NWAS 2026 Golden PiG Awards
NORTH WEST AUDIO SHOW 2026 GOLDEN PIG AWARDS AND PORTRAITS OF THE PEOPLE OF CRANAGE 26
Team HiFi PiG reveals who deserved the three Golden PiG Awards we decided to give out at last weekend’s NWAS 2026 event at Cranage.
At each HiFi Show we visit, we bestow one or more small, yet significant, Golden PiG Awards. These are given to exhibitors who go the extra mile to make things look, sound and feel special.
Read our report of the North West Audio Show 2026 here
And scroll down for our people of the show pics!
AUDEN DISTRIBUTION
Bill and his team at Auden Distribution are one of the most consistently strong exhibitors at NWAS, this year marking 10 years since they first exhibited at Cranage.
Every year Auden ups their game; what can we do better? How can we make it more appealing? What do the visitors want this year? These are all questions that they mull over and come up with little tweaks to make the room one of the nicest places to be at the show.
Both the big room and the smaller one are exceptionally well planned, there is a space to listen and a place to discuss the products in the main room, without disturbing those who are enjoying listening. Everything looks lovely, there’s considered lighting and a great display of products. And, of course, the systems sound great.
A top tier distributor doesn’t just put brands together willy-nilly, there is years of work here, finding brands that naturally work well together and complement each other. Indeed, it would be hard to think of hearing Egglestonworks or Amphion without Hegel, such is the great job that Auden do promoting these brands and exhibiting them together, along with Audiomica, Merason, Luphonic and Musicworks.
We have seen Bill and the team completely transform what are, in essence, boring conference and bedrooms into amazing oases of sonic delights, with the kind of attention to detail that is usually reserved for a permanent installation, not just a weekend event.
And of course, the way people are welcomed, the music that is played and the fact that it is obvious they love what they are doing, all makes Auden Distribution a very worthy winner of one of our NWAS 2026 Golden PiG Awards.
Linette Smith
ALCHRIS AUDIO
As always, the Golden PiG award is a difficult task, as so many exhibitors put great effort into making sure their rooms are inviting, staff are friendly, and the sonic experience is as good as it can be in a hotel room. This year it was difficult as ever, yet both Michael and I came to the same conclusion – Alchris Audio were the stand-out room, so much so that I went back multiple times during the duration of the show. Between the 1976 themed room, the rock hour dedicated to Tommy (our dear friend and HiFi PiG mega-fan who sadly died just a couple of weeks before this year’s show), and Alan sporting a brilliant black wig, both he and Christine had done a wonderful job of making the whole room feel like an experience. Backed up by his own excellent TX-66 speakers – from the first visit to the last, it was a room that both felt and sounded right (shout out to Alan for playing Rasputin by Boney M).
Oscar Stewart and Michael Fairbairn
NORTH WEST AUDIO SHOW
There are always rooms at audio shows that stop you in your tracks because of the way they’ve been laid out, the sound of the system, or simply the way the people in the room interact with visitors. Those are normally the recipients of our Golden PiG awards, and I’m sure other members of the team we had at Cranage, where the North West Audio Show is held, will award theirs accordingly…I myself had some very close contenders room-wise, including the guys at Super Natural Audio, Clip Audio and CML Music for their fantastic room.
This year, however, my own Golden PiG isn’t going to an exhibitor at all. It’s going to the North West Audio Show itself.
I’ve worked closely with Kris on the marketing side of the show for the best part of thirteen or fourteen years. When I first heard about what he was planning, he’d already booked the fabulous De Vere Cranage Estate, and I approached him about HiFi PiG becoming the show’s official media partner. But NWAS has always been a bit different. It has always been welcoming, accessible and enjoyable, whether you were spending £500 on a system, £500,000, or simply there to enjoy the weekend and the banter in the bar.
Fast forward to today and, ten shows later if we sensibly ignore the years that COVID stole from everyone, it has become one of the highlights of the European audio calendar. And that doesn’t happen by accident.
Visitors see the demonstrations, the talks, the packed corridors and the busy bar. What they don’t see are the months of planning beforehand, the endless emails, the logistics, the exhibitors arriving with vans full of equipment, the inevitable last-minute problems, and the hundreds of little things that have to happen at exactly the right time for the whole weekend to appear effortless, and, yes, there is the odd heated discussion along the way.
Throughout the weekend I spoke to exhibitors from all over the building, and I couldn’t find anyone with a bad word to say. Quite the opposite. Time and again people mentioned Kris and his team, particularly the porters, who seemed to appear exactly when they were needed before disappearing off to solve someone else’s problem.
Running an event that attracts more than 2,800 visitors and hundreds of brands from across the industry is a huge undertaking. Keeping it running smoothly while making people feel looked after is something else entirely. It would be very easy to take that for granted because, when something is organised well, you barely notice the organisation at all. You just enjoy the weekend.
For me, that’s exactly why this award matters.
So this year, my personal Golden PiG doesn’t go to a product at all, or even to one beautifully presented room, it goes to Kris and every single member of the North West Audio Show team. The work they put in before, during and after the weekend is extraordinary, and while most visitors will never see the effort that goes into making the show what it is, they’ll certainly appreciate the result.
Congratulations to all of you. It’s thoroughly deserved.
Stuart Smith
Now read our full report of the North West Audio Show 2026 here
Here are just some of those people who make Cranage such a special event…..
Please note, all content and photos are the copyright of HiFi PiG Magazine/Big Pig Media LLP and must not be copied or reproduced in any way without the prior, written consent of the editor.
Photography by John Scott of Upstage Photography, Kelly Bowden and Linette Smith
