HIFI PIG’S LIN AND STU TAKE A TRIP STATESIDE TO AXPONA 2023

Well, we had just started going to American shows, the last one being Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, and then Covid struck the world and our masterplan for world domination fell foul. However, when the wonderful Mark Freed that organises AXPONA asked us if we would fly out to Chicago to cover the show we jumped at the opportunity.

RMAF is no more and AXPONA is the largest HiFi event in the American calendar with Mark expecting and not that far off 10 000 visitors attending.

It’s held at Schaumburg in the Renaissance Hotel and Convention centre (which is mahoosive) over several floors of the hotel and then parts of the convention centre too. The show is absolutely huge with over 200 rooms and all the rest going on and so there is really no way for two people to cover every single room, though we gave it a very good go. Perhaps an extra press-only day would be cool, but then that has its drawbacks too.

Organisation has been excellent and our caps are doffed to Mark, Event Director Liz Miller and all of their first-rate team, as well as the hotel staff who have been truly brilliant – even finding us another room when the one we were in was unsuitable given my fear of heights…yes, I know. Over the weekend, as well as the usual rooms filled with HiFi and audio kit, there has also been a full program of seminars and panel discussions organised by Bill Leebens. There was even a record fair! There’s never time for us to attend these, but if they were anything like the rest of AXPONA 2023, they will have been excellent.

We would also like to thank our AXPONA 2023 show coverage sponsor, Music First Audio.

AXPONA 2023 SHOW REPORT

My anticipation for AXPONA was high, as was my expectation, but what I wasn’t ready for was the number of people in the States that know who we are and are avid readers of HiFi PiG  –  yes, the stats tell us that we have lots of readers here, but it really only hits home when you have people coming up and introducing themselves. Quite humbling, really.

Anyway, enough of my sentimental and waffly crap, on with the reason you clicked on this link and the coverage of AXPONA 2023. We’ll have coverage of everything that we managed to see, but there are 200 rooms or so and getting around all of them was impossible. If we missed you or didn’t give you the coverage you think you deserved, then we apologise and hopefully, there will be another opportunity to share what you are doing at shows at events down the line.

Before I start with all the rooms and what we saw and hear, I should make the comment that every single one of the exhibitors at AXPONA 2023 had gone to great effort at the show to make their products the best they can be. However, we are fully aware that a show is not really the place to critically assess a system or product and any negative comments made in the report should be tempered with this fact in mind.

When we arrived we got to catch up with HiFi Industry friends from around the world at the mixer that was held on the Thursday evening, having just got of the flight a couple of hours before it was a bit of a blur but great to see so many folk in one place, a fab idea from the show organisers.

We always start at the top at Audio Shows and AXPONA 2023 was no different. And so, with my brave boy pants on, it’s up to floor 16 to check out what’s happening there and then work our way down whilst taking in a few launches and special events along the way.

However, before we start with the show proper and even before the show had officially opened its doors to the public, we were invited along to witness the unveiling of a new loudspeaker and also the new product range/brand called AXXESS by Audio Group Denmark.

AUDIO GROUP DENMARK

The main event for me here was the launch of the new loudspeaker, the bigger floorstanding brother of their $100k M1 standmount, the Børresen M3. The M3 was getting a soft launch here at AXPONA  so there will be more info to follow, but it has been designed with the same principles as the ‘cost no object’ M1, which you can read more about here.

The M3 are very much my kind of loudspeaker with that very tight bass and airy top-end reproduction. Even in less-than-perfect room conditions, the new speakers really sang, though the price of admission is $270,000. We’d had a bit of a sweepstake on how much these speakers would actually cost and neither myself nor Linette were very far off at all.

SIXTEENTH FLOOR

PURE AUDIO PROJECT, DENAFRIPS, PASS LABS, & VPI INDUSTRIES

The first room of the day and it was our old friend Ze’ve from Pure Audio Project with their Trio 15 speakers with Coaxial 10 inch drivers and a pair of 15 inch woofers. This is the only three way PAP speaker with a 4^th order crossover. Amps were from Pass  Labs in the guise of the Integrated INT 25 and phono SP17  costing $7250 and $4300. The analogue front end in this room was the VPI Socut  ($3300) whilst digital was provided by an Aurender Music server costing $6,300 into a Denafrips Terminator Plus DAC costing $6,300 too. We’ve been following the guys from PAP for years and it’s brilliant to see them doing so well.

The modular Open Baffle speakers are fantastic in my opinion and even in this room I thought they sounded really good. As is not uncommon at shows, there was a problem with the internet first thing and so we didn’t get to hear the digital front end, but that’s not really any hardship with music sounding like this.

BAYZ AUDIO

Despite us having covered BAYZ Audio speakers a number of times, I think this is actually the first time I’ve personally had the pleasure of sitting in front of them.

The speakers are an interesting design that look like no other loudspeakers. They are a two-way, carbon fibre design that cost around $160K with the whole being vacuum injected moulded. The speakers are 94dB sensitive which surprised me. The speakers are sort of omni-directional and are a sort of ported transmission line design with the ones on show being the biggest of the range of two…with different designs with regards to materials. Electronics were a VAC amp and pre with a TAIKO Extreme streamer from the Netherlands and an Esoteric DAC and CDP. Cables were by Zoltan, the owner at BAYZ.

The speakers, even off-axis gave a very good stereo image.

NEXT LEVEL HiFi

Next Level HiFi were showing off Audio Group Denmark. Axxess Forté 1 streaming amplifier with the X3 loudspeakers from Borresen and the Anzus A3 switch and Mains 8 distribution block.

Audio Group Denmark tells us: “Axxess captures the essence of Ansuz, Aavik and Børresen, reflecting a world of high-end audio equipment, where technological excellence and the aesthetics of Danish design go hand in hand with authentic musical performance. Axxess will consist of innovative, high-quality loudspeakers, amplifiers, and audio cables, that can be sold at a more modest price than the Ansuz, Aavik and Børresen equipment, and yet some that will attain the standard of musical performance and aesthetic design for which Ansuz, Aavik and Børresen is famous”.

Axxess Forté is a streaming amplifier series consisting of three levels, Axxess Forté 1, 2 and 3. Axxess Forté features both a streamer and a DAC section, as well as being an integrated amplifier and a headphone amplifier. Axxess makes use of Audio Group Denmark’s well-known development traditions regarding noise reduction and resonance control and the general pioneering approach towards technological innovation.

To achieve maximum performance and inspired by Aavik’s development approach, the UMAC™ amplifier technology is used in the Axxess Forté series. This technology has been designed to ensure stability, reliability, and precision in the amplifier. UMAC technology produces less high frequency noise and requires less inductive filtering at the output. These advantages give the Axxess Forté amplifier a much better damping factor, says Audio Group Denmark.

Axxess Forté is designed with the Aavik-inspired “resonant mode power supply” to increase the operating frequency and allow higher peak power when the music requires it. The noise floor of the power supply remains very low, and is even further reduced by the ultra-low noise controls that power the various parts of the circuit.

The challenge of a traditional multi-bit circuit in a DAC section is to cope with increased noise contamination and signal delay, which can distort the music with an undesirable “digital signature.”  Axxess Forté features a 1-bit circuit, developed in-house that preserves the “analogue signature”. With fast data processing and insensitivity to noise, the DAC range of the Axxess Forté has been “designed to ensure clarity and precision”.

Axxess Forté features a streamer module inspired by the one used in the Aavik streamers. This module, designed as a dedicated audio unit, is equipped with high quality capacitors and does not use any microcomputers. This makes signal processing powerful and reduces unwanted noise.

Another key feature of this versatile Axxess Forté amplifier is its headphone section. It is designed as a non-switching Class A amplifier to provide “excellent linearity, high gain, and low signal distortion”.

Available from May 2023 the new FORTÉ 1 is  5.000€ $5.500, FORTÉ 2 7.500€ $8.000 and FORTÉ 3 10.000€ $11.000.

I think this is a very clever move on the part of Audio Group Denmark. They are giving access (the clues in the name) to a new and entry level audience, though the sound of the products is certainly less than entry-level, even though they are going up against the established likes of B&W. Very, very good room that whilst not being “cheap” certainly seems to offer excellent value in comparison to the competition.

In the next Next Level room Morten at Audio Group Denmark was doing a presentation of the more high-end stuff and ended up playing Disturbed “Sound of Silence”, which spookily was playing in the last room we were in…though that was a Johnny Cash version. System in here was Børresen 01SSE Speakers with the AAVIK u 580 integrated and u580 streamer. D3 Mainz 8 Distribution and D2 switch.

