Event – The Hi-Fi Show 2000 in London

Like last year, the Show took place at Novotel in Hammersmith, London. It is organized by the British Hi-Fi News magazine. This time I was accompanied by three of my audiophile friends from Istanbul Hi-Fi Club: Cuneyt Borcbakan, Haluk Ozumerzifon and Mahmut Yener. We visited the Show during the first two trade days.

As this was my second consecutive year at the same event, I noticed that some manufacturers (like Linn, Carfrae, Beauhorn) although remarkable, had exactly the same components in the their stands. I chose not to include them in this report (please read my 1999 comments about them) and only concentrated on new and/or different products.

Please read my below commentaries having the following in mind:

Due to the adverse acoustical (and other) conditions of the shows, this is not an absolute review but just my impressions.

I only covered the rooms which seemed either original, interesting or had a new product.

I automatically skipped all rooms with a screen (white or plasma) between the two speakers.

I always tried to evaluate using my own CD’s which were:

• R. Strauss / Violin Sonatas / Chung, Zimerman / DG427 617-2

• Keith Jarrett Trio / Bye Bye Blackbird / ECM 1467 513 074-2

• Shostakovich / Symphony No.8 / Concertgebouw, Haitink / Decca 411 616-2

I was listening to systems and not to components and therefore, if my impressions are favorable, this may indicate that either all the components are sounding good or the synergy is good. In the opposite case, either one or more components are causing it or the synergy is poor. Speaker positioning and room treatment are also extremely important.

The order of visits is totally random.

Click images to enlarge and read descriptions.

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