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COVERAGE | AUDIO SHOW

AUDIO VIDEO SHOW PRAGUE 2020



Organizer: AUDIO VIDEO SHOW s.r.o.
K Červenému vrchu 845/2b
160 00 Praha 6 – Vokovice | CZECH REPUBLIC

Place: HOTEL DON GIOVANNI PRAHA
Time: 28.02-29.02.2020 | Friday-Saturday

www.audio-video-show.cz

CZECH REPUBLIC/Prague


The AUDIO VIDEO SHOW PRAGUE is an exhibition of audio products organized every year, around February and March, by DANIEL BŘEZINA and his colleagues. It takes place at the DON GIOVANNI Hotel, the only member of the Great Hotels of The World in the Czech Republic. This hotel is located in Prague, right next to the Želivského metro station (line A), which takes you to the historic city center in 5 minutes. This year, the Audio Video Show Prague exhibition was held for the sixth time. "High Fidelity" has been its media partner for three years.

| WHAT DID PEOPLE SAY

here was no other topic that discussed as often during this exhibition as the cancelling of the Munich High End Show 2020 (more HERE). It was topic number one discussed by everyone. It was even before the organizer of the Show, the High End Society announced an official message and the first texts were sent to manufacturers and their representatives. So when at 10.00 a.m. the exhibition in Prague opened, we were already after breakfast, but also after the first conversations, attempts to predict the future and sharing some minor rumors.

New speakers from Xavian, Terza and Quarta (on the right). Both belong to the Classic series. This way Xavian reached back for classic BBC designs.

The "magic" word that everyone repeated all the time was "coronavirus". What a time! I did not think that something that we know mainly from SF literature and films will penetrate the reality we live in, and yet ... Because it is a popular topic, covered by social media, and official television and radio broadcasters, it has a direct impact on our lives, it is impossible so stay indifferent to it.

Fortunately, I was in the Czech Republic, in a country full of people with a good, reasonable approach to life. Everyone calmed each other down and I didn't see anyone in the corridors who was particularly worried about it. As you will see soon, this year's exhibition had a tad fewer visitors, but it is difficult to say what the reason was. As Daniel Březina, the main organizer of the event told me, he was happy to see me, and that due to the coronavirus one (one!) small exhibitor has canceled participation, and only a few representatives of companies have been "grounded" in their countries. And next he said:

On the one hand, of course, I understand that the pressure from the authorities and the media makes it difficult to keep it cool and that we have a problem taking risks, but on the other hand, I regret that canceling even the largest audio exhibitions will reduce predictability in our industry, and this uncertainty may result in rising prices, it may also cause lesser-known brands to disappear from the market. I must also say that if our exhibition lasted a day longer, we could be forced to cancel it, and after half a year of hard work, precisely because of pressure from the state authorities.

| WHAT DID NUMBERS SAY

Daniel very quickly after the Show sent its summary expressed in numbers, which is a proof of good organization of the event. In his written summary, he draws attention to, among others, the 150-page exhibition catalog, a really nice and well prepared one, smooth unpacking and packaging of products before and after the exhibition, the presence of many foreign journalists, as well as almost 100% positive feedback from exhibitors and visitors.

One of the most interesting passive power conditioners I saw in Prague: the Harmonic Hammer HH-3000P developed by Czech company GMG Power.

The most important, however, is the fact that the Show offered really good vibes, was pleasant to visit, well organized, and there were a lot of both exhibitors and visitors. In numbers, it looks like this:

  • visitors: 2881 (including media people) | last year it was 3324, and two years ago 2783,
  • floors in hotel: 5,
  • rooms: 73 | last year: 74, two years ago: 70,
  • exhibitors: 66 | last year: 70
  • number of brands: 300+ , last year: 270+ , two years ago: 275+.

There is a slight decrease in the number of visitors, but it was not really significant and the rooms were usually full. It is important that there were many exhibitors because they set the tone of the Show and it is them the visitors come for. It was interesting that there were more young people, women and even children than in previous years. So - there is still some hope for us, audiophiles.

| WHAT CAUGHT OUT ATTENTION

In the photo gallery below the article you will find photos selected by us. This time we focused primarily on brands that we don't usually see in Warsaw at the Audio Video Show or in Munich at the High End Show, also on those that may sometimes be there, but these are brands from across our southern border and finally on products and systems that performed best and the most interesting ones.

