Axpona 2019 - Best of

Here's one of the comments...

So far, the Wilson Alexx and relentless Monos were the worst price/performance I’ve heard. Sluggish, slow, veiled, no emotion. I went in that room twice and I felt like the music never came out and hugged me.
 
Where to begin…. Axpona 2019 was an interesting show for me, I saw brands I never heard of, heard excellent SET amps that wiped out my stereotype thought, and, I heard good presentations that changed my mind on some brands I wasn’t really a fan of. Now, do I point those out or just let you figure it out from past posts 

I think I will begin in the more attainable audio realm.

One very enjoyable room was a Conrad Johnson pre/power playing into Eminent Technologies electrostatic speakers. The CJ was an ET preamp, forgot the model, and a Classic 62 power amp.

I was smitten by a Triode of Japan 8 watt integrated at around $3k. It was playing into Ginko speakers that were only 87dB, I suspectthe amp may have really shined into a more efficient speaker like Sonist Audio or a horn speaker. Sonist Audio is a high efficient speaker with a ribbon tweeter that sounds good to me. Even so the Triode had excellent control with a lovely midrange.

I saw a new company called Gill Audio. The owner says he plans to stay direct and based in Georgia. He was showing a $1400.00 integrated with his speakers around the same price. I thought the system sounded good in its weight class.

A system that surprised me at how much I liked it, the Vandersteen speakers with Vandersteen amps using an Audio Research DAC and preamp. This system knocked me out. One of the few rooms that didn’t try to put you to sleep, playing some Doors it sounded like they were right in the room, such presentation and imaging.

Yg driven by Niagra was good.

A system of components that were new to me and really impressed was one of the large rooms with vimberg speakers, driven by Karan amplification and a Metronome CDP. Really liked that.

Egt amps driving Ocean Wave speakers sounded good. Both new to me. EGT is interesting in that it looks like a tube amp bnside the tube is actually a Class D amp. I thought this to be a bit of a gimmick but considering the EGT was one of the best Class D amps I’ve heard I have to let the result speak for itself.

I saw two Martin Logan rooms and both sounded great. The DSP in the bass modules used the Anthem room correction and sounded to work very well. One room had the ML’s driven by Luxman and the other room’s electronics I can’t remember. It may have been the Constellation Mike mentioned.

This room wins for most dynamic. Dynamic in the true form of the meaning, widest space between the quietest and loudest points in a recording. It was Linnenberg amplification driving Yg 2.2 speakers. They were using a turntable and D Agostino phono stage. I was sitting there and the music was a reasonable volume level yet when the horns or other dynamic areas kicked init was unusually stunning, just as with the quality of the presentation. Kudos, after playing a couple tracks of Jazz, he asked what to play and jammed a couple of LZ II tracks for me.

The Thrax room sounded good. They were playing sleepy time music when I went in though.

I thoroughly enjoyed the german Physics speakers driven by their own amplifier. The guy told me the amp weighed 165 lbs.

CH Precision was stellar in both systems I heard. My dream amp if I hit the lottery. Gobel used them in their room. Constellation would also be on that dream list.

The MBL room was excellent as always

A good year for horns. Volti with Border Patrol, Sadurni using a David Burning “special” amp both great as always. Both brands sound different but both are able to provide a good bottom end along with the rest of the presentation, many horns just aren’t able to go that low. They do require some real estate though, especially the Sadurni. Not least, the Avantgarde sounded great. They also have the advantage of amplified bass with DSP. I’m not able to put into words the quality of bass from the Avantgarde, it was very good and would have to be heard by you to understand. Also a thank you to AG who played The Allman Brothers, a track from Live at Filmore East while I was there.

Bryston was showing the tri-amp system where the speakers have no crossovers. This year they used their processor to set and cross the drivers over. Sounded good with a variety of music stylings.

ATC was showing two of their speakers, one passive driven by their own electronics and the other an amplified version. Both were spectacular but the amplified version had a bit more control and detail. It would come to preference. I really enjoy that type of lively sound.

I don’t personally believe Imaluna has the best synergy with Golden Ear speakers, or, maybe this year they just weren’t dialed in good yet.

McIntosh with B&W had a good showing. Mac is one of the best matches for B&W I’ve personally heard.

Magico was in several rooms this year. I’ve yet to hear a bad Magico presentation.

Focal and Naim had a large room with at least 3 set ups I’m aware of, one being a home theater I didn’t hear. I heard the Utopia with Naim Statement, it sounded good on an electronic piece but on another song I thought other presentations of piano sounded better. This could be a drawback of such a large room.

VAC separates were used in one of the rooms I liked a lot but forgot the speakers.

