High end Munich 2017

bonzo75 said:

No I was standing

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Yeah, not ideal because the horns are somewhat directional and there was significantly different midrange energy standing vs. sitting. I moved around in the room a lot .

microstrip said:

As you say - most speakers per se look really horrible. But some manage to look interesting depending on room decoration.

IMHO it is mostly a matter of integrating the room style. And yes, XLF's do not look nice, but sound great!

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Say what you want about Wilson - but having the wife choose color sells a lot of speakers in Los Angeles. I think YG speakers have great aesthetics.

But speakers like those Blumenhofers at Munich are really challenged for most decors. I know some people think "its only about the sound", but I disagree at these 50k-100k prices.

I'll also say I don't like Avantgarde in teal

KeithR said:

Say what you want about Wilson - but having the wife choose color sells a lot of speakers in Los Angeles. I think YG speakers have great aesthetics.

But speakers like those Blumenhofers at Munich are really challenged for most decors. I know some people think "its only about the sound", but I disagree at these 50k-100k prices.

I'll also say I don't like Avantgarde in teal

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I was only addressing my Mocha Black XLF. Smaller Wilson's - up to the Sasha - in color look great and integrate perfectly in many decors. A good friend of mine got my old Wilson /Puppy 7 Ferrari Red and can not change speakers anymore as his wife loves them and considers they are now part of the room decoration. My current main problem with Wilson speakers aspect is the stainless steel speaker screws - they should be black to disappear!

When listening I like a speaker that does not invade my listening space, or at less does not call attention on it. Surely it was not the case of the great looking red speakers. Soundlab A1's in black are so uniform and boring that you manage to forget about them!

Blumenhoffer had me liking it on Friday and hating it on Sunday. What a paradox! Just goes to show.

Aries Symphonia was poor. Worse sound than some cheap monitors IMHO.

User211 said:

Aries Symphonia was poor. Worse sound than some cheap monitors IMHO.

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Without knowing anything about the gear in question, I'm nothing if not intrigued by Aries Cerat. We're seeing some pretty polar responses.

User211 said:

Aries Symphonia was poor. Worse sound than some cheap monitors IMHO.

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Thank you for this! I laughed so hard I think I pee'd a little

microstrip said:

I was only addressing my Mocha Black XLF. Smaller Wilson's - up to the Sasha - in color look great and integrate perfectly in many decors. A good friend of mine got my old Wilson /Puppy 7 Ferrari Red and can not change speakers anymore as his wife loves them and considers they are now part of the room decoration. My current main problem with Wilson speakers aspect is the stainless steel speaker screws - they should be black to disappear!

When listening I like a speaker that does not invade my listening space, or at less does not call attention on it. Surely it was not the case of the great looking red speakers. Soundlab A1's in black are so uniform and boring that you manage to forget about them!

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proper speakers should be 'mountains in the mist' of dim lighting. ominous and foreboding all powerful entities spewing musical wonderfulness.

who cares how they look in the light?

as I am listening, I am not really aware of the 7 foot tall/3000 pounds of speaker towers standing 8 feet from me.

Mike Lavigne said:

proper speakers should be 'mountains in the mist' of dim lighting. ominous and foreboding all powerful entities spewing musical wonderfulness.

who cares how they look in the light?

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Without the luxury of a dedicated listening room many wifes actually care ... I was actually lucky that my wife accepted the Genesis 1.1 loudspeakers

Mike Lavigne said:

(...) who cares how they look in the light?

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Me!

Otherwise I would have removed the cloth of Soundlab's. But the naked skeleton looks really poor.

The SME listening room had an acoustical transparent hiding the speakers. It was reported to be undetectable by ear or measurements. Unfortunately I never managed to get such cloth.

Audiocrack said:

Without the luxury of a dedicated listening room many wifes actually care ... I was actually lucky that my wife accepted the Genesis 1.1 loudspeakers

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Hi Audiocrack,

I agree.

When it's my money, and my stuff, I get to choose. When it's our money, and our stuff, and especially, taking up space in our living room, we decide.

Best,

853guy

853guy said:

Hi Audiocrack,

I agree.

When it's my money, and my stuff, I get to choose. When it's our money, and our stuff, and especially, taking up space in our living room, we decide.

Best,

853guy

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Exactly. Hope you were as lucky as me!

Audiocrack said:

Without the luxury of a dedicated listening room many wifes actually care ... I was actually lucky that my wife accepted the Genesis 1.1 loudspeakers

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my comments were intended to be in good humor with all the talk about looks. I should have added a smiley face.

when I had my windows uncovered/unplugged I had natural light when I could and enjoyed the view. now mostly dim lighting. it sounds better, but I do miss the look and the view sometimes. and if I had your beautiful classic room I'd want to enjoy it too.

my wife still misses my Kharma Exquisite speakers when I had my room in a den of my previous home. life is about trade-offs always to some degree.

Mike Lavigne said:

my comments were intended to be in good humor with all the talk about looks. I should have added a smiley face.

when I had my windows uncovered/unplugged I had natural light when I could and enjoyed the view. now mostly dim lighting. it sounds better, but I do miss the look and the view sometimes. and if I had your beautiful classic room I'd want to enjoy it too.

my wife still misses my Kharma Exquisite speakers when I had my room in a den of my previous home. life is about trade-offs always to some degree.

