Show Report

If I'd brought five imaginary Stereophile Best of Show Awards to the 2026 Dutch Audio Event, they'd have gone to the companies below. No doubt this would have caused much revelry and rejoicing, and terrible wailing and gnashing of teeth among the uncrowned.

Audio Video Show 2026, the 28th edition of the hi-fi show in Warsaw, will open in just a few hours, on Friday, October 23, at noon local time. Three intrepid Stereophile contributing editors—Jason Victor Serinus, Ken Micallef, and Ola Björling—are on hand to cover as much of it as (in)humanly possible. Serinus kicks off our Warsaw coverage here.

In the Belgian city of Ghent stands a formidable artifact of military technology: Dulle Griet ("Mad Meg"), a 15th-century cannon that weighs about 12.5 tons. Despite its fearsome appearance, the weapon apparently never fired a shot. But it does lend some historical inspiration to Bombard, a new Belgian loudspeaker company whose first product, the OB1, made its debut at the 2026 Dutch Audio Event. OB1 stands for Open Baffle 1, but if your first thought was of a Star Wars character…same.