Australian Hi-Fi Show 2023 - show guide

Ready to see and hear the latest and greatest hi-fi and home cinema kit from all around the world?

The Australian Hi-Fi Show 2023 in Sydney is just around the corner, set to offer audiophiles and hi-fi enthusiasts alike a golden opportunity to experience kit from their favourite brands (and discover new ones!) for a whole weekend.

Brought to you by Australian Hi-Fi and Sound+Image magazines and What Hi-Fi?

online, the brand-new show is a three-day celebration of the hi-fi and AV industries, with over 35 exhibitors poised to display and demo delectable speakers and electronics from over 100 reputable brands. And when — or indeed if — your ears and chequebooks are exhausted, the dedicated teams behind the three publications that bring you the latest

equipment reviews, news and features all year round will be on-hand to answer any questions you may have.

The Australian Hi-Fi Show 2023 will take place on Friday 28th, Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th April at the 4.5-star Novotel Sydney Central hotel in the very heart of the city on Thomas Street, Haymarket.

There are 1-, 2- and 3-day passes on offer to suit any kind of schedule, and discounts are available for pensioners and students:

1 DAY PASS: Adult - $20

Pensioner - $15.50

Student/Concession - $10

2 DAY PASS:

Adult - $30

Pensioner - $22.50

Student/Concession - $15

3 DAY PASS:

Adult - $40

Pensioner - $30

Student/Concession - $20

Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 wireless noise-cancelling headphones

RRP $599

In these stylish over-ear headphones, custom-designed 40mm drive units and 24-bit-capable wireless platform combine for a truly immersive listening experience that allows you to hear more of what the artist wants you to.

Yamaha TW-E3B wireless earbuds

RRP $299

From a studio session with your favorite artist to the best seat at a live concert, hear every detail with lifelike realism. These extraordinary earbuds combine Yamaha’s acoustic and electric technologies, allowing them to defy the sonic limitations of their compact housings.

Perreaux VP4 phono pre-amp

RRP $8,800

The Perreaux VP 4 is the ultimate phono pre-amplifier, with support for MM and MC cartridges, balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA connections, RIAA and IEC-RIAA standards, and stereo and mono playback. And, of course, the performance to boot.

Denon Home 250 wireless speaker

RRP $699

The stunning Denon Home 250 wows as a singular speaker with its expansive soundstage and streaming smarts. Pair it with another Home 250 for stereo sound, or combine it with other HEOS products to get whole-home music via multi-room functionality.

AudioQuest Red River 2m RCA-RCA interconnect

RRP $425

A superbly made audio interconnect for connecting your hi-fi sources while retaining musical integrity, with solid long-grain copper conductors for the cleanest sound and a metal-layer noise-dissipation system that minimises RF interference.

Richter Merlin 6 loudspeakers

RRP $1,100

These wonderfully musical, compact and Australian-designed bookshelf speakers will make you want to dig fervently through those record and CD collections, or queue up your favourites in your favourite music-streaming service.

*Terms and conditions apply – please see www.whathifi.com/news/aus-hifi-show for full competition details.

ElizabethBay Room

Watsons BayRoom

LavenderBay Room ExecutiveBoardroom ShellCoveRoom

PortJackson Room

FarmCoveRoom

PointBennelong

Executive Boardroom

ShellCove Room

SpringCoveRoom

LOWER GROUND

ElizabethBayRoom

BayWatsons Room

LavenderBayRoom

GROUND FLOOR

Absolute Hi End

18

Brands Magico, Boulder, Vitus, Audio Solutions, Silent Angel, Vyda Laboratories cables, Stillpoints, APL, TAOC

Distributor Absolute Hi End’s comprehensive portfolio features some of the very best in high-end hi-fi from around the world, with internationally famed audio brands Magico, Boulder, Vitus, Audio Solutions and Silent Angel among the many jewels in its very ornate crown. Indeed, visitors are in for a sublime showcase of stereo sound inside the walls of room 18.

Audio Influence

13

Brands Atlas Cables, HiFi Racks, Pre-Audio, Well Rounded Sound, +Audio, New Horizons, Stirling Broadcast, Clef Audio

Audio Influence is an all-encompassing retail store in Melbourne as well as the official distributor in the region for brands and products from all over the world, including Scotland's Atlas Cables, Poland's Pre-Audio record players, the UK’s Hifi Racks furniture, and Italy's New Horizons high-end turntables. So prepare yourself for a smorgasbord of system-spanning components and set-ups.

