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AV News Reviews

FOREWORD TO WHAT HI-FI? SHOW 2019 – MUMBAI COVERAGE REPORTS

Writing the post show coverage is always a task as one has to cover the whole show meticulously, arrange the large number of photographs taken/watermark them and then arrange them in the desired order to link with the article written for them. It takes a lot of time and mental concentration to do so, though inadvertently, there can be some mistakes which we will ensure to minimise to the best of our abilities.

As always our aim is to provide an as fair and impartial reportage of the show as possible, based on what we personally experienced ourselves. For sure, there will be those who will be aggrieved by what we write and be cross with us but we do so for the general benefit of the entire home audio video industry, that we consider ourselves to be part of. We hope to see not only the industry grow but also the level of the shows like What Hi-Fi? and maybe more that we will hopefully see taking place pan India.

As per our experience, this show has been one of the poorest attended and disappointing in more ways than one. The following are a couple of our observations of the show, that were contributing factors, ones that hopefully won’t be repeated in the future shows:

Provision of Information of Brands/Models being Showcased – Time and again, we have requested the exhibitors taking part in the show to advise the details of the same, so that the show organisers and we amongst others as digital AV focused media can create the awareness and interest into the target audience to ensure they must visit the show. This is a very critical aspect that needs to be addressed the most as AV enthusiasts by and large do not have an avenue to experience a lot of  the brands and their respective models(notably high end) at a dealers premises for obvious reasons.

Static Displays – Whilst it is very easy for the exhibitors to do so and time and again we have being noticing the trend growing amongst the exhibitors, it doesn’t really serve the purpose as the attending visitors do not appreciate the same and would love to hear the equipment on demo to their benefit rather than just see. After all the What Hi-Fi? Show is a Aural & Visual experience hence the exhibitors MUST make the effort to have the gear showcased properly and as desired, notably the aspirational / expensive / halo brands that the normal av enthusiasts do not ever have an opportunity to hear anywhere else. It rather makes sense for the show to be a small one that is focused on providing the satisfaction of the visitors than be a large one with the said visitors just walking by in disappointment and disgust.

Demo Set Ups – By and large most of the exhibitors who make the effort of showcasing their gear on demo always do so with great care, but there are some that just do not pay attention to this aspect, thereby the said product/brand doesn’t get showcased in the right manner. The reasons for such instances can be attributed to a lot of factors, including lack of relevant experience for doing the desired setup and or not having the synergy to showcase either their brand of electronics or speakers. Not always does a distributor have speakers and electronics that have a synergy between them and by showcasing such sets ups due to such constraints always backfires. Hence, it would make sense for distributors of such brands to have brands of other distributors showcased with their brands to achieve the desired synergy, thereby making it a win win situation for all concerned. There were a few that did precisely this and the results achieved were fantastic. We hope that this trend continues in future as well!

Designated Time Slots for Demo’s – Whilst a few exhibitors had smartly managed this, it needs to be done by most if not all to get the desired satisfaction of the visitors, so that they can hear the gears on demo in the correct fashion to appreciate or get more insights into the set up on demo as a future reference or purchase.

Pricing Information – A perennial question that most if not all of the visitors would like answered to! Besides one exhibitor, who ensured that all their products had the respective pricing displayed, none of the others did so. Our market is always curious to know the prices and that aspect is vital so that the same question does not keep getting asked and answered to time & again.

We hope that our observations are taken into consideration positively and they help in improving the quality of the shows in the future to ensure growth for all concerned.

Link to Show Report Coverage Part -1

Link to Show Report Coverage Part -2

Link to Show Report Coverage Part -3

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Reviews

FYNE AUDIO F502 FLOORSTANDING SPEAKERS – FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I have been wanting to listen to the Fyne Audio F502 floor standing speakers for a while now as I have always liked the Tannoy Revolution XT8F speakers and hence was keen to hear how much the boffins at Fyne Audio (ex Tannoy), with a collective experience of over 100 years, have managed to showcase their skills with the F502’s

After an excruciating wait, thanks to strong demand for the F502’s worldwide, KEI, the distributors for Fyne Audio in India, finally managed to get a few pairs for our market and duly opened a pair for evaluation as well as for the listening pleasure of the av media as well as the audio enthusiasts. It so happened that I had the good fortune of visiting on the day the F502’s landed at KEI’s HQ and were just plugged in for their evaluation, so technically they were fresh out of their boxes and ready to go. Go they went as right from the first track played, the F502’s showed no signs of edginess or any of the usual maladies associated with new speakers. What struck me the most was that the sound was so open, enveloping and balanced inspite of having no break in and also the fact that the speakers were not in an ideal environment. Given the constraints, KEI’s technical head was at hand and had no doubt managed to set them up well so kudos to the gent.

Partnering the F502’s were the following:

Analogue Source: Thorens TD240MKII with TAS267 MM Cartridge

Phone Pre Amp: MM Phono Input of NADM32

Digital Source: DAC inside NAD M32, paired with Bluesound Node 2i as the streamer.

Amplifier: NAD M32 Direct Digital

Cables: Inakustik

We played a variety of music genre’s, analogue & digital, some being very familiar, some not and the F502’s never sounded harsh, tinny or having bloated bass. The usual suspects (audiophile tracks) sounded wonderful and without any overemphasis of any specific frequencies. I also played some tracks from itunes and the tracks that did not have a good recording did sound flat and unappealing so yes the F502’s do not gloss over any glitches, which is also good.

Initial Thoughts:

What was supposed to be a quick listening session turned out to last for over two hours which indicates that the F502’s have the knack of reeling one in hook line & sinker with their abilities.

I Would not like to straight away compare the F502’s with the Revolution XT8F’s, but what immediately comes to the fore is a balance – sound wise which is better than the XT8F’s and the overall build quality of the Fyne Audio F Series is 100% superior than that of the Revolution XT Series. I will cover those aspects in detail when I have a pair of the F series for a detailed review, in future.

Do I like the F502’s, hell yes and am very keen to listen to them again, once they have had a decent amount of hours of break in, post which would be better positioned to arrive at a comprehensive conclusion BUT based on what I heard, I believe that the F502’s have that magic to ensure that they will be popular with the music enthusiasts & also the movie enthusiasts who love to listen to music in their home theatre environment as well.

I just hope that Fyne Audio & KEI ensure that the F502’s are available to the prospective buyers as required and that KEI promote the F Series in general with the right dealer network, in order to get the desired results.