Acoustica hi-fi show 2018.

Polarbear posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Acoustica have said that they are hoping to have the ND555 up and running in a 500 series system at the show. No promises, though!!!

Which show, this years or next?  

Well they were hoping for this year, but I guess you’d be wanting it in the Kudos room, so maybe 2019?

I am hoping to go on Sunday 

Dave .... you reminded me how shocked I was when i went to the Bristol show last year ......... you could count the under 30's on one hand!!! Joking aside this is a serious issue for the industry ...... I remember when I frequented shows in the late 80's - all ages were present. Have younger generations somehow been switched off to listening??? - or is it that gaming/video/mp3 has carved up the market.......I know the likes of Arnie Nudell were very concerned. When I speak to young people today about hi fi they just look vacant ..... it would be great if the likes of Naim ..... and the others actually toured schools - with the view of just play good music...... 

Younger generations are struggling to pay exorbitant mortgages or rents, are worried about job security and simply don’t have the money.

I always assumed shows were mainly populated by journalists and masochists...

I’ve been interested in hifi since I was about 14 or 15, without any hiatus, yet I’ve never been to a hifi show. I probably would have done if there was one nearby, that translating these days to maybe a few 10s of miles, but the concept of wading through hordes of people, and not getting a good enough position to hear properly, never tempted me to investigate further. 

... and don't forget that younger generations also gather information in a different way. Not necessarily very much younger as the average forumer here (sub 40 (ehhh 39 ssshhhhtt...)), as far as I can imagine the concept, Hi-Fi shows are close to the most ugly things I can imagine.

There might be exceptions, but when you put too many old guys with degraded hearing in a hotel room to audition a pair of loudspeakers and some overpriced amplifier, one should not expect too much. It's just not a realistic situation.

So the youngsters are right not to go to these shows. My younger brother - 30 - has a Naim amp too. He found the brand independently from me, he did not even know that I had a Naim amp.

Richieroo posted:

Dave .... you reminded me how shocked I was when i went to the Bristol show last year ......... you could count the under 30's on one hand!!! Joking aside this is a serious issue for the industry ...... I remember when I frequented shows in the late 80's - all ages were present. Have younger generations somehow been switched off to listening??? -???? or is it that gaming/video/mp3 has carved up the market????.......I know the likes of Arnie Nudell were very concerned. When I speak to young people today about hi fi they just look vacant ..... it would be great if the likes of Naim ..... and the others actually toured schools - with the view of just play good music...... 

???? Richieroo,.....there you have it....computer,gaming❗ 

/Peder ???? 

Hungryhalibut posted:

Younger generations are struggling to pay exorbitant mortgages or rents, are worried about job security and simply don’t have the money.

Oh dear, we seemed to have ventured into generalisation street.

When I was their age, I too had a big mortgage (remember the 15% interest rates), no savings and was worried about the  the end of gainful employment. I also had a couple of snappers in tow. I still managed to buy my first couple of hi-fi systems (Sony and then Arcam).

My eldest step-son and his girl-friend, for example, are about to move onto the second rung of the housing market, are off to Mexico on hols in a couple of weeks and both own better motors than me - all achieved without any great assistance from me. So I don't think we are quite at the Jarrow March stage yet.

Ray

thebigfredc posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

Younger generations are struggling to pay exorbitant mortgages or rents, are worried about job security and simply don’t have the money.

Oh dear, we seemed to have ventured into generalisation street.

When I was their age, I too had a big mortgage (remember the 15% interest rates), no savings and was worried about the  the end of gainful employment. I also had a couple of snappers in tow. I still managed to buy my first couple of hi-fi systems (Sony and then Arcam).

My eldest step-son and his girl-friend, for example, are about to move onto the second rung of the housing market, are off to Mexico on hols in a couple of weeks and both own better motors than me - all achieved without any great assistance from me. So I don't think we are quite at the Jarrow March stage yet.

Ray

Not sure where this is going...

i got myself a half-decent hifi system by the age of 16,(half = I thought it was great, though I knew it could be better, my friends and relatives who had never heard anything like it thought it was amazing, while a couple of reporters from Popular HiFi were kind in their criticism of it)  and improved it in periodic steps when financial tightness allowed.

