Munich HighEnd 2024

Reading any of Marty’s post on audio reminds me of how magazines reviewed Audio gear back in the 80’s , honest opinion, direct and to the point ..!

Refreshing ...! :)

Recognizable comments from Marty.

It's pretty easy to see why he likes the Lorenzo speakers.

Superior sounding woofers from Supravox:
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Their waveguides are inspired by the JBL PT-series, virtually eliminating any horn signature.

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If the power meters on darTZeel are to be trusted, the big Stenheims don’t use a lot of power most of the time.
they show 'peak' watts and hold it for 8 seconds. and they can be trusted. my 97db, 7ohm Evolution Acoustics MM7 passive main tower's are on '0' a majority of the time. particularly robust music takes me to 7-10 watts or so. with analog played loud i do see peaks above 100 watts to low 200's. horns, strong vocals, drum whacks. digital relatively smears the peaks and so the read out is lower. i see other peak difference anomalies from time to time that are very profound speaking to the actual differences of media.

but the first watt of the 468's is very fine. my bass towers are active below 50 hz.
 
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WLM

Felt on the chairs cool
That is the first photo of a system I have seen that includes an AMG Viella turntable. Any idea who manufactures the isolation base that is sits upon?
 
@mxk116 i dont know .

Regarding Dartzeel its a difficult one .
I d like to hear them on different speakers.
I prefer the Dart / Audionec set up i heard in Brussels.
I think they deserve better then stenheim.
Based on what i heard at 3 years munchen fwiw.

Conclusion :
CAT is at the top of the mountain. ( according to my preference/ taste)
Besides CAT id consider VTL the gryphon Apex FM acoustics and Viola labs.

Digital;
The one box wadax player is very nice, even when i heard it without pre amp , it has adjustable gain via remove control /touchscreen.

Brownish silver standard colour , all Black finish at extra cost. (If i understood correctly)
Besides wadax id consider metronome tech.


And off course i hear tons of loudspeaker units implemented in all kinds of different designs at the show which is interesting/ educational
 
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Looks like a Modern Duntech .... :)

BTW all materials have a “sound “ a sonic signature so to speak , no free ride anywhere ..!


Regards

Completely true of course, so it's a matter of what suits your preferences best.

Many audiophiles are so used to the over-damped characteristics of typical high-end speakers that they seem to have lost the ability to recognize 'natural sound'.

Natural sound is related to efficiency and materials a.o.
 
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I wouldnt say they are an offender on sensitivity - here are the Stereophile measurements on the Alumine 3:


JA also notes they present a "relatively easy load." They aren't horn like efficiency but aren't designed to be.

Unfortunately 'an easy load' isn't quite the same thing as 'efficient'.
LS3/5a monitors are also an easy load, however, anything but efficient.
 
Yes, definitely there are many coats of polyurethane for durability over the life of the products and with a 500lb speaker (or even their smaller, only 300lbs:) shipping or moving it around, along with the effects of humidity and temperature changes when being shipped around the world it is highly necessary. Or you end up with cracks in the wood, which becomes a real issue over time.

The poly is not added for "the look" etc it's for long term stability of the veneers and of course that gives it it's final look which definitely is not for everyone.

Perhaps Bob, but my wooden speakers from 1950s appear to be brand new 65 years later and they have none of these thick, prrtective coatings and originated in England ended up in Japan, then Virginia, Utah, and now Boston.
 
I think too many are stuck on tubes forcing themselves to make fit and committed no matter what
when the right tubes are used it’s magic but not always

SS are not always magic but can deliver what’s needed on demand regardless if well suited
This allows us more design flexibility
what we hear is the end result of the system

Reg dart meters what they are set to show or if allowed to be set being digital displays is great
transients is where systems fail or produce
it’s very fast and trained ears can possible know
way back when I used an old Aragon 4004 mkii
rehabbed
Sounded nice but after time I heard odd sounds at certain parts of recordings
All repeatable
Lower volumes fixed it but it was at low volumes I noticed it.
at player volumes not so much
after measuring the amp I then seen it was approaching clipping
 
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Perhaps Bob, but my wooden speakers from 1950s appear to be brand new 65 years later and they have none of these thick, prrtective coatings and originated in England ended up in Japan, then Virginia, Utah, and now Boston.
Great for you Peter, I have had so many issues with acoustic guitars. I can’t even count them. Also with furniture, at different times in my life. I’m glad your speakers are perfect after all that time that’s great.

