With 513 exhibitors representing 1000 brands, and over 22,000 visitors filling up 33,000m² of exhibition space over four days, there’s no denying that the annual High End Show is the biggest hi-fi industry event of the year. There are plenty of project launches, and bigger, more expensive systems than you’ll see almost anywhere else in the world – indeed, it often seems an opportunity for manufacturers and distributors to attempt to dazzle as much with the price-tag on their set-ups as the sheer scale of the equipment on demonstrations.

With two exhibition spaces upstairs, each with a multitude of rooms, and four halls below packed with stands, it’s definitely too much for the casual day-visitor to take in, and even scrolling through the excellent show app to make a plan of attack sees a daunting list of ‘must sees’ building up, and some effort required in working out the most efficient route.

The show does offer some unique opportunities, and in my case one of these was the chance to try to make sense of Spatial Audio, played on a massive 11.1.6 Dolby Atmos system built using PMC’s BB6 XBD studio main monitors, four enormous BST subwoofers, 13 surround/height channels and 48,000 watts of power. Presenting was musician, producer and spatial advocate Steven Wilson, and while the music played was exclusively pop and rock, the insights into how old multitrack masters can be deconstructed and then rendered into immersive sound were interesting.

Wilson agreed with my fears we may well see music being automatically ‘spatialised’ as we did when mono transitioned to stereo, and again when early surround sound formats became all the rage, but he gave his audience confidence that his is a much more ‘hands on’ creative process. But even he wouldn’t have expected that the track I found most moving played on the ‘big’ rig, similar to the ones PMC has installed in Dolby Atmos suites around the world, was the late Sinéad O’Connor’s heartfelt cover of Prince’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ – in stereo, before it moved into the spatial version, which was big on surround, but lacking in emotion. Maybe I must work a bit harder on this whole spatial thing…

A pleasant surprise was the appearance in the IAG/IAD rooms of a new version of the classic Quad 33 preamplifier and 303 power amplifier, due sometime later in the year, and very much a sympathetically updated take on the original. Although set to cost rather more than the many lovingly pre-owned vintage sets readily for sale online – a figure of £2500-3000 was mentioned for the pair – these will have a definite appeal to the brand’s enthusiasts, as will a further development of the company’s electrostatic speakers, the ESL-2912X, with improvements to the power supply, better components, new foil and better suspension. Expect the price to be around £15,000 a pair.

However, just occasionally something appeared at the show to confound me. Bumping into Technics turntable supremo and Chief Technical Officer in one of the show’s coffee shops, I asked him, ‘What’s new?’, to which I got a one-word answer: ‘Lamborghini’, he said, before rushing off to another meeting. Confused, I spotted the stand in one of the entrance foyers of the show, on which sat a Lamborghini car in a shade likely to redefine anyone’s perception of the word ‘orange’, celebrating the launch of a Technics SL-1200M7B turntable in association with the car manufacturer. Now I know there’s no shortage of hi-fi collaborations with car-makers, from KEF’s Lotus Green speakers to Bowers & Wilkins’ limited-edition McLaren Zeppelin model, but only one question arose as I read that the new Technics turntable will come with a picture-disc carrying the sounds of Lamborghini engines, and stickers and a slip-mat bearing the car company’s logo. Why?

This feature originally appeared in the August 2024 issue of Gramophone. Never miss an issue of the world's leading classical music magazine – subscribe to Gramophone today