Audio Magic

21

Brands Ayre Acoustics, Aqua Acoustic, Bauer Audio, Bergmann, Copland, Enleum, Harbeth, Hana, Kudos, Lavardin, Lumin, Rogers, Tellurium Q, Titanic Audio and TonTrage

Melbourne-based Audio Magic won't be short of hi-fi gear to show off during the weekend, being the Aussie distributor for a number of the biggest names in high-end hi-fi. Expect to see and hear a fine display and demonstration of its diverse catalogue throughout the hi-fi system chain.

Audio Marketing

Brands Musical Fidelity, Revival Audio, Triangle, Inakustiks, Stax

Distributor Audio Marketing’s brands have a collectively rich heritage and world-renowned status in the high-end realm. The UK’s Musical Fidelity represents the best of analogue and digital audio; Japan’s Stax exploits electrostatic technology to produce

some of the world’s finest headphones; Triangle continues to make waves with its ‘Made in France’ loudspeakers; and Germany’s Inakustiks is among the most discerning luxury cable makers you’ll come across.

Avation

Brands Vivid Audio, Zapitti

Vivid Audio speakers – designed by Laurence Dickie, the designer of the famed Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus speaker – will be represented by the out-of-this-world Giya and Kaya models. "Almost every part and component of each Vivid Audio loudspeaker is unique and not to be found in any other," says the company, so get ready to hear some of the most extraordinarily distinctive speakers on the planet. Zapitti will be present to whet the appetite of any movie fan who dreams of having their own home cinema, too, with its 4K HDR library players/servers and entertainment hub ready to take for a spin.

Bertrand Audio

Brands Lowther Loudspeakers, SIM2, Canary Audio, KR Audio, AER Loudspeakers, Thor Technologies

The Australia and New Zealand distributor's eclectic hi-fi and home cinema portfolio is not short of specialist global brands, including heritage British speaker brand Lowther, German highend speaker firm AER Loudspeakers, and Czech Republic vacuum specialist KR Audio. Stereo performance will undoubtedly be in high order in room 6.

Bowers & Wilkins

In addition to occupying the Port Jackson Room with its various audio brands (see page 56), Sound United will also reside in a second room exclusively displaying and demoing Bowers & Wilkins speakers, likely driven by Classe electronics. Fingers crossed we get a look and listen to the British company's latest 700 Series speaker range, which packs many of the same cutting-edge Diamond technologies found in B&W's flagship 800 Series.

ELIZABETH BAY ROOM

ROOM 6

ROOM 12

ROOM 18 ROOM 12

Decibel Hi Fi

Brands Icon Audio, Ohm Acoustics, Origin Live, Keith Monks

It's an exciting time for Decibel Hi Fi, which is not only celebrating the 20th anniversary of its webstore but also launching an Australian-made version of the Ohm Acoustics omnidirectional speakers. The first model, the W2000AU, is now complete and will be winging its way down from Brisbane to the show, where it will be demonstrated alongside Icon Audio amplifiers and an Origin Live turntable.

GrooveWorks / Pure Audio

Brands Telos Audio Design, Tidal Audio, Vimberg

Expect the best there is in personal listening from its catalogue, which includes reference headphones from Warwick Acoustics, RAAL-requisite and ZMF Headphones, plus amplification from Feliks Audio, AGD Productions and ampsandsound... and more!

Kyron Audio / Halcro

11

In the words of GrooveWorks, you can expect to hear a very refined and natural presentation from a system comprising components and accessories manufactured by two of the world’s most innovative high-end audio companies. There will be Telos Audio Design’s Enchanting Music Player (EMP) hard-drive streaming player as a source, with Tidal Audio’s Prisma preamplifier and Intra power amplifier driving Vimberg’s Amea speakers. Meanwhile, Telos’s state-of-the-art Earth Grounding Monster will showcase the importance of clean power and effective grounding to the achievement of realistic high-end sound.

Hisense

Representing the show’s home cinema experience, Hisense will be lighting up the show with its unmissable L9G 4K TriChroma

Laser TV, demonstrating what such a living room-friendly projection/screen combo is capable of when it can deliver a 120inch image showing over one billion colours and an eye-popping, daylight-friendly brightness of 3,000 lumens.

Indie Hi-Fi

Brands AGD Productions, Feliks Audio, Spatial Audio Lab, Warwick Acoustics, ZMF Headphones + more

Indie Hi-Fi proclaims it is 'all about the head-fi', so it makes sense that the Aussie dealer will be running the show's HEADFI+ Area.

