On April 26th, Jochen Reinecke published his review on fairaudio.de. His headline? Unmittelbar! The German 'mittel' is means, 'un' negates it to 'without means'. The English say 'without intermediary' so immediate. Jochen's amps were Valvet A4-MkII monos, his room is 20m². He found the tonal balance lighter but friendly, similar to a B&W 706 S3 or 805 D3 but with less explicit treble. Minus the first octave he was surprised to find the bass sufficient and linear so without upper-bass love handles. He called the overall profile 'quick as an arrow' or in Norbert speak, 'direct to ear'. He found it limited only on macrodynamic scale though even large-scale orchestral satisfying at room-appropriate SPL. He rated depth layering and soundstage holography special strengths, the lively yet long-term happy presentation similar to first-rate planar headfi. It all reads like ideal and full confirmation of realistic expectations for the concept, size and ingredients. I would follow in Jochen's footsteps then pursue the path he didn't travel: conversion to fully active mode down to 30Hz.

But first, a great Jochen paragraph: "…(high resolution) can be heard in the album version of Richard Groove Holmes' "Misty" instrumental from the album Soul Message. The central instrument is of course a Hammond organ. For me Holmes is one of the exceptional organists because unlike most, he taps the Leslie most sparingly. You know those almost man-high speakers with rotating bells which for many people create the typical Hammond sound. On "Misty" Holmes refuses to engage the Leslie cabinet almost stubbornly. He creates tension exclusively by very finely tuned volume gradations and an occasional careful re-registration of the drawbars. When introducing the theme, it sounds rather lovely at first, then turns into a solo whose added register gets a bit edgier. Once in full flight it turns extra sharp which can really wobble the inner ear with sustained friction intervals like seconds and fourths. I don't unpack these tone modulations in such gripping high resolution very often regardless of price. The Move tracked the Hammond's rich tonal shadings with all the requisite mechanical noises to feel just right. We hear the small warble caused by the electromechanical sound generation as well as the intended oscillation of the vibrato unit. But we also hear details that appear somewhat smoky due to the organ's built-in tube amp peculiar to the Hammond sound, the slight inaccuracies or time delays when hitting keys as well as the biting beats and increasing distortion as Holmes gradually presses the volume pedal home to the end stop. No information is skipped over. Yet we mustn't jump for the remote to back off the volume even during the rowdiest parts because the Move remains clear and clean even in the treble without getting annoying."

At the Munich show, the Move/Groove wasn't our Bavarians' only surprise. Lindemann also brought first samples of their new Woodnote electronics. Those sit between the Limetree and music:book ranges.

As the next photo shows, behind their docked demo setup was a pair of smaller Move Mini on desktop stands powered by a 50wpc Hypex-powered Woodnote Combo. This ultra-compact system played its part in the show's SoundsClever initiative where manufacturers and distributors could demonstrate sub €5K systems. As SoundStage!'s Matt Bonaccio reported, "… the Move [Mini – Ed.] speakers had maybe the most bass the laws of Physics will allow out of such tiny enclosures. Lindemann was also showing some of their larger speakers in the room and when their rep there saw me inspecting them, he said in German "Nein. Die Kleinen". No, the small ones. I responded in German, incredulous, "the small speakers are playing?" He just smiled and nodded. The rest of the frequency range was equally competent so I'll be paying close attention to Lindemann going forward."

Photo credit Cube Audio.

Norbert's setup clearly made the intended first impression. If that's what an attentive visitor to Munich walked off with after having their attention threshold blown to smithereens by the event's sheer scale and multitudes of systems, I call it mission accomplished. Careful readers noted Norbert's room size of 4x7m or 28m². Five chairs across isn't palatial. That's the intended habitat for our Move/Groove: full-range sound in the type room normal shoppers not oligarchs have at their disposal.