Absolute Phase visit to High End Audio MOC 2019 Munich

[Absolute Phase]

Visited one of the best shows on High End Audio at MOC Munich .

At the Air Tight Room: 1; With the ATM-5 Pre & ATM-300R (one the best Amps I have ever heard so far) Only 8w + 8w with a 300B tube. The speakers were Wold Von Langa.



A close up of the system.


The new ATM-2PLUS a 80W Tube amp for Air Tight, Replaces the ATM-2.



The new ATM-2211 Single ended Tube mono block power amps, it replaces the ATM-211. This is a 32W SET mono block.


At Air Tight Room 2: which has the big WVL speakers, The ATM-3211, 2211, ATC-5 and the reference phono stage


A close up of the system on the main rack with the Arm-2211s below:


With the Big Wolf Von Langa Speakers at the back.


With Jack Miura-San of Air Tight Japan.

 

[Absolute Phase]

With Jonathan Monks the son of Keith Monks who invented the original Keith Monks Record Cleaner

The new Keith Monks Bamboo Record Cleaner approx 795 Pounds in the UK.


Jonathan Monks and me



With Micheal of Metronome.


An honor of meeting Prof A.J. Van Den Hullabaloos, have been doing VDH since 1990.



An entire new line up from Diapason.

oh wow! BTW, Diapason Adamantes V remind me of our @tcpip's creations.

Their new carved speaker which is on the extreme left is 12,000 Euros. This brand is not cheap.

 

[arunkvivek]

oh wow! BTW, Diapason Adamantes V remind me of our @tcpip's creations.

 

[Absolute Phase]

In the Harbeth Room: the Harbeth M40.2 40th Anniversary Loudspeakers are driven by a Magnum Dynalab Int Amp. The most natural sounding system in the whole show. No wonder they are sought after so much. You just wonder how Alan Shaw does this magic.




With the genius Alan Shaw the designer and owner of Harbeth Audio Ltd.





With DS-Audio's Aki- San




ION-001 Vinyl Ionizer for DS-Audio: Tentative price will be $1500-2200/-approx.



The DS-E1
“The game changer”
I think it could be the sixth biggest game-changer in cartridges in three decades. The other five? its older siblings.
HiFi News 2019, Ken Kessler




DS-Audio's DS Master 1 Reference Cartridge in one of the other rooms.

 

[arunkvivek]

Their new carved speaker which is on the extreme left is 12,000 Euros. This brand is not cheap.

It is scary to look think about the price. The beefy baffles, chiseled edges and tone of speaker colors are a bit similar to Darbari

 

[Absolute Phase]

More from MOC 2019:








The New Teac range on demo.


At the Esoteric Room.


The Gobel Room: One of the best sounding rooms. The Dynamics on western classical was staggering, true full bodied and staggering yet not harsh or bright. I really liked this room.




At the AVID room with Conrad Mas (Owner and designer of AVID HIFI)






AVID Launches a new range of Loudspeakers called the EVO series, below is the EVO 4 bookshelf loudspeakers. Fantastic build quality and design, On a HIFI Racks Speaker stands (Extra) Above is the other models of EVO range.










AVID's Acutus Dark and the Ingenium Plug & Play were the main turntables (Imported and distributed by Absolute Phase in India)






A teeny weeny bit of fine tuning. Sadly too much glass around.

 

[Nikhil]

Prithvi,

Thanks for sharing some great pictures of the show.
Do you go to Munich regularly?

Regards


.

 

[Mahi]

In the Harbeth Room: the Harbeth M40.2 40th Anniversary Loudspeakers are driven by a Magnum Dynalab Int Amp. The most natural sounding system in the whole show. No wonder they are sought after so much. You just wonder how Alan Shaw does this magic.

View attachment 35827


With the genius Alan Shaw the designer and owner of Harbeth Audio Ltd.

