Lee Scoggins at the 2017 LA Audiophile Show. Los Angeles, CA, 2017 (portrait and image processing by David W. Robinson)
It's hard not to love the Tampa show. Always great weather, and the people running the show, including Bart Andeer and Sue Tuscano, really care about the experience people are having. This year the show moved to the Sheraton in Brandon, a close suburb of Tampa, and a large hotel with lots of large and small rooms. Built on a V shape, the suites reside in the corner of the V and offer more space—albeit with some weird shapes in places. Like any new show, it will take a little time for exhibitors to figure out the rooms but overall, there was a spacious feel to the hotel. There were a lot of rooms to cover but I almost made it to every room.
For this report I wanted to share capsule impressions of entirely new products (at least to me), as well as known gear that was setup differently or better and stood out in terms of sound quality. So my focus is on rooms that really impressed me.
Chesky Audio
I used to work with David Chesky so I'm not a disinterested party, but what his son Lucca has been able to do with a $1,000 pair of speakers is quite impressive. I'm not saying that because it's David's son. I really believed these are an exceptional value. Demonstrated with very affordable Cambridge Audio electronics, there was a clarity and solidity to the image that I really enjoyed. Using a wide dispersion dome tweeter and 6.5" bass/midrange driver with two eight-inch woofers on the sides, the real star is the cabinet, a "multi-layer, high mass, non-resonant" design based on research from Princeton's 3D Audio and Applied Acoustics Lab. It left me wondering, what could these speakers do with slightly more expensive electronics. Affordable audio just keeps getting better. The speakers also look cool.
Supreme Acoustic Systems: Western Electric, YG Acoustics, and Taiko Olympus
At the opposite end of the price scale, an all-out effort on sound was demonstrated using YG Acoustics and showcasing the new Taiko Olympus server and DAC. Now I will confess I have had some misgivings about a few areas of the YG sound, but I think the pairing of these speakers with Western Electric's mesmerizing and new 300B tube amps (four of them in fact!) is sheer genius.
This was a Top Five Room for me. Wonderful dynamics, clarity, imaging, and realism. They had a gorgeous Bergmann table for a source, but the real star was the incredible new Taiko server and DAC. It exhibited loads of resolution but was very musically engaging. Fit and finish looked like a million bucks too. Newfound respect for Taiko, YG, and Western Electric all around.
Bending Wave Audio: Goebel, Riviera, Wadax, and Shunyata Research
Bending Wave has a secret weapon: Elliot Goldman. As I have come to learn, he is a master at setup. A true Jedi Knight of the dark speaker placement arts.
Better still is his excellent roster of brands. Elliot was showing the $60k Goebel Comtesse speakers driven by the Riviera Amp and Preamplifier, all fed by a very versatile Wadax Studio player and using Denali and Typhon conditioners, Altaira grounding, and Theta/Alpha/Sigma cables. The sound was pure, the soundstaging among the best of the show, and just supremely musical.
The Wadax Studio player was perhaps the real star at $40k. An absolutely beautiful piece in design that sounded as good as it looked. The noise floor was incredibly low which I attribute to the latest Shunyata gear of which I am also familiar. The new Tap-C filters and KPIP Version 2 are contributing to some of the best sound I have heard from the brand across the several systems I have heard it in, including my own recently. I am less familiar with Riviera but I took some close up photos and the finish is gorgeous. This was a Top Ten room for me. Everything worked, but the gut feeling I have is that Wadax and Shunyata have some winners on their hands.
Well done, Elliot. Elliot is about to open his new store in Boca Raton, so it might be worth a trip if you live in Florida. Boca is not a bad place to hang out in either.
Joseph Audio and Doshi Electronics
I'm not sure what else I can say about this duo. Jeff's speakers are just supremely musical and Nick Doshi's electronics let all the music through. I have first-hand experience with Doshi's stereo amplifiers, and they have a beautiful midrange and superb bass as well. Add in his preamplifier and pair the Doshi tape pre with a modified Studer A810, and sonic nirvana ensues.
Cardas Audio Clear/Clear Beyond cables were in a number of great sounding rooms and that certainly played a contributing role.
