Axpona 2023


 

Axpona Show Recap Sunday April 16th 2023- O'Hare Airport



 

Clarisys Audio-Why these difficult names??

$35k. Easy on the ears at higher volumes.

"Apogee" is what they look like only prettier.

 

The new T+A $50k speaker model was also excellent. They make smaller models

I plan to look into.

 

The $43k Joseph Audio is a perennial winner.

 

The $200k+ Borresen Speakers may still be my all time favorite. Lars was there

but Michael B. was burned out from an Asian tour.

 

The Vimberg stand mount Speaker they demo'd is a magical speaker. 

Last year they showed Lime Green speaker and sold it at the show.

Makers please note. Focal failed to bring even one "Hot" colored speaker.

And they must have had 25 speakers there. Poor merchandising. 

 

Did anyone else partake in one of Wendel's 1/2 hour new subwoofer sessions? (Magnepan)

Wendel's contention is that 12  6.25" drivers mounted in a dipole configuration

beats anyone's subwoofer. Not sure about his science on that but he puts on an

impressive demo! 

 

I am still waiting delivery of my LRS+ speakers ordered Dec 4th. 

I did get to listen to the new LRS+ speakers finally. Interesting back story about

something Sandy Gross had to say in the Bacche room. He thinks the LRS+ are "special".

 

Mike Fremer debuted his new LP. I won't try to review it but will advise against over paying

for an early copy.

 

Met some fun people at Cambridge Audio Saturday night!  Their business is good.

 

Dined with the Black Ice people at the Weber Grill.  Jared has a very

interesting past if you ever meet him. They sold 40 units of one headphone amp

on Friday at the show!

 

I finally met Fredrik Lejonklou from Sweden. He does things in an all out assault mode.

Also has the best laid out website I've seen. Product history info is wonderful. Other makers note.

 

I spoke with the Chris Brunhaver, PS Audio Speaker designer, (son of one of the speakerlab founders)

and heard his mid sized $20k speakers. I like the look and the sound is pretty good

for a first effort. I decided against asking him if he missed Darren Meyers the PS audio designer

who was recently hired away by the new Parasound owner. Darren is a very talented guy who will 

benefit greatly from his new association with John Curl. I have to think Parasound will be announcing 

a new Class D amp soon enough.

 

Rumor has it that PS Audio is shopping for a new software man to fix some long standing glitches. 

When the mute button turns on the TV it is time for a fix.

 

Andrew Jones was demoing his new Point 8 speaker. $3k. the Point 10 is $4k. 

He had some great demo music I will be including in my next Track du Jour email.

The 8's sounded as good or better than the 10's in that setup.

 

A fun show overall!!

 

128x128jeffseight

I stopped in the Carver room for just a couple minutes. I wish I could have stayed longer. I thought it sounded really good. I think he had his new amp and preamp but I did not catch what the speakers were. I didn’t see any literature anywhere to grab. I was curious as to what speakers were paired with the amp and preamp as well as the source. 

I just got an email from Jim Clark. Here is what he said about the Carver room. 
 

The source was streaming through a Audiolab M-DAC
The preamp was a Carver C11 that was restored while our RPM (reference
preamp model) V-12 preamp (on display) is finishing development.
The amp is our new RAM (reference amplifier model) 285.
We used Elac Adante speakers on Friday and Saturday and Magnepan LRS+
on Sunday. Both were great. The Magnepan guys loved the sound and sent
people to the Carver room to hear their speakers sounding so great.
It was a great cooperation.
Thanks for attending. The comments were very positive.

@jeffseight I'll be in the market for some new reference bookshelf/monitor speakers and the MoFi Source point 8 has me really intrigued since I heard about it. Not just because of the smaller form factor and potential WAF but it appears to be spot-on to sounding as good or better than the SP10.  Any other speakers at  Axpona in that price point that sounded comparable?  I'm trying narrow down a list of 4 or 5 speakers to try on my modest HIFI setup.