View attachment 35828

View attachment 35829

With DS-Audio's Aki- San

View attachment 35830


ION-001 Vinyl Ionizer for DS-Audio: Tentative price will be $1500-2200/-approx.
View attachment 35831


The DS-E1
“The game changer”
I think it could be the sixth biggest game-changer in cartridges in three decades. The other five? its older siblings.
HiFi News 2019, Ken Kessler

View attachment 35832


DS-Audio's DS Master 1 Reference Cartridge in one of the other rooms.
View attachment 35833

Thanks for sharing your visiting photos, nice photos, very nice

 

[tcpip]

It is scary to look think about the price. The beefy baffles, chiseled edges and tone of speaker colors are a bit similar to Darbari

Thanks for the flattering comparison. However, the world of DIY audio designers and commercial audiophiles will never be comparable -- they're like apples and oranges. The DIY world focuses more on the pleasuring of designing/building, and on the technical quality of what is built. The world of the commercial audiophile places more weightage on subjective reputation (like Stereophile reviews), brand recognition, etc.

One small example comes to mind. In the world of Marantz stereo amps, the PM600x, PM700x PM800x, are all from their "normal" range, and their reference series has the PM-10 and PM-KI-Ruby integrated amps. The "normal" range PM8006 is not cheap, about USD 1,200 abroad or Rs.1.5 lakh in India. The PM-Ki-Ruby is about USD 4,000 list price.

However, even the PM800x series has only one OPS transistor pair per channel. (Each channel has one NPN transistor and one PNP in its output stage.) You have to go to their USD 4,000 Reference series amps to get two parallel OPS device pairs per channel. (Two NPN and two PNP transistors per channel.) It's been well documented that adding a second pair of OPS devices makes the amp far more capable of handling difficult speaker loads. It reduces distortion measurably, and gives a more even, consistent sound on all kinds of speakers. Doug Self has documented and demonstrated this in his books. John Curl takes this to another extreme in his signature amp designs done for Parasound, and adds upto six OPS device pairs per channel. Bob Cordell also talks about the advantage of using more OPS transistor pairs per channel in his book. All these guys are great amp designers, and they all agree that this is a good idea. Yet, you get only one measly OPS device pair even in a one-and-a-half-lakh Marantz PM8005 amp. Adding a second pair of OPS devices would not have increased the costs by any measurable amount. The DIY amp designer will look for two pairs of OPS devices in all but entry-level amps.

This, in my mind, is a good example of how these two worlds will never meet. The DIY world, which is a subset of the engineering world, will look for one set of benchmarks about what is "good", and the commercial audio world, which caters to the subjective audiophile will use a completely different set of benchmarks.

Sorry about this long-winded post, but I just felt I had to say this. However good the Darbari is to people like me, it will be of no value in the world of audiophiles who buy $900 RCA interconnects and ultra-expensive commercial audio gear. I've heard commercial speakers costing upto $40,000 a pair, and I've liked the Darbari's sound more. And I want to sell the Darbari system for Rs2.5 lakhs to anyone, but no one will buy it. Outlaw Audio amps are commercially made, incredible value for money and very well engineered, but no subjective audiophile will buy them because they are not a Big Brand. There's an unbridgeable chasm there.

(I'm not saying all ultra-expensive commercial gear is over-priced. High end Avalon speakers are superb. The Steinway-Lyngdorf OB line arrays are incredibly good too. So are the leading electrostatic speakers. And so on...)

 

[Absolute Phase]

Prithvi,

Thanks for sharing some great pictures of the show.
Do you go to Munich regularly?

Regards

Nikhil, hardly, this was my first time.

Some more pictures from MOC 2019.

DeVore Fidelity Orangutan Reference reference loudspeakers priced at US$ 90,000/- a pair. The Sub towers are active with a Class D 700 Watt amp.


With John DeVore, proud to represent them in India. DeVore Fidelity is imported & distributed by Absolute Phase in India. Cant wait for my first shipment to arrive.


With Geoff (President) of Tellurium cables they were using the statement cables (above 20,000 pounds ) with the Orangutan Reference speakers.


With Stefanno and his father, the founder and designers of Audio Analogue (Imported & Distributed by Absolute Phase in India)


The Audio Analogue AAcento, Puccini Anniversary with the top covers open for the fantastic Italian build quality and neatness shown.


The new phono stage and DAC from Audio Analogue.


