Florida Audio Expo - Pictures and Comments

Wow....great show! Enjoyed the heck out of it!
My ranking:
Bigboy room: MBL over the top with the most realist sound and presence. Yes I had my new hearing aids in place.
Small boy room: 1: Magico M2’s.....did everything right.
2: yep I loved the Borrensens despite going in with negative mind. I wish I could have heard them at lower volume though as I’m not sure if they would scale down.
3: Stenheim sounded legit as my milenial son says.....lol. I have no idea of their price point but I could be happy with them also.
Congrats to everyone involved in bring a world class show to Florida!
 
Thanks for all the pics and impressions. Jealous. Hopefully I’ll get to AXPONA again this year so I can participate in all the fun!
 
Wow, looks “legit”! Big congrats to Mike and everyone that is involved. Wish I could be there.

Stenheim got me quite interested. Minimalist look and Mike’s endorsement on sound.

Luxman 900 series seems to be gaining traction. Been seeing them everywhere.
 
We were wanting to go back today for a bit, but just had too much to do here around the house and such. Plus it doesn't help that I have to go into work tonight at 5:30pm. I would be dead tired at that point. Now if I didn't have to work, that would be a different story.

I wish there were more of these types of shows in Florida. We absolutely loved being there and seeing/hearing all of the gear. And of course, I really enjoyed taking all of the pictures. If only I could get a job traveling the world being a photographer for all of these shows. Now that would be the life!... With a real DSLR of course. Though this Galaxy Note 10 Plus does an outstanding job on its own.
 
brad225 said:
Mike said:
In the bottom picture are the very small Kiso Acoustics entry level speaker. They had a 4" woofer and 1" dome tweeter. The sound from them was amazing.

The cabinets are built by Takamine Guitar in Japan. The structure is very much like a guitar. thin wood with similar braces inside. The cabinet is made to resonate with with the drivers.

They produced much lower frequency than you would expect. If you ever get the chance to listen to them don't miss the chance.

That said the price started at $9,500 plus stands, never the less they were great. I went into that room 3 times.
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did you catch the distributor's name for the HB-1? the retail was/is at least 2x in the EU
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The FL Expo Team did put together a great show. Again, the show demonstration rooms almost doubled in just one year from 35 to 67!

Below are my Top 10 Systems: (Top 3 in order of preference and the rest not so)

1. Magico M6, Magico Q18, Luxman Pre, Power Amps and CDP, Avid TT with SME Arm, Avid Phono Stage, Critical Mass racks, Audioquest - This system came together nicely and was properly showcased by Michael Fremer on Saturday with fantastic vinyl.
2. MBL 101E MKII with MBL Amplification and Digital Front End, Wireworld cables - Nicely setup room with an excellent musical presentation. Perhaps a little light on the bass due to the room (square and very large).
3. VAC, VS, Esoteric, Kronos - Impressive VAC mono blocks driving the VS 11s. It’s a wow system but sometimes the scale of some instruments does not feel right.

Top 4 - 10 in no particular order:

- Fyne, Pass, Aurender, VPI, Shunyata - Suncoast room with the new Fyne 702s. Very musical and a great sounding at its price point. Played vinyl most of the weekend.
- Zesto, Vimberg, Merril, Cardas - George and Carol consistently have great sounding rooms in shows. I really liked the Zesto - Vimberg combination.
- Borresen, Avik, Ansuz, Naim - The little Borresens rock. Very dynamic and clean sounding. A bit pricey tho.
- Joseph Audio, Doshi, VPI - Once again Nick and Jeff put together a very nice sounding room.
- Muradio, Simaudio - The SP1 speakers sounded good although not as good as last year. They were being driven by a small integrated.
- MC Audiotech, Linear Audio - Unique looking speaker but with a very seamless presentation top to bottom.
- MSB, Magico - Magico M2, MSB Ref DAC and Transport, MSB stereo amp. Very quiet background with sheer musicality.
- Wilson, VTL - Sasha DAWs with VTL amplification. A better presentation than last year. Sounded really good on Friday with a slight bass overhang (no room treatments). On Saturday it was standing room only
the several times I visited.

Ok, I did 11 favorites! :P

It was a lot of fun!
 
brad225 said:
Mike said:
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In the bottom picture are the very small Kiso Acoustics entry level speaker. They had a 4" woofer and 1" dome tweeter. The sound from them was amazing.

The cabinets are built by Takamine Guitar in Japan. The structure is very much like a guitar. thin wood with similar braces inside. The cabinet is made to resonate with with the drivers.

They produced much lower frequency than you would expect. If you ever get the chance to listen to them don't miss the chance.

That said the price started at $9,500 plus stands, never the less they were great. I went into that room 3 times.
Click to expand...

These sounded awesome. I kept peaking to see if there were sub woofers somewhere. Just great sounding in A very small form factor.


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joeinid said:
[SUB][SUP]
[/SUP][/SUB]
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The ranking . . .​

  • Magico / Luxman / Avid / SME / Pulsare / AudioQuest / Critical Mass: This was an easy choice. This system had far and away the most natural, realistic sound of the three. I could have listened all day and been happy.
  • MBL / Wireworld / United Home Audio: Although I wanted a bit more bass, the highs were a delight, and the spacious sound was enveloping in the best possible sense. Very nice.
  • Von Schweikert / VAC / Esoteric / Aurender / Kronos / Airtight / Critical Mass: The bass was deep and concussive, and certain aspects of the sound revealed the pedigree of the system, but the highs were overbearing, and it was played just too loud.
​
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I vote that the mágicos were far above this class. The mbl’s were good and the von schweikert’s were just too much for me. I could never see myself in a room with those things, even if I won the lotto.


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And if you heard the lampizator pacific in room 408, it is sitting in the back of my truck as I type this (along with the superkomputer).

BIG shout out to the show organizers - very well done.


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Hounddog said:
And if you heard the lampizator pacific in room 408, it is sitting in the back of my truck as I type this (along with the superkomputer).

BIG shout out to the show organizers - very well done.


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Congrats!!


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Hounddog said:
And if you heard the lampizator pacific in room 408, it is sitting in the back of my truck as I type this (along with the superkomputer).

BIG shout out to the show organizers - very well done.


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Congrats on the Lampi gear!
 
Hounddog said:
And if you heard the lampizator pacific in room 408, it is sitting in the back of my truck as I type this (along with the superkomputer).

BIG shout out to the show organizers - very well done.


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Congrats! That was a balanced one wasn’t it? What tubes did it come with?
 
The triangle art room was excellent to my ears all triangle and usher speakers. great analog sound , fast , dynamic and natural.
 
Hounddog said:
And if you heard the lampizator pacific in room 408, it is sitting in the back of my truck as I type this (along with the superkomputer).

BIG shout out to the show organizers - very well done.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...
I heard the room had great sound, but its what I would imagine from $190K retail front-end driving the Daedelus speakers.

That VAC amp is as fast as lightning and with Lampi Pac and SK fronting it....you would have to work hard to make it sound bad.

Enjoy the Pac and SK!

Mike: Great show as always. Congrats to you and AJ and the gang! Onward and upward. Perhaps next year I can make it...
 
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