My AXPONA impressions, care to share yours?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by timind, Apr 16, 2019.

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  1. timind

    timind phorum rezident Thread Starter

    As the other AXPONA 2019 thread has pretty much drifted off topic after 10 pages, I'm starting a new thread for my impressions, and I hope some others share theirs.

    I attended Saturday and was able to visit every room on my list excepting the Audio Note room. First up are my two favorite rooms.
    Number one for me was Sanders Sound System room. I walked in to this room near the end of my day and was struck by the sound. Roger Sanders had the room set up with only 3 chairs as he insisted listeners sit in the sweet spot. His speakers are noted for their very small sweet spot and I guess he wanted people to experience it. Even though I found the sound form his electrostats to be the some of the best I'd heard, in the sweet spot, they were the best. Roger also did something else a bit different. He controlled the music by playing 3 or 4 minutes of a song and then skipped to the next in his pay list. I'm not sure if he was accommodating requests as I was okay with what he played.

    Next on my list was the Atoll/Atohm room. It could've been the music they were playing, but man that room sounded good to me. If I were in the market for speakers, I'd be looking into the Atohm line. Although I'd heard of them, seen ads really, I had no interest in them.
     
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  2. Frost

    Frost Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    I also really enjoyed how Roger presented the selections so I didnt have to wait 30 minutes to hear something that might fit my tastes. I am also an innersound owner. It was nice to hear the big brothers to my speakers, which i found sound identical but with less bass, tho since I have a large subwoofer and bass shakers, I have plenty of bass. I also didnt find speakers under $30k that I liked more than the ones I own, which feels good.

    My other favorite rooms where the Avante Garde room. The bigger sonus faber room. And the Vandersteen model 7 room. Each were very different but each were amazing auditory experiences.
     
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  3. Tebbiebear

    Tebbiebear Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    The Von Schweikert rooms were, imo, breathtaking. I think I honestly liked the Ultra 9 room a bit more than the Ultra 11. I was privliged enought to hear Micheal Fremer spinning some records including Baba O'Riley off of an, as yet, unreleased new all analog pressing of Who's Next in the Ultra 11 room.
    In the more attainable rooms I loved the Joseph Audio room. Also the little Elac bookshelves with the AMT really impressed me quite a bit.

    I took the family and we all had a blast. We are already planning for next year. We only spent a day and got to see all the rooms that I had mapped out but missed the Ear Gear area and had to kind of rush through the Expo Hall. Next year we plan to go all three days and maybe get to see some seminars and try to see more of the rooms.
     
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  4. Mike-48

    Mike-48 A shadow of my former self

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    My impressions (model #s and costs may be off)--

    I liked the sound that Roger Sanders got, too, but I disliked that he switched among snippets of music -- chosen, I imagine, to present his speakers at their (impressive) best. I also noticed that he had only 3 chairs set up, and they were one behind the other, on the central axis. That was a reminder that his speakers are quite directional.

    My #1 room was Bricasti's, for general balance and setup and sound. They were using their expensive and attractive gear (including the M28 monoblocks) with Tidal speakers and had brought plenty of tube traps to help with room acoustics. Unlike most of the rooms I visited at Axpona, the bass was neither boomy nor missing nor out of proportion with the rest. Bricasti got a lovely, neutral sound with plenty of beauty -- and they played a wide variety of music.

    Just as good (but different) to my ears was the Aesthetix room, which had their integrated amp (with added DAC card) and Aerial 6t speakers. This combination also had beautiful sound: natural, balanced, and liquid.

    The Harbeth M30.x and M40.x were playing in adjacent rooms. I was interested that the M40 sounded so much better than the M30; in particular, it was far less boomy. I didn't see any setup reason that should be, but it was. Unfortunately, the person playing the M40 was oblivious to listeners; he was talking very loudly and playing artificial and noisy music that made it difficult to really get an impression of the speakers. Before he started that, I had a few minutes of natural music, which sounded GREAT.

