2016 AXPONA - Chicago, IL pictures

WLDock

Once again the show is just too large. One really needs two or the full three days to see everything. Especially if you really want to do extended listening and discussions. Again, I had a great time and here are some of the pictures I snapped. Feel free to post up yours!

Sanders Sound System - OMG! Just amazing electrostatics. Nothing was done to treat the room as this setup used room correction...Oh boy did it work. The detail, naturalness, depth, height. This system even had low and tight bass! About $14K with just one amp. I'm sold! I just need the cash...LOL!


Emerald Physics - Great room again. Would love to own one of these systems.



Sony, Hegel, Nordost


Rogue Audio, Tannoy Revolution XT, Hegel Audio



Avantgarde Acoustic Zero 1, Aurender, Bergman Audio Sutherland Engineering


Avantgarde Acoustic UNO XD, Aurender, Bergman Audio Sutherland Engineering


Odyssey Audio


Joseph Audio, Jeff Rowland Design Group - Just great sound here....the analog sound of the tape is so special.


Bryston Mini T , Cubed Amps


ELAC Uni-Fi UB5, Audio Alchemy - Very nice sounding room. The speakers perform well above their price point. I now get it! This line is due out in June-July.


Debut Series left, Uni-Fi right

Upcoming ELAC Discovery Series DS-A101-G Wireless Integrated Amplifier - Will be $600!


Magico S5 mkII - WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW!!!



Sonus Faber Venere S, Wadia - I want!!!!


Sonus Faber IL Cremonese, Audio Research


Focal Sopra No. 2, Pass Labs


Legacy Audio V System, Raven Audio


Legacy Audio Aeris, Raven Audio


Emotiva, Polk Lsim 7.2 - Nice room, they had a Chris Botti video playing...I enjoyed the sound....even before I realized the speakers were LSiM.


Seaton Sound - 60'x32'x13' room, 7.4.4 Dolby ATMOS, Dirac Live, 132" screen, 27,600 watts! Seaton always brings the pain....the walls were shaking! Amazing demo!

halo

This thread is for reviews and thoughts by those who attended the AXPONA 2016 event at the Westin Hotel in Rosemont, which took place from April 15th, 16th, and 17th.

I was only able to attend on Sunday the 17th from 10 am - 2 pm.

My wife is a musician and a blank slate as she doesn't have background information as to what prices are associated with the different speakers and electronics. Therefore, she was able to provide an objective opinion on we saw and heard at the show.

Please take this review as a highly subjective piece; in that this is what I experienced at the show, whereas your experiences may be completely different than mine. That's totally fine because we each like what we like and there's nothing wrong with that.

First audition: ELAC UniFi UB5 $499

Andrew Jones is a very nice guy. He took the time to answer all of my questions and he really enjoys what he is doing.

These speakers are amazing. Everything you've heard about them is true. They handle many different forms of music and they are very accurate in their representation of the actual instruments that they are reproducing. My wife was trying to find fault with these speakers and she could not. Andrew made sure to let us know the artist's name and track title of each track played in the demo.

I was impressed in that the sweet spot was not narrow. The concentric drivers really do disperse the sound beautifully. People walked in front of the speakers and I didn't hear them drop off.

These speakers are capable of reproducing a wide range of frequencies and their bottom end is astonishing. They move a lot of air and the bass was hitting me in the chest. The soundstage was wide and high and the speakers completely disappeared. His standard demo material is impressive and the speakers reproduced everything from classical to rock to electronica equally well.

This was my wife's #1 of the show and it was my #2. I cannot find a fault with these speakers. I'm not cancelling my pre-order.

I don't know what electronics, cables, or interconnects were paired with these speakers. This was the first room so cut me a little slack. lol. Actually, some of the other rooms made a point of the electronics driving the speakers and the cables connecting the equipment but, for the most part, I didn't take note of this. It's not that I don't care; it's more along the lines of it is something I cannot afford to purchase now and, when the time comes, I will investigate it further.

There were acoustic treatment panels on both sides of the room toward the front of the room, in between the speakers and the listening positions, stacked to the sides of the speakers from floor to (just under) the ceiling.




Second audition: Salk Soundscape 8 $9000

This was a decent room. The founder of the company was sitting in the back and someone else, who was sitting toward the front and to the side, was cuing up the music. The playlist wasn't playing properly according to the gentleman to my left. Most of these files were DSD and they commented on the bit rat´s as they played them. They didn't tell us the artist's name or the track titles.

