Audio Show Deluxe may be a relatively new addition to the UK hifi exhibition calendar, but in just four years it has carved out a distinctive identity. Created by Kris Sawicki and Stuart Smith of HiFi Pig, the show was designed to be more intimate, more focused, and more conducive to real listening. With fewer rooms, a relaxed pace, and a strong emphasis on highend audio, it has quickly become a standout event.
Set in the elegant Whittlebury Hall – “a large manor house style building with its own golf club, spa and a fantastic country club atmosphere” – the venue strikes the perfect balance between scale and comfort. It is big enough for serious systems, yet intimate enough that visitors never feel lost.
This year, many KJ West One brands were on display across several rooms, giving me the chance to hear familiar products in new environments and to see how showgoers responded to them.
The first room I ventured into was Boyer’s main room (they have had two). It was one of the largest rooms at the show and visually it was stunning. Boyer always put a lot of effort into branding and the soft orange lighting and decorative foliage really set the scene for the system.
This was one of my most anticipated rooms because I knew that they were demonstrating the brand new WADAX Studio Collection. As you may know we are big fans of the Studio Player (CD/Streamer) that was released last year and we have been looking forward to hearing the accompanying master clock and PSU that have now been released.
Boyer had the WADAX playing as the heart of their system and paired it with a nice selection of their other brands: Kroma Atelier Callas speakers, Orpheus Lab H Three M800 mono amps, H Two 33BD pre-amp and a full complement of Shunyata cables and mains conditioning with Bassocontinuo racks.
This was an impressive system. The sound was expansive; it filled the very large room but yet it still sounded intimate. Whilst I was there, Brandon Lauer from Wadax was ‘DJing’ and his selection showed of the system very well. The sound was effortless with lots of texture and depth. Female vocals (notably difficult to reproduce) were excellent, and you really felt the tone of the singer’s voice.
This was a fantastic start to the show, so I then headed over to their smaller second room. This room featured a product I know very well, the Engstrom Arne valve amplifier. It was partnered with the Cinnamon Galle DAC, Metronome Le Streamer, Kroma Atelier Thais speakers and of course Shunyata cabling and conditioning.
There was a very relaxed vibe in this room. The soothing tones of ‘Aitien Aidit’ by Club For Five really showed the strengths on the Arne. It was warm yet controlled and gave a very encompassing sound that seemed to surround you as you listened.
After this I decided to go to the CAS room. I had heard they were showcasing a world premiere from AVID and I was keen to have a look. The system comprised of YG Acoustics speakers and Vinnie Rossie pre / mono amps. They were using the AVID Acutus Dark Iron turntable and for the first time they were playing the brand new Velsonic, AVID’s two box £12k reference phono stage.
The sound of this room was powerful and room filling with plenty of punch but also great dynamics. They were playing only vinyl whilst I was there, which I appreciated. The Velsonic looks like a product to keep your eye on in the coming months.
Next up was the Henley Audio room. I was particularly interested in this because they were playing the Piega Coax 611 speakers. They were playing them with Roon Nucleus Titan, HiFiRose RS130 streaming transport, Rotel Michi Q5 CD player/transport, X5 Series 2 integrated amp.
It was a very large room with a lot of products on display. Henley have an extensive catalogue so I guess they wanted to show off as much as possible. This made it a little hard to get into the sound of the main system. I know the Piegas offer incredible details with fast highs and incredible controlled bass. I listened to ‘Are You Satisfied’ by Marina and the Diamonds. The answer was yes, I was satisfied. The speakers sounded great. It was a bit of a shame they weren’t in a smaller, less busy room though.
The Symmetry room was next on the cards. I joined as Mike Valentine from Chasing the Dragon was doing his presentation. As always with Mike it was a fascinating listen with lots of insight into this recording / production techniques. He was playing some of his master tapes through a Nagra reel-to-reel player, that was very cool to see.
There was also a Brinkmann system with the Taurus turntable, Edison phono stage, Marconi preamplifier and a pair of Mono amplifiers, paired with Kroma Atelier Jovita speakers. My favourite track I heard here was ‘Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead’ by Claire Teal, it was another Chasing the Dragon recording. The voice was so clear and very natural sounding. The system had more than enough drive to fill the large room beautifully.
The final two rooms I was set to visit both belonged to Absolute Sounds. Both rooms featured a lot of KJ products so I was looking forward to these.
The first room was hosted by Ricardo from Absolute Sounds. With Ricardo you don’t just hear continuous tracks, he really sets the scene before each song with a story. It made the presentation very enjoyable. The system in this room was stunning, there was Magico S5 speakers with the new Nagra PREAMP II-S preamplifier and HD Monoblocks and the DCS Vivaldi Apex DAC and Atipodes Oladra as the source.
My favourite track in this room was ‘4 Marzo 1943’ by Lucio Dialla, as Ricardo rightly said, this system and this track was able to transport us to Italy. It is quite an emotional song and the Magicos and Nagra were able to really portray that with beautiful tone and realism to the sound. It was spacious, dynamic and had great energy.
Next, I moved across the hall to the second Absolute Sounds room, this one was very interesting as they were showcasing for the first time in the UK the new Dan D’Agostino Momentum Z mono amplifiers. Bill McKeigan from the company was on hand, helping Pedro from Absolute Sounds with the presentation. The monos were connected to the always fantastic Wilson Audio The WATT/Puppy speakers. There was a lot of good recordings played during this session, but they finished on a very punchy dance track that I had not heard before. “Sunshine of your Wub’ by Yookie. It was seriously impressive. The partnership with the Momentum Z monos made the WATT/Puppy sound like a speaker twice its size. It delivered this difficult track with ease, there was punch, power, loads of detail and most of it all it was incredibly musical. An excellent introduction to these mono blocks.
Overall, I felt the show was a success. There was a great turnout yet none of the rooms felt overcrowded. It was clearly a well thought-through event and the selection of high-end brands on offer was very impressive. The systems I experience sounded fantastic and the atmosphere was relaxed. I highly recommend coming next year if you are interested in high-end audio.
If you are interested in any of the products mentioned but could not attend the show, please get in touch. KJ West One is a hi-fi show that never stops. We have most the products featured here on permanent demonstration in our CentralLondon showroom.
Visit our website www.kjwestone.co.uk for more information.
Email info@kjwestone.co.uk to arrange a personal audition.