This was my first visit to an audio show. After about five rooms I started to wonder whether I can still tell any but the most blatant differences between speakers. So I focused on speakers as trying to discern electronics was out of the question at this point. Some rooms were so loud that my ears couldn’t resolve details, hence I could not form an opinion on speakers there. My decibelX app measured 90-95db in the Kawero room (Kawero grande speakers), and similar levels when they put on an AC/DC track in the Nagra room (Wilson Chronosonic).
Another observation is the proliferation of Accuton-based speakers. They never seem to get combined with drivers from other brands, and hence these speakers all sound fairly similar, and certainly very recognisable. Is this a wise strategy for a manufacturer, especially given their high price?
The headings below relate to the speakers, not the room owners, which are sometimes mentioned.
Wilson Alexx V
Wilson itself showed off two speakers, those above and one of the Chronosonic models, not sure which ones. I asked for a demo and was told something along the lines of the Chronosonics being for the mind and the Alexx for the heart. I listened to some soul and some Shostakovich on the Alexx and found the analytic and bright enough to cause listening fatigue over longer periods.
Dali kore
I happened upon a demo of this new Dali flagship model. No pictures of the speakers, but the guy passed around all main drivers (built inhouse allegedly), even the 15kg woofers. Some tech notes:
Highs: Ribbon + soft dome. No ferrofluid.
Midrange driver has >100db.
Whole speaker has flat impedance.
The midrange driver:
The woofer:
Museum speaker
Wilson Sasha DAW
@Nordost room
Peak consult el Diablo 2021
Piega
Wilson Chronosonic
@nagra room
Totaldac d100
98db efficient, and the horn only covers above 3.5khz. 2.5way.
Marten Mingus quintet 2
Diamond tweeter, custom accuton cell mid, alu woofer. 1st order xover. 88db.
Rockport Lyra
Cessaro Alpha III
Magico A5
Unmistakably related in sound to the M6 exhibited in another room (no pics), but unlike its much more expensive sibling, it had hints of a sibilance issue. The M6 has the clearest sound I have ever heard; different instruments are always clearly delineated. This purity is beguiling, but is it enough to be satisfied with these speakers over the longer term?
B&W 801D4
Wolf von Langa Son
Another observation is the proliferation of Accuton-based speakers. They never seem to get combined with drivers from other brands, and hence these speakers all sound fairly similar, and certainly very recognisable. Is this a wise strategy for a manufacturer, especially given their high price?
The headings below relate to the speakers, not the room owners, which are sometimes mentioned.
Wilson Alexx V
Wilson itself showed off two speakers, those above and one of the Chronosonic models, not sure which ones. I asked for a demo and was told something along the lines of the Chronosonics being for the mind and the Alexx for the heart. I listened to some soul and some Shostakovich on the Alexx and found the analytic and bright enough to cause listening fatigue over longer periods.
Dali kore
I happened upon a demo of this new Dali flagship model. No pictures of the speakers, but the guy passed around all main drivers (built inhouse allegedly), even the 15kg woofers. Some tech notes:
Highs: Ribbon + soft dome. No ferrofluid.
Midrange driver has >100db.
Whole speaker has flat impedance.
The midrange driver:
The woofer:
Museum speaker
Wilson Sasha DAW
@Nordost room
Peak consult el Diablo 2021
Piega
Wilson Chronosonic
@nagra room
Totaldac d100
98db efficient, and the horn only covers above 3.5khz. 2.5way.
Marten Mingus quintet 2
Diamond tweeter, custom accuton cell mid, alu woofer. 1st order xover. 88db.
Rockport Lyra
Cessaro Alpha III
Magico A5
Unmistakably related in sound to the M6 exhibited in another room (no pics), but unlike its much more expensive sibling, it had hints of a sibilance issue. The M6 has the clearest sound I have ever heard; different instruments are always clearly delineated. This purity is beguiling, but is it enough to be satisfied with these speakers over the longer term?
B&W 801D4
Wolf von Langa Son
Attachments
hORNS Overture
By far the most affordable large horn speaker at the show afaik. And certainly not the worst, I liked it.
Living Voice ibx (unsure which one)
@Ear yoshino room
Audiaz Opera Grandezza
Tech notes, as told by Audiaz guys:
Rockport Avior II
They couldn’t tell me about the drivers other than that they are made by Rockport. They are obviously Textremes, tweeter is beryllium. Rockport isn’t very common in Europe, the distributor I spoke to was keen to change this.
Grandinote line array
Kharma
Kharma speakers were in two rooms, the first pic is from their own room, the second is a prospectus of a similar model in another room. I somehow enjoyed the speaker in the ‘other’ room more.