I thought that the high end sounded smooth. The bass response was ok. My wife felt that these were "muddy," in that it sounded as if someone had thrown a veil or blanket over them.

After a few tracks we decided that we'd heard enough and we went to the next item on my checklist. Before leaving, the owner of Salk let me know that heir new preamp would be out soon at $899. He also talked about the mono blocks powering the speakers and their cost which I don't remember (it's out of my price range).



Third audition: Dynaudio Confidence C1 Platinum $6500

This demo consisted of a variety of tracks fed through a Mark Levinson integrated amp with a built in DAC. Music files were on a very small computer (Raspberry Pi?) and run to the DAC. The power was delivered by two 400 wpc Mark Levinson mono block amplifiers. There were some substantial cables connecting everything together.

These speakers blew my mind. I was never in a situation where the speakers disappeared like this. The music was everywhere and it was as close to live as I have ever heard from a stereo system. The was was powerful and tight and everything was balanced. I was gobsmacked by this set up. This was the OMG of the show for me and for my brother. One of the members of the press said that this was undoubtedly the "best in show" after the demo was over. The company running the demo is local to me so I'll be checking them out in the future. This is my holy grail set up. I have never been so impressed by an audio set up as I was by this from Joseph audio video solutions. There was only one acoustic wall treatment located on the left side of the room at ear height when standing.




Fourth Audition: Vapor Audio Derecho $9995

I was looking forward to this demo but there wasn't much going on when we went into the room. The speakers were playing quietly and no on was taking an interest in us. This was strange because we were some of the only people in the room. After a little while we decided to move on from Vapor. I didn't hear anything bad in their presentation but they weren't knocking my sox off. They are very attractive speakers. I saw all the Lampizator electronics here but, this was the only room where they were showcased. This demo could have been more but, for whatever reason, it just didn't happen.






Fifth Audition: Focal Sopra No. 2 $13,999.00

I was also looking forward to the Focal speakers. The first time I tried to get into the room, I couldn't. It was filled to capacity and then some.

I thought the Focal Sopra No. 2 were ok. Maybe it was the demo material being played? They didn't really do much for me. They're an attractive pair of speakers, for sure, but I didn't get any bass hitting me in the chest and the speakers never came close to disappearing in the room.

The Focal rep was using Crystal cables and he felt that "thick garden hose cables" were overhyped.The "acoustic treatment" wasn't anything but tissue paper. Focal wanted to give people something different to look at in their demo room.

After a few more tracks we had heard enough and we made our way to the next room.

halo

Sixth Audition: Sanders Sound Systems Model 10d $15,000

The last time I was on the boards here at "Club Polk," I owned the predecessors to the Model 10d; I had the InnerSound Eros Mk II hybrid electrostatic speakers. This was the pinnacle of my audio system before some life events forced the sale of that set up.

These are a definite improvement over what i used to own and I never really found anything to be lacking with my Eros speakers. Well, maybe one thing; the sweet spot is VERY narrow. In the audition room there was only one small set of chairs lined up directly in that sweet spot.

They played a variety of music including some pipe organ pieces and the whole room was shaking.

Roger Sanders wasn't there but these speakers are pretty amazing. Brought back a lot of fond memories to be revisiting these unique speakers.

Of course, the speakers were driven by the Sanders Sound Systems amplifiers which are some of the best amplifiers I've ever had the pleasure to own.





Seventh Audition: Wilson Alexia $48,500

These were in a conference room with Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems newest mono block amplifiers (they aren't on the market yet).

These were fairly impressive but they didn't give me the OMG these things are AMAZING impact. These are not bad speakers in any way shape or form. Perhaps they need a bigger room?

The most impressive aspect of this demo was the fact that they brought their own electricity / powerhouse with them. I was just discussing this in another thread and then BOOM, here it is!

The Alexia were tied with the Sanders Model 10d and the Von Schweikert VR-55 AKTIVE for 5th place after all of our auditions.




Eighth Audition: Von Schweikert VR-55 AKTIVE $60,000

My second favorite speakers that I've owned would be the Von Schweikert VR-2 and I had to pay a visit to VS to see what was new. All of the gear here was VAC. Definite eye candy all around. The Von Schweikert VR-55 AKTIVE are a great sounding pair of speakers. Vocals were so beautiful and the bass had authority but I wasn't enveloped in the same way as the Dynaudio Confidence C1 Platinum.






