It was Dave Wilson himself who made the trip to Munich to show off his new Watt/Puppy 8. In a pretty warm room, many visitors took the opportunity to learn for themselves what Wilson Audio's legendary two-box speaker is all about.

At shows this heroic in size, it is inevitable that you miss out on something you'll sorely regret later on when you read about it in someone else's show report. Therefore a second round is beneficial to lower the risk of misses. Our second orbit through the large trade halls happily corrected an omission we would have regretted deeply had we not back-tracked and realized just what was on tap here. In one of the musical cubicles a company demonstrated an apparently harmless product which really impressed us. In fact, for us this product introduction became the absolute highlight of the entire show - though we have reason to believe many others overlooked it just as we nearly did. Drum rolls, please.
Upon entering, we were the only visitors and took a seat facing two fairly large flat loudspeakers clad in a shiny copper disguise. Some classical music played and the flat panels produced an exceedingly pleasant sound. As we were unfamiliar with the music, there wasn't much more to say. Luckily the gentleman running the exhibit offered to play some of the CDs we had brought along. We chose a lengthy Vicente Amigo track that features plenty of fiery transients, deep bass lines and male and female vocals. Well, some eight minutes later we had tears in our eyes and a warm feeling in our solar plexus. Admittedly, bass extension was not exactly stygian but the remainder was so bloody natural. Above all, things were so intensely musical that it was downright scary.
The gentleman introduced himself as Shelley Katz and asked if he might explain a little about his speakers. For years he has been struggling with the sound of loudspeakers. As a musician and composer -- Katz is a pianist -- he wanted to get the sound of a piano right when reproduced with other instruments. He had experimented with classic piston drivers, electrostatics, magnetics, NXT flat panels and more to finally come up with a better solution. With Podium Sound, he excites a flat panel to work with bending waves not unlike MBL, NXT, Manger, Air Foil and others. The difference with Podium Sound is a floating membrane made of a fibrous honeycomb covered with some proprietary coating. This panel is stiff enough to maintain its shape when held by a mere three or four exciters but otherwise free. The exciters are mounted to a tapered oak bar that in turn is attached to an oak frame. There are no crossover filters or any other electronics
involved, not even a power supply. Depending on the size of the panel, Katz uses three or four exciters. In his vision, the Podium loudspeaker is a musical instrument and a British one at that. All materials employed are British. The oak is slow-grown England issue and extensively cured, the cloth is woven from British wool and the copper ... well, you get the drift.

In order to get the most from our visit, we listened to the largest panels next. These 3cm thick cloth-covered panels were 2 meters high yet weighed a mere 10 kilos. On purpose, Shelley Katz positioned them in an asymmetrical non-classical setup geometry, with the left speaker more forward and angled than the right. Over his Musical Fidelity KW integrated, we played a few further tracks from our demo disc at quite elevated levels. These panels could really rock. Synthesized sub bass from the Hadouk Trio presented no problem, the panels extended as deep as one could wish and played as loud as we wanted. There was no breakup, no smearing, no annoying highs, just the music filling the room. And with the Podium panels, there was no such thing as a point source. There was simply imaging but not as you know it, i.e. without typical pin-point stereo effects. The sound was merely there filling the room. Forget about soundstage in the sense that musician A is exactly there and on his own. Yes, he is there but simply as part of the remainder. Wandering about the room did not disturb this imaging either. The front-to-back perspective remained consistent and locked.


This experience proved so overwhelming that we jumped at the opportunity to audition a pair of the largest Podium 1 loudspeakers in our own Rotterdam environment. Shelly Katz has developed a truly new and affordable full-range musical instrument that plays music like the real thing. The top model is 10,000/pr euros.

Quad Musikwiedergabe had a stand filled with nostalgia. The company focuses on the restoration and repair of Quad electrostatic loudspeakers. Old Quads have a special aura about them that is well worth preserving and with the use of original Quad UK tools, this German company does an excellent job. Their display also showed some Ergo E.M.T headphones which resembled the Jecklin Floats of yore. Good things never really die.

Over at the Reimyo sound booth, we met with Kiuchu-san of Combak again who was there with his Dutch distributor. His new introduction was the CDT-777, the successor to the now legendary CDP-777 CD player but now as transport only. Kiuchi-san opted for the two-box route to improve the quality seeing he already had a stand-alone converter. As with the Reimyo demos we had heard in the past, the sound from this system was very well balanced. Beside the excellent CDT-777/DAP-777 source, another key element in getting the sound right was the use of the Harmonix speaker stands, the designer felt. A small speaker like the Harmonix Bravo perched on a huge stand made a strange kind of sense once we heard the sonic outcome.

Any way you want to bend a loudspeaker -- concave or convex -- Italian Toud will be happy to accommodate you.

Greek manufacturer TLA had unpacked a huge assortment of their ultra-expensive tube products.


In the atrium, the same companies occupied their customary rooms as they did in previous years. It was here also that the big Japanese corporations presented their almost exclusively flat-planel screens. It was interesting to identify three different kinds of exhibits in Munich. There were the big halls of the real trade fare, the hotel-like show rooms in the higher floors we knew well from the usual audio shows and the shop-like exhibits of the atrium. And as always, the Transrotor shop was full of turntable porn. Their parade of highly polished curves combined with phallic arms in a setting full of flowers proved quite tantalizing yet tasteful.

Teutonic power was present in the Quadral room where the big Titan held court.

Mr. Hans Henrik Mørch of Denmark had a few of his gold-plated tone arms on display. New was a prototype of an arm that runs two counter weights on the side of the bearing, said to enhance bass response as the twin weights add higher horizontal inertia.


A bit hidden away we found Siltech's new power block, the Signature Octopus Eight. In this seemingly simple design, a lot of effort was expended to eliminate all magnetic distortion. In audio every elimination of distortion -- and there is plenty of it to go around – reaps dividends and the Octopus Eight simply adds another step. Plus, we all need multiple power outlets.

Back at our hotel with sore feet and half-broken backs, it wasn’t nap time yet. Swiss firm Ensemble had chosen this venue for an off-show demonstration of their entire line. Ensemble is a make that resists shouting from the roof tops in their marketing and component aesthetics. Their form-follows-function approach comes down to simple looks that hide intricate circuits designed to make music. Only armed with a screwdriver can a user get an idea what designer Urs Wagner has really hidden away inside. Piece by piece, Ensemble is the audio equivalent to great Swiss watches like IWC. Many unique ideas were incorporated to arrive at the sound we experienced while winding down from the show. A company that offers a full range of products from cables to electronics to power conditioners to loudspeakers, all designed by the owner and fabricated either in-house or contracted with trusted third parties remains quite unique in our industry. And we liked the sound we heard very much indeed, proving this to be an exception to the accepted rule that only specialization nets superlative results, i.e. a good amp designer won’t know how to design a good speaker. Not here.

In closing, High End 2007 was a very welcoming, well-organized and pleasant experience. We learned new things, met new people and encountered new products. We took home not only vivid impressions but also interesting new music from MA Recordings whose globe-trotting Todd Garfinkle, of course, was present once again.


The trip back was just like the one into Germany - very enjoyable. In what other airport can you find a standard-priced restaurant with full waiter service? With free coffee at the gates? With squeaky-clean toilets?


Munich, we'll be back!