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Author: Mark Wheeler with Mark Charles Stewart - TNT UK
Published: January, 2026

Opening remarks

In many respects you can't beat a hi-fi show.
You can read all the specifications and subjective descriptions that you like but only standing in front of a system will indicate to you how system sounds to you.

Many people complain about the poor sound that it is possible to achieve in a hotel room – your Old Scribe reverses this and likes to see how well a manufacturer, or dealer, can mitigate poor acoustics using careful system set up. Most people at home will be facing similar difficulties and challenges. So the hi-fi show is like a microcosm of a dealers' understanding of their product ranges and it's integration into typical domestic rooms.

Our ear-brain mechanism also does a fair job of seeing what it expects of an acoustic space and tending to apply unconscious correction. The more experienced we are, the more practice we have, and the better we are at identifying individual system strengths in the context of a busy hi-fi show room.

A Grand Day Out in Scotland

For those of our global readership unfamiliar with Scotland's geography, this beautiful green hilly country has over 70% of its 5.5m population and economic activity concentrated in a narrow East-West band across the narrowest part of the country. Wherever one may host an event in this Central Belt, it is never further than 90 minute drive (outside of rush hours) from any other part of the Central Belt. Scotland has an ageing population (more over 65 than under 15) so that is a lot of potential attendees for an audio show. It looked like a good turnout for a show this size and the Chester Group are to be congratulated on re-establishing the Scottish audio show now branded as Hi-AV. The Chester Group have recently acquired the T.H.E. New York show, so their continued dedication to Scotland is to be applauded. The Scottish Hi-AV show is therefore in grand company and will need to pull its weight to keep up.

With 31 exhibitors featuring over 60 interesting brands in only its second year, the Hi-Av show is on the way. Yet another Mark, he of Ultrafide was enthusiastic, “Wow! Our first time north of the border was truly memorable,” without specifying exactly how it was truly memorable. Jimmy and Dave from Audio Counsel were equally enthusiastic, so clearly exhibitors had as good a time as the visitors, “Great show and was really good fun to make our debut here”. Three other exhibitors used terms like ‘highly enjoyable' so the two Marks writing this have to wonder what high jinks occurred after we left at 17:00!

The Two Marks' Chautauqua Vision Quest

Your Old Scribe's propensity for loudness means living far from the dense Central Belt populations. Setting off before 7AM, fuelled only by coffee, toast and the marmalade described here your Old Scribe drove his ancient 911 through dense clouds, rain and floods as if walking his Vision Quest with moccasins tied together. The vision cleared as the quest reached the Glasgow home of fellow audiophile, audio constructor and show attender Mark Charles Stewart, who was our roving eyes and ears at last year's Edinburgh Hi-AV Show. Approaching the Scottish Central Belt the weather cleared and after a quick brew the two Marks piled into Mark's more comfortable BMW and headed East for the Scottish capital. The event took place over the weekend of 8^th & 9^th November at the airport Doubletree by Hilton hotel. This is a great choice of venue because it avoids city centre traffic and the rooms are solidly enough constructed.

The Edinburgh Hi-AV Show Background

With hundreds through the doors in 2024, last year's Edinburgh Hi-AV Show was successful enough to prompt its repeat in 2025. Organised again by Justin Bird of the Chester Group (older readers will recall his Dad Roy), who have been behind most of the post-millennium UK audio shows, and the previous iteration of the Scottish HiFi Show from 2003-2007. Support came from The Scotsman newspaper, whose reporter Scott Reid was in attendance, and StereoNET. Entry was £20 for a two-day ticket (early ticket buyers before June 30^th could get half price) and most importantly, under 15s could get in free with an adult. This latter makes it much easier for parents to attend without shelling out for tickets for their reluctant offspring, £20 for a couple and their offspring for a weekend. More importantly, it encourages younger people to attend who might hopefully be inspired to pursue better sound themselves. Hobbies like audio, motor racing and motorcycle riding seem to be maintained by ever aging populations so attracting a younger crowd is essential for the activity's survival.

The two Marks were there all Saturday. Most of those other visitors seen at the show also seemed to spend most of the day there so it was difficult to guess visitor numbers. There were over 400 attendees who mainly attended both days, so some of the rooms seemed quite busy at times. The venue could manage more and I researched media exposure beforehand. The Scotsman broad sheet newspaper carried a half page feature online. Using various perms & coms of search terms (even with the 2025 date) to search for the show, whether using the brand Hi-AV or not, consistently had our own TNT-audio 2024 report in the top 5 results. Social media groups did not seem to have many mentions either. Your Old Scribe tested the water the previous week, on one of the most popular UK based Faceache groups (over 4000 members). On asking “Who's going to Edinburgh this weekend?” there were only 4 respondents, one of whom asked, “Why? What's 'appenin'” to which there was a reply “It's just a few dealers...” but the writer also confirmed that they were going. The first reply was by Johnnie 7 rewires who was there with a stall and a friendly greeting when we caught up.

The 2025 Show

The 2025 show was 33% larger than last year. The venue was better than those of many shows your Old Scribe has attended over the years. It deserved even higher attendance because there was a lot to see and many people to meet.

The two Marks enjoyed the Hi-AV show from a sociable point of view. The point of such a Chautauqua is the gathering together of minds as much as the vision quest of new audio equipment experiences. Mark 2 (well, he's a younger model than the Old Scribe) didn't hear anything particularly interesting or mind blowing. However, he noticed that Elite Audio and Audio Emotion had made a very good effort to get good sound in decent size rooms. Both Marks could hear the potential in the excellent current ART Loudspeakers despite the sub optimum listening conditions at the time of visit. Art Audio seemed to have speakers in several rooms. This is no surprise as they are simultaneously Scottish and somewhat splendid. Fyne loudspeakers were also well represented, being equally Scottish and equally splendid. More on that in part 2.

“Let them eat cake!” must be the motto of Glasgow Audio, the Southwestern wing of Holburn HiFi, whose multiple rooms hosted a variety of interesting systems. It's the logo iced fairy cakes (cupcakes to transatlantic readers) featured at the top of the page that first grabbed your Old Scribe's attention.

In this, part 1 there are lots of turntable pictures. The pictures will do most of the talking.

Conclusion

Audio shows attract mostly dedicated enthusiasts who invest serious amounts of time and money into their hobby. There can be no showcase better for local customers as well as a chance of social media sharing for global exposure. This is an opportunity for makers, distributors and retailers to meet potential customers. Most importantly, audio shows are opportunities for customers to meet those in the industry and to encounter systems with an opportunity to ask the kinds of questions not covered in adverts and reviews. The kind of questions pertinent to that particular enthusiast and their system.

Audio shows are also, most importantly the rare venue where fellow enthusiasts can meet up and talk. Now that few high streets have the selection of independent and national chain hi-fi emporia, the audio show is unique in this capacity for most audiophiles. As both of your intrepid reporters have stated: the social aspect of an audio show is a good reason to attend.

Footnote 1: Chautauqua is a Haudenosaunee word with many meanings, including two moccasins tied together and the site of a unique gathering, described by Teddy Roosevelt as, “A source of positive strength and refreshment of mind and body”.

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© Copyright 2026 Mark Wheeler - mark@tnt-audio.com - www.tnt-audio.com

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