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In one of the many dimly lit rooms, Audia Flight held court. I don't recall the speakers in use but since importer Music Tools Audio Living Design also imports Audioplan, Brinkmann, Dual, Fisher & Fisher, Pathos and Vincent-Tac, it shouldn't be too difficult to ascertain.

Audio Analogue went topless on a number of pieces, just the occasion any lusty camera prays for.

The big Audio Analogue components are very beefy examples of the art as we'd expect them from Krell.

Audiodevelopment was one of the many firms unfamiliar to me. Their speakers were exceptionally narrow of profile but made up for the lack of frontal cone area with many paralleled rear-firing drivers.

Audiomania is a free online magazine (aren't we all) whose publisher stopped me in the hallways to introduce himself. Apparently he enjoys what we're doing and does something very similar in the Italian language. The more the merrier, I say!


About getting stopped in my tracks: Terry Humphries of Audio Reference Co. in New Zealand's Hamilton did it to me as well. He and his wife had been mulling over how best to combine their lives' passions. The outcome will be a full-blown art gallery slash place to sip a cuppa java plus bona fide high-end audio boutique. The building has already been secured and is presently being suited for the intended purposes.


Terry's wife is a painter. Having her own art gallery will be the perfect outlet. And as Terry put it, it'll also give those ladies bored to tears by their husbands' hifi trips a meaningful way to spend their time in the same vicinity. I told Terry to pepper me with pix and a word doc as soon as they were operational. It'll make a great addition to our industry features. Terry also asked me whether I'd gotten jaded and cynical yet. "It's the people one meets in audio that make all the difference. If I do get jaded and cynical one day, I'll look for a new job." So far, so good. Milan was most terrific about meeting wonderful new people!

Some rooms went for a cozy vibe or elegant decor. Audio Note UK just parked their speakers in the rear corners, draped some green cloth over a table, parked some kit on that and called it quits. My feeling on the matter is, to each his own. And, when you're competing for attention during an event that'll quickly have even veterans at attention deficit from severe overstim, any excuse for a visitor to linger (or enter in the first place) is well worth the effort I think.


Audio Physic for example managed to be inviting while still quietly preaching the gospel of room acoustics with tasteful treatments. Nor were they afraid to show with a cost-effective Shanling source. The implied message is important.

Audio Point Italia had invited many of the people behind their import products to attend their firm's launch. Below we see, from left to right, Stefano Mazzoli of Suono e Comunicazione, Dino Pappalardo and Salvo Giardina of Angelis Labor in the rear; then Michael McCormick of Bel Canto; then Kazutoshi Yamada of Zanden Audio with his right-hand man Eric Pheils in the chair.

Here is Ralph Krebs next to one of his bigger Cessaro hornspeakers.

Yamada-San is personally so smitten with the Cessaro/Zanden match that he has authored a special version of his 845 monos to optimally mate to the hi-efficiency German horns. A custom commission from one of Audio Exotics' Hong Kong clients who owns a whole suite of Zanden gear but switched from Avalon to Cessaro speakers kicked off that specific development. Now Ralph just needs to get a pair to Zanden on a permanent basis.

Here is John Stronczer of Bel Canto, another Audio Point brand. Bel Canto has introduced their new Reference 500 mono and matching S500 stereo amplifiers which use new buffer input and SMPS filtration circuitry. A variation thereof is also in the new Reference 1000 MkII. That doesn't replace the first-gen Ref 1000 but becomes a sonic alternative. "The input stage uses the latest top-quality parts including Caddock resistors, Solid Electrolytic ultra-low ESR decoupling capacitors and low-noise regulated power supplies. The highest spec REF1000 MKII and the REF500 mono amplifiers are fitted with custom power supply rectification and filters that substantially increase the power supply’s energy storage to simulate a virtual battery supply. They’re manufactured with carefully selected high-speed, low-noise rectifiers, high-voltage film filter capacitors and high energy storage capacity. What this means is lower noise and reduced sensitivity to power line effects."

Gemme Audio from Canada is another brand in Dino's and Salvo's mix. Both Katana and Vivace models took turns on either Bel Canto or Angelis Labor Metamorphosis gear, producing a lot of sound from minor driver artillery that had even John Stronczer impressed who usually cares little for single-driver speakers.

Yamada-San disappeared for one day to fly to the parallel London Heathrow show. There Roy Gregory of HiFi + presented him with an award for his one-box Model 2500 player. When asked whether he had anything new in the works, Yamada invoked the silent Oriental sage routine. But Eric felt that he could tell me about his new entry-level amplifier. Yamada then let on that he is working on an EL34 push/pull amplifier which of course requires negative feedback. It's a subject he has thus far religiously avoided. "But I've changed my thinking about it and come up with what I believe to be a novel implementation." Incidentally, Nelson Pass too has reevaluated NFB. He is presently editing down a lengthy white paper on the subject which we'll publish in due time in our industry features.

What it means for Zanden is a down-market opening to reach a new audience. Just like Angelis Labor, Kazutoshi Yamada is committed to highly refined fit 'n' finish and cosmetics. How he'll adapt those to fit the envisioned lower price points will be very interesting...

The big Avalon Isis played Jazz in the Acustica Applicata | DNAudio exhibit, with room treatments by Daad. Tube amplifiers by Lamm, digital by EMM Labs and a Simon York deck with Magic Diamond Blue cart rounded out the rig.

Avantgarde Acoustic, in stark contrast to Munich, sounded exactly as past personal ownership of their Duo model knows they can sound - terrific. Sadly Holger & Matthias could only attend for one day. I missed out on catching up on their latest news. Another day, another show perhaps.