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By Sunday all that was to give it the olde college try and go for broke. Sunday's game plan was to start as early as possible—beginning with a 7:30 AM breakfast with buddy Andre Jennings from The Absolute Sound—and visit as many of the rooms that had missed. There's no question that covering audio shows... Read More »

Bigger than a basketball court but slightly smaller than a football field. Roughly one-half of the exhibit hall was designated the "Record Fair," while the other half of the Marketplace was the Ear Gear Expo. Inside this massive room sat 80 tables/booths filled to the brim with audiophile goodies ranging from software to cables to... Read More »

By now the reality of covering 162 rooms (with 60 new exhibitors) and 80 booths was over. Any hope of seeing the whole show—other than sprinting from room to room and taking pictures—was also dashed and it was time to implement Plan B. So plan B—namely cover what I could—was put into motion. Of course,... Read More »

This article will be a departure from my normal format for reviewing audio components. The Tekton Design Double Impact speakers came to me by way of Steve Lefkowicz's personal pair. Steve and Rosina put the word out that they needed space in their living room to accommodate the holidays. Since we are only separated by... Read More »

For 2018, AXPONA moved to a bigger, shinier, swankier venue, showed up with real attitude and renewed swagger, and hosted noticeably bigger crowds. The Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center, a ginormous, and ginormously over-the-top Bauhaus-influenced conference center, blessed with the amenities and exhibition capacity to handle a show the size of AXPONA, replaces the... Read More »

All photos by Dave Clark, words by Carol Clark... more on AXPONA 2018. Also, just a note. Not all rooms provide equipment lists, so many times I have to go by what is on the door sign. If you notice an error we are happy to correct it. Thank you! Sennheiser headphones in the EXPO... Read More »

All photos by Dave Clark, words by Carol Clark... more on AXPONA 2018. Also, just a note. Not all rooms provide equipment lists, so many times I have to go by what is on the door sign. If you notice an error we are happy to correct it. Thank you! The Audio Company had an... Read More »

All photos by Dave Clark, words by Carol Clark... more on AXPONA 2018. Also, just a note. Not all rooms provide equipment lists, so many times I have to go by what is on the door sign. If you notice an error we are happy to correct it. Thank you! Vanatoo loudspeakers. Dan Wright of... Read More »

All photos by Dave Clark, words by Carol Clark... more on AXPONA 2018. Clarus Cable system. McIntosh in the house! Clarus Cables. Burwell & Sons Loudspeakers, Rogers High Fidelity. Very nice. A museum of electrical things in the High Fidelity Cables room. Van der Graaf generator. Electricity was in the air. High Fidelity Cables system.... Read More »

All photos by Dave Clark, words by Carol Clark... more on AXPONA 2018. Sue Toscano has an endless supply of energy, I was hoping it would rub off! Gayle Sanders with his new Eikon loudspeaker, room correction, amplifier, DAC, all-in-one system debuted at AXPONA. System total $24,5000. The sound was quite remarkable. While Gayle is a... Read More »

Having covered audio shows for many decades now, I have learned to take it with a pinch of salt when I hear exhibitors bandy about words like "revolutionary", "game changer", and "new generation" in trying to get you to focus on their products. However, what was different as I started my coverage of TAVES in... Read More »

This is Part 2 of my Axpona 2018 Show report...  lots of pics! Sennheiser HE-1 Headphone System $60K, but yeah, it sounded great! Gayle Sanders Legacy Audio Scaena Constellation Audio and Martin Logan I loved this system last year, and it was equally enjoyable this year.  Ruel: Self-powered Line Array. Very cool! How could they... Read More »

1st Floor Entrance of the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel The late, great show-master of early TV, Ed Sullivan, would say, "That was a Really Big Shew!" And yes, ladies and germs, AXPONA 2018 was certainly all that, and a bottle of spring water. After a successful multi-year run at the Westin in Rosemont, Il, this year,... Read More »

I’ve been totally overwhelmed by the size of the show, and trying to cover all the rooms. Industry turnout today Friday was, as my Absolute Sound buddy Andre commented, "like RMAF, pre-renovation, only with far more consumer turnout." According to Liz Miller of JD Events, there were 162 rooms at AXPONA 2018. Consumer attendance on... Read More »

Ye Olde Editor contemplating the mysteries of life and audio…  (Photograph by John Robinson) Back in the winter of 2017 (HERE in Issue 94), I shared my evaluation of the Sound Galleries SGM2015 reference-level Music Server. Since a music server cannot be reviewed without also considering either an internal or downstream DAC, my comments had... Read More »

Just about ten years ago, when I first started writing the Neoteric Listener column for Positive Feedback, editors Dave and Carol Clark invited me to their home. At the time, the heart of their system featured the substantial Clayton Audio mono blocks and the well-regarded Reimer speakers. Reflecting on my then modest Arcam and Tannoy... Read More »

I first heard the Vanatoo Transparent Zero (T0) speakers at the Los Angeles Audio Show last year and was immediately smitten. The sound quality I was hearing from speakers—available at an introductory price of $299 (now $359)—had me scratching my head wondering how so much could cost so little. Add to that 2 x 48... Read More »

Gang tackling is not usually part of the gameplan around team Positive Feedback, but if you are a fan of phono stages, you will note that I am the fourth reviewer here to get a chance to audition the Gold Note PH-10 (see HERE, HERE, and HERE). As my colleagues have ably pointed out, it... Read More »

Linn did it. Meridian has also done it. So have Naim, Avantgarde, Burmester, Gryphon, and a host of other brands, mostly hailing back to great European heritage and lineage. Naturally, one may ponder the who, the what, the it may refer to, and you would of course be right in that quest. Here, this question... Read More »