High-End Vienna 2026 - anyone coming?

[Vuki]

Hello,
a vidéo with exceptional Systems and the Best Sound of the Show

Tnx for the video. What was The best sound of the Show?

 

[Frank Dernie]

Out of curiosity, which of your speakers do you *enjoy* listening to the most ?

Goldmund Epilog 1&2

 

[Gregm]

Goldmund Epilog 1&2

Impressive speakers!
I have a pair of speakers manufactured by the designer of the Epilogues

 

[Frank Dernie]

Impressive speakers!
I have a pair of speakers manufactured by the designer of the Epilogues

Stenheim?

 

[Gregm]

Stenheim?

No, Apertura.

 

[Hifiverse]

I was very impressed by the new Constellation Audio monoblocks at the exhibition - the WA speakers have never sounded as good as they did with them. And the Cessaro room - the full acoustic treatment did its job, and the mastodons performed simply superbly.

A large photo report from the exhibition (more than 500 photos) is posted here

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/high-end-vienna-2026-full-photo-report-part-1

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-2

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-3

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-4

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-5

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-6

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-7

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-8

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-9

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-10

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-11

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-12

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-13

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-14

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-15

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-16

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-17

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-18

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-19

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-20

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-21

https://www.hifiverse.io/articles/audio/highend-vienna2026-22

 

[Jeromeof]

So I originally planned to write up a long post with various notes I took during Vienna High End - but unfortunately I had some laptop troubles and while I ended up eventually recovering most of my photos, I did lost most of the text associated, but I thought why not post some more pictures of the event anyway.

So apologizes for the lack of descriptions on most of these photos:

]

Dutch & Dutch - 8c I believe sounded great ( I had the room to myself ):

I also liked the Harbeth setup:

New Kanto TUK speakers:

Canton:

Marble Speakers :

My first floorstanders where Castle - so nice to see them back:

I thought this was interesting Swan going for a Genelec look:

Cambridge:

Ruark:

Some internals:

 

[Sal1950]

If there was more actual engineering there rather than as Fred said, ‘excess’.
Keith

Isn't that what "High End" is all about, excessssss ?

 

[Salt]

So I originally planned to write up a long post with various notes I took during Vienna High End - but unfortunately I had some laptop troubles and while I ended up eventually recovering most of my photos, I did lost most of the text associated, but I thought why not post some more pictures of the event anyway.

So apologizes for the lack of descriptions on most of these photos:

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Dutch & Dutch - 8c I believe sounded great ( I had the room to myself ):
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I also liked the Harbeth setup:
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New Kanto TUK speakers:
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Canton:

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Marble Speakers :
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My first floorstanders where Castle - so nice to see them back:
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I thought this was interesting Swan going for a Genelec look:
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Cambridge:
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Ruark:
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Some internals:
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Much appreciated, and thanks for focusing on loudspeakers.

 

[Jeromeof]

Here are some more photos:

I don't Andrew Jones wasn't there ( but these Mofi were setup ):

Of course Wilson Audio speakers were in a few rooms:

PMC:

Indiana Line had a good setup:

 

[Jeromeof]

And the final selection - apologies if there are duplicates but as I mentioned I only recovered these today so I don't really have time to sort them too much:

More Ruark Speakers:

More Kanto speakers the Ventos:

With some prototype speakers:

As I mentioned Swan earlier had a good setup I thought:

Some smaller bluetooth speakers where also on show:

More Dutch & Dutch photos:

My wife would have loved the look of these:

 

[MattHooper]

Thanks for all the photos. Very nice.

One comment: I’m not impressed by manufacturers who still haven’t moved over to magnetically attached grill covers. I hate the speakers that you have to pull out of the grill pins, that leave pock marks all over the baffle when the grills are off.

 

[ivayvr]

Electronically attached grill covers?

 

[Puddingbuks]

Thanks for all the photos. Very nice.

One comment: I’m not impressed by manufacturers who still haven’t moved over to magnetically attached grill covers. I hate the speakers that you have to pull out of the grill pins, that leave pock marks all over the baffle when the grills are off.

Agreed. Visible screws also not a fan of.

 

[MattHooper]

Agreed. Visible screws also not a fan of.

Yup. Really annoys me.

For instance this loudspeaker, it captured my eye I thought the finish and design looked quite nice, but then my eye travels to the woofer and the ugly screws, and it’s like I hear a brake screech:

 

[sergeauckland]

You don't see any screws with decent grilles! This modern fashion for leaving grilles off I think makes all loudspeakers look worse.

S.

 

[MattHooper]

You don't see any screws with decent grilles! This modern fashion for leaving grilles off I think makes all loudspeakers look worse.

I tend to agree. As I’ve said before here, I prefer generally not to see speaker drivers.

The problem is that most high end brands tend to design for the speakers to sound best without grills, which also has the secondary effect that the speaker grill designs themselves are like after thoughts. Supplied “ if you have cats” but not necessarily meant for listening. And so they tend to be not aesthetically well integrated with the design of the speaker. To me many speakers look like the equivalent of Band-Aids, stuck on a speaker.

That’s why I’m happy with certain brands that design grills both sonically and aesthetically with the speakers in mind. Like my Thiel speakers which are designed to be listened to with the grills on and the grills are beautifully inset into the front baffle, keeping smooth, contemporary lines:

Harbeth is another brand that comes to mine that looks good and sounds best with the grills on.

My Joseph Audio speakers are designed to sound best without the grills, but I keep the grills on when I’m not listening. They’re not inset like the Thiels, but as speaker grills go I find these to be satisfactory:

That said, the Joseph drivers - including the high-quality SEAS graphene woofers, to me are one of the more attractive set of drivers on a speaker. They have a high-quality luxurious materials look in person. I like the way the copper phase plug sort of ties in with the copper ring around the tweeter. They do have exposed screws, but fortunately they are dark black, and don’t jump out at me as much:

But for listening to music, I often have the lights down anyway, so I don’t see the drivers when I’m listening: