Sterenet Australia Hi-Fi Show 2024

[Keith_W]

It will be on one month from now - website. I covered last year's show in this thread.

I am curious whether any ASR members will be attending? Perhaps we could organize a meet-up?

 

[Keith_W]

Nobody got in touch with me so I am guessing you may not have seen my previous message. I did meet up with some friends who are ASR members though.

The show was on yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I was once again ASR's self-appointed reporter. Unlike last year's show, this time I brought along a notepad and scribbled some listening impressions. I kept quiet and did not challenge anybody who made silly claims. Well, I didn't challenge them very much So here is a selection of random quotes:
Me: "You are using a Storm Audio processor. It has Dirac ART in it. Why aren't you using it?"
Exhibitor: "Because it sounds awful. Home theatres need to get the fundamentals right, if you have good speakers you do not need DSP besides Atmos".
Me: "How do you set the time alignment and use two subwoofers then"
Exhibitor: "With test tones and a handheld RTA"

Exhibitor: "Our speaker is able to have a flat group delay curve down to 18Hz without DSP"
Me: "Your speaker has ports doesn't it?"
Exhibitor: "Yes"
Me: "So how do you get a ported speaker to have a flat GD curve to 18Hz?"
Exhibitor: "Trade secret".
Me: "Can I see the measurements please?"
Exhibitor: "We didn't bring it with us"

Exhibitor (who knows I am a doctor): "Reproduction up to 30kHz is important because we need to hear the harmonics"
Exhibitor (saw my reaction): "You don't believe me, do you"
Me: "I ask you questions so that I can hear your point of view. I don't necessarily have to agree"
Exhibitor: "you must be a diplomat"

So on with the show report.

KRIX / TRINNOV / BARCO

I broke my usual boycott of HT systems and visited the Krix system this year, and I am glad that I did. What attracted me was the Trinnov Waveforming demonstration. The room was about 6m x 9m (20ft x 30ft), had six of these dual opposed 18" subs in it arranged in a double bass array configuration. The speakers were Krix's new horn loaded HT speaker. For those who don't know, Krix is well known in the pro audio world and they mostly supply speakers for cinemas.

Listening impressions. A selection of movie clips from Top Gun, Ghostbusters, and John Wick were played. I would say the demo was impressive but flawed. What is impressive: the sheer SPL the speakers could put out cleanly. The bass was incredible, there was a lot of it and it was "dry". What was flawed: it was played too loud. There was a treble peak somewhere. The temporary scaffolding they erected audibly rattled. The demo was overblown - e.g. someone slammed a door shut and the whole room shook with bass. Possibly an overzealous sound editor at Columbia.

I was able to have a long chat with Dave Murphy, their senior engineer who said "they only call me that because I am old and I have senior moments". Nothing frail about this guy, he is incredibly sharp, humble, and witty. Here is a selection of our conversation.

Me: "What is the difference between your pro audio cinema speakers and the home theatre speakers?"
Dave: "Home theatre speakers are constrained by size. Because we use horns, this means that the horns have to cover a higher frequency range and can not go as low. Home users can not deploy as many speakers, which means that the directivity has to be wider to provide consistent seat to seat coverage".

Me: "Can speakers designed for 2 channel be used for home theatre?"
Him: "It depends on how wide your seating area is. 2 channel speakers typically have more narrow directivity and a smaller sweet spot. Narrow directivity is great if you want to avoid side wall reflections, but not if you want to provide a good experience for more listeners who may be sitting quite far off axis".

Me: "What are your requirements for directivity for home theatre speakers?"
Him: "I designed these speakers to be -6dB at 90 degrees horizontal and 40 degrees vertical".

Me: "Are you aware that your speakers have a treble peak somewhere around 3-4kHz?"
Him: "Oh you heard it too! Yeah, they shouldn't have that peak. But all I do is design the speakers, I am not in charge of the demonstration. They are playing way too loud, and there are room issues. I don't know what it is. There is no peak in the design."

