High End 2017: Vitus comes to life with reels and records





It was early on day 1, we had planned our route and I was ready to experience the High End show.  We entered the Vitus room on the 3rd floor, home to Vitus electronics, the VPI Titan turntable, Gobel High End Epoque Fine speakers, Purist Audio Design cables, a Studer Revox A810 reel to reel player. The rooms in Munich are typically bigger then in US shows, and Vitus space looked inviting and was perfectly lit.  It was screaming, sit down, relax, and drop the needle.

The best part of a high end show is connecting with friends and legends in the community.  Catching up, sharing stories, getting the inside scoop and discovering new music.

In the Vitus room, we had an opportunity to catch up with both Hans-Ole Vitus from Vitus and Mat Weisfeld from VPI Industries. 

Hans-Ole Vitus & Mat Weisfeld holding a prototype VPI Fatboy Tonearm

Mat Weisfeld was kind enough to give us the skinny on a new VPI tonearm that is coming soon. More details of the VPI Fatboy tonearm can be found here in our earlier Munich coverage.

In the room we experienced the European debut of VPI flagship turntable the VPI Titan. It was looking delicious on display in the room with two loaded arms:

Hans-Ole Vitus provided some insights to the new Vitus Audio SM-103 Mono Power Amplifier that was being showcased. It looks similar to the prior SM-102 but houses all new electronics, an optimized power supply and 100 watts of Class A power into 8 ohms.

Gobel High End Epoque Fine Loudspeakers were creating music.  They are not your typical looking loudspeaker, since they include a large pending wave driver up top that can deliver 170hz to 30khz with ease.

Lots of talking and I was ready to hear some music. Why not kick off my breakfast with listening to some reel to reel tape to start the day?

In the room they had a wonderful tape from Open Reel in Italy.

You know your listening to music when the demo starts, and you absolutely do not want to get up, or have the person stop the track. Your anxiety to rush to the next room or to complete your show task list, comes to a stop. Its all about music for those few minutes.  The sound of pitch perfect violins were in the room just a few feet away from me and I wish I could take them home.  If you stumble across a vintage Studer Revox A810 reel to reel player, send it my way.

Mohammed Samji