Well done, Jeff and Nick! A Top Ten room.
Gershman Acoustics
Ofra and Eli Gershman are some of the nicest people in our hobby. At this show, they took over a ginormous ball room and had their 30th Anniversary Black Swans ($95K/pair) on demo. VAC Master preamplifier ($42K) and two Master 300iQ Musicblocs ($42K each) with a VPI Avenger and VPI phono stage and Esoteric N-01XD as analog and digital sources, respectively.
The sound was so musical! I spent extra time in this room as it had dynamics, resolution, great imaging…just a very natural sound. A definite Top Ten room for me. Cardas Clear Beyond contributed to the music flowing and it was clearly beyond many other systems I heard.
Oneiros Audio
Oneiros is a new brand that has brought a new approach to loudspeakers with its use of a full monocoque carbon fiber cabinet ($650K per pair). But the people behind the brand are anything but new to the hobby. Jerry Bloomfield and Graeme Bridge are the folks behind Falcon Acoustics and designer Graeme was with PMC loudspeakers. In this hobby, a lot of F1 marketing gibberish gets thrown around, but this really is Formula One technology, as they are located near Silverstone and use real F1 technology manufacturers. Unfortunately, Onerios probably had the most challenging room in the whole hotel. There was a protrusion on the ceiling that resonated at high volume and the floor was suspended. Adding to further difficulties, the Audio Research gear which included the Ref 6SE preamp and the new 330 mono-blocks were not broken in at all!
Now the most curious and refreshing part…Jerry and Graeme wanted to play records they liked on their VPI Avenger Direct turntable with new tube phono converter from DS Audio, audiophile recordings be damned. Cables were the reference level Audioquest Dragon cables. Honestly, some of them could have used better mastering. But then they cued up Jon Martyn's Solid Air album. This was absolutely magical in sound. Liquid midrange and effortless. Somehow the Audio Research amplifiers were letting everything flow through these fairly large speakers. Beautiful highs and mids and as much bass as the room would allow. I could hear the promise of these magnificent transducers despite all of the challenges with the room. I can't wait to hear them at AXPONA 2025 in better conditions.
A clear Top Ten room for me. A fresh take on loudspeaker design. Well done Jerry and Graeme!
Harmonia Distribution: Grimm, Pathos, and Fyne
A little birdy told me that Jesse Luna spent a crazy amount of time dialing in this system. Well, it was worth it. The sound was expansive and just glorious in the midrange as I have come to understand this is an area that Fyne excels at. At just under $13K these retro looking Vintage Classic Gold X SP floorstanders were magnificent.
The House of Stereo: Stenheim, T+A, Wolf Audio, VPI, Synergistic Research
This polygram shaped room really sounded great, but as more Synergistic Research gear was dialed in, it got even better. The Stenheim Ultime 2s coupled with T+A M 40 HV mono blocks had a beautiful synergy. One of the clearest sounding rooms, likely due in part to Arnold Martinez tweaking of the Synergistic devices, the LPs and digital sourced music was quite musically involving. Top Ten room!
Viva Audio
This was quite unexpected. The Viva 845 amp powering new Viva horn speakers I had not experienced before. A full sound in the midrange, which I find is a hallmark of this gorgeous amplifier. The speaker was a stylish matte black but a chrome horn on top provided for a nice contrast.
Acora with VAC Master Reference and VPI and Sonorus 15ips Tape Deck
Wow. What can one say about the flagship Acora loudspeakers, a personal favorite room at the past eight or ten shows for me.
Arian Jansen's Sonorous ATR10 MK II RTR tape machine
But I want to bring special attention to the small monitors on demo Friday. For $8K a pair, these new marble-based speakers had a surprising amount of sound for their wound, and the reproduction was accurate but also musical. In the front alcove, Val and Kevin from VAC had a VAC Essence rig with Val's $13K marble floorstanders. Whoa. Tremendous value for the money.
Insert "I lost my marbles" Dad joke here. I'm not sure how Val Cora obtained his speaker design gifts, but I am here all day for it. Top Ten Room, but also a truly special mention for creating some high-quality affordable options.
