AXPONA 2017 - We've got a killer line up in room 634 and more!

Gopher · « **on:** 13 Mar 2017, 02:05 pm »

With AXPONA coming next month, it's time to start making some noise about our upcoming plans and partnerships. This year we will be doing things a little differently and pursing a different line up of great gear to present our offerings with some other fantastic brands.

In our own room we'll be debuting our brand new Golden Atlantic DAC and DSD Komputer as the digital front end/preamplifier.

For speakers we'll be using Clayton Shaw's wonderful and affordable Spatial M3 Turbo S speakers.
For amplification Linear Tube Audio will be supplying us with a pair of their delicious 40wpc OTL amplifiers
For cables, Verastarr will be showing it's new line of hybrid foil cables.

Make no mistake, we will be gunning for the big dogs with this moderately priced room.

Another must see with be Von Schweikert Audio's room where one of our wonderful Golden Gate DACs will be demonstrated alongside their beautiful statement speakers and some other fantastic equipment: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Von-Schweikert-Audio-189669414416259/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1253691238014066

I've been a big fan of VSA since I was a kid listening to my father's early VS design Clearfield Continentals. This room will be killer!

findog3103 · « **Reply #1 on:** 13 Mar 2017, 07:12 pm »

I'm sure the room will sound amazing.

MarkR7 · « **Reply #2 on:** 13 Mar 2017, 10:08 pm »

Sounds like it's going to be one heck of a room! I wanna hear it; may actually get to it this year.

I love my Verastarr Nemesis USB cable. So organic and analog sounding, but yet, loses none of the detail in the music and allows for a huge, wonderful 3D soundstage. I wonder if that's the typical signature of all the Verastarr cables?

Gopher · « **Reply #3 on:** 3 Apr 2017, 03:06 pm »

Yes, the closer we get the big show, the more excited we are all getting.

The goal is for the price of room 634 to be a complete mystery based on the sound. That is, we want this moderately priced room to compete with the cost is not object rooms... Except maybe the Von Schweikert Audio room, with our Golden Gate.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #4 on:** 3 Apr 2017, 03:14 pm »

Look forward to seeing you there, Fred!

Gopher · « **Reply #5 on:** 3 Apr 2017, 08:46 pm »

Definitely, Roscoe! It will be great to catch up.

As another fun note--I was speaking to Clayton just now and he's decided that rather than show the M3 Turbo S speakers again, he will take this opportunity to debut the brand new M3 Triode Master speakers which he's very excited about. This room should be a *lot* of fun!

roscoeiii · « **Reply #6 on:** 4 Apr 2017, 01:40 am »

Love a high impedance driver with tubes. Very cool.

Gopher · « **Reply #7 on:** 1 May 2017, 08:27 pm »

findog3103 · « **Reply #8 on:** 1 May 2017, 10:24 pm »

Another notch in your belt, Fred!

jtwrace · « **Reply #9 on:** 1 May 2017, 11:46 pm »

Well deserved!

dminches · « **Reply #10 on:** 2 May 2017, 12:57 am »

Fred, which were the speakers in your 2nd room, a couple doors down from your main room? They sounded great.

Berto · « **Reply #11 on:** 2 May 2017, 01:22 am »

Quote from: dminches on 2 May 2017, 12:57 am

Fred, which were the speakers in your 2nd room, a couple doors down from your main room? They sounded great.

The horns were from Destination Audio. A small polish company and personal friends of Lukasz.

He has a facebook page as well.

Gopher · « **Reply #12 on:** 2 May 2017, 02:14 am »

Yes, David. I too was blown away by those horns. Lukasz actually owns a pair he uses personally in Poland. He's been hyping them to me for a couple of years so it was great to finally hear what they had to offer. Otherworldly, imo.

Actually, we'll probably be showing again with those speakers domestically at one or more of the upcoming shows.

JackD · « **Reply #13 on:** 2 May 2017, 05:13 am »

Fred

As someone who has the M3 Turbo S at home what was your impressions of the differences of the new compression driver used in the Triode Master.

wisnon · « **Reply #14 on:** 2 May 2017, 03:42 pm »

Quote from: Gopher on 2 May 2017, 02:14 am

Yes, David. I too was blown away by those horns. Lukasz actually owns a pair he uses personally in Poland. He's been hyping them to me for a couple of years so it was great to finally hear what they had to offer. Otherworldly, imo.

