2019 AXPONA Show Report

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by -=Rudy=-, Apr 17, 2019.

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  1. DanG

    DanG On Green Dolphin Street

    Location:
    Florida
    Rudy, thanks so much! Great pics and commentary. Thanks for taking the time to do it all!
     
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  2. cubicub

    cubicub Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Chicago suburbs
    Great posts!
    Any chance of analog productions releasing that Who’s Next album?
     
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  3. Larry Seinfeld

    Larry Seinfeld Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philly Pa. USA
    Great post , thank you kindly.
     
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  4. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    US
    In Fremer's opinion, Universal will probably wait until the 50th anniversary, release some crappy vinyl version of their own, and totally forget about this one. He said he has brought this test pressing to the two last AXPONA shows and played it, so it had to have been pressed over a year and a half ago. So that's a lot of money already that Analogue Productions has had to put out to prepare it (licensing the masters, the mastering/cutting, creating the metal parts/stampers to even get to the test pressing stage), so I would hope they get the go-ahead at some point.

    The problem with all of these releases is licensing. I spoke briefly with Chad Kassem and inquired about the 45 RPM Bill Evans box, and Chad said that the label hasn't gotten back to them, even though he's offered a lot of money (into the six digits!) to re-release it. I know that he wasn't able to release the 45 RPM Stevie Ray titles for the same reason--his original deal was for only the box set, and only in the past several months have they finally gotten the OK to release them individually.

    All I can say is, keep your eyes and ears open, and hope that the title(s) you want eventually do get released. :thumbsup:
     
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  5. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    Gee, everybody is so excited at all the photos in this thread, while I'm happy to see that forum member @-=Rudy=- is BACK! Now that is news!!!
     
    olson likes this.
  6. Gary

    Gary Nauga Gort! Staff

    Location:
    Toronto
    Amazing pictures, excellent write up!

    Thanks!!!
     
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  7. Madness

    Madness "Hate is much too great a burden to bear."

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    Thanks for the write-up and the pics, @-=Rudy=- , and for allowing us to live vicariously through you!
     
  8. rp600m

    rp600m Well-Known Member

    Location:
    oxford,ga
    I hope the Schiit turntable is the schiit. But what cartridge do I buy for it?
     
  9. DonnyMe

    DonnyMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    SC
    Appreciate your pictures and reporting. Well done Rudy!
     
  10. jonwoody

    jonwoody Tragically Unhip

    Location:
    Washington DC
    Fantastic pics thanks Rudy looks like it was a great show!
     
  11. Encore

    Encore Forum Resident

    Very interesting write-up and great photos. Thanks. I do hope you get to go to RMAF! :)
     
  12. Tullman

    Tullman Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    This unfortunately is a trend. All high quality/audiophile releases are being put off so Universal etc. can put out inferior product.
     
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  13. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Considering QRP pressed a whole bunch of records for the last Universal Who LP reissue campaign, you'd think they'd be a bit nicer and let AP do their own version...I guess not.
     
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  14. ccarty

    ccarty Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Mississauga
    This is terrific!

    Thanks so much for the taking the time @-=Rudy=-
     
  15. PhilJol

    PhilJol Forum Resident

    nice reporting! the pics really help!
     
  16. Shiver

    Shiver Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Fab write up, thanks.
     
  17. klonk

    klonk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    Thanks for the great report.
     
  18. Deuce66

    Deuce66 Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
  19. Tullman

    Tullman Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    I get seasick watching this.
     
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  20. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    The best systems I've consistently heard at audio shows all featured large rooms and more often large speakers, with the former basically trying to remove as much as the room sound as possible makes a massive difference in good sound.
     
  21. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    US
    I hear ya. It doesn't take much effort to add basic room treatments and tame a few things to make a remarkable improvement in the sound!

    Four shows ago (2016), I heard a nice little room down on the lower level of the Westin, set up by Ken Christianson of Pro Musica (Chicago). I think it was @VinylRob who first told me he was impressed by it, and I was glad I stopped by as I nearly overlooked the room. He had some minimal treatments in the room (even using some corner traps up in the ceiling) and the ProAc D48R speakers, fed by a VTL tube system, and it sounded wonderful. These are floorstanding speakers but they are not very large. Yet they had similar characteristics to the planar speakers that I like so much (partly due to the ribbon tweeter in the D48R), that it put on a really nice presentation. It was in a smaller meeting room on the lower level, so it was larger than a standard hotel room but was not as large as one of the ballrooms.

    Precision Audio & Video made their Martin Logan 13a/Constellation system work really well in a cramped hotel room as well, and the Sonist Concerto4 also proved to work nicely in the same type of room, but I agree that those are the exception.

    Yet I heard a setup in another large room at the Renaissance this year that sounded worse than it should have. I currently have Vandersteen 2CEs in my main system, and it took a while to get them sounding right. And I have read many favorable (even glowing) reviews about the upper Vandy models. So, why did the system at AXPONA this year sound so lifeless and unengaging? There was nothing to the system that made me want to stay in the room. For some reason, the speakers were way off in the corners, so at least 18-20 ft. apart, with the subwoofers next to them. If anything, it was a disappointment. I heard a couple of their smaller systems in smaller rooms that sounded much better.

    One interesting tidbit that I doubt nobody at AXPONA noticed. I was in that room set up by The Audio Company. The ceiling lighting is indirect, via a recessed cove. I was sitting and listening to Fremer's flash DJ session, taking it all in, and glanced up at that cove. Hmmm, wait a minute. Looked up again...and noticed that someone (probably The Audio Company) had stuffed what looked like dozens of dollar store pillows up into that cove to tame it. I could tell they were bed pillows since they still had the safety tags on them. (You know, those tags that can't be torn off, or the pillow police will knock on your door like five minutes later. :D ) Now I am wondering if they were the only room that went to this extent to tune it. They do bring a curtain rig that lines both sides and the rear of the ballroom. This full-sized photo shows what they do behind the speakers. More of the same further back along the walls. (I'll have to remember to ask Gordon next year how they set up for a show.)

    IMG_20190412_170733.jpg
     
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  22. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    What pair of speakers are those at the 1 hour, 4 minute mark of the video, in post #43? (Dylan playing on the turntable and reel to reel rolling to the right?)
     
  23. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    Good lord, for real! Why does every video that I ever see of these shows always have this horrible issue? I lose interest watching them two minutes in because I feel like I'm watching one of those Matt Damon movies that are filmed like I'm in on a ship?
     
    timind likes this.
  24. Puma Cat

    Puma Cat Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Bay, CA
    Very nice write-up, Rudy. And good photos, too! Many were considerably better than the photos I saw posted on the Stereophile blog.
     
  25. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    Anybody know???
     
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