Joseph audio
Lyravox
Verity Serastro
Audiovector QR7
Albedo agadia (the smaller speakers)
Apertura forte
Stellar
OMarten Mingus orchestra
Diapason dynamis
Thrax Lyra
By far the most affordable large horn speaker at the show afaik. And certainly not the worst, I liked it.
Living Voice ibx (unsure which one)
@Ear yoshino room
Audiaz Opera Grandezza
Tech notes, as told by Audiaz guys:
- Diamond mids and highs, ceramic lows. All Accuton. Solid diamond it is, not just a coating.
- Those 90mm diamond mid drivers are currently the only two in the world. Used from 200hz up.
- Only Accuton do pure diamond. Others use aluminium plus diamond coating.
- Speaker comes with various driver options. Base is all ceramic - €48k, with diamond tweeter it’s €68k, with diamond highs and mids it’s +€100k.
- They do their own speaker cable, similar looks as top end NordOst. It is pure polished silver inside extruded Teflon, a material similar to GoreTex (so Gore manufactures them). Available for purchase directly from Audiaz, terminated or otherwise, unterminated is €1k ex VAT per mono-metre. They gave me the relevant contact details, I can pass on via pm if anyone is interested.
Rockport Avior II
They couldn’t tell me about the drivers other than that they are made by Rockport. They are obviously Textremes, tweeter is beryllium. Rockport isn’t very common in Europe, the distributor I spoke to was keen to change this.
Grandinote line array
Kharma
Kharma speakers were in two rooms, the first pic is from their own room, the second is a prospectus of a similar model in another room. I somehow enjoyed the speaker in the ‘other’ room more.
Joseph audio
Lyravox
Verity Serastro
Audiovector QR7
Albedo agadia (the smaller speakers)
Apertura forte
Stellar
OMarten Mingus orchestra
Diapason dynamis
Thrax Lyra
Egglestonworks
Zellaton plural evo
Estelon extreme mk I
Wilson (unknown model)
@dcs room
Lorenzo LM1
@ZenSati room
I agree with opinions above that this was one of the most impressive speakers at the show, at least with the (bluesy) music played.
Soreal-audio.de
I don’t know what model these are, check with the website above.
Harbeth HL5 Plus XD
Wilson Benesch Fibonacci
AlsyVox Carvaggio (new model)
Voxativ 9.88 with AC4np
That’s a midbass unit between the main speaker and the sub.
Vitus Audio room (unknown speaker)
Odeon audio semper
ATC SCM100a
@Auralic room
YG Acoustics Vantage Live (active)
Those are €60k. The Sonja live are €150k.
Zellaton plural evo
Estelon extreme mk I
Wilson (unknown model)
@dcs room
Lorenzo LM1
@ZenSati room
I agree with opinions above that this was one of the most impressive speakers at the show, at least with the (bluesy) music played.
Soreal-audio.de
I don’t know what model these are, check with the website above.
Harbeth HL5 Plus XD
Wilson Benesch Fibonacci
AlsyVox Carvaggio (new model)
Voxativ 9.88 with AC4np
That’s a midbass unit between the main speaker and the sub.
Vitus Audio room (unknown speaker)
Odeon audio semper
ATC SCM100a
@Auralic room
YG Acoustics Vantage Live (active)
Those are €60k. The Sonja live are €150k.
Credo Audio
Finally a room driven by Pass amps.
Epitome
Gershman Acoustics Grand Avant Garde
That’s the white speakers.
Viva nuda
Loved them. €120k
Aries cerat Aurora
Style over substance here, not a bad demo but couldn’t keep up with the other large horn speakers (e.g. the next speaker).
Stein Music topline Bob Xl Ultimate plus subs in the background
These are powerful, too much so for me personally. Otherwise no complaints. €348k
Einstein
Steinway Lyngdorf
They either didn’t set this up well, or this is a fools and their money system.
Avantgarde Trio + Sub
Western Electric
This is a 3-way, the mid and tweeter are AMTs, the mid is a new development and is used from 150hz up.
Tekton (unknown model)
I was surprised to see them in Europe, are they now distributed around here?
Cube Audio (unknown driver)
And finally, Dynaudio goes 1980s:
Finally a room driven by Pass amps.
Epitome
Gershman Acoustics Grand Avant Garde
That’s the white speakers.
Viva nuda
Loved them. €120k
Aries cerat Aurora
Style over substance here, not a bad demo but couldn’t keep up with the other large horn speakers (e.g. the next speaker).
