Metaxas Sirens

The Metaxas Siren speakers …. are without reservation stunningly to look at and hear

I was at the Birmingham Audio and AV show yesterday to see the first outing of the (no other words for it) incredible Metaxas and Sins Siren floor standing loudspeaker.  The Metaxas Siren speakers are 100kg each and hewn from 800kg of CNC aluminium in a dozen or so perfectly inter-laced blocks.  The Sirens are, without reservation, stunningly to look at and hear.   Metaxas can only deliver a few a year as they take so long to make but there was no doubt in the conversation we had in the room with others that the Sirens are works of art.  The Sirens were shown at the show driven by the Metaxas Ikarus integrated amplifier with Kostas Mataxas’ own cables and he played several of his own concert recordings to present his works of art.   The Birmingham Audio and AV show is still on on today (Sunday 17th September) and this room is well worth a trip alone.

In the room next door I saw the Metaxas headphone pre-amp, called the Marquis Memento Mori.  The sculpted skull form for the headphone amplifier is also cut from an aluminium block.  The sound in a pair of Sennheisers was stunning, with the eyes showing output levels of each channel with a delicate needle.   Memento mori, I was told, means “remember that you must die” and the Marquis remind us that life is to short to listen to expensive headphones through a boring amplifier!!

Metaxas Memento Mori Marquis

There were two other rooms that particularly caught my eye, or rather my ear.  The Fanthorpes HiFi room was demonstrating the PMC fact 12s and the sound was stunning.  I have confirmed I must try harder with PMC, what a great sound.

The best room with easily the highest impact on my ears was the Jern speakers room.  These Danish designed speakers are rounded in design and cast in iron!  They were minimalist, beautiful but weighed in at 14kg each.  The proposition in the room was that with an iPod, a small integrated amp, a REL subwoofer and these two speakers you can achieve an incredible sound for your money, and it was a fantastic image.  It made me wonder why I have a pile of glowing green eyes (Naim boxes) in my lounge when I can achieve similar with such a minimalist set up and a smaller cheque.   Of course we all know the answer to that….   Take a more detailed look at the speakers here. 

Other rooms of note for me, Bluesound wireless streaming  and Lockwood Speakers both had a great rooms.   Tibo electronics, a newer lifestyle audio range, had a very interesting room and finally I caught a glimpse of the new Audiolab 6000 series, which will be due for Christmas, apparently.

Hop along to Birmingham Audio and AV Show today whilst you can at the ICC on Broad Street.