Audio show Deluxe 2026
Whittlebury Park hotel is not the most charming of buildings but its maze of corridors was rocking last weekend when Audio Show Deluxe came to town. This year even more rooms were occupied by luxurious systems being enjoyed by enthusiasts from far and wide. We did the rounds and found the systems that delivered results that made the grade, these weren’t the only great sounding dems but they managed to have the right music on at the right time, and that’s the key in our book.
Definitive Audio
With their branded bags handed out to visitors Definitive Audio had a busy time at Deluxe, I did manage to sit down but only once. Their system seems to be growing in stature with the Kuzma XL Air taking top honours as the highest turntable at the show, it sounded excellent though thanks to a Safir 12 arm and Car 60 cartridge side playing through one of three Consolidated Audio step up transformers, the bespoke Monster Can being Definitive’s preference. Valve electronics consisted of SJS Model 3 phono stage, Model 4 preamp and Model 10 mono block power amps driving a glossy Santos pair of Living Voice R80 OBX speakers. The sound made this room an oasis of calm even when the music got lively, I could have spent most of the day there had the opportunity arisen.
Chord Company
Not many brands get to celebrate a 100th anniversary but Luxman have done so with the L-100 Centennial integrated Class A amplifier, seen above on an MW Stands Cyntaf rack. Chord Co were using this to good effect with their Chord Music cabling and a pair of Dali Epikore 9 speakers (a particular favourite at the Ear). They were ostensibly demonstrating their new V-link speaker jumpers seen in Bristol last month but were letting it lay when I dropped by.
Karma AV
The only home cinema system I found at Deluxe was Karma AV’s, it combined Primare processing and amplification with a 7.4.4 system that included two R18is in-wall and two R18 subwoofers with ‘mungous 18 inch drivers. Despite this array of fire power the system sounded calm and relaxed when playing the Police live at distinctly restrained levels for a big surround rig.
Moor Amps
Tim Narramore has revised his Angel 4 amplifier to Mk2 (£8,000) with a lot more capacitors onboard, this reduces ESR and allows the amplifier to deliver power in a more consistent fashion, essentially beefing up the power supply. He was using two of these with the Kudos Sigao Drive crossover and a pair of Titan 505 speakers, the source being Moor Amps new Mana DAC (£6,250). The sound was one of the most agreeable at the event even though they were playing a music hall tune by Sting! We now have a Mana DAC to review are are looking forward to finding out what it can do.
Wilson benesch
Firing the system across the room and bringing their Resolution 3Zero speakers proved a good move for Wilson benesch. The source was the latest and most affordable addition to their GMT turntable range dubbed Greenwich (£82,000) which has a variation on the Omega direct drive system developed for the range topping GMT One and a variation on the elaborate Graviton Ti arm with its Flash Gordon styling. The result when combined with Trilogy amplification was very persuasive even while playing ‘70s synth classic Oxygène by Jean Michel Jarre.
Decent Audio
The largest Scansonic speakers that I have encountered were in action in Decent Audio’s room, the MB8B is a £12,000 beast with two 8 inch woofers, two 5.25 inch mids and a ribbon tweeter. It stands 1.45m high and weighs in at 45kg, so the price given its largely Danish origins isn’t excessive. The source of preference was the Dual CS 718Q turntable (£2,500), the top model in the German company’s range with direct drive and a carbon fibre arm whose origins date back to the CS 701 from 1973. Here it was used with a Van den Hul Frog moving coil and SPL electronics.
Boyer Audio
The smaller of Guillaume Boyer’s two rooms was a lot more intimate than the theatre of its counterpart. Here they had a Cinnamon Galle DAC that appears to be hewn from cast iron alongside an Engstrom integrated tube amp with Kroma Atelier Thaïs speakers, with supporting hardware by Shunyata Research. They were playing relaxed music, which always helps, including a down tempo cover of Wicked Game by Jessie Villa that was pretty sumptuous.
Node Audio
They look pretty distinctive but on the inside Node’s Atom speakers are unlike anything else. Made using 3D printing they incorporate a helical transmission line with an internal bass driver under the top of the speaker. The baffle is a lattice of tiny holes in the same material and incredibly stiff as a result. Both models have a pair of 50mm midrange units alongside a silk dome tweeter but the Node 525 stand mount (£15,800) has a 5.25inch bass unit while the 650 floor stander (£20,950) has a 6.5 inch driver in a longer transmission line. The finish is leather and the sound with a Melco server and SPL electronics rather engaging despite a standing room only audition.
