Show Time: The London Audio Show 2024

After more than a decade of being away, this iconic hi-fi show returned to Heathrow in April. Jay Garrett was there to tell the story…
The London Audio Show 2024, hosted by the Radisson Red Hotel, was small but perfectly formed. Exhibitors took over twenty-nine rooms, including a trio of more extensive areas and stalls in the break-out coffee area. Although technically doable in a single visit, talking to one of the exhibitors, it appears that a few people "listened on the first day and came back the second to discuss with the view to buying…"
For those who stayed at least a night and wanted to explore beyond the hotel bars and restaurant, the Three Magpies across Bath Road did reasonable food and a lovely pint of Abbot ale. Top tip, folks! However, the show's focus was, of course, the love of music. Alongside some UK debuting products, launches, and re-launches, attendees were treated to live music by Ethemia and the opportunity to hear the recorded results to understand the differences and peek behind the curtain of what is involved.
ART LOUDSPEAKERS
ART could be found in the same room as Unique Audio, where Derek Dunlop was showing its new ART Emotion Carbon range of speakers available as the Carbon 5, 6 and 8 floorstanders.
The numbers indicate the inch size of the largest driver, and prices start from £10,000. The Emotion Carbon line also features the Carbon 6M standmount (£10,000) and the range-topping Carbon 10, priced at around £23,000. The Scottish company uses laminate for the cabinets, resulting in a strong structure that has the ports and tweeter enclosures machined in. The front and rear baffles are Richlite panelling, a stiff, premium material apparently made of laminated paper and resin and known for its exceptional acoustic properties.
AUDIO LOUNGE x TANNOY
Audio Lounge London came armed with the always-excellent SME Model 10 turntable plugged into Sugden pre and power amplification. Meanwhile, digital audio was catered for by a Naim Audio NDX streamer.
This combination did a remarkable job of pushing out the tunes through a pair of Tannoy Stirling III LZ speakers, which had just received one of StereoNET's coveted Applause Awards. Everyone I asked agreed with our review. For many, this was the best room at the show, thanks to the room-filling sound, generous bass, and overall natural presentation perfectly demonstrated by Charlotte Adigéry's Bear With Me.
CADNAM
David Hall has a history that includes working with IAS in the nineteen seventies and again when the brand returned with the Beaulieu loudspeaker, as heard at the UK Audio Show.
He was at the show with Cadnam, a new company he is now designing speakers for alongside father-and-son team Gareth and Tom Ellis. At The London Audio Show 2024, two examples of Cadman's M range of loudspeakers were demonstrated, namely the M-8 (£9,953) and M-10 (£12,739). The M-10 boasts the unmistakable sight of the 10-inch Volt bass driver partnered with an SB Audience 5-inch bass/midrange and RT2H ribbon tweeter, which hints at how these perform. Meanwhile, the smaller M-8 puts a specially developed 8-inch Volt bass unit and Scanspeak bass/midrange in separate chambers, with a Scanspeak 1-inch dome taking high-frequency duties. Also displayed were panels from Manchester's Acoustic Forest Manufacturing (AFM), which helped with the in-room sound. The oak (£700) examples are custom-made to suit each room, while the black diffusers (£350) can be wall or floor-mounted.
CHORD COMPANY
Chord Company took the opportunity to demonstrate the effects of its various technologies using a HiFi Rose streamer, Hegel H600 amp, and Monitor Audio PL100 speakers.
They took us on a journey through Tuned and Super Aray conductors, XLPE and Taylon insulation, and Choralloy connectors. These timed demos were well-attended throughout the weekend and sparked many conversations in the corridors.
CONNECTING MUSIC
In one of the larger rooms, a Bricasti front end fed a Mastersound tube amplifier with Sonus faber Maxima Amator speakers presenting the results out front.
This was a lovely system that seemed to appreciate the space it had. It treated us to a natural, dynamic sound full of resolution, projecting a beautiful image of the music being played. This stands for the slab of Tchaikovsky on Philips that I listened to, as much as it does for the live rendition of Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer.