Ninth Audition: ELAC Debut F6 $800 + mbl 116 F $25,300 & mbl 126 $10,500

The ninth room was Jolida's room and they had two different set ups based on your budget. Jerred COO of Jolida was a real pleasure to speak with. I love his candor and no nonsense approach. He had a couple of turntables set up and he was showcasing a new device that eliminates crosstalk on vinyl playback. We were treated to some outstanding auditions as a Jolida integrated drove the ELAC Debut F6 speakers which surrounded me and disappeared into thin air. Next, he swapped over to mbl speakers and I have to be honest, I preferred the ELAC speakers (as did my wife and my brother). I discussed a bunch of stuff with Jarred and concluded the audition with a new found respect for Jolida and ELAC. There were only two simple, wooden, acoustic treatments on each side of the room.









Tenth Audition: Sonus Faber Lilium in Walnut $89,999

We stopped into this rom first and we sat and waited for them to queue up some music. They did and we weren't exactly impressed. I was surprised because this is the first set of SF I have ever heard. So, concluding that something must be off, we started to leave that room and when my brother wanted his photo taken next to the Lilium. After snapping a picture we all went to Sonus Faber's second room at the show which was down the hall.




Eleventh Audition: Sonus Faber IL Cremonese in Red $45,000

Settling in to the sweet spot for the final audition of the day I noticed the glowing tubes on the Audio Research gear driving the IL Cremonese and when they dropped the needle on the record, I was not disappointed. This was easily my 4th favorite speaker of the day. Theres are majestic and beautiful and their sound reproduction was gorgeous.





So why didn't these rank higher than 4th? I don't know how to explain it but, all I can say is that I like what I like. Without influencing anyone with my opinions, after every audition, I asked my wife and my brother what they thought of "those speakers." They told me and I noted their thoughts as well as my own. Sometimes we were on the same wavelength and sometimes we weren't.

I hope you get a chance to make it out to an event like this. It was an eye opening experience for me and I had a really good time.

indyhawg

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Anything from TriangleArt?

indyhawg

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Anything from TriangleArt?

halo

For those of you that were there, @WLDock do you the artists and track names if any of the artists that Andrew Jones or Joseph Audio used to demo their speakers & associated electronics?

Thanks!

SCompRacer

halo wrote: »

These are a definite improvement over what i used to own and I never really found anything to be lacking with my Eros speakers. Well, maybe one thing; the sweet spot is VERY narrow. In the audition room there was only one small set of chairs lined up directly in that sweet spot.

I see Greg! Say hey to him for me!

I enjoyed my Eros MK III's for several years. Mike (BlueMDPicker) has them now. One thing I did was increase the capacitance in the bass amp. You may recall four big caps were left out for the active crossover to fit. Well Fred said duh, you don't have to use big caps to get all that capacitance back. So available space was used with a bunch of smaller caps to make up for the missing caps.



You may have been talking to Van Alstine in regards to the new pre amp. He debuted his new mono blocks with the SS8's. Salk's only electronic offering is a Salk Streamer which runs on Linux.

http://www.salkstream.com/

One of these days you'll have to pop over. Must have been the room, no mud with SS8's here. Much stronger mid bass compared to the Eros. The SS8's have the option of closing off the back of the midrange, or opening it leaving the polyfill in or removing it. A solid and speaker cloth grills are supplied for the midrange. You get a wider sweet spot too.

halo

SCompRacer wrote: »

I see Greg! Say hey to him for me!

Will do!

SCompRacer wrote: »

You may have been talking to Van Alstine in regards to the new pre amp. He debuted his new mono blocks with the SS8's. Salk's only electronic offering is a Salk Streamer which runs on Linux.

http://www.salkstream.com/

It was an older gentleman, full head of white hair, walking with a cane. He said that it is the first preamp ever done by Salk.

SCompRacer

halo wrote: »

It was an older gentleman, full head of white hair, walking with a cane. He said that it is the first preamp ever done by Salk.

That would be Frank Van Alstine. I dunno, Frank's new pre was the one in the room, the Transcendence 10 RB preamplifier.



This is Jim with his wife Mary.

halo

SCompRacer wrote: »

That would be Frank Van Alstine. I dunno, Frank's new pre was the one in the room, the Transcendence 10 RB preamplifier.



