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Audio Doctor goes to Axpona observations so far


 
For the first time went to Axpona, one heck of a show more audio then we have ever seen, the old New York audio shows were like this.

Anyway walked most of the show and most of the systems heard were just bad, common problems no room tuning, rooms that were too big for the gear or too small.  Even some of the really expensive stuff was dissapointing.

There were a few room that were good.

So far winners for us that were very good not in any particular order:

1: Big Horns from Germany forgot the name really famous one,
2: Muiraudio $15k electrostatic hybrid 
3: Alta Audio cheapie $5k speakers sounded great
4: Vimburg
5: Paradigm Persona 3F

(not a great setup,  but the sound comming out of them for a $10k speaker was very impressive. excellent, midrange soundstage was impressive  image floated nicely, even though the speakers were way too close together and the bass response was excellent.  Would have been way better with a few substitions.

6: T+A $75k floorstanders were impressive for such a small size reference speaker, don't know if they are worth that kind of money, the electrostatic tweeter coupled to a line array with buillt in subs was very musical in a way too small room. Would have liked them to be taller

Decent but not up to the hype the new PS audio speakers bass was very good for a $12-15k set of speakers filled up a big room ugly, and not the ultimate wow that PS was billing them as.

The Scaena line array  when we had them setup in our show and at some of the older New York Audio Shows were mind blowing this setup didn't gel which was sad.

Today to hear the Gryphon room, Golden Ear and a few others.

Scott Markwall gave a great demo of the Furutech NCF products which are really cool.

Innous gave a great demo of the Statement vs the Zenith, and wow what a difference in soundstaging and clarity.  

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Paradigm, T+A, Persona dealers.

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Showing 2 responses by pwhinson

pwhinson
158 posts
 
I agree that the big surprise for me was the Muraudio room. I had heard of these speakers but they were simply awesome...a revelation in a sea of mediocrity. Beautiful seamless blend between the dynamic and electrostatic drivers...they sounded great despite the small narrow room especially on hard to reproduce orchestral classical music. Just awesome. MBL room sounded awesome, Avantegard good, multi-channel Magnepan room very good, Vimburg good. There was a small outfit from Europe (the Netherlands I think) showing some new electronics and demonstrating with vintage Quads and that system also sounded surprisingly very good. Joseph Audio Perspective 2 sounded very good. Agree with you that the T+A speakers and electronics sounded good despite the small room. THEN...Underwhelming: Vandersteen (massive huge room always empty), Von Schweikert/Audio Company the huge VS speakers were totally underwhelming for me in a design where a huge amount of engineering was thrown at a massive and unnecessarily complex loudspeaker. Many, many other mediocre displays which suffered mostly from being shoe horned into the narrow hotel rooms. The manufacturers/dealers who were displaying on the top two floors suites had wider rooms and did much better I think with setup.  Those rooms also reflected more of a real (albeit smallish) living room environment. Vandersteen 9s and VS were displaying in rooms the size of a ballroom i.e., in a totally inappropriate setting and you have to wonder WTF?
pwhinson
158 posts
 
It was easy to compare the Sanders electrostat hybrids to the Martin Logans:  I thought Sanders had much much better integration between their dynamic sub driver and the electrostatic panels than ML, really surprisingly so since ML has been at this game a very long time now and should have it down.  Maybe there was something that was leading me to an incorrect conclusion with regard to the MLs but for me driver integration was much better on the Sanders.  Clarity above the bass range I thought was good on both but just a little bit more so on the MLs.  I guess Vandy and VS look at this as more of an almost static display than an attempt to make their equipment sound good, maybe they rely more on the generally well established word of mouth that they perform well but this particular showing certainly didn't advance that assertion at all.  Pass had a huge display but as I recall it actually WAS static...there was a huge amount of Pass products on display practically the whole line, sitting out on display.  I can't recall now if they were actually playing music in that room or not.  I do love the Pass products.  I didn't see Aesthetix anywhere and its a shame because their preamps are magnificent in my opinion (their power amps very good but maybe just not great).  I actually respect the fact that they aren't continuing to churn out new models to feed the upgrade cycle but I DO hope they stick around.  Their Calypso line stage and Janus preamp are still A1 in my book.
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