Munich show 9th to 12th May 2024
- Thread starter hifinutt
- Start date
uncl_nigel
pfm Member
It took me just the two trade days to visit the rooms I was interested in / curious about along with those playing music rather than demo tracks. I even wasted a part of the Friday afternoon going to the parallel show.
I felt there more "new brands" I'd never heard of than back in 2018 and 2019 this was particularly true of the parallel show. How many will actually still be around in five years? Not a large proportion, in my view.
Still quite a lot of rooms running vinyl (either as sole source or alongside digital).
Highlights?
A list of Shazams to explore
Roy Gregory demonstrating his six axis speaker placement method (Thursday) - I was centre front so got roped in at one stage
Talking to new (like TheFlash) and old acquaintances, meeting people behind some great products - CAD, Moon, Apertura (pity about their choice of amps, since I know they can do so much more), Chord Dave etc, Living Voice
Favorite rooms (all visited lire than once): Living Voice, CAD, Totaldac, Raidho
Pet hate - all those musically uninteresting / insipid but well recorded demo tracks
I felt there more "new brands" I'd never heard of than back in 2018 and 2019 this was particularly true of the parallel show. How many will actually still be around in five years? Not a large proportion, in my view.
Still quite a lot of rooms running vinyl (either as sole source or alongside digital).
Highlights?
A list of Shazams to explore
Roy Gregory demonstrating his six axis speaker placement method (Thursday) - I was centre front so got roped in at one stage
Talking to new (like TheFlash) and old acquaintances, meeting people behind some great products - CAD, Moon, Apertura (pity about their choice of amps, since I know they can do so much more), Chord Dave etc, Living Voice
Favorite rooms (all visited lire than once): Living Voice, CAD, Totaldac, Raidho
Pet hate - all those musically uninteresting / insipid but well recorded demo tracks
For me, the Living Voice room was one of the standout rooms, was so natural sounding, wasn’t being played at stupid levels like most. I also have to hand it to the Herberth and Michell room, those new little active speakers where fantastic. The Scansonic room sounded great for there price. PMC sounded good, we popped in towards the end to get another listen and was given the choice of system to listen to.
There was some undoubtedly stupidly expensive equipment there but, so much sounded so harsh, clinical and unrealistic and for me, the Raidho room was certainly one of them.
uncl_nigel
pfm Member
I'd forgotten about those quite dinky Harbeths - they did sound good but when I was there I thought they were being pushed a little too hard.
The Raidho two and a half ways were impressive with those 800W Moon mono blocks - I'd have difficulty living with them though - I eliminated the brand from my short list when buying new floor standers a while back.
13th Duke of Wymbourne
pfm Member
Was that your first show?
There is a show local to me and I find myself deciding whether it is worth going for the experience or would I rather spend the time at home listening to music I want to hear.
uncl_nigel
pfm Member
Third Munich showWas that your first show?
There is a show local to me and I find myself deciding whether it is worth going for the experience or would I rather spend the time at home listening to music I want to hear.
uncl_nigel
pfm Member
colasblue
pfm Member
The thing I thought a little odd was the amount of equipment on show which wasn't actually being demonstrated. This would actually put me off investing in a trip because at least some of it was exactly the sort of stuff I'd most like to hear rather than just look at.
Project, Clearaudio and Transrotor all seemed to have huge stands with dozens of turntables, none of which were playing.
There were some Hedd towers hiding in the background on a stand but not in use and similarly some large Genelec concentric monitors.
And all those ridiculous cuboidal boxes with teeny tiny screens and a few knobs and buttons. What exactly is the advantage of those over a proper media centre PC connected to a DAC and a big telly?
And why are the demonstrators so coy about what they're actually playing? Out of all the rooms shown in the video one had a stand where the record sleeve could be put on display and one had a big screen hooked up to the streamer so you could see what was currently playing. That's two out of HOW MANY???
Project, Clearaudio and Transrotor all seemed to have huge stands with dozens of turntables, none of which were playing.
There were some Hedd towers hiding in the background on a stand but not in use and similarly some large Genelec concentric monitors.
And all those ridiculous cuboidal boxes with teeny tiny screens and a few knobs and buttons. What exactly is the advantage of those over a proper media centre PC connected to a DAC and a big telly?
And why are the demonstrators so coy about what they're actually playing? Out of all the rooms shown in the video one had a stand where the record sleeve could be put on display and one had a big screen hooked up to the streamer so you could see what was currently playing. That's two out of HOW MANY???
Theo
pfm Member
I had another go (curiosity, etc.) Didn't get much better until we got to the MBL room (around 2hrs 20mins). Even through headphones and wireless speakers, the MBL 101 X-Treme MKII Radialstrahler System sounded incredible. The ugliest thing you could ever wish for in your lounge - and 1.5 ton of metal and chrome to boot - but if I had the room, and the cost of a decent semi-detached to spare...
hifinutt
hifinutt
yes so many brands now , we lost Verity audio this year who were at Munich normally
hifinutt
hifinutt
thats fantastic , someone should sue for damages the stupid level they play at at some shows. what was the Lv speaker that impressed you ?
sjs
Trade: SJS Electroacoustics
Living Voice R80 speakers were used at Munich this year
uncl_nigel
pfm Member
That's what Shazam is for
Saturday, I was in saturn (near Karlsplatz) looking for some of the stuff I'd identified with the app. K & L in the Living Voice room were very helpful when it came to identifying the music. Not all but quite a lot.Grumpy yank has put me off going next year; is it true most rooms don't play proper music that normal folk want to listen to?
uncl_nigel
pfm Member
wulbert
pfm Member
It's like a freak show for me watching some of this stuff. So far removed from anything I can relate to. Much of the machinery on display is grotesque in the extreme. Vulgar. I actually feel grateful that I can't afford that stuff. It looks like hell.
But then, if it creates jobs and entertainment, and some voyeurism for me, where's the harm (other than the terrible waste of aluminium) ?
PS: What pish music they play in those demo rooms! If the gear is so good it should be able to play fast, busy, complex music.
EDIT: "Fancy some chips with that sir"? Air-fryers on display too.
But then, if it creates jobs and entertainment, and some voyeurism for me, where's the harm (other than the terrible waste of aluminium) ?
PS: What pish music they play in those demo rooms! If the gear is so good it should be able to play fast, busy, complex music.
EDIT: "Fancy some chips with that sir"? Air-fryers on display too.
Last edited:
Tony L
Administrator
The problem with hi-fi shows is the visitors just walk out of the room as soon as you play anything challenging. It actually amazes me how much electronica/techno is played these days as go back 20 years and you could totally empty a room with that (I’ve done it!). The further out one goes the smaller the niche that will stay in the room, e.g. I’d happily stay in a room playing Albert Ayler, PIL or Throbbing Gristle, but I’d walk out of AC/DC or Queen as I just don’t like that stuff. No one is ever going to be offended by safe vocal jazz, girl & guitar folk or light classical. It just doesn’t get the negative reaction. The temptation to hire a room and just play Coltrane’s Ascension and Miles Davis Agharta all day would be strong, but it would be an empty room.
krenzler
pfm Member
So the people leaving the room in that scenario - are they just curious "normies" expecting their ears to be tickled because of the bling and price tags or is it really true that those afflicted with proper "audiophiliac nervosa" only own and listen to a very select collection of curated albums?