Munich HighEnd 2024

marty said:

Brad, I heard it several times. The last was Saturday afternoon around 4 pm. There may have been some improvements but it was just too far away from what I think sounds good that I did not linger. Sorry. We'll have to respectfully agree to disagree on this one.

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Yes I guess we will. I went to an opera in Munich on Saturday night and I can tell you for certain that only the AC system approaches what I heard live… at least from this show. Not sure what your musical reference is but live is mine.

My wife, who loves live ballet and opera but generally doesn’t care about hifi felt the same way after going around the show on Saturday and Sunday.

marty said:

Then came the big surprise of the day, which were the Lorenzo loudspeakers. I really don’t know what to say other than this is one very impressive sounding speaker. What stunned me is that it uses a midrange horn, and I am certainly no fan of horn loudspeakers. In fact, most the horns I heard today just sucked. When horns play strings or piano, for the most part, it just doesn't sound right to me. That's my bias and I'm stickin' to it. But I could have listened to strings and piano on the Lorenzo all day. On the other hand, the Ares Cerat was a horror show. What people see in that, I just don't get. More disappointing was what I heard a Thomas Mayer. I don’t know what they used but it was big, black and ugly. I would have guessed they would have done a better job based on their reputation for excellent tube gear. But let’s get back to the Lorenzo. This was driven by their own tube gear (and nagra DAC) and it just sounded wonderful, like music.

I had he good luck of being there for 30 min by myself and got to know the designer, Miguel Lorenzo Castro, his wife and son quite a bit, What I discovered is it is Miguel's wife that is the final sonic arbiter of the product's sound. Miguel and his son confirm this as they say she has an exceptional ear. Even better, she also sets up the room, which was clearly one of the better sounding rooms I heard today even though it was modest in size. I thought hmmm, maybe Mrs. Castro (Maria Jose, known informally as Pepa) is the EU version of Bea Lam, who has long been known for her excellent ear. Was it simply coincidence that the two best sounding systems I heard thus far were both driven by premier women audiophiles?

I simply could not believe the Lorenzo room was empty for over 30 minutes while I was given an ipad and told to play whatever. I wanted. More people really should hear this speaker. But more than just hear it you have to see the incredible woodwork to believe it. As I told Bob Visitainer, it’s genuinely cabinet art that sounds like music. One might even say its a bargain at 200K! Kudos.

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That's how different the assessment can be. I lasted maybe 3 minutes in the Lorenzo room, although I was really looking forward to going there - basically, I find the speakers extremely interesting. However, I only heard one thing: room modes in the bass range, and several different ones at that. They smeared everything. I couldn't stand it. But I don't want to claim that this was the only room with disturbing room modes ....

Amir said:

I visited TAD room yesterday and the room was very beautiful , maybe the best room in this show.

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Unfortunately, the same music played every time - I tried it 3 times. And each time I was annoyed by the lack of fullness in the mid-range. Of course, this may have been due to the recording.

Every time I was there, the big hyped brands usually disappointed me in terms of sound. Very often, smaller, still unknown companies set the highlights. Of course, they still have to establish their product on the market and put more effort into the rooms. That was my impression of Schetl Audio Speakers last year, for example. I haven't had goosebumps at a trade fair for at least 10 years. This year Basel Acoustics and PMC were really strong according to statements from friends.

DasguteOhr said:

were really strong according to statements from friends.

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It's your own fault for giving in to such things. Everyone listens with their own ears.

Verdier said:

It's your own fault for giving in to such things. Everyone listens with their own ears.

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then you have bad friends i'm sorry for you

@matthias “ AC Munich 2023 or 2022 with the Aurora which was exemplary.”

I concur … altho perhaps the AC System Munich 2019 featuring the Symphonia Main Horn / Erevus Bass Horn remains my own personal audio Tour de Force of the Aries Cerat Munich Shows .

Argonaut said:

@matthias “ AC Munich 2023 or 2022 with the Aurora which was exemplary.”

I concur … altho perhaps the AC System Munich 2019 featuring the Symphonia Main Horn / Erevus Bass Horn remains my own personal audio Tour de Force.

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IIRC, AC had at that time a booth in the hall, yes this was also very good, indeed

DasguteOhr said:

Every time I was there, the big hyped brands usually disappointed me in terms of sound. Very often, smaller, still unknown companies set the highlights. Of course, they still have to establish their product on the market and put more effort into the rooms. That was my impression of Schetl Audio Speakers last year, for example. I haven't had goosebumps at a trade fair for at least 10 years. This year Basel Acoustics and PMC were really strong according to statements from friends.

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yes
yes
yes

the truth is still out there....

Ron Resnick said:

Hello Brad,

Thank you for your report and favorites preference ordering.

