Axpona 2019 Schaumburg IL
Comments
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I wish it wasn't so hot in the rooms. Some of these systems required time to tell if you would find them tiring living with them.
It was nice to meet some people that have only been words on a screen and give them a voice.
Good to meet you Steve! And your better half!
Basement: Polk SDA SRS, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,Enlightened Audio Designs CD Transport, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, Marantz SA-14 SACD, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Digital Cables, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, Wireworld Oasis 8 RCA IC's, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
Office: PC, EAR Acute CD Player, EAR 834L Pre, Northstar Designs Intenso DAC, PASS ACA Monoblocks, Denon UDR-F10 Cassette, Acoustic Technologies Classic FR Speakers, SVS SB12 Plus sub, MIT AVt2 speaker cables, IFI Purifier2, AQ Cinnamon USB cable, Groneberg Quatro Reference IC's
Spare Room: Antique Sound Labs Wave AV-8 Monoblocks, Tisbury Mini Passive Pre, Tjoeb 99 tube CD player (modified Marantz CD-38), Analysis Plus Oval 9's, Zu Jumpers, AudioEngine B1 Streamer, Klipsch RB-61 v2, SVS PB1000 sub, Blue Jeans RCA IC's, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner
Living Room: Peachtree Nova Integrated, Cambridge CXN v2 Streamer, Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Polk RT265 In Wall Speakers, Polk DSW Pro 660wi sub
Garage: Cambridge Audio 640A Integrated Amp, Project Box-E BT Streamer, Polk Tsi200 Bookies, Douglas Speaker Cables, Shunyata Power Conditioner -
These High Fidelity Cables RCAs are 69k.
A bit more info, http://www.highfidelitycables.com/technology.html
Those cables would cause more than a few heads at AK to explode.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
For those of you that were on the fence about scansonic speakers, take the plunge, they are well worth it.Amplifiers: Norma IPA 140, MasterSound Compact 845, Ayre v6xe, Consonance Cyber 800
Preamp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3
Transport/Dac: L.K.S MH-DA004, Cayin Venus cd-100i, Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkI,
Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkIII
Speakers: Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II
Speaker Cables: Organic Audio Organic Reference 2
Cerious Technologies Graphene Extreme
Interconnects: Argento Organic Reference 2, Argento Organic 2, Gabriel Gold Reckoning
Power Cables by: Argento Organic Reference, Cullen Cables, 6sons Audio, Swiss Cables -
So while at Axpona, @joecoulson and I were talking, among other things, music genres. Little did I know, that sneaky guy, he ordered a CD that he thought I would like. Got home today and it was sitting on the front porch!
Rufus Du Sol is rocking in Verb's office! Thank you very much Joe! And, BTW, I love it!
My pleasure Dave. Glad you like it. -
This was my favorite room at the show.
The system sounded really good in the sweet spot.
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I heard both last year these have an intoxicating sweet spot.
"Intoxicating" is a great word to describe it. I literally felt like I was on a musical high for 90 minutes. -
Id pay to see that lol
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I left at 4 on the way out I run into Mario with a Elac Phono Pre in his hands he won it in the Elac room so the last person I said goodbye to was Mario and he was grinning ear to ear with that Prize.Post edited by gudnoyez onHome Theater
Parasound Halo A 31 OnkyoTX-NR838 Sony XBR55X850B 55" 4K RtiA9 Fronts CsiA6 Center RtiA3 Rears FxiA6 Side Surrounds Dual Psw 111's Oppo 105D Signal Ultra Speaker Cables & IC's Signal Magic Power Cable Technics SL Q300 Panamax MR4300 Audioquest Chocolate HDMI Cables Audioquest Forest USB Cable
2 Channel
Adcom 555II Vincent SA-T1 Marantz SA 15S2 Denon DR-M11 Clearaudio Bluemotion SDA 2.3tl's (Z) edition MIT Terminator II Speaker Cables & IC's Adcom 545II Adcom Gtp-450 Marantz CD5004 Technics M245X SDA 2B's, SDA CRS+
Stuff for the Head
JD LABS C5 Headphone Amplifier, Sennheiser HD 598, Polk Audio Buckle, Polk Audio Hinge, Velodyne vPulse, Bose IE2, Sennheiser CX 200 Street II, Sennheiser MX 365
Shower & Off the beaten path Rigs
Polk Audio Boom Swimmer, Polk Audio Urchin
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That’s great!! Congrats to him
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Those of you who are home from the show now, is music ruined for you, or were there enough crappy rooms there that you are still able to enjoy your current gearsets?I disabled signatures.
