It was an excellent day today at the UK Audio Show 2024, which featured many highlights, including a first look at the stunning Focal DIVA UTOPIA connected and fully amplified loudspeakers. The video is on our YouTube channel here.
Focal/Naim
It was a show of two halves, with no Pink Floyd, until we went upstairs after lunch! Here’s the playlist. Musical highlights included listening to A Forest (The Cure, from Seventeen Seconds) on the (what I assumed was) UK debut of the new thirty thousand pounds active Focal DIVA UTOPIA. These loudspeakers were a magnificent sight.
Henley Audio
The first room on the left was Henley’s, where the new HiFi Rose RD160 DAC was launched. Its front screen has a very cool, behind-the-screen look.
Paired with the Piega 611 Coax II and the crazy good RA180, this was a lovely presentation, as always, from Henley Audio.
Henley had a second room at the show, and the Musical Fidelity A1 kept it warm with more Piega ACE 50 floor-standing loudspeakers.
Technics
It was a loudspeaker-heavy show for me, and a further highlight was the Technics active SC-CX700P loudspeakers, which pair wirelessly like the Focal DIVA. They were fully functional, with the electronics isolated from the drive unit, ensuring a clean delivery. However, these active loudspeakers are at a slightly different price point from the DIVAs.
The room featured the active loudspeakers with a Technics SL 1200 turntable that had a built-in phono stage to pair simply with the active loudspeakers; it was a neat solution that, to me, hints at the future direction of loudspeakers in the modern era with high-quality, affordable music delivery with minimal boxes and cables, watch this space for a review of the SC-CX700P. A shout out here to the very engaging Kevin Walker, who reminded me of how good Annenmaykantereit’s version of Tom’s Diner is.
Art Loudspeaker
Another interesting room was the Art Loudspeakers room, where they showed off their very nicely constructed loudspeakers. They featured a heavily laminated cabinet with a front fascia made with a composite paper-based product called Richlite. The Room had Bricasti electronics, and the Seas drivers they used were on display.
Russel K
A further room that worked well was the Russel K room, where they were showing their Red 150Se loudspeakers with stunning T+A HV electronics.
Coppice Audio
The final loudspeaker shout-out goes to Coppice Audio, whose cabinets were stunning (see the video). According to designer and cabinet maker Ryan Morse, the beautiful etching on the side is part of the cabinet design. They were showing their loudspeakers with Connected Fidelity.
Chord Company with Kerr Acoustics
There were more stunning loudspeakers in the Chord Company Room from Kerr Acoustics, so congratulations on their presentation. When I was in the room, they were playing Public Service Broadcast on vinyl, The Race for Space. JFK’s voice was spine-tingling.
MBS
The most interesting room I have been in for a long time was Byron Thompson’s, which had to be heard to be believed.
Byron and his colleague offer room optimization services based on a methodology called PAVING. They apply this methodology to any system at any price for a modest (in my view) fee. It made sense to me; PAVING stands for Power, Acoustics, Vibration, Interconnects and Cabkes, Noise Reduction, and Grounding.
The presentation in the room involved a straight A-B test with some rather high-end kit, including QLN Prestige One loudspeakers, a Roon Nucleus, and a B.Audio DAC. After listening to a couple of tracks, Byron and his colleague added an active grounding solution from Telos, some Synergistic Research Footers under the DAC, two Neodio Origine Purifiers and a Synergistic Research Black Box. The HFT dots generated the most consternation in the room as they were added to the loudspeakers. These dots were meticulously placed on the QLN loudspeakers, with some harmonising UEF Acoustic Dots on the room walls!
The end result of the adjustments was stunning, with a much-improved soundstage, added clarity, and bass control. I’m not so clear on the overall costs of the adjustments compared to the original system, but I was pleased to discover Yo-Yo Ma’s tribute to Enrico Morricone in the room. It was an interesting and intriguing presentation.
That’s almost the end of the HiFi Show Season, with Edinburgh due in November. Then, onwards to Bristol, and let’s do it all again. Watch our video here, and please subscribe to the channel.