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A SUITE SHOW
Listed under: Show News
Published: Thursday, December 06, 2007
In Hammersmith for more than the usual gig at the Apollo, I found myself down the road at the Novotel of all places. Not one of my usual haunts, but then I have been putting myself about a bit lately. The reason for crossing the threshold of such a venue – the 2007 What Hi-Fi? / Stuff Show was in town.
Having heard about the show last year, and the problems with stands being split over several floors, poor sign posting and long queues to the small demo rooms, I entered with a feeling of hope and optimism. If nothing else, I was sure to leave with a large pile of expensive glossy brochures! As my heavily laden bag could attest to, I did just that. Certainly the Show seems to have moved away from its original roots of focusing on Hi-Fi and much more towards home cinema. This was fine with me as I keep, despite my tender years, being accused of becoming tone deaf in my ‘old’ age anyway.
Products galore
I began my journey by having a marketing manager kindly, and perhaps strangely, donating a pack of batteries to me, which I have no doubt he acquired after sweet-talking the girls who were handing
them out. This was promptly followed by the deeply unpleasant experience of being hugged by a man dressed as, what was essentially, a giant marshmallow. Moving away from that distressing memory, one of the highlights of the ‘Champagne Suite’ (although I couldn’t find a drop of the stuff) was a very nice 72-inch Bravia LCD taking pride of place on the Sony stand. It certainly was a pretty thing that would take pride of place in any decent mansion. The only slight disappointment came when I heard one of the stand staff correct the price quoted to another visitor. Although the look on the visitor's face as the Sony rep increased the price from £2999 to £29,999 was certainly priceless.
Wandering into the Muscadet Suite (how do they choose these names?) I found myself confronted by an array of Denon kit that would have kept any self-respecting audiophile happy for a long time. In one corner of the Denon show area were their latest CD/MP3 mixing decks, designed to look much more like traditional vinyl mixing decks of yore. Who says there is no market for retro styling? Styled in a much more contemporary manner was the new Denon S-52DAB tabletop multi functional unit, complete with iPod dock. For a really big sound Denon also had on show their 300W x 10 channel Power Amp, due to be launched at the Bristol Show 2008.
Visiting yet another exhibition area, this one named the Chablis Suite – I detect a distinct alcoholic influence to this naming game – I found myself captivated by what can only be described as a truly innovative product. This is the Aurora 6 Speaker Stand. Talk about being something different. This thing is manufactured from a clear glass cylinder with a polished glass base plate shaped like a teardrop. A shiny chrome torsion tube running the length of the stand that also doubles as a cable run complements this striking design.
The real innovation though is that you can fill the main glass part of the stand with any coloured crystals or powder. About the only thing you cannot put in it are liquids, or anything living. Apparently what you fill the column with will barely alter the acoustics due to a new innovative damping system incorporated into the design. Henley Designs also made a notable appearance with the Pro-Ject turntables. These gorgeous units are undoubtedly presenting the merits of vinyl to the next generation. The new Genie/RPM1 costs around £125, whilst the RPM10 bears the larger price tag of £1500. Although it has to be said that I am a digital girl at heart, the DEBUT (colours) range, in it’s array of funky colours did cause me to stop and take a closer look.
the journey continues
Up on the second floor - and yes my feet were starting to hurt from all this walking around - I found the SIM2 people in something called the Fronsac Suite. Yes, you guessed it, yet another alcohol reference this time to a wine growing area near Bordeaux. Although the SIM2 guys have a reputation for some excellent cinema projectors, I must say their new Grand Cinema C3X 1080 3-chip projector on their stand was certainly one of the highlights for me. The quality of the Blu-ray version of Planet Earth was quite simply breathtaking, whilst the HD DVD excerpt from Hot Fuzz certainly showed skin tones at their best. Plus, the coffee was also much appreciated at this point in the day!
As I continued to venture back and forth, a fireplace caught my eye. One of the problems of wall mounting a large screen on a fireplace wall is that the screen is usually so attractive, that it makes the fireplace below it look distinctly ugly. Picture House Cabinets showed off a range of cabinets designed to cope with just this problem. For a few grand they will provide and install a really beautiful working fireplace that incorporates behind it motorised storage for your LCD or Plasma screen. When not in use the screen disappears from view leaving you with an attractive fireplace.
Next, a sneak preview of things to come. The iPod seems to have created it’s own product line for adaptors and docks off all shapes, sizes and capabilities. On the Klipsch Audio stand they had what they are calling the RoomGroove (definitely no alcohol involved in that name). The unit itself makes a great iPod speaker system, but combine it with other RoomGroove speakers or the KlipschCast system and you have the ability to send your iPod contents wirelessly to anywhere in the home.
Producing a very respectable 98dB SPL at one-metre the tonal qualities of the RoomGroove comes from the use of premium components. I have to admit that I was slightly bemused by this product as, try as I might, I could not get the dock to open. After a number of feeble stabs at the Klipsch Audio logo, I was introduced to the fact that the sensitivity on the mechanism is far more intense than I was giving it credit. I am delighted to announce that with the launch of this product my jabbing days will be over, as all it needs is the lightest of feather touch.
Moving from the delicate to the massive, Geneva Systems displayed the largest iPod Dock I had seen. Looking to all intents and purposes like a large subwoofer their Model XL, or iPod Dock of Doom as it is dubbed, is not a pretty sight. However, for those interested in sheer power this 38kg, yes 38-KILOS, piece of unsubtle furniture packs in multiple 8-inch subwoofers, a pair of 5.25-inch midrange drivers and two 1-inch tweeters. Attractive it is not, and the iPod perched on top looks as though it should really be trying to mate with something a bit more of its own size. But if you want a really powerful iPod Dock then this is the one for you.
