Munich High End Show 2017 in pictures

Plenty of brands used the Munich High End Show 2017 to celebrate anniversaries and launch new products.

But Munich is also a haven for all kinds of crazy hi-fi kit with even crazier prices to match: extravagant turntables, brightly coloured horn speakers and the biggest subwoofer we've ever seen.

Scroll down to see some of our favourite new products and the more unusual, eye-catching expensive kit we saw at this year's show.

MORE: Munich High End Show 2017 highlights

Let's start with KEF, which launched a new and improved Q series of speakers.

MORE: New KEF Q Series speakers aim to be better than ever

Also on demo were the mark-two versions of the flagship KEF Muon speakers (yours for just £140,000) which feature the latest Uni-Q driver.

Monitor Audio launched the sixth generation of its popular Silver series of speakers.

MORE: Monitor Audio unveils all-new sixth generation Silver series

Wharfedale also had a big launch: the new Diamond 11 series celebrates the company's 85th anniversary.

Pictured here are the 11.0, 11.1 and 11.2 standmounters. Prices start at £160.

And Dynaudio celebrated its ruby anniversary by unveiling the €3000 Special Forty speakers - in high-gloss red birch (pictured) and grey-birch finishes.

MORE: Dynaudio launches the Special Forty stereo speakers

Burmester also celebrated its 40th anniversary - by making its first-ever turntable. The Burmester 175 contains four motors, weighs 60kg and comes with tonearm, cartridge, phono stage and power supply all included.

Price? A hefty €30,000.

Also in the Burmester room were these stunning, mammoth speakers.

We're short on details, but we can tell you that they're called the BC 350s, the price will be six figures (naturally), and there's a potential launch date of 2018.

Are they not a sight to behold?

Another debut turntable we spotted was the Mark Levinson 515 (price starting at $10,000), which was launched earlier this year at CES 2017.

MORE: Mark Levinson celebrates its 45th anniversary with its first turntable

Of course, there were far more extravagant turntables carrying heart-stopping price tags on show at Munich.

Transrotor had an entire room full of shiny, expensive turntables, but the 4ft tall €118,000 Artus stood out for us.

We also spotted this sleek turntable from Continuum Audio.

But 'the most talked-about turntable' award goes to… Mag-Lev Audio's floating turntable.

This Kickstarter-funded deck floats on magnets, looks super-cool with that orange lighting underneath and will cost €1400 when it goes on sale by the end of the year.

MORE: Mag-Lev Audio floating turntable raises almost £400,000

Just like last year, Focal's centrepiece was its flagship Grande Utopia EM speakers (£110,000) on a spinning pedestal - except this year it showed off a striking new orange finish.

MORE: Focal launches Scala and Maestro Utopia III Evo speakers

Naim's highly anticipated new Uniti range was being demo'd at Munich using Focal speakers.

Pictured here are the flagship Nova (£4100) on the top right, and the Atom (£1750) on the left.

MORE: Naim revamps entire Uniti all-in-one streaming range

Technics announced a brand-new all-in-one music system, complete with CD player, hi-res streamer and built-in speakers.

No official word yet on how much the SC-C70 will cost, but it's rumoured to be under a grand.

And we couldn't resist taking yet another snap of the Technics SL-1200GR turntable…

MORE: Technics SL-1200GR hands-on

PMC chose Munich to launch the company's first-ever integrated amplifier, Cor.

It's a purely analogue amplifier featuring a class A/B design and will cost around £5000.

MORE: PMC launches its first non-pro integrated amp

We were also excited to see the PMC BB5 SE speakers - €39,000 per pair. Pictured here are the hi-fi versions of the original BB5s (PMC's first speakers) that have permanent residence in the BBC's Maida Vale Studios.

Wilson Benesch had its new Resolution speakers - priced at £35,500 - on demo, paired with CH Precision electronics.

McIntosh presented an impressive room, which consisted of its trademark blue-and-green illuminated products surrounded by iconic album covers.

MORE: McIntosh announces MA8900 amp and MCD350 CD player

For something a bit more down-to-earth, Pioneer launched two new hi-res streamers: the £1100 N-70AE and the £800 N-50AE (pictured, centre).

MORE: Pioneer reveals N-70AE and N-50AE network players

Now for some of the more unusual and outrageous kit at the Munich Show.

Let's start with these horn speakers from Blumenhofer Acoustics (great name) - the Gran Gioia MK2s.

Here's a closer look at that glorious TEAC reel-to-reel running the demo.

(We're calling it: reel-to-reels are making a comeback.)

More horn speakers? Sure thing: here are some colourful Duos from AvantGarde Acoustic.

Meanwhile, Cessaro Horn Acoustics had these bright-green Gamma speakers on show.

This valve amplifier from Serbian manufacturer Auris Audio also caught our eye.

Pathos wasn't launching anything new, but we do like those distinctive heatsinks…

The most impressive room, however, contained this: the original Silbatone Acoustics Western Electric Mirraphonic M2 system from 1934 - a gigantic horn-speakers system designed to fill 3000-seat theatres.

Pictured here is just ONE speaker.

There's only one way to end this Munich round-up, and that's with a 50in subwoofer.

The aptly named 'Monstersub' from Ascendo is just ridiculously, gleefully huge.

For size reference, our technical editor (pictured) is around 6'2".

MORE: Munich High End Show 2017: news, highlights, best new products

Kashfia Kabir
Hi-Fi and Audio Editor

Kashfia is the Hi-Fi and Audio Editor of What Hi-Fi? and first joined the brand over 10 years ago. During her time in the consumer tech industry, she has reviewed hundreds of products (including speakers, amplifiers and headphones), been to countless trade shows across the world and fallen in love with hi-fi kit much bigger than her. In her spare time, Kash can be found tending to an ever-growing houseplant collection and hanging out with her cat Jolene.