STORM AUDIO / ASCENDO

After I walked out of the Krix room I chatted with my friend and told him that demo was really impressive. An exhibitor heard me chatting and said "come into this room and see what you think".

So I walked in and saw the biggest subwoofer I have ever seen in my life. That's an Ascendo 50" subwoofer, with two other subwoofers in the room and Ascendo speakers throughout. Storm Audio provided the 17 channel HT preamp, and it had Dirac ART working. I was quite excited - I had just heard my first DBA, and my first experience with Trinnov Waveforming, and now my first experience with Dirac ART. They again played movie clips from the same selection of movies (!!) either fortuitously or by design.

Listening impressions. Not a fair comparison because these guys weren't playing anywhere near as loud. The volume chosen was more realistic, and the system overall was free from the treble spike I could hear in the Krix room. I would be hard pressed to pick which room had the better bass. This room did not rattle me as much because of the lower volume, but it was just as clean as the Krix room. This time there was no rattling scaffolding or any strange issues - just a smooth, well done presentation with no audible flaws. If I was nitpicky I would say it was on the wet side.

I had a chat with a French gentleman who introduced himself as Olivier Thumerel. i.e. the Managing Director of Storm Audio. We had a pleasant chat, but I don't think that answering technical questions about DSP was his strong suit. To his credit, rather than trying to give me BS answers, he said "I don't know that one, I have to speak to my engineer".

AUDIO RESEARCH / SONUS FABER

The Sonus Faber Amati G5 (AUD$80k) was paired with a pair of new Audio Research Reference 330M monoblocks. Sonus Faber always sounds lovely in my opinion, but this room (like most rooms) had setup issues. Despite the appearance of the photo, the sweet spot was too close to the speaker and it was a bit too "in your face" for me. As for bass: some rooms had too much, some had too little, but this one was in the Goldilocks zone.

That Audio Research was beautifully styled. Look at those VU Meters! I have never seen a more attractive VU Meter in my life.

PITT AND GIBLIN

These guys are a relatively new Australian speaker manufacturer based in Hobart, Tasmania. All their speakers are (1) horns, (2) active, and (3) DSP controlled. I did not take a picture of the electronics, but it was an attractive slim box which was beautifully finished and housed the amps and the DSP module. They were using a Pascal module. I was told that it does speaker and room correction, but they are unwilling to let the owner DIY their own correction. Purchase price of the speaker (about AUD$25k) includes delivery and installation, which includes room correction. One reason it is so expensive is because that horn is milled from brass. I should ask them whether they milled a casting, because milling a solid block of brass down to a horn would involve throwing 90% of it away as shavings.

Listening impressions: This year's demo was less convincing than last year. Last year, they brought a bigger speaker. The speaker they brought this time either could not go very loud, or they did not want it to. Either way, I did not get a satisfactory demo - too soft. It sounded OK.


SPENDOR / CARY SYSTEM

I was not expecting much to be honest. 40W integrated valve amp, British speakers, terrible selection of music, yawn. But I have to admit I was surprised by how much bass this thing was able to put out. It actually sounded lovely despite those awful audiophile tracks. The exhibitor had network issues that prevented him from playing what I wanted to hear. The speakers cost AUD$19k, and the amp is $9k.

Incidentally, last year Revel was in the same room and in the same position. I thought that the Revels sounded way too boomy. No Revel this year. This makes me wonder if it is the room which made the Revels sound boomy, and is somehow making the bass from these speakers sound adequate. Don't know.

More rooms and pics to follow.

 

[Galliardist]

Thanks. Another year and another two missed Australian shows for me... maybe next year? Looking forward to the next post.

 

[Keith_W]

PITT AND GIBLIN Revisited

I decided I needed to understand this speaker a bit more so I went back and had another chat with them. That horn is cast brass that they cast themselves. If you look closely you can see the casting marks. I was able to get a picture of the small amplifier they were using. That's a Bluesound streamer next to it for some idea of it's size. It's a 4 channel Class D amplifier with a Pascal DSP unit built-in. The DSP does speaker correction and limited room correction. You connect to the amp via Wi-Fi and from there you are able to manipulate some settings. The "Room Correction" is done via PEQ's. If you buy a speaker, they will mail you a USB microphone. You do the measurement and send it to them and return the mic. Then they will tell you what PEQ's to set.


