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as it turns out, i was traveling yesterday and able to arrange a 7 hour layover in chicago which allowed me to attend axpona... what a fantastic show and it was great to hear all this great gear and, especially, talk with the manufacturers.
while all exhibitors had excellent demonstration rooms, there were three that really stood out for me and i just kept circling back to their rooms to listen. i am sure others' had their favorites but these three just impressed me immensely with the quality/character of the sound. it is the exactly the type of sound that i have been trying to get in my own system.
1> bandwidth audio -- if i were forced to pick a favorite, it would be these guys... absolutely stunning hand-wired tube amps: power, line-stage and phono-stage. they had them playing through tannoy turnberry speakers - a sublime pairing. after listening, it just made me want to sell all my gear and get that exact setup w/ the 2a3 mono amps. WOW! and, the two owner/engineers could not be nicer folks.
2> harbeth / vinnie rossi -- 30 seconds after walking into this room i fully understood the magic of harbeth speakers. they just immediately grabbed me with their full, rich sound. the 40.2s were of course great but the 30.2s were every bit as good. even the small p3esr pair was outstanding. anyone thinking of getting a pair of harbeths: just do it!
3> volti / border patrol -- they were showing the rival speakers. as one can imagine they are large and the external crossovers are larger than many speakers alone, but if one has the space... rich, immersive yet amazing "delicacy". only tube amps for these and the border patrol were more than excellent.
anyway, i really enjoyed these three in particular. as they say, ymmv and i am sure other attendees have their own favorites.
while all exhibitors had excellent demonstration rooms, there were three that really stood out for me and i just kept circling back to their rooms to listen. i am sure others' had their favorites but these three just impressed me immensely with the quality/character of the sound. it is the exactly the type of sound that i have been trying to get in my own system.
1> bandwidth audio -- if i were forced to pick a favorite, it would be these guys... absolutely stunning hand-wired tube amps: power, line-stage and phono-stage. they had them playing through tannoy turnberry speakers - a sublime pairing. after listening, it just made me want to sell all my gear and get that exact setup w/ the 2a3 mono amps. WOW! and, the two owner/engineers could not be nicer folks.
2> harbeth / vinnie rossi -- 30 seconds after walking into this room i fully understood the magic of harbeth speakers. they just immediately grabbed me with their full, rich sound. the 40.2s were of course great but the 30.2s were every bit as good. even the small p3esr pair was outstanding. anyone thinking of getting a pair of harbeths: just do it!
3> volti / border patrol -- they were showing the rival speakers. as one can imagine they are large and the external crossovers are larger than many speakers alone, but if one has the space... rich, immersive yet amazing "delicacy". only tube amps for these and the border patrol were more than excellent.
anyway, i really enjoyed these three in particular. as they say, ymmv and i am sure other attendees have their own favorites.