Stein Music topline Bob Xl Ultimate plus subs in the background
These are powerful, too much so for me personally. Otherwise no complaints. €348k
Einstein
Steinway Lyngdorf
They either didn’t set this up well, or this is a fools and their money system.
Avantgarde Trio + Sub
Western Electric
This is a 3-way, the mid and tweeter are AMTs, the mid is a new development and is used from 150hz up.
Tekton (unknown model)
I was surprised to see them in Europe, are they now distributed around here?
Cube Audio (unknown driver)
And finally, Dynaudio goes 1980s:
Thanks for all the pics. And by the way, keep all the speakers, I'll take the DeLorean. 🙂
I look at those WE speakers, and at any moment expect to see a Guild Navigator come floating to the front in a cloud of spice gas.
Maximax77, thanks for taking the time and effort to show case your findings! As I wrote at the start, the more, the merrier 😉
Next year I'll try to come at Thursday to Friday. Obviously the loudness war started at Saturday when the halls were flooded with people... such a shame!
Next year I'll try to come at Thursday to Friday. Obviously the loudness war started at Saturday when the halls were flooded with people... such a shame!
I do hope that my current build the TL2 will be close enough... they do have some similarities. I agree about the the optics, too flamboyant for my taste as well.
Forgot that was you building those...
,,, really? One cannot describe your build as a simple rectangular cuboid.
Ok, you got a point 😀
But if I could reach Majestic/elegant instead of flamboyant/kitschy I'll be very happy indeed. The line between those two is very fine.
It speaks volumes (pun intended) about the industry and their customers when flashy boxes and finishes take precedence over developing better ways of reproducing sound than flapping bits of paper around with an electromagnet...
Place all these speaker behind a curtain to reveal just how good they are without the massive expectation bias - it's extremely easy to fool Audiophools by depriving them of visual cues.
Blind listening
Place all these speaker behind a curtain to reveal just how good they are without the massive expectation bias - it's extremely easy to fool Audiophools by depriving them of visual cues.
Blind listening
Mrklinky
You touched a crucial topic. I agree with you and disagree, Here are my thoughts:
-Munich high end was full with innovations, new materials, and creative minds. Many of the creators had not one but few new patents invented by them. Expensive ****, having a patent..
A part from paper cones and its 1000 variations there were countless other new materials on display... Some that come to my mind are from serious companys, such as: Dali, Rhaido, Bóresson...
-tallking about listening to speakers behind a curtain is for me irrelevant, since as most of us I enjoy and value beautiful Form.
And talking about beautiful Form, Munich inner city was full with gorgeous women!!! The last thing I would do is to put a curtain on them 😀
Just Imagine having one night stand while trying to tell the poor girl to put a curtain on since it's distracting your other senses 🙃
Dude, it is part of the package!
- After listening to those super modern stuff, space age carbon, diamond coated beryllium... you seat there in front of an outdated 50 years old huge paper cones+Horns... and it's just magic! If in any case it's having an ugly kitschy veneer I'll order something more elegent. If it's costing gazillion euro, then I'll just built my own 😉
- BTW, I hate the word Audiofools.
Too bad Silbatone was missing with their almost 100 years old setup 😉.
It would have looked way more industrial!
It would have looked way more industrial!
Some of these look beautiful. Some, not. Audio is not simply point a to point b; for many who can afford these, a pair of speakers needs to look amazing.
And many haven't spent the time to research speakers, train their ears... Can you blame them? Takes effort. And I bet they enjoy life all the same, including music.
And many haven't spent the time to research speakers, train their ears... Can you blame them? Takes effort. And I bet they enjoy life all the same, including music.
Patents are very cheap to apply for (couple of hundred £/$) which gives you around 18-24 months protection, it is only when they are granted that they become more expensive and this is related to how many and which countries you wish to continue the patent for. I know of many companies, especially in electronics world that only apply for patents because that gives them a window of opportunity similar to the life span of the product and they are then never progressed any further. They also use them as advertising with the intention to license or sell. So always double check if the patents are fully granted or just applied for.
As an example - in the UK it is £75 to lodge an application, around £250-300 for searches and then once granted £70-600 per year. In the US application is $320, $700 for searches and $2-7000 for annual maintenance. All approx.
Socompared to a $100,000 pair of speakers it is pretty small especially when the speaker drivers are only about $5000, wood/finish $2000 and maybe $2500 for labour ???
Absolutely, prices are ridiculous. That's why we are the non-audiofools having a laugh at audio shows... but, nevertheless, those guys who are spinning this weird world of High End are not getting rich from it...With few exceptions...