Munich HighEnd 2024

[bonzo75]

indeed, and for that very same reason, even through my headphones (!!), I am intrigued by this:

(hORNS Uniwersum playing, in red, NOT the cone speakers)

And it’s been run slightly underpowered with a 5 hour burn in on Hana ML on a 4k total Chinese TT with arm, and not in its usual position to accommodate for the trial of the cone. Else will be even better

 

[Lagonda]

A little more from the designer about the prototype turntable featured this year .

Wow, all that talk and not even a close up on the turntable, that pig is a bad reporter. Stavros seems like a good guy.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Slap some drivers on that stack and you will have a speaker with high WAF ! Your next speaker Andro ?

Lol , i always love to see the lines at Louis Vuitton stores .
The only brandstore where you see almost always a line outside .
They do a great job at giving people what they want

 

[andromedaaudio]

Slap some drivers on that stack and you will have a speaker with high WAF ! Your next speaker Andro ?

Im thinking about giving a small handbag for free in the same colour as the speakers

 

[AudioHR]

I have to say I really enjoyed the panel discussion on Saturday on the Xpert Stage.

The topic was "Has Vinyl Technology Gone About As Far As It Can Go?"

It was moderated by Michael Fremer and featured: Mark Dohmann/Dohmann Audio, Craig Mills/Wilson Benesch, Leif Johannsen/Ortofon and JR Boisclair/ Wally Tools.

You can find it on YouTube. Spoiler alert you will be pleased to know the answer is a resounding no!

 

[Argonaut]

Stavros seems like a good guy.

Yes … Yes he is .

 

[Ron Resnick]

You can find it on YouTube.

Can you please post it for us? I can't readily find it.

 

[D.Duttilleux]

I had two Magico speakers, the Mini II and the Q3. They were excellent. I sold them both to the same guy about five years apart. They are a clear window to the upstream components so those choices matter and positioning is important. I ended up aiming them straight ahead for most natural presentation in my room.

A clear window to the upstream components...

That has been my experience, repeatedly. This kind of reproduction is desirable in a studio context (for mixing and mastering), even though the FRs aren't always ruler flat.

A5 (good):




S1: Summed frequency response (dBSPL/2.83V/m), far field/near field splicing, with 0.33oct smoothing. On-axis (red curve) and averaged on/off axis response (green curve):




The sound of Magico is archetypically very high-end.
The result of Magico's extremely technical approach - mainly reflected in the materials - is a hypersterile reproduction, in which all kinds of 'cues' in the recording attract your attention.
A major misconception is related to 'transparency' versus (reproducing the essence of) the music as a whole.
For the purpose of interpretation, I use absolute terms, while audio, in a broad sense, is by definition relative and thus (also) personal.
There are obvious downsides to Magico's excessive, almost technocratic, focus on eliminating all 'supposedly undesired disruptive factors' (deliberately avoiding the word distortion).
And indeed, these are related, among other things, to the aforementioned energy storage.

 

[Audio_Karma]

hORNS Universum MK4 I bet they would sound amazing with the Western Electric 91E 300B Integrated amp !

 

[PeterA]

A clear window to the upstream components...

That has been my experience, repeatedly. This kind of reproduction is desirable in a studio context (for mixing and mastering), even though the FRs aren't always ruler flat.

A5 (good):

View attachment 131417


S1: Summed frequency response (dBSPL/2.83V/m), far field/near field splicing, with 0.33oct smoothing. On-axis (red curve) and averaged on/off axis response (green curve):

View attachment 131418


The sound of Magico is archetypically very high-end.
The result of Magico's extremely technical approach - mainly reflected in the materials - is a hypersterile reproduction, in which all kinds of 'cues' in the recording attract your attention.
A major misconception is related to 'transparency' versus (reproducing the essence of) the music as a whole.
For the purpose of interpretation, I use absolute terms, while audio, in a broad sense, is by definition relative and thus (also) personal.
There are obvious downsides to Magico's excessive, almost technocratic, focus on eliminating all 'supposedly undesired disruptive factors' (deliberately avoiding the word distortion).
And indeed, these are related, among other things, to the aforementioned energy storage.

Excellent summary. I owned my Magico system for 15 years and enjoyed it very much. I then did an abrupt change of direction for a different approach to vintage horns from the late 1950s for what I perceive as a less “high end” sound. I ended up changing the whole system, not just the speakers.

 

[Dierkx1]

Lol , i always love to see the lines at Louis Vuitton stores .
The only brandstore where you see almost always a line outside .
They do a great job at giving people what they want

Check out the Winter sales @ Hermes in Paris. Hermes used to offer coffee to those in line.

 

[AudioHR]

Can you please post it for us? I can't readily find it.

My apologies it turned out it was on Facebook. Absolute Sounds https://www.facebook.com/absolutesoundsltd
Not sure how to post

 

[Imperial]

Can you please post it for us? I can't readily find it.

My apologies it turned out it was on Facebook. Absolute Sounds https://www.facebook.com/absolutesoundsltd
Not sure how to post

Fremer Dohman vinyl debate

 

[PLF]

David, there is nothing inherently wrong with chamber music. But when we are at audio shows with $1M systems we want to be wow'd, entertained, etc. This is a big reason why we attend! Exhibitors are playing safe, no balls music instead. A trio doesn't remotely show us the sonic capacity of these mega systems. Just bring a pair of monitors if you don't want to go all out and show us state of the art sound reproduction. This is Munich, not a small DIY show at a grungy hotel.

Everyone I know who goes says the same thing about the music. OCD Mikey called it out in that wrap up video. "suicide music for anorexic people" lol.

Meanwhile at Axpona, there were 50+ people with no standing room left at the big Focal/Naim system on *Sunday afternoon* listening to Ghost Rider (not even a track I like but still).

Can not agree with this.

One can be wowed and entertained by classical chamber music. Some are not and may prefer cowboy music. That is fine.

In my opinion, a variety of music should indeed by played.

I just wished it would be more unamplified music including, yes, classical music (including orchestral), than is usually played.

 

[Imperial]

This must be something new by Kaiser Acoustics. But I cannot find any info on i at all. What is it?



Did someone hear this one at Munich?

It almost looks like a Musatoff design (Russian designer)

 

[Ron Resnick]

Fremer Dohman vinyl debate

Thank you!

 

[AudioHR]

Fremer Dohman vinyl debate

Thank you I wouldn't call it a debate but that is the link!

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you I wouldn't call it a debate but that is the link!

The audio quality makes it almost unlistenable. I'm learning sort of the hard way the difficulty of mic'ing panelist discussions.

 

[AudioHR]

The audio quality makes it almost unlistenable. I'm learning sort of the hard way the difficulty of mic'ing panelist discussions.

Oh that is unfortunate. As I attended I didn't actually listen to the video, I just saw that one was available.
They seemed to be taking some care in recording the session. I wonder if there is a better copy out there. Anyone?

 

[davidavdavid]

Ok, folks, I extracted the video from The HIgh-End Munich 2024 show into a downloadable file. I am supplying the link so you can watch the video at your leisure and play the audio through your wonderful Hi-Fi systems.

Expert Panel: Vinyl: Are We There Yet?