Talk
about immediately feeling out of place and thinking I should leave without even
being noticed. This event was at the local Lamborghini garage with moneyed
types abounding in expensive casual wear, while I was in my scaffy shorts though
I was wearing a t-shirt and hi-tops sporting 3 stripes. A couple of quick
glasses of free sparkling wine helped me appreciate the signs saying don’t
touch the cars. Bentley’s, Ferrari’s and Maserati also on offer if you had a few spare bob
going. It wasn’t just cars and hi-fi on offer, as we had Rox jewellery, and a
less costly Highland Park presence.
The
price of the motors actually put Linn’s offering of a hi-fi system circa £40k
in the shade, which in turn put my system well into the low end category. Has
to be said nice setting, if uncomfortable for types like me, but free alcohol
always goers down well in Scotland, and the food designated for the break, was
scoffed before the Linn proceedings started.
A
Linn Lounge event is where they pick the works of a major artist and use a
sample of their work to demonstrate Linn’s top of the range equipment; here a
Klimax Digital Streamer and Klimax 350 active speakers. Their policy is not to
really promote, more listen then go and demo at your local dealer, in this case
Hi-Fi Corner. So a good start from the boys from Glasgow, which wasn’t followed
up by the history of the band, that accompanied the music, from one their reps.
Linn are high-end, and those who are the target market for their Klimax and
Akurate range would expect much better public speaking than that which was
delivered. It was read from a tablet in a wooden style. The guy did get all the
main points about the band across, but not in a relaxed way that held the
audience’s attention. He may have been enthusiastic about the music, but it
never showed. This was the main focus of the evening, and needed to be hell of
a lot more slick. Considering Linn produce quality engineered audio equipment,
you would have thought their staff doing public speaking would be at the same
level. Not in this case, and unfortunately it can only be described as poor,
further highlighted by the 5 minute chart from the Highland Park rep, who
showed how it should be done..
This
first track played was R.E.M.’s first single, Radio Free Europe, which appeared
on their first album Murmur. The title of the latter very soon became very
appropriate as a general level of chit-chat from the rows at the back began to drown
out this cracking track. Bad manners, it seems, is prevalent across all of the
social strata in Scotland. This p!$$£d me off no end, as I’d only gone for the
music, as in their day, R.E.M. were for quite long period, the best band on the
planet. From their debut through to Automatic For The People, every album,
which HAD to be bought on day of release, was an utter cracker. Of
all the artists I’ve bought and listened to over the years, they easily had the
longest run of brilliance.
An
increase in the volume reduced the level of annoying background noise, but it
never really dissipated. I’m not going to comment on the quality of the system.
A large car showroom, with no doubt only a few hours set-up, is not the place
to judge top end audio gear.
A
break for more alco, and the second part saw me in the front row to avoid the
hubbub as much as possible, with the period covering R.E.M.’s peak and their sad,
subsequent demise, though the latter wasn’t mentioned.
So
all in all, a very interesting event. It was good catching up with a couple of
the guys from Hi-Fi Corner, and hearing R.E.M. on top flight kit, though clearly
this wasn’t performing at its best. Linn though really need to ensure their
staff delivering these events, have the requisite speaking skills.
No comments:
Post a Comment