Munich, Music, and More

Munich 

Hey hey guys, it's a big week for high end audio. The Munich High End show is back for the first time in two years! I'm really excited to attend the show this year. Seeing and hearing all the great products and music is one thing, but seeing friends who share a passion for this stuff is even better. 

The Munich show is where I usually get my fix of great horn speakers, electrostatic speakers, and other items that I don't have in my system. We can't have everything at home, but we can hear almost everything in Munich. I also enjoy hearing new music at the show. Hopefully this year there will be a backlog of music I haven't heard yet. 

I also have plans to visit Stefan Bock at his MSM Studio in Munich. Stefan is a pioneer in immersive audio and Pure Audio Blu-ray Discs that enable simple playback of high resolution audio from physical media. I can't wait to see what he has in store. 

I have meetings scheduled with other manufactures and developers of products many members of the Audiophile Style community use every day. Please let me know if you want me to pass along any questions, concerns, thanks, or whatever you have on your mind. 

One additional note, after the Munich show, I'm traveling to Vienna to meet with someone who couldn't be more opposite than me, when it comes to music playback. I am 100% digital, have never owned a turntable, and believe the best sound possible is from digital. The person I'm going to meet is 100% analog, and responsible for some amazing analog audio creations, in addition to analog photography. I can't wait to share more.

Music

I recently stumbled into a series of articles in the NYTimes that is genius. The premise is getting people to love a specific style of music, or instrument, or composer, with five minutes of music to sample. I also look at this series to also get people interested in items such as classical music, not just love the stuff. For example, I think I might be interested in Renaissance music, but I have no idea where to start. This series really nails it for people who want to get their feet wet. 

The most recent article is called, 5 Minutes That Will Make You Love the Horn. Not only the article good, with clips to listen to, but the comment section is also really good. People suggesting other artists or pieces of music is commonplace in the comments. 

It's a bummer that the Times is behind a paywall after a few articles, but I'm sure those interested will find ways to read everything. Here are the other articles in the series as well, classical music, piano, opera, cello, Mozart, 21st-century composers, violin, Baroque music, sopranos, Beethoven, flute, string quartets, tenors, Brahms, choral music, percussion, symphonies, Stravinsky, trumpet, Maria Callas, Bach, the organ, mezzo-sopranos, music for dance, Wagner and Renaissance music.

More

The last item, before I take off over the Atlantic Ocean, is a quick update on the immersive audio project. I've selected cabling to complete the system 100%! By the time I return from Munich / Vienna, all the pieces of the immersive puzzle will be in my listening room, ready for assembly. I'm happy to report the entire system will be cabled and powered by Transparent Audio products. I've used Transparent in my two channel system for years, and love it. Speaker cables, interconnects, and power solutions from Transparent have been mainstays and will continue to be mainstays when the immersive equipment is installed. 

Transparent is custom making two 8 channel DB25 to XLR cables to connect the Merging HAPI MkII to the Mytek amplifiers and Constellation amplifiers. The speaker cable to the eight surround channels and center channel will be Transparent High Performance 10-2 (10 AWG), with Transparent High Performance 10-2 Brick Networks. 

Power for the immersive system will come from a Transparent PowerWave conditioner with 8 outlets. The Transparent Reference PowerIsolator will remain at the heart of my two channel components. Because 5 Mytek Brooklyn AMP+ components could be a cabling nightmare, I'm getting 5 one meter Transparent Performance Power Cords. These are fairly flexible and short, and should work great run-in from the amps to the PowerWave sitting next to them. I love my Transparent Reference Power Cords, but they would be a little unwieldy for my immersive system that'll be packed into a tight space. 

When I return, I'll have more articles about the installation and further details about every inch of the system from music to software to hardware. It's nice to have something to look forward to after a trip. 

Wrap Up

I hope to see may of you guys at the Munich show, and will write up as many details as I can, as quickly as I can. I always shoot for quality over quantity, and will put together the most important bits and bytes from the show. I'm sure I'll miss many, but members of this community have always filled in the gaps, or provided better coverage than me!