AXPONA Highlights / Lowlights (mainly speakers and amplifiers)

Highlights and Lowlights, AXPONA 2015

Biggest highlight:

An awesome discussion with Parasound owner Richard Schram. A very nice man that has a gifted insight into the audio industry and what people want in hifi products and the experience, contacts and knowledge of how to deliver to market. Totally impressed. The products met the ear test as well, they sounded incredible and were used by more than one key speaker manufacturer- including Golden Ear and KEF.

Biggest disappointment:

Audio Note speakers. When you are used to open detailed, resolute sound and it becomes your preference, there is nothing awaiting you when you hear the AN speaker (8" 2-way). Good bass, very dynamic sound but lacking any lower treble / upper midrange detail. No offense to those that like them, but they are not my cup of tea and I have graduated from that type of overly smooth, veiled sound a long time ago.

Other highlights-

KEF conference room. The KEF LS50s sounded absolutely incredible on the new Parasound integrated amplifier. The sound literally filled a very large conference room. I would buy these in a heartbeat for the midrange and treble detail / clarity if they didn't have that midbass warmth bump to offset the fact that they do not play deep bass.

Something in the floorstanding R-series is on my personal short list for speaker upgrades.

KEF Blades. Very impressive speakers- especially when connected to dual Parasound A21 power amps. Rocked the room at concert / night club levels.
Made the LS50s even more impressive because they were voiced identically.

Golden Ear Speakers. (Triton 5).
Talk about value- these things come in at 2K a pair and are seriously smooth, detailed and natural sounding full range floor standers. Connected (again) to the Parasound integrated amp. I could be very happy with this system.

Harbeth Super HL5.
Holy cow, my favorite speaker at the expo. That supertweeter really adds an impressive amount of air and natural detail- the singer was there in the room as were the acoustic guitar players. I would have to stretch the budget for these but they were incredible. They had it all. Too bad they are 7K a pair.

Sony hi-res digital player / storage. These were everywhere. Sounded great.

Other disappointments-

McIntosh. Looked bedazzling, sounded very good but nothing special.

Tannoy. Dual large cone drivers- very obvious treble breakup distortion.

Dynaudio. Did nothing for me. Top of the range sounded competent but lifeless, bottom of the range sounded tinny and strained.

 

I am convinced that the SHL5+ is the best speaker that no one is talking about. The conservative looks are deceiving - they are seriously good speakers.

Nice round up - kinda regret not going now.

 

Thank you avanti1960 for your excellent report. Parasound were never on my radar until they contracted John Curl's services and I was mates with John and the late Bob Crump, and went to CES and the room was Parasound (just the JC1s the first time) with CTC Builders and SoundLabs and like you, I was very impressed with Richard Schram. A very knowledgeable gent who is trying to get great high end sound at a decent price. Good fun at parties, too.

 

Curious if you were able to demo the new Focus XD's? I've had the 200 XD's for a few months now, and other than a few minor quirks with the electronics -I love them. They are overpriced though, IMO.

 

HL5's are what I would own if I didn't have Quads. And yes, it's a shame the price has been bumped up to unreasonable levels (IMHO).

 

i did not hear the focus. the platinums were clean but sterile, the confidence c1 were strained and tinny, horrid.

 

I posted elsewhere, but I'll join yours to keep them all in one thread. I thought the KEF speakers were too loud (for the room, but I heard distortion) but they were impressive for their slender profile (spouse acceptance). The KEF engineers were very straightforward in their pitch. I liked their approach.

Resonessence Labs had a nice USB-powered headphone amp, Herus, hooked up to an AKG 701 to show its oomph. Very tiny and unbelievable slam for its size.

The Vapor loudspeakers with the Lampizator DAC was really outstanding. Got to me Lukasz Fikus, designer. Very self-effacing guy, considering he made it possible for me to accept 16/44 as audiophile thanks to his work.

Noble had no less than five different earbuds to try. I stopped at their Noble 4, which I thought was all my pocketbook would handle. I was interested that I preferred the curved EQ over the flat. Once I heard the, I couldn't go back. They built a custom ear mount for your at added cost of course.

Another great speaker room was the Classic Audio T-1.5 Reference loudspeaker. I was very impressed with what I heard, although their room was larger - larger than any I have access to.

