Munich 2019

I wandered in to the room shared by, among other companies, Accustic Arts and Fischer & Fischer. The news from this room is two new high-value products—by which I mean that they're cheaper than the company's main lines, so there's a good probability that they offer good value. High-end companies trickling down appears to be a Munich High End trend—note, for instance, the Mark Levinson No.5101 SACD player/streaming DAC I wrote about earlier today.

Shipping immediately after Munich High End, the Power 1 integrated amplifier is a classic integrated with an optional phono board and—maybe, apparently it's not yet decided—an available DAC board as well. Also: the Player 1, which plays CDs and works as a DAC with the usual digital inputs but no Ethernet. Both are priced at: $9900 in the US. [Editor's note: European prices stated at the show have been replaced by US prices at the manufacturer's request.]

These components were making beautiful music—and some music that was enjoyable but you wouldn't call it beautiful—through a pair of Fischer & Fischer 370AMT loudspeakers (€10,900), which, like all F&F loudspeakers (hence AMT), feature enclosures made entirely of slate (top photo). The 370AMT loudspeakers feature an air-motion transformer tweeter set between two of F&F's own 180mm cone drivers. One Fischer—Thomas—told me he thinks of the 370AMT as a 2.5-way design because, while the two drivers are identical, a second-order crossover rolls off the bottom one faster than the top one, which has a first-order roll-off. So while both drivers serve as woofers (in a d'Apolito) configuration, the midrange is covered by the top driver alone.

The speaker's slate enclosure doesn't just absorb vibrations; it also absorbs and diffracts light in a particular way, giving these loudspeakers a uniquely rich visual character.

I spent my last few minutes in the room listening to a rip of a jazz CD of Aurora, a 30-year-old recording by Peter Erskine, Marty Krystall, and Buell Neidlinger on the Denon label. The first track I heard was an extended solo by drummer Erskine, who is perhaps best known for his work with Weather Report but who before worked in Stan Kenton's big band and later appeared on some 600 records. Aurora is very well-recorded, and through the Accustic Arts/F&F system sounded quite real, if, as is common, some three times actual size. The F&F speakers disappeared completely, and Erskine's hard tom hits startled, literally.

Also in the system were power products by Mudra Akustik, solid-core cabling by AudioQuest, and, though it wasn't playing when I sat down to listen, a slate-plinthed turntable by Transrotor.