High End Munich 2023

I’d happily pay that (if I could afford it) to keep it out of my house.

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That’s a very authentic oil rig, it even has a real helipad and a crane.

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I think the word that springs to mind for a lot of design of hifi products is “adolescent”.

A great many bit of gear really look like they were designed by a 14 year old daydreaming about what would be really cool.

I can’t say I hate that turntable any more than I hate the look of Chord products - which is a lot. But beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. That Thorens looks to be an bonefied transcription deck (supports 16" discs) and might not be really intended for home use.

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Difficult to find uglier. It’s an abomination.

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It looks like mildew that grew on something you’ve left in the fridge too long.

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New MOFI Masterdeck at Munich 2023. 6k. Not bad.

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This thing is also from the show. But I don’t find what it is.

Art. A thing made from some F1 parts I think.

Alastair Gibson - Mako Pup.

I didn’t look up how much :wink:

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This is what I heard and even with a preference from a musical point of view to the 300 series system, where the big system sounded “impressive”. I’m sure the focal guys were driving the setup of the 300 system and possibly less so with the Nova system

Hi @BertBird . I just saw the Jay’s favourite rooms at Munich. His vote, as you, went for the Von Scheiwert / VAC room. He was very impressed.
The other favourites : the Marten speakers and Tidal system.

Is that Jay on YouTube? I like some of what he does but struggle with the way he presents. Sitting through 20 minutes of irrelevant waffle to catch 2 minutes of something interesting, he never seems to get to the point…

I saw Jay in the restaurant, and indeed that room was with a margin the best of the show. The Tidal room I didn’t see as at first they had a dealer demo, and at second haven’t been playing something.

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Nr. 17 Jamo/Pioneer

Shortly there they had a special remix of Bork Hollow, which I couldn’t Shazam…., the song had an insane bass…

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Walked through but didn’t listen, the panel was interesting and was used my some to make a selfie

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Nr. 18 Soulnote / Fink Team / Epos

I got in with the Frank Sinatra song. Then they switched to Hattler, had a nice full sound and also a good bass. The usual audiophile song of Annette Askvik sounded of course good as well. So overall good impression while I didn’t stay long enough to have a great insight.

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Nr. 19 Part 1 - Avant-garde Colibri C2

This was quite a surprise, while it’s obviously also driven a lot by marketing position8ng. This is a kind of sub brand of Avant-garde Acoustic and they bring a lifestyle speaker which can be positioned in the way you see it but also horizontal. You only need a streaming point and when you wan’t an even better sound also a subwoofer and you can play music. In part two the impressions…

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Nr. 19 Part 2 Avant-garde Colibri C2

I don’t know if the first song was played there - but it must be as I have it in Shazam, but forgot to mention it in the notes. As you can see in one of the pictures the subwoofer was just standing on the right side of the audience. During the demo he switched it on and off, and it was clear that you wanted to hear it with the subwoofer. I would call this a party system, impressive sound for the size, well sounding and sounding better as an average setup. Easy so fulfilling all the marketing needs. But seriously I could live with such a system in my fitness room. All the qualities of the ZZ Top song could be enjoyed.

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Nr. 20 Gryphon

The Diablo 333 was at play, a class AB amplifier. A lot of watts to play with, but this usual strange thing, throwing the watts towards small speakers. Perhaps great if you listen the whole day chamber music, but a wrong match for serious music listen. While Canonball sounded good it was clear that the sound was limited by the capabilities of the speakers. A case of missed opportunities.

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Nr. 21 Part 1 Avant-garde Acoustic

Now I arrived at the main room of avant-garde. It started with Tommy Snyder Plan B, which is a nice one to listen to. A good fundament in the bass. Then move on to Billy Cobham, noticed that the sound is less edgy than before in Avatgarde Room in former shows. So apparently they have better tuned the electronics.

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Hi @BertBird

Thanks for your comprehensive coverage of HEM 2023.