Audio Video Show 2023, Warsaw

Founded 27 years in the past, the Audio Video Show in Warsaw occurred for the twenty fifth time this yr. We all know the explanation for this mathematical imbalance, however there may be completely no hint of any after-effects to be felt: as common, the commerce honest unfold throughout three packed venues – and likewise as common, the environment was improbable.

160 rooms, 150 exhibitors, 600 manufacturers. Like the High End, solely a little bit smaller, you may suppose at first look – and also you’d be manner off the mark: The Audio Video Show in Warsaw is so refreshingly completely different from every other commerce present, it’s a particular spotlight for us yearly. Formally, the second largest hi-fi commerce honest in Europe could largely comply with the mannequin of a traditional resort commerce honest, however the music, the viewers, the environment – as an audiophile specifically, you need to see and listen to it at the least as soon as. B2B is clearly within the background right here; the Warsaw occasion is all in regards to the finish shopper. And it’s not simply the exception that he’s an reality a she; additionally, considerably lower than half of the guests are gray-haired: The established physician or architect is after all represented, however youngsters additionally scurry curiously from room to room, moms information their awestruck children by means of the demonstrations – the Warsaw commerce honest is refreshingly in contact with the typical shopper.

Of course, mentioned common shopper just isn’t primarily listening to Anette Askvik or Patricia Barber – the assorted rooms leak a colourful combination of Toni Braxton, Hans Zimmer, Pink Floyd and lots of others. Here and there, exhausting techno or Rammstein will also be heard. Don’t fear: audiophile fare can be on provide, however not at all dominates the honest’s basic sound. The environment is refreshingly unpretentious: mass producers resembling JBL, Pioneer and Onkyo exhibit social gathering audio system and inexpensive AV receivers within the quick neighborhood of high-end producers resembling McIntosh, Wilson Audio and Audio Group Denmark, who display what’s technically attainable to precisely the identical “unspoiled” viewers.

In between, varied producers entice guests with wheels of fortune, lottery drums and different competitions to burn themselves completely into their reminiscences with small devices and actual prizes resembling headphones or good audio system. Top-class house cinema techniques aren’t solely being demoed with blockbusters and rock live shows, in lots of locations video games consoles are additionally linked for everybody to strive their hand at, at Pioneer there may be even a Simrig full with racing seat, pressure suggestions steering wheel and a critical pedal set, a sofa racer is sharpening his expertise on the most recent Forza title – that’s the way you develop new hi-fi audiences!

The Radisson Blu Sobieski Hotel has been the primary occasion venue for the reason that very starting, however has lengthy since run out of house to host the whole occasion. In addition to the Golden Tulip diagonally reverse, the AVS has additionally been utilizing the Warsaw soccer stadium “PGE Narodowy” since 2015 – the chance to look out onto the pitch by means of the window entrance on the entrance wall of the listening rooms alone creates a really particular aptitude, whereas the DJ duo within the lobby does the remainder to reliably maintain out any trace of mud and crustiness.

Also in keeping with the pursuits of a youthful clientele, a beneficiant space within the stadium is reserved completely for head-fi. Tables with quite a few listening stations are lined up in a spacious, all the time busy lobby and collectively kind Poland’s largest headphone zone. From Audeze to Sennheiser to Warwick Acoustics, every part will be discovered right here, and people searching for one thing particular can even flick through a choice of customization choices resembling third social gathering ear pads for his or her audiophile headgear.

The group is superb, by the best way: when you solely need to cross an – admittedly large – intersection diagonally to get from the Sobieski to the Golden Tulip or vice versa, the PGE is an effective hour’s stroll from each inns. The greatest approach to cowl the gap is to take the shuttle bus, which shuttles forwards and backwards between the Sobieski Hotel and the PGE Stadium each half hour. This means you by no means have to attend too lengthy for the following departure, and the journey itself takes a superb ten minutes. So in case you are there all day, you’ll be able to change areas a number of occasions for those who like. Nevertheless, a little bit pre-planning remains to be extremely really useful – there’s a lot to see and listen to, and the lengthy weekend might be over prior to you suppose…

