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An entirely different concept of the upscale self-powered on-wall loudspeaker was proposed by Lyravox. This would be so peachy posh in a luxury hotel or private yacht. Or penthouse. Or nicely appointed bedroom. The sound was far better than the dumb-blond-joke crowd would expect or admit. Don't write this one off because it's elegant and attractive.

Whilst my genes lack the shiny vinyl chromosome, I couldn't fail to notice that ModWright's new phono stage was part of a good-sounding system in the Marriott.

Hence here's a close up for those genetically more blessed than I.


This wasn't a circle jerk or the knights of the round table but awed silence surrounding Naim's new Muso, a complete wireless music system in one box. How muso mas? £895.

Switzerland's ratio of national size to number of high-end makers is unusually loaded and Orpheus Labs are one of these brands. Because our country is small, everyone knows everyone else. It's very common for folks to have worked for one firm only to end up at another or launch their very own. Despite such a Payton's Place backdrop, civility seems high and professional jealousy low.

Being built like a Swiss precision watch is the harder part to live up to, being priced like one the easy half. That this routine has no plans of abating was shown by newcomers Le Son and Stenheim's new ownership in the Kempinski hotel.

Just as Jaguar car dealerships never coincide with automotive row when it comes to location, so the posh surroundings of the Kempinski set the overall tone for the Le Son/Stenheim presentation and the latter's new flagship speakers with Nagra and Audio Consulting.

One core concept of the original ex-Goldmund Stenheim founders who've since moved to Devialet was high efficiency for their Alumine monitor. Hence their particular choice of drivers. Under Jean-Pascal Panchard's new stewartship—the original engineers remain involved on a consulting basis—the basic looks have been refined. The original's driver fasteners now hide behind the aluminium baffle and the matching (sub)woofer base received a new decoupling interface and cosmetically bridged insert.

Here is one of Le Son's vertical amplifiers showing three fans which were happily whirring away whilst I watched. Compact packaging for looks can cause thermal challenges best solved this route without which most computers wouldn't work.


But the literally big news for this shindig really were the new 95dB efficient Stenheim Reference speakers whose close-up shows a central MTM array with added circular ribbon super tweeter flanked by dual woofers which are then duplicated on the rear for a force-cancelling LF array.

Below we see their motorized toe-in activated. I'm not sure why—wouldn't you toe in this speaker just once upon original install then leave it alone?—but like Estelon this luxury speaker includes a remote-actuated mechanical wowie effect. I can't report much on sonics because their lame choice of music at 19:00PM and such after a long day of mostly the same froze my attention. First there was the dreaded Johannesburg choo-choo train laying tracks, then Serge Schmidlin spun one of those infernal out-of-tune close-mic'd upright bass orgies on his Audio Consulting turntable. I promptly fled to have some Sushi across from the Hofbräuhaus instead.

But to be fair whilst acknowledging that much of traditional HighEnd indeed appeals primarily to already aged folks getting older still, it was precisely this very audience which this demonstration was aimed at. This wasn't about romancing the earbud-toting hipster with a tenner in his pocket. If he were smart, that guy would spend the money tied up in this system on a proper education and the leftovers on a down-payment for a first-timer's flat. No, this was about romancing a well-off mature crowd with offshore holdings who love luxury hifi. There are far worse hobbies to have. As long as there's a market for luxury goods, there will be makers to serve them. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's just not my crowd. I still rent.