I really love this brand’s kit, though on balance I think the first room had the edge on price to performance ratio, though the record we got to hear wasn’t the best produced record I’ve heard. Springstein’s Nightshift came next which was wonderful sounding, if not really to my taste.

VON SCHWEIKERT AUDIO & SCOTT WALKER AUDIO

Now this room was playing Dire Straits when we went in which really is not to my taste but it did sound rather wonderful in this system made up of VAC Master 300 monos and Master pre, a Lampizator Horizon DAC being fed signals from Aurender W20E music server and MC20 master clock.

This was the first time I have sat in front of the Von Schweikert ultra 7s  – $180k, but they are a superb sounding loudspeakers with Accuton driver. I’ll say it again and for about the millionth time, I have never heard a bad sounding speaker that uses these drivers.

The subs were the Von  Schweikert Audio Shockwave V-12XS at $16,500 each and the amps on the day were VAC Master pre with Master 300 iQ amps at a total price of $112K. An Aurender music server and separate clock fed their signal to the Lampizator Horizon DAC.

GT AUDIO KRONOS, AUDIONET & VIVID

Now this room was not as advertised but that was quite a good thing given what we were treated to.

A Kronos Sparta turntable equipped with a Kronos Kronoscope arm had a My Sonic Lab Signature Platinum cartridge playing through a Mola Mola Lupe phonostage and then an Audionet Stern pre with Audionet Heisenberg amps. Speakers were the Vivid Audio Giya G1 Spirits.

All this was very nicely put together and very nice sounding, though there was a good deal of feedthrough from other rooms which is to be expected to a degree at shows where so much is being demonstrated.

AXISS AUDIO

Now a room playing Highway to Hell at volume has to get most people’s vote and this room sounded brilliant. Airtight brought the ATC-7 preamplifier which is new other than the prototype being shown at Munich. Said Jack Miura, Managing Director of AIR-TIGHT, “This ATC-7 is the culmination of a project which we have been working on since 2018. We wanted to create a preamplifier with the highest level of precision and dynamics, while also adding line control features for our clients to be able to manipulate the sonic output to best match their room, system, or individual preference. We also wanted it to have a classic layout of the various controls while also featuring the most advanced volume control system we have yet created.”

The phonostage was the ATE 3011 and the amps were the ATM -2211 monos. Franco Serblin Ktema speakers were on one end and on the front end was a Reed Musi 1 C turntable with 5T tonearm. The cartridge was also from Airtight.

Beaudioful did the racks and I spoke to André who makes them. Mostly solid woods are used and they are made in Germany and whilst they have standard models you can get things made to order.

Loud and superb!

Most Rocking Room So Far!

DEVIALET

RETHM & PHASEMATION

We got to listen to the Maarga semi-active speakers here with Phasemation amps and HRS amplifier stands. The speakers have a Hypex UCD digital amplifier per cabinet and use a 6” wideband driver and 4 x 7” bass drivers in isobaric configuration. Price is what I would consider very reasonable at $13K.

Angie Lisi is the distributor for N America for these and was pleased as punch when we gave her the award for most surprising (in a good way) product of the day on Friday.

This is a fabulous speaker for the money that blends a high-end unforced ease of presentation with a look that is different and interesting.

BOB CARVER COMPANY

Sadly the room was not open when we passed and given the size of the show we were unable to return later.

AVANTGARDE, PHASEMATION, dCS ELECTRONICS, AMERICAN SOUND, TRANSPARENT CABLE

All the new Avantgarde speakers were here with the Duo GT in a fully active version playing when we were in the room and they were fab. The Phasemation  p5000 cartridge and Esoteric turntable was playing too because ROON core was down…as Angie said, “what a shame”. The phasemation EA2000 phonostage was playing and everything was wired up with Transparent cables.

GLANZ and Analogue Relax tonearms were on show with the EX1000 using 2000 year old wood for the wand.

Angie is one of the stars of North American Audio and she never fails to entertain with her passion and knowledge about high-end audio.

Rethm speakers from India were also in the room with Boulder electronics but we didn’t get a listen to them, but had heard these and were suitably impressed a room or two down the corridor.

ASTER SUITE AXISS AUDIO

This was a bit of a surprise as there was no information in the show guide about what we should expect. However, what we had was Soulution 760 DAC, 725 preamp feeding Solution 511 amps. The speaker were Gauder Akustik DARC model 200. The speakers are a new line and have put in new drivers and new crossovers. This was their US launch and they are $149K a pair.

 

FIFTEENTH FLOOR

MAGICO

The first of the Magico rooms had a beautiful pair of S3s in a stunning blue colour being fed by some huge C.A.T. monoblock tube amps with KT88 tubes.

Interestingly, this room also had the Stromtank unit which takes the system out of the mains supply. A cool unit that I’ve wanted to try since I first spotted at Munich years ago.

So, this was about the fourth time we got to hear Dire Straits at the show and we’ve only just finished one floor. Not my cup of tea, but it’s clearly the show-going public here love it and know it…as good enough reason to play them as any. The system sounded very nice and unforced with loads of detail though the midband. Also, it was played at sensible volumes and the room had some treatment which was good to see.

AUDIO ULTRA

The next room with Magico had CH precision amps (and a Stromtank) powering a pair of Magic A1 standmounts. These are a sealed box infinite baffle loudspeaker costing around $9400 with stands adding another $1139. They did not sound out of place on the end of the CH Precision kit that is, let’s face it, very expensive. The C1..2 DAC is 36K and the L1 and A1.5 pre and stereo power amp combo are around $74K.

SERHAN SWIFT, BOULDER AMPLIFIERS, FINLEY AUDIO, LES DAVIS AUDIO

I was looking forward to this room. We have written about the Sehran Swift speakers from Australia before and people do rave about them. These are the Mu2 and were on a pair of SolidSteel stands that we use at home. The Les Davis products were new to me but are used to isolate equipment and to drain energy away.

Source in the room was the Small Green Computer Sonic Transporter costing $1279 with Small Green Computer Sonore Optical converter. Amp on the day was the Boulder 866 DAC/Integrated.

Fabulous sounding Speakers. Photographed is Morris, the Swift in Sehran Swift. Bonus points for actually having and playing some Daft Punk for us!

VON SCHWEIKERT AUDIO, LAMPIZATOR, WESMINSTER LAB, SMALL GREEN COMPUTER

We first came across Westminster Labs amps years ago at Munich and it’s great to see them doing so well. At AXPONA we heard the REI Class A monos that are Pure Class A to 100W. The cables in the room were also by Westminster Labs.

The Lampizator Horizon DAC used in this room should need no introduction to people that regularly read our show reports and we have raved about this DAC when we have heard it before. I think the room we declared best at Warsaw a few years ago was using this very DAC.

Needless to say, our Lampizator DAC has rarely been out of the system since it came back from Lukasz for a refit and PINK paint job.

Speakers were the Von Schweikert Audio Endeavour SEs ($29,600). Overall this was a nice-sounding room and I would LOVE to hear these speakers in our properly sorted acoustically treated room.

MYTEK

Mytek Empire DAC, pre and monos along with JM Lab loudspeakers were set up with the speakers very close together and I thought this was aesthetically odd, but I guess these folk know what they are doing. Sonically, I do think a bit of width would have helped the soundstage. However. Overall, this was a good sounding room.

The Empire DAC has everything onboard including ROON Core. The monos are based on Class D but with GanFet which Michal reckons helps the Class D amps to basically a square wave without distortion. He says that there is a degree of tube sound to the Class D   the backlit tubes on the amps are fake and they do not claim them to be real..it looks cool and I like the “joke” of it!

In the next room there were streaming DACs and more from Mytek with the obvious emphasis being on encouraging younger people into high-end audio reproduction; touch screens, easy use etc.

Michal was infectiously enthusiastic about the new products.

VALOREM AUDIO

The Valorem Audio Somnium is an interesting loudspeaker that sounded great but is a totally new name to me.

The speaker is essentially in two parts; the A and B. The A is the top part, a two-way speaker and the B (the lower part) is an active bass unit that they say will go down to 20 Hz. $30K for the full set (A+B) and $12,000 for the tops (A)…they don’t sell the bass (B) separately.

Ain’t No Sunshine sounded very natural, relaxed and effortless. They are also beautifully finished with the tops matching the bottoms…this is why they don’t sell the B separately as want them to be perfectly matched.

I hope to be able to spend more time with these in the future.

PHILIPS DESIGN

The speakers in this room were like nothing I’ve seen before and cost what seems a very low $4500.  The 16 in the name refers to the diameter of the tube which contains a 12” driver but is 16 inch in diameter itself.

