WHT show in Bonn Germany

[Kuoppis]

Small show in the western part of Germany with approx. 7K visitors.

Below some impressions.

First up a locally made turntable, massive granite platter and plinth. Platter weighs 15kg, comes with German high quality motor inbuilt.

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[Kuoppis]

My favorite setup at the show: Thales TT and the double-barrel tonearm, powered by Nagra electronics and with Marten speakers. Really delicate vinyl sound, splendid.

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[Kuoppis]

I was looking forward to hear the Dyn Special Forties, even at show conditions. Turned out to be meh.

Small sounding standmounts with average imaging and a lots of bass, but not the kind I like (detailed, defined). Did not get the feeling either that the Esotar 2 tweeter would be in any way special.

Maybe difficult show conditions, I don’t know.

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[Kuoppis]

Heard these TAD ME1s in Munich on average Onkyo electronics in May and liked them. Now a better demo with high end TAD electronics and I was disappointed.

I felt the bass was slightly mushy and the Beryllium tweeters had a bit of a bite. Maybe it was the room, though last year I heard the Evolution Ones in the same room and probably the same electronics and it was nice.

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[Kuoppis]

This was a real treat for the eyes and ears: Sonus Faber Lilium speakers on ARC tubed electronics (KT120).

Nice details, sweet midrange, good bass. Even though I like the bass a bit better defined.

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[Kuoppis]

The T+A small dish was surprisingly good, with the new PA 2500 R integrated and MP 2500 R player.

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[Kuoppis]

These were the clear winners of the show: huge soundstage, solid bass, musical midrange and nice detailed, but not to the least extent sharp highs. I was so impressed, that I asked if they could play the small ones as well.

You can probably imagine my facial expression when they told me that it was actually the small Boenicke W5 SE that were playing. I kid you not.

Based on a first audition at show conditions these clearly do better my Harbeth 3PSR I have been looking to replace. This is the hot candidate now, blowing away both Dyn Special Forty and TAD ME1 by not a small margin. Home audition forthcoming.

Don’t be fooled by the diminutive size, they’re really good. Easily outplaying e.g. the Trenner & Friedl ART due to a more balanced sound.

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[Kuoppis]

This was actually a quite nice Estelon demo, bettering the Munich setup by not a small margin.

Nice and detailed sound, good imaging, overall pretty pleasant.

I also liked the rack, something different for a change.

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[Kuoppis]

This demo showed that being good at one thing, does not necessarily mean you can just jump to another area and automatically excel.

While the Avid turntables are great, I was interested to hear the Avid Reference Four monitors that cost an eye watering $20K in the UK and at least a third more in the US. They were playing with Avid’s own Reference Pre and Reference Stereo Power Amp.

There was absolutely nothing in the sound that would have made me want to stay in the room. Really surprising, straight forward hi-end pricing with no whatsoever justification.

Just for comparison, the Avid Reference One large floorstanders (not shown) are £150K in the UK, i.e. probably similarly priced in the US as the forthcoming Magico S6. Oh boy.

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[Kuoppis]

New Audionet gear playing with Dynaudio Contours. The typical thin and sharp ear-bleeding causing sound (to my ears, that is). Guess you figured they’re not my cup of tea.

There was recently a thread comparing Magico S3 mk2 and Dyn Contour 60s. Well, based on this demo today a car equivalent would be comparing a Chevy Impala to a Pagani Zonda.

For those who like it though, very detailed and transparent sound from the Audionet gear.

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[Kuoppis]

Quite nice Bryston demo, 4B Cubed with a new disc spinner as well, celebrating its world premiere. Playing on Bryston speakers also.

The funny thing was that when I asked the distributor to describe the 4B Cubed key selling points, he said it is very neutral, has great grip on the bottom end and is SHARP in the highs. Oh boy.

I actually liked the sound and did not think it was in any way sharp or edgy on the top.

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[Kuoppis]

There was actually much more, but I did not check everything out as I was particularly interested in vinyl and standmounters this time.


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[Paul]

Wow. Thanks so much for share and love your comments on each set up. Really appreciated your effort.

Also glad you liked the 4B3 cubed I love that darn little amp.

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[Kuoppis]

Wow. Thanks so much for share and love your comments on each set up. Really appreciated your effort.

Also glad you liked the 4B3 cubed I love that darn little amp.

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Thanks Paul, very kind.

I actually like the Bryston so much that I might arrange a home demo, as there is a new dealer close-by taking on the range.


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[Kuoppis]

One more discovery: Monitor Audio Platinum II series on passive display, which appear to be equipped with an electrostatic tweeter.

Reading the brochure it is an MPD tweeter (micro pleated diaphragm), which is a difficult way to say it is a folded foil based transducer. Benefits are 8x larger surface area compared to a dome tweeter and a frequency range up to 100 kHz. That gives the pictured PL 300 II a frequency range of 28 Hz - 100 kHz.

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[Kuoppis]

And this is really the last one: Nordost QKORE, a parallel grounding unit providing neutral mass for all components on power delivery and component sides.

The demo showed the sound getting a calmer with a blacker background when the QKORE was added. Obviously it removed some interferences.

It was also stated it has the greatest effect with components from different manufacturers, as everyone is implementing grounding slightly differently. The components used were also some mid-fi stuff (Densen amp, Hegel DAC and some kind of pocket server), so the question of course remains what the impact of the QKORE with hi-end components would be, which have better shielding and grounding.

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[Mike]

Thank you for the show report and pictures! Awesome job.

Are you going to Munich 2018?


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[Kuoppis]

Thank you for the show report and pictures! Awesome job.

Are you going to Munich 2018?


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Not a selfless act Mike. I’m hoping to see some coverage from RMAF from my fellow Sharks [emoji41].

Yes, as far as I can foresee, I am planning to attend Munich 2018.


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[walesi]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I'll be there, too. Would be real nice to meet you guys.

 

[Kuoppis]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I'll be there, too. Would be real nice to meet you guys.

Absolutely! We actually managed to briefly meet with Mike this year.


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