Here are more really great audio systems that I felt really had it going on at the Florida International Audio Expo 2025. There were an abundance of exhibitors at the show this year, but the rooms I chose to highlight are the ones that really spoke to me, were technologically sensational, or played music that connected to me emotionally. Onward!
Focal-Naim Room
Wendy Knowles of Focal-Naim reached out to me about a month in advance of FLAX 2025; she seemed unusually excited to have me see and hear Focal-Naim's latest offering, the new Focal Diva Utopia loudspeaker. While I've always admired Focal's loudspeakers to the nth degree, and have always been beyond impressed by their undeniable musicality and decidedly modern countenance, the price point of their product offerings—particularly in the Kanta, Sopra, and Utopia lines—have tended to fall above my audiophile pay grade, if you will. And having been more than just a tiny bit distracted by the family drama surrounding my grandson's health preceding the show, I didn't take the time to fully dig into the advance information Wendy provided to me for the Diva Utopia. When I walked into room 416 at FLAX on Saturday morning, the only thing I really knew about them in advance was that their exterior was predominantly covered in gray felt!
As Focal-Naim's Chris Shaw began the demonstration, I'd already noticed that there was a surprising array of Naim electronics in the room, but none seemed to be connected to the Diva Utopia. There were definitely no garden-hose sized speaker cables snaking from behind them to an equipment stack; actually, from where I was seated, I couldn't really see any cables of any sort connected to the new loudspeakers! Chris continued to describe the research and development that went into the Diva Utopia, which ended up becoming the lengthiest product development in the company's history, spread over a period of five years. The Diva Utopia is Focal's first active loudspeaker that is both wireless and hardwired network connectable, and is also the first to include 400 watts of Class AB Naim amplification built-in. Along with an internal DAC, a built-in streamer, and onboard DSP room correction; the Diva Utopia only requires an AC power cable and a network connection to play music. However the loudspeaker's rear panel includes multiple available connections to enhance its compatibility with a variety of systems. It's a one-of-a-kind product for Focal-Naim.
Chris' demonstration of the Diva Utopia continued with a remarkable display of its impressive DSP room correction; the loudspeaker is controllable from an app that's downloadable to your smartphone or tablet. The nearly instantaneous room correction it provided for the Diva Utopias was almost beyond belief, transforming sound that initially seemed less than perfectly balanced into a picture of total perfection. The DSP not only corrects for sub-optimal loudspeaker placement, but can also correct for listeners with certain levels of hearing disabilities. Chris described a demo that he'd recently done for a listener that had a pronounced level of hearing loss in one ear; Focal's app and the built in DSP was even able to correct the sound output such that the listener was able to enjoy it in a manner that was generally not possible for him. While I run more minimalist systems that don't include DSP functionality, I was truly impressed with what I heard from the DSP-corrected Diva Utopias!
The Diva Utopias only need a network connection to play music, but the availability of additional connection types guarantees complete compatibility.
The Focal Diva Utopias featured an inverted dome beryllium tweeter, a 6.5 inch midbass driver, and four side-firing 6.5 inch bass drivers arranged in a push-pull configuration. The built-in DAC and streamer can handle most any file format and bit/sample rate, including PCM up to 24-bit/384kHz and up to DSD 128. The network is compatible with both wired and wireless connections, and despite the impressive level of technology built into the Diva Utopias, they displayed a level of musicality that matched the hallmark sound of Focal's Utopia line. Color me impressed, and thanks Wendy for a constant stream of emails and texts that helped keep me focused on getting to this demo! The Focal Diva Utopias were definitely among the best sound I heard at the show, and redefined for me what Focal can offer for $40k in their ne plus ultra Utopia line. And I even loved the look of the gray felt exterior! A possible review on Positive Feedback is currently in the works.
