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Axpona 2023

 

Axpona Show Recap Sunday April 16th 2023- O'Hare Airport



 

Clarisys Audio-Why these difficult names??

$35k. Easy on the ears at higher volumes.

"Apogee" is what they look like only prettier.

 

The new T+A $50k speaker model was also excellent. They make smaller models

I plan to look into.

 

The $43k Joseph Audio is a perennial winner.

 

The $200k+ Borresen Speakers may still be my all time favorite. Lars was there

but Michael B. was burned out from an Asian tour.

 

The Vimberg stand mount Speaker they demo'd is a magical speaker. 

Last year they showed Lime Green speaker and sold it at the show.

Makers please note. Focal failed to bring even one "Hot" colored speaker.

And they must have had 25 speakers there. Poor merchandising. 

 

Did anyone else partake in one of Wendel's 1/2 hour new subwoofer sessions? (Magnepan)

Wendel's contention is that 12  6.25" drivers mounted in a dipole configuration

beats anyone's subwoofer. Not sure about his science on that but he puts on an

impressive demo! 

 

I am still waiting delivery of my LRS+ speakers ordered Dec 4th. 

I did get to listen to the new LRS+ speakers finally. Interesting back story about

something Sandy Gross had to say in the Bacche room. He thinks the LRS+ are "special".

 

Mike Fremer debuted his new LP. I won't try to review it but will advise against over paying

for an early copy.

 

Met some fun people at Cambridge Audio Saturday night!  Their business is good.

 

Dined with the Black Ice people at the Weber Grill.  Jared has a very

interesting past if you ever meet him. They sold 40 units of one headphone amp

on Friday at the show!

 

I finally met Fredrik Lejonklou from Sweden. He does things in an all out assault mode.

Also has the best laid out website I've seen. Product history info is wonderful. Other makers note.

 

I spoke with the Chris Brunhaver, PS Audio Speaker designer, (son of one of the speakerlab founders)

and heard his mid sized $20k speakers. I like the look and the sound is pretty good

for a first effort. I decided against asking him if he missed Darren Meyers the PS audio designer

who was recently hired away by the new Parasound owner. Darren is a very talented guy who will 

benefit greatly from his new association with John Curl. I have to think Parasound will be announcing 

a new Class D amp soon enough.

 

Rumor has it that PS Audio is shopping for a new software man to fix some long standing glitches. 

When the mute button turns on the TV it is time for a fix.

 

Andrew Jones was demoing his new Point 8 speaker. $3k. the Point 10 is $4k. 

He had some great demo music I will be including in my next Track du Jour email.

The 8's sounded as good or better than the 10's in that setup.

 

A fun show overall!!

 

128x128jeffseight
designsfx
795 posts
 

That’s unfortunate for everyone involved- you would think if that were the case they would have gone for a larger space (as you pointed out above). It’s hard to imagine 15’ between speakers being a requirement for optimal sound- 

benzman's avatar
benzman
413 posts
 

I thought the Borreson X3 for 11,500 were the star of the show. An relatively affordable speaker that sounded as good as the 30k speakers. Should fit into many rooms. Good looking. 

willywonka
252 posts
 

I attended this show and also went last year. I been to many shows over the years including Rocky Mountain twice and several in Southern California. This year I decided to spend MUCH LESS time on the Ultra High-end exhibits and more time in other rooms since I was looking to buy speakers, a power amp and new streamer. My main focus was on speakers in the $4k-$7K range. I targeted rooms to listen to the new KLH Model 7’s, Wharfedale Dovedale, and Audiovector QR7. This was the first time the Wharfedale and KLH models were shown in the US. I thought the KLH speaker was very impressive for a $4K speaker. This is a sealed design meant to go against the wall. I was also very impressed with the Dovedale model. This is a higher end (Ported) speaker that retails for $7K. I did think the quality of the Wharfedale speaker was better than the KLH in both cabinet quality and overall. This speaker has a high quality 2 circuit board crossover and sounds very good.

I had high hopes for the QR7 but to be honest it was very disappointing to me. I don’t know if it was just the music he was playing or the Bel Canto electronics. I have seen where other people who listed to these speakers really like them so maybe it’s just me and not my cup of tea. I also listened to the Dutch and Dutch 8C speakers and was very impressed with their sound. The downside to these speakers are it down samples everything to 48K. These have an active built in amplifier, DAC and DSP. The other problem for me is all of the needed connections needed to the back of the speakers. I was blown away by the bass these speakers had.

I also had a very long talk with one of the tech support people from the Aurender room. I think I’m going to purchase an N200 in the next few weeks. Magnepan was a disappointment for me again and I was unable to get in their room because of the long wait list! The Pure Audio project speakers were also a joy to listen to. Did anyone have any listening comments on any of these items at AXPONA this year? I would love to hear other people’s comments. Also, I have an informational sheet I took a picture off on the KLH 7’s that hasn’t been released to the general public if anyone would like me to send it to you. Also heard from Aurender that they are seeking Roon certification. This has not been announced yet. They will still use the Conductor app but I have no further details except they claim this would be a software update only. Not sure if its only for specific models or not.

 

ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,490 posts
 

benzman, ref Borreson X3.

But it has 4 1/2" woofers? Is that correct?

ozzy

kota1
2,706 posts
 

@jeffseight 

Black Ice has a new headphone amp that is Jim Fosgates home system in a tube based headphone amp. Is that the one they had at the show?  Prices?

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