But times were different then, and youngsters certainly seem to have far more disposable income than I did  (no motor for me at all, let alone a nice one) however they have different priorities on what to spend what money they do have (those motors again?), etc etc.

But I don’t think going to shows has anything directly to do with interest in buying hifi and whether/what systems people have. As I indicated in my last post, I was very into hifi, or rather having my music playing superbly, but would only have even considered going to a show if it was on the doorstep. Was there ever a preponderence of young people at hifi shows?

I don't think this is an affordability issue, more one of interest. Like many others, I struggled to afford what I wanted for a long time. When family finance needs consumed all I simply enjoy the modest kit I had at the time (Ariston/LVX,  A&R A60 Heybrook HB2s).   Nor is cost a major factor. Over my lifetime the relative cost of admission to watch a football match has gone up hugely (as a kid I remember the price was the equivalent of the pint) but that never stopped me going to games and it doesn't stop football crowds today being at record levels. Younger generations today find the money for the things they want but that now tends to be the latest smart phone, big TV, X-box/Playstation the games that go with it.  Good luck to them, if that what makes them happy.  I think the issue is younger generations are not as interested in sitting down and listening to music on system as many of us on here have been.  No rights or wrongs. Things and fashions change.

There seems to be a lot of younger people work at the hi-fi shows for Naim , maybe they could respond to say what hi-fi means to them and is it a money issue with their friends holding them back from this pleasure we all have on this forum.

MDS posted:

I don't think this is an affordability issue, more one of interest.

 I think the issue is younger generations are not as interested in sitting down and listening to music on system as many of us on here have been.  

Quite agree Mike. Music is more of a background activity it seems these days. It's so easy to access and consume music usually as part of another activity. We're lucky in a way to have so much choice and music available with so many ways to access it, but i still get a great deal of pleasure from sitting down for a couple of hours and listening to some favourite albums on my main system (from a collection of music i've built up and own. 

James

Plan to visit the show on Sunday. Might bring my 18 year old son who has developed a keen interest in vinyl. I would say that under 25s have far more than I had in the 70s. I had a summer job for 9 weeks in the summer of 73 (0 levels, so longer hols) and I saved nearly everything I earned and bought my first system. Garrard SP25 Mk1V, Sansui AU101 And a pair of Whatfedale Linton 2s. Had about 6 records, still have them today.????

Left home at 17 and i’ve never relied on my parents for anything since. Because housing is so costly these days, those starting out at 18+ tend to stay with their parents for years. If they have a decent job, then they are relatively affluent and have shed loads of disposable income.

in the 70s and 80s, we aspired to a hi fi. Now they aspire to a VW Golf GTi ???? and an iPhone.

Peter

Just driving home after a visit. Lots of middle aged blokes there. Had a v pleasant 40 minutes or so listening to Kudos 505s - powered by 272/300 fresh out of box yesterday, apparently, so not giving their best, but still the most enjoyable sound there to my ears. Had a nice chat with Derek I think it was.  I was pondering how hard it is to make any sense of any new speakers at a show, given that the music, the electronics and the environment are all different from home. but I think I listened brought to the 505s to have a pretty good idea that Kudos are probably  more my speaker cup of tea than anything else at the moment 

dis find a pair of Kudos 606s in another room but not being driven by naim stuff

Not taken with the sound of big focals on a naim 500 system in the main naim room, or the B&W dalekey things in their room. An interesting novelty to see so many rooms powered by naim. Bought a bit of vinyl and some CDs too

enjoyed my time there but a couple of hours was enough for me. May need to arrange a visit to Acoustica properly some time for research purposes! Much more accessible than Cymbiosis for me,  much as I like them

Forgot to say on the yoof listening to music angle - my daughters don’t seem to register the quality thing - it’s all about Spotify quantity. Oh well: give them time

Pedro posted:

Plan to visit the show on Sunday. Might bring my 18 year old son who has developed a keen interest in vinyl. I would say that under 25s have far more than I had in the 70s. I had a summer job for 9 weeks in the summer of 73 (0 levels, so longer hols) and I saved nearly everything I earned and bought my first system. Garrard SP25 Mk1V, Sansui AU101 And a pair of Whatfedale Linton 2s. Had about 6 records, still have them today.????

