Audio Video Show Warsaw 2026 Report Part One – The Golden Tulip

October 27, 2026

AV SHOW WARSAW 2026 REPORT FROM THE GOLDEN TULIP HOTEL

Audio Video Show Warsaw 2026 Report Part One - The Golden Tulip
av show warsaw report
Warsaw hifi show 2026

Stu and Lin kick things off with the first part of our Audio Video Show Warsaw 2026 Report, featuring our coverage from the Golden Tulip Hotel venue.

The Audio Video Show Warsaw has been running since 1997 and has grown into one of the biggest HiFi shows in Europe, and it remains one of our absolute favourites. We love Warsaw as a city, we love the people, and we love the atmosphere that surrounds this event. It’s a show that has grown enormously over the ten years, or so we’ve been attending, and what Linette and I once managed to cover pretty much between us is now impossible.

AUDIO VIDEO SHOW WARSAW 2026 – ONE HUGE SHOW, THREE DIFFERENT VENUES

This year the show featured 196 demonstration rooms, 262 exhibitors and 610 brands spread across three venues: PGE Narodowy, the Radisson Blu Sobieski and the Golden Tulip. We’ve split our coverage into three parts, and even with four of us working pretty much non-stop across the three venues, getting around everything is a task that takes us right to the wire. And it’s not just the size of the show that has grown, but the number of people attending. At times it can feel almost too busy, with some rooms absolutely packed, but I suppose that’s a rather nice problem for an organiser to have.

One of the things I particularly like about the Warsaw show is the sheer variety of people who come through the doors. On Sunday especially, you see what are clearly groups of workmates out together, couples enjoying a day out, families with children, and, of course, the more traditional HiFi enthusiasts. Adam, who organises the event, has done a fantastic job of making this a show that appeals to a genuinely broad cross-section of music lovers, rather than just the usual HiFi crowd, and that’s something I think deserves recognition.

A huge thank you to Adam and all his team for the work they put into making this happen, and also to the staff at the Sobieski Hotel, who looked after us so well throughout our stay. Warsaw is a city we always look forward to returning to, and the Audio Video Show continues to be one of the highlights of our HiFi calendar.

We would also like to thank our coverage sponsor, British cable brand Tellurium Q, more from them, and their Polish distributor, Szymański Audio, to follow in our reports.

Please note, all content and photos are the copyright of HiFi PiG Magazine/Big Pig Media LLP and must not be copied or reproduced in any way without the prior, written consent of the editor.

AV SHOW WARSAW REPORT PART ONE THE GOLDEN TULIP

The smallest venue of the show, the Golden Tulip hosts large, high end rooms and has a relaxed atmosphere, perfect for chilled out listening.

AVATAR AUDIO

I normally sit at the back of this room, but for some reason today I chose to sit at the front in the “relative” hotspot, and I’m really pleased I had this opportunity as the sound, even slightly off to the right of centre, was really quite holographic, which, given the speakers are from a brand called Holopholy, is quite a good thing. The specific speakers were the Number 2, which are the second-largest speakers in the company’s range and are 95dB sensitive. The amp being used was a new one on me too and was from Audio Akustyka – actually, it’s a Class A amp and DAC. There was power conditioning from Aulnes, and it all sounded really good considering this is a show environment. I’d really like to hear these at home someday based on the brief amount of time I had to hear them today listening to The Beatles.

NATURAL SOUND

The Natural Sound was a bit of an oasis of calm as we walked in, and the room was dominated by a massive pair of speakers that are a custom-made affair by Adam Krauzer at Natural Sound. The amp and preamp were from Audio Techkne from Japan. CDs were playing classical music when we were in the room, but I had a look around, and there were no less than three reel-to-reel players in the room, along with a rather splendid-looking valve pre for the reel-to-reel players.

RCM AUDIO

From the darkened spaces of the last two rooms, we walked into a space that was really quite bright and airy. The system was fronted by a pair of Gauder Akustic Elargo speakers. At the business end of the system were a CEC CD5 belt-drive CD player and a Kuzma Stabi 5 turntable. Elins Audio electronics finished off this system with the whole lot being placed on NEO audio racks. The music wasn’t really to my taste (it rarely is at the Warsaw show, if I’m honest) but you could hear that this was a nicely put-together system that will sound excellent in the right environment.

NAUTILUS 1

This was a busy room even at only a little after the doors opened.

