Axpona 22’ pictures

[RaChiK]

Forgot to mention, octave with Dynaudio was very impressive. My octave RE-320 has same signature as jubilee amp but jubilee has more style and scale.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I was lucky to meet in person mike L
what a really nice man he is even after the pokes I have given him over the years. Truth is I have learned so much from his posts and kind phone calls.
In meeting him there was so much I was just listening to his views
again a really smart kind man Ty mike
al D

Al,

sorry for this late response to your nice comments. catching up.......thank you!!! it was likewise a pleasure to hang with you on Saturday. i love your enthusiasm. hope we can do it again at future shows.

cheers,

Mike

 

[Al M.]

Forgot to mention, octave with Dynaudio was very impressive. My octave RE-320 has same signature as jubilee amp but jubilee has more style and scale.

Hi from a fellow Octave RE-320 owner! I drive it with an Octave HP 700 preamp.

 

[Barry2013]

yes; i was in there twice, and there was a naturalness/calmness not heard from YG before. i liked it. recent YG's have been just fine to my ears, this is 'more' fine.

Thank you Mike.
That is encouraging.

 

[RaChiK]

Hi from a fellow Octave RE-320 owner! I drive it with an Octave HP 700 preamp.

Hello there. Hard to find octave owners, more so with exact same amp. One of the glorious amp no one has heard.

 

[bazelio]

You can see a single pulley with a upgrade available to add to more motors and turn it into a triple motor version in the Black Night style pulley configuration. The part the belt rides on is under the platter on the smaller diameter part, the platter is made in one large piece. The motor power supply is part of the plinth. These pictures were provide by TW Acustic.

Ok... So motor integrated into the plinth. I wonder why they went in that direction.

 

[pcosta]

Ok... So motor integrated into the plinth. I wonder why they went in that direction.

Another option for the customer. More compact footprint too since you don't have to find a place for an external motor. They all have a family resemblance, this uses different materials such as an black anodized aluminum plinth instead of the original delrin type material on the original AC.

 

[Chorus]

The Crab sliders in bar were my highlight. Glad to finally hear the Sennheims. Neon Green Vimbergs-shocker. Bacchs sound manipulation was amazing. If the $20k is too much buy the $500 Head wrap system. Chatted with Andrew Jones. He is wired up for this new work. He the MoFo at MoFi now!

Photos from show include the three Kennedy Brothers from DC who brought up these serial # 1 Original Wham speakers owned by Dave Wilson.
Thanks to those brothers who, on their own nickel, held a great show of something you cant buy-They own it. Nice work boys!!

People were not very concerned about masking. Crowds were thick in some places.

 

[cjfrbw]

Interesting posts to read. Marty listens to a great deal of top live musical performances, so perhaps artificial sound is a pale rider. However, I haven't laughed so hard in a while here reading his comments.

However, I still go to shows because there is ALWAYS something that defeats my expectation bias. Being humbled (again) is worth the price of admission. I hope they resurrect the bite size California Audio Show.

I was one who really liked the Destination Audio array at CAS 2019. However, it is not uncommon for experienced audiophiles hearing the same presentation at the same time to come away with different opinions.

The Vivid speaker setups have always sounded very good to me, whatever or wherever they were, even tucked into corners, to the point that I wish somebody would purposely set them up badly to see if it is possible to make them sound bad, YG Acoustics have also also consistent good sounders where I have heard them.

The Border Patrol/Volti systems have also been top notch.

 

[JimmyS]

I can offer a counter point on the Vivid setup, which is usually a favorite of mine. The sound wasn’t bad, but the three times I visited the room the music had no imaging. Everything was just coming from the center and seemed very flat. Maybe the music selection, the room, the seating, but end of the day didn’t have a positive experience.

 

[Atmasphere]

i did say hello twice, shook your hand once.

you were certainly occupied when i was there. then i returned Friday night late after hours, briefly, to the room but you were not there.

i much prefer it when the show civilian attendee badges show names; connecting at these shows is a big part of why i go and without names so many opportunities to personalize our on line friendships gets lost.

i've had the discussion with a few show managers, i do realize there is an expense. i personally would pay a premium for it.

+1

I agree it would have been nicer if everyone had a name on their badge!

 

[Elliot G.]

@Mike Lavigne … Did you not find it at the least incongruous that speakers of the dimensions and obvious db capability of the Aries Cerat Aurora were allocated a broom cupboard whereas other obviously less room demanding speakers were allocated aircraft hanger rooms !

Rooms are available by seniority. If you had the room at the previous show/shows its yours if you want it in the future. This is true for MOC and just about every show. The big rooms are in high demand and there aren't enough of them to go around for everyone. If you pay attention the same company will be in the exact same room next year unless they get the opportunity to upgrade or of course cancel.
MOC is impossible to get a large room unless someone cancels Period. Pay attention if you go same companies in the exact same rooms.

 

[Atmasphere]

Rooms are available by seniority.