    Someone needs to whack Audioengine upside the head. They were using Bluetooth streaming, and their demonstration suffered for it. I have a pair of A5+, and they sound much better than in that demo room.

    Joseph Audio was playing the Perspective2 Graphene, and it sounded lovely: big sound from a little floor-stander. It should: this little floor-stander is about $12k!

    I have always wondered how Salk sells speakers without an opportunity for the buyers to hear them. At the show, I heard his Song speakers in a couple of rooms. To my ears, they did not sound good, with a rather hollow (cupped-hands) quality in the midrange. I suppose they can't always sound like this -- he has many dedicated customers.

    Muraudio was demonstrating their SP1 hybrid electrostatics, which have a wider sweet spot than my Janszen Valentinas and which are (to my eyes) a bit ugly. If one wants what they offer and doesn't mind paying twice as much as the Janszens, one should audition them. Under show conditions, it was hard to make an absolute judgement other than that they are very good speakers and might be excellent ones.

    Worn out by noise and bad sound, I tried a pair of Cleer wireless noise-canceling headphones and thought they sounded very good. To say whether I like them better than the Sony WH-1000XM2 that I already own (or the upgraded "3" model) would require more listening.

    In a quiet moment Friday morning, I tried an advanced-prototype pair of Janzen's new portable electrostatic headphones, and I thought they sounded remarkable, being used with an exaSound DAC. Well, I am a known Janszen fan: I own a pair of his speakers and have enjoyed conversations (phone and email) with David J. several times.
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2019
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  5. timind

    timind phorum rezident Thread Starter

    I asked Roger about this 3 seat thing and he was straightforward with his response that sitting in the sweetspot was the only place to get the full effect of what the speakers could do. The sound was exceptional in the middle chair (no one in front of me) but I also thought the sound was very good off center. I've owned Magnepan speakers on more than one occasion, and unless you sit somewhere near the sweetspot, the sound just collapses. It was a surprise to me this didn't happen with the Sanders speakers. I actually got up to feel how hot his amp was running and didn't notice a significant loss of sound.

    Although a little pricey, I agree the Joseph Audio speakers sounded wonderful.

    The Harbeth room was disappointing for me as I wanted to hear the M30.2 on display, but there were 3 people in the room who were intently listening to a piano sonata at very low volume. They were absolutely immersed in the music and seemed intent on not leaving so I wandered over to the other room. The tiny P3ESRs were belting out some music which sounded better than expected for their size.
    What really struck me about the Harbeths were how physically small they were. Not just the P3s, but the M30s as well.
     
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  6. Ken Clark

    Ken Clark Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago Suburbs
    I attended on Saturday and this was the first time I've ever attended something like this. I allowed about 4 hours in my schedule which was simply not enough, but I really enjoyed just dropping in on various rooms and chatting with Jim Salk, who's speakers I own. One of my favorite systems based on appearance was the Leben/DeVore/Well Tempered setup, though they were playing Jacqueline DuPre's performance of Elgar's cello concerto which, although a beautiful piece of music, at low volume it just didn't sound impressive at all. Still, the system was beautiful to look at and I'm sure quite capable of great sound. Another room I liked was one of the first I visited, the B&W/McIntosh setup by Abt. They were playing music I liked in the large room and the sound and sound stage were terrific. There were some great sounding rooms and some really poor as well, but it was a fun time. Next time I'll just plan an entire day so I can take my time and hear and see everything.
     
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  7. I mentioned in the other thread that I was most impressed with the Ocean Way Monterey speakers. Far, far outside of my budget (and I'd need a much larger listening room to accommodate them) but I will certainly check out their Eureka model. I had a very enlightening conversation with Allen Sides (a producer/engineer legend, IMO), although we spoke more about his home studio mic and room plug-ins and recording studio history than his speakers.

    I was also impressed enough with Sweet Vinyl's de-click/ripping tool the SC-2 enough to purchase it from Music Direct. This was unanticipated as I had zero interest until I heard the demo at AXPONA. Glad went in to their room on a whim.