Sadurnin Acoustics had their red Sousaphone-style Staccato loudspeakers. On some tracks they were awesome, but not all. But, compellingly interesting to say the least. Not a me-too speaker in any way.

Gotta admit, the Legacy flagship loudspeakers had me staying quite a while, tapping my foot to tune after tune. I was in love with voices and rock on these. Actually classical sounded pretty good too.

Woo Audio had prototype portable tube headphone amps. Again, wearing 600 ohm AKG 702 phones and hearing slam and deep bass was very impressive. Jack Woo told me they are not ready for release. He suggested they would be soon and he was collecting feedback. I owned a portable tube amp at one time and found it lacking. This one I could see going for. He claims it is ready for tube rolling, which is part of the fun, but it sounded great in its current form.

Everyone was using HDD. Is it time for me? I admit I enjoyed the flexibility of jumping around.

Lots of fun. They were very busy. No big rooms, except for the headphone and marketplace rooms. Some of the suites were a little tight for the systems in side, but overall quite impressive. People were very friendly, many asking me when I walked in if I wanted a turn at the sweet spot. I tried to be considerate as well.

I was ushered out of one room so a Stereophile reviewer could have a private audition. While I was standing in the hallway, an Absolute Sound reviewer walked up and ask what was going on. I told what had happened and he gave me a quick smirk. I thought it was funny.

 

That's very cool. Hard not to like the guy based on what he has put up on his Web site over the years. I know that many think that the Lampi is top drawer.

Good one. That has happened to me too; but I have also stayed when Mikey Fremer came in to do his thing.

 

nice additions. i have zero interest in headphones so i did not visit any of the rooms that featured them. i also stayed away from the rooms with the wizard of oz systems because i was there on a mission to listen within my budget. probably why i wasn't bumped by any stereophile guys
except for the dark music direct room that featured these massive quad speakers being driven by two small nuclear fission power plants illuminating the floor.
next year i'll take in the fantasy systems.

 

This surprises me. Do you know who set up that room?

 

Thanks for sharing.

First comments I've read to date on the new Parasound Halo integrated - I that that unit is going to cause a good buzz.

 

I'm not an LP guy at all, but at RAMF a few years ago early Sun morning I listened to several rooms in succession with Mikey. He was a lot of fun when not wearing his Analog Planet hat!

 

not sure but i believe it was a gentleman who is a member here.

 

i

It already has. Parasound is 2-months behind on production. The silver unit looked awesome- they added brushed aluminum sides instead of the plated plastic of the Halo series. Also a backlit volume control knob.

 

mikey is awesome. i wish i had more time to find him this time around.

 

Harbeth and KEF, go figure.

 

Were those the Blades or Blade 2s? I've only heard the original Blades, and they weren't for me; yet I loved the Reference 5s. That makes me wonder what the Blade 2s sound like.

 

I wish I could have heard the C7s but no such luck.

 

Not quite as good as the Super 5's but I love them. Some folks actually prefer the 7's. I bought the 7's because I couldn't afford the 5's...

Harbeth doesn't make a bad loudspeaker. Alan Shaw has a gift.

 

I set up the room, as always. I'm rather astonished at the comment and must say that it runs counter to any other impression that's been shared with me. I can't imagine what was playing to provide that impression. Perhaps the listener was standing in the entranceway near the bathroom during a peak period, or, more likely, the system as a whole lacked the glare which has been almost omnipresent in so called high end systems since the mid-eighties.

 

The Muraudio speakers driven by Moon gear I felt were very good as were the Lawrence Audio Double Bass. My perennial favorite, the MBL speakers, did not disappoint either. However, the room they were stuck with had a huge A/C unit built above it causing a constant 65db hum in the room.

 

Really?

 

...or quite possibly he didn't like the sound of the setup. I hear you about the high end but systems that include Harbeth, DeVore Fidelity and a good number of other quality brands don't follow that line of of thinking.

 

(Disclaimer: I've not attended a hifi show.)

I have the opposite problem, David; systems with gigantic monoblocks, thick cables on risers and speakers that look like props from Star Trek often drive me out of the room with the glare you mentioned.

 

Yes, really, as evidenced by bhazen's comment and the comments of hundreds of attendees at scores of shows over the years.