This is Jim with his wife Mary.

So Jim owns / makes Salk speakers?

Frank was very "grumpy" to use my wife's verbiage.

SCompRacer

halo wrote: »

So Jim owns / makes Salk speakers?

Frank was very "grumpy" to use my wife's verbiage.

Yes Jim owns/builds Salk speakers with a staff in Pontiac, MI. Dana and I took a ride there on a Saturday to pick up my speakers. We got a factory tour, demo, a look at his then Streamer internals, got to look in the veneer vault, met some of his guys. Him and Mary are good people, she is a live wire.

Frank can come across as......grumpy. lol Good product though.

WLDock

halo wrote: »

For those of you that were there, @WLDock do you the artists and track names if any of the artists that Andrew Jones or Joseph Audio used to demo their speakers & associated electronics?Thanks!

The only songs I remember from the show were:

Seal - 'Killer' (Acoustic Version)
Jen Chapin - 'You Haven't Done Nothin'

There were a couple of others I don't remember the artist or title. One was a blues song talking about "His women comin' home around fo' the the next day" and a ballad with "never forget" in the lyrics. That's all I remember.

indyhawg

SCompRacer wrote: »

halo wrote: »

Frank was very "grumpy" to use my wife's verbiage.

Frank can come across as......grumpy. lol Good product though.

I must have hit that room at a great time. It was right after AXPONA opened on Saturday morning. I was the only one in the room at the time and I found Frank to be a really nice guy. I felt like I got a personal demo of his products. I sat and listened to around three tunes with him, I was getting ready to excuse myself he put on Chris Jones' "No Sanctuary" which is one of my favorite reference tracks. I immediately sat back down and told Frank great selection to show off your gear.

SCompRacer

indyhawg wrote: »

I must have hit that room at a great time. It was right after AXPONA opened on Saturday morning. I was the only one in the room at the time and I found Frank to be a really nice guy. I felt like I got a personal demo of his products. I sat and listened to around three tunes with him, I was getting ready to excuse myself he put on Chris Jones' "No Sanctuary" which is one of my favorite reference tracks. I immediately sat back down and told Frank great selection to show off your gear.

I have no issue with him. Frank is a direct and opinionated guy though. He doesn’t want to hear about fancy power cables or interconnects. He believes the design is where it's at. How long did it take for him to offer IEC power cords on his gear? lol

Victor, do you have an use the Shazam app? Carl and I use it to identify artists, or we ask if Shazam doesn't ID it.

halo

This discussion was created from comments split from: Axpona 2016 Chicago - Whose Going?.

halo

Well, yes, but I didn't think to ask about these demo / reference tracks until after we'd left the show. I was having too much fun checking out all the gear and meeting some really cool peoplesm

F1nut

Nice review Victor, thank you.

halo

SCompRacer wrote: »

I have no issue with him. Frank is a direct and opinionated guy though. He doesn’t want to hear about fancy power cables or interconnects. He believes the design is where it's at.

So, now I HAVE to ask...


Do YOU agree with him?

Do YOU believe that fancy power cables and interconnects make a difference?

I am NOT trying to start a cable debate. You are welcome to answer me in a pm if you like.

Everyone has a right to their opinions and this is a subjective hobby. What's great to one person may be ok or not so hot to someone else and that is totally fine with me.

Diversity is what keeps the gene pool fresh baby!

halo

F1nut wrote: »

Nice review Victor, thank you.

im always happy to share my experiences. I think it's part of the hobby. I miss the Polkfests.

SCompRacer

halo wrote: »

So, now I HAVE to ask...


Do YOU agree with him?

Do YOU believe that fancy power cables and interconnects make a difference?

I am NOT trying to start a cable debate. You are welcome to answer me in a pm if you like.

Everyone has a right to their opinions and this is a subjective hobby. What's great to one person may be ok or not so hot to someone else and that is totally fine with me.

Diversity is what keeps the gene pool fresh baby!

Roger (Sanders) was like that too.

I like nice four 9 copper wire with good terminations that don't turn green. I like my power cables shielded with good termination. I have both diy and retail cables, but nothing cheap, nothing uber pricey or oem.

halo

SCompRacer wrote: »

Roger (Sanders) was like that too.

Didn't Roger put out a line of speaker cables and interconnects?

SCompRacer

halo wrote: »

Didn't Roger put out a line of speaker cables and interconnects?

