Here is a wonderful review by Matthias Brötzmann.
Matthias is a loudspeaker designer from Berlin who spent many hours listening in our room and these are his impressions:
You can read the original on Matthias’s own web-site.
Sound Galleries presented a system of a special kind at High End Munich. The aim of Sound Galleries is to reproduce the most natural Sound possible. To accomplish this Sound Galleries uses a special selection of transducers and amplifiers. The selection of pre-amplifiers and DACs demanded special care. The sound emanated from the Avantgarde Duo Omegas. The mystery though is not so much the Duo Omegas themselves, but rather, the interplay of the premium power amps (monoblocks) of Audiopax : Maggiore M50’s and the Avantgarde speakers, as well as the Lampizator BIG 7 and a media player prototype based on Win 10 preview. These, in conjunction with the L50 Audiopax preamplifier resulted in an almost unattainable level of Sound Quality, which can only be surpassed by a visit to a world-class concert. The System was wired with Tellurium Q cable throughout.
Sound impression
At last year’s Swiss High-End (2014), the big Avantgarde Trio could be heard with three pairs of Basshorns – although these reproduced brass and organ music very well, I found that voices had a strong metallic finish to them. Very unnatural – so the concept of Avantgarde horn speakers was a little spoiled to my ears based on that experience. Now Audiopax in combination with Avantgarde, has caused me to revise this opinion! Even Avantgarde’s own room at the High End this year did not manage to equal the experience of Sound Galleries.
A warm, natural sound filled the Sound Galleries space. Horn speakers have an incredible speed and accuracy and even at the lowest volume level, a room-filling sound is available. The bass was precise and explosive.
The well known Bach “Toccata” organ piece was second to none and transformed the small listening room into a cathedral. The blowing of the organ pipes via the marriage of Audiopax and Duo Omega brought me so close to reality, it was as if you were sitting right in front of the organ.
This was followed by a violin concerto of Paganini, and now the small room was transformed into a Philharmonic concert hall. Before the mind’s eye an orchestra builds up, you can see the silky sheen of the violins and cellos, the bodies of the instruments vibrated and ascended through the rosin, which you could almost smell, the sounds floated so naturally and effortlessly through the room, completely detached from the transducers. The gentle highs and deep bass rounded out the sound.
A bit smaller and softer, was ‘Caetano Veloso’s’ “Terra”. His voice floated through the room and the chords of his Guitar sounded gently. You could almost picture him wrapped in the clusters of notes issuing from his guitar.
The day ended with ‘Etta Cameron’s’ version of ”What a wonderful world” from her self titled “Etta” album. Soft saxophone and trumpet made for a lovely entry accompanied by other mystical sounds to enchant the listener, pulling him under the spell. Etta’s bluesy voice is powerful and expressive. The feeling that she brings while singing through the Audiopax/Avantgarde combination, was as though Etta was standing and singing in front of the listener. Every nuance of her voice was conveyed. Goose bumps were in the offing, while I was completely immersed, and enchanted by the feelings she invoked.
What a wonderful World!