2023 AXPONA Show Report

First time, I was ever been to Axpona and I went yesterday late morning for a couple of hours as that was all I could get away.  I won't go into too much detail, but honestly it was a lot of fun and I saw a lot of pretty neat gear, although a large percentage of it was way out of my budget.  I made a list of the things I wanted to see and do.  I managed to see most everything on my list, though I certainly would have liked at least 4 or 5 hours to really spend the time to really appreciate everything.  I will definitely attend next year.

I would like to see a genuine comparison between a piano and a system playing a recorded piano.

I would guess even the highest end systems would fail this test.

Quad UK had a selling point " QUAD for the closest approach to the original sound" This still has not been achieved 

Kenjit - the room admins have every right not to allow everybody to -lay their own music and I agree with them. Most of the music I have heard in rooms was garbage and it takes forever for the admin to cue up a specific track. 1 clown couldn’t remember which track he wanted to hear so we had to listen to 5 seconds of each track before he got to the track he wanted. Then he wanted to do the same for another album. BS, not enough hours in the day to put up with this. If somebody was really interested in the speakers/equipment, then make an appointment for after hours and play what you want. 99% of the show goers aren’t interested in buying at the show. I’ve never brought music the CES, rmaf, THE Show, Florida expo, and others, I check out each system and if I wanted to pursue something further, I met with them after hours

I spent 4 hours at Axpona yesterday and it was worth going; next year I'll do two mornings  before the crowds.  I'd never justify to myself (or my wife!) spending $100k on a stereo but for reference it was indeed worth experiencing the MBLs.  I had to shut my eyes and just enjoy the music because they look like harbor bouys  sans the beacon.  Closer to earth, the large Tannoys in one of the Upscale rooms was marvelous.  An unexpected pleasure was hearing the new version of the Mission 700.

The varying SQ had me scratching my head.  All of the above speakers were in small rooms.  Some that I expected to sound great were just OK, like the Fritz speakers in the Atma-Sphere room.  And there were others where I had to leave, they sounded so bad.  I want to be a Vandersteen fan but in a crowded room where an unpleasant salesman was extolling some magical Audioquest DC line cleaner the gorgeous Vandersteens were causing my temples to vibrate like a driver.  I am well-disposed to both Vandersteen and Audioquest, but I couldn't get out of that room fast enough.  The beaming salesman was surreal.

Altogether the show was well worth it to me.  It's always good to have one's expectations challenged.

Gang:

For added color, if you are on LinkedIn, do a search for Axpona.