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Me and Marvin won Parasound shirts, unfortunately they only had mediums left so they are sending ours to us.
Home Theater
Parasound Halo A 31 OnkyoTX-NR838 Sony XBR55X850B 55" 4K RtiA9 Fronts CsiA6 Center RtiA3 Rears FxiA6 Side Surrounds Dual Psw 111's Oppo 105D Signal Ultra Speaker Cables & IC's Signal Magic Power Cable Technics SL Q300 Panamax MR4300 Audioquest Chocolate HDMI Cables Audioquest Forest USB Cable
2 Channel
Adcom 555II Vincent SA-T1 Marantz SA 15S2 Denon DR-M11 Clearaudio Bluemotion SDA 2.3tl's (Z) edition MIT Terminator II Speaker Cables & IC's Adcom 545II Adcom Gtp-450 Marantz CD5004 Technics M245X SDA 2B's, SDA CRS+
Stuff for the Head
JD LABS C5 Headphone Amplifier, Sennheiser HD 598, Polk Audio Buckle, Polk Audio Hinge, Velodyne vPulse, Bose IE2, Sennheiser CX 200 Street II, Sennheiser MX 365
Shower & Off the beaten path Rigs
Polk Audio Boom Swimmer, Polk Audio Urchin -
My three favorite rooms
Skips room sounded great a lot of people seemed pretty impressed and I was one of them.
Jim Salks room
The Parasound room.
Home Theater
Parasound Halo A 31 OnkyoTX-NR838 Sony XBR55X850B 55" 4K RtiA9 Fronts CsiA6 Center RtiA3 Rears FxiA6 Side Surrounds Dual Psw 111's Oppo 105D Signal Ultra Speaker Cables & IC's Signal Magic Power Cable Technics SL Q300 Panamax MR4300 Audioquest Chocolate HDMI Cables Audioquest Forest USB Cable
2 Channel
Adcom 555II Vincent SA-T1 Marantz SA 15S2 Denon DR-M11 Clearaudio Bluemotion SDA 2.3tl's (Z) edition MIT Terminator II Speaker Cables & IC's Adcom 545II Adcom Gtp-450 Marantz CD5004 Technics M245X SDA 2B's, SDA CRS+
Stuff for the Head
JD LABS C5 Headphone Amplifier, Sennheiser HD 598, Polk Audio Buckle, Polk Audio Hinge, Velodyne vPulse, Bose IE2, Sennheiser CX 200 Street II, Sennheiser MX 365
Shower & Off the beaten path Rigs
Polk Audio Boom Swimmer, Polk Audio Urchin -
Man lucky you twice shirts and able to get into the Parasound room. That room was so packed yesterday.
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Can't believe there's only an hour of show left. I need more time!
Agreed. Even with a 3 day pass, its very hard to see it all.Den: Lumin D1,Wireworld Silver Eclipse RCA, KEF LS50 Wireless, Velodyne SPL1200, Technics 1200, Denon DL160, Jolida D9,
Living Room:,T+A PA 1530R,Wireworld Silver Eclipse SC, Tyler Highland H2, High Fidelity Reveal RCA, Innuos Zen MK3 , W4S recovery, LKS MH-da004,
Have but haven't used in a while: LH Labs VI Dac, Cayin SCD50T, Grant Fidelity Tube Dac11,Aries Mini -
Thank you guys for all the pics and comments. It’s been fun living vicariously through your adventures!Integrated Amp: Marantz PM-10
Speakers: Usher MD2
Subwoofer: Rythmik F15HP
DAC: North Star Design Supremo
Streaming Source: AURALiC Aries Mini
SACD Player: Marantz SA8004
Power Source: PS Audio PP3 on dedicated 20amp circuit -
Those of you who are home from the show now, is music ruined for you, or were there enough crappy rooms there that you are still able to enjoy your current gearsets?
Because there were so many sucky rooms (more than half for my luck of the draw) it gave me a renewed appreciation for my own system. Listening to it now with tracks heard at the show. -
Has anyone heard from Drew? Last I read he was seen climbing into one of the Scaena gear travel cases.I disabled signatures.