COPPICE x CONNECTED-FIDELITY
A joint force of Coppice loudspeakers, Audio Detail amplification, and connected-fidelity tech made for a most enjoyable listen.
Coppice chose The London Audio Show to launch its BG3 floorstanding loudspeakers. Touted as the smallest member of the BG family, it has a room-friendly narrow baffle but is quite deep. Constructed from solid ash and lacewood, the cabinet stands over a metre tall. Drivers comprise a modified Lowther CM45CP midrange partnered with an 8-inch Beyma bass unit and Scanspeak soft dome tweeter. The cabinets have a wonderful geometric lattice machined into each side of them, while the front is neatly finished off with a hexagonal wooden reflex port. Connected-fidelity's Hub turntable was equipped with a Hana cartridge and Sorane tonearm and fed into an Audio Detail PX25 amplifier. Connected-fidelity also provided its new Six Star mains distribution block for the system. On my visit on the second day, The Beatles' Abbey Road was on the deck and just finishing Come Together. I stayed for Something and then realised Maxwell's Silver Hammer was just finishing. This system had me in the zone!
HiFi MAN
HiFiMan offered a range of its wares for head-fi enthusiasts.
Having spotted a pair of Arya Organic (£1,100) cans plugged in and ready to go, it was time to tune in and drop out for a moment. Thanks to their nanometer-thin diaphragm and the "acoustically invisible" Stealth Magnet tech, they sounded fast and open. They felt very comfy, and weighing just 440g, I am sure they would remain so even during long listening sessions.
HIFI TRADERS
The Hifiguy, aka Paul Benge, was host to the unmistakable shape of the Bayz Courante loudspeakers (£35,000) doing the business at the end of a system comprising MSB and Pink Faun components and a Synergistic Power Cell mains conditioner.
While these tubular loudspeakers may look like they've escaped a fantasy orchestra's woodwind section, they did a great job of filling the room and bringing in curious music fans. Their unusual design features a pair of inverted drivers into the carbon fibre tubes with the high frequencies dished out by a BRS tweeter sat in between what is actually a cylindrical membrane of an "ultralight material". The result is "the absolute lowest distortion and idealised pulse capabilities, with perfect frequency response in all directions".
We also experienced the more traditional-looking but still exotic Fleetwood DeVille standmounters.
The Fleetwood Sound Company is from OMA, the Pennsylvanian-based high-end audio company. Coming in at around €22,000, the eye is instantly drawn to the 6-inch thick, solid wood conical horn made from thermally modified (torrefied) Pennsylvania ash wood. It also features a 3D-printed high-tech bronze alloy phase plug. All the wood on Fleetwood speakers is treated with hand-rubbed beeswax and natural linseed oil for a "heirloom finish". The speaker's rear panel is of a solid sheet of phenolic, a composite material chosen for its anti-resonant characteristics. The DeVille is a highly efficient speaker boasting a sensitivity figure of 94dB/1w/1m at 8 ohms, so is easy to drive with virtually any amplifier. It is bottom-ported and available with short legs or stands of either black baltic birch or solid Pennsylvania ash with a natural finish.
ISOSLICE
IsoSlice is a new brand to me. The British firm hand-makes multi-layer audio decoupling products. I
ts turntable isolation platforms comprise ten layers of moisture-resistant HDF and high-impact foam. The company also offers The Blocks speaker (£285) and component platforms (£350) with nine layers. The latter is fitted with adjustable feet, as is the turntable platform. Joining these on the stand was a prototype turntable built out of the same materials, which certainly looked interesting.
MAD
My Audio Design's Timothy Jung hosted one of the larger spaces, filling it with a pair of Grand Maestro Studio speakers at the end of a system that featured Vertere's MG1 Dark Side of The Moon 50th Anniversary Edition turntable and FM Acoustics electronics.
