Axpona 2022

One pair of smaller Stenheim speakers ($ 72K) sounded excellent with tubed electronics from Sweden or one of those other cold places. The very big Stenheims sounded very boxy in one of the larger rooms with, I believe, S.S. electronics. 

With the speakers used in the Atma-sphere room I couldnt gather any impression about the amps and associated electronics. The AGD room was superb, although I wouldnt call their amps Class D.

@ 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.