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The hallowed Thorens brand, oldest audio marque in the world, was represented not in the present but past.


Anchored by Swissonor speakers, this room had many vintage goodies including Western Electric electronics.

That's because Swissonor specializes in such gear. For one, they offer replacement parts for the vaunted Thorens TD124 in MkI and II versions - a non-magnetic base platter and aluminum top platter as well as a tone arm mount from BHI Panzerholz (literally, tanker wood) dedicated to long tone arms. But they also make speakers and the B.A.C.H. 12 aka bass-adjustable coaxial horn is a dual-concentric 12-inch two-way with concentrically mounted horn-loaded tweeter in an enclosure whose foot print suggests ideal corner placement.

Then it was memory lane.

Klangschloss 2009 demonstrated the self-help principle in action. If your country is too small to host an international hifi show like Milan and München can, roll your own. While some of my commentary was critical, it could have reflected an 'early hours' syndrome when not everyone had fully kicked into gear yet. Regardless, from wireless DACs to vintage record changers, Taiwanese value speakers to German spherical horns, this small event had something for everyone as a kind of microcosm of the really big shows. And unlike those, the intimate scale of the aural castle meant that one had time and opportunity to talk, listen and talk and listen some more. Instead of rushing like mad in a hopeless bet to cover it all, the theme here was slow down and smell the flowers (it was a bit early in the year for roses)...