Actually, we'll probably be showing again with those speakers domestically at one or more of the upcoming shows.

Wlod....I met him when i went to the Warsaw shows both time. Nice fellow...very interesting to talk to.

Gopher · « **Reply #15 on:** 2 May 2017, 04:54 pm »

JackD,

It is honestly hard to comment being in a different room with different amplification and cabling, but I get the sense the new speakers are AT LEAST as good as my M3 Turbo S. I really would have to hear them back to back in the same configuration to give a more meaningful comparison, but the system was obviously cut from the same sonic cloth as my living room setup.

Norman,

Yes--Sam was an awesome guy--tons of character and a class act. It was great to see him get the praise he deserved and we got to hang out a bit more after the show on Monday night when we went to see Patricia Barber up town.

leftside · « **Reply #16 on:** 2 May 2017, 10:11 pm »

Congrats Fred!

wisnon · « **Reply #17 on:** 3 May 2017, 02:42 pm »

Quote from: Gopher on 2 May 2017, 04:54 pm

JackD,

It is honestly hard to comment being in a different room with different amplification and cabling, but I get the sense the new speakers are AT LEAST as good as my M3 Turbo S. I really would have to hear them back to back in the same configuration to give a more meaningful comparison, but the system was obviously cut from the same sonic cloth as my living room setup.

Norman,

Yes--Sam was an awesome guy--tons of character and a class act. It was great to see him get the praise he deserved and we got to hang out a bit more after the show on Monday night when we went to see Patricia Barber up town.

He has lived an incredible life....

Gopher · « **Reply #18 on:** 3 May 2017, 03:59 pm »

Thanks, Piers.

You aren't kidding, Norman. Actually on the subject of Sam I was speaking to him last night and Chicago area audiophiles *may* be in for a treat this weekend. He was invited by the local Chicago Audiophile Society to show his speakers at an event this Saturday. I'm waiting for confirmation and details, but if it does happen it is definitely one to take note of.

Who would have guessed 5 years ago that Poland would become an Audio Mecca?

Berto · « **Reply #19 on:** 9 May 2017, 01:42 am »

The feedback is starting to pour in from Axpona 2017. We def upped the ante this year.

Maurice Jefferies from Postive feedback:

Our flagship Golden Gate DAC was featured in the VSA room, featuring there new flagship speakers. This drool-inducing set-up challenged one's expectations of what an ultra-high end system can do, and what such performance costs. At 900+ lbs. per side and over seven feet tall, the VSA ULTRA 11 speakers ($295K/pair in your choice of automotive paint finishes) towered above everyone and everything. They reproduced bass instruments with concert level impact below 20Hz (this was bass you heard and felt). Highs soared to infinity yet never shouted. Grain was utterly absent from the proceedings.

Steve Rochlin from Enjoy the Music:

In the same room with our Golden Gate Stever said "Getting my personal award for being Best Sound At AXPONA 2017 is the VAC / Von Schweikert room featuring their ULTRA 11 large floorstanders "

Greg Weaver from Postive Feedback had alot to say about this same room as well. To summarize it he wrote >

All these extraordinary attributes combine to present an unsurpassed degree of soundstaging; layering, image specificity, size, and shape. The overall spatial presentation, hall dimensionality, instrumental placement and interrelationships, the space between and around those remarkably defined voices, and reverberant cues, set a new benchmark of performance.

Jana Dagdagan From Stereophile:

I love tubes and horns. So naturally, when Jason and I were dividing up rooms, I leapt at the opportunity to cover Destination Audio, a company rumored to execute tubes and horns well, even in small hotel rooms.

Our Flagship Golden Gate DAC was also the source in the Destination Sound soom. Along with the speakers, the system contained two Destination tube preamplifiers ($16,000/pair) and two Destination tube mono power amplifiers ($24,000/pair). We listened to the Kings Singers' "The Boxer," and I marveled at the depth of the soundstage and how, through such towering speakers, this beautiful male a cappella ensemble filled but did not overpower the limited-size room. Afterwards, we listened to "Ode to Billy Joe" by Patricia Barber, and the amount of detail and variation in each "snap" left me wanting more. As I'm listening, Greg Roberts of Volti Audio—another maker of horn speakers I deeply adore—happens to sit next to me. It's a beautiful thing when you see a show exhibitor take a break to sit down and enjoy another designer's offerings. As I dragged myself away in hopes of staying on schedule, I thought to myself, "what an exceptional way to start the final day of Axpona."