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Category: Audio Video Show 2019

Well what do you know? There were a whole bunch of analog pearls hidden within the fleshy innards of Audio Video Show 2019. While my initial feeling was that there were fewer turntables actually in use this year, what I found made up in quality what it lacked in quantity.

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Category: Audio Video Show 2019

While I was walking around the Radisson Blu Sobieski and National Stadium, it seemed like every room had new products. Every. Single. Room. Usually we have to hunt for these, but there was no escaping components that needed our attention. We found a wealth of opportunities for show coverage here at Audio Video Show 2019. All prices are shown in Polish zlotys (zł) or euros (€). (Currently, the zloty trades at approximately US$0.26. Note that prices in Europe typically include value-added tax, which in Poland is 23%.)

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Category: Audio Video Show 2019

The day-one crowds at the Warsaw Audio Video Show were pretty good, but on day two the joint was jumping -- among the busiest I’ve ever seen at a consumer audio show. Moreover, the demographic mix was far more diverse than the male boomer crowd you typically see at North American audio shows. There were lots of young couples and singles, and young families with children, too. And the kids didn’t look like they were at the show under protest.

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Category: Audio Video Show 2019

I had high hopes for a multi-part analog article for this show report, as I recall being inundated with turntable after turntable at last year’s Audio Video Show. However, in the first two days here at the show I haven’t seen anywhere near as many analog rigs, so I’m a little skeptical of whether I’ll be able to glean enough products to warrant a second part. But no matter! Let’s get it on, shall we? All prices are shown in Polish zlotys (zł) or euros (€). (Currently, the zloty trades at approximately US$0.26. Note that prices in Europe typically include a value-added tax, which in Poland is 23%.)

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Category: Audio Video Show 2019

“I’m too old to do something only for money,” Peter Lyngdorf said wryly as we sat at Costa Coffee, just down the street from Warsaw’s Radisson Blu Sobieski Hotel, where I was staying. It was a day before Audio Video Show 2019 opened.

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Category: Audio Video Show 2019

Between the Radisson Blu Sobieski and National Stadium exhibits, it didn’t take long to fill up my buffer with a whole pile of speakers to write about. Audio Video Show 2019 seems to have grown this year, and there’s a ton to cover. Let’s get right down to it, with all prices shown in Polish zlotys (zł), euros (€), or British pounds (£). (Currently, the zloty trades at approximately US$0.26. Note that prices in Europe typically include a value-added tax, which in Poland is 23%.)

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Category: Audio Video Show 2019

You might not think a major stadium, built for events like soccer, basketball, and motorcycle racing, would be suitable for an audio show. But Warsaw’s PGE Narodowy, or National Stadium, is the main venue for the Audio Video Show, and it works really well. There are two levels of exhibits at the stadium, some in hallways, and others in box suites overlooking the athletic field. Two hotels also serve as venues for the Audio Video Show -- these host mainly high-end exhibitors.

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Category: Audio Video Show 2019

There’s a planted, landed feeling of comfort that I acquire at shows, and it’s directly associated with the various hotel lobby bars. At the Montréal Audio Fest, it’s the brutalist architecture and excellent club sandwich in the Hotel Bonaventure Montréal. Back in my CES days, I acquired my center when I saw the same crusty bartender pouring my morning coffee at the now-demolished, where-bums-go-to-die San Remo Hotel.

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Category: Audio Video Show 2019

Vinyl is a labor of love -- every aspect of it requires personal interaction. I’ve known this for years now. Setting up a cartridge, aligning it, cleaning the stylus. Cleaning a record -- both a wet wash on a machine or a quick swipe with a carbon-fiber brush. All a part of the life cycle of an LP-based system.

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Category: Howard Kneller

On October 31, 2019, I attended the grand opening of the first North American Focal Powered by Naim store, in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona. With stores already open in Seoul, South Korea, and Lyon, France, Focal’s and Naim’s French parent corporation, Vervent Audio Group, seeks to further expand the global footprint of these two well-known European audio brands by building a worldwide network of stores to showcase their products. (The Lyon store is called La Boutique du Son.)

