Klangbilder 2013 - Vienna high-end show report - Accustic Arts, JMC, Symposium Acoustic, Totem, YBA
8th to 10th November 2013 - Klangbilder high-end audio show again in Vienna
- location again the Hilton Vienna Plaza hotel in downtown
- myself being responsible for two rooms (as I represent both Accustic Arts and the High-End Company AG in Austria)
Braking news: Matej Isak from Mono & Stereo High-End Audio Magazine shares now my blog entries!
There is no single highlight in our first room - it was a coherency teamwork of French YBA Passion electronics (the mid-range) alternately playing with the new Totem Forest Signature speakers or the luxury Swiss made JMC Soundboard (see my older blog entry). Many visitors did only recognize the Soundboard as the source of music when Norbert Luethi, Jasmin Weilenmann or Peter Sambs changed to the extraordinary Totem Forest Signature speakers. Of course the sound was not the same, but the musical quality is similar. And Totem speakers are well-known for their high musicality and deep impact.
Comparing both speakers is not easy, maybe even not possible - Totem may be more the high-end speaker for classic stereo setup, the JMC Soundboard the high-end solution for your living room. With small kids (my personal situation) a Soundboard on the wall is the safer way of listening to music.
I would want both - a custom designed JMC Soundboard for the living room and the classic high-end stereo ... And Yes you can personalize your Soundboard!
Now we take a look at the 2nd room, our big setup - Accustic Arts reference electronics and Totem Element Metal speakers same as in 2012 - to lift the excellent sound to a higher level still was my personal approach. Both brands, Totem and Accustic Arts, are my personal favorites to reach my sound goals - as these have strong musical impact, presenting all the tension of real music, showing real corpus and power like live music, straight sound to show you the natural timbre of human voice.
So I added complete room acoustic treatment done by Slovakian Acoustic Professional Zalan Schuster. He is a worldwide expert and uses primary GIK Acoustics elements - the most neutral on the market. He is able to analyze a specific room and plan a special design that suits a special customers room and taste. His main advantage is very much experience to set the right elements on the best place in a room. In Austria you can contact me for his service.
As a second add-on I used the famous Symposium Isis Rack (Absolute Sound editor's choice 2010) which combines two innovative technologies pioneered by Symposium: the Svelte Shelf and the fabulous Rollerblock isolation system. It works like a catapult for every good component. All 3 Accustic Arts components standing in the rack were simultaneous coupled and decoupled with the famous Symposium Rollerblocks Serie 2+ bearing devices with the top-notch G3 balls. My two Accustic Arts MONO II amplifiers were "only" coupled with Symposium Precision Couplers - making good contact to two Ultra platforms. That was a safe setup for the fair - at home I would use here the Rollerblocks instead of course.
The result was so far the best sound achieved by me on a fair and it was 100% my personal setup, fulfilling my idea of sound. In Comparison to 2012 we got more stable sound, better bass response (because of room acoustic treatment and Symposium use). The new excellent asynchronous USB input of the Accustic Arts TUBE DAC II MK2 made the setup easier. A PS Audio P10 power plant helped regarding bad power conditions in the big hotel.
But please be careful - the result is the sum of every detail: excellent electronics, wonderful speakers, good cables, power conditioner, the state-of-the-art rack, Rollerblocks and the perfect room acoustic treatment. It is the synergy of all that works. A good dealer looks for that too and assists you if searching for only one new component.
Last but not at least I want to introduce you 3 people which made the demo in the first room - from left to right:
Jasmin Weilenmann (CEO of Swiss High-End Company AG), Peter Sambs (Sambs Hifi in Linz, Austria), Norbert Luethi (CEO of Euronics Switzerland, mother company of the High-End Company AG) and myself (sales agent for Accustic Arts and all HEC products)
That was the last national high-end show in 2013 - 2014 I will welcome you in Munich at the German High End fair.
Please take also a look at the complete photo album here!
