Japan’s Phasemation has always occupied a special place in my audiophile fantasies. I’ve heard the company’s products in the rooms of American Sound’s Angie Lisi at AXPONA, but auditioning a complete Phasemation system? Never had the chance—until Munich.

"What is the most important element in a high-end audio set-up?" As much as the question is asked over and over again, as if it were a requisite baseline test for admission into the Holy Fraternity of the High End, most responses start with the end of the chain rather than with the fundamentals.

At the Munich show, I ran into familiar faces: Mark Sossa of Well Pleased AV and Vinnie Rossi of Vinnie Rossi Audio, both far from their usual American stomping grounds. Seeing them overseas gave me a flicker of homesickness, but a journalist's job is to focus on the gear, not the friendships.

Stereophile has favorably reviewed three loudspeakers from Swiss manufacturer Stenheim. Art Dudley reviewed the Alumine standmount in April 2012 and the Alumine Five floorstander in March 2018. More recently, Herb Reichert reviewed Stenheim's three-and-a-half-way Alumine Three tower in October 2021. My assignment for this month's issue was to review the company's Alumine Two. Five floorstander, which, at $23,500/pair, fits neatly between the Alumine Two ($13,500/pair) and Three ($36,500/pair).