[saveloy]

Evening all,

Since I'm a free man at the moment I took the opportunity to pop over to Munich to see my friend.
Being a resourceful chap he managed to get us VIP passes for the entirety of the show's duration. 
It's a large gathering & a mix of exhibitors in halls showing equipment statically.  Plus a few floors, on which several manufacturers/distributors demonstrate their equipment in sealed rooms.

There were some incredible things there, by which I mean stupid.  Horn speakers larger than my living room & others that were trying to be works of art.  Other usual grievances were catered for, one of which is the proliferation of horn music and other such sounds that made it impossible to gauge a system's real world merit.  Frustration ensued.........
As you can imagine there were many, many turntables there.  And CD players certainly aren't out of favour in high end circles! 
We made a line to the Bryston/PMC room and I was very happy in there.  They had the twenty series in there, along with the BDP-1/BDA-1 combo.  My friend was so taken he made the decision to purchase a set of twenty 23s.  And of course it's always nice to see Tom & Keith, to share my feelings (hi-fi orientated) and also babble random nonsense. 
They'll have a welcome break, since I doubt I'll see them again this year. Especially since my friend barked a dinner offer of a curry at Tom! 

Here are a few things I liked:

Focal Utopias are stunning.




Musical Fidelity Primo Tube pre-amp & Titan Power Amp/Power Supply.





Canton Speakers at €27,000 a tower!





And finally this cheeky little thing.  A conventional mid-bass driver & a ribbon tweeter beneath the neck. It didn't sound half bad either. 




Kyri

[Vipers]

Thanks for sharing Kyri although I have to say I'm very jealous, I'd love to hear those Utopia's, I've been to a couple of shows recently and they were just on show and not running which I found very frustrating, seemed like a wasted opportunity to me, were they running at Munich? if so how did they compare to the active IB2's that we had on dem a while ago?

So I hope with all that amazing kit on show you haven't had a wandering eye for anything that hasn't got a Bryston or PMC badge on it

[mv038856]

Canton Speakers at €27,000 a tower!

Aren't those Triangle speakers? They did sound nice though, when I listened to them today at the High End trade fair in Munich, no matter which brand...

Cheers!

Markus

[saveloy]

Marius,
My mistake, they are indeed Triangle speakers.  They were very nice, fed by Musical Fidelity amplification and their AMS CD player.  What did you think of the rest of the show?

Vipers,
I don't begrudge you the jealousy - I'm a lucky boy.  Unfortunately, the pair of Utopias that were on demonstration had the kind of music flowing through them that told me little about them.  Though I have heard their smaller brother - the Utopia Scala, elsewhere.  And they sounded terrific.  A very smooth presentation, with wonderful imaging, deep bass and speed. I've always loved Focal speakers for their accuracy and moorish musicality. 
But fear not friend, I won't be straying.  I was thinking about the PMC IB2As that day, and as good as some of the sounds were they simply don't compare to the IB2s.  Nothing I have heard prior or since can can compare to their incredible pace, scale, drama & realism.  Much like the current twenty series, I think they are a bargain. 
Speaking to Tom, he said there are none in a domestic environment............yet.  And they can be purchased only directly from PMC. 
And the twenty series?  Every time I hear the twenty 21 bookshelf I sit astounded.  I really do think they are the stunner of the range. 

Kyri

[mv038856]

  What did you think of the rest of the show?

It is interesting to see how the industry changes from year to year. Brands change distributors and a few companies that used to have huge presentations did some downscaling. The German Hifi magazines Audio and Stereoplay plus Video had changed ownership as well and while they used to have nice presentations and demos on various topics, they just scaled down to a stand where they tried to sell subscriptions and DVDs. Home theater used to have a bigger share of the presentations. Still, Cinemike did a nice HT presentation (in the excellent style Anthem/Paradigm used to). I did like the Burmester presentation as well as that from YG Audio. The Bryston/PMC demo was nice, although quite different from the extremely powerful presentation last year... The small PMC speaker you mentioned did a phantastic job though.

I will be there tomorrow morning as well, just to get into a number of demos that I couldn't fit in today.

Cheers!

Markus

[saveloy]

Markus,

Burmester certainly had an impressive display.  Some of their equipment does seem difficult to justify, though.  But for the discerning audiophile who loves all things shiny................

Kyri

[Vipers]

But fear not friend, I won't be straying.  I was thinking about the PMC IB2As that day, and as good as some of the sounds were they simply don't compare to the IB2s.  Nothing I have heard prior or since can can compare to their incredible pace, scale, drama & realism.  Much like the current twenty series, I think they are a bargain. 
Speaking to Tom, he said there are none in a domestic environment............yet.  And they can be purchased only directly from PMC. 
And the twenty series?  Every time I hear the twenty 21 bookshelf I sit astounded.  I really do think they are the stunner of the range. 

Kyri

Good to hear you are staying loyal Kyri and haven't been tempted by all the delights on show at Munich, interesting that you never heard anything that could compare to the active IB's, maybe Jame's Model T's can bring on that challenge

Like you I am a big fan of the twenty's, In the right room the 21's are amazing but for the last week or so I have been using the 22's at work, what a cracking speaker, great top end detail, ridiculous bottom end for its size and great mid range clarity, maybe you didn't need to go to Munich mate, maybe just a trip to Borehamwood would have done the job

[saveloy]

Good to hear you are staying loyal Kyri and haven't been tempted by all the delights on show at Munich, interesting that you never heard anything that could compare to the active IB's, maybe Jame's Model T's can bring on that challenge

Like you I am a big fan of the twenty's, In the right room the 21's are amazing but for the last week or so I have been using the 22's at work, what a cracking speaker, great top end detail, ridiculous bottom end for its size and great mid range clarity, maybe you didn't need to go to Munich mate, maybe just a trip to Borehamwood would have done the job

Vipers,

You are probably right.  It was more a feast for the eyes, than the ears.  My friend wants me to come see you to talk about the twentys.  He won't be ready for them until October/November.  But I'll come in soon - trips to see you are fun at any time of the year! 
Now please stop talking about the IB2s, it depresses me!

Kyri

[Vipers]

Hey Kyri, you know you are always welcome mate, just wish we had those IB2 actives on permanent demo, but then I would never get any work done, well that is if you call what I do work, I do have to wonder myself to be honest

Bring you're friend over anytime, no need to wait until later in the year, any excuse to get away from the PC and listen to some music, let's make a day of it and go through the whole PMC range, all with Bryston power obviously

[Marius]

Some extra info about the Munich Show;
http://www.whathifi.com/blog/high-end-2011-it-started-with-a-munichorn-or-three-and-ended-with-an-atomic-antelope-and-a-stea

Marius

[StigO]

http://www.hifisentralen.no/forumet/Album/17/Munchen-2012-hi-fi-messe.html

Norwegian photo report from Munich...