System with Naim electronics and Focal speakers featured a CD Player as its primary source.

However, before we get to them, I would like to say a few words about the trends that caught my attention. It is a local exhibition, but maybe that's why it was easier to notice some things there, that also occur in major European and world events.

The thing that seems indisputable is the return to the physical media to the scene, with an emphasis on Compact Discs and Super Audio CDs. Although in several rooms turntable was used as the main, or at least as one of many signal sources, the exhibitors still played music mostly from digital discs. And again - in several rooms file players/streamers were also used, but in Prague it was a small group of exhibitors. What's more, new CD and SACD players are presented, which gives hope for further development of these formats.

The second thing I noticed concerns speakers. In the captions for the photos I tried to point it out: more and more designers are using tweeters based on the idea of dr. Oskar Heil, called Air Motion Transformer (AMT). It is a harmonica with a conductive path marked on it, which is compressed and expanded. This gives the driver a large surface area combined with a low weight. It was once a niche product, rather a curiosity, but now AMT is part of the mainstream.

The Wharfedale Elysian 2 speakers were a living proof of two main trends: they feature Heil’s tweeter and a cabinet with a wide baffle, despite the fact this is a stand-mount model.

The situation in Prague was a continuation of what I saw last year in Munich during the High End Show 2019. And the point is that loudspeaker manufacturers see the possibility of improving their quality primarily in improving the material from which the cabinets are made - see: Wilson Audio, Estelon Audio, GIYA Loudspeaker, Fisher & Fisher, etc. However, they also take the tweeter application method and its type equally seriously. Eton diamond drivers are often used in the most expensive designs, but you can also find soft domes (Dynaudio, Wilson Audio).

As I said though, designers use the AMT drivers more and more. Their most important manufacturer is the German Mundorf, but other manufacturers, such as Monitor Audio, also have their versions. Please take a look at the already mentioned top Fisher & Fisher SN-670 and Monitor Audio speakers from the Platinum II series, the Gryphon and Wharefdale, or speakers from the Czech manufacturer Nadral, and even the inexpensive Well Rounded Sound speakers - all of them feature the AMT.

This is a driver with a specific sound: warm, smooth and full, but also so different from what we know from the domes that each one of us has to decide whether it is "our" sound.

System featuring the Monitor Audio Platinum PL500 II loudspeakers and Chord Electronics electronics including their new Ultima 5 amplifier.

And two cents about products that are slowly but surely climbing to higher levels in the ranking of things important in audio systems: power components. Many products of this type were shown in Prague, with some very interesting devices from Czech and German companies. These are: F&S Electronics and DC Blocker 4X-D, RDacoustics and RD EMI Neutralizer as well as GMG Power and Harmonic Hammer HH-3000. Already today, the power conditioner, filters and power cables are an equivalent component of an audio system, often as expensive as electronics and loudspeakers.

| WHAT WAS BEST

My „The Best Sound” choices are absolutely subjective. I have been to each room several times, both on Friday and Saturday, but it is usually a pure coincidence whether a given system at any given moment performed well in a given room or just OK. It's just that these few systems listed below are ones that sounded great every time I listened to them. They are listed randomly, based on the order I visited the rooms they played in.

|1| FISHER&FISHER | A+T | DR. FEICKERT ANALOGUE

One of the best systems on the Show, based on T+A HV Series electronics and huge Fisher&Fisher SN-670 loudspeakers with cabinets made of slate and Heil tweeter. The source was the MP3100 HV SACD Player.

|2| Kii AUDIO

I couldn’t pass by this system indifferently - the sound was insanely good! The Kii Audio Three BXT system, with active mid-tweeter section (Three) and active bass modules (BXT), all corrected in DSP, offers a top-notch sound.