Liquid Hifi: Stenheim, CH Precision, Wadax Studio, Nordost, HRS, Revopod
Further evidence of the quality of the Wadax Studio as a source, this room was clean sounding, detailed, yet also musically involving. The Wadax studio was used as the preamp controlling power to the CH Precisioon M1.1 ($57K). There was a tremendous sense of flow to the music. Nordost cables throughout and the QKore 6 grounding device kept the noise low, and an Aardvark Ethernet noise filter combined with a Reiki Audio Super Switch Pro seemed to totally annihilate the digital gremlins. The purely digital system demonstrated the resolution and musicality of the Wadax Studio.
O Audio, Boulder, Electrocompaniet, Tellurium
A new company, at least to me, O had two speakers on hand and both sounded good. For $12K, the Frigg 02 was a smallish floor stander and the Icon 12 for $23,400 was a larger, but a still quite manageable sized horn speaker that really caught my ear. Backed by the entry Boulder series of 1110 preamp, 1160 power amplifier, and Electrocompaniet ECM1 Mark II streaming DAC, and Tellurium Q cables, the system was set up on the long wall and sounded very smooth in the sweet spot chair. There was an airiness and sense of musicality that was, well, very natural. Midrange and vocals were especially strong.
A Top Ten room in sound quality for reasonable money.
Metaxas
Always a fun room for tape deck ogling, the news at the show were the new Czar electrostatics with 14" panels and an aluminum body. With tape, the sound in the midrange was heavenly. The wild looking turntable sounded great too. Nicely done Kostas Metaxas and Jeff Gershon!
Suncoast Audio: Clarisys
Mike Bovaird's Suncoast Audio had two superb Clarisys rooms. The smaller Piccolo model ($20K) was in a room with Block Audio amplification and an Esoteric CD source and Audioquest cables. This room sounded excellent. The second room featured the very large Clarisys Atrium speakers with six towers, a weight of over 2700 pounds, and costing a whopping $785K.
This Top Ten Room had a big image, smooth sound, and effortless digital that I suspect was strengthened by a Pink Faun $72K server. VAC amplification powered the giant rig and a Studer tape deck completed the end-game system for analog. Wow!
Scott Walker Audio: Estelon, Vitus, Taiko, Sonorus, Crystal Cable
A true million-dollar system, this Top Ten room has dynamics, purity of midrange, and clarity. Digital music was served up by the excellent Taiko GSM Extreme server.
But what stole the show for me was a new ART system from Audio Realignment Technologies which uses carbon panels to lower noise. A true A/B with the ART panels installed or not installed, and also building in number was absolutely fascinating to me and my ears. As the ART panels were installed, the noise went lower, and everything from bass to mids to highs got noticeably better in presence and detail.
Of course, the Sonorus ATR Mk. II sounded very musical and showed off the system. It's always fun to hear a great system, but Scott and team demonstrating the ART system was illuminating. There remains so much noise in a modern stereo and these panels seem to be part of a quality solution.
Deep Dive Audio: Franco Serblin, Doshi, J. Sikora, EMM Labs, Silent Angel, Viablue
This room caught me a bit off-guard.
The sound was among the very best at the show, but at a middle price point as high end goes these days. Using the $19K Accordo Essence floor standers with Nick Doshi's Evolution series electronics and an EMM source and Silent Angel switch, the sound was absolutely lifelike and real. Certainly, a Top Ten room, but possibly an end game stereo for me. It felt to me like the setup was more optimized than most of the rooms at the show…later I found out these are very experienced audio industry veterans based in Palm Bay, Florida.
Dare I say the Deep Dive offered an immersive experience? Yes, most definitely, and my apologies for the pun.
Naim/Focal
A room sponsored by The House of Stereo...
...this room offered up a new $40K lifestyle speaker with a wide variety of materials available for the outer cabinet. This example had a beautiful gray wool like fabric that really grew on me as I looked at it. The speaker is interesting as it includes a DAC and amplifier in a Focal loudspeaker design.
