The High End Show Munich May 15-18 2014 We knew it was going to be big, but not this big, it was large enough last year but this year the show was nearly 25% larger and impossible to cover single handed, and is likely now the world s best for quality audio. The German home market also seems strong, has shrugged off the recession, and many local manufacturers exhibited in considerable depth. The breakdown is 40% German and a massive 60% from abroad, 440 exhibitors in total. While Europe and Asia were well represented, the USA came in force, fielding dozens of important brands, 44 in all, with the UK at 26 and Switzerland 19. Germany led with 189 exhibitors, Italy had 29, France and Denmark had 18 each, China and Japan 12 each. On the first (trade and press) day it was packed out with queues to all the major rooms.
Magico fought for attention, not that they needed to fight very hard, bringing their extraordinary and outrageous state of the art four-horn system which when custom installed in a home is priced at 0.6 million dollars. Magico s larger mid horn
Magico the smaller upper mid range horn with the lower treble seen above The object is to get closer to the dynamics of live sound, and the effort required shows how far normal systems are from this ideal. To match the performance of the custom and largely milled from solid horns, Magico chose to augment the installed 15 inch 4,000W woofer systems (the apparently small cone drivers at the bases) with two more state of the art subs, each with two 15inch long throw drivers. Kodo drum stuff wasn t like being at the live show, but it came closer than I have ever heard before. Those who sat further back were not so well rewarded as the smaller horns in the array were at normal speaker height, but when I stood up I got a good measure of an impressive full blasting. Compression on peak sound pressure levels was refreshingly absent. The mid horn efficiency is so high that full level is achieved with just 2W of custom class A single ended power. (118dB/W)
Silbatone Another massive horn system was fielded again this year by Silbatone, these the near antique Westrex and similar ex cinema horns. There were a number of speakers in this room including matching sub woofers and I was intrigued by the broad and powerful spread of sound. I found my answer by walking past each speaker - they were all on at once! Notwithstanding, the sound was nicely dynamic and free of harshness and all present enjoyed listening to these valve amplifier powered vintage arrangements.
Constellation and Wilson got together in good order and for this closed room it was one where from even behind the audience screen, as you first came in the door, abundant clarity and definition were on offer. The Wilson Alexias were nicely placed, sounding especially good near the centre of the seating area and I was able to play my own tracks to learn more about the system. Having enjoyed the results, and assuming that some really costly Constellation amplification was involved, starting at $30,000 a piece, I discovered instead that it was the new budget stuff at less than $20,000 for the pre-power combo. This is no orderly trickle down of the known high end Constellation sound, it s a cascade. Of course to hear that quality the Wilsons had to perform commensurately, which they did. These are the new budget Inspiration series consisting of pre, stereo power and mono power units. I am not sure that I actually preferred the new all square styling to that of the more high end components such as the Virgo.
Tidal Tidal is a top dollar German brand founded on large costly loudspeakers of superb finish and with a growing reputation. This year Tidal amplification was also present, commensurately priced, and the sound produced was delicately subtle with natural clarity and timbre, a brand to watch.
Tidal are also working with specialist producer Accuton on advanced diamond diaphragm driver arrays, diamond used even for the larger mid range drivers shown here.
KEF ( with Arcam) had an unpromisingly open layout, walk-in room but succeeded in carving out a seated demonstration area which remained packed with listeners who were treated to nicely managed presentations of the new range of Reference speakers. These are far from the earlier head on a box series, but are designed as very smart rectangular and slim pillar enclosures, founded on the latest in-house concentric, coincident mid-treble technology with an improved treble waveguide. These carry Reference pricing too, for example the REFERENCE 1 three way bass reflex bookshelf model, ideally stand mounted at 4,500 a pair while the series tops out with the REFERENCE 5 floorstander at 10,500 a pair, all with a high standard of finish to match. The new high power Arcam electronics powered up this ambitious presentation.
KRELL At another exhibit an unconscionable number of display stands were evident, piles of high end audio units and speakers all over the place, but with one area, standing spectators only, to show off a pair of Sonus Faber speakers driven by the new look Krell amplification, hosted by Bill McKiegan (and driving the very capable Sonus Faber Olympica III). Demonstrated in this unlikely locale was a driving rock track with jaw droppingly loud and punchy bass lines, to a large crowd who were clearly disappointed when the demonstrator moved over to another exhibit.
Meridian also sounded pretty good in situ, at this site hosted by the new luxury version of their successful linear phase digital active loudspeaker, the DSP 5200se.
Nearby was the new D Agostino Integrated Amplifier, looking visually well balanced on its integral combined base and power supply and here with the alternative anodised black and copper styling. Notably it comes with bass and treble controls. Oddly there is no zero setting; if you invoke the controls they commence at + 1dB or -1dB. As for the preamp, the watch dial outer ring is the super smooth, highly tactile roller bearing volume control.