Lumen White Anapurna speakers fronted this system, and they’re certainly a statement speaker that use at least one driver from Accuton. Valve electronics were from Ayon in the shape of the Vulcan Evo Trio, Spheris Evo-Ultimate, Iris and Kronos. The turntable was the massively impressive Transrotor Tourbillon. Cables were by Siltech Crown.

There were talks going on when we got in the room, and whilst the first bit was in Polish, the next was in English. We were told that the speakers are easy to drive and can be driven easily by the valve-based system. We were also told that the room had no room treatment.

When music was played on the Tourbillon, we got to listen to some classical music by way of easing us into the day before switching over to the Lumin White streamer and some classical guitar music – which was actually very impressive.

NAUTILUS 2

Another room playing female vocals (actually, this was quite nice). This system was fronted by a pair of the amazing Extreme Forza Ultra speakers in a “petra gold” finish and costing a whopping 169K. Power amps were the Italian-made Audio Strumento 8 Signature monos with a Strumento 8 Signature preamplifier in front of them (around 120K). The DAC is the Dforzato from Audio Flight at 35 K, and the 80K Transrotor Tourbillon FMD was playing records. Cables were all Siltech Master Crown at …wait for it…220K. Acoustic Diffusors were by RD Acoustics. Lurking on the static benches was a Vinnie Rossi Preamplifier.

All in all, this system is in the region of half a million euros, but it looks the part, and had I the money, I’d have the guys from Elstelon bring these speakers over to our house for a proper audition… and perhaps the guys from Audia Flight, too!

GROBEL AUDIO, JADIS, SOYATON

The Grobel Audio room is always a bit of a treat at the Warsaw Show and one I invariably remember being in. This system was fronted by a pair of Grobel Audio Accordo Essence speakers with Jadis electronics from France in a supporting role. Specifically, we had the JD-2 CD drive. The ODE (2 x 25W) class A amp, the JS5 DAC and a CD player from JADIS that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the Starship Enterprise. The cables throughout the system were from Soyaton, who were launching their new range at the show. Specifically, the cables were the Meister speaker cables, with the rest of the loom being Soyaton Benchmark. A Studer reel-to-reel player was looming large in the background of this system, and I’m pleased to say that we lingered around long enough to hear it being played. Again, not the ideal environment for a system to be playing in (one wall was all glass), but it did sound remarkably good, with a very deep soundstage. Again, I was not disappointed with this room!

VITUS AUDIO, YG, AND PLIXIR

Plixir are a Singapore-based manufacturer of power conditioning products that I’d really like to explore more at home. The full list of the kit in this room was: Vitus Audio RI-101 Mk II integrated amp with DAC and streamer modules, PLiXiR BAC 2000 MKII power conditioner and Supreme Power cables. The speakers were the YG Acoustics Vesper 3 (only making their second-ever appearance and “barely launched” yet), and the rack was by Neo. Cables were all Furutech and the room treatment was by Ortvik.

Magnetic Lines by Boris Blank was playing, and when that first bass note hit, I looked up in a “WTF” kind of way. This system could have been way too much in this room – or rather, the team could have gone for much bigger speakers and really overpowered the room. They chose smaller speakers, and I think they made the perfect decision!

GALERIA AUDIO

Zellaton speakers fronted this system, with Aries Cerat’s Kassandra II DAC and TLA electronics, plus Schnerzinger cables and protection products in a supporting role. A Reed turntable was being played, and it all made a very nice noise in a very busy room with standing room only – though a very helpful young man took pity and offered his seat.

There were also various stands in between the rooms.

THE PATIO

This was a wholly new space for the Golden Tulip, and despite being cavernous and with loads of glass, it sounded not too shabby at all.

Albedo loudspeakers from Italy fronted this system with a Benny Audio turntable at the front end. Faber’s cables and a MYTEK streamer were in evidence, and the amplifying electronics were all from SoulNote.

The most interesting product, well, the one that I’d not knowingly come across before, was the GM Phono v3 from Faber. It has five EQ curves onboard, three inputs that are selectable and adjustable and has balanced and unbalanced inputs. It also looks Cool AF!

The Benny Audio turntable was the new QUEST, and this is a smaller version of the company’s reference Odyssey turntable and uses the same ideas for the drive system and the bearing, but condensed it into a smaller form factor and a smaller price of 9K with a 10-inch tonearm.

All the racks in the system were from Music Tools from Italy.

This was an interesting space that I hope Adam and the organisers keep.