I’m not a huge fan of sorround systems but this one using speakers by Vivid and Electronics by Trinnov certainly impressed…like being on stage with the band.

Kronos Pro turntable and phonostage with Goebel High End Epoque Reference loudspeakers was a brilliant room and just misses our top five by a whisker. A young punk guy asked Louis, the boss at Kronos, to play an album by NoFx he’d brought along and Louis obliged. Later Louis put on some Hendrix and it was magnificent. Another room that just didn’t quite make our top five but we loved it all the same.

We heard these speakers from Audio Exklusiv last year in a little booth and were really impressed and so it was good to see them in a bigger room at this year’s High End.

FINKTEAM are a group of Audio Consultants and this was their prototype loudspeaker at last year’s show now made into a product for sale and called the WM-4 costing €65 000 and available July/August of this year. Preamplifier on the top of the rack is the Octave HP700 feeding down to their MRE 220 power amplifiers. This was a great room that missed our top six by a hairs breadth.

A full Esoteric rack feeding a pair of Bowers and Wilkins 800 series loudspeakers. This was a really nicely thought out room with a fresh and airy feel to it. Don’t let the kids and their sticky fingers near it though.