Now, this is going to be pretty special. Two of Australia’s highest-end hi-fi brands will be joining forces to present an unprecedented supersystem. Kyron will be displaying its Kronos system, powered by the latest Halcro Eclipse amplifiers, giving show visitors the chance to be first in the world to hear one of the greatest-ever collaborations in high-end audio. The full system is worth in excess of $360,000, so you really won't want to miss this one.

Magenta Audio

Brands PS Audio, Prima Luna, Moonriver Audio, Lindemann Audio, CFM

The Adelaide Hills-based distributor will be descending on Sydney with kit from some of the most illustrious hi-fi brands available in the country, including Lindemann streamers, tube and solid-state amplification from Prima Luna and Moonriver Audio, and electronics from PS Audio — tied together by high-end cabling from Cables For Music.

March Audio

Proudly handbuilt in Albany, Western Australia, March Audio’s speakers, amplifiers and cables promise “superb technical performance and sound at modest prices”. Only four years old, the newkid-on-the-block was born out of owner Alan March’s career-long experience in engineering and passion for hi-fi, and has already picked up a Sound+Image award for its P452 power amplifier.

MAXMEDIA ROOM 14, 15

Two rooms for two highly impressive systems. The first will comprise Avantgarde Acoustic's G3 Series speakers and Itron active amplification, paired with C.O.S. Engineering's D-10 V2 DAC and Circle Labs' A200/P300/M200 amplifiers. Schue Analogue's limited-edition Diamond Maxi turntable will head up the system.

BENNELONG POINT ROOM

EXECUTIVE BOARDROOM, KIRRIBILLI ROOM

FARM COVE ROOM

ROOM 22

LAVENDER BAY ROOM

LAVENDER BAY ROOM BENNELONG POINT ROOM

The second system will be helmed by Piega's Premium Series speakers and feature Innuous' new Pulse Series streamers, Rekkord turntables, Merason DACs and the Lab 12 Integrie Series tube amp and phono stage.

Mcleans Smarter Home Entertainment

Brands Magnepan

ROOM 9

Having opened in 1982 as what was then one of Australia's first ‘audio visual’ home entertainment stores, located in The Entrance, NSW, Mcleans Smarter Home Entertainment is now a Central Coast-based retailer and exclusively distributes a handful of brands, including Magnepan. This Minnesota speaker brand will be giving intrigued visitors a taste of what its distinct-looking, fullrange, quasi-ribbon speakers can really do.

National AV Solutions ROOM 3

Brands Parasound, GoldenEar, Torus Power, Wisdom Audio

NAVS will be armed with two systems both making their first show outings. The first sees the Parasound Hint 6 integrated amp drive GoldenEar's BRX (Bookshelf Reference X) bookshelf speaker with its SuperSub X subwoofer; and the second comprises a Wisdom Audio L75 Line stereo speaker system — which employs a 48inch planar magnetic line array — powered by Wisdom’s SA3 DSP amps and a Parasound P6 preamp. Torus Power will also demonstrate what benefits its Toroidal Isolation Power Transformers can bring to high-end systems.

OAD Ultrafidelity ROOM 20

This relatively new kid on the block will be heading from its home quarters in Melbourne to the Sydney show armed with its latest trio of components. There's the UP1 phono amplifier, which the Australian company says faithfully reproduces "vinyl recordings

in a way that has never before been available at this price point"; the Padma preamplifier, which builds on the previous CP1 model while reducing the noise level by a further 30%; and its partner in crime, the Vajra power amp.

Richter ROOM 19

One of Australia’s oldest loudspeaker manufacturers, having been founded in 1986 by Ralph Waters, Richter recently celebrated its 35th anniversary — and released Special Edition Black versions of some of its models to commemorate the occasion. It’s a national favourite in the hi-fi and home cinema speaker and subwoofer market, and the winner of several Sound+Image awards, so a Richter demo is never to be missed.

Sennheiser ROOM 16, 17

Sennheiser Consumer Division, represented by Sonova, will be doing its utmost to show visitors just how cinematic a soundbar in front of a telly can really be with a demo of its celebrated Ambeo Max and Plus. Of course, it wouldn't be a Sennheiser exhibit without some headphones action too, so visitors can look forward to donning the latest and greatest cans from the audiophile range of one of the most reputable headphone brands there is.

