Bristol Show Preview

Now in its 29^th year, the Bristol Sound & Vision show at the Marriott City Centre hotel in Bristol, UK remains the most important audio show on the UK map. Running from 10am to 5pm on Friday 26^th Feb to Sunday 28^th Feb, 2016, the show promises yet again to be packed full of the latest and greatest high performance audio components – from the big ticket to the big bargain.

Despite being a distinctly UK-centric show, and one with a price ceiling that means the stratospheric end of the market often stays away, the show often highlights a range of new and exciting products that get their first public airing in the cold and wet of February in Bristol. Here are just some of the highlights we’ve heard about…

Audiolab will show the upcoming Audiolab M-One compact integrated DAC/amplifier with Bluetooth, alongside the forthcoming Audiolab 8300N network player and the Audiolab 8300P stereo power amplifier in the ever-expanding 8300 Series.

Bespoke Audio – which is every inch a bespoke brand, as it makes its preamplifiers to the customer’s express wishes – will be showing what it is capable of in Harbeth Audio’s room:  https://hifiplus.com/articles/everything-gets-better-1/

Cabasse will present the  Murano compact high-end loudspeaker design first seen in Munich last year, which features the honeycomb membrane bass from the La Sphère reference speaker and a coaxial tweeter. This £3,499 speaker is intended to bring the performance of Cabasse’s biggest models into a domestically friendly appearance.

 The Chord Company will show several new cables, at the affordable and the sharp-intake-of-breath levels. At the attainable end, the company’s new Shawline and Epic cables (in both digital and analogue form) will be on display and demonstration, and at the high-end, the company will be launching its ChordMusic range, that sits above its current top Sarum cable.

With the Entotem Plato still fresh and new, the brand celebrates its first year in business by adding an exclusive preview of its Class A amplifier module for the first model, and an announcement of the upcoming Plato Lite, and a slew of upgrades for the existing Plato. 

Kudos Audio will be showing its active Titan 808 loudspeaker once more, but this time driven by the innovative ‘Aktif Avec’ Devialet Expert system: https://hifiplus.com/articles/bristol-show-2016-exclusive-kudos-audio-flagship-titan-808-loudspeakers-to-run-actif-avec-devialet-expert-system/

Leema Acoustics will be highlighting its new £2,995 Quasar streaming amplifier/DAC, which will be expected to hit the stores in mid 2016.

Meridian-developed MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) high performance audio format will receive the acid test, as it is played to the public for the first time in the UK, with devices like the Pioneer XDP-100R DAP on demonstration, as well as demonstrations made by Onkyo in the show, and Bluesound at a nearby rival store! Meridian will also be demonstrating its high-resolution system.

Quad will be showing its Artera One combined disc player, amp and speaker due in the middle of the year, a new model in its upmarket Z series loudspeaker range, and the VA-One Bluetooth integrated DAC and amp, both of which are expected in the Spring.  

Rega’s ever popular Planar 3 turntable makes a welcome return. Although it’s a very different animal to the turntable I was selling in the late 1980s! The new high-gloss Planar 3 now comes with a new RB330 arm, an acrylic plinth, a new sub-platter, and a polished ‘optiwhite’ glass platter.

Roksan will be launching the Radius 7 turntable, a turn-key £1,900 turntable complete with Nima unipivot arm and significantly upgraded motor. We hope to have one of these turntables for review soon, so watch this space!

Italian audio experts Unison Research will be showing the new £3,200 Unico CD Due, which combines CD player, Bluetooth receiver, and full function DAC all playing through Unison’s signature valve hybrid output stage.

Finally, Wharfedale will be showing the forthcoming ‘true wireless’ Diamond A1 active stereo Bluetooth speakers and the Reva 2 standmount speakers from forthcoming Reva Series, the next step up from the Diamond 200 range.

Doubtless, this is only scratching the surface. Watch this space for more details…