Axpona 2022

@ audition_audio

spot on regarding the Stenheim speakers. I think the speakers used in the Atma-sphere room were the single driver voxativ speakers. Can someone else confirm that ? 

Have to agree, some rooms were too loud but some were too soft .  Again, personal opinion. Surprised no one has mentioned MBL. I think once again, tops of the show.  Estelon with the new Krell amp was excellent. I'm going to make some enemies here but many of the rooms playing vinyl were just not good. One particular room, can't remember which, had so many cracks and pops all I needed was some milk and a spoon. The Aidas with the vinyl piece that  I heard was awful. When playing digital it was wonderful. My wife even commented on the difference. I also thought Atohm was again great at it's price point. Speaking about price, the old school "stacked" Warfdale Lintons were a lot of fun for just $3300. The Elacs packed a big base punch. Was disappointed with the Von Schweikert room. The big Klipsch were just, well,  not good.  Burmester was easily the King of Bling. Overall, it was just great to be back again. Good or bad it was three days of fun and enjoyment.

The comments found elsewhere on the Klipsch 2022 Axpona 2022 room seem to be universal in what the participants heard. My interest is in "who was calling the shots" as far as the music being played, i.e., was it Roy D. (the Jub designer, who was said to be in-room) or some Klipsch or dealer marketing guy?

One comment elsewhere mentioned said that they listened to Tool’s 10,000 days (i.e., an album having a Dynamic Range DB rating of DR=8). This probably isn’t the way to demo a top-of-the-line loudspeaker having the kind of dynamic range capability/low modulation distortion as this fully horn-loaded loudspeaker exhibiting full-range controlled directivity. Additionally, like any loudspeakers in real listening rooms, some amount of acoustic treatment and dialing in is required--even with Jubilees (in my 15 year experience using them in-room).

In my past evaluating experiences with Mr. D. and the "underground Jubs" in Hope, AR more than a dozen years ago, those invited to attend used James Newton Howard & Friends (DR=19 or 20), Flim & the BB’s, Tracy Chapman, Jennifer Warnes, etc. as reference in-room subjective listening tracks as we tried out various configurations, of DSP PEQs and crossovers, high frequency drivers, different bass bin configurations, and upstream electronics--tubes, etc. In these trials, the Jubs were the most revealing loudspeakers (in a clarity sense) of the recordings themselves that I’ve experienced--and I lived with dipole panel loudspeakers for 20 years. "Neutral", "articulate", "clear" as well as "balanced" were the words that come to mind, and not "party speakers".

In other words, "Tool" wasn’t on the playlist--certainly not by any stretch of the imagination. I would have left the room if Tool or any other metal rock band was played. I wonder what happened this past weekend?

Chris

Yes the speakers used in the Atma-sphere room were single driver designs with thin plastic like enclosures. The drivers looked like Lowthers to me with whizzers. 

I was a little underwhelmed by MBL but I’ve never heard them before and was maybe expecting something else. Does anyone else think the top dynamic speakers are better as well? 

Yeah the Atmasphere class d amps didn't show well and personally I think it was because of the speakers. Hopefully when my dealer gets them in will get to borrow them and have a proper listen.

Audition audio are  you referring to plex I box speakers?I like sound in that room, when the white speakers were connected .

Attended Friday and Saturday.

Bad stuff:

Drive up from Indy went pretty good -until I hit road construction in Chicago area.

Thought show was very disorganized:

No Axpona signs in parking lot, No "this way to show" signs upon entering from remote doorways.

Extreme walk from parking lot (Next year, get some Rickshaws -I'll pay).

One bank of elevators (slowest I've seen).

Everyone used stairways. No signage in stairwells telling you to "go no further" (one stairwell did have a sign, three didn't). You descend down three flights to a door that says "No Exit", then you ascend back up three flights. 

Overpriced food, $5 bottled tap water (could have at least had spring water). Pros expect to overpay as they can deduct it. I can't.

Equipment I wanted to see not on display (BAT VK-80i int, Pass Labs XA-25, Large Eikon speakers (not playing).

Blues Show (8 p.m.) was WAY to frickn' loud (rhythm section) and the spotlight for the singer reflected off bass drum-head directly into my eyes (third row). left after 10 min.

Just tons of little "piddly" things that got on my nerves.

Good stuff:

The Raidho/Esoteric room -excellent sound until you see price tag.

Liked the Harmon room with Revel F328Be speakers.

The Cabasse room had $30K "Eyeball" speakers -Awesome dynamics!

Got to see Wilson Wamm #1 (fully restored and playing).

The Vinnie Rossi room had good sound (Qln speakers) but, again, that silly sticker shock.

Heard some ATC SCM50 (believe they were "Active" model) -Great stuff

Finally, got to meet "Uncle Kevin" (Upscale Audio). Nice man.

