 10:30 or so.

If anyone else is going, it would be lovely to say hello.

Best regards, FT

Looking like Saturday

I expect the Naim room will be full of shiny new Unitis.  But are they running ticketed demos like they do at Bristol?

Going Saturday - probably arriving around 11:00-11:30am if anyone would like to meet - I would be delighted !

Al

One of my colleagues has had to drop out so I'm going to be there Friday / Saturday / Sunday now ... hope to get to say hello to some of you there so come and introduce yourselves - I'm the one that's the size of a house and has no hair.

Phil

I went on Friday and filled the day from 10am (they weren't quite ready, so it was more like 11am) right through to 7pm, and that was without any of the talks, the Headroom section nor the live music in the evening.  I expect they were hoping for the show to be much busier, but maybe this will not be such a problem on Saturday and Sunday.

I really liked the look of the Uniti products - very modern, well finished, should attract Mu-So customers into upgrading.  They had an Atom playing into Sopra No1 but things were a bit boomy in the very long room with loose suspended tile ceiling.  Not sure if this is a lack of grip by the Atom or just a problem with room acoustics - moving around the seats helped to find the least worst part of the room, but there was still some boom. The rest of the frequency range sounded very good indeed. I think the idea of using £6500 speakers with a £1600 all-in-one was to show off how good it is. I felt something more in keeping like Aria 948s would've been a more appropriate choice. Another room had both Mu-So products but I didn't listen as I've spent time with them a number of times before.

Lots of pictures and some thoughts on the systems at the show by searching for: audiophile musings indulgence

I was there for an hour or so on Friday morning and echo Sunbeam's comments. All the music I heard sounded boomy, presumably caused by the room, but nonetheless impressive over the higher frequency range. The Units themselves are very stylish and I liked the screen on the Atom. 

It was good to talk to a couple of the Naim team who were friendly and helpful but normal size!

Going tomorrow and will bring my other half to rekindle her interest in hifi Many decades ago we used to go to hifi shows that popped up at every hotels and holiday inns and they were free ! How times changed.Hope that after this visit it will be easier for her to say YES to my speakers upgrade.Will be visiting the Kudos (Titans) and B&W ( 800 D3) rooms and of course the Naim room.Also hope that I could meet some forum members.

ayap1

Went today. First thing, the demo system failed to impress. Sounded better later on.

Went on Saturday - not very busy .

Liked the look of the new products - very stylish / modern

Thanks to Phil for his patience answering all my questions - enjoyed the chat !

Most interesting talk in the Kudos room re: Beatles re-mastering - and a few tracks played using Titans. Wish I could afford them - they did sound good ! Nice sized room too.

Just finished after 5 hours at the Show today.  

First impression is of the tremendous effort made by the UK Hifi industry to put on a good show. It's the strongest, broadest range of manufacturers & equipment that I've seen at a show in decades.

Second impression is the lack of visitors. All the trade knew about it, yet it was almost as though it was kept secret from the public. Delighted that I went though.

Phil did a sterling job in the Naim room to educate me on basic control of an iPhone (thanks Phil!). I've got the hang of Airplay for now, at least until apple change it again.

The new Uniti family look as solid as a bank vault in terms of construction. The little Atom was doing an excellent job of driving the Focal Sopra 1 stand mounts in a large room. The sound could be a little warmer but it did time well, especially for such a mullet of a system - £1600 system drives £6000 of speakers...

Elsewhere, the Vertere room was a joy in terms of listening pleasure, especially when Caezar gave a live debut of their new single "The Prayer" in the room.

Chris Harris managed to exchange 1 card swipe for 5 new vinyl albums. It hardly hurt at all...

The talk on half speed mastering by the BBC's Abbey Road engineer was a genuinely fascinating 1 hour education. He also uses a Vertere TT at home but with PMC speakers (he uses PMC for mastering at work too).

the Sim Audio room featured a new all in one system (Neoace) that was working well with a pair of Kef floor standers.

The Chord Cable room featured a Chord Dave, Chord amplifier and B&W floor standing speakers, all connected with various Chord Company cables. It's the first time I've ever heard B&W floor standers sound thin and weedy. Perhaps it was the EPIC Reference speaker cable ...

Cabasse won the speaker of the Show award for me. They looked like 1 metre diameter golf balls sitting atop twisted vine stands. Every time a bass note struck, the chairs in the room were pushed backward by a centimetre by the pressure wave! Utterly ridiculous and completely impractical in a domestic environment but awesome for a nightclub PA system. Long may such eccentric designs continue to be made.

So, a grand day out and good to catch up with some friends.

Best regards, FT

Hi FT,

I went too. I missed to Abbey Road engineer, but did catch Guy Hayden in the Kudos/Audioquest room who was fascinating on the Beatles remasters. 