Touraj Moghaddam held DJ duties using his Vertere deck fitted with a Mystic MC cartridge. Some choice tunes were played, but the one that stood out for me was the dynamic capability when spinning Caezar's Dance Little Angel, Dance and Prince's One Night Alone, as these demonstrated the system's overall clarity, providing a wonderfully intimate experience.
Tim also brought together members of the hi-fi industry to celebrate the life of reviewing legend Paul Messenger. This saw the firing off of a 12-bottle champagne salute, with opportunities to pay tribute to the much-loved hi-fi guru and lovely man who will be missed by many.
NATIVE DSD
Demo sessions by Dutch high-res audio online portal Native DSD also attracted capacity crowds.
The demonstrations pitted the likes of FLAC against high-quality DSD files via a Melco server, Heed DAC and amplification, and Tannoy SGM10 loudspeakers. This piqued my interest, and although the DSD version of a Brandenburg Concerto was more explicit and seemed more dynamic, it was also notably louder than the FLAC version, which was a shame. However, I did pop back between the formal sessions, and what I heard was good, which made me want to investigate this further.
ONKK
Could the problematic gestation of Onkk's turntable finally be over? I hope so, but probably not as much as its creator and mastermind, Paul Beckett.
The incredibly ambitious design of the £50,000 Q-SDD direct turntable has made a series of previews over the past nine years. However, thanks to the complicated engineering required, finding partnerships with the ability has been just one of the speed bumps. A slotless direct drive design, the wonderfully organic curves have seen some minor tweaks so that its form flows even more seamlessly than previous iterations.
Within, you will find an Aerotech direct drive motor and Renishaw encoder that drives an SDS-damped platter on a ceramic bearing. As an example of the strict measurements in play here, the platter is turned to sub-micron tolerances before being dynamically balanced to no more than 2g per millimetre. We were told that "the total run out of the assembled component is less than 2 microns". The Onkk was fitted with a Triplanar arm with a Murasakino Sumile boron-cantilevered moving coil phono cartridge at the business end. This was partnered with Gryphon, Quiescent and Phasemation electronics going out to a pair of Vivid Audio Giya G3 speakers, resulting in fantastic transparency and breathtaking imaging supported by rich, deep bass.
QUESTED x CRESCENT RECORDINGS
This was a definite break from the norm, which also underlined the organiser's continued focus on music being at the heart of their shows. Crescent Recordings introduced acoustic duo Ethemia, joined by bassist Steve Sculpher, who played a live set. Meanwhile, next door, a 'mobile' control room was outfitted with multicore cabling from what became the live room to present to listeners via Quested OLY208 loudspeakers.
Crescent's Damon Sawyer selected a system that featured HRS anti-resonance devices, an English Electric 8Switch with a pair of ADOT Ethernet to SFP optical converters alongside Teddy Pardo and Nuprime power supplies. The workstation computer included a JCat network card. Further gear geekage was provided by a Merging Horus AD/DA for the mic feeds and an Ultrafide power amplifier. Mains power was delivered via a Quiescent Balanced Mains supply; the brand also supplied the ethernet cable.
The care and attention taken over the networking connections and cabling goes against what some say happens in pro audio. However, having recorded in studios over the past thirty-five years, more recently in better-appointed venues, cables and care over digital solutions have seriously increased. Hearing playback of Crescent Recordings' own 64-bit/384kHz files demonstrated to my ears the benefits of the choices taken.
RUSSELL K
Russell K brought his Red 50Se (£3,950) standmount loudspeakers to the show. Instead of decoupling from the stand, the new speakers are actually coupled to it by way of a Perspex plinth.
We were told that the cabinet vibration is part and parcel of the overall sound and shouldn't be killed off. The Red 50Se was partnered with a Rega integrated amp and CD player along with a Melco Audio server. Allan Taylor's The Beat Hotel sounded spine-tinglingly spacious. This room also paid homage to the much-missed Paul Messenger, who enjoyed Russell's speakers immensely.
SUMMER HOUSE SOUNDS
Zavfino sounds like it could be a Mediterranean brand. However, the company is based in Nova Scotia, Canada and does much more than cables.
