Okay, fellow audio addicts. Here is a brief rundown of the rooms that caught my attention.
HS-Audio is a new audio shop in Taiwan. It's one of those solo audio engineer sort of shops. This guy has two different sized two-way standmount monitors. The tweeters are aluminum while the midrange drivers are actually fullrange drivers. One model has a 4" fullrange driver while the other model has a 5" fullrange driver. I listened to the larger model. Its midrange was pretty nice sounding, but the higher frequencies were a bit brighter than I care for.
The guy is developing a pair of mono 211 amps, but they're not yet finished. I told him I would like to audition the amps when he's ready to bring them to market.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unika Audio is a Taiwan company. Their amplifier is the Unika UK700 700W/ch amplifier with the first 50 watts in Class A. It was powering a pair of large 96dB speakers with 18" woofers, titanium tweeters and super tweeters. The speakers are used and could be purchased for just $99,999 New Taiwan Dollars (~$3300 USD). The guy in that room said they were 6 years old, and that model had been discontinued.
Next up was a unique room. This guy's speakers (2-way, 2.5 way, 3-way) are housed in lengths of bamboo. No, not plyboo....real bamboo stalks with 6" or 6.5" midwoofers mounted in the sides of the bamboo. The speakers sound okay, but (in my personal opinion) they're pretty funky looking. [The show was in the middle of April. If it had been April 1st, I would have been convinced it was an April Fool's joke, but the speakers'creator (mastermind??) was absolutely serious. The speakers were powered by Threshold clone SS amps which the guy claimed were 250W pure Class A mono amps. I still doubt it because they were available for just $105,000 NTD (~$3500 USD).[They seemed kinda small for 250w of Class A, but what do I know?] I took a photograph.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next room had Wharfedale speakers powered by a Luxman L509Z amp. The amp is available for $358,200NTD (~$12k USD). I left soon after I sat down because I was not impressed with what was emanating from the speakers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Burmester room. I had to pick my jaw off the floor after I caught site of the prices for the speakers and equipment in that room. I didn't bother to write down the prices. The music that was played impressed me as being 'well-behaved' <- That's what I wrote in my notebook. Well-behaved,but not special.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Goldnote room:
2-way standmounts powered by a Class D PA-10 EVO 140w/ch amp. No commentary
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
T+A Audio room:
Broadmann Flagship speakers. WOW! These speakers sound F@@@ing AMAZING!!! I'd sell my house to pay for a pair of these wonderful sounding speakers. ~$260,000USD.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another mortgage the house to pay for this room's system room. MSB Technology amps, preamp, 'gear' + Marten Diamond speakers. I also wrote about another amplifier called the ASR Luna8 Exclusive HV amp for $1,280,000 NTD ($40kUSD) Link: https://tgksound.com.tw/product_detail.php?act=List&PPId=75&Id=63
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next room had Wilson Audio floorstanding speakers - big, expensive, and surprisingly <to me anyway> noticeably bright sounding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Final room that I wrote about:
Borresen M# floorstanding speakers. These are tall, imposing looking speakers. Price: $250,000USD! Of course, they sounded wonderful. They were powered by Aavik gear. I wrote, "Sure, they sound wonderful, but a quarter million USD?? I don't think so." The guy choosing which songs to play was a tall (>6') viking looking guy who's probably pushing 70. He was playing electronica rave music, tapping his toe and obviously enjoying the music. He said hello to me when he noticed the only other non-Asian face in the packed room. I didn't stick around to chat as I was pretty tired by then.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I showed up just a few minutes before Saturday's show began at 10am and stayed until about 30 minutes before the show ended at 6pm. I noticed five other non-Asian attendees wandering the halls at the show that day (not including the guy in the Borresen room). The show was definitely not crowded, but the number of attendees did pick up by around 3 pm. I have photos, but someone needs to tell me how to upload them.
It was not a big show, but Kaohsiung (and southern Taiwan) has far fewer people than the greater Taipei area.
Michael
Thanks for taking the time Michael. A very nice summary. I am surprised the Burmeister room didn't sound better. The T & A and Brodmann room sounds quite interesting. T & A has always intrigued me, but they're a bit pricey and again, another overseas company. Brodmann is Austrian and I've included a link.
https://www.brodmann.at/speakers
The prices for the Wilsons, Borresons, MSB, Zellatons tc. are staggering. I guess these companies have their business models figured out to appeal to the WBF, ultra high end guys.