Robert Jorgensen - Some thoughts on Munich High End 2007

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Thales
Talking about vinyl playback, I saw one product that really stood out for me as a unique solution to an old problem. Tracking angle has always been a real conundrum for lovers of vinyl replay. Even the most meticulous set up using protractors only yields two points on an LP where the tracking angle is correct and going to a parallel tracking arm has its own problems.

Along comes a fairly young bloke named Micha Huber from Switzerland who rethinks it all and ends up producing a modern masterpiece of fine technology it seems. Since he took a great deal of inspiration from the ancient Greek Thales of Milete, who it seems was a strong mathematician before Pythagoras, he called the arm Thales, since its function is based on one of his theorems.

In Munich the Thales were shown on the superb “La Grange” turntable from Brinkman. I must admit that it was more than enough to provoke a bit of drooling on my part.

In short, the Thales is a pivoted parallel tracking arm, which might seem impossible when you first try to envision it but when you look at the illustration you might understand it better. It seems like the answer to sooo many problems with sooo many arms over the years. Perhaps it’s time I dug out some LP playback equipment again and had a go at it.

This short report is not the place to go into all the really very clever solutions he has thought up, but here is a picture of the beauty. We certainly hope to have more to say in the future.

Lyngdorf had a live showing of their new combination speaker system consisting of the outright beautiful dipolar DP-1 and the against-the-wall subwoofer BW-1 (as opposed to the well-known corner sub the W210). When I say beautiful I mean products which carry such a high Wife Acceptance Factor (WAF) that audiophiles might almost be invited to put them in the living room.

It still functions according to the idea that you want the woofer to benefit from close proximity to walls and possibly corners in order to get maximum support and efficiency, but at the same time you want middle and high frequencies away from walls and their early reflections in order to retain maximum clarity, air and spaciousness.

The rest of the system consisted of the CD-1 CD player, the DPA-1 which is a 2.2 digital preamplifier with the RoomPerfect system built-in and two SDA 2175 amplifiers, which have analogue inputs.

There were so many unknowns that I couldn’t really make direct comparisons. The sound was mellower than in previous years, but then there were new speakers and a cabin that the Lyngdorf people had built themselves, which did have a much better acoustic environment than in previous years.

The main speakers being dipolar meant that they play into the room in a distinctly different way than conventional speakers. The front and back both radiate but in different phases. The advantage of this is much less radiation to the sides and upwards, which certainly can be beneficial in dealing with early reflections. Many listeners also like the spacious presentation with a deep soundstage created by these speakers, although you can discuss as to whether it is real or a synthetic space. It certainly sounded wonderful. This system played real music in a very convincing way.

      

On the stand were other very interesting products like the long awaited Millennium ADC with which Lyngdorf aims at the top of A/D converting. When you include the optional RIAA correction unit which digitally corrects any number of pre-emphasis curves, not just the established RIAA ones and also contains the ability to correct the response of your cartridge specifically, you can appreciate the ambition level of this exiting piece of electronics.

Lyngdorf also had on show the new RP-1 which is a RoomPerfect black box if you like. You can connect it between your preamp and power amp, connect a microphone, push a button and that’s it. You do not need to fiddle with software or PCs or the like. Actually you can get it to do more if you want like being a cross-over and setting up a 2.2 system with time delay for corner woofers according to Lyngdorf’s usual setup. Notice that his device only comes with analogue in and out, no digital inputs or outputs.
 

       

PMC is a British brand of speakers that I had read about but never actually had the chance to listen to. Well fortunately this situation was changed in Munich. PMC stands for “Professional Monitor Company” and in this case, the ‘professional’ is not just so much hot air. The company started out making speakers, first for the BBC and then for other customers and today they are a top player on the international scene. Not only is a lot of very well known music mastered on these speakers but so is a good deal of the music and soundtracks for many of the large Hollywood Blockbusters of the last years as well. All of this certainly does not necessarily make them high-end speakers.

But what do they stand for? PMC has held on to an increasingly sophisticated transmission line design which today is called ATL or “Advanced Transmission Line.” Even their smallest speakers are supported in the bass by such construction.

Now transmission lines have often had a reputation for producing copious quantities of bass, although sometimes in quantities that might be considered too copious. They sometimes suffer in the impulse response department. Not so with the PMCs. Even the really quite small GB1 floorstander, which manages to pack 2.4 meters of transmission line and the positively tiny DB1+ present a remarkably full fleshed picture.