I heard so much more, some I’m sure is slipping my mind for now and some not so impressionable. I do have to say, as shown above, there was really a lot of good stuff at Axpona this year. Cary Audio was there, I couldn’t get into the room on Saturday and just didn’t make it back. I think Axpona 2019 may be a first for them, to my knowledge. I missed AudioNet and BAT.

Browsed the head-fi section, Hifiman, Audeze and Mr. Speakers all showing great cans. Sony had a nice pair on display, it had some type of 3D technology, the guy walked away before I could get the low down on how it worked and if in the headphones or some external device. However, it worked, it was stunning, they played a helicopter track and the realism was something to hear. Audeze did have a new gaming headphone, the Mobius or something like that, the sound in the cans tracked the movement of your head. My grandson tried them out. If they ever get them ready for the street, Janzen has an incredible electrostatic headphone with a projected price around $1500.00. In my opinion they will meet or beat many I heard costing much more, they are really good.
 
laynesaddiction said:
Mike,

As a bunch of others have chimed in on this and the pictures thread, thank you very much for your time and work to share your experiences with all of us who were not there. It is truly appreciated.

With respect to the Relentless....your experience is a shame IMHO as my wife and I have heard them at length a couple of times with music we are familiar with and felt (in our humble opinion) that they were absolutely magnificent. Actually, they are currently the best amplifiers that we have heard in our travels easily beating out mighty contenders. In fact, I have heard and read others stating that they are slightly better than Dan's M400s. IMHO they are seriously better than the M400s and a significant achievement in amplification that is in an entirely different class of products. To each his/her own though.

If McGrath from Wilson was driving and spinning his usual, well let me be nice, selections; then maybe it was the music. However, I would expect these amplifiers based on my experience with them to shine regardless of what music you throw at them.

What was it that you didn't like about the sound? I would really be interested in your details to see what I missed when listening to them.

Thanks again for your show report and the time you took to share.​
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The sound in this room was inconsistent. I visited multiple times (once with Mike). On Sunday PM, I stopped by and they played some classical and jazz pieces for me; it was an outstanding experience. However, on a Saturday when I stopped in with Mike and Edward, it was not.
 
I forgot to ask how you Floridians liked the little mini blizzard Sunday?

I also found a note in my jacket with the names of the equipment in a room I really liked. Both amp and speakers were from Italy.
Rosso Florentino (pretty sure the speakers) and Audio Triesis.
 
That would be Skip from Audio Thesis in Dallas. The speaker's were Rosso but the amps if tubes were likely MastersounD.
 
The only thing that really bewilders me about these shows is the same room gets voted best of show by journalists and everyone time after time and it happens to be the highest priced room. To me that says nobody is really listening to stuff or looking at it. It seems a logical fallacy error that price automatically means best. Just makes no sense or connection to reality for me. I have always found almost the opposite to be closer to truth. In other words, there is tons of gear out there by different makes and much of it on equal footing to each other across the spectrum. If it was just this one make, there would not even be reason for shows, much less anything else.
Color me lost.

I'm so glad to be done!
 
Mike said:
https://twitteringmachines.com/axpona-2019-my-favorite-things/

And not the most expensive rooms....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Am I missing something? This is of course another blog and the opinion is the same - same room as all other shows, past and present. Best of show = MBL six figure room or what ever it is.
I'm not knocking opinions of course, they are all fine. Opinions do not make facts.
I'm just wondering why it is always the same room or manufacture and what have you. Very boring if you ask me.
Like I said, not a big deal, I am just wondering.
 
I enjoyed the Twitteringmachine review. Sometimes it's nice to chill, see pictures of pretty gear and hear a little confirmation that certain pieces of equipment sound very nice.
 
That's the end of the pool Mike L. swims in with his own system so no surprises that his choices reflect higher dollar gear.
 
I think 2019 was maybe my 6th Axpona. I'm not a pro, for me a best of show has to stand out. Like last year my pick was the ARC 160M. Some years like this one I couldn't pick a best of. Too many good rooms. I did note some more affordable rooms I was very happy in.

With that being said, some things are a given, consistent at every show, unless something really messes up, like Thrax last year, I digress. One consistent at each show I was at, MBL kicks a$$. They take the time to treat the room, they play music that don't put you to sleep and the gear just sounds good. It's like why does a certain model stay on a "Class A" list in a magazine for several years.

If the room is worthy I personally don't put much stock in either, one persons best of show could be another's nightmare.
 
Funny how a guy I know was bagging on MBL saying the non directional sound was tough to set up. The soundstage is not defined. Do you hear that ? Beautiful tone but little placement or staging of instruments? Just curious.
 
Kingrex said:
Funny how a guy I know was bagging on MBL saying the non directional sound was tough to set up. The soundstage is not defined. Do you hear that ? Beautiful tone but little placement or staging of instruments? Just curious.
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Yes, exactly like live music.
 
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