The Clarity Alliance honoured the late John Bamford during the seventh annual Best of Show awards at The Bristol Hi-Fi Show, bestowing its Honorary Fellowship award on the hugely respected and greatly missed journalist. Also, exhibitors were awarded for their displays and demonstrations at the show, and a special presentation was made to Simon Byles for his services to Clarity.

Clarity, the UK hi-fi trade association, undertakes to recognise individuals who have made a significant contribution to the industry. The sixth annual Honorary Fellowship was awarded to one of the most respected members of the UK hi-fi industry, the late John Bamford, former Hi-Fi Answers and Hi-Fi News journalist, Hi-Fi Choice editor and Pioneer and Meridian product specialist.

Presenting the award, Clarity’s chairman, Tom Barron, said,

John was one of hi-fi’s great guys, with a love of music, hi-fi and a true gentleman. His warm smile, passion and enthusiasm and his huge contribution to the British hi-fi industry make him a very worthy recipient of the Clarity Honorary Fellowship. He will be very sadly missed.

Receiving the award on behalf of John Bamford was Paul Miller, Editorial Director of AVTech Media and President of EISA.

Paul commented on John’s ability to convey complicated subjects in an easy to understand manner.

John’s elegant and communicative writing style was a boon to Hi-Fi News, and his voice will be sorely missed. Although John had a varied career in hi-fi, he remained a true audiophile throughout. While at Pioneer he was an early advocate of high-resolution digital audio, employing the brand’s 96kHz/16-bit DAT players in some very convincing demonstrations. Later, he was a passionate evangelist for what we now know as ‘computer audio’. Insightful, good-humoured and hugely knowledgeable, John will be greatly missed by all who knew him in the hi-fi industry.

It was a very touching moment as all in the room raised their glass to John. As everyone noted, John was one of the good guys.

Best of Show Awards

Clarity’s team of anonymous judges visited every room at the show, to facilitate the presentation of the Best of Show awards to five companies, whose efforts in putting on the best displays and demonstrations were considered exceptional.

The Clarity Awards Winners were:

Best Sounding Hi-Fi Room - Linn

Best Home Cinema Room - PMC

Best Presented Room - Henley Audio

Best Innovation - Sony

Best of Show - Dali

Also marking the contribution of Simon Byles to Clarity, Tom Barron presented him with Honorary Life Membership.

Barron stated:

Simon was a board member of Clarity’s predecessor, BADA, the British Audio Dealers Association, for many years and its last chairman. He was instrumental in the rebrand and relaunch of BADA, into Clarity as an all-encompassing hi-fi industry trade association and for that, and his dedication to the hi-fi industry, we are delighted to recognise him with this special award.

Congratulations to all who received awards on the night as well as those who were shortlisted. It was great to see the awards so well attended with people having to stand wherever there was space.