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Loudspeakers – A Baker’s Dozen from Munich High End 2016

Loudspeakers – A Baker’s Dozen from Munich High End 2016

Although this year’s ‘theme’ appeared to be cost-no-object turntables, there is always a strong loudspeaker presence at Munich. This year was no exception. A walk along any of the halls, corridors, or atria returned countless new products in all categories, and we could easily turn this into a list of the 100 most important new loudspeakers and only scratch the surface, but that would exhaust even the most resolute reader.

So, instead we chose a Baker’s Dozen of the best new loudspeakers at the show. We tried not to be specific in price terms – good is good, no matter the price – but Munich does tend to have its own distinct price floor, and products that fall below that level just tend not to be on display. Nevertheless, when it comes to good loudspeakers costing from the low thousands to the cost of a small island, Munich High-End is the place to be!

Avantgarde Acoustics new Uno loudspeaker

Avantgarde Acoustics Uno has long been the popular staring place for fans of the brand, but it was looking a bit long in the tooth. The new Uno XD series from Avantgarde retains the super efficient horn midrange and tweeter with a 500W active bass system and subtle digital filtering. The range starts at €21,900 per pair

Bowers & Wilkins flagship 800 D3 loudspeaker

Bowers & Wilkins – now owned by a US tech start-up – showed the impressive new £22,500 800 D3 flagship floorstanders. Looking very similar to the 803 D3 on a larger scale, this is a departure from older 800 models, but in listening tests arranged in the centre of Munich, the 800 D3 sounded extremely impressive

Burmester's 'dazzling' Concept 500 loudspeaker

As ever with Burmester, the clue is in the name; the Concept 500 began life as the loudspeaker equivalent of a concept car and weighs 500kg per side. However, it will become a production model soon, and not in ‘dazzle pattern’ camouflage. The loudspeaker is photographed in its standard guise; in party mode, the side panels swing out and both bass drivers are used per side. This wasn’t demonstrated too often because people were complaining that it was a bit loud and the bass was shaking walls… in Stuttgart!

 

Dynaudio Contour 20 loudspeaker

Dynaudio revised its ever-popular Contour range with a new standmounts (the 20) and two floorstanders (the smaller 30 and larger 60), as well as a 25C centre speaker. These are root-and-branch, deceptively high-technology designs are the result of Dynaudio’s expansive new R&D facility, which has been quietly collecting the Premier League of loudspeaker engineers. The baby of the Contour range – the €4,500 20 sang sweetly in a large room, running through NAD M-Series electronics.

ELAC Concentro

ELAC’s €60,000 Concentro loudspeakers were causing a bit of a stir. The distinctive cabinet featured side-firing 250mm woofers, with a front-firing 177mm woofer coupled to a dual concentric 127mm midrange with AMT tweeter at its acoustic centre.

Focal Sopra No 3 loudspeaker

Launched last year as a two-speaker range, Focal has added a new larger three-way, four driver, bass-reflex €18,000 No. 3 floorstander (as well as centre, surround, and subwoofer) to the Sopra line. This highlights the commercial success of the Sopra models, and with a 60% larger bass section with two 210mm woofer units, the No. 3 should continue that trend. 


Magico S5 mk II loudspeaker

Magico debuted its outstanding new $38,000 per pair S5 mk II floorstanding loudspeaker at Munich, complete with graphene mid and bass drivers and a diamond-coated beryllium dome. All of the S-series is benefitting from the developments made in the company’s top designs (including the M-Project loudspeaker playing in the Soulution room), a fine example of ‘trickle-down’ technology.

 

Marten Mingus Quartet loudspeakers

Marten’s new product for 2016 is the €45,000 Mingus Quintet, which also draws from technology first seen in the company’s award winning Coltrane Reference 2 flagship. For a company that makes products almost 10x as much as this new three-way bass reflex design with Accuton’s ‘cell’ speakers, Marten is extraordinarily proud of this new loudspeaker… for good reason, judging by the sound.

PMC twenty5 loudspeakers

PMC celebrated its 25th birthday with its five-strong twenty5 speaker line, all featuring state of the art air-flow modelling. Prices start from £1,870 for the twenty5.21. These do not replace the popular twenty line, as they cost approximately 25% more per model. The two designs share almost nothing apart from some screws and the back-swept cabinet shape.

Raidho D-4.1 loudspeakers

Raidho’s new D-4.1 slimline tower loudspeaker might cost €100,000, but is still dwarfed by the company’s flagship. The new tower sounded great however, and features an innovative multi-way rear port designed to drastically improve air flow. The whole system was driven by Aavik electronics.

, Loudspeakers – A Baker’s Dozen from Munich High End 2016

The new Sonus Faber Lilium loudspeaker partnered with the first European outing of the D’Agostino Progression monoblocks caused a stir with the Munich audience, especially in its rich cream and contrasting piano veneer livery. Images can’t do this colour justice – in the flesh, it looks even better!

Living Voice Vox Palladian loudspeaker with prototype Vox Basso subwoofer

Living Voice’s new Vox Palladian feature a less ornate build and chemically patinated bronze, shaving more than a third off the Vox Olympian it’s based upon. That still means £210,000, of course! But partnered with the prototype Vox Basso sub, this remains an awesome loudspeaker system.

Zellaton Statement loudspeaker

Zellaton showed its ultimate loudspeaker, the €299,950 Statement. The three-way, four-ohm, five-driver loudspeaker weighs in at 350kg, with Schnerzinger treatment built into the actual design.

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