It’s a three way with the 12 incher, a 6 inch mid and a 1” dome tweeter. The tube concept is part of the design language but also as it is naturally more rigid and the omnidirectional idea fits in with the shape, we were told. The folk in the room played us some Yello and at first I thought it was a bit bass-light, but I just think in this room it was about right and any more would have over-excited the room. The omni concept certainly works well.

We then got treated to Gordon Goodwin’s Hunting Wabbits which was more acoustic and worked very nicely with the speakers.

MBL, KYOMI AUDIO

A full MBL system from front to back in this room. 1621 CD transport, 1611 DAC, 6010 D pre and 9011 monos. The speakers were the MBL 101 MKII.

To me the speakers ($91K) are the interesting point of this system but as a whole the system did sound fab. Again, it was relaxed and effortless. Lovely to be able to get in the room just like at Audio Show Deluxe and the room was nicely dressed with lots of pot plants. These are omnis, but the guys setting this up had carefully set up a hot seat and that was incredible soundstage-wise. Very cool and one of my favourite rooms to this point! Cables were by WireWorld.

GRIMM AUDIO

Grimm win the medal and prize for being first to play Keith Don’t Go. I reviewed these recently and you should read it. These are an excellent system!!

On show was the MU2, the analogue sister of the MU1. The MU1 only has digital outputs the MU2 has an inbuilt DAC built around the same framework of the MU1.

PRANA FIDELITY, FURUTECH, KUZMA, SILVERSMITH AUDIO, GROOVENOTE RECORDS

Peter from Prana (out of Denver) was giving a talk when we went in but we only caught the back end of it. We got to see and hear the Prana Fidelity Dhara speakers, a two-way front ported model with a 1 inch dome tweeter played through Pranar pre and power amps (Purna CA and MA).

The system was playing some piano which was nice, but when the tune broke into a more up-tempo drum driven track is when the speakers came alive. They are $9500 a pair.

We didn’t get a chance to listen to the Kuzma Stabi R that was also in the room.

LINKWITZ AUDIO

I was really looking forward to this room and in some respects (the soundstage, mids and tops) it really sounded fantastic. Sadly, the bass was too much in my opinion for the room and spoiled the presentation a little.

I am well aware that these speakers have their fans and they do have a unique and interesting way of dealing with room issues and so refer to my comments in the introduction with regards to this not being the ideal situation in which to critically assess anything.

YAMAHA

What a cool looking room. Chilled and very professional.

I think there’s a bit of a stigma with regards to Japanese audio companies that are historic (Yamaha, Technics, Marantz etc) but the truth is that they are historic for a reason! In this room we had a full 5000 system from front to back.

The NS500 speakers look like a throwback to the 80s and I suppose to an extent they are, However, they sounded great with the Yamaha. The speakers are made of Zylon which is the strongest material known to man apparently. These are clearly a look back to the NS1000 but that’s not a bad thing either!

A great sounding room in my opinion and I was particularly drawn to the GT 5000 turntable, though I wrongly assumed it would be a direct drive model.

SEAWAVE ACOUSTIC

Now these were an interesting looking horn loudspeaker powered by Ayre acoustics electronics, but not a name that I’d ever encountered before at any show. We got to listen to the AM45. Playing a version of Danny Boy and sounded nice enough.

BENDING WAVE

The Bending Wave USA room was a proper high-end room had a pair of Gobel Divin Noblesse speakers ($250K) along with the Divin Sovereign subs ($29500).

Amps were the Audio Research 160 Mk 2s at 38K a pair fed by the REF 6 SE Pre at $19500.

And now we get into the serious money with the WADAX Reference DAC and Reference Server at $166K and $70K respectively. Add in the ASAKA optical system and the Reference PSU and that adds another 70 or so K to the cost of the front end.

Some Zappa was playing when we went in the room and that was fantastic. Some Jazz followed and the drum solo was incredibly realistic.

Cool sounding room if you can afford the cost of admission!

FOURTEENTH FLOOR

Time was now very much against us, despite me waking up on the Saturday morning and thinking it was Sunday, in effect giving us an extra day to cover the rest of AXPONA 2023. However, it was now clear that we would need to divide and conquer, with Linette taking the lower floors of the hotel and myself working downwards from where we left off.

In a way this is indicative of what a great success Mark and his team have made of AXPONA but it does beg the question “When does big get too big” and whether or not we need more people to cover a show of this size or whether the organisers should consider an extra day that is perhaps pres only.

AMERICAN AUDIO AND VIDEO, AUDIOLAB & MISSION

I first heard the Audiolab and Mission set up at the Bristol Show and thought the partnership was a very good one. We’d hoped to have had them reviewed by now, but that’s not happened. The 7000 series of electronics from Audiolab is, from what I’ve heard at shows, a very nice sounding product and the Mission 700s etc whose form many of a certain age will remember is pretty iconic.

Nice sounding room and had I had the opportunity to hear these at home, I would have possibly been using them at my Munich High End “Sounds Clever” presentations…sadly, that wasn’t to be.

CRUX AUDIO, CALLAS, SOtM

This was a nice-sounding room with the larger Callas speakers using Accuton drivers…and, I repeat, I still I’ve yet to hear a speaker that uses them sound bad.

 INNUOS

Innuos brought a Statement Music Server with the PSU  and the Pulsar Network player through a Vinni Rossi amp. The PhoenixNET switch and the DAC is a MSB premier. Power is a PS Audio P15 powerplant.

Speakers are Magico A5 and there’s not really much to say other than this sounded great.

DR VINYL

Now this was a bit of an oasis of calm and calm.

Much of this was new to me but the McGary amps sounded great through the Usher ML 802 speakers. A Sikora turntable was the analogue front end but with the Tru Glider tonearm rather than one of Sikoras.

NOCTURNE AUDIO & LEJONKLOU HIFI

Nice to see the JM Reynaud speakers from France at this side of the pond. A really lively and engaging room that I’d have like to have spent a little longer in. The front end is pretty obvious in the shape of the Linn LP12 with a Harban movingui plinth and with Klimax Radikal2, Keel, Trampolin 2 Ekos SE1 and Ekstatik all in at $30 553.

Lejonklou is a new name to me but they provided the electronics from front to back. The full system was :

Lejonklou Kalla Digital music player ($8495), the new Lejonklou SINGularity mono MC phonostage at $55K a pair, a Slipsik 8 MM phonostage ($1795), Sagatun 1.4 monos ($9900/pair) and the new Tundra 3 monos at $12990 a pair. Speakers were the excellent JM Reynaud from France.

TREEHAUS AUDIO & ICONOCLAST CABLE

I met Rich Pinto that makes these exceptional looking speakers. They have field coil full range driver made in Germany. The tops and bottom are augmented by a tweeter and 15” woofer.

These are definitely something a little different to the norm and it’s truly excellent to see this.

Rich makes the amp and pre too. These are a 300B amp using an 801 driver tube. $17,500 including WE tubes. The preamplifier is a TVC control with a 4P1L Russian tube.

VINNIE ROSSI, INNUOS & ROCKPORT TECH

This was the first time we’d hear the Brama integrated from Vinni Rossi at $39K, here partnered with Rockport Technologies Atria loudspeakers. Played us some Skepta which was absolutely banging.

This is a fabulous looking amplifier that uses 300B tubes in the line stage and the output is MOSFET. It has a very cool remote that you need to experience.

The amp came out last year but the parts were on short supply and it’s now in production properly. Dual mono supplies, 200W a channel in 8 ohms and a really nice sounding amp.

VON GAYLORD AUDIO

I’ve heard Von Gaylord lots of times and whilst they may not be very well known they are excellent and offer silly value for money. There’s a lovely tonality to this system that punches WAY above its price point. The system was Von Gaylord’s reference featuring the Legend Reference loudspeakers, Nirvana monoblocks, Harmony pre and their own cables.

WELL PLEASED AC & CHOICE AUDIO

QLN Prestige 3 loudspeakers costing $12K with a Qualiton A 75i integrated running KT150 tubes. The amp is from Hungary and is a name that should be much more well known.

We had a Merason DAC1 MKII with an Innuos ZENith Mk 3 Server and an Innuos Phoenix USB re-clocker at the front-end to deliver a very nice and natural system sound.

KRELL INDUSTRIES

A Krell KSA1400 amp was playing through a pair of Magico A5s which to me was all about a great sounding presentation without fireworks and being all over the top in any area. Now that may not have an immediate appeal and may not grab you by the balls, but it did present something you could live with every day…nobody wants to be grabbed by the balls everyday…well, almost no one.