Serhan Swift ROOM 10

Serhan Swift won’t have to travel far to bless show visitors with its speaker expertise. The Sydney-based manufacturer is the brainchild of speaker designer Brad Serhan (who founded Orpheus Loudspeakers in 1984) and engineer Morris Swift — who with 100 years of combined experience have produced the acclaimed ‘mu’ speakers. The Greek letter ‘mu’ is used in science and engineering to mean "micro" or one millionth, and in this case represents a deceptively small speaker whose size belies its big sound.

ROOM

ROOM 16, 17

ROOM GUIDE

AUSTRALIAN FIRST!

Sound and Music / Perreaux Audio

Brands Perreaux, Dutch & Dutch, GeerFab Audio, Amphion, Benchmark, Ferrum

Perreaux is offering not one but two demos at the show, plus a very exciting product launch. ‘The Black Room’ will house its 200watt 200iX BLACK integrated amplifier and model-up 300-watt 300iX BLACK, paired with the company’s SR58 loudspeakers and those from Amphion too. It will also host the launch of Perreaux’s hugely versatile VP4 phono pre-amplifier, which is also one of the show prizes. Meanwhile, the ‘The Colour Room’ will exhibit the ‘standard’ variants of the amps, powering Amphion speakers.

Sound United PORT JACKSON ROOM

Brands Bowers & Wilkins, AudioQuest, Denon, Marantz, Definitive Technology, Polk, Classé

With an arsenal of audio brands in its prolific catalogue, Sound United will be descending on Sydney with the latest and greatest hi-fi and home cinema kit spanning a range of applications and budgets. Expect classic Denon and Marantz electronics, speakers by Polk Audio and Definitive Technology (Bowers & Wilkins will occupy room 12), and much more besides.

Stereotech / Audiofix ROOM 8

Brands Dellichord, EAR Yoshino, Exposure Electronics, Stereotech, Straightwire Cables

Stereotech will demo the Dellichord FR6 loudspeakers — a new Australian-made, affordable, high-end standmounter utilising isobaric technology and created in Stereotech's own advanced CNC routing and assembling facility in Brisbane. Audiofix, meanwhile, will be showing off the highly regarded Exposure Electronics and the legendary EAR Yoshino designed by Tim de Paravacini (both from the UK) and Straight Wire cabling from the US. Come and take a listen and be amazed at how good an entirely sensible investment in audio gear can sound.

Synergy Audio Visual ROOM 7, 23

Brands Sonus faber, McIntosh, Chord, Quadraspire, Rega, Cambridge Audio, ELAC, REL, Ruark Audio, Mobile Fidelity

Synergy’s rooms are where you’ll slip into for a healthy dose of both quantity and quality, with the distributor not short of world-renowned brands. Room 7 will accommodate a system featuring Sonus faber, McIntosh Laboratories, Chord Company, Rega and Quadraspire, while room 23 will parade kit from Cambridge Audio, ELAC, REL Acoustics, Ruark Audio and Mobile Fidelity.

Synchronised Technologies RECEPTION AREA

Brands beyerdynamic

beyerdynamic’s Aussie distributor will be at the show armed with headphones from the German brand's diverse, budget-spanning catalogue. Expect a range of head-fi demonstrations to be available on everything from beyerdynamic's more affordable DT and Edition Series over-ears to its flagship Xelento, Amiron and T Series models.

Wavetrain Cinemas

Brands Elementi Audio

WATSONS BAY ROOM

For over a year, home cinema fit-out specialist Wavetrain Cinemas has used Elementi Audio as its exclusive high-end solution for its install projects. Elementi is a digital active speaker designed specifically for custom home cinema use and is bound to shake the demo room with its ‘Fire’ and ‘Air’ speaker ranges, ‘Earth’ subwoofers, and ‘Water’ Dolby Atmos speakers, which are all driven by external power amplifier components cleverly designed to be mounted against the cinema walls, adjacent to the speakers.

Yamaha Music ROOM 4, 5, 24

Household hi-fi name Yamaha will have no shortage of high-end products to water visitors’ eyes with. The Japanese heavyweight will undoubtedly be keen to demonstrate its forthcoming generation of components from its 2000 Series, alongside the even more esteemed members from its flagship 5000 Series. Register for a private listening session of the planar magnetic headphones YH-5000SE in room 24.

SHELL & SPRING COVE ROOMS

ROOM 7

Scan the QR code to register for a private listening session of the new Yamaha YH-5000SE planar magnetic headphones

ROOM 4, 5, 24