Tony Pothitos checks out the recent Athens Hifi Show for Hifi Pig.

Today is Monday, and therefore is pretty dreadful since new speakers have to be broken in, and new room acoustics are not here. However, Queen was my first choice to play. Despite people claiming others are Queens, I had a notion of Stuart in my mind when I was listening and trying to position these Anniversary Vantage Audio Solution Speakers. I wish I had the Kalsu device from Kralk Audio with me today, I have to call Alan to help me ASAP. I cannot believe that you can set up a room that is round. The guy is a genius. I need it in Italy next week for a huge week of testing there. To be honest, most people in the show this weekend needed it.

Which brings me to the Athens show.

Firstly, and foremost: Without you guys, no show will ever seem to be as fun. So loving and so down to earth. I might add, also as inebriated.

The Athens show, right after our Warsaw experience was a hard show to follow. I loved the systems which were really taken care of in Poland. Mostly MAAT, and the Hologram by Miro. Those were underplaying, but I fell in love with the prospective future this guy has. The Aida II was as expected, flabbergasting. So many to mention.

Now back to Athens. We had some good rooms this time round, a five-fold increase in sound quality which was the best thing about the show, and some awesome new products that were well suited in the rooms.

Kef’s little 700-euro speaker was a shock to many, and a lot of people found comfort in spending that much for what it was. It was sold by the dozens.

The Sonus Faber baby monitor speaker was there as well, and had they actually not played it so loud, it would have been a top player. I finally heard the Kii system; other than its price I thought it could be used in many areas and be very pleasing.

The Melco was a surprise, and after reading your review I fully agree with you. I should have the 10 grand version soon but I really don’t need it. I heard what it could do at the show with the Focal, which if you remembered couldn’t play that well in Warsaw. Speaking of which I fell in love with the Focal Sopra II’s. Blasted away with the Vitus playing them. Simple and so progressive in sound that it made time stop while I could hear the notes separated in time and space. I would have taken those home in seconds. The total cost of that was 30 grand but honestly, sounded better than those 100 grand in other rooms.

My friend for life, and by far the most closely scrutinized by myself was Chameleon Audio (Niko Kostadimas which you took pics with), with Audio Hungary. The speaker being brand new and out of the box, was still musical. The papyrus woofer sounded sweet and accurate; the woofers with aluminium give great bass, and on top of it all, they adjust from the back. They are so meticulousy but heavily built, that when I took them home at the end of the show, I regretted it at first. They have to be placed over 3.0 meters apart if you want to get the best of them though. The TelluriumQ Silver diamonds driving them simply made it voluptuous with the Reed TT as a source. The music was mesmerizing with Chopin and other composers even with the smallest compositions recorded very low. I thought of you when I heard “who wants to live forever”. I thought to myself that you know you won’t, but you surely enjoy every minute of life and that’s what makes you so special.

Oh, and best room acoustics was from a John Demos, in a Synergistic Research with Quads that were undoubtedly the easiest listening and most comfortable in the show. I must get Ted Denny to send you some of his stuff, or get Frank to test his room treatment for you to enjoy. Get his Line conditioner first. I recommend it for every reviewer.

And without further ado, here are the pics I took from the Athens show.