SPORE SHOW REPORT IN BRIEF.

SINGAPORE SIGHT & SOUND SHOW 2004. “HOTEL LE MERIDIAN” SINGAPORE. 19TH-21ST NOV 2004.
BRIEF SHOW REPORT.

Hi! Guys,
I went to Singapore for the show as well as on business. As I had very little time I could not sit down to listen to each and every system for too long, but managed to do my best where ever possible. Sadly I forgot to take my camera in a hurry! Hence no photos.

The show was divided into 3 areas: main hall: where there were the big guys and some big rooms. Floor-4: Rooms & Floor-5: Rooms. I started by paying a 10 S$ Fee for entry, for which you got a sticker which was to be stuck on your shirt, where visible and a nice booklet about the show and its contents. Nice good looking Singapore girls at the show, (PS: Wife does not know this!)

I am going to number the rooms as I visited them and not by their exact room numbers: Hence they are in a random order. Pls do note that my assessment of the system was what I heard and felt briefly. They are my personal opinions and the group has the right to agree or disagree to what ever my opinions are. My opinions are not biased nor favour a particular brand. PERIOD.

I know u guys are eager to know more so pls forgive my spellings and typing mistakes if any.

Main Hall: Room: OASIS
Products on Display: Entire B&W Speakers, B&K, BARCO, CRESTRON, INFOCUS, STEWART, CLASSE products & WISDOM AUDIO speakers. They had two demo rooms for HT and none for STEREO. Really sad. Saw the latest CLASSE range and they also had KIMBER on display. One room had the entire B&W 800 series as an HT and the other the 700 series driven by CLASSE. The WISDOM AUDIO SPKS were on static display so was the ARCAM range. Decent sound. Just glanced in for a quick listen, Really sad, they were blasting it (only guys in the show to do so, not like our AVMAX/TIMES Shows, where everyone is trying to outdo the other). Rating: Good overall. But no stereo.

Main Hall: Room-2:-
Products on display: Entire MARANTZ, MONITOR AUDIO & QED CABLES. This room was like a fish market where there were so many systems that you could not really hear anything properly. They had STEREO & HT demos all over. A lot of static display too. Saw the CD-17MKIII priced @ S$ 1200 = Rs 33,600/- And in India we get ripped off as ProFx charges nearly 75-80K approx (Correct me if I am wrong!). The STEREO set up was nice. LAUNCH: SA-11SI SACD .Rating: Poor, Decent Stereo.

Main Hall: Room: LATOUR.
Products on Display: DENON entire range and KEF spks. LAUNCH OF AVC-A1XV REF AVR. The biggest room with the biggest display of nearly 12 home theatres and 4 stereo set ups. Very well laid out and worth visiting. Rating: V.GOOD.


Main Hall: Room-4:-
Products on display: Entire range of INFOCUS Projectors plus live classes on how to set & tune your projectors: Sadly I arrived just 5min before it ended. The projectors on display were LCD, DLP and from the cheapest to the best. All screens were Da-Lite.
Rating: EXCELLENT: Amazing video, just felt like grabbing their top of the line projector. (SCREENPLAY 777).

Main Hall: Room: MARGAUX-II
Products on display: Entire range of EPSON printers, scanners, home theatres, etc. Damn good and cheap pricing on the ALL-IN-ONE products. Dirt cheap prices for EPSON computer products. Rating: V.Good.

Main Hall: Room: MARGAUX-1, LAFITE.
Products on display: Entire range of Audio & Video products from PIONEER. LAUNCH: VSX-AX10Ai-G. They also had 5 different 42” branded PDPs which were compared to the top of the line 42” PIONEER PDPs. Great huge room/hall and very friendly staff, they explained everything and most important were knowledgeable. Rating: Best video display and set up.

Main Hall: Room-7: Big Room-1:-
Products on Display: PMC speakers, BRYSTON power amps, BEL CANTO PRE, AFA CABLES ENTIRE RANGE. The room was for demos of AFA cable range. Front end was an ORACLE TRANSPORT AND DAC and also an ORACLE TURNTABLE. They also had the best rack from German manufacturer. Could not hear the difference of the cables when switched thanks to the MCINTOSH room next door! With the 1 million dollar HT blasting away to glory. Rating: Decent sound, awesome speakers. Whole room was with ASC tube traps costing a bomb about S$ 1300/- each. Thank god Murthy’s Bass traps are realistic prices when compared to ASC.

