The British Sound & Vision Show 2017
The Bristol Sound & Vision Show turns 30 this year. Here’s what to look out for at the UK’S longest-running hi-fi extravaganza ”Since it was first held in 1988, the Bristol show has been a celebration of the very best that the hi-fi industry has to offer
The Bristol Sound and Vision show is celebrating its 30th year, making it the UK’S largest and longest running hi-fi show. Since 1988, the show has been a celebration of the very best the hi- industry has to oer.
This year, 182 exhibitors will make their way to the Marriott City Centre Hotel for the show, which is spread over eight floors. Get your hands on the latest tech, from amplifiers to vinyl, headphones to home cinema, and chat to the manufacturers about their products. There are a few bargains to be had as well.
Here’s a taste of what to expect at the Bristol Sound and Vision show 2017.
Arcam
One of the highlights of the Arcam room will be its rplay audio streamer and DAC with DTS Play-fi to which we awarded a Stars of CES accolade.
Arcam will also show its £4000 AV860 AV preamp/processor with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X 7.1.4 decoding, Class G amplification and full 4K HDCP2.2 and HDMI 2.0a compliance.
Acoustic Energy
Acoustic Energy is launching new versions of its AE1 loudspeaker, the first of which is the domestic AE1 Active speaker. It is also bringing the BT2 Bluetooth speaker, and a redesigned and updated AE109 speaker, which will be available in the spring.
Bowers & Wilkins
Bowers & Wilkins will show its 800 Series Diamond speakers “in a variety of configurations” for the first time in the UK. No specifics yet, but we do know that there will also be a new subwoofer featured as part of the system.
Chord Electronics
Chord is in two ground-floor areas this year, with three new products: the Hugo 2 DAC and Poly, a dedicated network module for Chord’s portable Mojo DAC. It will also show the new Blu MKII upscaling CD transport, designed to work with the high-end DAC, DAVE.
Exposure Electronics
New from Exposure will be its half-width XM series of amplifiers: the XM5 integrated with built-in phono stage and DAC, and the X3, a standalone phono stage with separate moving magnet and moving coil inputs as well as adjustable loading and gain.
Harbeth
To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Harbeth is launching two limited-edition versions of its Superhl5plus speaker and brand flagship, the M40.2. Both have a walnut veneer, a new ‘super-tweeter’ with protection bar and new audio-grade poly capacitors – and limited-edition badges front and back.
Isoacoustics
Making their Bristol debut will be the Isopucks – small discs placed under your speakers to isolate them from the surface. The Isopucks feature flange suction cups on the top and bottom.
KEF
The British speaker specialist will show off its LS50A Wireless music system in Concorde Suites 1 and 2. With 200W of built-in Class D amplification, Bluetooth
and a 24-bit/192khz DAC, it has all your hi-fi needs in a plug-and-play system.
Kudos
Exclusively showing at Bristol will be a prototype of the new Titan 707 speaker, a smaller, single-box version of the flagship Titan 808. The 707 will run in active mode with high-end systems from the likes of Linn and Devialet. Come and hear it for yourself in Bristol.
Monitor Audio
Taking up two rooms at the exhibition, Monitor Audio will have a 5.1 channel set-up of its Platinum II speakers, including the 300, 100, C350 and W15 subwoofer, in Room 1008.
In Room 208, the Platinum II 100 and 200 loudspeakers will be paired with Roksan’s Blak amplifier and CD player. There will also be the Roksan Radius and Xerxes turntables on display.
Musical Fidelity
Looking for somewhere to store your music? The M6 Encore Connect might interest you: it has 1TB of internal storage that connects with network speakers and an analogue preamp providing fixed and variable outputs.
Naim Audio
One of the highlights of the Naim room will be the company’s all-new Uniti range of wireless streaming products. This could be the first chance for many UK visitors to see and hear Naim’s impressive new line-up in action.
Nunu Distribution
Making their UK debut are the Micro Evolution One TADME1K bookshelf speakers. They feature a 16cm woofer and 9cm CST1 driver with beryllium tweeter. The speakers are tuned to give a ‘natural deep bass sound’, thanks in part to a bi-directional ADS2 port.
Q Acoustics
For 2017, Q Acoustics is showing off the finalised Concept 500 loudspeakers – they’re £3600 per pair, and weigh 42kg each. The prototypes were announced at the 2016 Munich show – the finished products have bespoke driver units, and “more advanced speaker technology than you can shake a stick at”.
Quadral
Quadral is bringing the Galan 9 desktop speaker to the Bristol show with the bold claim that “it is the best product we have ever made”. It’s the smallest of the range, with a 16cm woofer and a tweeter on top, but Quadral says it delivers a big sound.
Rega
In Room 224 on the second floor, Rega will launch a new version of its Brio 50W per channel stereo amplifier. It has been given a redesigned circuit board and two separate power supplies: one for the main power amp section, a smaller unit for the phono stage and preamp, a dedicated headphone jack and moving magnet phono stage.
Sennheiser
On the Sennheiser stand you’ll be able to see a number of headphones, including the wireless and noisecancelling PXC 550s, the HD 800 S, the new HD 5 series, and the new Momentum in-ear wireless headphones.
Sony
For the first time in the UK, Sony is revealing its new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player, the UBPX800. We managed to get a hands-on with the player at CES in January, but are yet to see it in action.
There’s also an appearance from the new STRDN1080 AV receiver, which supports Dolby Atmos (a first for Sony) and DTS: X along with 4K HDR passthrough and upscaling.
Wilson Benesch
Wilson Benesch is showing off the fifth iteration of its A.C.T. One Evolution P1 loudspeaker straight from Las Vegas. Using carbon fibre to dampen any sound colouration, it’s a touch of genuine high-end (£21,500) engineering.