I find interesting/puzzling the polarization occasioned by the Aries Cerat system. You loved it; Marty didn't like it at all (to put it mildly).

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I think Brad is a dealer for AC. I am not surprised by his comments at all. He defended the sound from the first days presentation and it only got better from there. It is the same as your occasional comments about Clarysis. You both talk your book. I get that and have come to expect it.

PeterA said:

I think Brad is a dealer for AC. I am not surprised by his comments at all. He defended the sound from the first days presentation and it only got better from their. It is the same as your [Ron's] occasional comments about Clarysis. You both talk your book. I get that and have come to expect it.

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[please forgive my poor English]

Indeed. But on the other hand, where is the cause, and where is the consequence?
Instead of: I'm an AC dealer => I praise AC,
isn't it possible, after all, that we could have something like:
I'm stunned by AC* => I become an AC dealer

*stunned by AC: so, not in Munich shows, it seems... (at least, not for everyone ;-)

PS: please note that I have no idea who Brad is (apart from: AC dealer in Switzerland, it seems), and I never met him. But I see he listens to classical (amongst other), and he regularly attends live concerts.

Verdier said:

Unfortunately, the same music played every time - I tried it 3 times. And each time I was annoyed by the lack of fullness in the mid-range. Of course, this may have been due to the recording.

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Hey.
On Saturday afternoon I visited TAD with my son and grandchildren, and they unanimously found the musical scene (and associated acoustic dampening) particularly attractive and with a WOW effect.
The musical content (femels voices & percisssion) were realistic and compelling..
TOP music.

Karel (addict multi horn user)

After having recharged my batteries, I must say this year was great at Munich. A lot of cool things.

On no particular order


LM/Supravox sounded very good. The integration was beautiful, impressive tonality, texture and dynamics from the big boys. The room was not a concern. Effortless.


Tomas Mayer (@VinylSavor) and Admire Audio. Fantastic tone, extension, verticality and surprising imaging. Effortless.


Bayz room. Very nicely setup, room had no treatment and still it sounded good. Very limited overhang, very nice integration, most impressive imaging we've ever seen from a omnidirectional topology. Not effortless, but not remotely strained sounding also.


Thrax was, disconcerting. We came out of the many visits to the room perturbed. The level of integration, intimacy and musicality expression where off the charts. I can see why someone with a traditional hifi experience would find this room taxing, but we all found it just impressive. Off the rails effortless. Everything just happened, and you where left wondering if all recordings have so much much music in them after all.


Very nice and relaxed experience from Boenicke, just like last year. These are not afraid of the room, but they did sound like their limit was right there, a couple of dBs away, at times.


Wolf Von-Langa. Lovely room, amazing dynamics and texture from everywhere in the spectrum, nice integration, pure music machines. On both rooms, but this one was surprising because of the balance between intimacy and scale.



Unsurprisingly a bit on the sterile side of things (for me), but surprising because they deliver, in a grand way. Pure energy, very nice integration, nice balance between the tautness and musicality. Hideous, but so are most of the other things we liked.


Cessaro. Small ones where impressive, they had a tough job with a big room, they did amazing. Big ones are weird. Tonality had something off about it, dependent about your listening spot. Dynamics and scale for ages. Too loud of a room sometimes, at which point they sounded more like a PA system then anything else.


These wide baffle active where impressive. Very nice integration, extension, scale and tone.


Sigma is a long time preferred. I don't know what other people refer to when they say these where a bit bass shy. In comparison to the objective and ridiculous disgrace MOST other systems on the show where with bass, where even if they had no extension the room was just filled with mud and one note ringers, this was just consistently on track. You could hear well into the 20s just the note, not the usual distortion soup. High on the effortless class.

Other likes:
- Alsyvox. Impressive integration, texture and dynamics. Liked it better last year, this sounded a bit thinner.
- Goebel. Very nice setup, clean sound, nice integration across the spectrum.
- Lorenzo. Lots of potential, needed a bit more help with the setup to tame the bass. On bass heavy tracks it was unlistenable, otherwise it was textured and dynamic with nice tone.

People where awesome, had nice conversations and meetings, even if we didn't get to speak to everybody we wanted to, and we missed a lot of people from WBF!

carolus said:

Hey.
On Saturday afternoon I visited TAD with my son and grandchildren, and they unanimously found the musical scene (and associated acoustic dampening) particularly attractive and with a WOW effect.
The musical content (femels voices & percisssion) were realistic and compelling..
TOP music.

Karel (addict multi horn user)

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Their granddad’s 5 way horn system is much better Karel

PeterA said:

I think Brad is a dealer for AC. I am not surprised by his comments at all. He defended the sound from the first days presentation and it only got better from their. It is the same as your occasional comments about Clarysis. You both talk your book. I get that and have come to expect it.