Left home at 17 and i’ve never relied on my parents for anything since. Because housing is so costly these days, those starting out at 18+ tend to stay with their parents for years. If they have a decent job, then they are relatively affluent and have shed loads of disposable income.

in the 70s and 80s, we aspired to a hi fi. Now they aspire to a VW Golf GTi ???? and an iPhone.

Peter

That is an interesting observation: despite adjusting for RPI, the iPhone X today costs more than my first hifi system.

(Built in 1969, diy speakers, turntable plinth and kit-form amp, it souned better than its £60 cost, which had been saved from combined birthday and Christmas presents from family plus a year’s paperround earnings.  It gave much enjoyment and was the start of my hifi enjoyment that has continued unabated for the more than 48 years sinnce.)

I couldn’t afford a car until I was 22, an 8 year old Hillman Hunter that lasted about 5 years before rust took it. 

But again I ask, 10,20,30,40,50 years ago did young people go to shows, or did it always tend to be middling age upwards?

living in lancs yearning for yorks posted:

Forgot to say on the yoof listening to music angle - my daughters don’t seem to register the quality thing - it’s all about Spotify quantity. Oh well: give them time

Blame it on the iPod generation - now no longer in their prime of youth - when it seemed to be a competition to see who had the most tunes on their devices, never mind whether they ever played them.

Whats playing in the Kudos room guys?

505s, PB - powered by 272/300

Alba - didn’t ask but given the underwhelming sound and that nobody was leaping up and down shouting “world premier” I think it was NDS!

Thank you, how are they sounding?

PB - I thought they were sounding rather lovely. But I don’t have anything much to compare them with - they didn’t play any music that I have, it was an unfamiliar room and I don’t know how the 272/300dr compares with my nds/52/300. And Derek told me the 272 etc was brand new yesterday so not even warmed up.  I stayed for 40-odd minutes because it was the first time I have heard Kudos speakers and I wanted to listen to enough different tracks to have some sort of idea what they were like - I liked what I heard. They are on my list anyway. Do I remember you saying you had heard them and quite liked them?

Popped into the show this morning with my 19 yr old son and his girlfriend...

Best sounding room, by far, yet again, was the Kudos room. The 505s sounded great on the end of a 272/300. Very similar sound signature to my 707s.

I too thought the large 500 system didn't sound that great, probably due to the Focal speakers, I imagine. I think the front end was the NDS.

They did have the ND555 on show with its lid off. Architecture, workmanship and quality look impressive. 

The other good sounding room to me was the Auralic Polaris with Spendor floor standing speakers. A simple one box setup.

overall, another successful event hosted by Geoff and Peter.

An enjoyable, relaxed show, as usual.

Some systems that weren't so good:

- Main system in the barn - NDS/555/252/500 and big Focals.  Better than the Ovators fared in that room a number of years ago, but all too "bitty" and no real image nor emotion.  All the new streamers were on display with their lids off

- Naim and B&W D3s - had to leave the room it was so hard and harsh

- Naim and Russell K - didn't sound like £6k speakers, messy treble and no real bass

Some systems that were pretty good:

- Uniti Nova and Kantas - much better than at Bristol

- Naim and ATC passive 50s

- Auralic all-in-one with Spendors

- Leema electronics and Kudos T-606

- Hegel all-in-one and Dynaudio Contour stand mounts

- Naim Classic and Dynaudio 40th Specials - particularly given the size of the room they were in, but there was something odd about the imaging

- Project Classic turntable with Project Boxes and Project Box 10 speakers

Good sounding systems:

NDS/555/282/300 into Kudos T-505.  Very musical, but not quite the resolution of the 606/707/808 (only using Rumour speaker cables this year)

Auralic Vega into ATC Active 40 floorstanders - best sound for the money at the show for me.

I think the Kudos 505 were run from 272/300 and not NDS - that was what Derek told me anyway. I don’t think I misheard him cos he said my NDS would pee all over the 272...

i am glad I am not the only one not to like the B&Ws. Left quite quickly cos it was giving me a ???? 

living in lancs yearning for yorks posted:

I think the Kudos 505 were run from 272/300 and not NDS - that was what Derek told me anyway. I don’t think I misheard him cos he said my NDS would pee all over the 272...

i am glad I am not the only one not to like the B&Ws. Left quite quickly cos it was giving me a ???? 

My error on the 272 - too late to edit my post - thanks for pointing this out.