Munich High End show 2018

[Lee Henley]

I spent quite a bit of time in the Thoress room, the turntable whos name eludes me sported the 35,000 Euro tonearm, which according to the guy in side was a bit of a pain in the arse to use so they switched the SME V12. I must admit the sound coming from this system was my second favourite of the show, I believe the speakers were around the 13,000 Euro mark, but given that quite a few of the systems on display were meg bucks prices this in comparison was excellent. Hats off to the guys at Thoress

Untitled by henleymajor, on Flickr

[Lee Henley]

Something different, the guys who have relaunched the Western Electric name were selling amplifiers, WE 300B remake tubes and speaker wire. The guy informed me that the wire was made using the original formula and was available from the WE website.

A couple of years back the original WE16GA wire was in demand when an article written by Jeff day for Positive feedback hit the streets. I managed to get hold of some myself to try out and liked it eventually moving onto the Duelund WE clone. I may be tempted to try some of the thicker gauge myself in the near future.

http://www.westernelectric.com/products-ks13385.html

DSCF1130 by henleymajor, on Flickr

[Lee Henley]

The enthusiastic guy in the PMC room was telling me about their new £50,000 prototype speakers with technology built into the sides to prevent vibration, the system comprised of mainly Bryston electronics. I wasn't that impressed to be honest, the sound left me wanting for more especially given the price point of the speakers.

DSCF1141 by henleymajor, on Flickr

[Lee Henley]

No shortage of turntables at Munich!

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[Lee Henley]

There were quite a few Lenco PTP's in use throughout the show, Peter from PTP was in attendance and I managed to have a chat with him, he's quite an enthusiastic guy and very knowledgeable as youd expect. He had his new PTP creation on show and must admit it sounded quite nice although the asking prices was over 6000 euro. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of it but managed to get one of the original design.

Untitled by henleymajor, on Flickr

One of the rooms that used the original PTP was the Line Magnetic room the valve amplifier manufacturer from China. They were playing the Line Magnetic CD player when i went in, they guy changed over to the PTP for a demo and I was quite impressed with what I heard, definate improvement over the CD player to say the least!

DSCF1001 by henleymajor, on Flickr

The other room using the PTP was Thomas Meyer, they had 2 in use, one specially adapted to play 78rpm records which they played for us, first time Id heard 78's playing in a long time and it was quite nice to hear them. The sound in this room for me was another one that I liked quite alot, dont be fooled by the small speakers made by Azzolina Audio, they projected an image that was remarkable to say the least, very extended with great height and scale.

DSCF1039 by henleymajor, on Flickr

[Marco]

I spent quite a bit of time in the Thoress room, the turntable whos name eludes me sported the 35,000 Euro tonearm, which according to the guy in side was a bit of a pain in the arse to use so they switched the SME V12. I must admit the sound coming from this system was my second favourite of the show, I believe the speakers were around the 13,000 Euro mark, but given that quite a few of the systems on display were meg bucks prices this in comparison was excellent. Hats off to the guys at Thoress

Untitled by henleymajor, on Flickr

Now why doesn't the good sound you heard there not surprise me?

I have to say that if I were to sell my amps and start again, and go for 'new high-end', Thöress would likely fit the bill. Nice intimate/cosy looking room too, which for me is essential for listening to music, as it puts you in a relaxed frame of mind, and infinitely more preferable to the starkly lit, wide-open spaces of some of the other rooms shown.

Marco.

[User211]

Lee there's plenty of original age annealed WE speaker cable on eBay for less than the new stuff will cost I am sure.

Some might be fake, but a lot probably isn't. That's the issue.

[Beobloke]

The enthusiastic guy in the PMC room was telling me about their new £50,000 prototype speakers with technology built into the sides to prevent vibration, the system comprised of mainly Bryston electronics. I wasn't that impressed to be honest, the sound left me wanting for more especially given the price point of the speakers.

Funny, I thought these were the best sounding thing at the show by a country mile. Then again, I am allergic to most horn loudspeakers, so this does wipe about two thirds of the rooms out of contention for me!

I should say, an honourable exception here is Ocean Way Audio. He seems to make his horn-loaded speakers sound exactly like everyone else says other horn loaded speakers sound, but which I’ve never found to be the case! The ‘Montereys’ he was playing sounded wonderful.

As an aside, one thing I love about seeing other peoples pictures, is spotting things I didn’t see, and wondering how I missed them!

[User211]

Funny, I thought these were the best sounding thing at the show by a country mile. Then again, I am allergic to most horn loudspeakers, so this does wipe about two thirds of the rooms out of contention for me!

I should say, an honourable exception here is Ocean Way Audio. He seems to make his horn-loaded speakers sound exactly like everyone else says other horn loaded speakers sound, but which I’ve never found to be the case! The ‘Montereys’ he was playing sounded wonderful.

As an aside, one thing I love about seeing other peoples pictures, is spotting things I didn’t see, and wondering how I missed them!

I'll second I thought they were good. They almost made the bad boy bass category, but not quite.

Pretty good scale, tight controlled bass, good clarity, spacious but not over bloated imagery, able to do loud without stress etc.

The problem? Price, and they look absolutely bloody dreadful!

[Marco]

DSCF1001 by henleymajor, on Flickr

Lee, do you know what that silver box is, with the VU-meters, to the right of the turntable being played? I love the styling!

Marco.