Also saw, but did not meet, Kevin's lovely Analog Manager Kat Ourlian (what style!).

Think this is my last Audio Show. 

@twoleftears I missed those rooms.  Still, I went to a bunch of rooms and did not come across class D amplification.  Was kinda surprised.

Dweller I saw Kat but busy talking to the Canadian harpist.

Yes, you are right! These amps are not CLASS D....They are CLASS AGD!  ;)

Had a great time on Friday.  Unfortunately, had to rush through in only 5 hrs - bummer.  Had a 2 day ticket but just couldn't make it back.  Missed quite a bit.  One of my favs was the AGD room with the Ocean wave stand mounts - really impressive IMO.  Didn't really like the MBL room 3 yrs ago but this time was different.  Sounded great!  Trying to put together all of my thoughts and report back for those interested.  

Grannyring i agree ,it’s very disappointing many room like the one on the ground floor , the MCIntosh room and B&w room, the Sonus Faber And Boulder, Wilson room both by Quintessence   I will talk to Mike who own quintessence about the loudness of those rooms.I go to his store.

Responding to this earlier comment by jan_mc:

https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/2379944

I thought I would correct the mistake regarding the price.

The Linkwitz LX521 speaker system, the one demoed at the show by me and others, costs just under $20k depending on the finish that you choose. This includes the speakers, cabling, 10 channels of Hypex nCore amplifiers, and an analog active crossover system.

Because the crossover is an active analog one, the only input option is balanced analog signal. The system takes care of everything that is needed after your preamp or DAC (any volume controlled source will work). It’s a turn-key system, that is you just connect everything and play. Takes 10 minutes to set up. For the price you are actually getting quite a lot of high performance gear.

-Charlie

Glad to read so much love for the AGD room.  I was lucky to buy the Vivace amps and the Ocean Way Eureka studio monitors in February 2020 at the Tampa show...I wish Covid never happened but we did have an amazing system to watch too many movies, listen to too many songs, albums, etc.  Not one ounce or cent of regret.  Also got lucky that the AGD founder was able to bring the gear to my house, we A/B tested with my Rotel amp & KEF Reference 1. It was an easy decision for the AGDs.  Then we had an awesome Italian meal at a local restaurant.  audition__audio grannyring  jetter  kingbarbuda

I bought the demo chrome AGD Audion Mk2 amps from Alberto at AXPONA. After a little post AXPONA delay I hooked them up to my system tonight. I immediately noticed a very obvious expansion in the width of the soundstage as compared to my other amps and integrateds. I even got up twice out of my listening position to check to make sure everything was ok with my Magico A3s and my pair of RELs! It was a wow moment. I am still evaluating all the other characteristics in my system. But so far I am even more impressed with the AGD Audion Mk2s in my system as compared to in the AGD room at AXPONA.

The new KRELL KSA-400i amp has me very interested about spending more than I can afford. I have the KRELL Duo 175XD (love them). These new amps are supposed to be the next level up from my amp.

@kingbarbuda 

Nice score!  I was hoping to get back on Sunday and see what kind of deals were around but just couldn't make it happen.  Do you mind telling us what kind of end-of-show discount you managed?  Or, maybe I don't want to know!

Everyone here missed the mbl room, huh?!

 My favorite room is the Nenuphar,room with silversmith Cables.I think they are using Pass labs or ayre gear sorry I can’t remember

You got to hear Nelson's Beast With 1000 JFETS!  Congrats, I'm jealous.

AGD are Gan based Class D. However, their Gan “chip” is proprietary.

The AGD products are first class-=-

How was the AUDAFLIGHT  room??

We (ATC) were up on #15 near MBL and we haven't been mentioned either-although we were packed all three days, We also had larger speaker down on the main floor in the Auralic Room.  We had 40 passives and 19 actives on 15 in two rooms and 100 actives down in Auralic.  That Auralic room sounded very nice to me, although they were playing a lot of electronic music, not much traditional "audiophile" stuff.

Brad 

Apparently the new Aavik amps running the Borressens (my favorite speakers at the show) are class D, using Pascal modules. Well outside of my price range but it's exciting to see them embrace class D.

The Vivid Giya G1 were amazing, and rounding out my favorites from this show would be the Janszen Audio Valentina A8 active towers.

I bought all the travel packages and Axpona tickets last year.

But it got cancelled.

This year I could not go since I had something to take care of.

I have yet to assemble Scaena 3.2 that I had bought used 2 years ago.

But I am getting addicted to Altec A7 with active bi amping right now.

It is fun to tune it.

It would have been nice if I could go there this year.

Thomas

I am also intrigued by this video.

My Scaena has mother pearl color but with 18 inches woofers.

I may try crazy idea of mating Scaena tower with Altec A7 woofer.

I also like this video. Volti Audio speaker sounds like my Altec A7.