I have never been to a hifi show, picturing them as crowded, confusing, no proper chance to listen etc etc. bBut every year I love reading your detailed reports (for which I heartily thank you!), and find them quite inspiring as well as informative. I think if I were ever in a position to go to the Munich show, several days running, I would love to do it. Keep up the excellent work! (pkease!!).
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Totally agree. I am nearly at the end of my hi-fi journey (maybe just phono stage upgrade to go) but it;s still good to dream!
Part 3 _ Michael Fremer
love sonus faber and wilson audios some people will call wilson,sf ugly for me ugly are horn Klipsch for example sonus faber have best design in my taste and these new stradivari are amazing many designs of
Livio Cucuzza are amazing including sf and audio research amps.
even Livio Cucuzza apologized on the Sonus faber fans fb group for sf not beeing at Munich these year.
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I like quite all the Sonus Faber range look and design. For Wilson, Sasha Dawn and Yvette are ok for me. But bigger, specially Chromosatic: No No No.
Wilson Benesh: Yes Yes.
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i like all sonus fabers with exeption of lumina series and chameleon. i like wilson audio puppy,sacha,alexia,yvette,sophia,sabrina but notching bigger chromosatic looks like like out from movie tranformers and for that price i woud get either top line martin logan or sf aida.
yes wilson benesh is damm sexy saw it live 2 times a dealer and a show.
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Part 4 Michael Fremer
Nr. 4 Piega
Piega made the mistake a couple of brands tend to make. They want to proof that their speakers can be driven by any amplification, and forget that an average show visiter just is interested in being impressed by the sound, and hence want to hear the best amplification possible. At the song of John Weeks it sounded still quite good. But then they played something which I forgot to document, where I missed the scale and aggression which the music normally has.
With Katie Melua. While nice clean sounding at the same time missing the emotion and having the impression of a bit flat sound.
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Nr. 5 - Part 1 Fyne Vintage
The first part of the demo was with the smaller speakers. The soundstage was quite decent while the speakers were quite close to each other. It was quite irritating to have like often at a show a lot of people talking loud while we tried to listen, including the sales people who often see this event as a meet a great rather then an event to show off their equipment….
Never the less - Paul Simon sounded nice, and in the Nils Lofgren you could also hear very good the different aspects of the warm guitar sound…
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Nr. 5 Part 2 Fyne Vintage
They now made a change over to the bigger speakers in the pictures above. Was very interested to hear this as the speakers before already sounded quite decent.
I wasn’t dissapointed. Nice wide soundstage with Diana Krall. With the song of supertramp the bass sounded warm, full and precise. The speakers seem to handle a wide range quite well.
However what I missed a bit was the right in my face type of directness I like so much.
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The strap line “dawn of a new vintage” seems very confusing to me. Dawn suggests something new, but vintage something old. Still, I am not a marketing expert so what do I know?
Though of course it’s what they sound like that matters
Nr. 6 Part 1 Goebel High End
Quite a set up, have never seen such racks with what seems devices to determine exact horizontal positioning in the rack. I guess all quite costly…
Started with Bozz Scaggs which would return more during the show, not so my favorite… Given the size of the setup missed a bit the balls in the music. In the silent passages however sounding nice full.
Then they played something new from Vanessa Fernandez which will be soon released through Groovenote. It’s sounded good, soul with sometimes a Brazilian touch.
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Possibly referring to a new speaker but with a vintage style aesthetic. At first glance I thought they were Tannoys, with their vintage vibe.
Nr. 6 Part 2 - Goebel High End
After I belief two songs of miss Fernandez they played Take Five version from this album in 1982. It sounded good, but also had some critics. Missed a bit the emotion. And missed also the consistency, you heard clearly the bass coming from the special cabinets which should in fact dissapear and not be audible overall. Pace and timing is also not completely their, could be better, and also the drums sounded a bit edgy in the solo.
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yes - the speaker is called vintage I think (enlarge the photo and there is a label / tag / plate that says “vintage”)
On a not quite unrelated note, we were in a home and garden centre yesterday and 80% of the sofas appeared to be designed in a Victorian sort of style. I liked the “vintage” style of the vintage speaker about as much as the Victorian sofas 
. Style is of course (mostly) just about personal taste but I generally don’t like things designed / styled to look vintage or old fashioned
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Nr. 7 Part 1 Audioquest
They showed of course they’re cabling and have been supported by the Orion Speakers of Rockport Technologies. The song of sting could be a bit louder, but very precise sound, all details including the carachter of the click sound in the high end have been well represented.
The song of Heavn is by the way a nice sound and it sounded great not hifi but just musical. So everything an audiophile dreams about was available, but what about the slam, would I hear it in this demo ?
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Nr. 7 Part 2.
Then they played Dreadmau5, at the beginning of the song nice atmospheric sounds. It’s all very precise, but I would also argue that’s too polite.
The demo ended for me with Chris Stapleton. In other demos I belief I heard this song with more authority in the bass.
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Nr. 8 VTL
According to them build in California. Allison Krauss sounded good on the source which was a DCS. On the Darker piece of Leonard Cohen also voice very nice reflected in all its colors and aspects. Also Herbie Hancock sounded good, but I asked myself what actually am I missing, and I wrote as answer a bit of more emotion.
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The guys at Fyne used to work at Tannoy.
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