Playback Distribution featuring Advance Paris/PMC/Vienna Acoustics/Java HiFi
I'd gotten an email from publicist Jaclyn Inglis in early February regarding Playback Distribution's room at FLAX 2025. It would feature electronics from Advance Paris, a company that's been in business for over thirty years, but is new to the American market. While reading through Jaclyn's email, I had the strangest sense of deja vu that I might have seen some of the Advance Paris equipment somewhere—it came to me when I realized a steady stream of teasers for the Advance Paris A12 Classic integrated amplifier had populated my recent Instagram feed. They kept popping up repeatedly over a period of weeks, and each time I stopped to have a look, I found the A12 Classic's very striking visual impression nearly irresistible. But it also appeared to likely be prohibitively expensive. A quick search on the ‘net showed its price point to be at what struck me as a surprisingly low $3799 MSRP for such a feature-rich and exotic looking amplifier. I immediately responded to Jaclyn to confirm my interest in checking out the A12 Classic at FLAX, and to my great surprise, she offered to send an evaluation unit to me within the week (review forthcoming on Positive Feedback).
As it turns out, Playback Distribution was hosting multiple rooms at FLAX, including one upstairs dedicated to the PMC Prophecy 9 loudspeakers ($12.5k/pair MSRP) playing in combination with the Advance Paris electronics. All system cables were handmade in France by Esprit. The equipment rack in the room was from Quadraspire, and in addition to Advance Paris' A12 Classic, their MyConnect 250 was also present; it features the same dual mono amplifier configuration as the A12, along with a built-in CD player, built in FM tuner, and enhanced streaming connectability. The rack also featured their XCD-9 disc player and WTX StreamTubes network player/streamer. The PMC Prophecy 9 loudspeakers utilize PMC's classic transmission line technology that gives them in-room bass response down to 28 Hz; they were impressively musical and rhythmically dynamic playing a wide range of music. I really liked their narrow footprint, which eliminated any edge-diffraction distortion, and the sound was surprisingly immersive, with superb imaging. I'd had about a week's worth of experience in my own system with the A12 Classic that powered them, as well as having spent the previous evening getting to know Advance Paris' designer Cedric Leon, with plenty of opportunities to grill him on how his design philosophies translated into the superlative synergy between the A12 and the PMC loudspeakers. I loved this room, although the lighting made getting good photos of the highly reflective Advance Paris equipment nearly impossible!
David Sckolnik from Florida-based A la carte Productions was a hilarious host in this room with an endless supply of one-liners!
The Java HiFi Double Shot integrated amplifier (top shelf) that powered the Vienna Mozart Signature SE loudspeakers had an unbelievable level of technology under the hood.
Another of Playback Distribution's upstairs rooms featured the Vienna Acoustics Mozart Signature SE loudspeakers ($7.5k MSRP) playing in combination with amplification from Java HiFi, their Double Shot Carbon integrated amplifier ($17k MSRP). Digital playback was from Esoteric, and all system cables were also from Esprit. The Vienna Mozart Signature SE's offered a very open and immersive sound that provided a shockingly good stereo image from any seating position in the room—and chairs were scattered on all three sides of the setup. The system's superb musicality was due in no small part to the amplification from New Zealand's Java HiFi, with 400 watts of GaN FET power in a fully balanced, dual mono topology, and an LDR (light dependent resistor) preamp stage for exceptionally liquid sound. Every selection played across this system was stunning, and the room's very congenial host, David Sckolnik from Florida-based A la carte Productions provided a never-ending stream of hilarious one-liners! Playback Distribution's Rob Standley was also present in the room; he's a veritable fountain of product knowledge and was quick to provide any answers regarding the various equipment designs Playback represented. I also loved this room; the level of cool technology going on in the Java HiFi amps was nearly mind-boggling, and the Vienna Acoustics loudspeakers were equally superb—I'd really love to get an even greater level of exposure to this excellent equipment!
