The Kempinski in Frankfurt will always hold a special place in the history and development of High End Audio in Germany. At its peak the Frankfurt High End Audio Show was the World’s leading Audio Exhibit. Step forward almost two-decades to 2013 and across Germany to Munich and Wilson Benesch and CH Precision have been reawakening some of those fond Kempinski memories from the 1990s.

Set against the backdrop of one of Europe’s finest Hotels, along one of Europe’s most affluent boulevard’s the Wilson Benesch Cardinal and CH Precision Electronics created a presentation that can lay claim to being one of the finest sounds of the Munich High End 2013. Following the excellent response from the British public in February’s Sound & Vision Show, the verdict has been unanimous once again.

Here is a collection of comments we received from the Show,

“The new Cardinal flagship loudspeakers demonstrated a level I didn’t imagine was even possible. Much enjoyed!” ~ Eric Finsas, Pilar Audio, Norway

“The Cardinal moved me deeply and was able to impress us all on an intellectual / technical level as well, what a fantastic product!” Garmt van der Zel, Netherlands

“Cardinals are really something else. Excellent speakers to say the least!!” Boris Granovsky, Absolute HiEnd, Australia

“The best speaker I have ever heard!” Reiner, taurus high end, Germany

We would like to thank everyone who attended the Kempinski presentation. We would also like to make a special thanks to our partner at the show CH Precision, who’s dedication and hard work throughout the presentation made for a very special show with great success.

See you again next year.

Cardinal Flagship Loudspeaker set for Prestigious European Launch
Munich High End 2013

The location for a high end audio exhibition is every bit as important as the product. For this reason Wilson Benesch have carefully selected one of Europe’s finest Hotels for the European Launch of the new flagship loudspeaker, The Cardinal. The luxurious Kempinski Hotel is positioned right at the heart of Munich on Maximilianstrasse. Flanked by Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Cartier, the district is a center for art and fashion.

Wilson Benesch will collaborate with leading Swiss Electronic Engineers CH Precision, who kindly invited Wilson Benesch to partner the Cardinal with their reference quality electronics. The CH Precision portfolio includes designs that deliver Silver Disc Replay, Digital to Analogue Conversion as well as equally superb Amplification. In the true spirit of Engineering, Wilson Benesch and CH Precision have designed the amplification and the Cardinal wiring to optimise the system architecture in terms of local feedback, meeting the requirements of different drive units. This unique design feature will take full advantage of the Cardinal’s equally unique elemental design that lays claim to being virtually absent of filter distortions. The synergy and immediacy of these systems is a landmark development that represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of audio reproduction.

Experience the State of The Art within the Art house of the Kempinski Four Seasons, Munich.

This is a public event, free entry.

For all Press and VIP meeting requests please contact Luke Milnes – media@wilson-benesch.com.

Date: Thursday 9th May ~ Saturday 11th May 2013
Time: 10.00 – 18.00
Location: Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski
Salon Europa
Maximilianstrasse 17
80539 Munich, Germany

Wilson Benesch would like to welcome you to a special open day with one of the North England’s premier dealers, Moorgate Acoustics.

The open day will provide clients with a unique opportunity to experience Wilson Benesch’s new flagship loudspeaker, The Cardinal. Following the UK Premier at the Bristol SAV and a superb double issue review in the UKs premier Audio Journal, HIFI+, this really is an opportunity not to be missed.

The sound produced by the Cardinal is uncannily coherent and well-integrated, musically, spatially and temporally contiguous – to a degree that is frankly astonishing for a speaker system in which each cabinet consists of two enclosures and nine drivers… The Cardinal is, by some considerable margin and on any terms, the best speaker that Wilson Benesch has ever made ~ Roy Gregory, HIFI+

The demonstration will be in collaboration with Chord Electronics, who will be demonstrating the DSX1000 streamer, Hi-Fi World’s Best CD player of 2012, the Red Reference MkIII, the CPA5000 pre and SPM6000 power.

This is a unique opportunity to experience true British High-End Audio at its finest. We look forward to meeting each of you there.

More information about the Cardinal, including the premier UK review can be found on the Cardinal product page.

Room 1:
Wilson Benesch Cardinal Loudspeakers
Wilson Benesch Torus Infrasonic Generators x 2
Wilson Benesch Torus Amplifiers x 2
Chord SPM 6000 MK-II Mono Power Amplifiers x 2
Chord CPA 5000 Pre-Amplifier
Chord DSX 1000 High End Network Player
Chord Red Reference MK-III CD Player
Wilson Benesch Full Circle Turntable, Nanotube Tonearm, Carbon Cartridge
Clearer Audio Silver Line Optimus Reference XLR Interconnects Throughout

Room 2:
Wilson Benesch Vector Loudspeakers
Chord SPM 1200 MK-II Power Amplifier
Chord CPA 3000 Pre-Amplifier
Chord DSX 1000 High End Network Player

Room 3:
Wilson Benesch Square Two Loudspeakers
Chord CPM 3350 Stereo Integrated Amplifier

Date: Saturday 23rd March 2013, 12.00 – 17.00
Location: Moorgate Acoustics, 184 Fitzwilliam Street, S1 4JR, Sheffield

Dimitri Toniolo invited Betty Boo to the latest exhibition to feature the all New, Award winning Square Series II. The set up attracted enthusiastic listeners who drew inspiration from a system comprised of equally notable components from NuForce Amplification and a digital source courtesy of Metronome.

