Avatar Audio did a full 180° versus the previous room. Their Holophony loudspeakers not only use 100% paper drivers, they go a step beyond and solely use vintage drivers from the 50s and 60s. At prior Warsaw shows this company had played at nearly subliminal levels or in very distracting acoustically 'treated' rooms. This year the sound was at a decent level and the room visually attractive. We liked what we heard.


Gauder's Berlina RC9 were the loudspeakers in the next room. Danish Vitus Audio electronics drove them. Gauder were formerly known as Isophon but still use Accuton drivers. Contrary to what we noted with the Lumen White all-ceramic competitors, the Berlina with its multiple ceramic drivers sounded much more controlled to not let sharpness mess up the outcome. No doubt the design of their very steep crossovers here had a positive effect to suppress ringing.


Announced as the most expensive system of the show plus with the reputation Living Voice had gained over the years, we dedicated quite some time for the Golden Tulip's final room. Designer Kevin Scott was on hand demonstrating. With the total price tag of his Vox Olympian horns fronted by extensive Kondo electronics like a quartet of Kondo Gakuoh 300B monos and CEC CD transport weighing in hard, it would only really be relevant if the resultant sound reflected fairly on such an investment. A hifi system of roughly 7'000'000 złoty or €1.6 Million playing at a show where the average monthly income is 3000 złoty or €690 ought to sound like the best of the best of the best.


We would stipulate that 99.99% of all visitors to this room were there fully anticipating to be awe-struck by the performance. A real chance to sell a pair was obviously low but not non-existent. At the time we visited, we made sure to sit in a few different positions from center mid to center back. Regardless, we had to really adapt to the high levels Kevin was playing at. As a result, we missed out on some subtlety. As our first encounter with these, we were biased by Srajan's 2013 Munich report in which he enthused over the "scale, splendour, linearity, gushing ease" and "emotional transport-you-to-elsewhere factor, resolution and top-end sophistication".


Against those high standards. Kevin's face signaled little cheer in Warsaw as he was obviously struggling to select just the right music which wouldn't acerbate the system/room interaction. When we asked what exactly the problem was, he confessed to the room fighting back hard. Depending on where one sat or stood, there was a more than 6dB difference in SPL. This meant that some visitors would think it too low, others too high. When we later spoke to other attendees, they all still reveled by what they'd heard here. If that was true for the majority, it clearly was mission accomplished for Living Voice despite these challenges.


Now it was time to cross the street back to the Sobieski and spiral down from the 7th to the ground floor to take it all in. Muarah were a Polish brand unknown to us who concentrate on vinyl, turntables and various tube amplifiers. All their equipment is available in either black or white. The turntables were aptly called Mr. Black and Mr. White and equipped with Jelco tone arms. MU-2 is a J-FET transistor paralleled with a 6922 tube phono preamplifier and MU-4 is an integrated amplifier operating KT-88 in push-pull mode good for some 50wpc.


At every Warsaw shindig, the Szemis Audio Konsultant room is a feast. Wojtek Szemis is not only an enthusiastic causeur, he also is a gifted music lover. Of course there were Kondo amps like the paralleled 300B Kegon and once again Sugden components as Wojtek's brand of choice. The new and affordable A21 Signature integrated linked the still amazing floating Helius Alexia turntable with matching arm and Kondo cartridge to the Black Forest Audio widebanders with Fertin field-coil in a beautifully curved open baffle named Helix To Heaven.


With Wojtek playing a really wide musical selection from Stockhausen to Hoompa, we had a great time here.


Polish speaker house Studio 16Hz build theirs around vested driver manufacturers Scanspeak and SB Acoustics. They demonstrated with Amplifon and Cayin electronics.


Audio Solutions from Lithuania debuted their new Overture monitor with Italian Audia Flight gear.


We came across very pleasant sound in a room sporting Italian Albedo Audio Aptica loudspeakers and British Triology electronics. This was the second time we really enjoyed a speaker with ceramic drivers at this event. [That's exactly why we own a pair of these. They're beautifully styled, compact and far from the typical ceramic-sound proposals - Ed.]


These small Walnut-clad monitors driven by Norma gear weren't from Italy's Sonus faber, Opera or Diapason but Czech brand Xavian whose designer admittedly is of Italian extraction.


Where the previous room was minimalist, Audio Note UK's possibly still topped it. AN-E type D speakers wedged into the two frontal room corners, a table dressed in wrinkly linens sat in the middle with a CD transport, DAC, preamp and Conquerer Silver Signature 300B power amp. The cherry on their pie was the tacky handwritten note pointing at the whopping 7wpc output. And the sound? Typical Audio Note but the German Elrog ER300B added something that was still 300B but with more resolution and less softness - the thoriated tungsten effect perhaps?


Now we went down one floor to meet this still life of an extensive overview of Accuphase products. Just like McIntosh, this company hold on strongly to their signature cosmetics but keep on developing technological improvements to the insides.


JAG Electronics are another Polish brand who, despite a complete catalog of electronics, accessories and loudspeakers, aren't yet well known beyond their own borders.


Acoustic Revive, the Japanese think-different accessories company, hit Poland this year. They teamed with Octave and Accuphase electronics, a Transrotor turntable and Dynaudio Contour loudspeakers. The AR room tuning panels and Schumann resonance emitter must have helped to make the music we heard here very pleasant and transparent.


The next room couldn't have been more different. Here Bryston Audio fronted Larsen's 'against-the-wall' speakers. These use boundary proximity to enhance their radiated sound. Well, the sound was enhanced but not to our liking. There were high SPL and plenty of room boom.