Innovo Audio Designs Room
Dee Goldstein of Innovo Audio Designs, a new company out of Gainesville, Florida, had reached out to me in advance of FLAX to draw my attention to their new Luxe T1 active loudspeaker. As with everything from everyone prior to the show, I didn't take the time to fully explore the supplied information packet, but one thing did jump out at me about the T1—I really liked its slim profile and post-modern visual appeal. Based on that, I essentially nodded my head in a "yes" to Dee (unfortunately, that was my approach to almost everything prior to FLAX) and agreed that I'd be there on Sunday morning to check out the new loudspeaker. Aside from the fact that I liked its visually striking appearance, I knew essentially nothing about the Luxe T1 prior to my arrival at Innovo's room.
Dee Goldstein of Innovo Audio Designs.
The Luxe T1 is a fully-integrated active loudspeaker design that includes 1650 watts of built-in Pascal Class D amplification. It's split into 150 watts for the TPCD (thin-ply carbon diaphragm) tweeter, 500 watts for the 6.5 inch Textreme midwoofer, 500 watts for the eight (!) long-throw subwoofer drivers, and an additional 500 watts for an optional up-firing driver intended for use in Dolby Atmos systems. The Luxe T1 also includes a built-in DAC that features AKM Velvetsound technology, as well as an Analog Devices SHARC floating point DSP system for room correction. It will work not only in dedicated high-end audio environments, but because of its low profile and ease of placement, also fits into living room and/or high-end video environments as well. The T1's rear panel only features a pair of XLR balanced inputs and a standard IEC AC power connection; the only thing necessary for music is to connect a preamplifier and/or volume controlled music source to the loudspeaker system. Innovo CEO and designer Yair Raz and Dee walked me through the Luxe T1's functionality; in the system demonstration at FLAX, the only connected device was a Cambridge Audio Edge NQ preamplifier/network player (it included the HDMI ARC input needed for the demo with the video display). Steve Novakoski from Cambridge Audio was on hand for the demo; the cables in the system were from AudioQuest.
Innovo's music-only demo mostly focused on tracks that showed off the T1's ability to shake the walls with its impressively deep in-room bass response, but also displayed a serious range of musicality. I had them play a couple of tracks from Yello albums (Stella and One Second) that I tend to regularly use for system evaluation, and the Luxe T1's didn't disappoint with these entertaining and challenging tracks. My only quibble with the sound on music tracks was with the rather large video display in such close proximity to the tallish Luxe T1's, the sound suffered from a bit of glare from their interaction with the flat panel screen—that could easily be solved with a slightly different setup approach. The T1's muscular dynamics gave movies the kind of immersive sound you wouldn't expect from a two channel setup. And the portion of the demo that included the room's large flat panel display showcased clips from a range of action and music-based movies, including the 2018 Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody. The scene where Queen guitarist Brian May is trying to sell vocalist Freddie Mercury on the concept of a new song "We Will Rock You" was particularly effective, and entertainingly shows the transition from May sketching out his idea to a live stadium, full-blown footstomp of the fully-formed tune. The Luxe T1's presented this powerful scene with the kind of balls-out gusto and immersion that totally shocked and rocked me—it made a striking impression for a two channel system!
The Innovo Audio Designs Luxe T1 starts at $36k in standard finishes (Walnut, Cherry, Bamboo veneers), and goes upward of $40k for premium finishes (Sapelle, Lacewood, Camphor Burl veneers). The FLAX display pair finished in the premium Lacewood veneer was very attractive, and a range of custom finishes (like high-gloss automotive) are also available. The Luxe T1's delivered much more than just stunning good looks—a review will be forthcoming on Positive Feedback in the not-too-distant future.
It's A Wrap!
The 2025 Florida International Audio Expo—with a couple of minor hiccups—was undeniably my best audio show experience yet! Part of what made this show so very special for me was not only getting to experience the amazingly diverse range of gear on display, but also seeing so many folks I rarely get the opportunity to see in person, and perhaps had never actually met in person at all! That latter group includes people I either talk to, text, email, or message regularly, and it was an incredible pleasure to actually meet some of them for the very first time. Among the folks I was eager to actually meet was Stereophile's Ken Micallef; he and I had a near-miss in the Border Patrol room, but we had a good laugh about it afterwards!
