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If I'd brought five imaginary Stereophile Best of Show Awards to the 2026 Dutch Audio Event, they'd have gone to the companies below. No doubt this would have caused much revelry and rejoicing, and terrible wailing and gnashing of teeth among the uncrowned.

In the Belgian city of Ghent stands a formidable artifact of military technology: Dulle Griet ("Mad Meg"), a 15th-century cannon that weighs about 12.5 tons. Despite its fearsome appearance, the weapon apparently never fired a shot. But it does lend some historical inspiration to Bombard, a new Belgian loudspeaker company whose first product, the OB1, made its debut at the 2026 Dutch Audio Event. OB1 stands for Open Baffle 1, but if your first thought was of a Star Wars character…same.

Music can be a semi-religious experience, but this is ridiculous.

Almost six months after purchasing French audio manufacturer Jadis from Jean-Christophe Calmettes, Jérémie Malfroot (shown above) announced a lifetime warranty for the company's output transformers and 10-year warranties on all other parts.

At Audio Advice Live 2026, Ken Micallef speaks with Blake Alty of Paradigm about the company's new Premier series of speakers in this room at the show, including the 820F v2 floorstanders and 220B v2 standmounts.

At Audio Advice Live 2026, Ken Micallef speaks with Lee Rambler of Steinway Lyngdorf about the company's new LCR-2 wall-mount loudspeaker.

At Audio Advice Live 2026, Ken Micallef speaks with Rob Standley of Playback Distribution about the gear in this room at the show, including the North American debut of Vienna Acoustics' Schubert Grand Sonata loudspeakers.