Florida Audio Expo Pictures & Coverage

The Martin Logan room was unlistenable - too loud, sharp, brittle.

MBL was awesome, as usual.

Volti, Border Patrol, TWL was as distinguished as ever at a show. Simply musical and engaging.

The Paradigm flagship speaker sounded damn nice, as did the Triangle setup.

VAC and Von Schweikert had the biggest room and it was as you would expect - very good.

My real surprise was the tiny Vanatoo speakers. Damn good sound from something that small. Filled the room and didn't empty your pockets.

Here's a link to pics I posted at Audio Circle.
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=159187.20
 
I was reading about the MBL amps and realized the Noble Series N-15 they were using at the show are 560 watt Class D amps. I never would have guessed that as the Reference 9011 are 850 watt Class AB. I have nothing against Class D just never would have guessed that.
 
BobM said:
The Martin Logan room was unlistenable - too loud, sharp, brittle.

MBL was awesome, as usual.

Volti, Border Patrol, TWL was as distinguished as ever at a show. Simply musical and engaging.

The Paradigm flagship speaker sounded damn nice, as did the Triangle setup.

VAC and Von Schweikert had the biggest room and it was as you would expect - very good.

My real surprise was the tiny Vanatoo speakers. Damn good sound from something that small. Filled the room and didn't empty your pockets.

Here's a link to pics I posted at Audio Circle.
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=159187.20
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Did you make it up to my room?


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brad225 said:
All of my choices may be different based on a real life listening room and better acoustics. This is a few that first come to mind.

...
Joseph Audio-Pulsars 2-way speakers were very good especially for $5,200 retail. post #62 & 63
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Not sure where the $5,200 price was quoted, but the Joseph Audio Pulsars actually retail for $7,700 (without stands).
 
BobM said:
Which room were you in Mike? I didn't know you had a room of your own or I would have said hello.
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I had two. 713 and 716. I’m an owner of the show too.

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Both of Mike's rooms really sounded great. I had never heard MBL's before, I did like them except for the cost. I also liked the TAD stand mount speakers. I was amazed how good the small Nola speakers with subs sounded in a small hotel room.
It was definitely a fun show.
 
Congratulations to Mike and all those who worked to put on a successful show. And thanks to all who posted pictures and comments.
 
Well I made it to the show. Only learned of it on Thursday (via facebook, I haven't been on the forums much lately) and made a day trip of it.

I loved it! I liked the size of the show (great for one day) and there were enough good sounding rooms. I liked VAC/Von Schweikert presentation - they were playing classical music and the soundstage was HUGE. It's not everyday you get to hear a stereo with that kind of soundstage.

I didn't care for the MBL room - I found it too warm, almost muddy on the two tracks I heard but it could have been just bad timing.

I was pleasantly surprised with the Vanatoo room. I recently bought KEF LS50 wireless speakers and the Vanatoo had all the same features and sounded as good (I actually thought it sounded better) for a fraction of the price.

My favorite room was the Magico/Luxman. Peter McKay had those speakers setup wonderfully and I couldn't believe how engaging they were - fantastic soundstage, nice warm midrange, MUCH deeper bass than I expected and I could have listened all day.

Also liked the Joseph/Doshi room, but wished they had setup the speakers on the short wall as there was no depth. But the tone and detail were great.

I'm thinking I must not be a horn fan because I noted the rooms I liked the least had horns (although the best was Mike's Avantegarde Uno's playing Bob Dylan; I'm not a big Dylan fan but that presentation was really good).

The Wilsons (w/ARC) were OK. Didn't hear any music I knew and meant to go back, but never did.

I *think* the Carver/Kef room sounded good. I sat down and was getting into it when the Carver rep stopped the music and blabbed about the amplifiers for 15 minutes ... where I lost patience and left.

I did not like the Merrill room or the Volti room.

I would have liked to spend more time in some of the better rooms - and heard a bit more variety of music (it seems this show was mostly about vocalists) and while I did go back to both Suncoast Audio rooms and the VAC room (just as they stopped the music for some reason) I could have spent more time getting to know (read enjoying) the systems.

It's been 2 years since my last audio show so it was a welcome treat for me!
 
Nice! I'll never forget the soundstage of the von Schweikert VR4s many many many years ago, simply cavernous deep, like nothing I have ever heard before or since.w
 
A big dream by John, AJ, Bart and Mike to host this regional audio show became reality this weekend. A sold out event with 40 rooms in a sunny and warm Tampa; and, free admission! Excellent support and commitment from a number of audio companies, retailers and the press supported the vision of these four guys.

