Show report: Munich High End 2008 pt4

Quad Platinum range Quad took the opportunity to launch the first of a new electronics range dubbed Platinum, this pre/power pairing comes in at €2,500 apiece in Germany. Information was non existent but I could see that both had balanced connections and discovered that the power amp is a 200-watter, a CD player and monoblock amp are apparently in the pipeline.

Meridian DSP 7200 loudspeaker Meridian's range of active digital loudspeakers has been augmented with the DSP 7200. At £17,950 it's the second most expensive in the range and incorporates DSP coding to time align the drivers and a connection system that combines Meridian comms and a digital signal in one cable.

Rega Ios phono stage Rega has been working on a serious phono stage for some time and it chose Munich to launch the final unit. Dubbed Ios (€2,299) it features variable impedance, load and gain with three filter settings.

Gamut S9 loudspeaker Gamut's Superior series is its most ambitious yet and the S9 (€95,000) was one of the most expensive at this show. Its bass drivers have wooden plugs attached to the dust caps for mass damping and the case is made of birch ply overlaid with 9mm solid wood. It weighs 185kg and stands 1.7metres tall.

Sigma Audio Concepts system This Italian company wins my award for best suspended system of the show, with slings for speakers and cradles for amplifiers it shows that there certainly is yet another way to skin the audiophile cat! Their slogan “The music meets the right way”.

B&W CT 700 home theatre system(image B&W CT 7.4 LCRS) B&W followed its full-on CT800 custom theatre system with a version that's less expensive and less space consuming, the CT700 series is still serious and will set you back in the region of £25,00 for a full surround rig. It's designed to be built in to a home cinema proper and includes company's Kevlar FST midrange drivers and Nautilus tube loaded tweeters.

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