This is the quintessence of the Munich show. Actually there is no such thing as a Munich show without this one room, a trademark by all means. The Silbatone room with, as always, a blast from the past mixed with some modern electronics.
This year around the Korean fanatics brought a pair of Western Electric 11A horns from 1924. Yes, that is indeed 1924, horns designed some 92 years ago. In their own words “The goal of Silbatone Acoustics is to recreate the excitement and listening pleasure of great classic theater gear for the contemporary home listener.” Guess what? They pulled another amazing show.
How amazing? Best Callas I’ve heard in a show room, bar none. There, I’ve said it.
The system included tube amplifiers built around some of the earliest 20th century tubes like the VT-1 and VT-2 (100 year old tubes!) along with a Gararrd 301turntable with Thomas Schick’s tonearm and a VdH MC cartridge. No other room had so many visitors because no other room had Callas singing live Verdi’s arias. That Columbia LP played through the 1924 horns gave me the goosebumps. As I said a couple of years back, this room alone is worth the ticket to the Munich show. If you want to be called “petrolhead” you must have owned an Alfa Romeo at some point in your life and if you consider yourself an audiophile, you must have attended at least ones the Silbatone demo in Munich.
That there is some weird s___! Would love to hear it. If I ever finally make it to Europe, I shall make it a priority to hear this demo.
You should visit the Munich show James. Amazing gear and you get to meet cool people too 😉