Axpona 2022

@jetter Ocean Way Eurekas.

https://oceanwayaudio.com/eureka/

Thanks to all those who posted observations, comments, etc., from AXPONA.

Thanks for the teaser.  I so much wanted to attend this year and am very sad I didn’t!

JD😢

Does anyone know what the stand mount speakers are that are being used in the AGD room 722?  On you tube via my desktop set up the room sounds fantastic, along with others mentioned above.

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@jayctoy I just came from the avant-garde room. Not my favorite room. I agree. The room is way too small. This was near field listening with a behemoth of a system. If this were in a bigger room like the Wilson Alexa V or better yet the Estelon room it would be great. The music was too loud. The soundstage was just unrealistically too big in the room they have it in on the 16th floor. They really should book a big room next year. So I am pretty much done with AXPONA now and I can say that IMO of the rooms I have been in for any significant time, the Wilson Alexa V/Audio Research room was my favorite. 

The trio  avant-garde are sounding unbelievable, though the room is way to small.

@audition__audio @roxy54 of course these immense Jubilees can play loud. Just look at them. But can they soundstage, image and have detail. You can’t tell any of that from what and how they are demoing them. Personally, I wish they had a smaller room with a pair of Forte IVs in them. 
 

@jayctoy Yes. I agree they are playing the Sonus Faber/Boulder combo too loud. I went in the Wilson Alexa V/Audio Research room and spent a good deal of time there. That is my favorite room so far. That setup to me, does everything well for my taste. The Sasha DAW/Moon room is nice. But can’t compare of course to the Alexa V, which is obvious. I still have to hit the Avant-garde room. 
 

I did really like the Synergistic Research room yesterday. I made a joke to them to take this show to Vegas because what they do with their gear is almost like magic. I can definitely hear the differences. I am impressed. 

@audition__audio wow..... I listened to the Acora speakers and only heard some brightness when in the recording otherwise very neutral and even sounding top to bottom IMO. 

Alta Audio Adams sounding very nice except there was a guy putting down other equipment saying how much better his evo? was than a nucleus. Why put down other manufacturers just explain the benefits of what you're promoting. Because of things like that I look elsewhere.

Listening to Axpona youtubes. Of what been posted so far, the real standout was the Krell/Estelon room.

Honorable mention to Perlisten and Atohm.

Bang-for-the-buck to Polk.

Kingbarbuda agree the magico/synergistic room is good but I did not feel the music like the nenuphar room.The demo guy on this room only play Diana Krall evil may care over and over again, I think they are promoting their new conditioners too much.The Sonus Faber Boulder combo sound good and dynamic they are playing it too loud , you hear sound instead of music.

What do you mean "what is Klipsch thinking"? I think they know very precisely what a good chunk of their audience wants and expects. You have to play to your greatest strength. 

Speakers: Atohm (best buy), Salk (another best buy), Mon, Rockport, Acora (bit bright). New (to U.S.) speaker made in Latvia whose name escapes me.

Electronics: Engstrom and AGD, great speakers in these rooms also. 

Only had 1 day was sick on Friday so missed the opening day languishing in my hotel room.

I have not and will not be going to all the rooms. But the most impressive small rooms to me, in more order,were the AGD GaN room, the Playback Designs/Tannoy room, The Border Patrol DAC room, the GTT audio room with that Kronos turntable. 
 

The best big rooms so far were the Synergistic Reaearch/Magico demo room (amazing and like magic!), the Audio Experience/Estelon/Krell room, and the Quintessence big Wilson room. 
 

the Quintessence Sonus Fabet room was good. The big Boulder amp in that room certainly demonstrates excellence in dynamics and transients. Soundstage was good. But not  as good as their Wilson room in terms of detail and imaging.

The Klipsch Jubilee room was horrible unless you want your listening room to be an arena and lose your hearing. Just no concern for demonstrating any details, soundstage or imaging. Just blasting you out of the room with death metal. What are they thinking? 
 

I was disappointed that the SVS room is dedicated to home theater as I was interested to see how it would do with music and a demo in that regard with their app, which is a feature that REL doesn’t have. 
 

Special mention to Magnepan. I met Wendell and Galina again and he demos the LRS+. Again very impressive as the original LRS was 3 years ago. A big bargain by itself IF you have proper power, subwoofers and can pull them away from the wall. Using aftermarket stands and the Mike Powell silver fuse and jumper upgrade is a plus too. 

Also, met Kevin Deal from Upscale. Nice talk with him about the Russian tube situation  He told me that there is no embargo on Russian made tubes being sent over to the US and reiterated that that those factories are US company owned. So he doesn’t see (so far?) a situation when the supply of tubes made in Russia by the US based company will end .

Met Bill Parrish at GTT Audio. A pleasure to meet and talk to him!

I did go to the Atma-Sphere room. It was good. Not at the top of my list. But I may revisit that room today/Sunday. 

Today I will wrap up and go to the Avant-garde room and back to some of the big rooms again. 
 

I hadn't seen the Focal Kanta No 3 in person. I really liked them, but was most impressed with the Alta Audio Adams. I 100% agree imaging and bass are it's most immediately impressive features.

Were ME Geithein speakers on show? Kii3? Audionet amps?

The Salk speaker can be found here, BePure2

I loved the Harbeth 30.2s, I'm considering selling my kef r11s to switch to them. I also want to dig further into Salk, I really enjoyed them in a similar way. Presentation from both were wide and deep (Salk had better depth, Harbeth had better width) but neither were over precise. Oddly that was part of what I loved, they drew me into the music and were just plain fun. The Salk were new, and were given a name recently, but I can't remember it as it wasn't advertised anywhere in the room.

Had a great time at my first show. Heard the Wilson Alex and alexia. They sounded good. I must of missed the Benesch or don’t remember them. Apologies. So much to see. The Goebel speakers on the top floor were amazing ! 

Thanks for the update. It helps those not being able to attend. Did you or anyone else attending had the chance to listen to Wilson Benesch speakers? what models? what were the impressions?

@fuzztone agree as I said previously in this thread they didn't do anything to impress so hard to tell what the new Atmasphere class d amps are about

The scratch D amps WERE nice. Wonder about them speakers efficency though. They didn't bloom.

Clarification, Ralph from atmosphere is on the Plexi Box Speakers room..by audiokinesis not on The Nenuphar room..Sorry I got mix up.

Sdl4 no idid not hear the Class D atmasphere, Ralph is in the room. He showed his preamp,rsf  507 even though the room is small I can hear the majestic musicality fo and feel the Nenuphar basis speakers..

I heard them but room was small and speakers didn't do anything for me YMMV

Did you hear the Atma-Sphere Class D amps?

I regret not being able to come back today and tomorrow because of work.

It was a joy to meet Ralph Karsten at audiokinesis room and atmasphere room.