When I or others look at the Lorenzo speakers in person and not in pictures there is never a conversation about plasticity.

The conversation is usually about the highest level type Woodworking that anyone has ever seen.

Also, don’t forget these are veneers which are different than a thick, solid wood speaker. There is Panzerholz in several places underneath the veneers. Trust me, they know what they’re doing.

Not trying to convince anyone have a look for yourself sometime.
 
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"I think too many are stuck on tubes forcing themselves to make fit and committed no matter what
when the right tubes are used it’s magic but not always"

"SS are not always magic but can deliver what’s needed on demand regardless if well suited
This allows us more design flexibility
what we hear is the end result of the system."
I do not understand what the above quote (Alrainbow) means or the context, other than (I'll assume here) it being some kind of a projected generalization.
 
Bass was indeed not controlled optimal imv..

After listening to the.big stemheims i dont get the stenheim thing to be honest

The bass could be better by changing speaker position but I had similar feeling that the stenheim/CH bass could be better.

There are many variables that make it difficult for right judgment.

My personal experience shows for good bass response the chance for matching of dynamic driver speakers with “class ab solidstate amplifiers” is not high.
 
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Number 1 is definitely in play. Many of the better sounding rooms were actively cleaning the power.
2 I don’t agree with this based on what I saw from amps with power meters and in room SPL levels.
Mostly agree with points 3-5.

Most amps today power meters are rigged for our current feel good Zeitgiest , just ask the designers. If they represented true power levels most would faint from the notion of peak power on the meters . Why Nelson even expressed one reason for removing when his amps left class A on his meters as most keen ear audiophiles could hear the class B clunk after seeing it happen ..!

:)
 
The bass could be tune by changing speaker position but I had similar feeling that the stenheim/CH bass could be better.

There are many variables that make it difficult for right judgment.

My personal experience shows for good bass response the chance for matching of dynamic driver speakers with “class ab solidstate amplifiers” is not high.

Wait , what ! Are you saying better bass is from toobs over SS ..?
 
I think too many are stuck on tubes forcing themselves to make fit and committed no matter what
when the right tubes are used it’s magic but not always
the idea of 'only' using tubes as religion/dogma......and settling for the where that takes you, even if you are giving up some things. as opposed to being open to the best result. and also tube rolling as a rat hole to go down.....and as an end to itself instead of just a means to better sound.

OTOH nothing wrong with tube rolling an a hobby focus. if you are having fun and your ears are happy then good.
SS are not always magic but can deliver what’s needed on demand regardless if well suited
This allows us more design flexibility
what we hear is the end result of the systemso
solid state can deliver noise floor and linearity tubes mostly cannot. but how to deliver the musicality.....too? but if you can do that, then you got it all.....in the right system. solid state cannot always deliver.....but sometimes it can.

it's not about beliefs, but about results.
I do not understand what the above quote (Alrainbow) means or the context, other than (I'll assume here) it being some kind of a projected generalization.
it's a bit of @Alrainbow stream of consciousness which makes perfect sense to me.

it's at the heart of my system building philosophy. i'm a tube lover not accepting the limitations of tubes. but still love tubes a bunch. most of my favorite amps use tubes, my phono stage and tape repro uses tubes.

and maybe i'm off on my interpretation of what Al posted, YMMV.
 
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Cessaro was not good yesterday but today it was better. I asked Ralph about that and the answer was the speaker is new (no break-in) and it needs over 200 hours time.
I also think most rooms were better today (sunday).

It seems the AC quality and system warm-up is the key
 
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An 8" woofer with a cone that weighs only 15 grams: no spider, no surround. You would expect an exceptionally high (system) sensitivity of at least 92dB/1m. It turns out to be a low 87dB 1 watt / 1 meter.

Has anyone visited the Audio Note room at the Marriott?

Why would you expect sensitivity to be high ..?
 

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