The Naim stuff looked very nice, although it was so dark it was quite difficult too see. The system sounded nice (the inevitable London Grammar was superb) although the room was too big and the music too loud, which seemed to result in top end harshness and bass boom. The Core runs a hell of a lot cooler than the Unitiserve.

I thought the Chord TT sounded rather fine, as did the dinky little Mojo.

Keith

Foot tapper posted:

Just finished after 5 hours at the Show today.  

First impression is of the tremendous effort made by the UK Hifi industry to put on a good show. It's the strongest, broadest range of manufacturers & equipment that I've seen at a show in decades.

Second impression is the lack of visitors. All the trade knew about it, yet it was almost as though it was kept secret from the public. Delighted that I went though.

Phil did a sterling job in the Naim room to educate me on basic control of an iPhone (thanks Phil!). I've got the hang of Airplay for now, at least until apple change it again.

The new Uniti family look as solid as a bank vault in terms of construction. The little Atom was doing an excellent job of driving the Focal Sopra 1 stand mounts in a large room. The sound could be a little warmer but it did time well, especially for such a mullet of a system - £1600 system drives £6000 of speakers...

Elsewhere, the Vertere room was a joy in terms of listening pleasure, especially when Caezar gave a live debut of their new single "The Prayer" in the room.

Chris Harris managed to exchange 1 card swipe for 5 new vinyl albums. It hardly hurt at all...

The talk on half speed mastering by the BBC's Abbey Road engineer was a genuinely fascinating 1 hour education. He also uses a Vertere TT at home but with PMC speakers (he uses PMC for mastering at work too).

the Sim Audio room featured a new all in one system (Neoace) that was working well with a pair of Kef floor standers.

The Chord Cable room featured a Chord Dave, Chord amplifier and B&W floor standing speakers, all connected with various Chord Company cables. It's the first time I've ever heard B&W floor standers sound thin and weedy. Perhaps it was the EPIC Reference speaker cable ...

Cabasse won the speaker of the Show award for me. They looked like 1 metre diameter golf balls sitting atop twisted vine stands. Every time a bass note struck, the chairs in the room were pushed backward by a centimetre by the pressure wave! Utterly ridiculous and completely impractical in a domestic environment but awesome for a nightclub PA system. Long may such eccentric designs continue to be made.

So, a grand day out and good to catch up with some friends.

Best regards, FT

An excellent report FT, we went on Saturday and were probably a bit too specific about who we went to see and probably missed some very good systems. It was a great show, much more vibrant than Whittlebury and the exhibitors were far more enthusiastic. Nice to see some big names there which are sadly now missing at Whittlebury.

Time was short as I promised Karen a trip to Harrods but we will certainly be returning next year and spending more time there :-)

Regards

PB

al9315 posted:

Went on Saturday - not very busy .

Liked the look of the new products - very stylish / modern

Thanks to Phil for his patience answering all my questions - enjoyed the chat !

Most interesting talk in the Kudos room re: Beatles re-mastering - and a few tracks played using Titans. Wish I could afford them - they did sound good ! Nice sized room too.

Ahha! Yes - I enjoyed the chat too and you made a fine job of not looking completely bored by me when we were going through file formats and DSD.

Phil

Foot tapper posted:

Phil did a sterling job in the Naim room to educate me on basic control of an iPhone (thanks Phil!). I've got the hang of Airplay for now, at least until apple change it again.

Did that sort you out then?

Yes, the change of layout for the AirPlay options on the iOS10 swipe up menu has caught out a fair few people so you're definitely not the first.

Phil

Phil Harris posted:

al9315 posted:

Went on Saturday - not very busy .

Liked the look of the new products - very stylish / modern

Thanks to Phil for his patience answering all my questions - enjoyed the chat !

Most interesting talk in the Kudos room re: Beatles re-mastering - and a few tracks played using Titans. Wish I could afford them - they did sound good ! Nice sized room too.

Ahha! Yes - I enjoyed the chat too and you made a fine job of not looking completely bored by me when we were going through file formats and DSD.

Phil

I was not at all bored - it was most interesting, can't quite remember all you said now though

Thanks again

Al

Phil Harris posted:

Did that sort you out then?

Yes, the change of layout for the AirPlay options on the iOS10 swipe up menu has caught out a fair few people so you're definitely not the first.

Phil

Yes, thank you Phil.  All sorted now for as long as I remember!

Best regards, FT

I thought about going but its 7-8 hours train journey each way and 2 nights stay ... might be worth it next year by the sound of it though.

Don't like the title though - great music reproduction is not an "indulgence" to me.

Allan

Talking of Indulgence, these modest, self-effacing beauties certainly don't qualify:

They didn't half pump out ground shaking bass at the Show though!

Go on then, tell us all about the Beatles remastering?

SJB