Melbourne Audio and AV show

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dlaloum

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Melbourne Audio and AV show
« on: 17 Oct 2014, 01:31 am »
Anyone else going to the Melbourne show this weekend?


BruceSB

Re: Melbourne Audio and AV show
« Reply #1 on: 17 Oct 2014, 01:38 am »
I will be there on Saturday.
Really looking forward to it.
Especially strongly interested in DEQX, Wilson Benesch and the McCleans Room.
Won't miss anything else though!!
Should be great.
Bruce

Vapor Audio

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Re: Melbourne Audio and AV show
« Reply #2 on: 17 Oct 2014, 01:54 am »
I know my boy Mark from Antipodes will be there, somebody tell him Ryan says hi ... and I'm watching him :peek:

BruceSB

Re: Melbourne Audio and AV show
« Reply #3 on: 18 Oct 2014, 07:34 am »
Just back from the HiFi show.
Really enjoyed it.
It exceeded my expectations and what more could I want?
I was surprised by how many rooms sounded good!!
Thought the best room was the DEQX/Maggie (Mcleans) room.
Very friendly, they plaid the tracks off my CDs as I asked.
The Michael Fremer demos and QA sessions were standing room only.
There were plenty of really helpful/informed experts to talk to, I had a great chat to the DEQX CEO for example.
All in all I went home with a big smile on my face.
The only small disappointment was that there were less people than I expected but then again one of the guys running a room told me they were packed to the rafters last night so maybe the numbers are not really down!
If you can get to Melbourne tomorrow don't miss the show!!
Bruce

dlaloum

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Re: Melbourne Audio and AV show
« Reply #4 on: 18 Oct 2014, 11:24 am »
The DeqX/Maggie demo was excellent I agree, BUT, even though I am a panel freak and box hater, the De Vore speakers were better.... (I went back to their room a couple of times...) - this was unexpected as I have always been a maggie fan - but then I usually have heard the 3.x's and this was a model from further down the range...

Three standout speakers I heard (it may be the rooms/setup too) - The Kyron Kronos, Osborn Grand Majestic, and the German Physiks
The room showing the German Physiks had several different speakers that they were demoing through the day, each time I passed through a different set was playing, but the only set that made me stop, sit down and listen was the German Physiks. The room was often totally packed.
The Osborne room also frequently had quite a crowd, but unlike the others, pricing was prominently displayed - and I believe as a result many people looked in and moved on immediately (speaker pricing ranged from AU$1700 to AU$20,000 - with the top model being the usual demo playing).... in the Kyron and German Physiks rooms the pricing was "on request" and given that they were 4 to 6 times the price of the top Osborne speaker, that was probably a smart move, and provided them with a much wider audience.
I also listened to the Osborne bottom of the line bookshelf, which acquitted itself far better than it had any right to after switching from the TOTL majestic model - they seem like absolutely fantastic value to me! (on my shortlist for the next time I get a speaker upgrade itch...)

At various times of day the venue was packed, between 5pm and 6pm this afternoon, it was almost empty - which gave me more of an opportunity to talk to people, request a few tracks, etc...

The Fremer session on Friday night (I think the same program as the Saturday morning session) - was excellent and good fun  - he is a good presenter, and Mark is a good Foil to Michael...
The Q&A session in the afternoon was great too. (I was the guy in the front row corner seat asking several questions...)

I also got to see the Epson Laser projector demo, great picture, but as a demo it was pretty flat, Benq on the other hand, have set up what is a much more basic projector and speakers, but with much better demo material (top image & sound clips from a wide range of movies) - making the whole demo a real blast.... Not to mention that the Benq team were much friendlier....

There is also an interesting demo of the "involve" surround processing system... the surround system is interesting, but what I found even more interesting were their bookshelf sized electrostatic speakers.
As a concept they are selling speakers with an integrated amp/surround processor as a package - there is no way of running the speakers alone as all the ESL electronics is in the integrated box.
They had a prototype of their 2.1 integrated version there, with the 4.1 surround setup on show demo.
I do love stats!

Good show and worth the trip if you are in Melbourne at the moment

I will be going back again tomorrow...

bye for now

David

Guy 13

Re: Melbourne Audio and AV show
« Reply #5 on: 18 Oct 2014, 01:11 pm »
Hi all.
How about JohnR,
will he give us some kind of review of the show ???
I would like tor ead what he think about the show.

Guy 13

JohnR

Re: Melbourne Audio and AV show
« Reply #6 on: 18 Oct 2014, 02:15 pm »
Hm, no, I won't be able to write anything about it... A couple of years ago they held it in Sydney but maybe it was too expensive to run here.

BruceSB

Re: Melbourne Audio and AV show
« Reply #7 on: 18 Oct 2014, 09:44 pm »
Let me make a few more comments about the HiFi show.
I also was mightily impressed with the De Vores, but, I did think the Maggies sounded better, more open, more airy  maybe.
Just my opinion though.
I was staggered by one (well attended) room which could almost be taken that they deliberately selected music to excite every single resonance mode that their room contained!!
Felt the presentation quality was way up right across the board.
The people running the rooms were smiling, friendly and extremely helpful.
Things were well set out.
I was disappointed that the Wilson Benesch people did not have either of their turntables there though.
By the way David I was a few seats behind you in the Q & A session.
Bit more of an explanation about the "involve" ELS crowd.
Had a great conversation with one of the involve people, they do sell a conventional floor standing stat (which needs a sub to really complete it).
It won a prize a few years back.
Enjoy your return visit today.
To anyone else who can make it, make sure you do.
You will kick yourself afterward if you miss it!!
Bruce

navi

Re: Melbourne Audio and AV show
« Reply #8 on: 20 Oct 2014, 10:08 am »
I attended sunday afternoon. went into a couple of rooms. i thought that the kryon audio, moon audio witha speaker starting with R (can't remember the name), mcleans showroom (ELectrostatics), and osborns sounded really good.

i was disappointed with a few that i won't name.

The Naim statement amps sounded clean, wasn't wowed by it, I couldn't stay long because the room got HOT from the crowd. awesome showbag from naim, everyone got a 8gb usb stick with music.