unPLUGGED 2008

Kuzma Stabi XL4 turntable, 4POINT tonearm, Benz-Micro LP mc cartridge (Kuzma Ebony Record Clamp in foreground)

Kuzma, Zanden, Magnum Dynalab, conrad-johnson and finite elemente components - the mainframe of the Lancaster suite system

Avalon Isis and Karan Acoustics KA M 1200 - heart and muscle of the Lancaster suite musical experience

conrad-johnson ACT2 Series 2 line preamplifier

Magnum Dynalab MD-106T analogue valve FM tuner and its magical 'magic eye'

... as it looked most of the unPlugged 2008 weekend in our corridor

finite elemente Modul LS speakers and Zanden 9600 mono amplifiers*

finite elemente Modul LS semi-active dynamic loudspeakers*

Zanden Model 2500S CD player, Zanden Model 3000 line preamplifier and Magnum Dynalab MD100 analogue FM tuner (finite elemente pagode HD03MR support)

Zanden Model 2500 Signature CD player

Avalon Indra loudspeakers in The Audio Works suite*

Avalon Ascendant loudspeakers, Karan Acoustics KA L line preamplifier and KA S 270 power amplifier in the Blade Audio suite*

Muse Electronics Model Two Hundred control amplifier (left) and Erato II digital player

conrad-johnson Classic line/phono valve preamplifier - world launch at unPlugged 2008

Rogue Audio Cronus integrated amplifier, Stealth phono preamplifier and M-150 mono power amplifier (from left)

* courtesy of LP / Avalon Acoustics

Audiofreaks unPlugged 2008 exhibition at the Renaissance Heathrow Hotel in London has been an unequivocal and quite unexpected success! Last year we were alone in the Syndicate corridor of the hotel renowned for hosting one of the most prestigious international quality audio events for decades. This year we were no longer alone – we had the invaluable support of two of our retail consultants and the two (in our view, at least) most influential UK magazines as far as coverage of quality and high-end audio is concerned. The most encouraging element of this year’s event was a very good attendance by the general public (marginally up on last year) – another piece of evidence in favour of those who firmly believe that no economical or financial difficulties can diminish the genuine interest in quality audio hardware and best possible reproduction of music.

Our sincere thanks to Blade Audio (David Rapoport), The Audio Works (Larry Ogden), Hifi News (Richard Marcroft, Paul Miller and their contributors) and Hifi + (Roy Gregory and his team), without whose support this year's unPlugged would not have been given a dimension we could not have envisaged only 12 months ago. We are also indebted to our host venue – Renaissance London Heathrow hotel whose conference and banqueting team did their absolute best to make us all feel at home and welcome under their roof.

We were also delighted to have Franc Kuzma (Kuzma Ltd), Lucien Pichette (Avalon Acoustics), Kazutoshi Yamada (Zanden Audio Systems), Luis Fernandes (finite elemente) and Larry Zurowski (Magnum Dyanalab) as our guests – their undivided support was a huge moral and practical boost to our efforts in making this weekend as good and enjoyable as possible.

Most of all, a big “thank you” goes to all the music lovers, audiophiles and hi-fi enthusiasts who have come to see us and listen to our music and audio systems throughout the unPlugged weekend. Without you none of this would have been worth doing...

We are pleased to bring you a selection of ‘moments’ captured during the unPlugged 2008 weekend – hope you will enjoy them. Not only, perhaps even bring more of you in person to our events in the future.

Future? As it stands, we hope the future of the unPlugged concept combined with high standards of its ingredients should be fairly bright. 2009? Stay tuned...