Back from the Hi-Fi show
Home again from another Heathrow Hi-Fi show. Will I ever recover?
What a sad, embarrassing event. It was like watching a slow rail crash - fascinating and horrifying at the same time. An American visitor swears he saw tumbleweed blowing down the corridors!
Why were there so few exhibitors? Perhaps its because there are so few visitors. Why are there so few visitors? Why didn't you go? Let me know!
What kind of show would you attend? What would you like to see displayed or demonstrated at a Hi-Fi show? Would a different venue be more convenient?
Would you support a show that offered Hi-Fi and Home Cinema, multi-room, PC audio, DIY, car audio... with all major and minor brands on view and dem'd in good, sound proofed booths in, say, the NEC at Birmingham?
Something needs to be done professionally and with style. I don't think that Hi-Fi magazines should be running shows as money making ventures. It's a job for The British Federation of Audio (BFA). I shall lobby them to get it done.
posted by Russ Andrews @ 12:37 PM
10 comments
10 Comments:
I woulldn't go to a large HIFI show because I would not get to hear the products I wanted in any kind of environment where I could make an accurate comparrison. Large shows, be they motor, ideal home, HIFI, home building, mind body etc all suffer from a depersonalisation or dumbing down of the subject matter - a lowest common denominator if you like.
I don't want to pay good money to have a mass crush in a crowd and the exhibition equivillent of a 'bad' magazine article. I would rather be at home listening to music so I don't go to large shows any more.
Kind of agree with john, but I like the experience of listening to a wide range of kit, even if I've no personal interest in it. I would like to see more of the kind of demo's that Russ has put on before. Demo's with a purpose. We came to about the effectiveness of mains treatment, and found it fascinating.
Having attended the London show on the Sunday I thought it was a good show. Attendance seemed a bit better than 2004 but still well below days of old. I attended with the New Ash Green Hi-Fi club and we avoid any surround sound and non Hi-Fi set ups as they usually sound even worse than 2 channel rooms. With the attendance levels at current levels you do get to listen without too much problem but there is very little new to excite. The Hifi News/Hi-Fi plus demo and talk was good, Ken Kessler was very popular if you had a few hours to spare. Does Hi-Fi news actually make money on it ?
A large show with lots of iPod stuff might pull in punters but would they be interested in Hi-Fi ?
problem is with hifi demos - demonastrators tend to chatter all the way through - best demos have a purpose and are managed not left as a free for all
If it had been at Olympia, or even docklands, I would have gone but Heathrow is in the middle of nowhere.
Living in London, I can get to the NEC faster than I can get to Heathrow.
The other thing that might have led me to go would be a market of the kind that they have at Tonbridge.
I didn't go because when I have been most the of the sounds I heard were, frankly, rubbish (yours, and a very few others, excepted). I know the rooms are difficult but if the exhibitors can't produce a decent demo they really shouldn't bother being there. If I go now it's usually for the records and/or for a laugh at the valve brigade.
Hi Fi Shows are not (as a rule) held in places where I would be willing (or able) to attend; I have no wish to fight the crowds/traffic of London, perhaps the NEC would be a better venue? Certainly more central & access is relativly easy via the many motorway approaches (M1-M40; M5; M6; M42 etc).
The last show I went to was at Bristol many years ago & I came away feeling that I'd been pushed & rushed by the milling crowds. Maybe every exhibitor should create more home-like demo rooms & respect our desire to listen to the equipment/music without them talking.
We would all like to see & listen to the new pieces of equipment from around the world; so perhaps the next venue will be somewhere I am prepared to venture!
Russ, keep up the good work !
I support the Bristol show as I am just down the road in Exeter, I thought about Heathrow but getting there and parking or using public transport and having to stay the night put me right off. On the other hand the Stuff show seemed much more worthy - now I am a hardened audiophile and if I will go to the big metropolis to play with iPods, digital cameras and wi-fi sound servers but can't quite be arsed for Hi-Fi and home cinema alone then the general public must wonder what an Hi-Fi show is actually for?
Hi Russ,
Home from another Bristol Hi_Fi show. Where were you?
There were loads of visitors, I had to queue up to get into the demo rooms.
To make matters worse I found myself defending you on a couple of occasions, your competitors seem to use some of your equipment as comparisons to their own similar brands.
i.e isotek multi against your own power block.
The white sockets had been removed and they were showing people the wires on the inside. They were then showing people the inside of their own multi block and were asking people to decide which one they thought the most work had gone into making.
I heard a number of people saying "I was going to get one of them, I won't be now".
I know your stance on Hi-Fi magazines running these shows, but from my personnel point of view: I discovered your products in such a magazine and have never looked back.
So come on help me out, I can't defend you all the time, I need some backup, get yourself to Bristol next year and show people why your products are so good.
Regards
Jason.
The London Shoq is a nightmare because of location - being next to Heathrow is great for the International Dists/Manufacturers, but no good for paying customers.
1) Too far from nearest tube
2) Nightmare to park - it takes about an hour to find a parking space
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