Forget the football season getting into full swing, we’re
entering a new season of hi-fi shows, we attend a ‘micro’ hi-fi show and have a
mighty fine time, too
As we enter the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”
(that’s autumn, to those who haven’t yet encountered the great John Keats),
there’s one thing that you can be sure of – it’s Showtime – from the inaugural
The Hi-Fi Show in the UK in October, to Rocky Mountain in the States, and even
CES in Las Vegas in the new year.
But hang on, wait a minute – while the cat’s away, the mice
will play! The summer season sometimes sees some interesting little micro
shows; these aren’t anything like the aforementioned major diary moments,
rather they’re little local events with a small number of people invited. Often
run by more enterprising dealers and/or distributors, they make a nice prelude
to the bigger, bolder events happening later in the year.
Just one of the
many treats that was on display at this low-key micro show
Once such example is Hi-Fi Fest, a new two-day micro show
run by the energetic Mains Cables R Us man, David Brook. Although no country
mansion, his sizeable suburban Huddlers field house proved just large enough to
host some 50 guests over the course of two days, running three compact
listening rooms over the duration, packed with interesting and sometimes quirky
kit. It literally was ‘open house’, with a fridge stocked with Fosters and
Newcastle Brown, pizzas and cups of tea on the go, and a relaxed and convivial
atmosphere.
David had invited regular customers and friends, who turned
up to help deplete his food and drink stocks, while enjoying an interesting few
hours playing with, and/or listening to a wide range of products – from
ultra-expensive superfast hand-made-on-the-kitchen-table prototypes.
IsoTek was in full force in the main room – with the
hard-grafting Keith Martin and team demonstrating the flagship EVO 3 Genesis
and Super Titan power management systems. I’ve been to countless IsoTek deems
over the years at hi-fi shows, but few were as impressive as this. Show goers
brought their own CDs (often nipping outside to grab them from their car CD
changers!), and heard the improvement for themselves.
This show was like
a bunch of friends taking over someone’s house
Interestingly, the Primate i22 amp that was on deem, with
its matching CD player and Amphenol speakers, didn’t sound very good – which is
just as I remember hearing it in my own home system. But when run through
IsoTek regenerative mains power supplies, the sound was transformed in a
profound way. I could suddenly hear inky-black silences between the notes, and
the soundstage switched from ‘2D’ to ‘3D’ mode, as if a button on the remote
control had been pressed. I’ve heard IsoTek kit work well before, but this was
the clearest case for its efficacy I’ve heard.
Elsewhere, Dominic and Natalie Harper were demonstrating
their superb plinths and moving coil cartridges. Their company, Northwest
Analogue, had a beautiful slate-planted Garrard 401 turntable, running a
specially converted to 12in SME 3009S2 tone arm, with a prototype of Dominic’s
new high-end moving coil cartridge. This fed a fine-sounding Long Dog phonon
stage, his own tube amps and Snell speakers; the sound was gorgeous. He also
deemed some cartridges he had rebuilt, including a classic Orfoton SPU, which
sounded lovely in an olde-worlde sort of way. The massive Cumbrian slate
‘double size’ 401 plinth was a veritable work of art.
Dominic has spent many years rebuilding moving coil cartridges
and gave me an insight into his thoughts on their respective strengths and
weaknesses. He is well respected, with several famous names asking him to
hand-build their own premium brand products – although he told me he prefers to
stick to doing all his own work.
Hi-Fi show
Show and tell
Sound Foundations’ Chris Green installed a clear audio
Master Innovation turntable in the main IsoTek room, which was wowing visitors
of both digital and analogue persuasions, but he’d also got Canor into the
third deem room. Here we were able to listen to the TP106VR+, an excellent
integrated valve amplifier, which gave a consummately smooth yet musical sound
driving a pair of as-yet-unlaunched loudspeakers from ‘A N Other’ manufacturer!
Feeding it was a heavily modified Technics SL1200, complete with SME309 tone
arm, special platter and Isonoe feet. Visitors were allowed to change
cartridges to their preferred weapon of choice; they soon settled down with an
Ortofon Kontrapunkt b, after a brief dalliance with a 2M Red. The system
sounded fantastic.
This show was more like a bunch of friends taking over
someone’s house for the weekend, in order to play with lots of big boys’ toys.
A fine time was had by all – here’s hoping we see many more micro shows in
years to come.
