{"id":1620,"date":"2012-02-13T18:42:45","date_gmt":"2012-02-13T18:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.audioexcite.com\/?page_id=1620"},"modified":"2016-02-27T13:32:35","modified_gmt":"2016-02-27T13:32:35","slug":"highend-stockholm-2012","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.audioexcite.com\/?page_id=1620","title":{"rendered":"HighEnd Stockholm 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

I thought I should share some photos and feedback on the HighEnd M\u00e4ssan Stockholm 2012<\/a> Hifi show that took place at the Sheraton hotel in Stockholm 11-12th of February 2012.<\/p>\n

This is a reoccurring event that always gathers some interesting designers, distributors and people from many well-known HigEnd manufacturers and Hifi shops.<\/p>\n

As always it\u2019s hard to cover it all and I tried to focus mainly on the loudspeakers, still it was very hard to get enough time to seriously evaluate the different loudspeaker designs in this crowded show.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very hard to do a fair sound judgment of the designs and equipment with the conditions offered at a Hifi show, but I think it at least gives a hint of the performance capabilities of the different designs.<\/p>\n

Some exhibitors complain about non optimal room conditions and sure some had to large or small rooms for their designs, but I think most of them did have conditions that isn\u2019t much different from many peoples own listening rooms.<\/p>\n

Almost every exhibitor demoed with a computer as a source player. I\u2019m a great fan of computer audio and I\u2019ve used it for years, but sadly there where a lot of exhibitors that hadn\u2019t a clue about how to get the best sound out of a computer. In my opinion, if done right, there is no better sounding and\/or practical way to play music in your Hifi system.<\/p>\n

I was very happy to see that some new Swedish designers where represented in this year\u2019s show and several of them had interesting and nice sounding designs.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve divided the show report into several parts.<\/p>\n

Part One:<\/span><\/h3>\n

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Runt Ljud AB<\/a> had a display of some of their products including the new Classico loudspeaker series from Anthony Gallo Acoustics<\/a><\/p>\n

Unfortunately none of the loudspeakers where connected and I have no idea of how they sound. I think the design and finish looked very plastic and cheap.<\/p>\n

I wonder how these tweeter measures!<\/p>\n

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Runt Ljud AB<\/a> also displayed the upcoming room correction system from the Finnish company DSPeaker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Anti-Mode 2.0 Dual Core seems to be a very interesting product. In my current DEQX<\/a>system I have the room correction features, but if I use any of my two other HiFi equipment systems, I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

This is a product that most likely will find a home at my place in the future. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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This was a nice sounding setup from Focal<\/a> and dcS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Focal Diablo Utopia had a deep tight bass with a high resolution mid-range, but a bit edgy tweeter top-end. I\u2019ve heard this setup sound better before and the reason could be the choice of source material.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s always nice to see SEAS drivers in use. \ud83d\ude42 In this case in the Finnish loudspeaker company Amphion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry to say, but I haven\u2019t yet heard an Amphion loudspeaker setup that fully convinced me. I often think
\nthey sound to forward and bright for my taste. I only listened to the floor-stander.<\/p>\n

The waveguide technique is an interesting design choice that has a lot of potential, but I would prefer a less bright tuning option.<\/p>\n

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The Audiovector<\/a> sounded okay using ARCAM<\/a> equipment. It had a nice bass, but with a bit harsh top-end.<\/p>\n

I wonder how this tweeter measures considering the potential diffraction issues with the tweeters mounting placement!<\/p>\n

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I cannot say that I was overwhelmed by the sound of the Magico Q3<\/a> floor-stander, but they played in a very large room and I only heard classical music on them.<\/p>\n

The new Magico Q1 stand-mount loudspeaker where only on display, but I would really like to have a chance to listen to them.<\/p>\n

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The Finnish loudspeaker company Aurelia Loudspeakers<\/a>. I\u2019m sorry to say, but the Aurelia Ambera floor-stander sounded harsh, compressed and forward in this setup. I think it has potential to sound a lot better in a different setup and with other source material.<\/p>\n

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The German loudspeaker company Canton Loudspeakers<\/a>. The new Canton Vento 890.2 DC floor-stander sounded quite good, unfortunately the stand-mount where only on display.<\/p>\n

