Tampa Audio Expo 2025

Great post ... thanks OP!!

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.

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.

I ended up purchasing Soundfield speakers after attending the 2024 show and still blown away every time I listen to my rig.
This year I dug the the Borrsesn’s, esp for the price point, but their top of the line floorstanders they were showing were absolutely amazing, but at $55k a pair I wouldn’t expect anything less.
The Aretai Horn Bookshelves were a favorite, looks and soundwise. Loved the Gershman Black Swans they ALWAYS impress($95k a pair), Joseph Audio is always incredibly as well. I thought the New Vienna Acoustics 2.5 Floorsatanders sounded fantastic. Most of the rooms sounded great but there were a few I just had to turn around and walk out of, not many but a few. This year I saw a lot of great amps and noticed the industry’s shift away from separates with the many cool integrated 2ch all in ones on display.
Just so you know, Soundfield Audio’s speakers are not as much as you think and sounded better than many that were on display at significantly higher price points. I highly recommend anyone looking for speakers give them a serious consideration. I made it a point to stop by Soundfield’s Room to let AJ the owner know I’m still ecstatic owning a pair of his speakers, also let him know his room was without a doubt one of if not the best sounding room at the show and his response to me was he was being told that all day… I’m happy for him 👍

@skiznfliz @soundfield 

Thanks for the added info.  I really thought the Soundfields were unobtanium speakers and am afraid didn't even ask what they cost!  I really was impressed by his system especially now that I know his price for those line arrays were significantly less than I thought. 

Also, Soundfield's speakers were being used in the Orchard Audio room and were very impressive as well at the very low price points of $1200/pr for bookshelves and $7500/pr for his 12120B floor standers.