Front Row Theater: Linn
Front Row brought in a tremendously musical all Linn system including the recent Linn 360 ($71K) loudspeakers, which I have loved since I first heard them at a local dealer. Preamp was the $45,500 Klimax DSM, and power was a pair of Klimax Solo 800s at $90K per pair. The Linn Klimax LP12 turntable at $32,880 offered up all of Linn's latest analog playback know-how, but with the heritage LP12 wood plinth look. Both LP and digital had a nice organic quality and the fit and finish quality was obvious.
I would say my favorite aspects of the system were midrange and dynamics. Especially loved record playback. Great sound that matches the stellar industrial design. Start the Linnsanity.
Best Supporting Actors
It seems to me that a lot of accessories are not typically well served in these show reports. That's a genuine shame as these manufacturers are working hard behind the scenes across multiple rooms to assist the room owner get better sound. So, let's recognize some brands:
VPI – It seems that Mat Weisfeld may be the hardest working guy at these shows. It seems his market share of turntable sources is 90%.
Mat Weisfeld, Head Honcho of VPI, with daughters
Cardas Audio – Loads of quality sound rooms utilized Cardas clear and their Nautilus power strip. Some real magic happening there.
Audioquest – Dragon seems a mainstay of the reference rooms and the Niagara conditioners are ubiquitous. Ken and Tiago were covering several rooms and manning the smaller Clarisys room which I loved. Part of the success of the Oneiros room.
Pink Faun – an unusual name but a stellar server brand that brought the big Clarysis room to life. I went out to dinner one night with the designer Jord and brand manager Dave Weintraub to get more details on the design and construction. I will have more to say but they go to nth degree to achieve electrical isolation.
HRS – a show standard for equipment racks. Fit, finish, sound performance, all A+. Especially excited by the more affordable EXR range but it only gets better from there.
Synergistic Research - I will catch hell among some, but dammit, these weird, seemingly voodoo noise control devices work wonderfully. From the HFT speaker kits that Arnold Martinez put on the Stenheims at House of Stereos room to grounding to superb line conditioners and cables, Ted and Andy at SR seem to have found an innovative way to reduce noise.
JR Boisclair – the turntable expert's expert, JR has forgotten more about table setup than I will ever know. Maybe even Michael Fremer as well. Wallytools lives and is in very capable hands.
Norm Varney – more widely known as the man behind the awesome EVP isolation footers, Norm is a genuine acoustics expert. I picked his brain a bit for a new version of the system optimization seminar. Norm is also a nice guy who can explain things in plain English.
Shunyata Research – the new X series of cables from Shunyata was on two great systems, Goebel and Tobian. Having new generation cables, line conditioning, and grounding really matters for the best sound.
Tape Decks – Tape remains a staple of the better sounding rooms. United Home Audio, Metaxas, Studer, Revox rebuilds like Sonorus, and Nick Doshi's tube tape preamps are adding the purest of analog sound to shows.
Viablue – Viablue is a new to me line of cables from Germany and was in a lot of rooms at the show. I especially liked their cable lifts.
J. Sikora – Becoming quite popular as a show staple turntable, the sound of these turntables is spectacular.
Tripoint – An absolutely spectacularly sounding room that had incredibly low noise due to reference level grounding devices. I believe these are the best built grounding devices. Beautiful pieces to look at as well. The best I have heard the Alta Audio loudspeakers sound.
The Tripoint room
Best of Show
This is a difficult choice, but I have to go with two systems: at the high end the Supreme Acoustics/YG Acoustics room was simply breathtaking. It was truly remarkable and I could have spent the show there. Seriously. The music was delivered effortlessly and had it all: dynamics, imaging, resolution, presence, and tone.
At the more moderate price points, it was hard to beat the Wadax and Goebel room from Bending Wave. The Goebel speakers continue to intrigue me for musicality, but the Wadax Studio definitely offered a lot of the reference family sound and versatility for the price. The system displayed a beautiful midrange and excellent imaging. It was very easy to get lost in the music.
Next up: AXPONA 2025! See you there....
All photography and image processing by Lee Scoggins.