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The Swedish loudspeaker company Marten Loudspeakers<\/a>. Marten showed the new Marten Django 3-way floor-stander. It sounded quite good, but with surprisingly light bass considering the three 8\u201d woofers and its physical size.<\/p>\n

A close-up of the ceramic tweeter and mid-range from Accuton<\/a><\/p>\n

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Part Two<\/span><\/h3>\n

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The Swedish loudspeaker company XTZ<\/a>. XTZ build both electronics and a broad series of loudspeakers models to very affordable prices.<\/p>\n

Down-left: The top of the line Divine 100.49 3-way floor-stander, using high quality driver units from SEAS, Accuton and Visaton. This loudspeaker sounds very good and is a true bargain for 6500$.<\/p>\n

Down-right: the new loudspeaker series using what appears to be Fountek<\/a> ribbon tweeters.<\/p>\n

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The German loudspeaker company MBL<\/a>. The Radialstrahler MBL 101 X-treme where used in a multi-channel setup and with the smaller MBL 101 E MKII being used as rear-channel.<\/p>\n

This setup was in my opinion the best sounding setup at the show. The experience was simply overwhelming. It was an unusual sound experience as it didn\u2019t sound like a loudspeaker, it simply produced the most realistic sound stage I\u2019ve ever heard.<\/p>\n

Note the enclosure stack in the back-ground which were used as sub-woofers.<\/p>\n

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Left: The Klipsch RF-7 II<\/a>. The nicest thing I can say about these loudspeakers is that they can play bass.<\/p>\n

Right: The Harbeth<\/a> loudspeakers sounded nice and very musical, but the design is boring and feels out-dated.<\/p>\n

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The new Swedish loudspeaker company Decisive Audio<\/a>. Decisive Audio demoed their Indra 41 2.5-way floor-stander and their Nala 11 stand-mount.<\/p>\n

The Indra 41 uses four 8\u201d alu woofers together with an 8\u201d waveguide or considering its depth, more like a horn. The woofers are tuned to a low 20Hz and the claimed 17-20000Hz doesn\u2019t seem exaggerated.<\/p>\n

The cross-over at 2kHz is pretty high considering the size off the woofers, but according to the designer that\u2019s intentional. The have constructed the loudspeaker with a controlled directivity in mind and they want the 2-4kHz frequency region to be to some degree reduced at the off-axis frequencies. Therefor the loudspeaker is meant to be toed-in towards the listener.<\/p>\n

The Nala 11 uses a 5.25\u201d mid-woofer together with a waveguide tweeter crossed-over at 4kHz. Again, the designer has built this loudspeaker with the same idea of controlled directivity.<\/p>\n

The Indra 41 can be played very loud without feeling stressed. This is a perfect party loudspeaker while at the same time sounding very good with a clear HiFi ambition. In fact this was one of the best waveguide implementations at the show and that\u2019s not bad considering the competition, e.g. Amphion.<\/p>\n

Both loudspeakers are hand build at customer order and are available in several finishes, like the Nextel painted in the pictures.<\/p>\n

Nice job for a new loudspeaker company!<\/p>\n

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A quick listening session at the new KEF<\/a> R500 3-way floor-stander gave a positive impression even though the distributor claimed that the loudspeakers shown where brand new and not burned-in.<\/p>\n

Here the latest generation of the \u201cUni-Q\u201d co-axial driver derived from the \u201cBlade Flagship\u201d loudspeaker, is used.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve used a lot of SEAS co-axials in the past, but the KEF drivers is clearly leading the technology development for co-axials.<\/p>\n

A brief listening test wanted more!<\/p>\n

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The GamuT<\/a> M’inenT M5 sounded ok, but the Phi3 stand-mounts sounded surprisingly compressed, raw and with low resolution in this setup.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a big fan of ScanSpeak drivers, but considering the quality of the driver units used in both this loudspeaker series, I was a bit disappointed. It could be that the loudspeakers weren\u2019t burned-in properly and perhaps not played with suitable electronics, but a gut feeling told me that something in the design wasn\u2019t right here.<\/p>\n

A HiFi show isn\u2019t the right place to judge a loudspeaker to hard and I will have to get a new listening test before ruling them out as a poor design.<\/p>\n

