I never expected to walk away from a high-end audio show with an award. Audio Show Deluxe is a world of six-figure speaker systems, reference-grade electronics, and audiophiles who have spent decades chasing the perfect sound. I arrived with gongs. And somehow, I left with the Golden PiG.
This is the story of what happened at Whittlebury Park on 21–22 March 2026, why sound healing belongs in the same conversation as high-end audio, and the extraordinary instrument at the heart of it all – a Universe Gong, handcrafted by artisan Miguel Lourenço in Portugal.
What Is Audio Show Deluxe?
Audio Show Deluxe is not your average audio event. Now in its fourth year, it takes place at the elegant Whittlebury Park Hotel in Northamptonshire -the same estate that borders the iconic Silverstone racing circuit – and it has established a genuinely distinctive identity in the world of high-end audio. What sets it apart is not simply the quality of the equipment on show. It is the philosophy behind the whole event.
Co-organised by Stuart Smith of HiFi Pig and Kris Sawicki, Audio Show Deluxe is built around the idea that sound is an experience, not just a technical pursuit. Alongside world-class high-end audio brands -Wilson Audio, dCS, Nagra, Franco Serblin, Dan D’Agostino, Magico – the show brings in live musicians, industry experts, and experiences that go well beyond a standard product demonstration. This year, guitarist Antonio Forcione performed live on the Sunday, and over 1,000 visitors attended across the weekend. The ethos, from the very first edition, has been the same: create moments that stay with you. Go beyond the expected.
I have been part of Audio Show Deluxe since its first edition in 2023, when HiFi Pig described my room as “something wholly different” and one visitor called it “the best acoustic experience from the show.” Between shows, my work is rooted in West Wimbledon – where Wellbeing House has become a quiet destination for sound healing in South London, drawing clients from across SW London and beyond who are looking for something the mainstream wellness world rarely offers: genuine, science-backed nervous system rest. This year, the relationship with Audio Show Deluxe went deeper – and so did the gong.
The Award
The Golden PiG is awarded by the team at HiFi Pig to the exhibitor who creates something more than a demonstration. It is not simply about how a system sounds – it is about how a room feels. It recognises those who create something considered, welcoming, and truly memorable. It goes to the room that makes you want to stay. At Audio Show Deluxe 2026, that room was mine.
The Instrument at the Heart of It All
None of this would have been possible without the gong. And not just any gong.
When I first encountered a Universe Gong, I understood immediately that this was a different category of instrument. The tonal complexity is extraordinary -layers of harmonics that evolve and shift as the sound decays, creating a sonic landscape that feels less like a single instrument and more like a living environment. For a sound bath, this is everything.
What makes the Universe Gong particularly suited to therapeutic work is its capacity to hold space. The sustained resonance – wave upon wave of overlapping frequencies – creates what researchers describe as a state of brainwave entrainment. The brain naturally synchronises with external rhythmic stimuli, and the rich harmonic spectrum of a well-played gong guides the listener from high-alert beta activity into the slower alpha and theta states associated with deep relaxation, emotional processing, and genuine neurological rest.
Why Sound Healing and High-End Audio Belong Together
I have always believed that true luxury is not something you own. It is something you feel. It is the hour you carved out for yourself in the middle of a demanding week. It is the strategic pause that lets you think more clearly, lead more effectively, live more intentionally. In a world where busyness has become a status symbol, the ability to truly stop – and to feel the full benefit of stopping – is perhaps the most underrated form of self-investment there is.
The audiophiles at Whittlebury Park understand this instinctively. They spend their lives in pursuit of the perfect listening experience. They understand, perhaps better than anyone, that sound is not merely heard – it is felt. It moves through the body. It changes the quality of silence around it. It creates presence.
This is exactly what a gong bath does – and it does it live, with an instrument of extraordinary acoustic complexity. The Universe Gong produces frequencies that no speaker, however refined, can fully replicate: the physical sensation of vibration in the sternum, the way the harmonics seem to come from everywhere at once, the moment when a room full of strangers collectively releases a breath they didn’t know they were holding.
That detail matters to me. Exhibitors too. The people who spend two days demonstrating six-figure audio systems, fielding questions, managing demonstrations, and operating at full intensity – they came to the gong room as well. Because the nervous system does not distinguish between the pressures of an audio show and the pressures of a boardroom or a school run. Stress is stress. And sound, played with intention, is one of the most powerful tools we have for releasing it.
What the Award Means
The Golden PiG is still a relatively new award, but it has quickly become one of the most meaningful in the audio world – precisely because it is not about the most expensive system or the most technically impressive room. It is about the experience. The feeling of walking in, taking a seat, and feeling the outside world quietly slip away.
For me, receiving this award at a world-class audio event is a recognition that wellbeing and sound are not separate conversations. The pursuit of a perfect listening experience and the pursuit of genuine nervous system restoration are, at their root, the same thing: a desire to be truly present, truly at rest, truly alive to what is happening in the room.
That is what luxury means to me. Not a price point. Not a postcode. The quality of your attention. The time you give yourself. The strategic pause that changes everything that comes after it. A gong bath, played with intention, is one of the purest expressions of that philosophy I know.
The gong makes that possible. Miguel Lourenço’s Universe Gong, in particular, makes it extraordinary.
I am deeply grateful to Stu and Lin at HiFi Pig, to Rob for his collaboration, to every visitor who stepped into Syndicate 12 and gave themselves permission to simply stop – and to Miguel, for crafting an instrument that can fill a room with the sound of the cosmos and bring 1,000 people, for a few minutes at a time, back to themselves.
If you would like to experience a gong sound bath in Wimbledon or anywhere across South London, or bring a sound healing session to your event or organisation, I would love to hear from you. Wellbeing House is based in West Wimbledon, SW20 – a dedicated studio offering weekly sound baths, private sessions, and immersive workshops for accomplished women who are ready to invest in genuine rest and restoration.
And if a deeper reset is what you are looking for, I also run wellbeing retreats – including our upcoming Pilates Yoga Camp in Norway in June 2026Â where sound healing, conscious movement and nature come together for a truly transformative few days. Because sometimes, a single evening is not enough. Sometimes you need to go further.
