Munich's High End 2005 proved another exciting exhibition that featured the best of the best from all over the globe. When you're 6' 3" and traveling on cross-Atlantic  8-hour flight in such cramped quarters as coach, you better be going someplace well worth the travel. And Munich Germany was certainly that. This year co-conspirator Key Kim and I decided to stay downtown Munich rooming at the Anna Hotel. What a difference that made compared to the more northern suburban quarters  I booked last year much closer to the Show. I got the rare opportunity to see the hustle and bustle that occurs in Munich and came away liking it quite a bit. 

There was much to look forward to as this years show returned back to the M.O.C, a huge virtually all-glass building equivalent to the Jacob Javits here in New York or any large convention center. Though it was nicely spaced, with accommodating seating  located throughout, when the crowds arrived. My hunch is more than three-thousand show goers arrived on Thursday and Friday. Many more arrived on Saturday and few on Sunday.

The demo rooms on the 2nd and 3rd atriums were all but splendidly put together but were no match for mob of audiophiles. Strictly in terms of size, these have to be the best rooms going, even when compared to CES. Some show attendees complained the building wasn't cozy as the Frankfurt Showrooms where all but two of these shows were held but readily admitted this new site brings forth a new sense of life to this huge event.

Unfortunately, every show has its casualties and this year was no exception.  The newer rooms on the main exhibit floor suffered from makeshift 10' by 10' box-like enclosures that attempted to serve as listening rooms. I won't say it was disappointing for everyone there because amazingly some rooms sounded delightful. Others did not. It was obvious to see that most large speakers didn't make it in these small and hollow sounding demo rooms. Sadly, one of this year's setups included electronics that got my Best at Show last year. 

That room was...Behold!

Don't get me wrong, the sound was not horrible but it wasn't nearly the mouthwatering setup heard the year before in a much bigger and better room. This room was hardly ready for the caliber of electronics it served. And believe me, I  had this room penned as am must see since they were pairing up for the first time with the folks from Ascendo...

Lo and Behold, here was some of the best sounding electronics these ears have heard strapped to a pair of my favorite loudspeakers in the Ascendo System M. Again, the sound wasn't as nearly as disappointing as the room was. You could hear the room literally breathing as music played. The walls were mere boards nailed together. All I got from this room was potential and heartache.

Well, things became increasingly more upbeat as Acoustic Systems designer Franck Tchang stepped into the room with his briefcase of miracle whip. His arsenal of Acoustic Resonators did the trick in such a dramatic and mind-boggling fashion that Ralf Ballman, the genius designer behind Behold had to do second, third and triple-takes. Ballman, and his entire crew could not believe the demonstration that Tchang put on demonstrating back and forth how easy (for him at least) it is to manipulate the sonic signature of virtually any room.  Upon tweaking the room to its limits, we all sat, listened and were very surprised by the noticeable improvements. Especially to the overall harmonics and bass articulation. Needless to say, Ballman met a new friend in Tchang at this years show.

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Another loudspeaker with great potential that was obviously too big for these makeshift rooms was the ATE Transar loudspeaker. All I found was folks boasting super dynamic SPLs while the room began flexing from all the low-end drivers moving in and out. There was one point in the demo that I thought either the room was going to collapse or nails were going to start flying. Congrats to you Transar designers for creating a slew of woofers that can actually move that much air. But I'm certain they didn't want the room to move along with it.

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