“This system represents extraordinary value for money. It is a great example of what Affordable High End is all about.” Quote from Owner and Managing Director of Mad For Music SAS, Dimitri Toniolo our good friend and long term partner in Italy.

Mad For Music SAS
Via Marco Ulpio Traiano 53
20149 Milano (MI)
Italy
Tel: +39 02 327 2080

With the Wilson Benesch Glass House still warm from our 5-day residence, our team, along with the 180-kg per channel Cardinal Loudspeakers have returned to our HQ in Sheffield.

The first port of call as ever is to thank all those who attended. Each year we greet many familiar faces and this year many of those faces greeted us in return with a wider smile than ever having experienced the sonics presented in this years setup. But also we would like to extend our gratitude to Jerry Lewin, Tony Revelle, Gay Brown and all the Team at Audio T for organising another fantastic Sound and Vision Show. The show will be 27-years young next time around and remains without doubt the leading exhibition in the UK.

Cardinal UK Premier

The Cardinal Premier was, by some way, the most exotic demonstration Wilson Benesch has assembled for the Sound and Vision Show to date – being the UK Premier of our latest flagship loudspeaker we felt it was important to share a really special experience with our audience. The Premier UK Review of the Cardinal arrived immediately prior to the Exhibition. Roy’s review like the product is reference quality and it informed the system setup.

The Wilson Benesch Cardinal is as impressive from a sonic perspective as it is in pure engineering terms – and that’s really saying something. Here we have a product where innovation and execution are perfectly in accord with purpose

- Roy Gregory, Cardinal Review, HIFI+

The Cardinal loudspeaker was joined by two Torus Infrasonic Generators with dedicated Torus Amplifiers wired in stereo and crossed over at 33Hz. In turn each Cardinal was bi-amped by a dedicated “power amplifier”. The Cardinal Isobaric Tactic-II System and lower mid-range Tactic-II with one dedicated half and the upper mid-range Tactic-II and the Semisphere Tweeter for the other half. This arrangement provided dedicated power and control to the important elements of the Cardinal design and separated the Troika arrangement according to the most delicate bandwidth associated with the upper mid range and tweeter frequencies which the ear is most sensitive to.

Reference System informed by the Cardinal Review

Traditionally Wilson Benesch present a guest amplifier in the room each year. Our selection is usually informed by synergy within the design philosophy of the two products, in particular we pay special attention to unique designs that have often taken a very different approach, rejecting the status quo. This years choice was no exception to the rule; a choice that was made all the more easy by the fact that this was the same set of amplifiers used during Roy Gregory’s two-part review of the Cardinal.

The Siltech Saga amplifiers are truly class leading and are a totally new amplifier concept. Consisting of two P1 Current Amplifiers setup in stereo, fed by the battery powered C1 valve control amplifier and the battery powered V1 amplifier which uses tubes for variable voltage gain. These together form – kind of – the SAGA equivalent of a regular power amplifier. Its a very interesting approach, those interested can read a little more here, I have been reliably informed there is a full review in progress.

At the front end was the Wilson Benesch Full Circle, complete with the Nanotube Tonearm and the Carbon Cartridge. With digital front end supplied by the dCS Vivaldi DAC, fed by the Aurender Reference Music Server.

All cabling requirements were provided by our long term partner Clearer Audio. The excellent Silver Line Optimus Reference was fitted throughout the chain, from interconnects to power cables and conditioners. More information about these Reference quality cables can be found via the links to all our partners below.

A New Setup

Regulars will have noted we opted for an entirely new room layout. Bordered along the rear wall by a huge black 6-meter long temporary wall loaded with rockwool and neatly finished with a bold white Wilson Benesch logo. The presentation was sonically the most impressive achieved to date. We have been very grateful for all the positive feedback received, both personally and via our twitter feed. Many have asked about the system architecture, with a fair few queries about the combined cost of the setup in the room this year. The latter part I will leave to you, but here is the full system list.

Full System List
Wilson Benesch Cardinal Loudspeakers
Wilson Benesch Torus Infrasonic Generator x 2
Wilson Benesch Torus Amplifier x 2
Wilson Benesch Full Circle Turntable
Wilson Benesch Nanotube Tonearm
Wilson Benesch Carbon Cartridge
Wilson Benesch Full Circle Stand

Siltech SAGA (Structural Amplifier Gain Architecture)
SAGA C1 Battery Powered Valve Control Amp
SAGA V1 Battery Powered Valve Voltage Gain Amp
SAGA P1 Current Amp x 2

dCS Vivaldi DAC
Aurender W20 Reference Music Server
Stillpoints Racks x 2

Clearer Audio Silver-Line Optimus Reference Interconnects
Clearer Audio Silver-Line Optimus 110 Digital Interconnects
Clearer Audio Silver-Line USB Interconnect
Clearer Audio Silver-Line Optimus Reference Speaker Cables
Clearer Audio Silver Line Optimus Power Cables