Overall, the show had been more than worthwhile. There had been a few interesting products, lots of shiny brochures and interesting people to talk to on my travels. My only real criticism is that despite all the references to alcohol everywhere, making some of us very thirsty, the organisers hid the bar away in a corner of the room directly opposite the toilets. Still, you can't have everything...
Products galore
I began my journey by having a marketing manager kindly, and perhaps strangely, donating a pack of batteries to me, which I have no doubt he acquired after sweet-talking the girls who were handing
them out. This was promptly followed by the deeply unpleasant experience of being hugged by a man dressed as, what was essentially, a giant marshmallow. Moving away from that distressing memory, one of the highlights of the ‘Champagne Suite’ (although I couldn’t find a drop of the stuff) was a very nice 72-inch Bravia LCD taking pride of place on the Sony stand. It certainly was a pretty thing that would take pride of place in any decent mansion. The only slight disappointment came when I heard one of the stand staff correct the price quoted to another visitor. Although the look on the visitor's face as the Sony rep increased the price from £2999 to £29,999 was certainly priceless.
Wandering into the Muscadet Suite (how do they choose these names?) I found myself confronted by an array of Denon kit that would have kept any self-respecting audiophile happy for a long time. In one corner of the Denon show area were their latest CD/MP3 mixing decks, designed to look much more like traditional vinyl mixing decks of yore. Who says there is no market for retro styling? Styled in a much more contemporary manner was the new Denon S-52DAB tabletop multi functional unit, complete with iPod dock. For a really big sound Denon also had on show their 300W x 10 channel Power Amp, due to be launched at the Bristol Show 2008.
Visiting yet another exhibition area, this one named the Chablis Suite – I detect a distinct alcoholic influence to this naming game – I found myself captivated by what can only be described as a truly innovative product. This is the Aurora 6 Speaker Stand. Talk about being something different. This thing is manufactured from a clear glass cylinder with a polished glass base plate shaped like a teardrop. A shiny chrome torsion tube running the length of the stand that also doubles as a cable run complements this striking design.
The real innovation though is that you can fill the main glass part of the stand with any coloured crystals or powder. About the only thing you cannot put in it are liquids, or anything living. Apparently what you fill the column with will barely alter the acoustics due to a new innovative damping system incorporated into the design. Henley Designs also made a notable appearance with the Pro-Ject turntables. These gorgeous units are undoubtedly presenting the merits of vinyl to the next generation. The new Genie/RPM1 costs around £125, whilst the RPM10 bears the larger price tag of £1500. Although it has to be said that I am a digital girl at heart, the DEBUT (colours) range, in it’s array of funky colours did cause me to stop and take a closer look.
the journey continues
Up on the second floor - and yes my feet were starting to hurt from all this walking around - I found the SIM2 people in something called the Fronsac Suite. Yes, you guessed it, yet another alcohol reference this time to a wine growing area near Bordeaux. Although the SIM2 guys have a reputation for some excellent cinema projectors, I must say their new Grand Cinema C3X 1080 3-chip projector on their stand was certainly one of the highlights for me. The quality of the Blu-ray version of Planet Earth was quite simply breathtaking, whilst the HD DVD excerpt from Hot Fuzz certainly showed skin tones at their best. Plus, the coffee was also much appreciated at this point in the day!
As I continued to venture back and forth, a fireplace caught my eye. One of the problems of wall mounting a large screen on a fireplace wall is that the screen is usually so attractive, that it makes the fireplace below it look distinctly ugly. Picture House Cabinets showed off a range of cabinets designed to cope with just this problem. For a few grand they will provide and install a really beautiful working fireplace that incorporates behind it motorised storage for your LCD or Plasma screen. When not in use the screen disappears from view leaving you with an attractive fireplace.
Next, a sneak preview of things to come. The iPod seems to have created it’s own product line for adaptors and docks off all shapes, sizes and capabilities. On the Klipsch Audio stand they had what they are calling the RoomGroove (definitely no alcohol involved in that name). The unit itself makes a great iPod speaker system, but combine it with other RoomGroove speakers or the KlipschCast system and you have the ability to send your iPod contents wirelessly to anywhere in the home.
Producing a very respectable 98dB SPL at one-metre the tonal qualities of the RoomGroove comes from the use of premium components. I have to admit that I was slightly bemused by this product as, try as I might, I could not get the dock to open. After a number of feeble stabs at the Klipsch Audio logo, I was introduced to the fact that the sensitivity on the mechanism is far more intense than I was giving it credit. I am delighted to announce that with the launch of this product my jabbing days will be over, as all it needs is the lightest of feather touch.
Moving from the delicate to the massive, Geneva Systems displayed the largest iPod Dock I had seen. Looking to all intents and purposes like a large subwoofer their Model XL, or iPod Dock of Doom as it is dubbed, is not a pretty sight. However, for those interested in sheer power this 38kg, yes 38-KILOS, piece of unsubtle furniture packs in multiple 8-inch subwoofers, a pair of 5.25-inch midrange drivers and two 1-inch tweeters. Attractive it is not, and the iPod perched on top looks as though it should really be trying to mate with something a bit more of its own size. But if you want a really powerful iPod Dock then this is the one for you.
Overall, the show had been more than worthwhile. There had been a few interesting products, lots of shiny brochures and interesting people to talk to on my travels. My only real criticism is that despite all the references to alcohol everywhere, making some of us very thirsty, the organisers hid the bar away in a corner of the room directly opposite the toilets. Still, you can't have everything...
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