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Pushing the Envelope: Loudspeakers from EgglestonWorks, Estelon, and Wilson Benesch

Every High End show seems to bring with it a raft of monstrous new loudspeakers from boutique brands with retail prices comfortably in six-figure territory. Most are tall, heavy, and a bit gaudy to behold, and they nearly always sport off-the-shelf drivers. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. As one unnamed manufacturer mentioned to me today, “You could sell anything to somebody at this show.” I don’t doubt it. But I’d much, much prefer to dedicate my time to loudspeakers that aren’t just drivers in a big ol’ box. For less than €50,000/pair you could own any of the loudspeakers below and be secure in the knowledge that you couldn’t do much better -- if at all.

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High End 2017: Product Coverage Gallery 2

Companies featured in gallery below: Vitus Audio, Crystal Cable, Octave Audio, Dynaudio, D'Agostino Master Audio Systems, Sonus Faber, Amphion, DALI, Monitor Audio, Engström, T+A Elektroakustik, Thorens, Triangle, Musical Fidelity, Gryphon Audio Designs

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High End 2017: Earphones

In Europe, where transportation by train, bus, or plain old feet is more common than in North America, it’s hard to get through the day without a good set of earphones. So I wasn’t surprised to see several new models on display when I began walking the halls of Munich’s High End 2017. As with the headphones, High End showcases a wide range of product, from fairly mass-market stuff to the finest products currently made.

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Scan-Speak's Ellipticor: These Are the Drivers for Many of Next Year’s Speakers

Scan-Speak, based in Denmark, has a prominent nest in the High End, as its Illuminator and Revelator drive-unit families feature prominently in some of the world’s most highly regarded loudspeakers. While many top brands source and design their own cabinets and crossovers, it seems to be more often than not that firms turn to Scan-Speak to meet their driver requirements. It’s significant, then, when the industrious Danes excitedly announced a press event at the Pullman Hotel Munich, not far up the road from the Munich Order Center, where the High End show is hosted, to share the details of their new flagship line of drivers: Ellipticor.

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High End 2017: Headphones, Part 1

When it comes to headphones, Munich’s High End audio show has a few things that are tough to find in North American consumer audio shows. First, it has not only higher-end, enthusiast-type headphones and earphones, but also some more mass-market products. Second, it showcases some products that have either a lower profile in the North American market or that aren’t available at all in North America.

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High End 2017: Product Coverage Gallery 1

Companies featured in gallery below: Einstein, Albedo, Zellaton, EgglestonWorks, dCS, Focal, Ascendo, MSB Technology, Wilson Benesch, Rockport Technologies, Absolare, Voxativ, Estelon, Harbeth

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Montreal Audio Fest 2017: ELAC/Audio Alchemy -- Standout System

I love delivering good news.

When it comes to picking standout sound at an audio show, I rarely get the chance to offer up a system that normal folks can afford. It’s usually some sort of stratospheric system with at least four zeros involved in the price. And that’s reasonable, I suppose. Big speakers make large bass, lots of watts help along the way, and cost-no-object construction generally points in the direction of exceptional sound.

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Montreal Audio Fest 2017: Bryston -- The Fixture

Walk into a Bryston room at any show and you’ll see consistency that’s maintained with corporate attention to detail. The layout is consistently good, the products are always arranged in the same manner, and -- most importantly -- VP James Tanner is sitting in the right-most of three director’s chairs, iPhone in hand and constructing playlists on the fly.

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Montreal Audio Fest 2017: New Products 2

Considering the local, regional nature of the Montreal Audio Fest, it’s a tribute to the show’s reputation that a number of big hitters take the time to augment the smaller distributors and manufacturers. It’s gratifying to sit at the bar in the Hotel Bonaventure, pecking away at my keyboard, and see within my peripheral vision at least three of the big names in audio. While the trend in shows seems to be going toward manufacturer and distributor support for dealer-based rooms, there’s still enough of a large-scale manufacturer presence to lend an air of authority to shows like the Montreal Audio Fest -- so that means a number of new product introductions. (All prices in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.)