Visitors could not resist stroking the lacquered carbon fibre panels of the limited edition (30, all sold out!) Sonus Faber Limited Edition Extrema, an evocation of founder Franco Serblin s famous Extrema loudspeaker from 30 years ago.
The Dunlop brothers are launching a new high end Systemdek with with ptfe and magnetic repulsion non-contact main bearing. The suspended sub chassis showed promising motion dynamics while an external quartz locked supply is provided.
PS Audio A beaming Paul McGowan of PS Audio was showing his new high end but well priced DAC which handles high rate DSD amongst other formats. Taking us through cuts in various formats he took no chances with the replay, fielding costly Raidho floorstanding loudspeakers. Naturally the raw power in the venue was conditioned by Paul s own Power Plants.
Magico also exhibited their Q5 with Soulution electronics to pleasing effect, very low coloration and well ordered. These seem to be a natural pairing.
Neumann A compact KF310A three way studio monitor from Neumann (with Klein and Hummel pedigree) distinguished by sealed box near liner phase operation, and quite low group delay. Availability for domestic use and a future HIFICRITIC review was discussed.
Ambitious Audio Ambitious Audio Design s name raised a few smiles amongst the UK press contingent because this smallish, all alloy, Danish two-way will cost about 40,000 when released next year. The tweeter is of diamond, it s a closed box, and it looked and felt quite special. Proudly in evidence is founder-designer Poul Hansen.
Devialet Devialet put on an impressive exhibit and demonstration including B&W and Wilson loudspeakers (Sophia 3). The topic was loudspeaker correction The extended time axis (i.e. lower frequency) graph shows the proposed problem with amplifier/speaker arrangements, whereby the resulting amplifier/speaker impulse response has measurable and audible errors. The Devialet development, free of charge to owners, is control software personalised to their loudspeaker which corrects this response error and also includes a low frequency map of the speaker s behaviour near overload. The map prevents the amplifier overloading the speaker and also in rare cases the amplifiers overloaded behaviour damaging the speaker.
With correction software the impulse response may be improved to match the original, as shown below. They have their work cut out as it can take 3 days to characterise a given speaker and while they are working through the more common contenders, they will ask for a public vote to prioritise their evaluations. A before and after demo wasn t possible, but by all accounts the bass and mid sounds cleaner, better focused and more stable with the correction applied. The correction is primarily below 300Hz
Devialet co founder Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel presenting the new personalised loudspeaker software upgrade with the Wilson Sophia
Allnic A stack of beautifully engineered Allnics. We hope to review some later this year
This Amati snail form loudspeaker is even more fetching than the classic B&W Nautilus.
Amphion s delightful colour ways.
Nagra An exploded but operating classic Nagra open reel tape deck for headphone displays.
Musical Fidelity Anthony Michaelson proudly showing off his new Musical Fidelity NuVista 800 integrated amplifier, priced at about 8,000. It looked even better in the flesh with its top class casework.
ARABESQUE Crystal Cables Arabesque speaker line showed the new Minissimo, perhaps 11,000 of aluminium strand loaded mineral polymer, an enclosure of extreme mass, damping and stiffness. Bass reflex, it sounded tidy and well integrated in a difficult space. The fetching lights are adjustable sand filled leather bean bags. A matching amplifier with remote control was also launched.
ARC ARC showed some design mock ups of a new retro range to appear later in the year, evoking the company s founding products such as the D79.
The Funk Firm Arthur Khoubessarian, founder of the Funk Firm, in happy mood at the Show.
Avantgarde A handsome minimalist Avantgarde control unit with deep diamond cut knurling on the main control, which felt as if it could cut your fingers!
AYRE The impressive interior of the new Ayre dual mono, balanced preamplifier with those massive USA made gold contact Shallco switches which control amplifier gain and thus the volume.
CANTON I was impressed by the fine demo and the modern styling of this new Canton flagship floor stander the Reference Jubilee at about 4,000 a pair, high end for Canton
CHORD Chord Electronics were well represented, with PMC BB5 se monitors in attendance providing authority and clarity for this complete high end system. The portable Hugo DAC /headphone amp is proving very popular.
A retro display from Electrocompaniet More retro, this time the EMT revival series, a Varia Curve Tube Stereo Control Centre, or preamp to mere mortals
Fono Acoustica More big horn speakers, these from Italian company Fono Acoustica with a central stereo bass horn. I appreciated the dynamics, but felt that the horn character remained inherent.
Graham Audio Graham Audio are continuing their projects with ex-spendor designer Derek Hughes, with new versions of the larger BBC monitor, the LS5/8. Modern approved crossovers will be made which are also compatible with older speakers. The smaller BBC LS5/9 was also on dem and we hope to review it soon.