And, what a terrific regional expo the 2019 Inaugural Florida Expo. Friday and Saturday were very busy (I did not attend on Sunday). Exciting to see young and old as well as a lot of ladies attend.

Overall system impressions:

- MBL - Visited several times. Depending on the music being played, it sounded very good to exceptional.
- VAC/VS - This was a wow room with lots of gear and multiple VS speakers. Sounded better on Saturday. Fremer’s presentation highlighted the impressive capabilities of these two companies.
- Play It Again Audio - Avangartde Trios with Berning amps, Soulution pre, EMM DAC and Resolution Acoustics treatments. Very impressive.
- Doshi/Joseph Audio - Very musical presentation. They manage to put together great rooms in every show. Visited multiple times.
- Stereo House - The TAD mini monitors with the Wolf server and Ayre electronics made for an impressive sounding room.
- AVM/Raidho - They had two demos. My favorite was the AVM integrated with built in DAC driving the Raidho D1.2s.
- Suncoast (Room 1) - The Avantgarde Uno Finos driven by the Viva integrated, Audender music server, MSB Premier and Shunyata cable was a hit. Very busy!
- Suncoast (Room 2) - Magico, Luxman, Lumin was also impressive, Peter had a full room.
- Anthem/Paradigm - The best I’ve heard their top of line Persona 9 speakers. The ARC correction software in the Anthem pre helped tame the speakers a bit.
- JBL/Levinson - This room was not acoustically treated but the newly revised JBL L100s were a lot of fun driven by the new Levinson integrated and music server.
- ARC/Wilson - The new Sasha DAWs driven by the 160Ms sounded with great promise at times. Unfortunately, the room was not properly treated. Peter M. is always a great musical director.
- Bórresen - The stand mounted 1s can play loud. I found the tweeter a little hot.
- Martin Logan/Parasound - Not a good showing.
- DSA/VPI/Spendor - Inconsitent but showed good promise.
- Harbeth/Luxman - Nice musical presentation.
- Merrill/Muraudio - Very transparent electrostatic in a very modern cabinet design. Unfortunately, their server stopped working (network issue) while I was there.
- AJ Soundfield - Mini monitors were very impressive. At $1,500 these bass active monitors were quite good.

My gut tells me the FL Expo will be larger in 2020.

Nicely done guys!
 
I spent some time in the Magico room. That was probably the best I heard Magico's sound at a show. I would have to say they pair well with the Luxman equipment Mike.

Wish I knew it was you when I was there.
 
Mike said:
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Packed rooms. Amazing first day turn out. Lots of young folks too! Our marketing efforts for targeting young folks paid off.


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Those speaker in the Suncoast room were the first horns I have ever liked. What were they?

Thanks,
Martin
 
Welcome to the forum Martin, thank you for joining.

The speakers were Avantgarde Uno Fino.
 
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brad225 said:
All of my choices may be different based on a real life listening room and better acoustics. This is a few that first come to mind...

...Very disappointing for me was the large Martin Logan room -post #49. I am a big fan having owned their speakers for 20 years or more.
The Neolith's sounded very harsh to me. There was no acoustical treatments for them and I don't know enough about the Parasound electronics they were paired with to say it was not a good match.

If you are displaying your Flagship $75,000 speaker I think more could have been done for the presentation. I listened on Friday and again Sunday and the sound was the same.
I will readily admit I am taking it personally but, those speakers should have sounded stunning.
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As I indicate in my sig, I also own Martin Logans; I’m on my 3rd pair since 2005. I have never heard MLs sound good at any audio show, no matter the model. In fact, when ML first introduced the current generation ESL xxA series at the DC Audio Show, they sounded terrible. The ML reps said they were aware, but just wanted to put them on display. I get the impression that they rather not bother trying to get the speakers dialed in, considering it is a strange and sub-optimal environment.

That said, I ran my Vantages and current Spires with Parasound JC1s until I replaced them with my current Brystons. I still miss the JC1s, as I loved that Class A output with the MLs. In fact, ML has often displayed its speakers with JC1s over the years. I do agree that the Neolith’s price should compel them to try to set them up properly.
 
Can anyone tell me what speakers are pictured in post #10? For some reason I am unable to quote the post. I really liked their sound but neglected to note what they were.

Thanks,
Martin
 
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