The innards of the Maestro Anniversary and the Bellini Anniversary Pre on the right.


The Audio Analogue Donizetti Power Amp.


The new PrimaLuna Evolution range of brand new tube amps were with much better build and looks too. (PrimaLuna is imported & distributed by Absolute Phase in India)



In the middle is the latest Tube DAC from PrimaLuna.




With Jochem of PrimaLuna.



Some amazing and new isolation devices from Iso Acoustics.



With one the legend's of Audio, Ole Lund Christensen Designer of Jern Loudspeakers


With Bradley, Julie & Jade of HI-FI Racks Ltd (Hi Fi Racks is imported & distributed by Absolute Phase in India)


With President of Pass Labs Mr. Desmond Harrington at MOC 2019. The new launch at the show was the new INT-25 Pure Class Int Amp which is right on the top of the rack. Coming soon to Absolute Phase. (Pass Labs is imported and distributed by Absolute Phase in India)


From the top, the new Pass Labs INT-25, XP-12, XA-25 & the INT-60

With Scot of Martin Logan (know him since I knew Gayle Sanders) and Desmond Harrington of Pass Labs.


The most expensive Martin Logan Neolith (about 90,000 USD) driven by the Pass Labs X600.8 mono block SS amps was wonderful to hear with the slam of SS and the warmth of the Tubes. Thats the nature of the Pass Labs.


The front end was VPI TT and reference Pass Labs XP30 three chassis pre amp and EMM digital front end/


The SPEC mono block with separate power supplies.


Met Cas of BlueSound at the Nessie both.



With President of Draabe Audio Mr. Uwe Draabe, makers of Nessie & Hannl Reference Record Cleaning machines (Draabe Audio's Nessie and Hannl are imported and distributed by Absolute Phase in India)


One of the worlds best RCM: the Hannl Mera Professional coming soon to Absolute phase.


The Nessie Vinyl Master was also on demo at MOC, On demo at Absolute Phase.


Meeting an old friend Michael Fremer, a vinyl legend.


With Edna of Stromtank, the worlds best battery power supply for audio systems. Yes you need to raid a bank to own one. Not only will the price kill you but the weight for sure will! Now to raid a bank.




The cheapest one for sources only is the S-1000


With the founders of STS-Digital the worlds best recordings on R2R, LP & CD, Fritz & Netty (STS-Digital is imported and distributed by Absolute Phase in India)


Some speakers made out Onyx and Italian marble. Was on static demo so do not know how they sound. Good for the Hyderabad boys who love marble.


More of them.




The Harbeth room was always full.


With Eva of Ton Trager (Racks and Stands) (Ton Trager is imported and distributed by Absolute Phase in India)


A amazing sounding system, really liked this room. The TT was a WAND from NZ made by Simon, Electronics was VTL and the speakers were Gersman Acoustics. Very detailed and natural.

Brand new Reel Tapes and many Reel to Reel players were in many rooms at MOC, shocking to see a big resurgence of R2R, sadly the tape costs for one album will kill you at $500 plus duty and shipping. The R2R players were too expensive. A new one launched by Thorens is 12,000 Euros and Ballfinger retails the latest generation one at 40,000 Euros retail in EU.


With Srajan of 6 Moons, a wonderful person!


Finishing off with Edgar & I see the wonderful sights in Munich!


Finally guys that the end of the coverage till next year.

 

[square_wave]

Lovely choices and coverage Prithvi. Looks like most of the big bad boys of the audio world are at Munich ! Looking forward to listening to a Devore fidelity speaker side by side with a harbeth one day at your place.

Also, good to see Edgar after a long time

 

[arj]

Nice snaps Prithvi. its great you put the names of people and equipment !

 

[ravikumar-rotel]

WOW!!!

 

[vinothkumar]

Thanks for sharing your visit Prithvi, truly high-end products they are.

 

[argentum246]

Hey Prithvi..thanks for all the pics. We in india never knew so many high end companies and their buyers/fans exists. Truely amazing to see the top of the class lineup and their makers. Keep posting.

 

[Absolute Phase]

Nice snaps Prithvi. its great you put the names of people and equipment !

Thanks Arjun