Vienna High End Show 2026 No.2—More New Turntables!

and there's so much more coverage to come

Though Pro-Ject turntables are manufactured in the Czech Republic, Vienna is home to Pro-Ject's founder Heinz Lichtenegger, who pulled out all the stops to create a major impression at this first Vienna High End show. Covering everything new from Pro-Ject and Heinz's other acquisitions takes up a great deal of this video, but of course there's far more and it will require additional videos to cover all that's new in analog this year.

There was even an opportunity to visit Pro-Ject headquarters located just outside of Vienna—as advertised on this sign.

Also new here is coverage of the latest version of the Döhmann Helix 1 turntable, which now includes vacuum hold down, the new Pandora Minor from Aries Cerat, two new turntables from Acoustic Signature, and a trio of new Music Hall prototypes expected to see production in the fourth quarter of 2026.

This is not a "drive by" video that seems to be all too common on YouTube. Instead I engaged the designers and manufacturers to get a more complete picture of the products shown. It was worth the effort.

00:00-00:15 Intro

00:16–18:07 Pro-Ject, Musical Fidelity, E.A.T., Platine Verdier

18:08-21:22 Döhmann Supatrac, Wilson Benesch, Analog Relax 21:22-31:21 Aries Cerat

31:22-36:15 Acoustic Signature

36:16-42:05 Music Hall

42:06- Hilarious end

Comments

2026-06-13 09:40:26 PM

Come on wrote:

50k for retrofitting a (for me) questionable feature in terms of sound quality (vacuum hold down) is quite something. Would be interested in Döhmann‘s sound quality comparisons for just this feature! A bit obsolete imo since there are record flatteners and good clamps. Anyways, I like his products!

And you also asked all the interesting questions at Aries Cerat. Stavros Danos (to whom I talked at one of the earlier shows) for me, similar to Dietrich Brakemeier, is the biggest genius of the scene. Both not only can design everything from turntable over amps to speakers themselves, they do it all on the absolut highest level, they have a comprehensible answer on everything one thinks to know better, they are absolute perfectionists in what they start . Humble, factual geniuses. I asked similar questions to Stavros by then regarding his bigger player and from my understanding of the engineering, his is the only direct drive design without the known main disadvantages against the best belt concepts (besides direct drive‘s advantages). Similar with his linear tracking tonearms (usually not my preference for the usual reasons he however addressed). Moreover he consistently delivers one of the very best sounding setups even in very challenging, bigger or smaller rooms.

He didn’t wear a red dress like Mrs. L., but he and his products convince. I wish I had the money and space. One of the few where crazy prices seem quite reasonable. For me one of the most important stops at any show.