2. speakers
  3. 193337-110897

Tampa Audio Expo 2025

Just attended the Tampa Audio Expo.

The standout speakers that interested me in my price range.

Axxess L1    $3850 pr. Hard to find competition at this price that match their performance. (Borresen design) 

Borresen X1 $6500 pr incl  stands. These are perfect for the 400sf size room they were in.  They sound effortless at any volume. 

GoldenEar Triton $6000 pr Really sounded excellent at this price.

Soundfield Audio Mini Monitor $1200 pr  and Soundfield Audio 12120B floor stander $7500 pr very good sound paired with Orchard audio Starkrimson products.  Another bargain at these price points.

Chesky speakers $1000 pr. sounded very good.  Very competitive with much higher cost speakers.  

If I had a bigger budget:

Audio Norwegian Loudspeakers Icon 12  $24k?  Stunning-Really impactful with a beautiful finish.  Competition for Volti.  They sounded much better to me than the Volti, but it could have been room interactions. The Voltis were in a very small room for the size of the speakers.

Soundfield Audio line array speakers.  Very beautiful.  Excellent sound-not sure what the price is but know they are not in my budget. 

Tobian Sound 12 FH  full range horn $40,000 Really stunning full range sound in a big room.  Seemed effortless and scalable to any volume you so desire.

Clarysis Audio Piccolo $20,000  ribbon speakers. Beautiful sound and very attractive. 

Clarysis Audio Atrium $750,000.  If you have a ballroom and an unlimited budget, they are magnificent.

 

 

jplunkettj
deep_333
1,629 posts
 

Did it sound "magnificent" or only "magnificent for the price"?

(Gotta word it right... in case you heard a million dollar speaker tomorrow perhaps, ahem)

Clarysis Audio Atrium $750,000. If you have a ballroom and an unlimited budget, they are magnificent.

Did it sound "excellent" or only "excellent for the price"?

Tobian Sound 12 FH full range horn $40,000

"For the price"...indeed

soundfield's avatar
soundfield
46 posts
 

Thanks to all who attended, always questions when moving to a new venue, but other than a power flicker, show went well.

jplunkettj thanks for coming in for a listen, the Titans (reddish-brown wood finish) are $22k/pr. The black 1210PL are $12k. Both are fully active.

blackbag20
505 posts
 

Great post ... thanks OP!!

noodlyarm
109 posts
 

I went to the Tampa Audio Fest/Expo on Friday.   Lots of rooms and moderately crowded, but no overcrowded.   I was mostly able to get right into any room and get a good listening seat.

Like any event like this, it's overwhelming and marginally comparative.   Too much variation of rooms, equipment, cables, speakers, source material, etc.   With that caveat in mind, I was really impressed with the following:

Clarysis planar speakers.   They look really interesting and sounded extraordinarily clear, detailed, impactful, and musical.   The big ones, Atriums, are very large and very expensive at $785,000.   But the smaller ones, Piccolo, are about $20,000 and quite impressive.

Popori Acoustics electrostatic WR-1 speakers.   Again, good looking and reasonably sized.   I had a center front row seat; the imagining was tall, broad, rock stable, and the speaker locations were unidentifiable in the soundstage.   Great tight bass, smooth midrange, and extended crisp highs.   Very impressive at $85,000.

OAudio Icon horn speakers.   Very impressive in an otherwise unimpressive room.   Powerful, dynamic, punchy, and smooth, very lifelike presentation.   No typical horn-honkiness/shoutiness.  Also, very impressive at about $20,000.

There were a few other components I found interesting, but so difficult to compare...   The Block amplifiers were powerful and detailed.   What's not to like about VAC, other than their price.   I liked the Acora and Gershwin speakers too, but I wasn't blown-away by them.

I'm looking forward to going again next year.

koestner
681 posts
 

So, I was really impressed at the YG Acoustics room with them being powered by the biggest 300B amps I have ever seen. Those 4 Western Electric amps were special, and the speakers outstanding.

More to discover