Main Hall: Room-8: Big room-2:-
Products on display: Ultra Hi-End Home theatre by MCINTOSH LABS (COST: 1 MILLION US$): There were tons of amps, and speakers Room too crowded but the sound was amazing. The dynamic range was something never heard off. Actually very frightening & life like. All spks were bi-tri amplified and total power was in excess of more than 10,000 Watts RMS. Did not have the time to count the number of amps and system power. Rating: In a different league. ALL SPKS WERE DRIVEN BY THE 1200 OR 1000 W AMPS.

Main Hall: Room-9: Big room 3:-
Products on display: WILSON AUDIO MAXX S2 SPKS, PASS LABS XA 200 (200w rms pure class a monoblocks) & x1000 (1000 w rms monoblocks). PASS LABS PRE-AMP (X1 OR X2 I think), METRONOME TRANSPORT & DAC, ACOUSTIC ZEN CABLES & ASC TUBE TRAPS (30 of them).The guy on demo was playing also a CLEARAUDIO TT with a PASS LAB X-ONO. He was playing some Chinese female vocals which were so clean and then I heard this bass, more a gargantuan rumble which felt like my whole stomach was getting churned. Frankly I was not at all impressed at the set-up especially the MAXX S2 spks. The PASSLAB amps were great but the spks did not make me sit up, except during the small passage of music. Was really disappointed with the Wilson’s. RATING: Great! ultra set up costing a bomb, but I personally did not like it. Yes loved the XA200s, they have outstanding construction and were bloody hot, think u can fry a few eggs for breakfast. Some liked this set-up some did not.

Main Hall: Room-10: Big room 4:-
Products on Display: THIEL 2.4s, CENTRE, Surrounds, EARTHQUAKE SUB, 5-CHANNEL MONSTER POWER AMP called CINENOVA, that has a 4kva toroid. EAD processor, DVDP & D-VHS SONY DECK, JVC HI-END DLP PROJECTOR, STEWART HI-END SCREEN. Cables were ACTIVE SYNERGETIC RESEARCH between EAD PROCESSOR/DVDP. & non-active from Processor to power amp. All Spks cables were SYNERGETIC RESEARCH TOO. Mr. Sammy played a D-VHS tape of “OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN” and mind you at a very low volume and I was mesmerised with the sound. It was crystal clear, had the widest soundstage and depth like never heard before. All of us were glued to our seats and I just did not feel like leaving. Coming to the video, the JVC projector gave such a realistic image of ONJ that you felt you could touch her. The colours were out of the world. Rating: BEST SOUND OF THE SHOW. WORTH EVERY PENNY! JUST BLEW ME AWAY AND THAT TOO IN A SUBTLE WAY.

LEVEL- 4: ROOM-1:-
Products on display: JM LAB DIVA SPKS, ASR EMITTER II STEREO INT AMP, AVF CABLES, SOLID RACK. ORPHEOUS CDP. Rating: Nice spks decent sound. Room was too crowded. Could have been better if he had pulled out the DIVAS more into the room.

LEVEL- 4: ROOM-2:-
Products on display: ACAPELLA HORN/PLASMA SPKS, BURMESTER REFERENCE TRANSPORT & DAC, WAVAC PRE & PWR (THE 833 RANGE) & ACOUSTIC ZEN CABLES. I was amazed at the kind of high frequencies that the PLASMA tweeters gave. They had a nice glow inside their respective horns. The mids were excellent and imaged well. In whole the spks just vanished and sound stage was a wall –to- wall width. Nice guy who gave a demo mentioned he was from KL and luck was on my side as I was the only one in the room. Sat a good 10min and was in seventh heaven. Rating: SECOND BEST SOUND at the show. Bloody expensive but it is what real hi-end is all about. Just made you glued and awestruck.

