AXISS Europe and Soulution's Cyrill Hammer presented a formidable system in Munich, featuring the debut of the Soulution 787 turntable.

Designed by Chord Electronics’ founder and owner John Franks, Chord’s new flagship Ultima Phonostage expands the Ultima Reference range, joining the Ultima Pre preamplifier and Ultima Mono power amplifiers. The US price is TBA; the projected UK price is £18,000 (about $24,300).

Because editor Jim Austin praised the Audiovector R 8 loudspeaker so highly, I was eager to hear its new, larger sibling. So when the Danish company debuted its R 10 Arreté flagship ($165,000/pair) at High End Munich, I arranged an audition—and a meeting with CEO and owner Mads Klifoth.

To celebrate its 15th anniversary, Estelon unveiled its new A‑Series Aurelia (17,900 euros/pair with stands), Aurelia Centre (7500 euros/each), and Aurus (13,500 euros/each).

Ken says: At High End Munich, IsoAcoustics introduced its new GAIA Neo and GAIA-TITAN Neo series of isolation feet. Designed for both consumer and OEM use, the Neo models improve on the established GAIA line with updated engineering. The first custom versions will be integrated into the new JBL Summit Makalu, Summit Pumori, and Summit Ama speakers, as well as the Marten Coltrane Extreme loudspeakers—all of which debuted at the show.

While Thorens CEO and owner Gunter Kürten was busy with customers, company representative Michael Gorny walked me through the brand's latest lineup of high-end products.

At T.H.E Show SoCal, tubed equipment didn't seem as prevalent as I've seen at some other shows, but it still had a presence—a very strong presence—in Zesto Audio's demo room 227. The California-based amplification and electronics manufacturer is led by George Counnas, who has also worked as an audio engineer in addition to designing equipment tubed hi-fi equipment, and his wife, Carolyn, who is responsible for Zesto's signature industrial design.