John Simm presented the Zavfino ZV8 turntable that features a 16.2mm solid 6061 aluminium plinth and 60mm CNC diamond cut contoured POM platter. The ZV8 costs a pleasantly surprising £5,500 bundled with an Aeshna aluminium tonearm or £5,909 with the titanium version.
Audel's speakers were on display, but the Gershman Acoustics Studio 2 and Grand Avant Garde were doing the business during my visits. Pushing these along was a choice of M2Tech's Larsen Class A or its Class D Crosby amp. Eric Clapton and BB King's Riding With The King possessed the perfect complement of fun and detail through this system.
TECHNICS
The renowned brand took residence in two rooms, one dedicated to the more attainable lifestyle items, whereas the other was set to be reasonable but aspirational. It was interesting to see a couple of gentlemen enjoying the sound in the first room right until it was pointed out that they were, in fact, listening to the Ottava all-in-one (£899) and not the turntable, amp and standmounted loudspeakers.
I just took that as the compact CD-playing, Bluetooth, and Chromecast-able component was doing its job remarkably well. Meanwhile, next door, the ante was truly upped with a pair of SB-G90M2 Grand Class floorstanding speakers at the end of a SU-R1000 Reference Class integrated amplifier being fed by SL-G700M2 Grand Class network/SACD player and SL-1200GR2 Grand Class turntable. Nice.
UNIQUE AUDIO
A final coup for the organisers, Chester Group, was getting Unique Audio at the show as the word is, the last one it exhibited at was at the Ramada in Heathrow circa 1998.
Unique Audio certainly did itself proud, with my eyes instantly drawn to the white NVS Wave Kinetics (£52,000) that was equipped with a PrimaryControl field coil loaded unipivot arm (£26,500) on the left mount and a Durand Tosca (£17,500) on the right.
However, the real cherry on this audio cake was the Etsuro Master Gold cartridge (£22,000) loaded in the PrimaryControl arm. The Tosca was blessed with an Etsuro Bordeaux Special Edition cartridge. However, it was the CS Port LFT1M2 Airfloat Turntable system playing when I visited. Its linear arm was outfitted with an Etsuro Cobolt Se and LFD Golden Cobra Arm Cable.
The amplification followed the same level of esoterica, starting with a six-box Phasemation phono stage and LFD Anniversary MkII preamplifier. These then went to Master Reference power amps bi-amped to drive the Art Impression 15 speakers (£52,000). Thankfully, this heavy-weight, no-expense-spared system sounded quite spectacular. It's time to do the lottery, I reckon. But what a system.
WOLF SOUND
That's not a soundbar; this is a soundbar! Nobody actually said that here, but they would have been well in order if they had.
The top level of this imposing AV system was the Alfa Wolf 7.1 Cinematic Soundbar (£1,500), which sounded pretty impressive, especially when the towers and "studio grade" subs were added to the mix. If you were looking for something a tad less obtrusive, Wolf Sound also do a line in 5.1 "studio monitoring" headphones (£180) featuring Bluetooth 5.3, ANC, USB-C charging, and the option to hardwire them via a 3.5 jack. In the earcup sits a 40mm titanium driver.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Speaking to the exhibitors, both days had their merits, with Saturday having more footfall, whereas Sunday seemed to have a higher percentage of "serious intentions". Overall, though, there was plenty to see and enjoy for such a compact show, and it was a good balance of affordable and aspirational. As a test to see if there is an appetite for a show within easy reach of London, I can safely say there is. Moreover, I can see it growing in size. See you there next year, all being well.
Click here for the full show image gallery

Jay Garrett
StereoNET’s resident rock star, bass player, and gadget junkie. Jay heads up StereoNET as Editor for the United Kingdom and Europe regions. His passion for gadgets and Hi-Fi is second only to being a touring musician.
Posted in: Hi-Fi | Headphones | Home Theatre | Lifestyle | HiFi Show
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