LEVEL- 4: ROOM-3:-
Products on display: Entire range of 47 LABS, with TOTEM ARRO Spks, SHYUNYATA HYDRA -8 PWR CON. This room was not set up properly as they had set up the system like a boom box and had another table with all other Hydras’ displayed. In spite of that the ARRO spks reproduced bass which you could not believe could ever come out of a 4” woofer. The sound was articulate and clear. The 47 LABS pre, pwr, transport, dac & humpty dumty pwr supply looked like it was made in a garage with hardly anything inside and a few cables running to and fro. One of the most minimalist systems on demo. Rating: GOOD, could have been better if placed properly.





LEVEL- 4: ROOM-4:-
Products on display: TOTEM large towers (can’t remember the model), AUDIOPAX (BRAZIL) power amps, ORPHEUS pre/transport & dac. Cables were ALPHA CORE. Rating: Good. Could have been better!

LEVEL- 4: ROOM-5:-
Products on display: ESOTERIC AUDIO P-70/D-70, ODYSSEY AUDIO PRE/PWR, ROBERTSON AUDIO SPKS & NORDOST CABLES.
Rating: Really true life like sound. Never heard the spks but they were at par with the rest of the system. Good system in the end.

LEVEL-4: ROOM-6:-
Products on display: Entire TAG MCLAREN system wired with NORDOST again. Nice and clean, but did not have any body at all.
Rating: OK.

LEVEL-4: ROOM-7:-
Products on display: NAD C320BEE, C542 CDP & OPERA CALLAS spks. Rating: Nice tight system. The mids were not muddy at all nor there was any colouration or boxiness. Rating: Good budget system, excluding the CALLAS which cost a bomb, they are from Italy and are made of real wood.

In the same room: CAMBRIDGE AUDIO CDP, IINT AMP & TUNER plus OPERA DUETTE spks. Again nice, better then the NAD combo. But the NAD had much tighter bass as the CA has good frequency extension. Rating: V. GOOD.

LEVEL-4: ROOM-8:-
Products on display: XINDAC, TRANSPORT/DAC//PWR COMBO with a COSONANCE TUBE PRE. Spks were KEF 205. Rating: Very dynamic system could really shake Ur butt. V.GOOD.

LEVEL-4: ROOM-9:-
Products on display: ESOTERIC CDP, GAMUT D-200 MK III PWR AMP, KEF REF 205, VTL TUBE PRE. Rating: Gorgeous and mellow sounding system, did not sound like a SS. Guess the VTL did that magic. System was not at all rounded off at extremes. V.GOOD.

LEVEL-4: ROOM-10:-
Products on display: ENTIRE QUAD HT incl: new QUAD sub. The guy giving me a demo was trying to tell me that the QUAD sub is the best sub in the world. Yes it did look very beautiful just like all the spks and had a front display but the bass was not tight but flabby. To top it he was blasting it and even with out decreasing the volume he was putting the sub On or OF. No comparisons to a REL
Rating OK. Bad demo.





LEVEL-4: ROOM-11:-
Products on Display: EXPOSURE AMPS/CDP with the new WHARFEDALE DIAMOND 9 series. Walked in and thought that the biggest one was playing but got a surprise when I sat down and then heard more closely and found the smallest ones playing. They have done an excellent job, sadly at the sacrifice of finish. They looked like a pukka home made grey plastic dubba. Rating: Nice for a small room.

LEVEL-4: ROOM-12:-
Products on display: PSB Image series HT with ATI amps. Rating Horrible and dull.

LEVEL-4: ROOM-13:-
Products on display: - PSB Reference HT with PARASOUND JC-1s, processor and some DVDP. Much better then the lower range and with the JC-Is the sound was gut wrenching & I really mean it. Felt everything shake in the room. All levels were at insane ones but clean undistorted. Rating: EXCELLENT HT.

LEVEL-4: ROOM-14:-
Products on display: - Musical Fidelity X-Series amp & CDP with OPERA spks. This system was one of the best budget stereo systems. Well placed and only system in the room. Really focused and good for decent rooms. Stress more on music, good for someone who loves music very much.
Rating: Excellent budget stereo system.