Very nice indeed and very nicely considered volume for the room.

AUDIO NOTE UK

Keeping the English end up were Audio Note UK with their Meishu Tonmeister 300B, TT Two Turntable, CDT One/II CD, DAC 2.1x Signature and AN-E/SPe HE loudspeaker.

I’m now used to Audio Note UK being one of my favourite rooms, not only because they sound great, but also because they play different music that I really enjoy. I walked in on Jazz which was really nice sounding but not really overly to my taste, but then you can’t suit all the people all the time with musical choices…and I did actually really quite enjoy it.

Very natural and with great timing.

ANALOG MATTERS & PLINIUS AUDIO

This room was using the Plinius RA 150 Class A power amps at 15K each with the RM10 pre at 19,250. The phonostage was the Koru from Plinius at $4620.

Speakers were the Alta Audio Adam loudspeakers in Beech at $18K. Turntable was the Acoustic Signature Typhoon with the TA5000 tonearm and Grado Aeon 3 cartridge. Digital was by Esoteric.

This was a very good sounding room indeed and playing very cool music.

PASS LABS

I’m not completely sure if I’ve ever sat in front of a Pass Labs system before. I’m sure I will have at some point in the past. We got to hear the Pass Labs INT 60 W amp ($9500) running class AB though a pair of GoldenEar Triton One R speakers.

The concept here is not to focus on the rest of the system other than the amplifier and to suggest that when you want to upgrade you can just upgrade the amplifier to the Pass Labs and you have a new system.

KANTO AUDIO

Listening to the Ora speakers that we heard in Bristol in prototype form. They have all the connectivity you want and then when you plug a sub into them they sense this and change the sound a little to put everything below 80Hz to the sub.. Very cool for $350.

Yes, it’s not all out and out high-end at AXPONA and personally, I think these little speakers sounded a lot better than their diminutive price would at first suggest.

ALMA AUDIO

Alma Audio had a pair of Boenicke w-8SE , a Technics SU- R1000 integrated and the SL-1000R from Technics which I would have loved to have heard with the Airtight cartridge, but I got to listen to the Innuos Zen Mini Mk3 instead which wasn’t too shabby at all and so I didn’t miss the techy really.

This, as I heard the guy running the room say, is not an outrageous amount of money to spend on a system and I’d say that it was better in this environment than some costing a lot more and going for more esoteric designs. Look, Technics have been around for ages with good reason!

I also learned that the American audience say Technics quite differently to us Brits.

SVS

I went in the theatre room for SVS whilst Linette went and took some pcs in their 2 Channel room next door. I really enjoyed it. It was loud and immersive playing a Nigel Stanford Cymatics tune which was epic.

Played us some live metal that was absolutely mental and did what they wanted it to do – to create a dynamic and exciting experience that you would get whilst in the audience.

Very cool and very enjoyable.

ALMA AUDIO

The second of the Alma rooms had the 1200GR in there which I was interested in hearing as I am about to hopefully procure a pair instead of the pair of MK 7s I’m using.

Everything else in the system was by Technics too, including the loudspeakers. Nothing in the system was expensive at all with the speakers being the most expensive item by far at $6K a pair. Like the first room, there’s absolutely nothing to complain about here, particularly given the price of this system.

VANA, MARTEN, EAT, JADIS AND FERRUM

And all wired with Atlas Cables from Scotland.

TWELFTH FLOOR

GESHELLI LABS

FIDELITY IMPORTS

Unison Research were demoing the Simply 845 ($10K) with 845 valves and it was making its debut. It’s a remake of their own amps giving 23 W a channel. The sources was  CD Uno CD player and DAC and Bluetooth with valves.

The Opera Callas Diva speakers $12K.

FIDELITY IMPORTS

The next FI imports had the Concept 5000 from Q Acoustics being driven by SoulNote electronics. Heard the 5040 speakers a floorstander that is second down the line at $1500 a pair which sound great for the money. The bass driver in the speakers is new and has no dust cap…not for cosmetic reasons but the cone is more “cone” shaped, if that makes sense.

Prices on the rest of the new 5000 series are: The 5010 standmount is $750, the 5020 large standmount is $899. The centre speaker is $599.

FIDELITY IMPORTS

In this next FI room we had the Perlisten s7T speakers at $20K with AudioFlight FLS10 flagship integrated with all the DAC etc. Interesting all the add ons to the amp are done by the user with slot in units. Front end on the analogue side was the Michell with the Techno arm 2.

FIDELITY IMPORTS

Another of the Fidelity Imports rooms was GoldNote and Perlisten. The Perlisten R5m ($6K) speakers with the IS 1000 MK2 Deluxe integrated, PA1175 stereo amplifier and the Mediterranero turntable. Gold Note is new to the distributor but they are clearly very excited about it.

FIDELITY IMPORTS

The last of the FI rooms was another brand I’m very familiar with in the guise of the Diptyque Reference speakers. Readers who know us will know our love of these speakers. The amp was the flagship Strumento monos at $30K each. Pre was also the Dtrumento No 1.

This was a very lovely sounding room. A planar magnetic with bass!

KLIPSCH

Klipsch were showing off their Fives, Sevens and Nines, all of which are active and sounding very nice for not a great deal of money, Very good sounding speakers that are fully connected and pretty much plug and play.

None of the speakers in the room that I heard were particularly expensive. In fact, when the guy running the room mentioned the prices I was somewhat taken aback at how inexpensive these are.

HARMAN INTERNATIONAL & MUSIC DIRECT

A full rack of Mark Levinson electronics looked fantastic in this small room, but the bass was a little boomy…not totally unforgivable in the space we find ourselves in but I’d have been inclined to wind the volume back just a smidge.

HARMAN INTERNATIONAL & MUSIC DIRECT

However, the next Harman International room sounded fabulous with a much more modest system of a pair of JBL L100s ($5.5K) and a JBL amplifier (3K),

This really was a perfect example of where throwing a load of expensive kit at a room isn’t always the best solution and I’d say that this system stole thee show in comparison to the previous room.

Excellent! Really excellent!

PMC SPEAKERS

So, PMC, the iconic British loudspeaker maker with SoulNote electronics. The speakers from PMC were the MB2/SE and they were fabulous…deffo on my radar as speakers I need to own at some point in my life.

This was a very nicely set up room with a huge set of speakers that really ought to have been far too much for the room…but they weren’t and they managed to push the system to pretty high volumes without overloading the room at all.

The bass was truly impressive here given how much control it had. But then the whole coherence of the sound from top to bottom was brilliant listening to Hotel California Live.

LCH AUDIO

This is another new name to me but was a very calm and unhurried sounding room.

ENDOW AUDIO

Speakers are the Endow Bravura 12 loudspeakers at $15K. the amplifier was the Orchard Starkimson stereo at $3.3K with Orchard Pecan Pi Streamer and DAC at $895.

The most expensive part of this system by far was the speakers and the system together was a total of less than $20K.

Played me Moroder off Random Access Memories and it was a very engaging and enjoyable sound without shoutiness and a natural feel to the whole. Very nice.

FIDELITY IMPORTS

Acoustic Energy AE 520 speakers with the Cyrus Audio Classic Pre, X Power amp and Stream XR.

The concept in here is to do real world HiFi without room treatment etc. All very well engineered and good value.

The speakers are $5K and seem to offer excellent value for money.

Played We’re Going To Ibiza  – -how much more real world do you want??? Sounds great!

The new Cyrus streamer ($3K) that are “golden samples” and not out yet. No antenna but it will be built into the unit so it doesn’t look terrible. All BlueSound based but with Cyrus DAC and updateable with an external PSU.

AUDIOQUEST, ULTRA FIDELIS, VANDERSTEEN AUDIO, AUDIO RESEARCH, HARMONIC RESOLUTION SYSTEMS, LYRA ANALOG, SIERRA SOND

This was a side room and a bit of an oasis of calm using Audio Research electronics with Vandersteen  Kento speakers. $41K a pair and born out of the original Model 7 as a clean sheet of paper design around 4 years ago. These have a powered sub-woofer – 2 x 9” per speaker that are side-mounted.

Streaming seemed to be balanced over to the left hand speaker but this was remedied when they switched over to vinyl and the sound was very nice, indeed with a nice and composed sound that wasn’t at all shouty.  Now, I asked about the vocal track being in the left hand speaker and having come in half way through I was told this was how the track was mixed and it had been introduced as such.

