Munich 2025

This massive system—anchored by the world premiere Avalon Acoustics SAGA Signature loudspeakers, amplification from Nick Doshi, and Acustica Applicata's Volcano Modular Variable Resonator—produced deeply involving sound.

A Kuzma Stabi Reference II turntable ($15,773) was fitted with a Tri-Planar U2-SE 9.8" tonearm (damped carbon fiber wand, silver wire, $9500) and a My Sonic Lab cartridge. Digital playback came via a Kalista Mantax DAC (approx. $63,500) and a SOtM music server. A Studer 810 reel-to-reel deck rounded out the sources.

In my experience, when Nick Doshi's components are in a room, great sound follows. A Doshi Evolution phono preamplifier with two MC and one MM input ($22,000), tape preamplifier ($22,000), and line preamplifier ($22,000) fed signals to either a Doshi Evolution stereo amplifier ($24,000) or a pair of monoblocks ($44,000/pair). The amps drove the Avalon SAGA Signature loudspeakers ($249,000/pair).

Support and isolation came from a Stillpoints ESS Reference Rack ($3000), Component Stand SS ($1999), and Ultra 7 footers ($1299–$1399), along with Purist Audio Design's 35th Anniversary Diamond cabling (various prices).

Positioned at the center of the system was Acustica Applicata's Volcano Modular Variable Resonator, a hollow Plexiglas cylinder with a movable, door-like internal baffle. Designed to enhance timbre and spatiality in nearly any room, it initially struck me as a leftover salad container from a past event. Cost: around $3100.

Joking aside, this system had an unmistakable sonic personality. It reproduced music with clarity and rare emotional engagement, filling the room with vinyl from Dizzy Gillespie and the now-ubiquitous "Embraceable Moon" by Malia and Boris Blank. The Gillespie disc unleashed golden trumpet tones and drums that were taut and round. The soundfield was massive, yet human in scale. Equally captivating was the Malia and Boris Blank track. Its decay tails, immersive atmospherics, and the SAGA speakers' seamless linearity created a womblike embrace that left me shaken and stirred. Easily one of my top five systems at this year's High End Munich.