Munich 2019

This has been an incredible week of traveling around Europe visiting audio and vinyl manufacturers and losing my luggage twice.

"Making Vinyl Berlin" Thursday and Friday May 2nd and 3rd was an impressive success for all involved and a great deal of fun to participate in. More videos coming. Friday evening I flew to Geneva, Switzerland and met up with CH Precision's Florian Cossey and Raphael Pasche for a factory tour. Video coming. Then I was handed off to darTZeel's Hervé Delétraz for a tour of his manufacturing facilities and some quality time listening to his home system where for the first time under excellent acoustical conditions I got to hear what corner Klipschorns can really do. Videos there too.

Later it was off to Zurich (Winterhur) via a three hour late afternoon scenic train ride to HiFiction (Thales) where Micha Huber showed me his bright, airy facility that looked just as I'd imagined it would. I got to adjust the suspension on a rebuilt EMT cartridge (or attempt to). At least nothing broke. (Funny videos coming).

From there I flew to Prague, Czech Republic where GZ Media's Michael Sterba and his staff took me on a memorable tour of their large factory that's been around since the Soviet era. I got to press a record and managed not to get by hand turned into one in the process. Videos there too

Then it was back to Berlin where late Tuesday evening Optimal Media's Andreas Kohl picked me up at the airport minus my luggage that unfortunately had not made the trip and drove me a few hours to Röbel, Germany where on Wednesday I spent the day touring Optimal's impressive, architecturally spectacular manufacturing facility and separate studio that included five Neumann lathes. Of course there will be videos.

Wednesday afternoon we drove back to Berlin where I was reunited with my luggage and boarded a Frankfurt-based plane and then one to Munich, arriving last night again minus my luggage!

So I write this from Munich Thursday morning. The show begins in two hours. Fortunately I packed the camcorder and charger in my hand luggage so show coverage will not be affected, though I will be dressed down. However, my friend Maier Shadi of The Audio Salon drove over last light from his hotel to lend me some socks and underwear (that's what friends are for!), though I washed my Tommy Johns last night and they may be dry enough for me to wear (I know, TMI).

But before show coverage here's a video of M&M shopping for records in Portland, Oregon where Mr. Lui lives. It posted last night and already has almost 3000 views! I worried that people might not enjoy watching us shop for records, but the kid's a star and draws a crowd. Stay tuned for show coverage with video (depending upon Internet upload speed) here and on Twitter and Facebook as time allows during the show and certainly afterwards.