News: Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2020 - What to expect


We're lucky ~ we live in Bristol! We're hoping that this year's show will be as last, namely nearly all Hi-Fi and hardly any AV/HT. Not that I'm against AV/HT, just that I think it should be treated as a different category of HE and allocated its own show, not least because so many dem's seem to be all crash, bang wallop which, to me, is of no particular interest.
 
I'm sure there is a show in Manchester, for people who don't want to go south, as for distance, I moved from the UK to Portugal, and I'll be there again this year, it's only 2 and half hour flight :thumbsup: :thumbsup::D:D
 
Sorry no idea about blue badge parking. Not been to the show since the creeping demise of AV. At least it’s now titled accurately as a HiFi show. Still a smidge of AV.
 
Is either day out of Saturday or Sunday quieter?
Thanks
 
will not be attending anymore,now its just hi fi and no longer home cinema as well it will be pretty dull,was great when you had a mix of both but in trurh its gone downhill for years,i expect a large drop in numbers now and it may eventually dissapear
 
Well, seems a general trend everywhere that interest is decreasing. Less exhibitors and fewer visiting.
 
Planning to go on Friday. While I agree with others that it is not the ideal listening environment I still love it as a day out. A chance to see a lot of kit under one roof that you would struggle to find outside of the event. And I personally find it a great way of being able to get a quick evaluation of brands / products that might interest me and cause me to look more closely as well as identifying those whose sound just doesn't appeal. Last year was probably the least interesting for me but that was largely because there weren't really that many new products that were on my horizon. From what I have seen of this year's profile I am looking forward to it as there are a good number of stands and exhibits I am interested in seeing and hearing. I see it as a nice day out for me to just indulge in some "me time" and soak in the atmosphere and the opportunity to browse at leisure artefacts of a personal hobby / pleasure / passion.
 
That's how I used to feel, but when it becomes a direct disappointment and you feel you wasted your time, read so much other stuff you could have done instead...
Worse is, it seems to be other sectors as well like the watch fairs.
There is big need in reinventing these fairs I think.
 
always was a great day out but my interest in 2 channel alone is not worth the admission and travel costs for me,will hope it goes back to sound and vison but until then not going to bother
 
And now I see Sony is redrawing from the MWC (mobile world conference) to go to YouTube...

Edit OK following the virus outbreak, so let's see next year if it will be back on. I think it depends on the sucess of YouTube promotions and the like.
 
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I'm sure there is a show in Manchester, for people who don't want to go south, as for distance, I moved from the UK to Portugal, and I'll be there again this year, it's only 2 and half hour flight :thumbsup: :thumbsup::D:D
The Manchester Show ( run by the same as the Bristol show ) hasnt been held for a long time, I'd guess at 10 years or so without looking it up.
I imagine there are smaller Hifi shows around the north of England but I do miss the AV show side of things.
I'm sure some people get upset about carbon footprints but I'm with you on short hop flights I much rather take a couple of days in Europe to watch Gigs with £30 Ryan air flights than watch the same acts in the UK.
 
There is a Hifi Show in the north, it’s called the North West Audio show. There are loads of audio/Hifi shows round the country, they just don’t advertise on here.

Also Bristol is in the South West - very different the the “south” and I don’t just mean the accents ;):rotfl:
And the NWA is a damn good show too!
 
The South has the Windsor show, usually in the Show Ground which is always well attended and offers big venue rooms. The Midlands tried the NEC years ago, not well attended, this was followed with one at a Hotel next to Silverstone GP circuit. Bottom line is that they are there, you need to watch out for them; maybe Bristol is better promoted than some of the others. And if you are after second hand kit the Tonbridge Audiojumble in September is well worth the trip, even if you do live the other end of the country, (see the March hi-news for a look at last years event offers eg 2 complete Quad 33/303/FM2 systems for £600!).

Windsor Show doesn't exist anymore as it has moved to Ascot Racecourse now.
 
