Each year I’ve attended High End Munich, one room always stands apart.
From my 2019 High End Munich coverage:
I begin and end every Munich High End Show with a visit to the Silbatone room because I love learning things, I love listening to great (great) music played through a wall of sound driven by a few watts, and I love seeing and talking to some of the people responsible for this room including J.C. Morrison, Frank Schröder, Thomas Schick, and Joe Roberts who unfortunately could not make the tip this year. Yes, there’s a whole lotta love in the Silbatone room, at least for me. This experience also works as a complete reboot of the listening-to-music-on-the-hifi expectation / experience / what we think we know mechanism.
Korea’s Silbatone did not exhibit this year for good reason—they were busy preparing for the opening of the Audeum Audio Museum:
The Audeum Audio Museum was established to promote culture and the arts with sound at center stage. The museum features an extensive world-class collection of sound reproduction equipment dating from the 19th century onwards, housing rarities such as the Edison phonograph and the Western Electric loudspeaker. With a focus on preservation and research, Audeum strives to expand and redefine the conventional listening experience by connecting historical sound reproduction technology with the broader world of art.
Talk of this museum has been floating around for years and I have to admit I thought it was a kind of dream. One of those nearly mad fever dreams that lead people to drag a steam ship over a mountain or quietly create a 15,145-page manuscript for a fantasy novel that was never seen during its creator’s lifetime, a giant museum filled with the rarest-of-rare choicest vintage hifi always sounded nearly too good to be true. Too good to be true because most of the rarest-of-rare choicest stuff ends up in private collections so far from public view it may as well have never existed.
Yet here we are. The Audeum Audio Museum held its opening ceremony on May 30, 2024, with the Grand Opening taking place on June 5.
According to Korea’s NATE, the Audeum Museum “…was built through the legacy of KCC (Kumgang Korea Chemical) founder and late honorary chairman Jeong Sang-young and the private funds of KCC Chairman Chung Mong-jin” and includes 7 floors of exhibition space totaling 224,246M of floor space (that’s a lot). The building was designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and is located “in a residential neighborhood that overlooks the idyllic Cheonggye mountains”.
OK. That looks like a Fellini dream.
The Museum’s first exhibit is titled Jung Eum: In Search of Sound:
Jung Eum (正音): In Search of Sound is a quest for “good sound” or “Jung Eum” as told through Audeum’s collection. The inaugural exhibition presents one definition of “good sound”, out of many, in the form of high fidelity or “Hi-Fi.” This exhibition is the beginning of a journey for visitors to discover the sound that resonates with them the most.
One out of many, indeed.
The Museum’s collection covers music-making machines from the late 1800s up to the 1960s including some of Silbatone’s own stunning electronics created by the extraordinarily able minds and hands Dr. Stephano BAE and JC Morrison.
The Audeum Audio Museum is open Thursday – Saturday, 10:00 – 18:00. Admission is free and by appointment only but you can book online directly from the Audeum website.
I missed High End Munich 2023 so I missed seeing the Silbatone room—Silbatone was founded by Michael Chung who is part of the family behind the Hyundai Group—that more than hinted at the Audeum Audio Museum’s eventuality.