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  • AXPONA 2014: 25 Apr 2014 - 27 Apr 2014

AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014

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Big Red Machine

Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #100 on: 24 Apr 2014, 11:31 pm »
Driving over Friday AM early.  Have a trip to Houston on Sunday so I will leave Saturday sometime.

I'll be the ruggedly handsome one.  All 5' 18" of me.




roscoeiii

Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #101 on: 24 Apr 2014, 11:51 pm »
Driving over Friday AM early.  Have a trip to Houston on Sunday so I will leave Saturday sometime.

I'll be the ruggedly handsome one.  All 5' 18" of me.




It's true. BRM is ruggedly handsome.

Bob2

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Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #102 on: 25 Apr 2014, 12:08 am »
Quote
I'll be the ruggedly handsome one.  All 5' 18" of me.
Dude...there is something really wrong with that!!
Made my day! very funny!
I'll be looking for the guy in the bathrobe and trooper hat... :D

ted_b

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Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #103 on: 25 Apr 2014, 12:14 am »
Rugged yes...handsome? 



Big Red Machine

Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #104 on: 25 Apr 2014, 12:22 am »
I'm laughing out loud right now!! :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

gbeard

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Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #105 on: 25 Apr 2014, 02:05 am »
TomS, Tedb, et all,

I am staying at the Marriott as well.  :wine:

(Ted, I think I owe you a beer or two...)

wisnon

Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #106 on: 25 Apr 2014, 01:44 pm »

I hear that Vapor Sound are rocking it with their new Derechos and  the Lampi L7/Purity amps at Axpona in Room  432. Killer sound, I am told.

Wish I was there to check it out. You guys that are going, please report back

Paret

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Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #107 on: 25 Apr 2014, 02:55 pm »
Flying in tomorrow morning with my son from DFW.
Looking forward to an awesome show.

Luis D. Paret
Keller, TX

martyo

Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #108 on: 25 Apr 2014, 04:55 pm »
AVA SALK ROOM  w/Jims new EXOTICA 3's


audiomagnate

Any JBL m2's?
« Reply #109 on: 25 Apr 2014, 06:44 pm »
I know JBL and Harman aren't official exhibitors, but I was wondering if there are any M2's, or failing that 1400 Arrays at the show.

wisnon

Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #110 on: 25 Apr 2014, 09:42 pm »
Vapor/Lampi/Purity room...




Factorz

Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #111 on: 25 Apr 2014, 11:10 pm »
Well my first ever Axpona is in the books and while I didn't stay the entire day I will be returning on Sunday to visit any rooms I missed or revisit my favorites. Overall a really great experience and I didn't feel the crowds were really that bad. Would have been nice if they would had all three floors in a row instead of 3,4, and 12, but I never had to wait more then a few minutes for a elevator. Below were my personal favorites.

Vapor Audio
Sony
Magico
Salk
Tyler Acoustics

While these were my favorites I really didn't go into any room and not enjoy myself but I know I didn't get to every room. Would love to hear what rooms others liked so I can make sure to put them on my list for Sunday. I parked down the street at the lot and it was a breeze to walk over to the hotel for those of you looking to save $10. The only issue was that the machines were not taking cash so you needed a credit card to pay for the space.

tonyptony

Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #112 on: 26 Apr 2014, 10:43 pm »
I'd really appreciate getting some feedback on the room where PS Audio is demoing the new DirectStream DAC. I think it's the Underwood HiFi room?

Big Red Machine

Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #113 on: 27 Apr 2014, 01:16 pm »
First time at Axpona.  Friday was very light on attendance.  You could bowl down the hallways most of the day.  Plenty of sweetspot seating.

Saturday picked up some but still not crowded by any stretch.  The smaller rooms got crowded quickly.  A flyer sent around announced the show will return to the Westin once again next year.  The hotel is large but has only one restaurant.  The food is very good there regardless and reasonably priced.  We stayed across the road at the Marriott for less dough but the restaurant there was more expensive and way less sexy.

There is a McD's, Subway, 7-Eleven, Giordano's pizza, a pub, and other such establishments within walking distance (1/8 to 1/3 mile) from the Westin.