LEVEL-4: ROOM-15:-
Products on display: - ZANDEN 2000 PREMIUM CD TRANSPORT, DAC, PRE, PWR & TOTEM SPKS. Nice but I felt that the Totems did not match the system. Slightly hazy and muddy in the mids. The ZANDENs were built to perfection and looked out of the world. Cabled with NORDOST. Rating: GOOD system, but the spks let it down.

LEVEL-4: ROOM-16:-
Products on display:-AMPHION reference bookshelf spks with ORPHEUS products. Clean detailed sound, lacked a bass. Rating: GOOD.

LEVEL-4: ROOM-17:-
Products on display: - My favourite room: - SONUS FABER CREMONA’S WITH ORPHEOUS PRE/PWR/TRANSPORT/DAC & NORDOST CABLES, ASC TUBE TRAPS. In spite of the ASC TUBE TRAPS, there was a slight boom in the room. I thought that the Cremona’s looked much bigger in the adverts but in seeing them in real they were slightly bigger than the GRAND Piano’s. The finish was the best seen in the show and so was the sound. Truly SF spks are not spks but musical instruments. I spoke to the guy doing the demo and asked him to pull the spks out further from the back wall & then the boom become much less, but was still there. Can’t say more, everything was right except the now decreased boom. Rating: Excellent STEREO set with looks to die for,

LEVEL-5: ROOM-18:-
Products on display: - LEO AUDIO TUBE AMPS WITH HIS OWN SPKS. Nice cheap tube amps just like spark and audio space, made by a Singaporean. Totally tube sound. Rating: OK.

LEVEL-5: ROOM-19:-
Products on display: ACCUPHASE ENTIRE RANGE, KIMBER KABLE, And B&W 800 SIGNATURE SPKS & WBT: This room had me just drooling and going bonkers looking at all the open ACCUPHASE products. On demo was the SACD TRANSPORT AND DAC with a PRE AND TWO MONOBLOCKS PLUS THE POWER CONDITIONER AND VOICING BOX driven into the B&W 800 SIG. Was played at a very low volume and was lovely. On demo was also the entire range of WBT & KIMBER products plus all other ACCUPHASE gear like the P-1000. So the room was not only for the system but for the other products too. Rating: Excellent. But buy if you have tons of bread or a rich father-in-law.

LEVEL-5: ROOM-20:-
Products on display: - VIENNA ACOUSTICS ALUMINIUM LINE SPKS WITH ATI AMPS. HT SETUP: Rating: Hi-end HT but could do with better bass.

LEVEL-5: ROOM-20:-
Products on display: VIFA spks. One of the best driver manufacturers have decided to make their own speakers with their own enclosures. Did not fancy their designs (external) however sound were just mind blowing.
Rating Great...

I hope you guys can dream and imagine how I was feeling listening to all these rooms. Some rooms I visited again to listen more of what I liked. Especially the rooms with THIEL and ACAPELLA spks. Over all the show was great not to mention the sale of LPS and audiophile cds/sacds. Also was dying to buy the best looking gear: a lovely CLEARAUDIO TT was going for Rs 35,000/- The guy was selling these in the hall. Sadly dreaded carrying it.

Rgds


Prithvi

PS: Hear some amazing systems from PLINIUS, AUDIONOTE, GRYPHON, KRELL, and others at the ADELPHI.

Hi! Aniruddha,
Being a hiend dealer in India is so so as there are not may customers who can afford this kind of stuff in India, thanks to the high customs import duty. Plus you dont make sales everyday like a showroom selling white goods. A dealer abroad gets 40-100% margins, whereas we get about 10%-15& max.

Looking at hi-end dealers in Spore, I am not even 1/100th of their place. They are rocking. Can you imagine they stock the full KRELL amps and spks, MBL same, burmester, Martin Logan. Guys like NORMAN AUDIO must be carrying stock of atleast 1-2 million dollars, thats because there is so much of sales and oftake.

In India, forget it unless u are loaded like the Birlas, Tatas etc.

Just wish I was abroad, thats where the action is!. But hey guys we are improving.
Rgds

Prithvi