Behold was again demoing their fully digital line of products in combination with Ascendo loudspeakers. The analogue signal from the turntable is digitized to 768KHz and converted back to analog only in the last electronic stage of the chain, the power amplifier.


Many rooms showed a cardboard clock alerting us to when the Stereoplay demonstration was due. Stereoplay is one of the leading German print magazines. It organizes a special event for its readers during the High End 2006. On the cover of the Stereoplay June issue was tacked a demo CD. The first 12 minutes contain a variety of pop and classical music. In various rooms, these first 12 minutes were played at the times the clocks displayed. Stereoplay readers could thus hear the same software reproduced first on their own home system and then at the show by different makes and brands. There was also a ballot for the listeners to give their opinions on what they heard. Clever idea. The Wiener Lautsprecher Manufaktur room sported not only a turntable and CD player but also reel-to-reel tape deck.



A part of the Stereoplay HörParcours was the room of Cabasse. Here the demo took place on the huge quad-concentric Spheres. These musical balls, to say it to the point(source), have an amazing imaging capability. The looks are subject to discussions but sound-wise, there's something fascinating about the Spheres.



Going down a level, we entered the room where Dutch manufacturers Siltech and Crystal Cable were almost joined at the hip. Crystal Cable's Gabi van der Kley showed her latest cable designs and a novelty as well. She is going to market a combination of Apple iPod Nano, a length of Crystal Cable Piccolo interconnect and the matching Powertraveler mini amplifier/speaker system. The whole system is packaged in a nice box and will be sold in airplanes, at airports and other places where travelers can be found who are in need of a decent portable audio system. This is thinking out of the (cable) box. At the other side of the room was Edwin van der Kley, busily demonstrating what can be measured with cables. With half his laboratory equipment shipped to Munich, he was able to make visible what kinds of distortion can enter an audio system through its cables. With another piece of measuring equipment, he demonstrated the various components of a cable and their influence on cable impedance. A common example is the 50-ohm digital interconnect that uses 75-ohm terminators. And of course Siltech had a premiere as well - their new power distribution block. The new shape makes it much easier to handle a heap of cables over when the outlets are arrayed in-line. The model Edwin shows here was equipped with different outlets used worldwide.







Esoteric demoed their classy stuff using a pair of Avantgarde Primo loudspeakers. The result was impressive. After a break, we continued at the Tiergarten again. There was so much to see, you had to go back a few times..





More horns were to be found with Acapella in a display just as static as Prima Luna's from Holland. With the EU- friendly covers over the tubes, one starts to wonder about the sanity of the rule makers. Over in the software area we of course met with Todd Garfinkle. Is this man ever at home in Tokyo? Nevertheless, we scored some new releases of his MA Recordings, for instance the new La Chimera Tonos y Tonadas.





Back in the atrium, we worked this floor. The best smelling room of the fair was the Transrotor room. Just like entering a flower shop, it was a joy for deprived nostrils - and for the eyes, too. The combination of highly polished chromium and the wide color palette of the flowers and greens was stunning. Even the static turntables come to live this way.

German make Titan demonstrated with the 7th version of their flagship loudspeaker. Neighbor Canton did the same with their flagship. A large room was filled by B&W and the Nautilus display just begged for a photo. Too bad they did not play.







Restek also filled a room in the atrium. On demo were the new MiniRoo electronic/loudspeaker and room-correction system. In a dark room, KEF demonstrated with covered loudspeakers and an overwhelming amount of blue-glowing Chord amplifiers. ASR Audio Systeme had a static display of their new battery-powered amplifier.




After a few days at the High End 2006, we concluded that this fair is the European show leader. Everyone we spoke with agreed that Munich was the best place to do business in of all the European audio shows and fairs. They also mentioned the knowledge of the general public. People came informed and well prepared. For us, this show was perhaps the best organized we have attended so far. There was lots of great 2-channel audio. Video was present but sparsely enough to not be intrusive. High End is really dedicated to high-end audio and the amount of visitors was an excellent sign.

High End 2007 is already marked on our calendar. Tschüss!
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