AMPASOUND, ACORA ACOUSTICS, MIMIC AUDIO

This was a new set of brands to me but they look ever so cool.

Very nice sounding room.

UPSCALE AUDIO & UPSCALE DISTRIBUTION

In this Upscale room we got to hear PrimaLuna with Tannoys and it was very impressive indeed playing non-audiophile music.

Tannoy were launching the new Stirling IIILZ about which the Tannoy press release has this to say:

“Designed and manufactured in the UK, the Tannoy Stirling III LZ Special Edition speaker aims at reproducing music exactly as the artists intended it to sound. The direct link is the company’s IIILZ (Monitor Red), which has been cherished in homes since the 1960’s. Epic albums by artists like Peter Gabriel, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Beyonce and many more have been mixed and mastered on Tannoy studio monitors.

The Stirling III LZ Special Edition utilizes the pepperpot waveguide Dual Concentric Alnico Magnet design, with the high-frequency driver merged into the centre of the cone of the main driver. The Dual Concentric design was invented by Tannoy in 1947 and it was also used in the classic III LZ. With this true point-source concept, the entire frequency spectrum originates from a single point, as both drivers are on the exact same axis. This approach ensures unmatched off-axis performance, as well as pristine phase coherence.

In order to be able to compensate for acoustically challenged spaces, a 2-way energy control system is located on the front of the speakers. Also, with regards to placement, the Stirling III LZ Special Edition has front-firing bass ports in order to be placed against walls or in corners without sonic compromises.

The enclosure is made following some of the original III LZ design characteristics but benefits from new high-density materials that weren’t available back in the 1960s. The resulting cabinet provides extreme rigidity to control low frequency performance and boasts extensive bracing incorporating DMT (Differential Materials Technology) for proper driver coupling. The sound is paramount. But if you can make speakers that deliver divine sound appear both elegantly and naturally in any room, we see absolutely no reason to avoid doing so.”

The all new Stirling III LZ Special Edition will be available from Summer 2023 at USD $12,500.00 per pair.

Also with Upscale were Feliks Audio, Pathos and Cabasse

ELVENTH FLOOR

KIMBER & WBT

Kimber and WBT had a cool demo where they were flicking electronically between Carbon and 8PR cables. The difference in the cables was pretty obvious but I’m not going to pass any kind of comment at a show other than to say that the Carbon was clearly a “softer” and more refined sound in this room and in this demonstration.

THEORETICA APPLIED PHYSICS

The BACCH-SP is a “stereo-purifier” to give a “virtual reality 3D” image.

The camera tracks your head when you are in the hot seat and the whole thing then calibrates around you and changes the DSP specifically to you.

The demonstration is specific only to one person and so we didn’t get the whole effect.

I can’t say if it works or not, but the guy having the demonstration certainly seemed very impressed.

PHONIA

This poor Polish company had had their speakers kept at customs but they will be at North West Audio Show (UK) and so we will give a full report about them at that show.

DUTCH & DUTCH N. AMERICA

These are an excellent sounding speaker that if fully self-contained. Sonically they have all they need to adapt to any space and as such performed brilliantly in the room they were in. The room was packed and everyone seemed to be really enjoying them.

FINE SOUNDS AMERICA

Sonus faber speakers and Michi (Rotel) electronics sounded really nice streaming Qobuz.

CARDAS AUDIO

Lots of fun with the cool retro themed Cardas room, more like being at home with the Cardas family than at a HiFi Show, which I believe was Josh and Angela’s intention!

JANSZEN AUDIO

These speakers were excellent but new to me and I will simply copy what the website says about them:

“The brand new JansZen 9.5 loudspeaker is modeled after Arthur A. Janszen’s famed KLH Nine, but modernized with a freshened look and vastly improved performance and practicality. The original: You may remember the KLH Nine. Developed by Arthur A. Janszen in the mid-1950’s, it sported William H. Barton’s mid-century modern industrial design. It was put into field tests in 1957 by JansZen Laboratory. In 1959, Arthur joined KLH as CTO, bringing his groundbreaking design with him as the KLH flagship, which remains highly respected to this day.

The Nine was the first truly full range electrostatic speaker, in that it made deep bass — flat to 40 Hz — reached sufficient volume levels for all sorts of music, and was reliable. These characteristics contrasted with its beloved, erstwhile contemporary, the QUAD ESL 57.

The new: The JansZen Nine.Five builds on that venerable achievement and transforms it into a lasting icon for our century.

Woofing: In the old days, dynamic woofers were already being paired with electrostatic midranges and tweeters, but not seamlessly. Nowadays, there are dynamic woofers that rival electrostatics, so all JansZen electrostatics use dynamic woofers for the bass. Making the transition seamless is still a good trick, of course, and we’ve mastered it in all our loudspeakers.

Having a 200 Hz crossover, the woofers in the Nine.Five aren’t asked to come anywhere near the frequencies where they would deviate from purely pistonic action, so among other advantages, there’s no breakup coloration whatsoever. The woofers in the Nine.Five also have properties that allow them to operate well as dipoles, open baffle.

Each speaker system has six 8”, ceramic cone woofers that are exceptionally light, responsive, and linear. They produce absolutely natural and impactful bass that will have you doubting that the sound is being reproduced by speakers. The dipole configuration minimally excites room modes, and the large surface area projects a palpable wavefront with transients like drum beats, low bass string plucks, and hammer-on’s.

Dipole operation also unloads the woofers at deep bass frequencies, so bass extension is limited only by dipole cancellation roll-off, not the suspension. This creates a flat response to 40 Hz, with further extension slightly assisted by their well damped, 29 Hz aggregate resonant frequency.

Tweeting: Since the electrostatic panel crosses over to the woofers at only 200 Hz, it handles most of the audio spectrum, namely the upper bass, midrange, and treble. Consequently all the sound that requires the very highest sonic fidelity is reproduced by the electrostatic panel. Since there is thus no chance that either the woofers or the electrostatic panel can possibly experience breakup, and floor bounce is practically eliminated by the tall aperture and wide range floor distances, the sound is smooth as silk from top to bottom.

Stat configuration: The electrostatic panel is 8” wide and 48” tall. It’s configured as a synthetic aperture line array, which is truly unique. What this means is that it is divided into narrow vertical segments — five segments in this case. The central segment gets the straight signal, with sequential time delays to each pair of flanking segments. This makes the entire 8” wide array have dispersion similar to a merely 1.2” wide strip — ±20° at 10 kHz — yet it produces much higher SPL than a 1.2″ wide strip.

This approach resembles QUAD’s synthetic point source array (ESL-63 and later), but since QUAD’s central area is rather wide, it still beams narrowly, whereas the Nine.Five has wide enough dispersion to allow considerable leeway in seating position without losing the treble.

In contrast to point sources, a line array has the advantage that the loudness doesn’t change much when moving away from each speaker. Thus, when listening from well off to one side of a stereo pair, you can thus easily hear the sound from the farther speaker, so the image doesn’t just collapse onto the near speaker when you move off center, it merely shifts off center along with you.

Another advantage to a line array is that there is practically no effect on tonality when changing listening height, in this case from about 26″ to 72” above the floor at a 7′ listening distance. A very subtle 1.5° back-tilt increases the maximum listening height, reduces back wall interference effects, and increases standing stability.

Specifications:Driver complement: one 8” x 48”, individually handmade, synthetic aperture, electrostatic line array, and six 8” ceramic cone woofers per loudspeaker

Electrostatic panel sensitivity is adjustable downward by up to 6 dB for bass-shy or bright rooms.”

Well these were certainly an impressive speaker to look at sounded very good too. These are a multi-driver open baffle design that just sounded effortless. Electrostatic line-array on the other side which David running the room told me was unique in the world.

One of the sounds of the show for me, especially having just heard they are $21.5K.

MARTIN LOGAN & PRECISION AUDIO VIDEO

Marin Logan were playing the ESL 15A loudspeakers and what struck me in this room was that they knew at what level of sound they could push the room to without over-exciting it. This led to a sound that was neither boomy or shouty.

A very nice sounding room, in my opinion.

SEVENTH FLOOR

WOLF AUDIO SYSTEMS

TRIANGLE AND GOLDNOTE

This was a very nice sounding room with a refined sound that really suited the room and it was lovely to see Tomasso again at Goldnote and just as we arrived home a parcel arrived via UPS with the company’s new phonostage and cartridge….expect to see a review of these in the very near future.

ARETAI, OEPHI & CONVERGENT AUDIO TECHNOLOGY

OePhi cables are a new cable manufacturer from Denmark and they look quite interesting. Partnered with Convergent Audio and Aretai loudspeakers.

