Audio Academy, in Adam's words, "make very highly regarded and well-finished speakers". The models shown below are the Hyperion 3 and Tethys II with an 8pi dCS one box player and pre and power amplification from Italian firm Monrio.
Monrio's new top-loading CD player wasn't present but the company's Giovanni Gazzola had sent me a separate press announcement for it. Also in this exhibit were fetching speakers stands done up in exotic woods by new firm
Audio Philar.


Audio Classic and LinnArt joined forces in a Bristol exhibit but the utter lack of pamphlets save for a generic Lowther sheet gave no indication of what was on display. Shame really as things sounded very good indeed. Visitors expecting Polish maker Acuhorn at the show and mistaking these speakers for theirs would have made two mistakes. Acuhorn's Alicja Unterschuetz did want to participate but couldn't secure space. Next year perhaps.


Audio Note UK showed with an original Kondo Ongaku to blur the lines. History buffs familiar with what led up to the split between these two companies will understand the reference. This room exhibited a pleasant sound but for what they are, the speakers in particular seem horribly overpriced.


Audio Physic and mbl joined Teutonic forces in a small room that became testament to proper bass integration. Where a lot of rooms boomed or rang like a bell whenever major nodes were excited, rooms using these German speakers suffered none or very little of it.


Audiostatic showed with ICEpower-based Audiomatus amps and Resolution Audio digital. Though full-range electrostats and planars have the coherence thing licked, this room just like the Magnepan exhibit suggested that this type of speaker really wants more real estate to truly shine.


Avalon copied the mbl electronics recipe from Audio Physic but took things up a thermionic notch in their bigger Bristol exhibit. There Cary tube gear did the honors though not Cary digital. For that, Audio Aero took over just as it did in the neighboring WLM room. I was particularly impressed with the small Avalons. They were all the speaker the small space needed and warranted to produce full-range sound. Many audiophiles buy more speaker than their living spaces can support. That's a waste of money. And certain guarantee for compromised sonics. Be smart, save currency and make better sound by picking small speakers for small rooms.


Italian loudspeaker manufacturer Paolo Beduschi showed with a one-off prototype amp that is used for speaker voicing in the factory. The Polish importer expressed hopes that this amp will make it into formal production. For cables, his vote is on SharkWire, a Taiwanese family enterprise which he's visited and commends highly for their quality product at reasonable prices.


B&W hosted a massive exhibit in the Bristol hotel to show off probably every SKU they make. Electronics of choice for the upscale active systems were by Classe. It was very heartening to observe this type of corporate support for audio in Poland. As we'll see, B&W wasn't alone in rolling out truck loads of gear to spoil attendees with virtual super stores.