VAF LOUDSPEAKERS / McINTOSH / DEQX

VAF are an Australian loudspeaker company based in Adelaide. They would hate me for saying this, but many of us consider them the spiritual successor to Dunlavy. Look at the design similarities, D'Appolito MTM, time alignment via stepped baffle, foam cutouts for diffraction control. They exhibited their new I-93 Mk. V speaker.

Most people I spoke to at the show felt that this was one of the best sounding systems. I would agree - it was neutral sounding, free of any tonal annoyances, and the sound in the room was fairly "dry" with some modest room treatment. The DEQX was in the circuit, but the passive XO was not bypassed (meaning that the DEQX was not handling the crossover). The DEQX was providing some modest room correction and there was a slight treble tilt to compensate for nearfield listening and knock down the brightness a little. IMO it was truly lovely with plenty of slam and weight and it could go really loud when it needed to. I can't fault the sound in this room at all.

Someone said "this shows that Aussie speakers are among the best in the world". I said "the owner (Phil Vafiadis) and the designer (Nick Ataliotis) are Greek". Anyway, I was able to chat with the designer.

Me: "How do you time align your speaker? Is it aligned to the ZDP (Zero Delay Plane)?"
Him: "First we find the ZDP by measurement then we delay the start of the tweeter impulse to match the driver in question".
Me: "A 1ms delay is 30cm (1 foot) distance. Delays between drivers are often more than that. It is impossible to align by spacing drivers on the baffle alone. How do you do it?"
Him: "In the crossover".
When I pressed him, he declined to give me details on exactly how they do it. Once they get in the ball park, they adjust the driver spacing for fine tuning.
Me: "Won't staggering drivers vertically on a baffle affect the dispersion characteristics?"
Him: "Vertical dispersion yes, but that is less important than horizontal dispersion which isn't impacted as much".
Me: "Can I see your step response and spinorama?"
Him: "I didn't think anybody would ask for them so I didn't bring them. Even journalists don't ask for them".

DEQX ROOM

Right next to the VAF room was the DEQX room. The owners of both companies have been friends for a long time, and there was much debate between which system sounded better. Most people agreed that the DEQX system sounded better than it had any right to. Those speakers are garage specials and were literally knocked together in a very obvious DIY fashion. Yet they had exceptional clarity and transparency. I wrote more about the DEQX in this thread.

A friend told me that he thought that the VAF sounded better even though they both had DEQX in the system. I pointed out that the DEQX was being used more extensively in the DEQX system, and only half its functions were being used in the VAF. He asked me why does it sound better? I said that in the end, the VAF is simply a better speaker. DEQX can help improve a speaker, but how much it improves is speaker dependent. Especially at high frequencies.


HULGICH AUDIO / OAD ULTRAFIDELITY

Another contender for "best speaker" was Adelaide based Hulgich Audio, powered by OAD Class A/B amps. Some people were not impressed by the Hulgich room, but I was. That's because I blame the room for the sound, and not the speakers. The bass was obviously lumpy (like it is in EVERY room in the show with the exception of the DSP rooms), and there were obvious reverb issues. The room was slightly larger than the VAF room, and the seats were further away - which meant that the DRR (Direct sound to reverb ratio) was lower. Obviously I did not measure the DRR, it is only my guess. What I look for are audible flaws that I can blame on the speaker, and I did not find any. It had a thicker, richer tone than the VAF's, maybe due to the reverb, but it was not objectionable. And like the VAF's, they had superb scale and could go really loud without issues.