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Yes Ron in his videologue of Axpona show rated Clarisys as the top room while Mike in his rating of rooms rated then lower on his scale in that post

Post in thread 'Axpona 24’ Mike Lavigne pics'
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/axpona-24’-mike-lavigne-pics.38610/post-961982

andromedaaudio said:

More show pics

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Nice photos! Does anyone happen to know what stand the Mephisto amp is sitting on please?

orfeo_monteverdi said:

[please forgive my poor English]

Indeed. But on the other hand, where is the cause, and where is the consequence?
Instead of: I'm an AC dealer => I praise AC,
isn't it possible, after all, that we could have something like:
I'm stunned by AC* => I become AC dealer

(consequently: I keep posting favorably about AC, even if it may look like an "agenda", and after all it is one, or kind of, but can't it be a "sincere" one? And that's here that the perception of causes and the consequences can get confused, imho; but as the forum accepts hifi professionals as members too, we probably have to live with it, and everyone will make his own opinion - unless no "agenda", by definition, can be sincere; my English...)​

*stunned by AC: so, not in Munich shows, it seems... (at least, not for everyone ;-)

PS: please note that I have no idea who Brad is (apart from: AC dealer in Switzerland, it seems), and I never met him. But I see he listens to classical (amongst other), and he regularly attends live concerts.

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Well said, and in my case exactly what happened. I was a reviewer for Positive Feedback and received an amplifier for review. I was very impressed with it and was subsequently asked to become the Swiss distributor for the brand, which I accepted. At that point I resigned from reviewing so as not to have a conflict of interest. In fact, I also didn't publish the review I had written about that Aries Cerat review piece.

Suffice to say that I was deeply impressed first and a distributor second.

Here are my thoughts, impressions from Munich 2024. I was there last year, too so this is my second year in a row. Will definitely go next year if life doesn't take a turn. I would highly recommend people interested in HiFi, around Europe to go there even at least once.
My impressions are based on I liked the sound or not. I am aware the rooms (structure, separations, dimensions, especially electricity) are not the best and this is MY taste of sound I hear, which naturally differ. Also I didn't take notes, as I saw many pros doing, neither I am a pro, just a guy loves listening to music. I won't repeat IMHO, to me, to my ears etc. through this post.

General headlines;
The peak point for me was when I were in Soulution room with a few other guys, near the closing time. They were playing vinyl and the person in charge sad "since this will be the last song, let's play Whole Lotte Love". Briefly told the story of collected very first print with high dynamic range and told He has one copy with some pops and cracks but worth it. Man this was one of my most memorable moments in life, let alone HiFi journey. I always thought my Led Zeppelin records were sounding no "quiet right" and I heard how they were meant to sound like.
Personal disappointment was most probably Audio Reference's organization, all the brands under the right side of the Audio Reference room (Wilson, Dan, WE..) were off more than half of the day on Friday. They held a big press event, closed the doors, and even after they opened the doors, since one-to-one interviews with Mr. Dan, Mr. Wilson and many were going on, there was no music till later. Since these were my last hours available, I didn't have the chance to listen to these; especially Dan + Wilson..
Pilium has taken over as the dominant electronics supplier of the show and they are hands down the greatest winner of the show, at least in the eyes of the industry participants and participants really into HiFi. Every room I entered, without knowing further, when I said "hmmm sounds nice" was at least powered by Pilium.

Room by Room;
These are in no particular order of like or preference, they are as I toured the rooms. Also the rooms not listed here doesn't mean sound was bad or else, maybe I skipped the room or was having time out, changing set-up etc, or most probably the room was just right. Nothing bad, but nothing special -for me- either.

Air Tight Room;
I admire Air Tight gear, especially their amplifiers. A small rom, lots of glass surface, no extra sound treatment but wonderful sound. -If not the- one of the best sound -ing rooms. Didin't want to leave. If it wasn't my first room and I had more time, I would spend more time there. So lovely, such inclusive sound.


Luxman Room;
I have always been a fan of Luxman, especially their pres and EQ-500 phono I had for many years. Was expecting to hear the new 1000 series. Loved their sound, classic Luxman sound.


Kharma Room;
Kharma speakers just don't move me. I can't say "this is the issue" but they don't. The room sounded very good and first time I met the MSB Cascade. Not sure if they were using it also as preamplifier.



Grandinote - Thuno Room;
Grandinote ws impressive for an integrated amplifier. Sounded very nice. I also loved the Thuno turntable. First it looked stunning. Sound was also good and lacking nothing sine I am familiar with the album playing at the time.


CAD - Trilogy Audio Room;
Liked the sound a lot. Just what I like to hear from a system. Balanced, authorative.


