[Andy H]

Hiya guys!

I'm aiming to go up on the Sun and make a full day of it from 10am until close.

Eager to hear thoughts from all of you across the weekend of what you thought - what was good, what was bad and if you felt anything was absent.

Also, any hidden treasures that you found for others there or about to go across the weekend.

Myself, I'm hoping there's a strong Blu Ray presence this year and I'm interested in seeing lots of 1080p LCD screens as my Panny 32LXD60 as lovely as it is only goes to 1080i.

[Sirez]

I went today and thought the show was nothing special, and as for Blu-ray the only thing that comes to mind is the Denon Blu-ray player which will be released later in the year as there were no other manufacturers showing off Blu-ray players only using them to demo other kit like the superb sim 2 projectors.

[Cmoth]

I went today too and have to say that I came back disappointed. The SIM projector was about the best visual thing there.
Normally you can rely on Meridian for a good audio visual show but it was purely audio this year, although it did sound very good.

I feel the London show in Hammersmith has been much better than Bristol recently, not sure whether I will go to Bristol again?

[wawr]

I went today & thought the best thing about the show was the ease of the park & ride !!

I found BIG names like MERIDIAN & KEF very dissapointing...i went to the show as one of the thing's im looking for is to up-grade my pulldown SAPPHIRE screen to a fixed 7foot one, but the woman i spoke to basicaly had no idea at all & wassnt paying any attention to what i was asking for !! then i went to the B&W stand mid afternoon to see their new ZEPPELIN i-pod dock only to find the sales rep on his mobile phone, after waiting for 10mins i gave up & left that stall

In my opinion i just thank god SIM2 & DENON were there ohh & the guy's at the AV FORUMS stand were nice aswell..... as i did have a free pen !!!....

Id be interested to see what other AV FORUMS members think of this years show after all it is the 21st Birthday, i was expecting a little more if im honest

[Helicon]

Meridian's always disappointing.......

[Na-Noo]

Hi guys,
Not sure if should post this here or in pj forum but...
Did any of you come across any PJ deals, e.g epson tw2000?
If so what sort of prices.
J,

[signs]

I'm just about to leave the house for the drive down , reading what you guys have said it doesnt look good

[Andy.T]

If you are getting the train (like me and my brood) good luck getting a seat! The Rugby has the trains pretty packed!

[mwomwell]

I went yesterday an thought the show was pretty good - excellent for seeing latest PJ's - JVC D-ILA HD 100 £4.5k special show offer, Mitsu HC6000, Projectiondesign M25, Epson TW2000 - the winner to me was the JVC - Black level excellent although colours were a little over saturated but the unit was straight out of the box, 2nd place was Mitsu very good PQ. As for M25 Sim 2's (all except Sim2 C3x 1080p - too expensive) I saw the dreaded raindows - shame as the M25 is minute compared to the JVC HD100. Speaker stuff - well, lots, MA Platinums, KEF Reference, New PMC's etc. - all very nice - Not sure the Muon's were really worth £70k even if I could get them in my living room. Denon demo very good using their laters AV amps - £5k a piece through B&W speakers with a display via a PD 1080p projector (big beast) - showed Blu-ray clips of up and comming Earth release and Fantastic 4. Sony 70" LCD tv at £30k was very nice and large - impressive picture. Pioneer TV's - PDP 42 - 60" - excellent black's.Quite a lot of NAIM stuff on display and being demoed - again very nice. Basically, you could spend a fortune on all of these new toys - oh to win the lotto!!!

[Ricky22buk]

Disappointing show for me as most manufacturers demoed their gear with just sound and no vision. Was really looking forward to the Meridian demo as I'm currently considering their new DSP7200's which they did demo, but for me personally I like to see more a variation of movies, different sound clips etc etc etc. I understand why they demo piano's and chello's bla bla bla but thats not my taste, and certainly not what I'd listyen to, so again was disappointed.

The best item of the show for me was the SIM2 C3X 1080 demo. Excellent projector (even though it sould be at approx. 20K). It was truely superb. Now all I have to do is find out which one of the SIM2's I can afford for the best bang for buck, as I certainly cant afford the 20K one. Ha !

Its still a good day out for everyone, and again we all have different tastes, so what I disliked, others may enjoy. Go anyway guys and add your opinions here.

Enjoy !!!!!!

[Ambulance Andy]

Originally Posted by Andy H

Hiya guys!

I'm aiming to go up on the Sun and make a full day of it from 10am until close.

Eager to hear thoughts from all of you across the weekend of what you thought - what was good, what was bad and if you felt anything was absent.

Also, any hidden treasures that you found for others there or about to go across the weekend.

Myself, I'm hoping there's a strong Blu Ray presence this year and I'm interested in seeing lots of 1080p LCD screens as my Panny 32LXD60 as lovely as it is only goes to 1080i.

Get there way before 10AM if you want to stand a chance of Parking. Bristol is having massive redevelopment work done in the city centre and as such there are hardly any car parks

There was a slight blue ray presence there, but nothing to write home about. In fact I think Pioneer were the only manufacture there with a new screen. All of the other contributors there mostly used projectors, and seemed more interested in selling their audio products,

it is certainly not the place to go, if you are looking for new consumer equipment.