Then you have to consider transport costs, ease of access, venue costs, hotels costs - you're trying to attract customers to pay out of their own wallet. I've paid 79 for a hotel with parking included, which wouldn't have been possible in London :)

Having worked for a company that hosts events in London, I can tell you it's immensely expensive.

We had sponsors such as Microsoft who paid 15K just to have their name there and do a short presentation.
There was a show in London called the Indulgence Show, it changed its name last year and was then cancelled at the last minute. Attendance wasn't great even though people had said there was a need for Hi-Fi show there. The costs of a show in London are exorbitant too.
It's not like the old days of the Renaissance when people would fly in from all over the world. Sadly those days have gone and the vast majority now go to Munich High End in May.
 
Anyone there today? Am going Sunday as usual so would be good to hear back from people who’ve actually been round this year.. :thumbsup: Looking forward to Arcam, Emotiva & Kef...
 
Denon plays a bit on my nerves :) Having x3500h AVR, MA Silver 200 speakers, I would like to get a bit better stereo reproduction. Would eagerly buy Denon amp, if they would provide a htc-bypass in the middle PMA-1600 line. The amp is 3 years old already. Marantz at least introduced an integrated amp with the network streamer integrated. 2020 is the 110 years of Denon, hope there is some new amp released this year ....
 
I'm not able to attend this year but if anyone is going and could remember which demo scenes are being used that would be awesome thank you 👍👍
Have fun 🎬
 
Just on way home from Bristol. Pleasantly surprised by the amount of AV demos this year!

Favourite AV demo in terms of being a bit of an eye opener was Focal‘s Atmos demo on the lower ground floor using a Denon 6500 amplifier - was a 5.1.2 upward firing speaker package at £3850 from recollection, £6500 inc the Denon amp. Very impressive performance.

To put it into context, there was a very high end £15k kef atmos speaker package (£35k as a complete setup apparently) on demo in the adjoining room, and whilst it’s subjective I thought the focal/Denon demo was at a different level performance wise - was very impressed!

Arcam were running a 5/7.2.4 demo (think that the number of channels) which was also very good using their AV40 and 2xAV720’s(?), which gave a solid performance using their associated JBL speaker range.

The other AV demo was for an Emotiva/SVS demo on the 4th floor, similar to last year.

What hifi also had LG’s 77” 8k tv which was interesting to see and watch.

Very interesting and a worthwhile day out!
 
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Mostly various scenes from a Dolby Atmos demo disk, Kef also had Hans Zimmer live in Prague and Arcam had a star is born / King Kong!
 
Just on way home from Bristol. Pleasantly surprised by the amount of AV demos this year!

Favourite AV demo in terms of being a bit of an eye opener was Focal‘s Atmos demo on the lower ground floor using a Denon 6500 amplifier - was a 5.2.4 upward firing speaker package at £3850 from recollection, £6500 inc the Denon amp. Very impressive performance.
Unusual not to use their own AV / Astral gear, was it a Focal stand or just a stand using Focal speakers?
To put it into context, there was a very high end £15k kef atmos speaker package (£35k as a complete setup apparently) on demo in the adjoining room, and whilst it’s subjective I thought the focal/Denon demo was at a different level performance wise - was very impressed!

Arcam were running a 5.2.4 demo (think that the number of channels) which was also very good using their AV40 and 3xAV240’s(?), which gave a solid performance using their associated JBL speaker range.
If the number of channels is right that's disappointing, it was meant to be 7.4.4, i.e. using 15 channels and Dirac. Do you know if it had Dirac or not?
The other AV demo was for an Emotiva/SVS demo on the 4th floor, similar to last year.
Last year the I'm not sure the Emotiva AV processor was being used, do you know if it was being used this year and if so, again did it have Dirac?
What hifi also had LG’s 77” 8k tv which was interesting to see and watch.

Very interesting and a worthwhile day out!
Am glad you were impressed, last year had some good highlights, I've never found it all bad, just varying levels of good and boring each year, although I do equally enjoy Hi-Fi and AV and have been going for years, long time before they had much AV stuff there at all.
 

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