|3| SONUS FABER | McINTOSH

An excellent presentation run by Mr. Paolo Tezzon from Sonus faber, where he is the head of the research department. Two issues ago he appeared in the Japanese Stereo Sound magazine with Yoav Geva from YG Acoustics. In Prague, he presented speakers from the Olympica Nova series.

|4| ACOUSTIQUE QUALITY | PRO-JECT | LINDEMANN

One of the most active brands from the Czech Republic: the AQ (Acoustique Quality), founded in 1995, with a wide range of speakers. The photo shows floorstanding speakers Passion and stand-mounted Passion Teen. In a system with electronics from the German company Lindemann and with an analog source from Pro-Ject.

|5| EIGHT

Active loudspeakers with a Bluetooth receiver - Eight. It's also a music files player; Hypex nCore amplifiers, 10-point tone correction, upsampler. The whole system hidden in two small speakers, which sounded extremely interesting and involving.

| SUMMARY

For last I saved a few words for the „High Fidelity” readers from Daniel Březina, the man behind Prague Show:

I am extremely pleased that the exhibition, despite a few minor problems and uncertainty that could be felt among people, could come to fruition, with small, compared to the previous year, restrictions that were not even noticeable. I am glad that the sixth edition of the exhibition went smoothly and the event itself was sophisticated and that those with whom I spoke told me that coming to Prague they felt as if they were coming back to their second home.

On behalf of the organizer and ourselves we would like to invite you all for the next year’s Show!!! Same as for the last three years, „High Fidelity” will be an official media partner of the Audio Video Show Prague 2021.