This statement is false. We got kicked out of Renaissance 2 several years ago (first year of the show at the Schaumburg) because AXPONA apparently wanted to sell the room to Sony (my guess is Sony offered more money and they'd already inked the deal). This despite being on board with the show from its inception and signing up before the Saturday midnight deadline. Admittedly, I don't think this happens all the time...

 

[Jeffy]

I was really excited, more so, in a long time at Axpona. It appeared that everyone was happy to be there. Chad from Acoustic Sounds was Gabby as ever. I was kidding with him saying I'll buy every reel to reel tape on the table for a price and he accepted. Oh, wish I would have brought my check book along. I did buy many records and grabbed a mint used copy of the London Blue Back of Tchaikovsky Conc. in D by Campoli and Argenta for 150.00. Another great record was of a harpist at the show Isabeau Corriveau. Anne Bisson sang a long with the band from tape that was pretty interesting. Many rooms at the show sounded very good. I am only going to talk about the rooms that were outstanding to me. The best by far was the Aries Cerat room and I don't like horn speakers. Yes the sound was foward, but had beautiful textures and a believable stage. I liked the looks of the square horn and the ribbon tweeter they were using (RAAL) is one of the best. Second best was a tie between the Vivid, JMF Audio, and Ideon Dac room and the full loom of MBL electronics and speakers. The MBL's were the best I've heard them. The Vivid room was a big suprise as it was very open and integrated. The only thing missing was the lowest octaves in the bass (couple of subs needed). Next was another tie for me between the YG Acoustics Summit, solution room and the TAD evolution 2 with T + A electronics. The T + A dac and steamer was 36,000 and to me sounded great. The YG speakers to me sounded better with more body and less of that metal sound. Makes sense as they are now using a wood enclosure with metal frame. The next system that was wonderful were the Muraudio SP1 electrostatic speakers from Canada. If I were in the market I would pick these over Martin Logans as they have a much bigger sweet spot and seem to be more integrated. A let down for me was the Wadax, Gobel room as I was expecting much better at this price range. The VTL Wadax room faired much better in my opinion. I liked the Rhapsody Audio, Bayz room a lot. The speakers were very open and transparent with out being bright. It had wall to wall sound, but not the best image. The Rockport, Viola room sounded sublime. The CAT room with Magico sounded ok and the price of the preamp went from 6,000.00 to 50,000.00. I also think Ralph from Atmosphere is going to piss off a lot of customers who have his OTL's . He is pushing his new Class D Mono's which sounded very good. In the headphone arena I wanted to compare my Focal Utopia's to the Meze Elite, Stax Sr-X9000, Warwick Electrostats, Abyss Dianna, and Audeze LCD-5. I liked the Audeze best then the Warwick. Abyss and Meze were similar. Stax to me was at the bottom (this surprised me). It was nice to finally meet Michael Lavigne at the show. I did not see Albert Porter, Baby Bear, J Frech not sure if they attended. I ran into Andre Jennings, Michael Fremer, Myles Astor, Jonathan Valen, Harley and Al Webb.

 

[Elliot G.]

This statement is false. We got kicked out of Renaissance 2 several years ago (first year of the show at the Schaumburg) because AXPONA apparently wanted to sell the room to Sony (my guess is Sony offered more money and they'd already inked the deal). This despite being on board with the show from its inception and signing up before the Saturday midnight deadline. Admittedly, I don't think this happens all the time...

no its correct . I have no idea what happened to you but that is the way it works.

 

[Atmasphere]

no its correct . I have no idea what happened to you but that is the way it works.

Yes- that's how its supposed to happen- I agree with that!

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Guys I think it is quite clear what happened. Sony effectively got Atmasphere booted out cos they paid more and are a massive company lol.

 

[Bobvin]

... I liked the Rhapsody Audio, Bayz room a lot. The speakers were very open and transparent with out being bright. It had wall to wall sound, but not the best image.

While the "image" of an omni may be slightly less defined than if you had a box speaker with cone drivers, the Bayz are not lacking in creating a very realistic portrayal of the soundstage. Getting it dialed in within the confines of a hotel room... another thing altogether.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the speakers!

 

[Elliot G.]

+1

I agree it would have been nicer if everyone had a name on their badge!

I think that's a really good idea . I am going to talk to the Axpona people about it. I meet so many people at a show that I have no idea who they are. If they don't introduce themselves I can never know.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I think that's a really good idea . I am going to talk to the Axpona people about it. I meet so many people at a show that I have no idea who they are. If they don't introduce themselves I can never know.

i've twice in the past spoken to Show managers about this issue. i respect it's a logistical challenge to take this approach of name tags, which would then require larger hang tag holders. but especially for those traveling from out of area to the show, raising the ticket price to allow for name tags is not an issue. charge $10 more per day, or $20. if the travelers see the added value of connecting, there would be no push back.

tickets for locals can be given a choice.

getting together is a big draw, not just gear. exhibitors would have to love it.

just my 2 cents, YMMV.