I attended for a couple of days. The show team did a fantastic job over the last year to further grow the show.
Below are my observations:
- Over 70 rooms with systems and components from very inexpensive to the ultra-expensive. There was something for everyone!
- Very good size crowds. Many rooms were stand room only.
- Yes, many in attendance were old guys like me but, like in prior years, saw many couples and younger attendees.
- The 14th floor rooms dedicated for headphone demos.
- For the first time, a room was setup for brand new vinyl sales - all new sealed copies.
- Significant press coverage.
- Music was ever present in the show’s lobby with a very talented harp player during the day. And, live jazz band in the evening.
- While there were turntables and R2R machines, most of the rooms used servers/streamers. Very much dominated by HiFi Rose, Innous and Aurender.
- Some big brands missed a great opportunity to show to thousands of audio and music lovers - Wilson, YG, Magnepan, Audio Research, CH Precision to name a few.
On the systems front, my observations follow. I’m doing this from memory as I didn’t take notes and in no particular order.
- The Wharfedale, Leak and HiFi Rose system was superbly engaging for less than $8k.
- Both Suncoast Audio rooms showcasing the Clarisys speakers sounded terrific. The big system driven by Block Audio with an Aurender player, MSB Select II on the new Critical Mass racks was outstanding. Also, the smaller Clarisys speakers in room 915 driven by Hegel with Aurender, Lumin and Shunyata on Critical Mass racks was also outstanding.
- MBL brought the big reference amps to drive the 101s - wow. Jeremy played music until 1 AM!
- The new TAD stand monitor speakers $35K sounded terrific. Also, did special presentations with the mastering engineer that has worked with Patricia Barber for over 20 years. Very enjoyable.
- The Lampizator Horizon is as good as some people have indicated. Wonderfully musical and engaging. Too bad it’s $50K! Playing along with Westminster Labs amps and DSG speakers was highly engaging albeit the room limitations and the fact that the speakers were not fully broken in.
- MSB showcased the new Digital Director with the Reference DAC, MSB 200 series amps and Magico M2s - as good as ever.
- Acora Acoustics showcased their new statement speakers. They can fill a large space easily. Very dynamic with a wide stage presentation. Maybe a little edgy at the top. The Lampi Horizon was here as well with VAC tubes driving them.
- Lansche speakers with the plasma tweeter driven by Thrax were very transparent and dynamic.
- Graham speakers showcased by On Higher Note’s sounded very musical. A very simple system in the tradition of BBC transducers. Phillip always has a very nice list of music.
- MoFi speakers designed by Andrew Jones. Fantastic dynamics and a bargain at $3700 a pair.
- Dyptique planar speakers from France really impressed for approx. $7K a pair.
- Borresen were demoed in three rooms. Always very impressive and loud. The stand mounts were very dynamic - amazing how much sound is delivered by such small enclosures. Was not as impressed with the floorstand pair. I didn’t take pictures of these rooms.
Hopefully others will add more commentary. Congrats to the FLAX team for a great show and for their continued growth. My guess is that next year it will be as good if not better as they continue to apply lessons learned to improve the experience.
And, never hurts that the weather was perfect 70s and sunny to partly sunny!