Heard London Grammar and thee speakers certainly throw a huge sound stage that is bigger than the standard stage you would expect from this kind of speaker.  They also went low but in a controlled way.

Lateral and SolidSteel stands were in the room which was nice to see.

Another fab room I wish I had more time to spend in….I was too engrossed in listening to take any photos!

GERSHMAN ACOUSTICS

Listening to the new 30^th anniversary model of the Gershman loudspeakers. I know that Lukasz from Lampizator really rates these speakers and I get why. They are, to give them their full name, the 30^th Anniversary Grand Avant Garde and cost 17K.

We were also listening to the  exasound s82 mark 2 streaming DAC that was making its debut. Amps by VAC. This is a fabulously good sounding system with the speakers doing a good deal of the work. Excellent sounding system and I’d happily have these, particularly given their relatively low price.

SOUURCE SYSTEMS LTD & LUMIN

Lateral Sounds stands with Lumin X1 with a Fi -Data server. Speakers are from John de Vore. Nice and relaxed sounding speakers. The Lumin L2 library is the standalone library device and server that is a new device.

AGD PRODUCTIONS INC

We were getting towards the end of the show when I finally got into the AGD room but what a really cool room to have towards the end of the day.

I got to listen to the Audion MK 2 amplifiers based around the GaNTube technology.

There’s too much to go into with regards the scope of this tech here but expect more from us on this in the near future.

Sonically this was deadly quiet in the background. One of the sounds of the show for me.

NEXUS AUDIO TECHNOLOGIES, ANTICABLES, 432 EVO, ALTA AUDIO, PRIMARE

This room I had been looking for as it had the 432 Evo streamer in here along with Primare electronics and Alto Audio ADAM speakers. Total price $35K,

The room sounded fabulous even with no room treatment and being pushed pretty loud.

ORCHESTRALLS

This Korean company was wholly new to me but wins the prize for the most unusual loudspeaker in the show…if not the world. Playing a piece of piano jazz and this was very real and in the room lifelike.

The big speakers we got to hear are $44K.

Excellent!

 AV LUXURY GROUP 

AV LUXURY GROUP

This was Scansonic, Raidho and Margules amplifiers.

ALEX SOUND TECHNOLOGY

BLUMENHOFER ACOUSTICS Genuin FS 2 Mk 2 in Makassar premium finish (MSRP $22,850) with TAKATSUKI TA-S01 (MSRP $32,000) single ended amplifier

MUSICAL ARTISANS INC

Tucked away at the end of the seventh floor was a room with barely a soul in it at 2:30 in the afternoon. Stenheim speakers and Nagra were making very nice noises.

This is one of the vagaries of audio shows in that if you don’t look at the show guide and plan then you are going to miss something that’s definitely unmissable.

SIXTH FLOOR

LINEAR TUBE AUDIO, PURE AUDIO PROJECT, INNUOS, ANTI CABLES

TRIODE WIRE LABS, BORDER PATROL,VOLTI AUDIO

A fellow northerner in this room, Gary from Border Patrol.

AUDIO CRAFTSMEN

HEGEL AND CLARISYS

I can’t fail to enjoy these speakers whenever I hear them, and they are great with Hegel!

MARTIN LOGAN

The new Motion and Motion XT speakers sounding great following their launch in Bristol by PMC Distribution.

THE SOUND ORGANISATION

Patrick from Chord Company was mid dem when I popped in showing the new Chord Co and English Electric products.

THE SOUND ORGANISATION – FYNE AUDIO

Sound org specialise in importing great British brands to the USA and Fyne Audio is doing very well for them indeed, nice to see Max and Dave from Fyne…they had the Fyne Vintage 12 speakers in the system, they didn’t try to get the 15s in this room. Sounded really great, but then what else would you expect?

MONARCH SYSTEMS

This was such a cool room, fun and laid back with a great sound…didn’t get to see Rich from Monarch but he had done a fab job with Alluxity, B.audio, Chario, Franc Audio and Siltech. Proof that HiFi doesn’t have to be stuffy.

LAUFER TEKNIK AND BENCHMARK

More of the strange HiFi show stuff we all love, though this actually sounded really good, with the super tall, thin, Porzilli line array of Laufer Teknik The Note speakers, they created a room filling sound which you could walk through, not sure how practical they would be but still very interesting.

BRICASTI DESIGN AND TIDAL

MON ACOUSTIC AND AURENDER

Lovely looking and sounding speakers in here with Aurender and Chord Electronics.

AURENDER AND WILSON AUDIO

A sneak preview of the Aurender AP20

STEREO HAVEN

Featuring Jadis, JM Reynaud, Dynavector, and Well Tempered Lab with Lateral Audio Stands.

ESOTERIC AND KLIPSCH

TRIANGLE ART

A full Triangle Art system…pretty fantastic stuff!

WATHEN AUDIOPHILE

A packed room with a great relaxed sound from what I could hear.

FIFTH FLOOR

VPE ELECTRONICS

I noticed the Cube Audio drivers when I walked in, the speakers they were in were by VPE but they were also showing their woofer modules made to enhance panel speakers, the Little Dipole Woofer Model 1 DSP, was being used under each of the Magnepan speakers…great sounding room.

TW ACUSTIC, CESSARO

CAD AND AESTHETIX

A whole suite of gear from Computer Audio Design (CAD) from the UK and Oregon, including their grounding control products, and the new “The CAT” CD transport, along with Aesthetix amplification and Vandersteen loudspeakers. Lovely sounding room.

MADISOUND

Madisound supplies some of the biggest names in loudspeaker parts to the American market including Accuton, Mundorf, Scan Speak, SEAS, Morel and more.

 

SB ACOUSTICS

More for the DIY fans, including their rather splendid kit speakers, which sounded great at very reasonable prices.

ANTAL AUDIO GROUP

A fantastic system featuring Triangle speakers from France with Electrocompaniet of Norway. The  Triangle 40th Anniversary Magellan Quatuor floorstanders were paired with the a pair of the new flagship Electrocompaniet AW 800M monoblocks, which gained our Editor’s Choice award when we reviewed them recently, plus the EC 4.8 MKII preamp, EMC 1 MKV CD player, ECM 1 MKII media center and ECP 2 MKII phono amp. Turntable was from Soulines.

LINN

Scotland’s very own Linn were doing a splendid job demonstrating their range topping Klimax products, taking the crowds in the room through their analogue and streaming capabilities. Sonus faber speakers and Transparent cable completed the system.

REFINED AUDIO

Featured Cube Audio, Pass Labs and First Watt.

MODWRIGHT INSTRUMENTS

Dan Wright was running a lovely room with mainly his own gear, including the KWA 99 Monoblocks (world premier) and LS99 Preamp, with Cardas cables and Studio Electric loudspeakers, Pure Fidelity turntable and Lumin music player. It was great to finally meet Dan, though we feel like we have known him forever!

CINETEC

More Modwright next door and I actually preferred the loudspeakers in this room which were Alta Audio. Again another very good sounding system that worked with the room.

ATOHM AND ATOLL

Two French brands which partner very well in this room.

CINETEC

Totem and Bryston in the next Cinetec room.

GESTALT AUDIO DESIGN

Nice to hear the Wolf Von Langa speakers in here.

AURANAS

It isn’t really a proper HiFi show unless you have some really out there stuff and Hill Plasmatronics delivered that with their plasma tweeter…which involves having a huge gas tank and a strange smell in the room.

KECES

CAMBRIDGE AUDIO

British HiFi brand Cambridge were proving very popular with the locals with the team explaining their latest gear to several visitors when I popped in, good to see!

KLH

KLH were introducing the brand new Model 7 speaker.

PARTS EXPRESS AND DAYTON AUDIO

ATMA SPHERE AND FRITZ SPEAKERS

FERN & ROBY

Really nice to hear Fern & Roby speakers, and to meet Christopher from the brand. This was a really chilled and lovely sounding room on a hectic Sunday. Also really great to hear that Christopher is helping out with Black Cat Cables, whose creator and good friend of ours, Chris Sommovigo sadly died recently. The good news is that his wife Mayu is taking up the running of Black Cat, with help from Christopher, watch this space for more news in the future.

FOURTH FLOOR

FIDELIS DISTRIBUTION, LAB12, HERETIC LOUDSPEAKERS, CEC AND ARGENTPUR CABLES

It was absolutely fab to walk into this room with a whole load of Lab12 gear, and a banner proudly displaying their awards, including the HiFi PiG ones. We are really pleased to see Lab12 getting the recognition that they deserve around the world as we have known them from when they made their debut on the High End Munich newcomers stand years ago. Their valve gear worked well with the 97db sensitive Heretic loudspeakers.