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Montreal Audio Fest 2017: New Products 1

The Montreal Audio Fest is three short months after CES, so product debuts here are rather rare. But the Canadian audio scene is quite active, with many local fans and a fair scattering of Quebec- and Ontario-based companies. So it wasn’t surprising that a good number of the new products we could find were from north the border. (All prices in Canadian dollars.)

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Montreal Audio Fest 2017: Plurison -- Doing It Right

A good night’s sleep and I’m a whole bunch less pissy this morning. Late yesterday afternoon, after I launched into a snarky tirade about the Wynn Audio room, I wandered into Plurison’s expansive suite and was gobsmacked by a sleek, Matrix-like succession of small, stylish, otherworldly sections. Plurison is Canada’s largest audio distributor.

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Montreal Audio Fest 2017: Black Car, White Car

After four hours of sleep, a 5 a.m. departure from Toronto, and a five-hour drive in shitty, snowy conditions, I was not in a patient, receptive state of mind. I usually arrive at the Hotel Bonaventure, site of the Montreal Audio Fest (formerly called Salon Son & Image), later on Thursday night and start meandering around the show on Friday morning, fresh after a nice breakfast and an imperial quart of coffee.

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Vivid Audio Giya G1 Spirit Loudspeaker

In my write-up about the unveiling of Sonus Faber’s Homage Tradition lineup of speakers, which took place on February 2 in New York City, I described acoustical engineer Paolo Tezzon and industrial designer Livio Cucuzza as being to speaker design what Mick Jagger and Keith Richards or John Lennon and Paul McCartney are to rock ’n’ roll songwriting. There’s definitely a synergy and timelessness with what the Italian speaker-making duo creates.

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Sonus Faber Homage Tradition Loudspeakers

When it comes to luxury products -- clothing, cars, furniture, you name it -- the Italians have a sense of style that is unmatched worldwide. Some will consider this a generalization, of course, but if you’ve ever been to Italy, or even seen an Italian film, you’ll know that there’s a uniqueness about them and what they make that helps to define their culture. As a result, it’s not surprising that when the Italian speaker maker Sonus Faber presents new hi-fi products, it has a knack for doing it in ways that leave the rest of the hi-fi world in the dust. The company is based in Vicenza, about an hour or so by car from Venice.

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CES 2017 SnapShots!

A random selection of photos from CES 2017. All but one of the photos were taken by Doug Schneider.

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CES 2017: Mass-Market Headphones (and More), Part 2

As I write this, CES 2017 has wrapped up just one hour ago, so I’ll be using this article to cover everything I didn’t get a chance to fit into my other CES 2017 headphone reports. Some of what I’m featuring here isn’t especially “mass market,” but it’s all still worthy of attention, and some of the products are far more technically interesting than your average headphone. All prices in USD.

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2016 Products of the Year Awards Presentations

The 2016 Products of the Year award winners were selected from among products reviewed that calendar year in SoundStage! Hi-Fi, SoundStage! Ultra, SoundStage! Xperience, and SoundStage! Access. Only the products that received Reviewers’ Choice awards at review time qualified for selection. On January 1, 2017, Doug Schneider and Jeff Fritz wrote feature articles announcing the 2016 winners on SoundStage! Hi-Fi and SoundStage! Ultra.

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Can You Still Build an Entry-Level System for Under $1000 at CES?

If you’re an audiophile on a budget reading our show coverage and becoming frustrated by the lack of affordable gear, it may be a function of the fact that there were fewer specialty audio manufacturers at this year’s CES. And as with everything, the prices of audio gear are going up. But if you’re shopping for a truly budget-friendly audio system, there’s still hope -- Emotiva introduced a slew of very affordable products at this year’s CES, including all-new electronics and speakers that you might consider.

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CES 2017: Product Coverage Gallery 3

Companies featured in gallery below: Arcam, Chord, Genesis Advanced Technologies, Rockport Technologies, Naim Audio, Avantgarde Acoustic, Bel Canto Design, Furutech, Zanden Audio Systems, Keith Monks, YG Acoustics, VTL, Roksan, Wilson Benesch

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CES 2017: The Venue Matters -- and Vegas Sucks

OK, this is CES-related, but it could just as easily be my next monthly “Opinion” on SoundStage! Ultra. I feel the need, however, to expand upon the article I wrote yesterday: “The Graveyard That Was CES 2017.”

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