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Hi-Fi Show Live 2018 Windsor Suites

Windsor Suite 1 - Bowers & Wilkins Loudspeakers

In the expansive Windsor 1 Suite, Bowers & Wilkins will be focusing on the recently launched 800 Series Diamond Prestige Edition. Since its unveiling in September 2015, the Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond has re-written the rules of high-end loudspeaker performance.

The result of an exhaustive three-year development project to make the best better, the 800 Series Diamond owes its excellence to a combination of tireless research, advanced engineering and countless hours of listening by the very best ears in the business. Imagined, designed and produced in the UK, each and every loudspeaker in the 800 Series Diamond represents the pinnacle of UK acoustic engineering achievement.

And now, three years after its launch, Bowers & Wilkins is proud to elevate the 800 Series Diamond still further. The new 800 Series Prestige Edition is designed for connoisseurs of high-performance audio and fine woodwork.

The 800 Series Prestige Edition models are technically unchanged from their equivalents in the 800 Series Diamond range, thanks to the same specification including the Diamond tweeter, Turbine head, Continuum and Aerofoil drivers and Matrix cabinet construction.

Available in floorstanding 802 and standmount 805 models, each loudspeaker in the 800 Series Prestige Edition is manufactured to the most exacting standards in the UK, with each unit featuring a unique numbered identification plate to highlight its exclusivity.

Bowers & Wilkins highlights the distinctive Santos Rosewood veneer on each loudspeaker, which sees no fewer than 13 coats of lacquer used to deliver a supremely rich and desirable finish, with a deep, luxurious colour and distinctive grain pattern. This finish ensures that each loudspeaker is a unique piece of art.

Windsor Suite 2 - Sound Fowndations

Clearaudio's stunningly engineered turntables and tonearms will form the centrepiece of yet another incredible-sounding system in the Sound Fowndations room, with Stefan Kmuch and Marco Borovac on hand to talk you through their inventive technologies and to present the brand new, limited edition, Reference Jubilee turntable.

At the sharp end will be DS Audio's new DS W2 optical phono cartridge. The Japanese company pioneered the world's only optical cartridge design and, thanks to its ground-breaking performance, the range has gone from strength to strength.

Exclusive to the Hi-Fi Show Live will be the UK launch of the brand new range-topping Larsen 9 loudspeakers from Sweden. Designed to stand flush against the wall, Larsen loudspeakers use surface sound reflections to enrich the listening experience instead of degrading it, so turning the apparent limitation of a smaller sized modern living room to your musical benefit.

Blue Horizon's PRS (Professional Rack System) reveals the benefits of proper support, while IsoTek's Stephen Oakes will leave you in no doubt about the importance of clean power as he demonstrates the audible improvements from the company's range of mains power conditioners.

Finally, prepare for a very big reaction to some rather small accessories! New additions to Furutech's range of performance-enhancing gadgets include the ASB-1 anti-static brush, and the already-legendary NCF Boosters & Booster-Signals. Come and discover why the rave reviews just keep on coming.

Windsor Suite 3 - Symmetry

Symmetry is the sole UK distributor for Brinkmann, Harmonic Resolution Systems, Kiseki, Lyra, Stax, Sumiko and Trilogy and will be demonstrating a number of components from this portfolio at the show.

Brinkmann vinyl replay will be based around the new Final Edition Oasis turntable. Limited to 100 pieces, it comes with a 10.5in arm and performance power supply. Meanwhile, the Brinkmann Edison phono preamp has been upgraded to MK II spec, revised circuitry lowering noise and improving low-level detail and dynamics. Brinkmann has also revamped its Nyquist DAC with upgrades to the digital section. The Nyquist is MQA compatible and works with Roon while streaming support is offered for Deezer, Qobuz and Tidal.

A range of Harmonic Resolution Systems equipment supports will be on show. HRS is the industry leader in broadband isolation and vibration control and its products are covered by numerous patents. A variety of component accessories will be demonstrated.

After three years of research the Trilogy 915R and 995R will be shown in final production form. The 915R is a fully balanced vacuum tube preamp offering full remote control while the 915R utilises transformer-coupled inputs and Trilogy's proprietary TAS link communication system. The 995R is a balanced hybrid monaural power amp offering 200W Class AB, or 40W in pure Class A. All Trilogy components are designed and hand assembled in the UK.

