XFI Premium Audio Show September '18

[JemHadar]

If one is looking for active speakers that can take on any of the passive big boys, Grimm is a must to check out. I did find the presentation to scale up the size of the instruments a bit. Dynamics and tonal balance are world class.

Without a doubt Grimm is setting the benchmark. October 6th I will have the opportunity to check out the Kii3 BXT and have a chat with Bruno Putzeys. It will be interesting to find out who will be king of the hill. Grimm or Kii.

[bart]

The Etalon room






Quite handsome:

[bart]

Avantgarde Acoustics






Very grand sound, strong bass, clarity.
But I have heard these 4-5 times before, and they were set up much better.

[bart]

Kroma with Zanden and Luxman.




There was even a second room - fortunately, because that first room was so crowded we could only get a superficial impression.
Ben from Acoustic Matters there, explaining and demoing with TRPTK recordings, his own label.




Kroma is a rising star from Spain.
The little standmounters (8K) were throwing an immense soundstage and producing a mighty sound.

Try this album!




These speakers deserve a separate listening session in The Hague!

[bart]

Boenicke Audio:








Astonishingly big sound from these tiny and beautiful creations!
A top candidate for a small room.

[JemHadar]

I wasn’t that convinced by the Avantgardes. It was a Wow presentation but lacked finesse. I suspect that it makes anything sound Wow. A very “live” sound, similar to the mbl radialstrahlers, but somehow that dynamic prowess lost the finer details along the way. Maybe compression drivers are just not my thing.

[bart]

Another top room: Merging Nadac with Daudio.




Daudio stands for Dipool Design Audio.




We were listening to some surround recordings from Bert van der Wolf, demoed by himself.
He worked for the finest labels (Challenge, Channel Classics,...) and imports Merging Nadac.

I knew I was going to visit this room again.

[bart]

We quickly entered the Ilumnia room to say hello to the designers.




They have refined their design since we visited them a couple of months ago, and you could hear that.
A stand mounter has joined the Ilumnia family.

(Report here: https://www.audioaficionado.org/showthread.php?t=42227 )


We will review them again sometime early next year, at my place.

[bart]

McIntosh - Sonus Faber






The MA8900 was driving a pair of Sonettos (6K a pair).
Sounded smooth and nice.
Transparency was not top.

[JemHadar]

These Boenicke Audio speakers are just insane. I suspect the M5 benefits from a transmission line design as is found in its larger siblings. You just gotta love physics when you hear what these marvels push out.