SWAF 2026

I attended all three days with my wife (her first audio show). It was actually cooler in Dallas than our home in Denver. Never thought of Texas as a place to escape the heat of Colorado.

The hotel provided ample space, a new venue this year, for the vendors and attendees which was convenient given the Dallas summer temps and avoiding getting out into the heat. Like most shows, the elevator wait sucked moving between floors. So, we made good use of the stairs.

Scott Walker Audio hosted four rooms playing mostly Sonorus R2R tapes. Reference Audio out of Oklahoma demo'd Boulder Amplifiers (2000 series stereo), Rockport Orion speakers, Nordost Odin cabling, Dohmann Helix 1 TT with a Hana Umami Black cart. This room sounded amazing by the third day.

Two rooms hosted gear I had not heard before that really captured both my wife and my attention.

The Perfect8 room presented Cube-T speakers made of glass and sounded very balanced and coherent along with a very interesting design. The bass presented powerful but tight, surprisingly since the drivers were mostly unremarkable in size.

The other room hosted by AudioArts presented Zellaton Plural Evo Speakers powered by Stellavox mono amps and a Reed 1C turntable (not sure the arm or cart). I have never heard nor seen this system in any other shows in North America before, although I understand AudioArts regularly attends the SWAF show. This room was untreated and did not have any power condition, yet unreal depth and breadth of soundstage I dont recall hearing in the other rooms, speed and details to die for, and yet incredibly musically engaging. My wife, who is very sensitive to brightness in systems, commented that the AudioArts room was the only one she could sit and listen for hours without fatigue.

Once we returned home and turned on our system, she mentioned how bright our system sounds compared to the AudioArts system at SWAF. I don't notice it as much as my hearing is not great at the higher frequencies. A WAF forced speaker upgrade may be in the future. :)
 
Bamalam said:
I attended all three days with my wife (her first audio show). It was actually cooler in Dallas than our home in Denver. Never thought of Texas as a place to escape the heat of Colorado.

The hotel provided ample space, a new venue this year, for the vendors and attendees which was convenient given the Dallas summer temps and avoiding getting out into the heat. Like most shows, the elevator wait sucked moving between floors. So, we made good use of the stairs.

Scott Walker Audio hosted four rooms playing mostly Sonorus R2R tapes. Reference Audio out of Oklahoma demo'd Boulder Amplifiers (2000 series stereo), Rockport Orion speakers, Nordost Odin cabling, Dohmann Helix 1 TT with a Hana Umami Black cart. This room sounded amazing by the third day.

Two rooms hosted gear I had not heard before that really captured both my wife and my attention.

The Perfect8 room presented Cube-T speakers made of glass and sounded very balanced and coherent along with a very interesting design. The bass presented powerful but tight, surprisingly since the drivers were mostly unremarkable in size.

The other room hosted by AudioArts presented Zellaton Plural Evo Speakers powered by Stellavox mono amps and a Reed 1C turntable (not sure the arm or cart). I have never heard nor seen this system in any other shows in North America before, although I understand AudioArts regularly attends the SWAF show. This room was untreated and did not have any power condition, yet unreal depth and breadth of soundstage I dont recall hearing in the other rooms, speed and details to die for, and yet incredibly musically engaging. My wife, who is very sensitive to brightness in systems, commented that the AudioArts room was the only one she could sit and listen for hours without fatigue.

Once we returned home and turned on our system, she mentioned how bright our system sounds compared to the AudioArts system at SWAF. I don't notice it as much as my hearing is not great at the higher frequencies. A WAF forced speaker upgrade may be in the future. :)
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Very cool your wife went with you. More so she wants new gear, LOL Unless you are really attached to what you have now.
 
Thanks for the update Bamalam! Your wife has good taste - Zellatons are very nice speakers!
 
Bamalam said:
I attended all three days with my wife (her first audio show). It was actually cooler in Dallas than our home in Denver. Never thought of Texas as a place to escape the heat of Colorado.

The hotel provided ample space, a new venue this year, for the vendors and attendees which was convenient given the Dallas summer temps and avoiding getting out into the heat. Like most shows, the elevator wait sucked moving between floors. So, we made good use of the stairs.

Scott Walker Audio hosted four rooms playing mostly Sonorus R2R tapes. Reference Audio out of Oklahoma demo'd Boulder Amplifiers (2000 series stereo), Rockport Orion speakers, Nordost Odin cabling, Dohmann Helix 1 TT with a Hana Umami Black cart. This room sounded amazing by the third day.

Two rooms hosted gear I had not heard before that really captured both my wife and my attention.

The Perfect8 room presented Cube-T speakers made of glass and sounded very balanced and coherent along with a very interesting design. The bass presented powerful but tight, surprisingly since the drivers were mostly unremarkable in size.