Symmetry is delighted to share its room with Chasing The Dragon recordings. Mike Valentine and his team have been busy this year. Four new recordings will be on show, in particular a direct-cut album Forgotten Dreams by Eleanor McEvoy. Playback will be via open-reel tape, high-res digital files and vinyl. There will be two presentations a day with tickets available from the Windsor 3 room.

Windsor Suite 4 - Absolute Sounds Ltd

Absolute Sounds' furthest room is an open, non-ticketed space - a place to drop by and relax among the latest creations from some of the audio world's most distinguished brands, including Copland, darTZeel, dCS, Crystal Cable, EAT, Krell, MartinLogan, PrimaLuna, Sonus faber and Transparent Audio.

New product highlights include the Prelude - EAT's most affordable turntable yet - and E-Glo Petit phono stage. Also keep an eye out for the company's new MC cartridge, the Jo No5. Dressed to impress in a mint green body shell made using an industrial 3D printing process, it features a nude fine-line stylus and alloy cantilever. Sonus faber's latest loudspeaker collection, Sonetto, will also be on display, fusing Italian craftsmanship and contemporary design to make an exquisite ‘affordable high-end' range.

Demonstrations in this room also include the dCS Bartók network DAC/headphone amp. Borrowing technical features from the company's Rossini range, it can be heard alongside a variety of headphones. Sonus faber's Sonetto VIII [HFN Nov '18], the flagship floorstander in the Sonetto range, will also be on demo.

Absolute Sounds' crack squad of high-end audio experts will be on hand to answer questions and offer advice, alongside VIPs from the brands themselves including EAT's own Jozefina Lichtenegger.

Windsor Suite 5 - Absolute Sounds Ltd

Whether you're a lover of valve amps or you prefer solid-state designs, Absolute Sounds' second room offers the best of both from two giants of the high-end audio scene. Valves are represented by Audio Research's Reference components, including the magnificent Reference 10 preamp, [HFN Mar '13] while solid-state amplification of the highest calibre is supplied by Dan D'Agostino's prodigious Momentum M400 monoblocks [HFN Oct '16].

An incredible performance is guaranteed, especially as these amps are driving the latest masterpiece from Wilson Audio - Sasha DAW - its UK debut at the show. Replacing the Sasha 2 [HFN Jun '14], which traces its lineage back to the legendary WATT/Puppy, the new model features technologies trickled down from the WAMM Master Chronosonic.

When it comes to the source, there's no greater refinement of digital audio than that offered by dCS. The British digital audio pioneer's new Bartók upsampling network DAC will be on demonstration, along with the Rossini CD/SACD transport and Vivaldi One [HFN Feb '18] single-box digital audio player.

Renowned recording engineer and Wilson Audio ambassador Peter McGrath returns to the UK to conduct proceedings, alongside other brand representatives including Raveen Bawa from dCS and Bill McKiegan from Dan D'Agostino. Free tickets are available from the desk outside the entrance to the Windsor Lounge.

Windsor Lounge - Absolute Sounds Ltd

Don't miss this special opportunity to hear an extraordinary high-end system, carefully curated to deliver the best of both digital and analogue audio. The new Kalista DreamPlay ONE CD player [HFN Oct '18] by Métronome Technologie shows just how good the ol' silver disc can sound, while ReQuest Audio's The Beast music server showcases the latest hi-res digital audio formats. Vinyl fans are in for a treat too, courtesy of the most affordable turntable tour de force from TechDAS - the new Air Force V. Able to take up to four tonearms, this deck is guaranteed to extract every last drop of musical detail from a record's grooves.

Amplification is provided by the high-end dream team at Constellation Audio, including the Virgo III preamp, Perseus phono stage and Centaur II 500 power amp from the company's Performance Series. These amps deliver extraordinary sonic clarity, so it's just as well that they're driving some of the crispest, cleanest, most revealing loudspeakers on the planet from Magico - the astonishing M6 and also the A3, Magico's least costly design to date. And we're not skimping on cables, either, with Transparent ensuring optimal signal transmission.

Constellation's Irv Gross and Magico's Peter Mackay are set to fly in from the US to conduct timed demonstrations. Free tickets for these events can be obtained from the desk outside the Windsor Lounge.

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