The gentleman with the laptop is Nick Hulgich, who designs and manufactures the speakers. When he saw me, he remembered me from last year and said "you are the guy who was asking about measurements. Well, I brought them". He pulled out his laptop and started showing me frequency plots, impedance curves, step response. In fact, everything except the directivity. He did not want me to take a photo of the measurements, but he let me take a picture of him with the laptop. I can report that he is very proud of his work, and from the measurements I saw, there was nothing wrong with them. But I would still have liked to see the spinorama.

HEY NOW HIFI / DOHMAN TURNTABLE / FISCHER & FISCHER SPEAKERS

Another favourite among Aussies is the Dohmann Helix turntable (AUD$60k without arm). Mark Dohmann is well known for designing the Continuum turntable which was nominated by Michael Fremer as the best in the world. Well, he has his own company now. That tone arm with the red light is a laser guided tangential tracking tonearm. The laser monitors the position of the arm and adjusts it. I have been to one of Mark Dohmann's talks in the past and the guy is an engineer through and through. Put aside your feelings for vinyl reproduction for a minute (I put mine aside, I personally think it's a lot of trouble and expense to gain average performance at best). I think you guys would love hearing what he has to say on ASR just to geek out on the engineering.

I like to think that ASR members are allowed to love mechanical things that are well engineered even if they don't perform as well as digital. After all, many of us love mechanical watches even though we know that quartz is better. That's how I view this turntable, it is a mechanical wonder. It has no right to work as well as it does.

 

[Keith_W]

SPECTRAFLORA LOUDSPEAKERS

Any new Australian company always sparks interest from showgoers, and this year the newcomer was Floraspectra. The husband and wife team are from Inverleigh, which is about 100km from Melbourne. Despite the excitement about a new entry, the reaction was somewhat lukewarm. Some people loved the styling, others didn't. They certainly are unique. There was also something a little off about the sound, as if there was some coloration around the mids (I am not sure). Without access to the measurements, I don't know. All I can say is - it looks promising, hopefully they will work on it a bit more and we'll see them again next year.

JBL / HARMAN ROOM

I foolishly did not write down what electronics they were using, so I can't tell you. When I walked in, they were playing the JBL L100's (the larger of the two retro speakers with the orange cover). I was surprised by how good they sounded, I thought they would sound "retro" (as in muddy). There was an impressive amount of bass, and they sounded clear and articulate. Well done.

FYNE AUDIO

Fyne Audio was set up by a bunch of engineers who left Tannoy after Tannoy was taken over by a venture capital firm. They wanted to continue to innovate and develop new products. Hence the similarity to Tannoy's designs - single driver coaxial with optional supertweeter. I have to admit my eyes glazed over when the usual myths about hearing over 20kHz were mentioned in the marketing spiel. The little dial at the bottom is a Tannoy-style crossover adjustment which adjusts "presence" - I was told "it makes your speakers sound closer or further away". The marking on the dial said "Bass Treble" so I am guessing it is some kind of tone control L-pad built into the crossover. Subjectively it sounded U-shaped to me with bottom and top end. I checked the "presence controller" and everything was at zero.

WILSON WATT-PUPPY

This was the worst Wilson WP demonstration I have ever heard. It was paired with Linn electronics. I have heard Wilson WP's many times before, and each time it has a punchy, almost physical midbass. Well, that was missing - the first time I have ever heard a Wilson not sound aggressively physical. I know these speakers can do a lot better, so it had something to do with the setup.

The exhibitor was pretty funny. He had flown down from Scotland to promote Linn products, and he said "We can't talk Scotland without talking Whiskey" and invited us to join a free raffle to win a bottle of Glenfiddich. Sadly, I did not win.

MARTEN SPEAKERS / ESTELON SPEAKERS

These were the most expensive speakers at the show. The Martens were AUD$250k and the Estelons $125k. We got to hear them back to back. IMO the Martens sounded much better - there was more bass, it sounded less thin, and it was simply more enjoyable. This room was always packed when I walked past, and most people I spoke to agreed that the Martens were better.

 

[Basilderat]

Great write-up. If they ever come to Sydney I would love to go!

 

[Doodski]

Thank you for showcasing this esoteric gear that is obviously at the forefront of speaker aesthetics.