I did not go into every room.  Like many of my AC pals I was not shopping for anything and had only a mild curiosity.  I took very few photos cuz I was not motivated to do so.  I did hit some impressive rooms and see some cool demos.

The Soundlab massive speakers in a massive room driven by Atmasphere amps was very cool.  Having those voices emanate from those large black grills was creepy good.

The Marten floorstanders were very good.  Not better than most, but very good.

I liked the $40k Sadurni horns alot.  So real sounding.  Very large and fugly to my wife, but very nice driven by the Merrill Ncores.

The Seaton Sound surround system was off the charts deep and impressive.  $39k, 22,000 watts, very smooth sounding and fast bass response.  He demo'd music, concert video, and Bluray with a well-orchestrated screen, projector, and lighting control.

I thought the MBL room was terrible.  Not engaging in sound.

The large Focals, what are they, $250k?, were awesome.  I know why the rich folks buy them.  They always sounded terrible to me at RMAF, but this room was so cool.  Talk about large sound and realness!

Likewise, the large Sonus Fabers were very nice as well.  Large sound and impactful to beat the band.  If you can afford them, give them a listen.

The large Dynaudios in the angled room setup were terrible.  Very low-fi sounding.  This room is right off the 12th floor elevator but does not match the Event Guide assignment, so maybe it wasn't Dynaudio.  They were very tall and slender speakers that looked like DYnaudio.

The Wilson/D'Agonistino room was very nice.  A little less imaging than I would expect for the money, but great resolution.  DCS dac.  They were allowing anyone to offer up a CD to play.  That was nice of them.

The Polymer Audio Research had some very interesting speakers in there.  They were a small floorstander but weighed in at 400 lbs each.  The cabinets did not even move on them.  I grabbed the sides and felt no movement.  The owner said it takes 2 to lift/assemble the baffle it is so heavy.  Wide dispersion in sound, a little gritty.  The very hot babe in the red dress handing out brochures was a welcome treat.  The speakers were silver - her dress was red.  I was trying not to be distracted.

Lawrence Audio speakers were somewhat gritty.  Too many ribbons on the large version and the smaller one was very gritty sounding.

My wife and I liked the Kharma DB11's so much we went back for an extended listen.  $54,000 drive by Argento/Constellation gear.  A wonderful looking and elite room all around.  Best viola I ever heard.  That instrument was sitting right in the room.  Our favorite room hands down at the show.

The Nordost vibration mounts demo was eye opening.  If you don't believe in tweaks you may want to reconsider.  I was casually standing in the room off-axis and the mounts under the CDP gave a very open and engaging soundstage and depth of sound.  Paused the CDP, removed the cones, hit play, and the soundstage and engagement collapsed.  I was in shock.  Never had such a dramatic effect from a vibration device in real time like that.  Pretty cool.

The Daedalus room was mediocre to me.  I was expecting much more but it did not impress me or my wife.

The new Vapor speaker was running hot to me and several other AC-ers confirmed this during our conversations.  Ryan has some work to do on this very new speaker.  Ridiculously high efficiency driven by 18 watts of Bill Baker amps.  It was effortless but tipped up or out of balance somewhere.  Got to meet Fred (gopher) after all these years.  Super guy.  Keep selling those Lampi's!

The surround system of Martin Logan speakers in the black light room sounded very good.  An interesting surround sound system it made.  Had the JL Audio subs(?) in there.  A very cool-factor room.

Sat next to Gilbert's table (of Blue Circle) at dinner Friday night.  Got to speak with him Saturday and see his O'scope demo of the noise reduction from his PVC-silicone power filters.  A very convincing demo.  He's a mad scientist and I enjoyed speaking with him and Walt Stagner of TLP audio.  I have a FEx02 something unit here to try out.

avahifi

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Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #114 on: 27 Apr 2014, 01:54 pm »
Traffic definitely was not light at our AVA/Salk room.  On Saturday afternoon we had a line out the door of people waiting to come in and listen.