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Man lucky you twice shirts and able to get into the Parasound room. That room was so packed yesterday.
Yeah the Parasound room was busy everytime I went by it so this afternoon I waited to get in and spent quite sometime in there a great sounding room packed for a reason.Home Theater
Parasound Halo A 31 OnkyoTX-NR838 Sony XBR55X850B 55" 4K RtiA9 Fronts CsiA6 Center RtiA3 Rears FxiA6 Side Surrounds Dual Psw 111's Oppo 105D Signal Ultra Speaker Cables & IC's Signal Magic Power Cable Technics SL Q300 Panamax MR4300 Audioquest Chocolate HDMI Cables Audioquest Forest USB Cable
2 Channel
Adcom 555II Vincent SA-T1 Marantz SA 15S2 Denon DR-M11 Clearaudio Bluemotion SDA 2.3tl's (Z) edition MIT Terminator II Speaker Cables & IC's Adcom 545II Adcom Gtp-450 Marantz CD5004 Technics M245X SDA 2B's, SDA CRS+
Stuff for the Head
JD LABS C5 Headphone Amplifier, Sennheiser HD 598, Polk Audio Buckle, Polk Audio Hinge, Velodyne vPulse, Bose IE2, Sennheiser CX 200 Street II, Sennheiser MX 365
Shower & Off the beaten path Rigs
Polk Audio Boom Swimmer, Polk Audio Urchin -
I left at 4 on the way out I run into Mario with a Elac Phono Pre in his hands he won it in the Elac room so the last person I said goodbye to was Mario and he was grinning ear to ear with that Prize.
I like Mario he is a hoot! Great guy couldn't happen to a better person. -
Those of you who are home from the show now, is music ruined for you, or were there enough crappy rooms there that you are still able to enjoy your current gearsets?
Not at all! It really exposed me to what’s out there! Lots of very cool stuff! A lot out of my league! Kinda like when you go to an auto show and see the Bugatti or other exotic, nice to look at dream! Basement: Polk SDA SRS, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,Enlightened Audio Designs CD Transport, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, Marantz SA-14 SACD, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Digital Cables, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, Wireworld Oasis 8 RCA IC's, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
Office: PC, EAR Acute CD Player, EAR 834L Pre, Northstar Designs Intenso DAC, PASS ACA Monoblocks, Denon UDR-F10 Cassette, Acoustic Technologies Classic FR Speakers, SVS SB12 Plus sub, MIT AVt2 speaker cables, IFI Purifier2, AQ Cinnamon USB cable, Groneberg Quatro Reference IC's
Spare Room: Antique Sound Labs Wave AV-8 Monoblocks, Tisbury Mini Passive Pre, Tjoeb 99 tube CD player (modified Marantz CD-38), Analysis Plus Oval 9's, Zu Jumpers, AudioEngine B1 Streamer, Klipsch RB-61 v2, SVS PB1000 sub, Blue Jeans RCA IC's, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner
Living Room: Peachtree Nova Integrated, Cambridge CXN v2 Streamer, Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Polk RT265 In Wall Speakers, Polk DSW Pro 660wi sub
Garage: Cambridge Audio 640A Integrated Amp, Project Box-E BT Streamer, Polk Tsi200 Bookies, Douglas Speaker Cables, Shunyata Power Conditioner -
Dang it! Mario is good people. Had a blast with him last year.
A tip o' the hat to Drew and all the pics. Steve... We gotta catch up next time I'm back in Iowa. Glad to know your truck floats on the river where the streets used to be...
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Dave, that's exactly what I was thinking. Except that instead of just getting to look at the cars, being at AXPONA could be kind of like taking an enthusiastic ride in one of those cars. But anyway, good to hear there's no feeling dumpy. I have to credit some of that at least to all the obsession, knowledge share, and experience here. So strange to hear about the crappy rooms at an event like that from some of those names, but cool to hear how the guys homed in on it pretty quickly. Says a lot for what we learn here, I think?Those of you who are home from the show now, is music ruined for you, or were there enough crappy rooms there that you are still able to enjoy your current gearsets?
Not at all! It really exposed me to what’s out there! Lots of very cool stuff! A lot out of my league! Kinda like when you go to an auto show and see the Bugatti or other exotic, nice to look at dream!