Albedo Room;
I liked the sound in Albeda room. They sounded way larger than they seemed. Filled the room without sweating.


Estelon Room - with Pilium & MSB
I have always liked Estelon sound, but not the looks :]] And they weren't there with their flagships. Really loved the sound.


AudioNet Room;
I have always liked AudioNet products. They sound so right to me. First time hearing their speakers. Liked the sound, not the looks :]]


Mytek Room;
Although ribbon in general and Borresen are not my taste, I liked the sound in this room with such a simple setup. Times and times better sounding than the price tag.


TBC..

carolus said:

Hey.
On Saturday afternoon I visited TAD with my son and grandchildren, and they unanimously found the musical scene (and associated acoustic dampening) particularly attractive and with a WOW effect.
The musical content (femels voices & percisssion) were realistic and compelling..
TOP music.

Karel (addict multi horn user)

Click to expand...

it is as if so many of the exhibitors share playlists and music. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they influence each other

RCanelas said:

After having recharged my batteries, I must say this year was great at Munich. A lot of cool things.

On no particular order

View attachment 131049
LM/Supravox sounded very good. The integration was beautiful, impressive tonality, texture and dynamics from the big boys. The room was not a concern. Effortless.

View attachment 131050
Tomas Mayer (@VinylSavor) and Admire Audio. Fantastic tone, extension, verticality and surprising imaging. Effortless.

View attachment 131051
Bayz room. Very nicely setup, room had no treatment and still it sounded good. Very limited overhang, very nice integration, most impressive imaging we've ever seen from a omnidirectional topology. Not effortless, but not remotely strained sounding also.

View attachment 131052
Thrax was, disconcerting. We came out of the many visits to the room perturbed. The level of integration, intimacy and musicality expression where off the charts. I can see why someone with a traditional hifi experience would find this room taxing, but we all found it just impressive. Off the rails effortless. Everything just happened, and you where left wondering if all recordings have so much much music in them after all.

View attachment 131053
Very nice and relaxed experience from Boenicke, just like last year. These are not afraid of the room, but they did sound like their limit was right there, a couple of dBs away, at times.

View attachment 131054
Wolf Von-Langa. Lovely room, amazing dynamics and texture from everywhere in the spectrum, nice integration, pure music machines. On both rooms, but this one was surprising because of the balance between intimacy and scale.


View attachment 131056
Unsurprisingly a bit on the sterile side of things (for me), but surprising because they deliver, in a grand way. Pure energy, very nice integration, nice balance between the tautness and musicality. Hideous, but so are most of the other things we liked.

View attachment 131057
Cessaro. Small ones where impressive, they had a tough job with a big room, they did amazing. Big ones are weird. Tonality had something off about it, dependent about your listening spot. Dynamics and scale for ages. Too loud of a room sometimes, at which point they sounded more like a PA system then anything else.

View attachment 131058
These wide baffle active where impressive. Very nice integration, extension, scale and tone.

View attachment 131060
Sigma is a long time preferred. I don't know what other people refer to when they say these where a bit bass shy. In comparison to the objective and ridiculous disgrace MOST other systems on the show where with bass, where even if they had no extension the room was just filled with mud and one note ringers, this was just consistently on track. You could hear well into the 20s just the note, not the usual distortion soup. High on the effortless class.

Other likes:
- Alsyvox. Impressive integration, texture and dynamics. Liked it better last year, this sounded a bit thinner.
- Goebel. Very nice setup, clean sound, nice integration across the spectrum.
- Lorenzo. Lots of potential, needed a bit more help with the setup to tame the bass. On bass heavy tracks it was unlistenable, otherwise it was textured and dynamic with nice tone.

People where awesome, had nice conversations and meetings, even if we didn't get to speak to everybody we wanted to, and we missed a lot of people from WBF!

Click to expand...

Agree with most of your observations. Especially the Line Magnetic, Thrax, WLM and Sigma rooms were all very good. The LM was one of my top choices. Thrax was divisive but I loved it as it was very direct and coherent. Sigma was the best "big" box cone speaker I think at the show.

Can't really agree with you though about the WVL speakers, either in Phasemation room or in the WVL room. Both sound very thin and lightweight...weak even.

Boenicke is always an interesting and engaging experience.

Didn't hear anything I liked about the big Vivd system.

Thomas Mayer had nice tone...that was about it for me though.
Bayz sounded hard like the lack of treatment on the walls...I am sure that it will change radically with the room

Agree completely about the small Cessaro...wonderful speaker again this year (I must conclude it is a wonderful speaker). The big ones sounded the best in the hall outside the room! There it finally integrated and sounded interesting. Sitting in the front row, it sounded like all the sound was from the midbass horn...very weird effect).