The other room hosted by AudioArts presented Zellaton Plural Evo Speakers powered by Stellavox mono amps and a Reed 1C turntable (not sure the arm or cart). I have never heard nor seen this system in any other shows in North America before, although I understand AudioArts regularly attends the SWAF show. This room was untreated and did not have any power condition, yet unreal depth and breadth of soundstage I dont recall hearing in the other rooms, speed and details to die for, and yet incredibly musically engaging. My wife, who is very sensitive to brightness in systems, commented that the AudioArts room was the only one she could sit and listen for hours without fatigue.

Once we returned home and turned on our system, she mentioned how bright our system sounds compared to the AudioArts system at SWAF. I don't notice it as much as my hearing is not great at the higher frequencies. A WAF forced speaker upgrade may be in the future. :)
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Thanks for the great report. I attended SWAF in 2025-different hotel-and had exactly the same opinion of the Zellaton/Reed room-which was also a very large untreated room. All of this is a matter of personal taste, but I was impressed enough that I bought the Plural Evos that were on demo at the show and later bought a Reed 3(c) TT. I haven't been disappointed-very happy with those acquisitions. The Zellaton/Reed setup seems to consistently produce great sound at shows, not an easy thing to do.
 
Stellavox looks to be very new to the U.S. not even a dealer to my knowledge. They have a unique topology and to be more a proprietary system.

My next show I hope to hear Zellaton. I watched a video report of SWAF seems that Rockport/Boulder/ARC room was on several people's list of great rooms. I thought that was an interesting mix the Ref 20 preamp into which ever Boulder amp.
 
Mr Peabody said:
Stellavox looks to be very new to the U.S. not even a dealer to my knowledge. They have a unique topology and to be more a proprietary system.

My next show I hope to hear Zellaton. I watched a video report of SWAF seems that Rockport/Boulder/ARC room was on several people's list of great rooms. I thought that was an interesting mix the Ref 20 preamp into which ever Boulder amp.
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Audioarts of NYC-Gideon Schwartz-represents Stellavox. I haven't heard a Stellavox piece, so can't offer an opinion. Gideon also represents Zellaton which I think has a place among the top speakers around.
 
I went to the show on Saturday and my overall impression was that it was smaller than last year’s show. Many top brands where not there and most (maybe none) of the setup’s were top of the line setup’s. Seemed to be targeting a more moderate price range. I know they have announced the show will continue for the next two yeas so I’m hoping attendance improves and we get some new vendors there. I will also say that while I was there the crowd was the smallest I’ve seen at any show I’ve recently attended.

George
 
gadawg said:
I went to the show on Saturday and my overall impression was that it was smaller than last year’s show. Many top brands where not there and most (maybe none) of the setup’s were top of the line setup’s. Seemed to be targeting a more moderate price range. I know they have announced the show will continue for the next two yeas so I’m hoping attendance improves and we get some new vendors there. I will also say that while I was there the crowd was the smallest I’ve seen at any show I’ve recently attended.

George
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Shocking they would target what 45% of the market is and not cater to the 2% of the market. Also Dallas is a much smaller market... than say Chicago, NY, DC....apples for apples.
 
The challenge for locals - I know many people who were going to attend but did not end up - was they didn't want to have to drive into the heart of downtown Dallas. Last year did not require driving in downtown Dallas.

It's also a tough time of year in Dallas when many people are out of town on vaca in places where it's not 105 degrees.

I also wonder about the psychology - although it sounds good on paper to have the last day a Saturday as few people show up on a Sunday, I do wonder if psychologically peopler think somehow the last day of the show - Saturday - it won't be as great.

I support this show 10000% and would love to see it grow into something fantastic for sure.
 
Michaels HiFi said:
The challenge for locals - I know many people who were going to attend but did not end up - was they didn't want to have to drive into the heart of downtown Dallas. Last year did not require driving in downtown Dallas.

It's also a tough time of year in Dallas when many people are out of town on vaca in places where it's not 105 degrees.

I also wonder about the psychology - although it sounds good on paper to have the last day a Saturday as few people show up on a Sunday, I do wonder if psychologically peopler think somehow the last day of the show - Saturday - it won't be as great.

I support this show 10000% and would love to see it grow into something fantastic for sure.
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Would rather go see my urologist and then have lunch with my ex-wife....
 
gadawg said:
I went to the show on Saturday and my overall impression was that it was smaller than last year’s show. Many top brands where not there and most (maybe none) of the setup’s were top of the line setup’s. Seemed to be targeting a more moderate price range. I know they have announced the show will continue for the next two yeas so I’m hoping attendance improves and we get some new vendors there. I will also say that while I was there the crowd was the smallest I’ve seen at any show I’ve recently attended.

George
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I suspect the organizers didn't target any particular group of vendors. Just a matter of who chose to attend and onviously there were some notables that opted out. July in Dallas might not be the optimum time for a show.
 
Kramer64 said:
I suspect the organizers didn't target any particular group of vendors. Just a matter of who chose to attend and onviously there were some notables that opted out. July in Dallas might not be the optimum time for a show.
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What? It's only 105 in the shade in July :cool:
 
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