Bristol Hi-Fi Show returns for 2023

The long-running audio showcase was back in business after a two-year hiatus, and and were there

- Mark Craven an Ed Selley

Patrolling the suites and exhibition spaces of Bristol's Marriott City Centre hotel in pursuit of impressive audio demonstrations was an activity we once took for granted, but then the Covid pandemic meant organiser Audio T had to shut up shop in 2021 and 2022. Good news, then, that this February the Bristol Hi-Fi Show eff ectively carried on where it left off – right down to some stalwart brands setting up in the same rooms as always. Here we reveal the products (both new and old) that caught our eyes and ears...

FYNE AUDIO

The Scotland-based loudspeaker company opted to make the Hi-Fi Show the launchpad for its Vintage Fifteen, a flagship (£30,000) model that looks to the designs of the past for its aesthetics (and size), but employs a very modern 'IsoFlare' coaxial driver array combining a 15in bass unit and 3in high-frequency compression driver - even offering control of the analogue crossover's HF Energy and Presence filters via front-panel knob. Product demos, hosted by Fyne Audio's managing director Andrzej Sosna and technical director Dr Paul Mills, ran the speakers off the monstrous (but still only 45W per channel) Unison Research Performance Anniversary integrated valve amp, joined by a Linn Sondek turntable and Rega Saturn MK 3 CD spinner. First impressions are these speakers offer a highly revealing, fullrange soundstage, but are also dangerously big. That'll be why Fyne also launched the Vintage Five, a £3,750 model with 5in IsoFlare.

GOLDENEAR