I have been attending the Munich show more or less continuously since 2002. I don't remember much from the Kempinski hotel, which either means my memory is **** or the sound there was generally miserable.
I have heard many of the same setups year after year from the big players and small alike and I can tell you that some do it great, year after year, and some are horrible...year after year. What does this mean? It likely means that the one room that seems to get it right all the time probably has very good gear and good setup. The room that gets it wrong all the time likely is gear I would steer away from simply because they either have crappy gear and/or have incompetent guys working the show.
When I do a show report I usually don't comment on what was crap but list my top 5 plus some honorable mentions that were good for the money or good but way overpriced (IMO) etc. THere are enough bad sounding rooms that I don't bother with listing them.
One has to also remember that the shows are actually more for the trade and not so much for the punters. Sure deals are done at the shows but I think it is more about getting and/or expanding distribution, finding new markets, etc.
Obviously if you hear a room sound bad at a show then you are less inclined to give that gear the benefit of the doubt. For example, I have NEVER heard Soulution sound good with ANY speakers in ANY room. Living in Switzerland, I have had ample opportunity to give this brand of amp a fair shake and it is has not impressed me even remotely even once. Heard them with Magico (a dozen times), Thiel (before JT's death with CS7.2s) and Eventus (a twice). So, MAYBE they only perform bad at shows; however, it is pretty suspicious when not even one time it is right at a show. I am also pretty leery of Magico but I did hear them sound OK a couple of times...so perhaps there is hope there. I was also pretty negative about Avantgarde (just to throw a horn into the mix) thinking their horns are not so great but then I heard the Sound Galleries room with AUdiopax and Duo Omega speakers and was VERY impressed. A couple of demos since then tells me there is real potential in those speakers. A horn brand that has yet to show me anything at all I can call realistic or natural sounding is Cessaro. Maybe they are too big for the show but just doesn't work usually.
As to Hifi Deluxe, it has been pretty good at times and the people who go seem to use the rooms pretty well. Acapella was good, Mal Valve was good, AudioNote was reasonable, Zanden with some Czech speakers was very good...even the FM Acoustics room was ok (sounds like the system is trying too hard though...strained). Oh, I also though Jadis/AudioPlan was very nice. In the past Odeon with Russian brand NEM was killer too (they were great this year at the MOC with New Audio Frontiers). In fact, there was probably a higher percentage of decent rooms at the Deluxe show. Hotel rooms, at least solid walled European hotels, can sound very good indeed.
I have heard many of the same setups year after year from the big players and small alike and I can tell you that some do it great, year after year, and some are horrible...year after year. What does this mean? It likely means that the one room that seems to get it right all the time probably has very good gear and good setup. The room that gets it wrong all the time likely is gear I would steer away from simply because they either have crappy gear and/or have incompetent guys working the show.
When I do a show report I usually don't comment on what was crap but list my top 5 plus some honorable mentions that were good for the money or good but way overpriced (IMO) etc. THere are enough bad sounding rooms that I don't bother with listing them.
One has to also remember that the shows are actually more for the trade and not so much for the punters. Sure deals are done at the shows but I think it is more about getting and/or expanding distribution, finding new markets, etc.
Obviously if you hear a room sound bad at a show then you are less inclined to give that gear the benefit of the doubt. For example, I have NEVER heard Soulution sound good with ANY speakers in ANY room. Living in Switzerland, I have had ample opportunity to give this brand of amp a fair shake and it is has not impressed me even remotely even once. Heard them with Magico (a dozen times), Thiel (before JT's death with CS7.2s) and Eventus (a twice). So, MAYBE they only perform bad at shows; however, it is pretty suspicious when not even one time it is right at a show. I am also pretty leery of Magico but I did hear them sound OK a couple of times...so perhaps there is hope there. I was also pretty negative about Avantgarde (just to throw a horn into the mix) thinking their horns are not so great but then I heard the Sound Galleries room with AUdiopax and Duo Omega speakers and was VERY impressed. A couple of demos since then tells me there is real potential in those speakers. A horn brand that has yet to show me anything at all I can call realistic or natural sounding is Cessaro. Maybe they are too big for the show but just doesn't work usually.
As to Hifi Deluxe, it has been pretty good at times and the people who go seem to use the rooms pretty well. Acapella was good, Mal Valve was good, AudioNote was reasonable, Zanden with some Czech speakers was very good...even the FM Acoustics room was ok (sounds like the system is trying too hard though...strained). Oh, I also though Jadis/AudioPlan was very nice. In the past Odeon with Russian brand NEM was killer too (they were great this year at the MOC with New Audio Frontiers). In fact, there was probably a higher percentage of decent rooms at the Deluxe show. Hotel rooms, at least solid walled European hotels, can sound very good indeed.
