MUNCHEN 2025 MOC / MARRIOTT The final Chapter !

[sonrock]

I think it’s very tricky to judge a system because it’s totally up to the music being played when you visit the room.

I was lucky when I came to Accapela as it was early in the morning on Friday, so I could get the sweet spot (the single chair on top) quickly and spent 15 minutes there. They played a violin concerto which is simply incredible, then a vocal track with a huge warm voice from Leonard Cohen. They also played a jazz track with mellow voice and good kick drum.

After that, I went to the WE room next to it. Got the sweet spot myself after around 5 minutes. They played a piano piece which sounds crazily real, then an orchestra piece with similarly huge soundstage like Accapela. Then before I left, they played a rock track from Led Zeppelin with insane sound effects.

As I posted earlier in this thread, I had never found FM sound good everytime I visited them in the past, including last Friday evening. Actually the picked a very old record which sounds like crap with muddy and boomy presentation, which obviously give you a wrong assumption about the system and makes it sound cheap + not worth the money.

But when I came before 10am on Saturday, they played a familiar track that I know and in the sweet spot with an almost empty room, the first time I heard FM sounded that great, not jaw dropping, but really good.

Cessaro have never moved me too, same reason with crappy music when I visited them. Too much bass, energy and the highs were harsh. Just not the right time and I also believe the right place as it seems the room is not big enough for the speakers.

But in overall, this year I have listened to many many good rooms that were well setup and they played truly fantastic music to demo their systems. I found nearly 50 new tracks to include in my favourite playlist, very happy when listening to them at home .

Apart from the crew from London, I met a few others from WBF and did have a great time and great foods with them. Now looking forward to Vienna 2026.

 

[Lagonda]

Depends how big your fund is lol.
I m 56 so i might wait a couple of years.

FM proves quit clearly the essence of music gets lost in amplification

Or in speaker crossover's.

 

[Lagonda]

He doesn’t like horns…we went around this same loop after last year’s show…

And you don't like Solid State, it's the same old song ! Only the hard core horn/tube lovers don't like the sound of FM Acoustics. Most of you selling horn systems apparently.

 

[Kozak170]

IMO the biggest trump card of theater horns like WE or Bionor over modern horns like Avantgarde, Aries Cerat, hORNS, Cessaro in shows with large audience is their wide dispersion pattern that you can easily get a stable stereo image across almost everywhere in the room, so you benefit from all their capabilities in dynamics and live performance when entering the room and unlike horns with high directivity like AC, AG, hORNS.. you don't need to be placed in the sweet spot to get all the benefits of the horns.

Unlike theater horns, morden horns with high directivity require more complex and precise adjustments to show their best especially at shows where there is little time for complete adjustments and even with precise adjustments fewer people get the chance to be in their sweet spot at shows.

 

[Amir]

Did you listen to Aries Cerat in the sweet spot?

No I did not listen this year but I listened to big Aries Cerat last year (MOC 2024).

 

[Amir]

I had mixed feelings about Acapella this year. Thursday they played too loud. Saturday it was fantastic and realistic sounding. Sunday it was dull and boring. No other system I heard exhibited such day to day variation. I thought the Hyperion was more consistent overall and also quite lifelike sounding.

I think saturday the AC power quality was best in comparison by other days.
In MOC 2024 the best AC power quality was sunday

 

[Amir]

I guess the FM Acoustics should find a high performance match speaker for showing their amplification performance.

My friend attended the moc show many times and visited FM acoustics room many times (between moc 2014 to moc 2024) but the sound quality was average.

 

[Gregm]

I guess the FM Acoustics should find a high performance match speaker for showing their amplification performance.

Without wishing to diss their speakers, I couldn't agree more. I am familiar with FM amplification from a friend's system who has B&W and German Physiks speakers, and the sound is top notch (dynamic, fast-paced, clear, exciting).

 

[andromedaaudio]

Or in speaker crossover's.

I listened to the Vertere demo where he used passsive X over speakers PMC iirc.

FM amps sounded good / special there as well at least in my opinion .

 

[morricab]

The Martion was a little bit compromised since the speakers need a corner placement but this was only perfect for the right speaker. The left had no corner at all. Anyway, the Martion was better than nearly all other horns, only the Silbatone room was superior.

IMO, the Aries Cerat room was significantly better but that said the Martion was one of my favorites.

 

[Uk Paul / Z:Axis Audio]

I listened to the Vertere demo where he used passsive X over speakers PMC iirc.

FM amps sounded good / special there as well at least in my opinion .

That was actually the best I've heard PMC perform, dynamics were astonishing, the whole sound was coherent and exciting. I wonder how much that was to do with being in a different space, away from all the other 'noise' and hash from MOC? Or whether it was the Walter Rhorl influence? (for those that know)

 

[msd_2023]

Because the show doesn’t start until midday, so only me with the crews here.

Last night when I was in Marco Serri Design room, I was so impressed with their big speakers. But today, I was even blown away by the smaller speakers when they swapped and gave me the ipad to play.

