Axpona 2022

[botrytis]

Who is going to Axpona this year? I am just wondering.

[botrytis]

As I will be there with the better half, I was wondering who is going to be there?

 

 

[austinpop]

I will be there Friday and Sunday most likely.

[botrytis]

I am planning Fri-Sun - I live 30 miles away, so for me driving in will be easy.

[botrytis]

I hope to run into people at AXPONA. Friday I will be wearing my Michigan "Highway to Hell, MI" t-shirt. Yes, it is a place in MI. 🤣

[Nsxturbo]

I’ll be there Saturday & Sunday. My primary goal is to hear the Lampizator Horizon and as many instances of the Taiko Extreme as possible. Both are on my radar for possible upgrades in 2022!
 

Todd

[botrytis]

I have missed two AXPONA's since it has been in Chicago. My wife and an Audiophile friend like to go and geek out there. That is what we will be doing.

[botrytis]

Bring warm weather clothes - it is predicted to hit 80F here on Saturday and 58F and rainy tomorrow. Sunday in the 60s and rain.

 

In 2019, Chicago was hit with a snowstorm during AXPONA. I remember scraping 6" of snow off my car.

[botrytis]

I hope to see peeps there!

[left channel]

I'll be there in spirit though not in person. Looking forward to seeing your reports!

[AudioDoctor]

I was planning on it, but life had different plans. I want a full report on my desk by 0700 Monday morning.

[The Computer Audiophile]

@bobfa is there. 
 

here’s a video from WGN in Chicago. 
 

 

[bobfa]

Yesterday I helped Holm Audio setup networking in four roooms.  Today I got to the show early with my friend Tony from "The Three Techs".  We shot video did some interviews.  I got to listen to the RAAL speakers/heaphones/things....  Very nice.  

 

The Linkwitz Lab 521 speakers sounded really amazing.  There is so much more to do. 

 

 

We will be back tomorrow.

[Nsxturbo]

I don’t get in until tomorrow at 2PM 😕. So much to listen too Saturday & Sunday!

[astrotoy]

3 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

@bobfa is there. 
 

here’s a video from WGN in Chicago. 
 

 

Very nice - the car stereo is in a beautiful older Tesla Model S.  Should be quiet enough to appreciate the sound system, even on the road.    Larry

[Nenon]

I’ll be there tomorrow too. 
@austinpop and I had fun listening to some rooms today. 

[austinpop]

Caveat: I only visited a small subset of rooms today. But of those that I did, very few rooms impressed me. Many rooms were most definitely NOT dialed in, which is understandable, and one has to sympathize with the exhibitors on the challenges. This is often a Friday phenomenon, so I will be visiting again on Sunday. I expect tomorrow to be a zoo. I also think fewer manufacturers (especially from overseas) were present, and so the exhibitors are local dealers, with mixed results. For example, the Nagra room, which in past shows always stands out, was kinda meh this time.

 

That said, there were some standouts:

• The Doshi / Joseph Audio rooms sounded really nice
• Check out the Innuos demo on the 6th floor, comparing the Statement server with and without the PSU upgrade (which incorporates @Nenon's ARC6). If you have not yet experienced how important a PSU is to a music server, this demo will answer that.
• The MBL room was impressive
• The Devialet Dione 5.1.2 Atmos soundbar (of all things) was quite a pleasant surprise!
• The Bayz Audio speakers were intriguing, but I wasn't blown away. This room features the Taiko Extreme server.
• Vinnie Rossi Brama integrated driving QLN speakers was also very nice, but the small room forced Vinnie into more of a midfield setup, which was a challenge.

I'd love to hear what people have liked so far.

[WilliamWykeham]

First place for me was a tie between MBL and the Avantgarde Trios, although they were mostly playing terrible music on the Trios. Secret is to go into the adjacent room and hear the Unos, where you can play the music you want.  After hearing track 1 from Currentzis’s Marriage of Figaro in that room I’m contemplating buying them. Everyone else who came in was impressed too.

 

Second place for me is a three way tie between the Wilsons(I think it is the Sasha?) with Moon Audio equipment, Vimbergs, and Volti Rival.  The Wilsons sounded straight up bad on day 1 because the amps hadn’t warmed up; they were standouts on day 2.  Vimberg I had never heard of but they are made by Tidal apparently.  This room was playing classical and other acoustic music. It was fantastic. I’m going to measure my living space when I get home to see if the Volti Rival will fit.  Had never heard horns before this event and I was entranced. And they played 3 classical tracks in a row for me. Meanwhile the new big Klipschs might have been my bottom ranked speakers but the room was always packed.  

