[MaxCast]

Axpona 2012

Jacksonville, Fl

March 9-11

http://www.axpona.com/

[vettett15]

Anyone going to this?  Was hoping to see Salk, Selah, Philharmonic types there...

[electricbear]

I'm hoping to go as a casual observer but it does coincide with the home builders show in Gainesville. We will have a display at the home builders show so I might have to work it. I'll know about a week out.

[mhconley]

Darn... a show close enough to drive to yet I'll be in Denver on business through very late Friday the 9th and at Disneyworld with my wife and 8 year old son beginning Sunday the 11th.  No way to squeeze it in.

Martin

[AJinFLA]

I'm in. Not sure of the room # yet, organizer stated somewhere on the 5th Floor. Details to follow...

[AJinFLA]

Soundfield Audio and Power Modules will be in Room 513 

PI audio power products might be featured as well, details to follow. If any cable/wire vendors are interested, shoot me a PM. Thanks.

[Jazzman53]

Hi all,
I'll be there as a casual observer.  I'm an owner and fan of Carver gear, and now that Bob Carver has come out of retirement and is showing his new powerhouse tube amps at the show, I figured I'd have a listen and maybe even meet the Bobfather himself-- if he's there.  Myself and another Carver fan from Savannah will be there on the 10th.  I'm game to meet up there for a brew if anyone wants to. 
Charlie 

[AJinFLA]

Hi Jazzman,
I'm not averse to a nice brew myself, though of course, my focus will be on the exhibit. Usually have a little stash for myself, but also any online members who identify themselves.
So stop by 513 if you get a chance...and bring a favorite CD (or better yet, a favorite sampler).

cheers,

AJ

[Don_S]

The new Carver Amazing Line Source ALS1000 will also debut there.  Full review please Charlie.

Hi all,
I'll be there as a casual observer.  I'm an owner and fan of Carver gear, and now that Bob Carver has come out of retirement and is showing his new powerhouse tube amps at the show, I figured I'd have a listen and maybe even meet the Bobfather himself-- if he's there.  Myself and another Carver fan from Savannah will be there on the 10th.  I'm game to meet up there for a brew if anyone wants to. 
Charlie

[tdangelo]

I'll be there. The show is only about a 30 min. drive from home.

[AJinFLA]

5 days to go.....

[AJinFLA]

Let the music flow...

[vettett15]

Looks good AJ, can't wait to hear it.  What is that sub? setup next to your monitors?

[AgentOrange]

Wish I could be there.  Bob Carver will be releasing his new speakers there.
I heard the first working set back in October.  They are very tall and really fill a room with music.  Most can never buy them at $20k, but this is a chance to play with them.  They are incredible.  Bob is the man.

[Letitroll98]

Looks good AJ, can't wait to hear it.  What is that sub? setup next to your monitors?

I could be wrong, but I think those are full range speakers, not subs.

Hmmm, are those Wywires hooking up your kit there AJ?

[AJinFLA]

Looks good AJ, can't wait to hear it.  What is that sub? setup next to your monitors?

Those are my 1812 Overtures - cardioid 18" HE subwoofers (active) and 12" passive coaxial sats (sealed), around 97db sensitivity. You'll hear 'em .

cheers,

AJ

[vettett15]

Very cool, looks like it is itching to play "money for nothing"...

[AJinFLA]

I could be wrong, but I think those are full range speakers, not subs.

Hmmm, are those Wywires hooking up your kit there AJ?

Those are sub/sat versions of the big speakers you saw in the back of the room at Capfest. Yep, WyWires everywhere...even the USB cable on the 'puter! 
PowerModules providing the juice....quite nice. The Soloist stuff is smaller than my cable box , but has some grunt.

cheers,

AJ

and yes, those stands are a wee bit more hefty ...and harder to lug around on these trips!

[AJinFLA]

Very cool, looks like it is itching to play "money for nothing"...

That you'd have to bring .
I think I have Dire Straits on the 500g drive...but their live stuff IIRC

[studiotech]

AJ,

Just got home from the day in Jax.  As I said at the show, you had an excellent sounding system today!  One of the best rooms for sure.  Clean dynamics, well balanced tonality.  All that with modest components and affordable speakers.  Bravo!  Can't wait to hear the smaller monitors now. Hit me private when you get a chance for some more in-depth comments.

Right before AJs room I played the same tracks on some large, aluminum cabinet speakers driven by Krell amps.  Thats a lot of $ to spend for average sound.  Another gentleman stopped me outside of AJs room to ask about my music.  He also wanted to know what I thought of the two systems.  He heard me play the same thing in both rooms.  He asked me why AJs room sounded so much better.  I asked him if he knew how much each loudspeaker cost.   

Pretty much the same impressions as usual for the rest of the rooms.  Most are all show and no go.  Fancy cables, fancy veneer, obscure music, lame sound.  I spin my own sampler and still poor sound.

As always, Legacy Audio was getting excellent sound from the Whisper HDs.  These would be in my house if I were not such a DIYer.

Second time to hear Scaenas.  Same reaction as last time.  Very nice mids and highs, but where's the bass?  I mean, they're running 4 18" drivers and getting nothing useful on the low end.  Plenty of power too with a couple of QSC pro amps  driving them.  What bass there was, did not sound well integrated with the line arrays.  This room also had some kind of noise in the system, maybe from the lighting dimmers. but it was driving me crazy on quiet tracks.  Looks like they upgraded from the cheapie planar tweeters from a few years ago to some nice looking true ribbons.  At least that could be considered a positive.

I actually liked the MBLs this time!!!  They were playing the stand mount monitors when I was in the room.  Enough room here to get them well out from the walls and I was in the front row, so I was getting mostly clear direct sound.  Very open, tactile sound on the few tracks I heard in their demo.

Some tall line source from a very famous gentleman.  Meh.  Heard a few tracks.  All sounded too bright for my taste.  Looked like a row of cheapie Dayton planar tweeters to my eye.  Not what I would pay 20 large for.

Heard some jazz on tape from the Tape Project in the large ballroom with Martin Logan speakers.  This is the second time I heard a vendor using these tapes for a show.  Look, I LOVE tape machines.  WE use them at the studio whenever we have the budget on a project.  (In my best Seinfeld voice)  But, what's the deal?  Old, crusty sounding recordings do not really show off a system or the capability of tape.  No thanks.  Whatever I heard was not doing the tape machine or the speakers any justice.

AIX 3D demo ballroom.  I really want to like these guys stuff.  Hi-rez, supposedly no compression or EQing and hi-def 3D.  Done well, it should be excellent, reference grade media.  I think they ought to call Bob Katz to advise on the actual logistics of the location recordings.  Some sound really excellent and others make me wonder if they listen to the mics before pushing the record button.  One on video, the primary cameras' perspective was from the audience with the drum set on the left.  Sounded like the snare and hi-hat were mixed to the right channel.  Was it the recording or another oops that I seem to notice at these shows where vendors do not even realize that they've got L/R hooked up backwards or something out of phase.  That's why it pays to play material you are intimately familiar with, so you can quickly spot these issues.

I'm pooped.  As usual, fun AND frustrating.  I love hi-fi and music reproduction, but I really don't care for the priorities and ideals held by many vendors.  Nor do I like the pseudo science and snake-oil pushed in many vendors rooms.  Shame on you.

Greg