A Cornucopia Of Curiosities

…particularly while you wish to actually take within the sheer breadth and variety of the exhibitions on provide. The high quality of the expertise at any hi-fi commerce honest is set by the tools on show. The common large names resembling Accuphase, Bowers & Wilkins, DALI, Innuos and Transrotor are after all represented, as are the massive native heroes: Fezz, Pylon, Lampizator, Taga Harmony, to call a number of of the weightier names. But an enormous cause to go to such an occasion is after all the chance to look past the horizon, to producers which are extra off the crushed observe within the hi-fi panorama – and it’s exactly on this regard that Warsaw historically has an entire cornucopia of exotics and curiosities to supply.

While a lot of the resort rooms within the Radisson Blu are fairly cozy, there’s a room on the second ground that appears surprisingly empty regardless of its dimensions being an identical: a freely positioned, technoid-looking model consisting of a torso and head dominates the room. What at first look might be mistaken for an especially elaborate headphone stand – the pinnacle is adorned with a Stax electrostat – really offers amplification by way of the torso part.

A fast sound verify is convincing, however anybody who thinks the set up is a head-fi system with a wow impact can be flawed: As the mischievously smiling demonstrator explains to me, the answer to the puzzle lies within the head part: A unadorned clockwork is ticking away nearly the place you’ll anticipate finding the mind. It is actually a cooperation with a famend Swiss producer, the item is primarily a luxurious clock – the high-end headphone system is simply an additional, so to talk.

The coronary heart on the skin

The Forum DIYAudio.pl room is value a go to yearly – right here you’ll be able to admire the creations of the Polish DIY scene: All of them constructed with top-of-the-shelf parts, a few of them fairly experimental designs. Electronics and crossovers are on open show right here, inviting curious glances.

This yr, the vary of approaches to cupboard design was significantly putting: a pair of tiny audio system that would each match within the palm of my hand demonstrated how clear a 3D-printed cupboard can look, whereas the alternative pole was fashioned by two capital standmounts that depend on the inertia of roughly textured concrete.

Putting the cart earlier than the horse

When it involves hi-fi, there may be all the time the query of which part is a very powerful – loudspeaker or amplifier? Or the supply maybe? Anyone searching for a controversial opinion on this subject must look no additional than ZenSati’s room. As I enter the room, I believe at first that the demonstration remains to be beneath building: The rack is going through the entrance wall, the whole entrance half of the room is filled with a dense tangle of energy cords, speaker cables and interconnects in shimmering silver braided tubes that make the predicate “thumb-thick” appear to be a kindergarten announcement.

At the splice factors, the mighty rigging gratuitously shows gold plating. The driving electronics from Audio Analogue not solely fade into the background right here, they virtually disappear utterly. The worth for the cabling? Just a quantity – the goal buyer merely takes observe of it and pulls out his black Visa card with out batting an eyelid.

Controlling the whole sign chain

You need to imagine me once I inform you that the pair of JBL L19s within the RT Project room was one thing particular – however on this case it has quite a bit to do with the environmental variables. The solely manufacturing mannequin the younger producer provides is a high-end DAC, obtainable with a transistor, tube or hybrid output stage. For the Warsaw present, nonetheless, the builders have created a greater than full front-end: The DAC feeds a pre/energy amp combo that’s nonetheless within the prototype stage, however whose uncommon kind issue with side-mounted transformers and tubes can be an absolute eye-catcher in any setup.

I write greater than full as a result of RT Project goes one step additional nonetheless: Ultimately, what comes out of the speaker mambranes is basically decided by the crossover, and this was evidently not ok for the Polish engineers – so that they rapidly developed exterior networks whose housings are coupled to the stands of the American standmounts by way of bricks. The consequence was positively value listening to!

If you actually wish to expertise hi-fi in all its aspects, the Audio Video Show in Warsaw is a should – the viewers is simply as colourful because the techniques on show, and the entire thing is embedded in a refreshingly unpretentious, approachable environment. We are already trying ahead to subsequent yr!