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Category: UK Hi-Fi Show Live 2019

The UK Hi-Fi Show Live 2019 afforded me an opportunity I don’t often get at shows -- time to sit down and have a lengthy conversation with a designer. Usually, they’re too busy -- or I am. But in the room of Absolute Sounds, Sonus Faber’s UK distributor, I noticed that Paolo Tezzon had some time on his hands at the same time I did. Tezzon is Sonus Faber’s acoustic designer, so I didn’t want to miss this opportunity. I caught Tezzon’s attention and asked, “Want to talk about the new Olympica Novas for a few minutes?” He was happy to oblige.

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Category: UK Hi-Fi Show Live 2019

I spent my final few hours at the UK Hi-Fi Show Live 2019 hunting for products I know many people enjoy -- cables and accessories. I can’t blame them -- once you’ve bought the speakers, amplification, and source components you really want, you probably want to try some tweaks to see if your components can be made to sound even better. All products are shown in the order I saw them, with prices in British pounds.

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Category: UK Hi-Fi Show Live 2019

Insofar as physical media products go, few audiophiles care about CDs anymore. I don’t think they ever will again. But vinyl -- that’s a totally different story. It’s back, it’s big, and it’s getting better.

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Category: UK Hi-Fi Show Live 2019

In my first UK Hi-Fi Show Live report, about electronics, I mentioned that show organizer Paul Miller moved this annual event from a hotel to the upscale Ascot Racecourse. I think that this was the smartest decision Miller could’ve made. If you’re going to showcase high-priced hi-fi gear -- and let’s face it: even entry-level hi-fi is priced way beyond what most people are willing to spend on sound equipment -- you’d better do so in a fitting location rather than a bunch of makeshift bedrooms-turned-soundrooms.

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Category: UK Hi-Fi Show Live 2019

Gloomy, rainy, shitty. That, to me, sums up the weather in Ascot, England, on October 26 -- maybe all of England, for all I know. On the brighter side, Paul Miller, who presides over the annual UK Hi-Fi Show Live, and is also the editor of Hi-Fi News and Record Review, has taken his event out of the hotel where it’s been held until now, and moved it to the Ascot Racecourse -- a seriously attractive, upscale venue that’s home to thoroughbred horseracing.

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Category: Doug Schneider

At the 2019 Toronto Audio Fest, to be held October 18 to 20, Simaudio will publicly display for the first time its new Moon 680D DAC-streamer, which is priced at $9000 (all prices are USD). On October 2, however, I visited product manager Dominique Poupart at the company’s factory in Boucherville, Quebec, Canada, to see the first 680D that came off the production line and learn more about it. I felt it important to go there because Simaudio has long been known for producing some of the best-sounding digital-playback products in the world.

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Category: Howard Kneller

In August of this year, the New York and Long Island audiophile societies, respectively known as The Audiophile Society and The Audio Syndrome, hosted Andrew Jones, vice president of engineering for Elac. Each audio society’s events are typically well-attended; however, this meeting, held at a member’s home, was packed to the proverbial rafters. This was due not only to the attendance of members from both clubs, but the opportunity to witness Jones demonstrate Elac’s newest active speaker, the three-way, floorstanding Navis ARF-51 ($3999.96/pair, all prices USD), and provide insights concerning its design.

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Category: Gordon Brockhouse

On September 17, the audio world sucked in its collective breath after Amazon announced a new streaming service offering lossless CD-resolution and high-resolution music. Amazon Music HD has over 50 million CD-resolution tracks, plus “millions” of “Ultra HD” tracks with higher-than-CD resolution, up to 24-bit/192kHz.

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Category: Roger Kanno

A recent business trip took me to Canada’s national capital, Ottawa. In addition to being the political center of Canada, it’s the home of the National Research Council, where SoundStage! performs its loudspeaker measurements. It’s also the location of electrostatic loudspeaker manufacturer Muraudio.

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Category: CEDIA Expo 2019

Here’s the final segment of my three-part coverage of new speakers from last week’s CEDIA Expo, which took place at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. While conventional freestanding speakers aren’t the focus at the CEDIA Expo, I explore several new models below -- as well as one of the weirdest in-wall speakers I’ve ever seen. All prices in USD.

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