Pretty amazing.  People came, people listened, people didn't leave, they just stayed and listened some more.  Gonna sell a bunch of stuff this year.  :)

Frank Van Alstine

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Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #115 on: 27 Apr 2014, 04:23 pm »
This was my first Axpona, actually first ever audio show.  Went to most rooms.  Rooms that held my interest the most were ones that were playing music I like.  I thought the Legacy Room sounded really good, the Venture room on the first floor was very good too.  One room that really impressed me, especially in the price for performance category was the AVA/Salk room.  When I sat down, I assumed the new 12,000.00 speakers were playing.  It took me awhile to figure out the 2000.00 Salks were playing instead.    Warm, spacious, very pleasant sounding.  They did not have the volume up very much in that room so it would have been nice to hear them rock out some. 

Vapor Audio

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Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #116 on: 27 Apr 2014, 04:56 pm »
The new Vapor speaker was running hot to me and several other AC-ers confirmed this during our conversations.  Ryan has some work to do on this very new speaker.  Ridiculously high efficiency driven by 18 watts of Bill Baker amps.  It was effortless but tipped up or out of balance somewhere.  Got to meet Fred (gopher) after all these years.  Super guy.  Keep selling those Lampi's!

If you're able, come back today ... turns out the tizz on top was from a bad Sovtek tube in the pre.  Replaced it with some Tung Sol and the zing is gone.   Speakers do get all the credit, but the flip side is they also get all the blame. 

Fred and Rob are great guys, we've had a great time showing together  :thumb:

SwamisCat

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Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #117 on: 27 Apr 2014, 05:03 pm »
I guess my listening tastes differ from what others want.  For the second year in a row, I left feeling really blessed that my moderate system sounds so much better -- to my untrained ears-- than most of these mega buck systems.

1). I obviously value soundstage, depth and imaging much more than the those setting up most of the rooms. Even in the sweet spot of most of the larger rooms, I thought the soundstages were flat and absolutely diffuse. There were some exceptions; King, Venture, Magico, Legacy and the Orangutans come immediately to mind.(but what was it with that huge distracting screen in the Venture room?)

2). Do people really want to hear boomy bass of excessively large speakers overwhelming rooms? Sadly I assume the answer is yes. This was the rule not the exception. Rule number one should be to bring an appropriate speaker for the room, or if you are displaying a big speaker, pony up for a big room. And try not to make people sit in a single row with their backs on the rear wall.

3). Do people really like hearing gigantic multi hundred thousand dollar speakers making everyone sound like their heads are ten feet wide? Maybe I am just sensitive to this.

That said, I did enjoy a dozen or so  rooms, I got some great new music suggestions, and I learned more about what I like and dislike in sound.

And yes, I truly believe it is subjective.  I think many of these rooms weren't failures in execution, they were often succeeding but doing something which I simply do not value.

Some of the rooms which did appeal to me, besides the above included Argento, D'Agostino, one of the Dynaudios, Salk, Rogue, Benchmark, Derecho, Silnote, and Lawrence. And those tiny white flat speakers with two cones that cost two thousand a pair??

One man's opinion.

Big Red Machine

Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #118 on: 27 Apr 2014, 05:48 pm »
If you're able, come back today ... turns out the tizz on top was from a bad Sovtek tube in the pre.  Replaced it with some Tung Sol and the zing is gone.   Speakers do get all the credit, but the flip side is they also get all the blame. 

Fred and Rob are great guys, we've had a great time showing together  :thumb:

Awesome news.  Unfortunately I have to fly to Houston today so had to leave early.  Good to hear, well, almost hear from here!  You have quite the room of know-how there.  Too bad Baker was off celebrating his anniversary.  Well, maybe it's a good weekend for him regardless!  Happy wife, happy life.

Big Red Machine

Re: AXPONA - 2014 Chicago 4-25, 26, 27- 2014
« Reply #119 on: 27 Apr 2014, 05:56 pm »


That said, I did enjoy a dozen or so  rooms, I got some great new music suggestions, and I learned more about what I like and dislike in sound.



I was feverishly Shazaming or taking notes and was quite busy on Amazon today placing orders for music.  Love the great tracks you can pick up. 

On the room size issue, there are limited large rooms so often it is a quandary of what a vendor wants to show versus can they pull it off in the smaller venues they may end up with.