Norman Varney of AV RoomService conducts a seminar on the value of Engineered Acoustics on Saturday afternoon at the show.
The one aspect of the show where I heard the most early complaints had to do with the less than ideal location and paucity of information regarding the various educational seminars available at the show. I ran into Norman Varney of AV RoomService very early on Day One of the show; he was one of the speakers at the educational seminars, and he expressed doubts that anyone would even be present for his talk due to the lack of information about the seminar schedule. I told him that a large banner was in place directly outside the Outlook 1 room on the second floor, but he then made the point that if no one knows about the date and times of the show, seeing the banner outside the room wouldn't help attendees prioritize their schedules to make plans to attend seminars that interested them. That information was relayed to Sue Toscano (the show's point person and principal contact), and the banner was then moved to the registration desk so that at least attendees entering the show would see it and hopefully plan accordingly¹.
Those seminars took place in the second floor Outlook 1 room, which unfortunately created challenges for presenters and attendees alike. The room's biggest problem was the HVAC system, which was set to an uncomfortable level of warmth, such that many of the attendees (myself included!) fought dozing off during the presentations—and not because the talks weren't interesting and informative, the room was just too warm and stuffy, plain and simple. The main physical problem had to do with a very large structural pillar that was present in the middle-front quadrant of the room; its presence made it somewhat challenging for some attendees to see both the presenter and the video screens at the same time. One or the other was frequently blocked throughout the presentations by the unwieldy pillar. I attended two of the seminars, one on Friday afternoon by Lee Scoggins (Getting The Most Out Of Your Stereo: Tips and Strategies), and Norman Varney's presentation on Saturday afternoon (Engineered Acoustics: The Best Value In HiFi), and many of the room's seats were filled, so apparently, the new signage strategy did help.
Sue Toscano reached out to me the day following the show for my overall impressions of FLAX 2025, and we talked at length about the problems in the Outlook 1 room, which unfortunately is the only space available at the Sheraton for the presentations. She assured me that they'd make every effort to improve on the signage issue for the seminars, along with possibly having a last-minute printed insert available for next year's show guidebook to enhance showgoers' awareness of the presentations. Other than that singular snafu, I honestly didn't have too many quibbles regarding the show's new location at the Sheraton Tampa Brandon. We did touch on the presence (and visibility) of the bed headboards in the smaller exhibitor rooms; apparently, they're attached to the walls, making their removal for the show problematic at best. Sue mentioned the possibility of arranging for throws of some sort to be placed on the headboards in the future to make them less obvious—regardless, I didn't feel they were a serious distraction from hearing the strengths of the individual systems in each room. Aside from those issues, I was impressed with how effortless the show experience seemed at the new hotel.
Congratulations are in order to both Sue Toscano and showrunner Bart Andeer for the decision to move the Florida International Audio Expo to a more upscale location! Thanks to everyone at FLAX and show sponsor Positive Feedback for helping make my Tampa experience possible, and the best ever!
Florida International Audio Expo
All images courtesy of Florida International Audio Expo and the author.
¹ With regard to the lack of seminar information available to showgoers, I spoke with Sue Toscano and she enlightened me on the process. Unfortunately, the information regarding presenters, dates, and times of the educational seminars is often among the last bits of info received prior to the start of the Expo. Those details are often finalized too late for inclusion in the show's printed guidebook, which featured no information about the seminars at all. The large banner for the seminars that contained the presenter information, dates, and times is also among the last of the signage that's printed in advance of the show. It had its own set of issues, with that information being positioned so low below normal eyesight level, I had to bend down to clearly be able to clearly read it. Sue assured me they'll attempt to rectify the situation next year.
