I do like the concept of ‘Salisbury Watts’ - something all original Nait One owners will know all about!
4 Likes
Great choices 
I find “Mars” from the planets, “The Ride of the Valkyries” and the like are good tests too … played loud of course!
Anyway, thread drift 
2 Likes
Is this the balanced connection white paper? I know it was posted up on the Tom Tom website. I asked about having it on the Naim website but was told ir needs to be re-formatted…
1 Like
Its on the 200 series, Jason said…? So maybe.
It really should be properly released by now… 
All, I will write my Munich report in the coming days. As always my intention is to give you as good as possible an insight in what I experienced, how my listening experiences have been and what I heard…, with as much as possible references of all the songs I Shazamed…., while even that had it’s limitation.
In order for this to work you sometimes need to reply so that I can continue posting. Please also don’t ask me if I saw this or that I will report in full about what I saw/heard…., I will not report about systems or components I didn’t hear or see.
The first day the Saturday was a normal start up day on such a big show…, the 2nd was great and even became a spiritual experience. At the 2nd part of that day I saw and listened to the best system by far (with a big margin to the others……, Von Schweikert Ultra 7 speakers in combination with mainly VAC electronics) while Martial Hernandez as the DJ of service (an exceptional man).
The show in my main visual impressions….
19 Likes
As ever Birt……you leave us and and professionals in your wake
5 Likes
Great to see some pics @BertBird – thank you. I wonder if that VAC room was selected by them due to the rear glass (porous in managing energy – better than a brick wall), noting the window helps too, as often having the speakers well forward in the room does. I always smile when I read taglines like ‘The sound of reality’, and then you look at all the kit & cabling snaking across the floor 
3 Likes
Haha exactly
‘The reality of sound’ might be more apt
1 Like
It’s good to have a level of skepticism when you see these type of claims, and yes it’s cheesy…., but this system of Von Schweikert and VAC was by a far margin the best sound of the show. This level of transparency, tonality, extreme PRAT was nowhere on the show at that extreme level. It’s that good, and I did hear at the show and at other shows amazing systems, but never heard something that good.
And as mentioned the rooms and the listening situation is horrible, so none of the suppliers is faced with optimal conditions or near optimal conditions, and has to work within thenlimitations. The show in Darmstadt has much better rooms and much less intrusions.
And yes there is a kind of fixed place certain brands tend to have at the show over the years. I guess that’s policy to avoid too many discussions between suppliers and the organization.
I will more extensively speak about this system in further posts, but if you get an opportunity at a show, convince yourself of the capabilities of this system…… while you need some money to get it home….
3 Likes
Nr. 1 - Part 1 My first visit was at the Wiener Lautsprecher Manufaktur.
First was the improvisation, the sound was nice airy for this piece of music. Adam Fischer with Haydn, confirmed the first impression, a polite airy sound. And it was quite impressive for such small speakers, however…
11 Likes
Nr. 1 Part 2…
Not so sure if it will digest rock music in a good way. The tuned drums sounded quite brisk and unpleasant. Some kind of clipping was also happening at a certain part in the demo. On higher volumes it sounded stressed… of course they also played them some easier music with nice guitar with Barbara Streisand. It would be a system for people playing classical or folk type of music at controlled volume….
12 Likes
I already get a sense of how little we see in-the UK in terms of hi end companies.
3 Likes
I think we used to see more. I am not sure when or where but I am sure I have seen some really outlandish stuff, perhaps at the Manchester airport show in around 2004 (where Naim launched nvi and I heard active 500s into DBLs)
Either that guy is seriously tall, or alternatively it’s designed to be on axis for people who can’t afford seating after paying for the speaker.
1 Like
Nr. 2 Part 1. 2nd stop was MBL as Gauder at that point in time had still dealers in their room and normal consumers were not yet alllowed in, quite annoying. As usual MBL had their reference system and speakers at display. So bottom line one of the top 5 sounds at the show. However this time they had tuned in a bit more bass and didn’t have the perfect balance as they normally have. I guess they had wanted to create a more sexy, right in the face…., I would have personally tuned it more as in the former years….but ok still an amazing system….
First song Joni Michell. Perfect sound nothing to complain or desire. By the way for people not knowing MBL they are very well known for their near perfect radial reference speakers, which have been again used for the show. Advantage is that you are less reliant on the positioning of your listening position.
Janis Ian - the bass and drums part is a bit too prominent in the mix to my feeling. But the groovy section in the middle is nice…
13 Likes
Nr. 2, Part 2…
Drake - you get the feeling of being in a disco, a very very very good disco. But the reality was that they needed our 552 to play on this level, see one of the pictures for this coincidence.
Patricia Barber was presented in its nice warm character. Then they got to Rodrigues y Gabriela. Nice version of a famous song (I also have it), the system presented so naturally the overtones, my system can’t do it so well.
7 Likes
Nr. 2 Part 3 for David Benoit, I was confronted with the same prominence on how they tuned the system in that room, I know from before it can even sound better…., but now some tones where a bit on the edgy side….
3 Likes
Nr. 3 Vienna Acoustics were presenting their new Mozart speakers. They started with some female jazz vocals which I didn’t have the time to Shazam. It was one of these demos where they play easy stuff to get the best of the system…., however it was an average system. Soundstage was average I would have expected a bit more air with these speakers. Only warm sound no authority in this system.
Additional music played was Jason Mraz and Ryan Adams….
4 Likes
This is in recent years a more and more unpleasant effect. On the days for consumers some suppliers are still reserving slots for dealers or other business partners or the press. It makes it a bit of a challenge for consumers like me to get an overview. For Gauder I needed to return three times to finally get a spot in the listening room. And others work with tickets for specific times. Which one the one hand means it’s a bit more quiet during a demo, but on the other hand it’s more difficult to plan if you want to cover as much as possible.
To manage expectations. A serious review of everything in two days available to consumers is impossible so you need to make choices. For me it means that I didn’t visit any of the display halls and just concentrated on as much as possible listening rooms of brands.
3 Likes