I didn't hear the one you put in the photo. That is a short floorstander that is fully active and tilted back to project sound upwards more. The stand mount was perhaps a bit over 1 meter off the floor on the stands. Friends of mine said the fully active one was superb too.
Munich HighEnd 2024
- Thread starter redandgold
- Start date
Integration will be the main issue with a sub...I found the only good sub for a planar is an even bigger planar!
Did you hear it on Sunday? They got all the bugs worked out by then and it was simply the most realistic sounding system at the show...IMO of course...
If you sat dead center they worked...off axis it collapsed to a single speaker...extremely directional. They didn't sound shut in to me when centered.
Ah, well...there were significant changes that improved the sound to another level.
They were placed like big headphones, similar to the typical set-up of Grimm or Boenicke speakers, not my cup of tea
If the room causes issues that is a valid way to deal with it, IMO.They were placed like big headphones, similar to the typical set-up of Grimm or Boenicke speakers, not my cup of tea
Hi, Just curious, this pic looks like Lorenzo cabinets but it's not a Lorenzo. It looks like the pic was of a Lorenzo cabinet but the drivers were photo shopped in. If you don't mind please explain as we can't figure it out....thx
The king will be back one day, for now listen to shitty distorted mono audio and shaky cams ( Shout out to the blairwitch project!)
My highlight from the show was the time I spent with Ken (from CAT) and my brother as well as customers, friends and family. Daniele from Alsyvox visited me and I loved that, what a great guy. Together with Clarisys we are bringing the world our preferred type of listening. Between us manufacturers, we have a great sense of bonding and common goal. Thanks for everyone who stopped by
Now, my list of the best systems regardless of cost:
1) Aries Cerat (Final Sunday setup). This huge ambitious system was a challenge to get setup and sounding up to it's potential and improved everyday from Thursday onward. My rating for the best sound at the show is based on the final sound achieved on Sunday. I can understand those who thought it didn't sound good on Thursday and Friday but the transformation to Saturday and then Sunday cemented it as something truly special. Simply the closest to live dynamics, live tone, live resolution that was at the show. As a note, I went to a Shostakovich Opera (The Nose) in Munich and got a huge dose (too much actually...it is a hard opera to listen to) of live, huge dynamics and many instrument live sound...AC sounded more like this than the others
2) Acapella Hyperion with Acapella electronics. Very natural and dynamic sound. Slightly less "real" than AC but not way off the pace. Huge dynamics and awesome transparency. Perhaps slightly more forgiving of poorer recordings and somewhat more room friendly...as long as your room has a high ceiling. The ion tweeter has such effortless highs and is so well integrated you never think about a tweeter...the right amount of highs are just there. Transparency is superb and coherence is so good it's hard to believe from a multi-driver speaker.
3) Diesis Roma Triode speakers with huge open baffle subs (not sure about what electronics were used). While third on my list, it is a distant third from the other two. It is also significantly less expensive (but still very expensive). Dynamics are very good and tonality and space are also very good. Resolution is good but not at the level of the others...at least in this big room. IMO, this room is too big for this speaker...even with the subs (it was well over 100m2...maybe closer to 200m2) and it gets a bit swallowed up in it. A few years ago they had this speaker in a much smaller room and with either Kondo or their own hybrid and it really was amazing. You hear some of that here but it is no longer the drama it should be. Still, it does a hell of a lot right and IMO beats most others.
4)Sigma MAAT XAC with Canever electronics: Again another step down from No. 3 but probably with as much potential. Limited by the room size and perhaps the electronics as well, This system still had awesome resolution and dynamics. Bass was more reserved than one would expect for having two huge 15 inch woofers per side but perhaps they are adjustable somehow and they dialed it back not to overload the room? Natural tone was also on display here but not the utter realism of No.1 and 2.
5) Diptyque/Kora A fraction of the price of the others but delivering some of the best sound at the show without reservation. Only bass impact might be found wanting by some. Not quite the spooky realism of the best above but not far off and better than the myriad of other speakers. Amp choice may or may not be limiting factor here.
Unrealized potential:
Line Magnetic LM-3 field coil speakers with LM electronics. Only got a very brief listen in a tiny room for such a big system...well there is serious potential here for live feeling (albeit coming with some tonal coloration). Heard something similar many years ago in Switzerland and was flabbergasted by how good it was. The sound in the small room was excellent nonetheless and hinted at what could be.