FIDELIS AUDIO, HARBETH, NEAT, JMF, IDEON AUDIO

DIY LOUDSPEAKER PROJECT PAD

A cool DIY room by the guys that run a DIY loudspeaker Facebook group, including Javad Shadzi, pictured here. I was particularly impressed by the cabinet finish.

INFIGO AUDIO AND ALTA AUDIO

A lovely sounding system here, there was myself and a guy who was making notes and we obviously both got the same thing from the system, I turned to the couple running the room and said that it sounded beautiful, the piano was gorgeous and effortless. the other chap had just written exactly the same thing. Before the show I had thought that the Infigo amps would be really big, but they are actually quite compact. The glass top to the electronics was a great feature, making the most of the view inside. Speakers were Alta Audio Titanium Hestia II.

CREATIVE SOUND SOLUTIONS

The CSS Typhoon speakers sounded really good, I was surprised at their $5500 a pair price.

MSB

MSB electronics paired with Magico.

AUDIOVECTOR AND BELL CANTO

The super affordable and HiFi PiG Editor’s Choice Award winning Audiovector QR7 paired with Bel Canto sounded excellent. These speakers are ridiculously good VFM.

ARTISAN FIDELITY

Tidal electronics and speakers including the $75,000 Tidal Contriva G2 loudspeakers. Wired with Signal Projects cables.

WOO AUDIO, ABYSS HEADPHONES, MA RECORDINGS

BLUEBIRD MUSIC

A really nice sounding room with AVM and Canton loudspeakers.

GRANDINOTE

A full Grandinote system (and a J.Sikora Initial turntable) with the lovely Max from Italy. The Grandinote Mach 8 XL speakers were making their debut and we listened to Yello …wonderful!

ZESTO AUDIO

Carolyn and George Counnas always but together a fab sounding system and AXPONA was no exception. A fine selection of their valve electronices along with YG speakers, Cardas cables, a Dr Feickert turntable with a TriPlanar tone arm.

AMPED, ACOUSTIQUE QUALITY, SPIN CLEAN, WIREWORLD

Nothing playing above a whisper as there was a guy making a phone call in the room, but some interesting looking gear.

AVM

Nice to see Udo from AVM, he was showing a full AVM system, including the new CB 2.3 2-way bookshelf speakers, unfortunately, the wifi was playing up so we didn’t get a listen but should be able to in Munich.

YG ACOUSTICS AND BEL CANTO

A really cool room with the new Bel Canto Black electronics and the YG Peaks range including the debut of the brand new Descent subwoofer. The sub was perfectly dialed in with the Talus speakers, obviously, the system had been set up by someone who knew how to get the best from adding a sub to a stereo system. I must say I really enjoyed the new YG Peaks range at this show, I have heard them before and not been blown away, I forget at which show but they had been put in too big a room for the size of the speaker, but at AXPONA they were used in smaller rooms and to good effect. They look classy too.

VANATOO

Wireless powered speakers that come in at $650 (for the larger Transparent One)…they had a sub running too but I was blown away by how good these little speakers sounded and how affordable. I heard the smaller Transparent Zero, which I didn’t get the price of but if you are after a small speaker system with just about everything onboard I would check the Vanatoos out!

Another view over the atrium

THIRD FLOOR

MAGNEPAN, AURENDER, ROGUE AUDIO

DENON AND DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY

A great sound from a versatile system, a bit of HiFi/AV crossover.

BOWERS & WILKINS AND MARANTZ

HANIWA

GLEN POOR’S AUDIO VIDEO, HARBETH, YG ACOUSTICS, KUBOLA SONSA, LUXMAN, LATERAL AUDIO STANDS

Nice to see British rack brand Lateral at AXPONA. Really chilled room, got to hear the new YG Peaks standmounts which worked well in the smaller room.

SOTA TURNTABLES

Sota were showing their flagship and more affordable turntables along with their dinky little new Pyxi phonostage.

DANVILLE SIGNAL PROCESSING

Danville were showing their DSPNexus which works as a DSP crossover and control centre all in one box, with a headphone amp and mic input for measurements.

CLARISYS AUDIO, SHUNYATA, CONSTELLATION

An excellent sounding room featuring the Clarisys Minuet speakers, we also heard these in a private listening room with Hegel’s top secret new gear, fabulous.

MOFI, EMT, FALCON

Great system this, with a stunning pair of Falcon LS3/5a Gold Badge, like we have at home but in a really striking veneer…perched atop Solidsteel stands like we have ours. Great pairing with Leak.

ELAC

MOFI AND HIFI ROSE

The new MoFi Sourcepoint 10 speakers doing the business with HiFi Rose. Andrew Jones, the designer was being interviewed in the adjoining room so only got to hear them at low  volume.

MOFI DISTRIBUTION

In this MoFi room they had the Wharfedale Dovedales which launched at Bristol, no they didn’t have the drinks cabinet version that I could see!

SWEETVINYL

Sweetvinyl were giving a talk about their Sugar Cube products that claim to make ‘previously unplayable’ records listenable.

ELITE AV DISTRIBUTION

This room featured ART loudspeakers, Plinius and Kuzma.

ROKSAN AND MONITOR AUDIO

PARADIGM AND ANTHEM

 

The Dali Kore flagship loudspeakers on display with NAD in the hotel lobby.

CONFERENCE CENTRE

The conference centre part of the show housed some big and some enormous rooms with names like Utopia and Nirvana…pretty fitting given the high and ultra high-end nature of a lot of the gear on show here.

OCTAVE, DYNAUDIO & BRINKMANN

Dynaudio Confidence 50, pre amplifier HP700 SE from Octave. The preamplifier is a modular kind of concept that has slots for phono etc. There’s a tone control done by tubes, separate PSU. The MRE220 are monos. The PSU on the monos is said to lower the noise-floor and all the transformers are built in-house. The source is a Moon streamer D780 with an external PSU.

The turntable is the same Taurus that was at Audio Show Deluxe. It is a direct drive model and has two tonearms here at Axpona . The tonearms are a 10.5” and a 12.1”. The PSU is a Ront 3 which is tube base. Why tube based, I asked. The response was that it adds a degree of “flow” to the DD turntable. Cartridges are EMT JSD Novel titane and the mono cartridge is the EMT HSD 025.

We got to listen to the same Steve Gadd record that was at Audio Show Deluxe  (Blicher Hemmer, Gadd) and it’s superb! The speakers are not as dynamic as the Franco Serblin speakers we heard this on at Deluxe but it’s still a fabulous experience.

WYNN AUDIO, KARAN ACOUSTICS, METRONOME KALISTA, VIBEMRG

Tonda D speakers from Vimberg at $70k were fed by a whole load of Karan Acoustics including the line a pre with external PSU, Phono and Power a Monoblocs at around 200K for the ensemble.

The French Kalista Dreamplay XC CD/SACD (79K) and Dreamplay turntable (54K) provided the front ends.

Crystal cables joined all this together and Entreq grounding was employed.

The music being played really wasn’t to my taste but the sound was hugely realistic and effortless in its delivery in this absolutely massive room. Yep, I know this is a very nice house kind of money system, but it was stunningly good and as lifelike a system as I’ve heard at any show.

I asked for something electronic but they didn’t have any and played some classical music telling me it was “more dynamic”…oh yes, it certainly was. A fantastic experience. Definitely a contender for the best sound of the show for me, even if I’ll never have the means to buy it.

SUPERB!

EMM LABS, CREDO, MEITNER, DS AUDIO

Amadeus Meitner messaged us around lunchtime on the Saturday to tell us the Aki-San from DS Audio was at the show and would be giving a bit of a talk. Aki-San is always excellent value and so how could we not visit. The great and the good of the worlds audio press were in attendance and we got to natter to a good few folk we’d not seen for a while and Amadeus and I talked house music and DJing. For those that aren’t aware, Meitner are bringing their DAC tech to the DJ world and this can only be a very good thing. Let’s face it, most DJ kit sounds pretty average at best and we all also know that music sounds better through better kit…and I set up the site AudiophileDJ.com to give a platform for this.

Credo speakers, EmmLabs and Meitner electronics and a big VPI vinyl spinner made up the spinner along with Van den Hul phonostages.

Got a listen to the system and again it sort of goes to show the differences between very good audio systems and what I would describe as high end systems…much like the Karan/Metronome system I mentioned earlier. This is a system that just oozes quality and finesse and effortless dynamism.

