In clicking with a system, we had more luck in the Thrax room. In fact, that was more of a room within a room as all walls were treated with Artnovion acoustic panels. In addition to the existing Thrax Lyra speakers, the company had brought their new subwoofers. Were they the reason to go all the way with acoustically treating the room? The next question would be, when to stop treating a room. Anyway, here there was music and the subs were not pounding at the listeners. This was proof that things were mechanically isolated to balance out the subs' activities.

French firms Jadis and Metronome teamed up with Canadian speaker firm Focus Audio. The JA plus JP80 amplifiers, Kalista front end and Master 2be provided decent sound.

Less satisfying to our ears was the next room where Albedo’s speakers took the company’s credo a bit too literally: Brightness in Sound. Baptized Alecta, the big new double transmission line fitted with ceramic drivers was not able to give us a warm feeling during our visit.

The Vivid Giya G2 is a four-way tower of swooping curves. What would happen if each "way" were driven by its own amplifier? Next, what would happen if each of those amplifiers were a Mola Mola Kaluga? Well, slow down, first there’s the need for one little addition. The incoming signal for the power amps ran through a Trinnov Altitude32-88 do-it-all. As already mentioned, these machines are preamps, DACs, network players and, in this model, a highly optimized four-way active crossover with speaker/room optimizer. Problem solved. Add music and stir in a friendly sun shining through the glass roof. Really, the rooms in the Munich MOC are not built for listening so many exhibitors opt for acoustic treatments to help out. This room combined Artnovion passive acoustic treatment with the active DSP capabilities of the Trinnov for a satisfactory result.