 

Other speakers I found interesting were the Orchestralls, TAD bookshelves, Channel Island R3 (only $4k! Classical sounded pretty good), Harbeths driven by luxman 507, Bayz audio (but I only got to hear bad audiophile music), Scaena (imaging maybe too tall but quite compelling nevertheless), and new TAD floorstanders (good at low volumes).  

 

Speakers and/or rooms I didn’t connect with: Piega, Muraudio (fell apart once they played classical), Gershman, Stenheim, Malbork, the big Magicos sadly (S5s with vinyl were cool), Salk.

 

And I almost forgot - I’d have to hear it a few more times, but the Theoretical Bacch-SP (hard to find, I think on floor 15 or 16 at end of hall), makes me want to sell all my audio gear to afford it. Unfortunately the brilliant inventor of that device was giving lengthy explanations on how it works before getting to actual music and only one person at a time can perceive the effect, that person often hogging the space for themselves, but if you can check it out, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Someone from The Absolute Sound was in the one-person sweet spot and he said it was way better than any multichannel setup he had heard.  

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, WilliamWykeham said:

First place for me was a tie between MBL and the Avantgarde Trios, although they were mostly playing terrible music on the Trios. Secret is to go into the adjacent room and hear the Unos, where you can play the music you want.  After hearing track 1 from Currentzis’s Marriage of Figaro in that room I’m contemplating buying them. Everyone else who came in was impressed too.

 

Second place for me is a three way tie between the Wilsons(I think it is the Sasha?) with Moon Audio equipment, Vimbergs, and Volti Rival.  The Wilsons sounded straight up bad on day 1 because the amps hadn’t warmed up; they were standouts on day 2.  Vimberg I had never heard of but they are made by Tidal apparently.  This room was playing classical and other acoustic music. It was fantastic. I’m going to measure my living space when I get home to see if the Volti Rival will fit.  Had never heard horns before this event and I was entranced. And they played 3 classical tracks in a row for me. Meanwhile the new big Klipschs might have been my bottom ranked speakers but the room was always packed.  

 

Other speakers I found interesting were the Orchestralls, TAD bookshelves, Channel Island R3 (only $4k! Classical sounded pretty good), Harbeths driven by luxman 507, Bayz audio (but I only got to hear bad audiophile music), Scaena (imaging maybe too tall but quite compelling nevertheless), and new TAD floorstanders (good at low volumes).  

 

Speakers and/or rooms I didn’t connect with: Piega, Muraudio (fell apart once they played classical), Gershman, Stenheim, Malbork, the big Magicos sadly (S5s with vinyl were cool), Salk.

 

And I almost forgot - I’d have to hear it a few more times, but the Theoretical Bacch-SP (hard to find, I think on floor 15 or 16 at end of hall), makes me want to sell all my audio gear to afford it. Unfortunately the brilliant inventor of that device was giving lengthy explanations on how it works before getting to actual music and only one person at a time can perceive the effect, that person often hogging the space for themselves, but if you can check it out, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Someone from The Absolute Sound was in the one-person sweet spot and he said it was way better than any multichannel setup he had heard.  

 

 

Axpona is where I fell in love with Avantgarde speakers a few years ago. They sounded much better at this venue than the standard room the company uses in Munich. 

[botrytis]

For me it was the Estelons run with all Krell equipment. That was an amazing sound.  Borrensen Speakers we so bloody bright, even the small stand mounts I liked previously, were unlistenable. The big Avantgarde's were too big for the space. The smaller Avantgardes sounded great.

 

Seeing the original Wilson WAMM's serial number 001 were great to hear a piece of audio history. 

 

There was even an wonderful car audio system, setup in a Tesla Model S. It used Italian hand-built amps and Focal Utopia car speakers. The DSP system was amazing and hearing music in front of you on the hood, serious, the audio illusion and imaging was flawless.

[botrytis]

An interesting idea was the stacked Wharfedale Linton Heritage where they used 2 sets and turned one upside down on top of the other. For a 3300 USD for the 2 sets of speaker with stands, it sounded amazing. Need a better picture. Going back today, last day.

[botrytis]

The original Wilson WAMMs. They used a 16 band graphic equalizer showing how it was set.

 

[botrytis]

The best room to me, TOTL Estelons with Krell, only 300K USD for the whole system. The speakers are bigger than they look in the pictures. This was presented by a dealer from the Chicago Area.

 

[botrytis]

The best imaging, but the sound was a bit lifeless. Credo Loudspeakers with EMM Labs electronics. The speakers disappeared.

[botrytis]

Great sounding but not my aesthetic, Worldwide Debut too, Aeries Cerat loudspeakers. The amplifier is from Rokna Audio.