DS-Audio, EMMLabs and Meitner got together around 4 years ago and ended up making a phonostage for the DS optical cartridge. It doesn’t work with MC and MM carts and only the optical cartridges from DS Audio.

Sadly we had to dash to a meeting before we got to the end of the chats but all was pretty impressive.

FOCAL

French brand Focal had a huge room and it was rammed on Saturday morning pretty much from the off which sort of gives the impression that they are hugely well known and popular in the States.

The launch at AXPONA 2023 for Focal was the new six strong range of Theva speakers read more about them here.

As I walked into the room with the new speakers my immediate thought that it was too much and really boomy. However, when I sat down on the settee that they provided and which was pretty much in the hot-spot, everything clicked into place and it wasn’t too much at all. Really nice listening to Marvin Gay!

LEGACY AUDIO

Another big pair of speakers and another huge room.

Legacy V system at  $62,000/pr were shown in Premium Rosewood finish, includes 1500 watts of internal ICEpower® amplification per side, and Wavelet II processor. The top end was powered with Legacy i.V4 ULTRA Amplifier – $8,700

These were a big pair of speakers and sat off-axis I just didn’t get them. I waited and sat in the hot spot and the soundstage clicked into place. There were other Legacy systems in the room but we only got the chance to hear the one system mentioned.

VAC, ACORA, ORACLE, LAMPIZATOR & CARDAS

The $218 000 Acora Acoustics VRC in blue-pear granite were being powered by VAC Statement 452 amps ($75K each, the VAC Statement Line Stage and the VAC Statement phonostage, both at $80 000. Sources were the Oracle Delphi with the Turbo KK2 PSU , Oracle Reference I tonearm and Lyra Atlas Lamda cartridge. I didn’t get a chance to listen but the digital side was dealt with by an Aurender N30SA Reference and the MC20 masterclock. The DAC was the Lampizator Horizon with an Oracle CD player.

All Cables were by Cardas.

This was a very good soundning system that had that relaxed and unforced sound that is typical of very high-end systems.

Lovely!

SCAENA LOUDSPEAKERS, dCS, & SILVERSMITH AUDIO CABLES

Totally new name to me, which is one of the delights of coming over the pond.

So, this speaker system comes at different prices depending on the number of bass drivers you want to have. With 2 woofers the price is $90K, four is $106 and if you want 8 the price is $140K. The bass speakers are powered and come with a bass management system included.

Yep, this is a good call for bass management (or DPS) and the sound was fantastic. Often the bass at shows is the real let down as the rooms are unknown and often far from ideal. Being able to sort this out with bass management is a good idea, not just for shows, but homes as well.

This system went low but nothing seemed to be over-excited in the room and it was flat from top to bottom…or as much as I could tell.

BERKELY AUDIO DESIGN, J, SIKORA, CARDAS AUDIO, JOSEPH AUDIO, & DOSHI

I make no bones about reiterating the fact that Joseph loudspeakers continue to impress me every single time I encounter them. They are not the most exotic loudspeaker and they aren’t at all in your face with regards to their design. However, what they are is a design that just delivers MUSIC.

At AXPONA 2023 we got to hear the Pearl Graphene speakers at $44K being driven by American made Doshi amplifiers made up of the Evolution monoblocs at $44K. The Doshi pre amp and phonostage had the J Sikora Reference turntable with KV Max tonearm and Lyra Atlas cartridge on the analogue front end.

Digital music was provided by Berkely Audio Design Alpha DAC reference 3 with Cardas cables joining everything up.

This lovely and relaxed sounding system was a treat to listen to and clearly people in the room were enjoying it too. Now, I don’t drink, but a nice bottle of red and that would have been me set for the day.

CONVERGENT AUDIO TECHNOLOGY

CAT are based in New York and had one of the very large rooms here at AXPONA 2023.

A VPI HW40 was the analogue front end and the speakers were the Magico S5 Mk 2s. From CAT we had the SL1 Legend Extreme preamplifier with the Statement Extreme amplifiers costing $225K. However, there was also the JL7SE at 60K a pair and JL5LE at 28K a pair.

These are big rooms to fill but this system filled it very nicely.

GRYPHON

STENHEIM, VTL, NORDOST, & VPI

This was another big room that was making nice noises.

T + A

Amplifiers were the M40 HV using a proprietary tube on the input making a hybrid amp. The speakers are the Solitaire S430 making their debut at AXPONA 2023. The speaker are a sealed box infinite baffle and whilst they went LOW (28Hz) they didn’t appear boomy.

HV electronics made the rest of the system up. The DAC 3100 HV was making sense of the zeros and ones and costs $36,390.

T +A were using HQ Player on a computer that changes the file into a 1024 DSD file which goes into the DAC. The PCM and DSD decoding is done separately in the DAC and the way it decodes is unique.

AURALIC AND ATC

The main system was the G2.1 Aries Streamer and the Sirius upsampling processor and the VEGA DAC with eh LEO Reference Clock. Speakers are the ATC Active 100s.

This is a superbly simple but also complex system that delivers effortless detailed music that, in my opinion, embarrasses some of the more expensive digital products out there. OK, I’m a bit of an Auralic fanboy!

Both systems in this room were using active speakers which, personally, I think will be a big thing in home audio in the coming few years.

QUINTESSENCE AUDIO

A room full of Wilson Audio, Dan D’Agostino, dCS, Clearaudio and more…big names and a big sound.

 

QUINTESSENCE AUDIO

More Wilson, this time with Audio Research and the elusive Hana Unami Blue cartridge made an appearance.

QUINTESSENCE AUDIO

Sonus faber (Aida MkII), Boulder, Clearaudio and dCS

MCINTOSH AND BOWERS AND WILKINS

SATURDAY AUDIO EXCHANGE

ESTELON AND VITUS

I had been really looking forward to this room and it did not disappoint. Finally got to hear the Estelon Extreme Mk II loudspeaker as they had their North American debut. Aldo from Elite Marketing Dynamics had put an excellent system together (details below). At first I thought the system was bass light, but when you sat and allowed the sound to envelope you it clicked into place. A huge room with a huge, but not overbearing sound, would have loved to stay longer.

Speakers: Estelon Extreme Mk II $269,000/pair MAP

Electronics:

Vitus Audio MP-S201 Mk I Stereo Amplifiers (2 each) $115,000 each $230,000/total MAP

Vitus Audio MP-L201 Mk II Stereo Preamplifier $70,000 MAP

Vitus Audio MP-D201 Mk III DAC $40,000 MAP

Vitus Audio SP-103 MkII Phono Stage $45,000 MAP

Innuos Statement Music Server w/Next Gen Power Supply $21,700 Retail

Acoustic Signature Ascona NEO Turntable with tonearm, cartridge, etc $79,985 Retail

Stromtank S-2500 Quantum MkII Battery Power Source and Conditioner $28,250 Retail

Stromtank S-1000 Battery Power Source and Conditioner $16,000 Retail

Cables: Crystal Cable Art Series (Speaker, XLR, Digital, and Power Cables) $330,000 Retail

Racks: HRS SXR-1921-3v racks (2), R3X-1921 bases (6), E1X-2127-2 (2) bases $33,000 Retail

Accessories: ART 6XS Electromagnetic Treatments (2) passive devices $9,000 Retail

ASC 16” x 36” IsoThermal Tube Traps (10) $7,290 Retail

System Total $1,179,225 Retail

RUTHERFORD AUDIO

Rockport, Esprit cables from France, Acoustic Signature and Accustic Arts, very cool room!

MOFI DISTRIBUTION

Piega, BAT and HiFi Rose in this room.

PS AUDIO

The whole family of PS Audio gear including the aspen loudspeakers, larger ones playing while I was in there. This was a whole lot of fun and the first time I have properly heard a PS Audio system at this level…playing loud rock music, it was just a lot of fun!

LUXMAN

We visited Luxman on the Friday night when they were launching their new flagship turntable …which just about broke the internet when it was announced. Heard the system later, playing quietly but you couldn’t deny the refined quality of the sound. Luxman electronics and Magico speakers.

THE HALLS

A scoot around the exhibition halls and Ear Gear experience in photos.

 

AXPONA 2024

Once again a huge thanks goes out to the organisers, exhibitors and staff for making us feel so welcome. We are already looking forward to AXPONA 2024, we hope to see you there!

AXPONA 2024 will take place at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Centre, Schaumburg, IL, from April 12th to 14th 2024.

 

 

 

Stuart and Linette Smith

For all the AXPONA 2023 news and show reports from HiFi PiG, click here.