We had the chance to listen to both stereo and multi-channel formats at the show and later we were invited to see and hear what the big PMC professional monitors can do in their natural habitat. This took place at the MSM Studio in the heart of Munich, which is a mastering studio doing both CD, SACD and DVD mastering. Director Stefan Bock and Mastering Engineer Christoph Stickel gave us not just the guided tour but also a number of very informative presentations and demonstration about what goes into mastering of the material we so eagerly listen to and watch. Let me not forget to say that the quality of the speakers used definitely makes a difference. I am very keen to listen to these impressive speakers in more familiar surroundings.
 

Martin Logan had invited me to visit their private showing of new models and there is great news at the top as well as the bottom of the range. We saw a new prototype of a top model ‘The CLX’, which nobody was allowed to take photos of which will come in at the top end. It will be a two panel on one chassis affair with a dedicated bass panel and a separate midrange/tweeter panel. Standing about six feet tall it is not small but not humongous either and according to what I have heard is perhaps closer to production than we first were led to believe.

The old CLS gave us one of our very fine audiophile memories, although it had a number of practical problems especially a rather limited horizontal dispersion, but what a sound. We expect the CLX to be a worthy heir to the old throne of pure electrostatic super speakers.

More immediate joy could be had from two clever models at the bottom of the Martin Logan range: the Source and the Purity. Both are hybrids with a dynamic bass section and a midrange/tweeter panel in the familiar Martin Logan look. The Source, which I did not get a chance to listen to, is a passive model using a single 8” woofer which will go on sale for $2,000. The Purity on the other hand is a very interesting active model utilizing 2 x 6.5” woofers to great effect. It uses an ICE amp and you can connect both speaker level outputs if you happen to use an integrated amp or receiver or you can go in using line level like say from a preamp or (dare I say) a PC. That makes it a very interesting and high performing speaker for its $3,000 price tag.

We listened to the Purity using quite a large selection of different material and can only say that it was impressive. It seemed really coherent and the bass was strong to say the least, when you take the size of the speaker into consideration. Several times we heard somebody ask which subwoofer was connected. But even though three were present in the room none of them were in use. This is a very exiting product for lovers of the clean sound of an electrostatic speaker and who will appreciate the very reasonable budget it allows. Did we mention that they actually look quite elegant and definitely non-domineering so the WAF should be substantial.

        

EMM is the company started by Ed Meitner and is closely associated, by those who recognize it, with everything DSD. Meitner's depth and his company’s expertise can be seen by the fact that Sony turned to Meitner to develop converting equipment for Sony and Philips. So all in all EMM is mainly associated with professional applications and not without reason, having developed several generations of DSD A/D and D/A conversion equipment and players.

In fact, they are increasingly looking at the high-end playback market as well, a fact which was emphasized by them being present with their own small exhibit in Munich. Andreas Koch who is partner and vice president of EMM was a quiet but very competent conversation partner.

It must be admitted though that it was the playback of music that was the major factor in convincing them that the EMM Labs really have some marvelous equipment on offer and that their reputation is based on solid achievements and not so much hot air.

I listened to stereo SACD and CD on the smallest player the CDSA which upsamples both SACD and PCM CD to DSD at double the sample rate of normal SACD. Together with their other solutions in both the digital and analogue domain the whole came across as very convincing. Older Stokowski on SACD as well as our own CDs were played via Stax 4070 headphones and a Stax 727A headphone amplifier gave us another case of goose bumps. This was really very, very good and I could have stayed much longer since the replay was conveyed with such soul and strength that it left a strong impression. Definitely one of those moments that you cherish when covering shows for 4 days. EMM’s products are not cheap but considering what is available elsewhere you might perhaps call them inexpensive, and I for certain would love to listen to them at length in the future.

As is always the case there are so many impressions and so many things to see and hear. An issue that was very much present and that many exhibitors and visitors alike discussed is how to enthuse a younger generation who is used to Playstations, PCs and most of all compressed audio and iPods. A number of companies from Europe, USA and the Far East are seriously attempting integration of the iPod into the stereo chain. If for nothing else than to show that even crippled lossy format music sounds better when played via a real amplifier and real speakers. It should concern us all, not just those trying to shift some product.

Many exhibitors offered lovely music and beautiful products. Let’s just mention MBL, Isophon, MEL Audio from Italy, the Omicron Group also from Italy, Burmester, “Beauty and the Beat” (JM Labs and Densen Audio from Denmark), KR Audio and Cessaro Horn Acoustics playing lovely music as well as Kharma, and the music playing eggs from U-Vola and so many others.

See you next year in Munich!