• 29th & 30th June • Cranage Hall • Show Report
North West Audio Show 2019
We have all just arrived home and began unloading after a fantastic weekend in the wonderful scenery of Cranage Hall where the weather was absolutely scorching. Here are a few highlights from the show...
To begin with, this was our first time exhibiting at the Cranage Hall Show. We decided to focus on a few brands for this show, to let customers have the first chance to hear and see some of these products. We decided to use Audiovector for our speakers, Goldnote for electronics and turntables, and Titan Audio covered our cabling needs.
In the main system, we were using the stunning Audiovector SR3 Arette Raw - Limited Edition (no. 2/100 ever made).
These were powered by the GoldNote IS-1000 Deluxe All in One Integrated Amplifier, which was accompanied by the Gold Note Mediterraneo (With the Gold Note Tuscany Gold Cartridge), PH10 Phono Stage with matching PSU-10 Power Supply.
The cables were all Titan Audio including the Chimera Signature, Eros Mains Block, Tyco, Eros & Helios cables.
On static display was the new Gold Note PA-1175 MKII Power Amplifier, P-1000 Pre Amp & Tube 1006 Valve Output Stage. Again the PH-10 & PSU-10 were on display (in the gold finish!) as well as GoldNote's highly rated Valore 425 Plus Turntable, accompanied by both Vasari Red & Vasari Gold cartridges.
A full accompaniment of Audiovector were on display, including SR3 Signature , QR1 & QR3 as well as the SR6 Avantgarde.
Titan Audio Cable lifts, Contact Cleaner, Helios, Chimera, Nemesis & Styx were also on static display.
For true audiophiles...
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Puresound / Heco / Aurorasound
Guy Sergeant from Puresound set up a stunning sounding room, which featured the Puresound 845 Mono Bloc Valve Power Amps (amazing!!) Puresound CD Player, the special STST Carbon Turntable and tonearm, Aurorasound Vida Phono Stage, Aurorasound Preda Pre Amplifier, and the Heco Direkt Drei Klang Speakers. This was all accompanied again by Titan Audio cables. For good measure he also added a Teac tape deck which is always nice to hear.
- It was a fantastic sound from his room, really impressed by the Aurorasound products, and the top of the range Heco's are absolutely stunning. Guy also had a range of static displays which featured the Puresound A30R, L10 Pre Amplifier, P10 Phono Stage, Aurorasound Vida Prima, Aurorasound Heada, Heco Aleva GT 202 Speakers & Heco Direkt 800 BT.
Icon Audio occupied one of the larger rooms at the show (which had air conditioning, a big drawing point trust me!!) They brought along their full range of amplifiers and speakers. What caught my eye, and many others I imagine was their MB81 mono blocks! They had a really nice sound, and I did get comments from several visitors about their room, so a great showing by Icon Audio!
Karma AV were in attendance in a couple of rooms, and featured the new MoFi Turntable, alongside Primare electronics and Falcon Loudspeakers. The Primare products continue to impress me, I love the build quality, and the value for money is something else, another great showing by the guys at Karma AV!
From what I understand, Boenicke weren't at the show themselves, but they were represented in the CAD / Quadrasphire room. A really great sound from that room, the CAD products are really impressive (albeit expensive!) but the Boenicke's always bring a smile to my face, how can something that small make a soundstage that big?!?!
Kef & Chord teamed up for the show and brought a range of Chord Electronics, while Kef decided to focus on the LS50 products in numerous finishes.
Origin Live were also there, and they kept it all very simple. A turntable, amplifier and speakers, with a few brochures spread around the room, no fancy marketing or PR going on in there, just a system for you to sit down in front off and enjoy!
I sat with a smile on my face enjoying the Origin Live room (which sounded great!) just thinking this is very Origin Live, no nonsense, come in and sit down and we will let our products do the talking. Once again Origin Live impressed me! Well done to them!
Henley Designs had two rooms side by side, demonstrating Pro-Ject, Musical Fidelity, Lehmann Audio and Klipsch. In one room we saw the new turntables from Pro-Ject the T1 series, as well as the new X model. The T1 turntables blew me away, for their price they are unbelievable! If you told me they were £500-£600 I wouldn't have fluttered an eyelid, and although they weren't on demonstration, they have all the makings of a stunning entry level turntable, and they are made for simplicity, so the arm weight, and cartridge all come pre installed. Just wire it up and away you go!
What was on demonstration however was the X model. It sounded absolutely superb, and looks great. I am really looking forward to getting moving on these new ranges from Pro-Ject as they look like they could be the market leaders! (That's a big statement)
Diapason were also represented after the recent announcement of their change of UK Distributor. They offered several of the stand mount versions on static display, but as a real treat on Sunday moved the Diapason Dynamis Floorstanders into their main system, which I have to say our simply a work of art. Even if they never played music, I could just sit and look at them. With that being said, I really did enjoy listening to them too!
Titan Audio were also on display at the show, with their own static display where they were able to speak directly to customers and explain their products, and they had (from my count) 3 rooms around the show that had Titan Audio cables throughout their systems, so it was a perfect setup, allowing customers to learn about the cables on the way in, and then hear them throughout the show.
Overall it was a fantastic show, the weather was stunning, and the show was run fantastically by Chris. A special mention must be made to the staff at Cranage Hall, they were first class in everything, and couldn't have been more helpful, and that made life so much easier for everyone involved.
We were very humbled by the number of people who approached us to say our sound was the best they heard at the show (Genuinely!!) and the positive feedback we had from everyone regarding the Gold Note, Audiovector & Titan Audio. At one stage on Saturday we had a queue to get into our room, so we must have done something right!
Until next year...