Chord Electronics
I picked a good time to visit Chord’s room as they were playing Trentmøller’s Last Resort on a Rega P10 through their Ultima phono stage, Ultima amps and Raidho TD2.1 speakers. This sounded very nice indeed, it always helps if a demo contains music that appeals and in this instance the system was doing a great job in a very timely and refined manner.
Technics
The Technics room diverted attention by playing great music, Kevin Walker, also wearing the most fashionable trousers at the show, had the Twinkle Brothers’ Since I Throw the Comb Away (Live at Reggae Sunsplash) on the new SL1200 GME (£4,999) thus breaking the usual show mould. We hope to get this turntable in for review soon.
Kog
One of the most diverting systems at Deluxe was the Soulnote/Joseph Audio combo, this combined V2 versions of Soulnote’s D2 DAC (£6,900), E2 phono stage (£6,900) and A2 integrated amp (£7,700) with a Melco server and Joseph Perspective Graphene speakers (£17,000). The result was unusually transparent and well timed with the digital source playing Patricia Barber. I didn’t hear the Transrotor Massimo Nero TMD turntable but word on the street is that the Soulnote E2 V2 phono stage is a bit special.
Stratton Acoustics
Sensing perhaps that their existing models are a bit large for most homes Stratton Acoustics showed two bookshelf speakers that really stand out from the crowd. The Element 6 and 8 are enclosed in acrylic aluminium silica cabinets with guilloché finish baffles and gold plated wave guides on the tweeters. The six or eight inch main driver is carbon fibre and the reflex port incorporates techniques to suppress resonance in the tube. Even the stands are fancy as reflects the circa £15,000 price of the Element 6 and £20,000 for Element 8. I have to say they sounded rather good on the end of Electrocompaniet amplification and an Xact S1 Evo server/streamer, which is itself a particularly fine device.
Absolute Sounds
In the more ambitious of two Absolute Sounds rooms at Deluxe was a pretty radical high end system fronted by the floaty Dohman Helix One Mk3 turntable with a Techdas Airforce 10 tonearm. This has to be one of the most extreme arms on the planet thanks to the use of air bearings, I have seen parallel tracking arms that run on air in the past but this is the first tangential example. It even uses air to create downforce, the counterweight only there to balance the arm for the cartridge which in this instance was an Analog Relax EX1000 with a cedar body. The electronics consisted of an HSE Swiss phono stage, Nagra IIS preamp and HD monoblocks driving Magico S5 speakers in a room treated using huge 3D panels. It did sound pretty juicy playing a fancy 45rpm pressing of LA Woman by the Doors.
Boyer Audio
The darkest room at Deluxe was how Boyer decided to present their big system, and it was very big as far as I could tell. With a Wadax Studio Player streamer, Studio clock and Studio PSU feeding an Atlantis Reference DAC, the most affordable element in the system was the Network Acoustics Tempus switch. Amplification consisted of Orpheus Lab H Two 33BD preamp and H Three M800 mono blocks driving a substantial pair of Kroma Atelier Callas speakers, with all cabling and power conditioning by Shunyata. Listening to some of Hans Zimmer’s Dune soundtrack on this proved to b a very powerful experience.
Innuos
Demonstrating their flagship Nazaré server for the first time in the UK Innuos put together a pretty serious system using an MSB Cascade DAC with Gryphon’s Pandora preamplifier and an Antileon Revelation power amplifier to drive a pair of weighty looking Marten Parker Quintet speakers with diamond tweeters. The sound was as precise and powerful as you like, I hope to hear more of the Nazaré in the near future.
Symphony Distribution
Dan Ragget and his team went to great lengths to get a good sound in one of the larger rooms at Deluxe, building false walls and using mountains of damping to control the tricky space. The effort paid off with a system built around Esoteric Grandioso electronics and Kerr Acoustic K100 speakers on Townshend Seismic Podiums. With all cabling by Montaudio this system delivered both power and finesse in equal measure.