best in show... ymmv | axpona 2018

[aKnyght]

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.

[joeinid]

Thank you for your thoughts. I never heard of Bandwidth Audio. Time for a look.

[Triode Wire Labs]

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.

Thanks! You failed to mention that the cabling in your #2 & #3 was all Triode Wire Labs cabling... Sorry, but I invest quite of bit of time & money in these audio shows and I feel like Rodney Dangerfield, at times...

Cheers,
Pete
(Head "bottle-washer & cook" at Triode Wire Labs!)

[Mr Peabody]

Bandwidth is located and built right in Chicago and I got the impression still a young company.

I do like Volti, they always seem to show good.

Pete, you make a good point, we seem to ask, what amp, speakers, etc. but don't ask about cabling. At least for me, thinking back over the weekend, I'm guilty.

[joeinid]

Well done Pete!

TWL, the backbone of a great system

[aKnyght]

Thanks! You failed to mention that the cabling in your #2 & #3 was all Triode Wire Labs cabling...

pete - terribly sorry for the omission and i apologize profusely. cabling has a tremendous impact upon any system's sound... it is certainly no coincidence that Triode Wire Labs cables were part of two of the three systems that i enjoyed most! again, sorry for not including this in the original post.

[Dizzie]

Pete,

Will you have products at the LA Audio Show? Will you be there?

[Triode Wire Labs]

pete - terribly sorry for the omission and i apologize profusely. cabling has a tremendous impact upon any system's sound... it is certainly no coincidence that Triode Wire Labs cables were part of two of the three systems that i enjoyed most! again, sorry for not including this in the original post.

No worries whatsoever! The speakers & electronics always get mentioned and cables rarely do... It's all good!

[Triode Wire Labs]

Pete,

Will you have products at the LA Audio Show? Will you be there?

No, I will not be there unlike the last 3 years... I heard a lot about "in-fighting" between the old "The Show" folks and the new LAAS folks... I hope they can get their acts together.

I may have some products at the show, though...

Best regards,
Pete

[arthurs]

No, I will not be there unlike the last 3 years... I heard a lot about "in-fighting" between the old "The Show" folks and the new LAAS folks... I hope they can get their acts together.

I may have some products at the show, though...

Best regards,
Pete

Are you doing California Audio Show in SF in July Pete?

[Triode Wire Labs]

Are you doing California Audio Show in SF in July Pete?

Hey Art,
My cables were there the last 2 years but I was not... Perhaps since I'm not doing the LAAS, I'll consider being there...

Are you bringing those phenomenal sounding Destination Audio horn loudspeakers??? Those are one of my all-time favorite horn speakers!

Cheers,
Pete

[Volti Audio]

Ditto on the Destination Audio horn speakers.

A Guard in football has a good game when he's not noticed or singled out. Maybe the same can be said about the cables in a system.

Triode Wire Labs cables enhance the sound of our systems at the shows by not being noticed. I suppose that might be one reason why they are not talked about as much as the other components in the system.

I know it's cliche, but Pete's cables just get out of the way and let the music come through.

Greg

[joeinid]

Welcome to the forum Greg, thank you so much for joining.

[Volti Audio]

It says I joined in October of 2013. You'd think I would have found something to post about in the last four and half years!

I went to the Bandwidth Audio website and their amps look terrific. What a great idea - dual parallel single ended 2A3. They claim the 2A3 has better bass than a 300B, and I'm sure they're right. But they obviously haven't heard a BorderPatrol S20 EXD EXS.

Greg

[joeinid]

Ha! You’re right! Thank you for finally posting