  • A cross section of the Xavian Quarta model - internal bracing, damping and a crossover separated into two sections are clearly visible.
  • The new Bronze Series by Monitor Audio featuring special waveguides in front of their tweeters, that are protected by a mesh.
  • The latest amplifier from Chord Electronics, the Ultima 5.
  • A device enhancing power – the 16A DC Blocker 4X-D by German company F&S Electronics.
  • The impact of F&S Electronics devices could be checked in real time on an oscilloscope.
  • The inside of another GMG Power filter, X-Blocker. As you can see, this is real competition for the Polish Gigawatt ...
  • That’s the first time I saw the all-in-one system by Advance Acoustics, sold as the Advance Paris MyConnect 150, with music files and CD players, internet radio and FM/DAB + receivers, as well as a stereo amplifier.
  • Another top system, one of the best of the Show: Gryphon, with Ethos Player and new preamplifier and power amps Essence, with GYIA Loudspeakers and Gryphon speakers.
  • Gryphon Ethos CD Player, that you can also find on the cover of our magazine, and below the new Essence preamplifier.
  • In the AQ (Acoustique Quality) room, the Pro-Ject Signature 12 turntable with two motors and a flywheel that acted as a decoupling element, looked great.
  • An yet another top system of the Show: emm Labs electronics with a two box SACD Player combining the TX2 transport and DA2 DAC. Both have been on the market for some years now, but they are still quite impressive. The star of this setup though, were the Estelon Forza loudspeakers.
  • A presentation of the new Estelon Forza loudspeakers was run by the founder of the company and chief designer, Mr. Alfred Vassilkov.
  • A glance at the McIntosh devices shows us in what direction their designs are heading - the tone is set by the MA252 and MA353 amplifiers visible on the left (both are hybrid designs).
  • It was one of the best presentations: McIntosh electronics and the new Sonus faber loudspeakers from the Olympica Nova series, model V. The source of the signal was for most of the time was the MCD600 CD SACD player.
  • A beautiful McIntosh MC901 amplifier. What makes it special is the fact, that there are actually two amplifiers in one - there is a powerful solid-state amplifier for the woofer section, and also powerful tube amplifier featuring the KT88s in the output for the mid-high frequencies.
  • Fantastic, truly remarkable sound! Grandinote’s electronics - Shinai (integrated amplifier) and Volta (streamer and DAC) with Zingali Twenty evo 1.12 loudspeaker; cables: Orchestra Instruments Divine Light Carbon Series from Moravia.
  • Once again, loudspeakers of the Czech company Sroll with their own electronics made a big impression on me. The photo shows the Sound Garden speakers, Epigram amplifier and Muse D/A converter. The system was connected with Purity Kapton cables.
  • The system of the Czech company RDacoustics, with large horn loudspeakers Evolution, based on a wideband driver, smaller Euphoria, with an additional bass woofer, as well as the electronics of this company.
  • Voltage filter RD EMI Neutralizer by RDacoustics. Six sockets feature proprietary filters.
  • Huge horn speakers by TR Audio, with tube electronics by the same brand and fantastic reel-to-reel recorder, the Magnetophon M 10 A.
  • Elfton is another interesting Czech company. The photo presents the Ringo model with a dome, 75 mm midrange driver and aluminum woofer (diameter of 270 mm). Let's add that the system was powered by the Scroll Epigram amplifier, and the Polish Lampizator Amber 3 dealt with the D/A conversion.
  • Elfton room and the „High Fidelity” award for the Best Sound 2018 :)
  • It looked fantastic! – it was one the most beautiful product at this Show, next to the speakers it played with: the LampizatOr Pacific DAC. The system featured also „The One” racks by another Polish company, the Synco-Sound.
  • Also the LampizatOr Vinyl Phono One was there on display.
  • The Hifi Studio Pansky Dvur from Ostrava is a company run by a good friend with whom we share the love of several brands that can be seen in this photo. Source - Lumin X1 player (under it the amplifier from this company), Leben CS-600X amplifier, Slovenian Holbo turntable (now with an ultra-quiet pump). There was also a new version of the Czech phono preamplifier Remton LCR Mk2 in the system.
  • This time Slovakia – in Prešov they manufacture Canor electronics, which is often used for presentations by Fink Audio (picture presents their speakers Borg).
  • The Canor PH1.10 phonostage, beneath the Canor CD1.10.
  • I really enjoyed Frank Sinatra there – Pilium Audio (Greece) electronics and new YG Acoustics loudspeakers called Hailey 2.2 (USA).
  • Austrian brand Horn Manufactur and their Marimba loudspeakers with a wideband driver.
  • System of the Czech company Nadral, a loudspeaker manufacturer – stand-mounted model is N1, and the floor-standing is N4; they were supported by N Sub. Again, the AMT tweeter instead of a classic dome.
  • A great system, consisting of the Accuphase DP-560 SACD player and the integrated amplifier E-800 that had its premiere there. Next to it you can see the GMG Power Harmonic Hammer HH-3000 filter, and the system was wired with Nordost cables from the Tyr series. One of the most important elements was the Nordost QRT system with QPoint filters. And the speakers were the beautiful Fyne Audio F1.12.
  • Three models from Fyne Audio lineup (from the left): F502SP, F404 and F1.12.
  • A glance from the hotel window to the side that we have not shown you yet. Not far from the hotel there is the 216 meter high Žižkov TV tower visible in the center of the frame. It was built between 1985 and 1992, and its design is protected by a patent.
  • The line of visitors waiting for entrance was quite long.
  • All proceeds from the Prague exhibition are allocated to UNICEF, hence the presence of volunteers.
  • The German company Audio Exclusive presented a new Reference series in metal enclosures: the tube preamplifier R 7 with an external power supply. The system also featured P 3.1 electrostatic loudspeakers, a P 11 hybrid power amplifier, and the signal source was the P 8 Compact Disc Player.
  • AudioMuzoFans editors: Paweł Nowak (on the left) and Janusz Sowiński. We were discussing possible forms of cooperation and support - we shall see what comes of it :)
  • Please note - on top of the the Métronome Audio c|AQWO DAC they placed two - one on top of the other - Nordost QPoint noise generators - I haven't seen anything like this before and I have to try it out for myself ...
  • Tiny, but beautifully made two-way Well Rounded Sound monitors. This model is called WRS MM2 Active.
  • The AQ (Acoustique Quality) room was arranged in such a way that three separate systems were arranged in front of three walls and from time to time the chairs were turned in the direction of the one they were using at the moment.
  • Full-time nostalgia - cassette recorder and a CD Player in one - Teac A-R650 Mk2.
  • The tiny Fisher & Fisher Klein loudspeakers delivered a surprisingly large, full sound. As you can see, the listeners matched their size ...