 

[TonyJZX]

Great write-up. If they ever come to Sydney I would love to go!

there was a sydney hifi show

Australian Hi-Fi Show 2024

An exhibition and live demonstrations of some of the worlds most renowned Hi-Fi and AV products including televisions, projectors, headphones, home theatre systems, amplifiers, streamers, wireless and Bluetooth speakers and everything in between.

www.ticketebo.com.au

i didnt go... i mean why would you? pack of weirdos

but I have a contact in the media industry who went as part of his coverage and he said it was shit and no one went so next year... probably not going to be another one but hey... you know this is Sydney when stuff like this bombs hard.

 

[Galliardist]

there was a sydney hifi show

Australian Hi-Fi Show 2024

An exhibition and live demonstrations of some of the worlds most renowned Hi-Fi and AV products including televisions, projectors, headphones, home theatre systems, amplifiers, streamers, wireless and Bluetooth speakers and everything in between.

www.ticketebo.com.au

i didnt go... i mean why would you? pack of weirdos

but I have a contact in the media industry who went as part of his coverage and he said it was shit and no one went so next year... probably not going to be another one but hey... you know this is Sydney when stuff like this bombs hard.

I hadn't heard that attendance was so bad.

Anyway, 2025 has been announced:

Australian Hi-Fi Show 2025

Sydney's premier hi-fi and video show is brought to you by Australian Hi-Fi, What Hi-Fi? and Sound+Image magazines, the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2025 celebrating the latest and greatest in the hi-fi and AV industry, giving visitors the opportunity to see and

www.ticketebo.com.au

Organised by What HiFi, and register early for the chance to win a soundbar. Probably not ASR territory.

 

[AudioJester]

The Sydney show was really poorly marketed this year. Attendance was less than the previous year, which made it easier to hear things. Was fun to hear so many varied systems

 

[Keith_W]

i didnt go... i mean why would you? pack of weirdos

I go because there are people at the show with actual knowledge. If they don't know who you are, they will give you the usual marketing speak. For e.g. I asked a speaker designer "why dipoles?" and was given the usual marketing fluff about how it avoids boxy sound. I pressed him more and more until he realised that he wasn't talking to some regular audio schmuck and that's when the conversation got really interesting. He was really open minded and we had a great discussion on reflections and room acoustics. He gave me his phone number and invited me to visit him at home.

Most of these speaker designers are objectivists. Some of them have funny ideas, but they still know things that I don't know. You just have to find the right person to talk to and ask them intelligent questions. And just as important - don't believe them unless they can back it up with evidence.

 

[The Doctor]

I went to the Melbourne Show on Sunday. My views are a little different to those of the op. Rather than pick on individual pieces of equipment, I prefer to listen to the music played in the room. There were a number of excellent sounding rooms. The Estelons powered by the Gryphon 333 sounded very good indeed and produced a sound that realistically matched that of a live performance. The Vivid room was very impressive even though the Giya 1 and 2 were not demonstrated, but the Kayas were. Unlike the op I was not a fan of the JBLs finding that they had excessive and boomy bass.
The VAFs sounded ok but there were far better rooms. HeyNow put together a very fine system with an Airtight amp and Fischer und Fischer slate speakers. I spent quite a bit of time in there. The Doehmann turntable sounded outstanding in this setup. It is no surprise that classical music lovers prefer turntables to streaming.
One very interesting room showcased the Brodmann speakers from Vienna. These sounded extraordinarily musical. I have no doubt that many members here would not like them as they have some "interesting technology" and do not really measure well. However if you like classical music you could not go wrong with these.
It was an interesting and enjoyable show. I also find that if you do not give people the third degree and attempt to show how much you know, (or do not know), that many of those in charge of the rooms are happy to accommodate your musical tastes.

 

[sixty2strat]

Anyone that visited the KEF main room, the rep spent 20mins talking about impact of 10k+ cables and barely demod the speakers. Did this go on for the rest of the show? Unsure if was a cable demo or a speaker demo.