I disabled signatures. -
When I go to one of these shows, I first do some intense listening of my own rig, then I compare those impressions with what I hear at the show. So far I have not come away impressed enough to see a need to spend more coin, but I do identify areas I can tweak...The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, TriangleArt Reference SE with Pass Labs Xono Phono Preamp, Walker Precision Motor Drive, ClearAudio Goldfinger Statement V2 cartridge and Origin Conqueror Mk3c tonearm, Polk Audio "Signature" Reference Series 1.2TL with complete mods, Pass Labs X0.2 three chassis preamp, PS Audio PerfectWave DAC MkII, Pioneer Elite SC-LX701, Oppo UDP-205 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered…History has stopped. Nothing exists except the endless present in which the party is always right” — George Orwell
“If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” -
Has anyone heard from Drew? Last I read he was seen climbing into one of the Scaena gear travel cases.
The owner was great, and played some great music.
We stayed until past show closing listening to songs. He said he would normally have played music for us for another hour or two, if it wasnt for the snowy weather. -
So strange to hear about the crappy rooms at an event like that from some of those names, but cool to hear how the guys homed in on it pretty quickly. Says a lot for what we learn here, I think?
It kinda feels weird describing a room's sound as "crappy", but with as much competition as there was, if your room didnt do something unique or fantastic, it was forgettable.
It was very easy to tell within 10-20 seconds of being in a room if the sound "grabbed" you or not. If not, no reason to stay.
When you hear what your body and mind interpret as "good sound", it's almost a subconscious desire to stay put.
It happened to us today in rooms like these: Martin Logan & Benchmark, Destination Audio & Modwright, Volti Audio & Border Patrol, Sonner Audio & Luxman (30wpc pure class A - lovely!), Bayz Audio, Skip/AudioThesis, and of course Scaena.
When it happens it's a great feeling! -
I forgot to mention in my earlier "audio celebrity sightings" post, that on Thursday night I got to meet and have a 20 minute conversation with Sean from ZeroFidelity. Best YouTube audio reviews, in my opinion. I literally have zero desire to watch other people's reviews after watching his.
He has an uncanny ability to coherently describe in great detail the subtle nuances and details about a product, while doing it into a camera. He makes it look easy and it's anything but.
Was insightful to talk to him about the hobby and about reviewing products. I had hoped to run into him again at the show but didn't see him all weekend.
But still, I very much enjoyed meeting him. -
On Saturday outside the Magico & Classe room, I struck up a conversation with Jim Crowley. I asked about Sound United and found out that Jim is a 25 year long employee of Polk Audio.
I briefly discussed our beloved forum, and it's current moderator-less state. I explained how it's much more than just another audio forum, rather that we are more like a family. We talked about how Kenneth did a great job and had recently retired and how we're in need of a replacement.
He assured me that there are no plans to shut down the forum. He informed me that he will reach out to the appropriate department in regards to a potential replacement moderator. He handed me his business card and invited me to follow up.
When I get back in front of a real keyboard, I will email Jim and discuss the forum and related concerns like moderation, Polk Audio customer service presence to provide support for the lifestyle products, and other general topics relevant to the continued health of Club Polk.
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There is no need for a moderator.Lumin X1 file player
Sony XA-5400ES SACD
Pass XP-22 pre, X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers, SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
There is no need for a moderator.
Thank you for your thoughts on the situation. However, I politely disagree.
At the very least, a moderator is needed to remove spam posts. And also, ideally, to enforce egregious and obvious violations of the forum's rules and guidelines.
Forum moderators can also serve to prevent rules violations before they occur, and also defuse tense situations or arguments.
I've been posting on forums for over 20 years and in my experience, good moderators are a positive thing. -
A good mod would have things running so well they could be a ghost. The problem we have had with moderators is on occasion, they became a part of the problem rather than simply stay in the background.The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, TriangleArt Reference SE with Pass Labs Xono Phono Preamp, Walker Precision Motor Drive, ClearAudio Goldfinger Statement V2 cartridge and Origin Conqueror Mk3c tonearm, Polk Audio "Signature" Reference Series 1.2TL with complete mods, Pass Labs X0.2 three chassis preamp, PS Audio PerfectWave DAC MkII, Pioneer Elite SC-LX701, Oppo UDP-205 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered…History has stopped. Nothing exists except the endless present in which the party is always right” — George Orwell
“If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
