I loved the location of the Renassaince Hotel but didn't care for its layout for a show of this size. Very fatiguing. I played the show "by ear" and missed seeing A LOT of rooms. If I go again, I'll do my homework first. Most haunting gear? Joseph Audio Pearl 3 speakers.
Axpona observations
Here's a list of some things that jumped out at my wife and I other then how the rooms sounded. We attended Saturday and Sunday, a total of 11 hours of show going, so I can't speak for Friday.
The attendance was high. Quite often, the rooms were packed. So much so that unless you were willing to hang in the hall for sometime you either had to come back to a particular room or just miss it. That's the drawback for being successful. Sunday morning, before noon, was the best time. We had a number of rooms to ourselves and that was nice.
On that note, last year the attendees were given a lanyard with an Axpona card attached. You could plainly see who bought a ticket and was supposed to be there. This year, either to save money or maybe to distinguish between attendee and exhibitor, we were given wrist bands. Was someone actually watching to see if everyone had one on? My wife was wearing long sleeves both days and you couldn't see her band at all. No one stopped her and asked to see it. I paid close attention and I noticed a number of people that I didn't see wearing a band. What was to keep someone from just walking in and stepping onto a show floor without paying?
The German Physiks room was a disappointment. I was expecting to hear amazing sound and to learn about what made up that million dollar room. Instead we got a promotional speech for the guys high rez recordings.
The fire alarm that went off again was obviously someones idea of how to be a moron. I only wish you wern't such a chicken shit 'cause there were a few thousand people that wanted to beat the crap outta you.
Unfortunately, the auction was a bit of a mess. Why advertise a 6 to 9 block of time when there were only enough items to fill 35 minutes? My wife and I ate dinner at 5 so as to be there at 6 for the start. We didn't want to wait till 9 to eat. So, because there was some bad planning on how to get your auction number after you had pre registered (which made no sense at all) it didn't start till 6:30. Then, there were mix ups in the listings. The ads for the auction were for the items pictured and "many, many more!" Where were the 'many, many more'? Even with all the screw ups it was over by 7:20. If it started at 6 it would've ended by 6:45. The folks that were handling this at the show were all very nice and the auctioneer was doing a nice job. Just needed some better planning.
The last item is about Quintessence Audios raffle. It was very nice of them to do it. It was made clear that winners needed to be present so why in the hell do you fill out a card and then not be there? The guys pulling the cards had to go thru one after another, after another, after another etc trying to find people in the room. Most of those cards were people from out of the area. I'll bet the moron that pulled the fire alarm filled out a card and wasn't there.
Over all, my wife and I enjoyed being there just as last year. We met some very nice people doing the exhibiting. We learned a number of things and we heard some wonderful sounding equipment. Thanks to all that made this possible and we hope it returns.
The attendance was high. Quite often, the rooms were packed. So much so that unless you were willing to hang in the hall for sometime you either had to come back to a particular room or just miss it. That's the drawback for being successful. Sunday morning, before noon, was the best time. We had a number of rooms to ourselves and that was nice.
On that note, last year the attendees were given a lanyard with an Axpona card attached. You could plainly see who bought a ticket and was supposed to be there. This year, either to save money or maybe to distinguish between attendee and exhibitor, we were given wrist bands. Was someone actually watching to see if everyone had one on? My wife was wearing long sleeves both days and you couldn't see her band at all. No one stopped her and asked to see it. I paid close attention and I noticed a number of people that I didn't see wearing a band. What was to keep someone from just walking in and stepping onto a show floor without paying?
The German Physiks room was a disappointment. I was expecting to hear amazing sound and to learn about what made up that million dollar room. Instead we got a promotional speech for the guys high rez recordings.
The fire alarm that went off again was obviously someones idea of how to be a moron. I only wish you wern't such a chicken shit 'cause there were a few thousand people that wanted to beat the crap outta you.
Unfortunately, the auction was a bit of a mess. Why advertise a 6 to 9 block of time when there were only enough items to fill 35 minutes? My wife and I ate dinner at 5 so as to be there at 6 for the start. We didn't want to wait till 9 to eat. So, because there was some bad planning on how to get your auction number after you had pre registered (which made no sense at all) it didn't start till 6:30. Then, there were mix ups in the listings. The ads for the auction were for the items pictured and "many, many more!" Where were the 'many, many more'? Even with all the screw ups it was over by 7:20. If it started at 6 it would've ended by 6:45. The folks that were handling this at the show were all very nice and the auctioneer was doing a nice job. Just needed some better planning.
The last item is about Quintessence Audios raffle. It was very nice of them to do it. It was made clear that winners needed to be present so why in the hell do you fill out a card and then not be there? The guys pulling the cards had to go thru one after another, after another, after another etc trying to find people in the room. Most of those cards were people from out of the area. I'll bet the moron that pulled the fire alarm filled out a card and wasn't there.
Over all, my wife and I enjoyed being there just as last year. We met some very nice people doing the exhibiting. We learned a number of things and we heard some wonderful sounding equipment. Thanks to all that made this possible and we hope it returns.
18 responses Add your response
Agree @tblanka I was at the 2019 Axpona and this year there was much less attendees roaming the halls, especially Sunday was pathetic. |
Here's a plus one on the Nordost rep. There really were a number of rooms where the reps where doing a good job of explaining and educating. Now here's why sometimes we hear things differently. I actually enjoyed the Volti room. I thought Magico was nice and the Benchmark room, when I was there, was demoing some small speakers, can't remember the model and I think they wern't even available for purchase yet. My wife and I thought they were very impressive for what they were meant to do. One of the best rooms for us was the Acoustic Zen with the Triode amps. It's not always about one being better. Sometimes it's just about our own personal likes. |
From an educational standpoint, I felt the Holm Audio room with the Nordost rep was excellent. When the Nordost rep intentionally stepped on the Nordost Frey speaker cable... literally folding it in half... I about fell out of my chair. He did that to illustrate that creases in the cable have no effect on the sound and a crease can be righted by simply manipulating the cable back in shape. |
I guess I was sounding too much like I was complaining. Actually my observations were more about maybe someone from the Axpona show reading here and possibly making some improvements for next year. And yes, if I read correctly, it will be back again next year. Again, my wife and I enjoyed the show very much. Yes, there were a few rooms that were less then impressive but overall it seemed that considering the challenge of the rooms and the quick setups the sound was very good, some exceptional. Maybe they should consider adding another day seeing as how successful these have been. |
Now, now. My wife and I enjoyed ourselves immensely (it was her first show, my second). I agree with the Audio Physic room. Disappointing. However, there so many good rooms, many more than last year. The auction needs tweaking. Part of the problem was how high the reserve on some (maybe all from A/V Interiors) items was. It's an auction, not in-store sales! Joseph Audio, Merrill Audio, DeVore and Lawrence Audio were our highlights. Grimm, Sonist, Daedalus, Lowther, Aerial, Audio Note, AcousticZen, YG Acoustics, Wilson(in the D'Agostino room)and King Sound were very enjoyable. Rooms that wasted our time were both Magico, Benchmark, Volti, TAD(yet again this year, they sucked), By far the worst sound came from the Zu speakers. We were looking for a car in the hallway because it sounded like trunk music. |
Here's a perfect reason why some people just don't communicate well. Roxy54, if you paid attention you would have read in the very first line that this was about things OTHER THEN HOW THE ROOMS SOUNDED. I threw in the German Physics room just because it really wasn't what I had been led to believe it would be. Not how it sounded. And I'm not so sure this was fluff. I paid $50 for two people for two days. I could've done it without any ticket at all and I have a feeling that there were some that did just that. That kinda pisses me off. |