It’s just unbelievable how music play from these modest size speakers in such a big room, truly outstanding. They’ve swapped back to the bigger boys for me now, great stuff!

View attachment 150705

The Marco Serri design seems interesting, as far as I can see: AMT tweeter in dipole (semi-open baffle at the rear); maybe paper-cone midrange.

How did it sound? did you like it?

The Marco Serri design seems interesting, as far as I can see: AMT tweeter in dipole (semi-open baffle at the rear); maybe paper-cone midrange.

How did it sound? did you like it?

Marco Serri Design Gladiator Speakers Experience – M & S | Ultimate High-Fidelity

www.monoandstereo.com

 

[msd_2023]

The Marco Serri design seems interesting, as far as I can see: AMT tweeter in dipole (semi-open baffle at the rear); maybe paper-cone midrange.

How did it sound? did you like it?

The Marco Serri design seems interesting, as far as I can see: AMT tweeter in dipole (semi-open baffle at the rear); maybe paper-cone midrange.

How did it sound? did you like it?

 

[msd_2023]

Because the show doesn’t start until midday, so only me with the crews here.

Last night when I was in Marco Serri Design room, I was so impressed with their big speakers. But today, I was even blown away by the smaller speakers when they swapped and gave me the ipad to play.

It’s just unbelievable how music play from these modest size speakers in such a big room, truly outstanding. They’ve swapped back to the bigger boys for me now, great stuff!

View attachment 150705

 

[Massimo66]

I think it’s very tricky to judge a system because it’s totally up to the music being played when you visit the room.

I was lucky when I came to Accapela as it was early in the morning on Friday, so I could get the sweet spot (the single chair on top) quickly and spent 15 minutes there. They played a violin concerto which is simply incredible, then a vocal track with a huge warm voice from Leonard Cohen. They also played a jazz track with mellow voice and good kick drum.

After that, I went to the WE room next to it. Got the sweet spot myself after around 5 minutes. They played a piano piece which sounds crazily real, then an orchestra piece with similarly huge soundstage like Accapela. Then before I left, they played a rock track from Led Zeppelin with insane sound effects.

As I posted earlier in this thread, I had never found FM sound good everytime I visited them in the past, including last Friday evening. Actually the picked a very old record which sounds like crap with muddy and boomy presentation, which obviously give you a wrong assumption about the system and makes it sound cheap + not worth the money.

But when I came before 10am on Saturday, they played a familiar track that I know and in the sweet spot with an almost empty room, the first time I heard FM sounded that great, not jaw dropping, but really good.

Cessaro have never moved me too, same reason with crappy music when I visited them. Too much bass, energy and the highs were harsh. Just not the right time and I also believe the right place as it seems the room is not big enough for the speakers.

But in overall, this year I have listened to many many good rooms that were well setup and they played truly fantastic music to demo their systems. I found nearly 50 new tracks to include in my favourite playlist, very happy when listening to them at home .

Apart from the crew from London, I met a few others from WBF and did have a great time and great foods with them. Now looking forward to Vienna 2026.

you were lucky to be able to hear the fm acoustics system, I personally after 30 minutes of demonstration of the phono 223 hearing about the advantages of the De Click and De Crackle system and then the importance of the equalization curves I got up a few moments before my eyelid fell and I went away given the total absence of music. Fortunately at a friend's house I was able to really appreciate the FM Acoustics products that I have always liked both phono and preamp and power amps. it's a shame for their choice to use inside their devices the infamous modules drowned in resin that make any repairs a real nightmare, except by contacting authorized service centers which replace the infamous modules entirely at stratospheric prices making you pay about 30 times the cost of the components contained inside the modules.

 

[Campo007]

Did anyone get a listen to the Anti-Matter open baffles?

 

[orfeo_monteverdi]

it's a shame for their choice to use inside their devices the infamous modules drowned in resin that make any repairs a real nightmare, except by contacting authorized service centers which replace the infamous modules entirely at stratospheric prices making you pay about 30 times the cost of the components contained inside the modules.

By casting these modules in resin, isn't their intention (also/mainly) to avoid being copied?

 

[heihei]

Did anyone get a listen to the Anti-Matter open baffles?

Yes. On first listen they sounded promising, but when we went back, were disappointing for the usual open-baffle reasoning re: bass integration

 

[matthias]

IMO, the Aries Cerat room was significantly better but that said the Martion was one of my favorites.

Maybe, tbh I didn't spend much time in the Aries Cerat room this year.

 

[microstrip]

By casting these modules in resin, isn't their intention (also/mainly) to avoid being copied?

Not IMO. They surely want us to ignore that these ultra-expensive modules apparently have a minimal component value. Even if we have the schematics we can't build them - the secret of the sound of these modules is in the specific close values of the semiconductors parameters. The manufacturers carefully select and match each transistor.

Casting circuits also dampens the components and helps equalizing the temperature for all the components in the module.

In the 90's a friend of mine became the local distributor of FM Acoustics in my country and I listened several times to their gear. Surely I did not have the money for such systems, but I never felt it was something exceptional.