Personally I found the whole show disappointing.

[Ambulance Andy]

Originally Posted by Sirez

I went today and thought the show was nothing special, and as for Blu-ray the only thing that comes to mind is the Denon Blu-ray player which will be released later in the year as there were no other manufacturers showing off Blu-ray players only using them to demo other kit like the superb sim 2 projectors.

DITTO!

Save your money and day off, and don't go!

[Ambulance Andy]

Originally Posted by Na-Noo

Hi guys,
Not sure if should post this here or in pj forum but...
Did any of you come across any PJ deals, e.g epson tw2000?
If so what sort of prices.
J,

Did not see hardly any Projectors that were been used as sales products. There are plenty there mind!

I think someone forgot to tell the contributors that this was a show for consumers, as to be honest it was more like a Trade Show!

[klnc]

If anyone has any thoughts on the denon AVP and POA, please post

[oaklandraiders]

Yo

Any deals on the JVC DLA-HD1

Thanks

JOhn

[BOOMERANGBUBB]

Guys, are WHAT HIFI there with the free HDMI cable offer if you sign up? Need a new one!!!

[Ambulance Andy]

Originally Posted by oaklandraiders

Yo

Any deals on the JVC DLA-HD1

Thanks

JOhn

Yes, I will post shortly all of the offers that are available at the show.

There are two offers on the JVC projectors, both of which come with a 3 year 'Return to base' warranty and a FREE HDMI 1.3 silver plus cable worth £107.00!

HD-100 Projector, normal price £4999.00 Bristol show price £4499.00

HD-1 Projector, normal price £3500.00, Bristol show price £2999.00

If you go be sure to check out the Nordost room - Lars Kristensen is there - great to learn about the product range that they do...

[Ambulance Andy]

Originally Posted by Ambulance Andy

Yes, I will post shortly all of the offers that are available at the show.

PM me if you want to know the offers available at the Bristol Show.

Bristol show offers - enclosed

[dj-dulux]

It did feel a bit trade like, the only people that made any effort were ATC/Sim2, Wilson Benesch and Naim. These people had at least gone to the effort to put demos together with useful info and knowledgeable people about. The more main stream brands did there usual, 'look how loud it goes', trick.

The ATC/Sim2 stand I thought was the most useful by far and deserves a special mention, if people are going tomorrow head here! OK, I know the cinema they had on demo would cost around £80k fitted, but we can all dream and as we know technology gets cheaper. Anamorphic lens is defo my next upgrade!

Dupe...

[binbag]

Originally Posted by BOOMERANGBUBB

Guys, are WHAT HIFI there with the free HDMI cable offer if you sign up? Need a new one!!!

HCC are doing a 1m QED HDMI cable as their subscription gift. I got one

After a full day I'm still trying to take it all in. I went for a general look at the kind of kit I'll be picking up third hand in 5 years time Here's my first thoughts.

If anyone wants to see the advantages of anamorphic projection then check out the 3 chipper Sim2 although the clips shown could have been much better. (Anyone spot the Elton John 60th Concert that was all over the show was a Universal Blu-ray release?) The other two Sim2s were set up almost like a before/after calibration running side by side but I thought the cheaper of the 2 actually handled motion slightly better.

The JVC HD100 was the screen that you could stand closest to without noticing projection characteristics (up to 1/2 screen width) but there was some CA or misconveregence or something like a localized RBE but it was very minor. I thought the Mitsi HC was the worst projected image on display that I saw (Although Optoma and Sapphire Screens Epson didn't seem too bothered). Projection designs had a good demo (albeit with a dodgy screen) and their larger Pjs were in service looking excellent in the Denon room and coping manfully with poor light control and unnecessary hugeness in the WB greenhouse. (My fave audio was in this room.)

What hifi demo room touted the convergent future with Apple TV for music and a non optical (stressed several times) digital HD showing of the Pixar short 'Lifted' from some media centre.

For me the worst demo was the REL room. They had some really impressive tower speakers and were doing an on off comparison with a small sub stuck in the corner. When it was on it wiped out the midrange and boomed over the tight bottom end of the mains. As the salesmen gushed about the ambience the sub was introducing the room next door struck up a brass band .

[RichardG]

Originally Posted by Andy H

Hiya guys!

I'm aiming to go up on the Sun and make a full day of it from 10am until close.

Eager to hear thoughts from all of you across the weekend of what you thought - what was good, what was bad and if you felt anything was absent.

Also, any hidden treasures that you found for others there or about to go across the weekend.

Myself, I'm hoping there's a strong Blu Ray presence this year and I'm interested in seeing lots of 1080p LCD screens as my Panny 32LXD60 as lovely as it is only goes to 1080i.

See you tomorrow!!!

[robfitzp]

There were a few audio rooms that were pretty good - Chord Red Std CD player system, Wilson Benesch Trinity/Torus system, new Exposure range with JM Diva Utopia and the Nordost Odin/Burmeister rig spring to mind. For multichannel the Audiolab/Mission room was impressive in an understated way.