Gobel After some years of research, Gobel fielded massive tower speakers with a full range bending wave flat panel speaker the main object of attention. To increase the bass power, a goodly number of bass units have been added including that off centre tower woofer. A good result was achieved at the show with fine, coherent sounding transients.
Bespoke Audio Harry O Sullivan, ex Music First, was on hand to show off his Bespoke Audio transformer control units, fully balanced with SE capacity and 46 step attenuators. At 7,500 it needs to be perfectly built, and it was, while alternative colour combinations are made to order at no extra cost.
Phonitor A high end, studio grade headphone amplifier from Phonitor, distinguished by a claimed high dynamic range from 145 volt internal power rails.
ifi The ifi range is expanding it seems by the day. Here is a clutch of these compact well finished audio units.
Rogers A range of new products with unusual styling from the UK brand Rogers including the low set, angled front loudspeaker.
Jarre The amazingly colourful and bizarre range of Jarre portable and compact reproducers, from colour metallic twisty bars to menacing skulls, attracted a lot of attention.
JL Audio JL Audio of subwoofer fame really do employ massive long stroke woofers, this one clearly designed to avoid unwanted rocking motion.
Pro-Ject Pro-Ject. Just a sample of this massive burgeoning range which included DSD playback and an abundance of turntables.
Karl Heinz Fink Karl Heinz Fink showing off his design group skills. The star exhibit was a go-for-broke floor standing three-way, a design exercise in driver origination and technology, combined with system design optimised for accurate transients, timing and low group delay. Called the Triple-F Concept A, if made, the estimated price would be 30,000 Euros a pair. Design associate Lampos Ferekidis was largely responsible for the project.
Triple-F Concept A The bass and mid drivers have linear phase flat panel diaphragms, mathematical optimised, the final octave coming from a new ribbon tweeter. The two 12inch bass are opposed, force cancelled, while the huge crossovers may be seen at the back
The KFH Triple-F Concept A crossovers, larger than the loudspeaker footprint. I could play my own music at this demonstration and was impressed by the speed, coherence and low coloration of this remarkable system. This is loudspeaker theory done right.
The busy interior of the latest KEF active bookshelf X300A with versatile connectivity.
Kron A Kronzilla VA 680 This amazing looking integrated amplifier from Kron caught my eye with huge triodes and their gold bases
Kuzma Kuzma showed an ingenious and by all accounts really effective LP cleaner. Frank makes the outer frame and motor drive which sits over a suitable, off the shelf ultrasonic cleaner bath. A trace of detergent (film wetting agent) and a drop of isopropyl alcohol and Frank says his records have never sound so quiet and clear. The ultrasonics clear out the grooves without wiping the dirt in. Kuzma also showed some interesting new moving coil cartridges
LINN LINN brought their smaller EXAKT digital active system but even in the ground floor booth employed, their sound quality virtues were evident. We publish our review of the flagship KLIMAX EXAKT system next issue: HIFICRITIC April-June 2014
Meridian Meridian also hosted in-car sound, here a factory installed Jaguar XF.
MiZik New brand MiZik showed this hybrid analogue-digital array of control components which may be placed horizontally or vertically and also have HDMI connectivity. The designer, Javier Guadalajara is also known for his innovative Wadax hybrid hi-end preamplifier.
The impressive driver array for the NAIM MUSO all-in-one. NAIM MUSO innards, including the very long bass port resting on the top and the massive finned alloy heat sinking for the stacks of 75W per driver amplifiers. NAIM unwisely left me alone with four MUSOs on a round table and for fun I turned up all four to make a synchronised array. An impressively powerful wide range sound resulted, not that they aren t already pretty loud in singles.
Naim and Focal The press announcements read steady as she goes, confirming stable financing for the future of this association of these two expanding complementary companies Naim and Focal got together for a press conference and for the display and demonstration placed the new flagship NAIM Statement pre power at centre stage. It powered the top of the line Focal Grande Utopia EM BE. Later I was able to play programme of my choice and obtained a fair impression of the subtlety and sheer control available. And it made the Utopias dance in a way I have not heard before.
Rowland s still eye catching diamond milled finishes on the new Continuums. George Cardas of Cardas Cables was in attendance at another booth.
Lyravox Lyravox showed an eye catchingly massive, wall mount, all-in-one audio system whose sheer size may only be appreciated with a matching live accessory!
Vandersteen Model 7 I had previously missed hearing this established hybrid amplification loudspeaker and found a sophisticated and well balanced sound of fine spatiality. Richard was on hand to field questions.
An impressive display of a part of the Thorens turntable range
Burmester had several rooms with so many hi end products it was hard to keep up. Here are a few factory equipped Burmester sound system cars including Mercedes and Porsche. It would take a week to cover this show properly, and I apologise to those I missed this year. Maybe next time! Martin Colloms HIFICRITIC 20. 05. 2014