However, the loudspeakers had a very nice finish!<\/p>\n

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Yet another HighEnd loudspeaker using the expensive Accuton<\/a> driver units.<\/p>\n

This time the German loudspeaker Artos Audio<\/a> Sunrise 2.5-way floor-stander. A quick look and listening test didn\u2019t only reveale a great looking speaker, but also a nice sounding one.<\/p>\n

Someday I will build something around these Accuton drivers!<\/p>\n

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Yet another Swedish manufacturer of electronics and loudspeakers GDis<\/a>. Here showing a loudspeaker prototype. Note the simple cross-over parts for the high frequency driver.<\/p>\n

I very much liked the GDis LSP-1<\/a> loudspeaker at the last years HighEnd show, but this new prototype wasn\u2019t my kind of speaker.<\/p>\n

It was very forward and funnel sounding.<\/p>\n

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The NOLA Micro Grand Reference Series II\u00a0 <\/a> 3.5-way stand-mount loudspeaker using SEAS Excel woofers, Raven ribbon tweeter and to me an unknown midrange in an open-baffle design.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve used a similar SEAS woofer in my \u201cExcellence Two \u2013 Mini Monitor\u201d design and it\u2019s an incredible sounding little woofer and can fill a room with surprisingly tight and powerful bass.<\/p>\n

The NOLA Micro Grand Reference Series II is no exception and it sound great from the bottom to the top.<\/p>\n

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Part Three<\/span><\/h3>\n

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Left: Another Finnish manufacturer of loudspeakers PENAUDIO<\/a>. Unfortunately I didn\u2019t have the chance to listen to this Sara S 2.5-way floor-stander. The SEAS Excel W16NX woofers are very interesting and I might in the future do a design with them.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very skeptical of the designers chosen cross-over frequency of 4500Hz. If it\u2019s true the drivers cone break-up at around 5kHz, can\u2019t be enough suppressed.<\/p>\n

Right: Rockport<\/a> floor-stander. As I recall, these sounded good.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m not a big fan of \u201cfull-range\u201d horn loudspeakers, but these two actually sounded quite good for its genre.<\/p>\n

Left: The EARO EIGHT<\/a> is an active DSP powered loudspeaker.<\/p>\n

Right: The VOXATIV Ampeggio<\/a> is a back-loaded horn powered with a Voxativ neodymium full-range driver (AC-3X).<\/p>\n

Both loudspeakers are in my opinion ridiculously priced.<\/p>\n

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Left: The Bremen HD3D-12<\/a> here shown without front-grill is another great sounding Swedish loudspeaker constructed by the legendary HiFi Guru Peter Steindel.<\/p>\n

Right: Always nice to see a well-built loudspeaker using SEAS drivers.<\/p>\n

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Another interesting Swedish loudspeaker concept, the Wavelit Direkt<\/a>. The Wavelit Direkt is an active loudspeaker with a cross-over at 1100Hz and is using the Dirac Live<\/a> room correction.<\/p>\n

The tweeter horn seems to be the expensive Beyma TPL-150H<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Left: The T+A SOLITAIRE CWT 2000<\/a> large floor-stander. It looked very impressive, but unfortunately in my opinion didn\u2019t sound equally impressive.<\/p>\n

Right: The TAD<\/a> loudspeakers sounded fantastic. The new smaller 3-way floor-stander Evolution One was almost as good as the Reference One.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The End:<\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’ve only covered a fraction of the show here, but the quality of the show was high and offered many new interesting designs and concepts and I was glad to see so many Swedish high quality designs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I thought I should share some photos and feedback on the HighEnd M\u00e4ssan Stockholm 2012 Hifi show that took place at the Sheraton hotel in Stockholm 11-12th of February 2012. This is a reoccurring event that always gathers some interesting designers, distributors and people from many well-known HigEnd manufacturers and Hifi shops. As always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1620","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audioexcite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audioexcite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audioexcite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audioexcite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audioexcite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1620"}],"version-history":[{"count":52,"href":"https:\/\/www.audioexcite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5633,"href":"https:\/\/www.audioexcite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1620\/revisions\/5633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audioexcite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}