Mitsubishi 6000 projector was impressive - utterly silent and a good image, but the best pictures in my view were the JVC HD100 and the Pioneer Kuro plasma. Pioneer also had a pre production version of their new flagship amp which looks like a nice bit of kit.

Biggest surprise for me was the Onkyo 605 with little KEF3005s which was the first cheap sat / sub system I have ever heard that was not utter cack.

Biggest disappointment was the Denon room running the pre/pro and B&W 803d/HTM2d. Strange choice of material (Earth and Fantastic 4) and it was boomy, disjointed and an object lesson that spending a lot of cash is not necessarily the answer. Or it may have been set up by an idiot. Not a great advert for their flagship.

Rob

[Carib]

As a real novice I went along with my father in law yesterday to our first show and had a great day out. Parking was easy as we parked down by the docks and walked 20 mins or so to the show.

We were both surprised how much vynil was being used to demo some of the kit.

Enjoyed the ability to sit and listen to so much equipment albeit I thought some of it sounded awful. Upset the Spendor guy as we didn't think much of the demo speakers but really did like the kef reference demo.

Given the large amount of naim being used to demo other peoples kit I was astonished at how poor their demo room was.

But for me the real treat was undoubtedly the Chord Electronics demo room. I can honestly say I've never heard anything that moved me more than what their equipment was doing to music I'd listened to before. For my ill educated ears, truly astonishing.

For my father in law it was listening to some count basie on the Wilson Benesch set up. He actually asked the guy if that was the same album he'd been listening to for 40 years as he'd never heard it sound like that!

The other thing that surprised me although perhaps it shouldn't have was the massive cables and wires being used. Good job the wife wasn't with us.

For us, a great day out, minus the kids and wives who would have been bored witless within 30 minutes.

[tristan2]

did pioneer have any offers on

[Carib]

5 year warranty on all screens purchased during the show
pdp428xd 284GBP off
pdp508xd 359 gbp off
dvr 550hx 249gbp!
dvrlx60d 399gbp!
and a few other to boot.

So yes, pioneer had a few offers

[signs]

I went yesterday , was it a great show ?..no , it was just Ok

If you love HiFi then you should go ,if like me it's the home cinema your interested in i would give it a miss (saying that the Denon closed door demo was very good)

PS... dose anybody know who the guy was signing the Kef speaker book

[rm48ic]

I've been going to this show for at least ten years and this was the worst yet. The number of exhibitors seemed well down, judging from the lack of rooms taken on the upper floors and the lack of trouble taken by many exhibitors was frustrating.

As others here have said, the SIM 2 demo was a standout and they were one of the very few that were demonstrating much of their range instead of just the flagship product (excellent though that was). IMO the What Hi Fi demo was a joke. Meridian was good although only audio.The JVC projector was impressive.

Sony were showing a 70" LCD screen that looked awful.

On this basis and from what seemed poor public attendance on Friday(compared to previous years on the Friday) there must be a question mark against the future of this event, which is a shame.

[Stuart Wright]

Judging by the stats at AVForums, from Pricegrabber (the price comparison data you see here), from our (limited) reviews and the comments here, people have a major interest in display technology. So the more projectors and specifically flat panel TVs there are on show, the more successful a show will be.

[Max Payne]

I went yesterday, after flying over from Ireland (and got delayed coming back) -didn't get home till 2am....tired.

This was my first time going and to be perfectly honest, I wasn't overly impressed. I got there and was queuing before 10, stayed till 2 and went to the cinema LOL!! (needed to sit down, was knackered)

I thought the show would be more customer orientated and as others have said, it was definitely like a trade show. I didn't think it was focused to actually impressing people enough for them to open their pockets.

The main highlight for me of course,was the SIM2 presentation - but at 70k all in, It would want to impress. I actually nearly missed it as I went to the right and was seeing their 2 projectors in the 2.5-4.5k range (I think) and it was supposed to show the difference between the 2. I wasn't overly impressed with either of them (the lighting wasn't great though) and I was sitting there thinking that I was happy with the picture I was getting at home.

Went over to say hello to the avforums team and had a quick chat with Nigel (who was working as meet and greet) and to offer appreciation and thanks for the forum.

Going up and down the 5 floors and in and out of the room was getting hot and tiring, but there was some nice kit on display, but overall the show has alot of focus towards the audiophile more than video.

Personally I was there to have a good look at some screens (remote and fixed), but only got a chance to discuss and have a look in one room (has his card) and wanted to view some universal remotes etc, but nothing.

I thought there might be a bit more items for purchase: remotes/blu ray discs/larger choice of cables etc, but the main focus was on vinyl.....we have moved on so much then

Not sure if I will be making the trip again, but will look for other shows that may be more suited.

4-5 hours was enough for me, but would have preferred to have had more to see.

I left the show though thinking I made a great choice getting a PS3, who would have thought that going to a Sound and Vision show where top end equipment was on show and most of the companies were using a PS3 as their main Blu Ray input. A games machine being the main input of choice....... who would have thought that a couple of years ago eh?