1) Aries Cerat (Final Sunday setup). This huge ambitious system was a challenge to get setup and sounding up to it's potential and improved everyday from Thursday onward. My rating for the best sound at the show is based on the final sound achieved on Sunday. I can understand those who thought it didn't sound good on Thursday and Friday but the transformation to Saturday and then Sunday cemented it as something truly special. Simply the closest to live dynamics, live tone, live resolution that was at the show. As a note, I went to a Shostakovich Opera (The Nose) in Munich and got a huge dose (too much actually...it is a hard opera to listen to) of live, huge dynamics and many instrument live sound...AC sounded more like this than the others
2) Acapella Hyperion with Acapella electronics. Very natural and dynamic sound. Slightly less "real" than AC but not way off the pace. Huge dynamics and awesome transparency. Perhaps slightly more forgiving of poorer recordings and somewhat more room friendly...as long as your room has a high ceiling. The ion tweeter has such effortless highs and is so well integrated you never think about a tweeter...the right amount of highs are just there. Transparency is superb and coherence is so good it's hard to believe from a multi-driver speaker.
3) Diesis Roma Triode speakers with huge open baffle subs (not sure about what electronics were used). While third on my list, it is a distant third from the other two. It is also significantly less expensive (but still very expensive). Dynamics are very good and tonality and space are also very good. Resolution is good but not at the level of the others...at least in this big room. IMO, this room is too big for this speaker...even with the subs (it was well over 100m2...maybe closer to 200m2) and it gets a bit swallowed up in it. A few years ago they had this speaker in a much smaller room and with either Kondo or their own hybrid and it really was amazing. You hear some of that here but it is no longer the drama it should be. Still, it does a hell of a lot right and IMO beats most others.
4)Sigma MAAT XAC with Canever electronics: Again another step down from No. 3 but probably with as much potential. Limited by the room size and perhaps the electronics as well, This system still had awesome resolution and dynamics. Bass was more reserved than one would expect for having two huge 15 inch woofers per side but perhaps they are adjustable somehow and they dialed it back not to overload the room? Natural tone was also on display here but not the utter realism of No.1 and 2.
5) Diptyque/Kora A fraction of the price of the others but delivering some of the best sound at the show without reservation. Only bass impact might be found wanting by some. Not quite the spooky realism of the best above but not far off and better than the myriad of other speakers. Amp choice may or may not be limiting factor here.
Unrealized potential:
Line Magnetic LM-3 field coil speakers with LM electronics. Only got a very brief listen in a tiny room for such a big system...well there is serious potential here for live feeling (albeit coming with some tonal coloration). Heard something similar many years ago in Switzerland and was flabbergasted by how good it was. The sound in the small room was excellent nonetheless and hinted at what could be.
Re: 4) Sigma MAAT - the bass in this room is a very long way from what is achievable from these speakers, comparing what I heard this week to Son's Pillium-based system. His system is the best bass in terms of resolution, dynamics, impact, and tonality that I've ever heard.
This is the non-field coil version...the one at the show was field coil.
Line Magnetic Audio LM-3
SpeakersThe LM-3 are exceptional speakers. The pavillon and its medium driver are replicas of the famous Western Electric 22A and the Western Electric 555W. A reproduction at the antipodes of the « hi-fi » with an extremely natural sound of great magnitude. The bandwith extends from 150 à 13kHz.
www.thas.gr
Yes, there was a surprisingly subdued bass for such a big speaker in this setup. It was like that last year as well with the Orchestra 2.9.
Most interesting speaker that I would like to hear more of:
ESD Crane. This is an 85K speaker with carbon fiber mid horn, huge field coil compression driver, compression tweeeter and two big metal bass cones. Cabinet is solid metal and bass cabinet is dead dead dead. Only had a brief listen with not the best music but a serious level of potential in a real world sized speaker.
ESD Crane. This is an 85K speaker with carbon fiber mid horn, huge field coil compression driver, compression tweeeter and two big metal bass cones. Cabinet is solid metal and bass cabinet is dead dead dead. Only had a brief listen with not the best music but a serious level of potential in a real world sized speaker.
Therin Lies The Magic , I am at the concept stage of a no hassle system for Mrs Argonaut and will be looking at field coil for the transducers .
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