Changing religion? This story broke pre-show but ripples thereof pervaded Munich. The ersthwhile editor of Hifi+ Roy Gregory, since replaced by Alan Sircom, has "now taken up the post of Vice-President of Marketing for the Nordost Corporation... This does not automatically spell the end of Roy Gregory's words in the magazine, though. Naturally, products that are from Nordost are strictly out-of-bounds to him from this issue onwards; as, of course, are products from rival companies."

In light of Mr. Gregory's many powerful Nordost reviews in the past, one has to assume that conviction finally compelled him to trade chairs and join the enemy. (That's really how certain forum posters regard any and all manufacturers - as capitalist swines constantly poised to overcharge them on inferior products. That's a hyper cynical perspective for sure). Just as on the economy, responses to this announcement varied depending on whom you spoke with. I imagine it will now make Roy Gregory's prior Nordost reviews quite useless for the company's product promotions. For Nordost, the benefits of this new arrangement must have outweighed its liabilities. For Hifi+, Gregory's ongoing employ spells confusion.

And along came Terry. This isn't the title of a new Coen Bros movie. It's about Terry Humphries' new AudioArt Café in New Zealand's Hamilton, a story I touched on in this industry feature. To appreciate what follows, you should read it first. At the show, Terry handed me a DVD with professionally shot photos of his sound rooms as promised. Because this is such a cool and timely story considering the general gloom 'n' doom state of affairs, I picked it to conclude our care package of Munich surprises. In brief, it combines a Fine Art gallery (Terry's wife is a painter), audio boutique and professionally catered café to serve as community center and cross-cultural opportunity to spread the hifi virus.

In the following photos of the sound rooms, you'll see Penny's paintings of musicians on the walls.

Because pictures speak louder than words, we'll let the following tell their own tale.

If hifi passion is dying, death never looked prettier. Shall we go in? All this was merely foreplay...