Yes, not sure if he offers them anymore. I still have his SE and a long (~18 foot) balanced to amp. He used Belden cable, stranded center for the SE so they are flexible. The XLR is a shielded Belden. The Sanders ESL speaker cables I had for bass and panels went to Mike. They came with the Eros MK III that I had.

marvda1

here's the show report from stereomojo.
http://www.stereomojo.com/AXPONA 2016 CHICAGO AUDIO SHOW REPORT PART 1/AXPONA2016CHICAGOAUDIOSHOWREPORTPART1SHOW.htm

Nightfall

I already have a curiosity about Dynaudio, now I'd really like to hear a pair. Thanks for taking the time to write all of that out. Crazy that you liked the $500 Elac bookies better than the $90k SF's. An insane price tag doesn't mean it will suit your tastes any better.

I feel the same about the Focals 1028's I heard. Not very musical, midrange was too forward, and light in the low end.

erniejade

I was going to go since I am like 20 min away but, family issues prevented me from going. Thanks all for the pics. Looks like I missed out on some nice stuff!

WLDock

Nightfall wrote: »

Crazy that you liked the $500 Elac bookies better than the $90k SF's. An insane price tag doesn't mean it will suit your tastes any better.

Man, I don't know what magic dust Mr Jones has but the demo was just impressive. The speakers would suite at least 60-75% of music listeners. They did nothing to take away from the music. I even asked Mr. Jones if there a was sub playing on some tracks....great bass from the bookies?

halo

Nightfall wrote: »

I already have a curiosity about Dynaudio, now I'd really like to hear a pair. Thanks for taking the time to write all of that out. Crazy that you liked the $500 Elac bookies better than the $90k SF's. An insane price tag doesn't mean it will suit your tastes any better.

I feel the same about the Focals 1028's I heard. Not very musical, midrange was too forward, and light in the low end.

Well, technically, I didn't prefer the UB5 to the Sonus Fabers. I preferred the entire set up with the UB5 to the set up with the SF. Don't get me wrong, the SF are gorgeous and they sound beautiful but the demo wasn't as well planned or executed as the ELAC demo. So, overall, it isn't a fair comparison. That said, I do prefer the UB5 if they can get me 90% of what the SF get me for a very reasonable investment. The ELAC will never look as good as the SF but, if the UB5 disappears into thin air when I listen to them, who cares what they look like? lol. YMMV. The Dynaudio Confidence C1 Platinums flat out knocked down the door and kicked my a$$. Those are some amazing speakers with some amazing amps, cables, etc.

halo

@DSkip I'd be interested to hear a straight up comparison between the Polk and the ELAC. After hearing them for myself, I am a fan of the ELAC sound. I have Polk speakers now and I've had a lot of them in the past.

WLDock

halo wrote: »

@DSkip I'd be interested to hear a straight up comparison between the Polk and the ELAC. After hearing them for myself, I am a fan of the ELAC sound. I have Polk speakers now and I've had a lot of them in the past.

Sounds like a showdown in the making. You should do it down the line...would be cool to hear your feedback.

halo

WLDock wrote: »

Sounds like a showdown in the making. You should do it down the line...would be cool to hear your feedback.

lol! Thanks but I'm reducing my inventory, not adding to it. I will definitely compare the ELAC UB5 to the Energy RC10. The only Polk speakers that I still own are the RTi6.

If your comment was directed at DSkip, I'd be interested to hear his thoughts as well.

No matter what, AXPONA definitively taught me that what I prefer may not be what everyone else prefers and I'm totally fine with that. We all like what we like and it's all subjective.

I can only tell you about what I hear and what my thoughts are in these situations. They may not apply to you at all.

halo

WLDock wrote: »

halo wrote: »

For those of you that were there, @WLDock do you the artists and track names if any of the artists that Andrew Jones or Joseph Audio used to demo their speakers & associated electronics?Thanks!

The only songs I remember from the show were:

Seal - 'Killer' (Acoustic Version)
Jen Chapin - 'You Haven't Done Nothin'

There were a couple of others I don't remember the artist or title. One was a blues song talking about "His women comin' home around fo' the the next day" and a ballad with "never forget" in the lyrics. That's all I remember.

I just found out about the blues song, as you put it "His women comin' home around fo' the the next day." The name of the song is Get Your Lies Straight by Terry Evans - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX0WjTkDvy4 Love that opening guitar!