After several years when the Bristol Hi-Fi Show was off the schedule, business seemed to be back to normal for the UK’s biggest and longest-running hi-fi show for the second year in a row.
And as usual, those were a number of new products recently unveiled at the show, as well as some prototypes introduced in (renovated) rooms at the Bristol Marriott Hotel. The Bristol Hi-Fi Show is over for another year, and here are some of the products that caught Trusted Reviews’ attention at the event.
Optoma
I can’t claim to know of any Hi-Fi shows that are also showcases for home cinema launches, but a colleague tells me that the Bristol Hi-Fi Show was once home to both shows. So think of this as something of a return to the “Sound & Vision” era with the launch of his Optoma UHZ55 projector.
Key features here include 3000 lumens of brightness, HDR support, and Optoma’s DuraCore laser light source that can produce crystal-clear images. Watching the trailer for Furiosa on a projector certainly looked impressive.
kanto audio
Kanto had a range of speakers on display at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show, from the smallest speakers to subwoofers and larger models due to be released later this year. The Kanto Ora was announced in 2023, but what interested us was the new Ren active speaker with HDMI ARC connectivity. It aims to be a speaker that takes up less space and delivers better sound than a soundbar, and is expected to go on sale later this year.
Naim
I actually saw the Naim Uniti Nova PE (Power Edition) at CES 2024 but wasn’t allowed to talk about it. Now announced and available, the Nova PE inherits the same Naim design aesthetic, but with even more power than before. This is an all-in-one system that can easily power your headphones or his Hi-Fi speakers in your home.
focal
The Focal Aria Evo X was also announced ahead of CES and is available for purchase now. Combining good looks with impressively transparent sound, these floorstanders are likely to become a very popular premium pair.
tannoy
In the midst of a resurgence after several years of absence from the hi-fi scene, Tannoy has previewed the Stirling III LZ Special Edition stand-mount speaker. A 2-way floor-standing pair with 10-inch dual concentric speakers and a cabinet made from oiled walnut veneer. Like many of his Hi-Fi speaker brands, Stirling has gone the route of “incredibly huge and flashy.” They’re also quite expensive at £11,995 per pair.
fine
Moving from Tannoy to Fyne (which in another lifetime was Tannoy), they debuted the Vintage SuperTrax. However, it wasn’t the speakers themselves that drew the most attention, but rather his SuperTrax technology, which Fyne introduced at the event. The SuperTrax is a “super tweeter” according to Fine, eliminating the narrow directional beam that plagues tweeters and producing 360 degrees of “omnidirectional dispersion” that can effectively eliminate the sweet spot. .
It’s like a mousetrap if you ask us. Or the contraption that people would tap to generate Morse code.
rega
We flew into Rega’s room and found some prototypes with Solis power amps and Mercury preamps. There wasn’t much information about either product, but we expect more details to be revealed ahead of their launch in mid-2024. Also on display was the Nd7 moving magnet cartridge, which Rega says has been “developed for over 10 years to deliver the next product.” level performance. ” Please look forward to that later this year.
Wharfedale
At the Bristol Hi-Fi Show we didn’t have time to cover all the brands/products we wanted. So our recap of the event ends with Wharfedale and specifically the new Super Denton (not Denton 3) speakers. It’s a 3-way (yes, 3-way) speaker with a 1-inch soft dome tweeter, 2-inch soft dome midrange, and a 6.5-inch woven Kevlar unit for low frequencies.
It boasts a compact design (though slightly larger than a traditional bookshelf). Priced at £999.95 per pair, they have a rich, lively sound. The Super Denton is also expected to be another Wharfedale speaker that sells like hotcakes.