    Picked up a few nice used classical vinyl titles from Saturday Audio Exchange (Living Stereos and Mercury). I purchased a Smartractor alignment tool due to a 'show' special price. Well worth it as I was really able to dial in my cart the other day using it.

    Overall I had a really nice time, chatted with a lot of fellow attendees (and ran in to a few Forum members) and a number of vendors. I'll go next year.
     
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  8. Matt Richardson

    Matt Richardson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Suburban Chicago
    My impressions were the same as every year: it was fun to see gear “in person”—to get a feel for looks, size, and build quality. It was also cool for the occasional sightings of known audio figures looming the halls like Herb Reichert, Paul McGowan, Kevin Deal, The Audiophiliac, Roy Hall, Mark Waldrep, and many others. But for the show itself, I never find it very useful for getting to know how stuff actually sounds, especially speakers. As I’ve said here before, most of the manufactures demo their gear with LOUD music that’s often electronic based, and I just can’t get a good impression of a speaker’s nuances with that kind of demonstration. For instance, the B&W room was playing the 1812 Overture at ridiculously loud levels, so essentially they were showing off their 801’s potential as a PA speaker at an outdoor venue. Sorry, but that’s not what I’m looking to do with a pair of 801’s.

    Maybe this would all change if I could actually spend more time at a place that probably requires the full three days to adequately assess everything. But being a family and working man just doesn’t allow such luxuries of time (for me). I also found the show to be notably less crowded that what I’ve experienced in the past—I live locally so I’m able to attend every year. Maybe the sparseness of attendees was just due to the size of the venue (big) and people weren’t as concentrated as they were at the old Rosemont venue. But I attended mid-day Saturday, which I would believe is the most popular time to be there.

    I can only suggest that AXPONA organizers (or owners) push the show back a week or two going forward due to the possibility of snow hitting mid-April in this part of the mid-west. I think the first week of May would more ideal. We had a major snowstorm Sunday (5 or 6 six inches), and I know many out of towners had flights delayed or even cancelled out of O’Hare on Sunday evening. I would hate to see Chicago lose the gig due to too many complaints against the weather.

    So, all in all, a fun time, but not a hugely useful one.
     
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  9. Mike-48

    Mike-48 A shadow of my former self

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    Yes, certainly. And the M40s were larger than I had expected.

    I was also impressed. The only thing that stops me from buying one of their units is the lack of a turntable in my system. (When I visited, I was the only visitor, and I had an enjoyable chat with the principals. Good people.)

    I can't agree enough with that sentiment.

    Another thing I noticed: This may be the year that DSP hits its stride in the audio world: miniDSP, Anthem, Dirac, SweetVinyl, and DSP speakers by Eikon and others. There were two lectures on room acoustics (which often calls for DSP), a talk on Room EQ Wizard (standing room only), and one on Dirac specifically.
     
  10. timind

    timind phorum rezident Thread Starter

    If I had a nickel for every room I walked out of because the music was TOO LOUD...
    I'd easily have a dollar worth of nickels. If I was in a room and wanted to listen, I almost always asked the turn the volume down to a level I actually listen at. I will say my request is always accommodated.
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2019
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  11. JackG

    JackG Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    Yeah, fun indeed for sightseeing but not a situation in which to review speakers.
     
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  12. Frost

    Frost Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Ive wondered the same. His woodworking is simply fantastic. However, after 4 different auditions I have felt the speakers he presented sounded awful. I have to assume that in some other light they sound good because many people recommend them and enjoy their sound. I dont understand.
     
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  13. Fruff76

    Fruff76 L100 Classic - Fan Club President

    I can see maybe being slightly off due to room limitations, but to flat out sound bad is just baffling. I think blaming the room and break in is somewhat of an excuse

    I heard $15k bookshelf speakers that didn’t even sound impressive. You’d think a medium size hotel room would be pretty much ideal.
     
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