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I actually tried to insert smileys in my reaction but somehow only managed to get question marks in place when using my ipad ... so I removed those ... so we are on the same page

bonzo75 said:

Jazzhead and I stepped into it briefly on Saturday. We did not really take to the sound, and I thought it was unfair to judge anything in that room given the small size. It did not help that they were playing Telegraph Road then on digital, which is a 14:15 min song and I was not willing to wait that out. I was pretty interested in that Vyger. My main objective at the show was analog. The only two digital rooms I did IIRC were Odeon and Audio Exklusiv.

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Hello Ked
Were you that tall guy with the Rimsky-Korsakov lp standing on the door? I remember you and actually thought that mifht be you. It is a real pitty you did not introduce yourself. I remember talking on the phone couple of times so i would be very happy meeting you.
The room was packed with more people that could fit that is why even i was almost pushed out of the room then. Somebody specifically asked for that track and it was in the Vyger tt.
You should of really passed by again. We never denied private auditions to anyone.

I just want to thank all people dropping by our room, and for comments, positive or negative. Even comments from trolls cannot subtract from our feelings of humbleness and satisfaction, seeing a number of people brought to tears in that room. It is really something to hold on to.

Hope to meet soon.
Cheers
Stavros

Aries Cerat said:

Even comments from trolls cannot subtract from our feelings of humbleness and satisfaction, seeing a number of people brought to tears in that room. It is really something to hold on to.

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Hi Stavros, I wasn't brought to tears , but yours was one of my favourite rooms at the show. Hopefully I'll get a chance to own some of your gear in the future.

Cheers, Mani.

Aries Cerat said:

Hello Ked
Were you that tall guy with the Rimsky-Korsakov lp standing on the door? I remember you and actually thought that mifht be you. It is a real pitty you did not introduce yourself. I remember talking on the phone couple of times so i would be very happy meeting you.
The room was packed with more people that could fit that is why even i was almost pushed out of the room then. Somebody specifically asked for that track and it was in the Vyger tt.
You should of really passed by again. We never denied private auditions to anyone.

I just want to thank all people dropping by our room, and for comments, positive or negative. Even comments from trolls cannot subtract from our feelings of humbleness and satisfaction, seeing a number of people brought to tears in that room. It is really something to hold on to.

Hope to meet soon.
Cheers
Stavros

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Hi yes, I was going to chat, but I saw the crowd, and thought it would be tough. Especially as Brad mentioned, if it was the sweet spot, it would have been tough to get in there and unfair to whoever was there at the moment.

Tune Audio / Trafomatic as per earlier in thread, this time with a video. Refer to earlier for SQ comments.

The video makes the pics redundant, really, so watch it plugged into yer hi-fi system. You'll pick more up about SQ than I can say. But obviously nowt like being there.

Seriously, and I mean quite seriously like that TT lookswise.

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User211 said:

Tune Audio / Trafomatic as per earlier in thread, this time with a video. Refer to earlier for SQ comments.

The video makes the pics redundant, really, so watch it plugged into yer hi-fi system. You'll pick more up about SQ than I can say. But obviously nowt like being there.

Seriously, and I mean quite seriously like that TT lookswise.

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I don't like the TT look. I hate it. High end bling. Audiophile jewelry. Probably associated insane pricing. Ridiculous. That's what destroys this industry. See also Davey's wise post earlier in this thread.

DaveyF said:

It's far more logical to produce electronics and other gear in small quantities and with nice casework and ask insane pricing than to risk producing the same gear with 'good enough' casework and ask an entry level price...thereby making the piece available to a much larger audience, but also being susceptible to the 'audio snob' who has to have the best...and equates best with highest price and bling casing ( Hello Mr. Dan D'Agostino- and so many others who TOTALLY get this!!). Even though those with good ears are completely questioning the sound of said piece, LOL. IMHO, this is the current and possibly future state of high end audio. Unfortunately, I also believe that this marketing plan could ultimately lead to the complete demise of the industry. Luckily, there are still some folks who are trying to bring great sounding gear to the market at entry level prices....problem is they are typically looked upon in a less favorable light! Sometimes, I question whether the MF's and JV's of the world along with their "anything below $500K is pretty cheap" philosophy, is in fact beneficial to this hobby?????

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Just reminded me of my fave version from Elie Dupuis when he was just a kid.
[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7NrT14CGWMY[/video]
Thought the Tune audio sounded awful btw. Hope they sounded better in real life.

Al M. said:

I don't like the TT look. I hate it. High end bling. Audiophile jewelry. Probably associated insane pricing. Ridiculous. That's what destroys this industry. See also Davey's wise post earlier in this thread.

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I'm smiling

Wilson / Nagra.

I'm surprised I like these in red, but I do.

One thing you will probably never hear at a show is what a large Wilson can do with ample Watts and music with some serious bass content. They can play seriously loud and hold it together. If you ever get the chance, try it.

If you've never respected Wilson before, you will learn some respect pretty quick You needn't like them, but you WILL respect them (wink).