AXPONA is a big show. Big as in massive. Big as in I don't know how someone can cover almost 200 rooms in three days. I'm sure one could find many places online that offer in-depth reviews of individual rooms, but you won't find that here, for the most part. Here you will find a journey in photos through about seventy-five percent of the rooms, with a few portraits thrown in. As with all our show reports, all images by Dave Clark who also has a few side comments.
The city of Chicago, off in the distance, on Friday morning. By Sunday this view included snow flurries that lasted all day. Fortunately we had planned our trip to fly out on Monday. It was reported that nearly a thousand flights were canceled on Sunday at O'Hare. We heard horror stories that included people sleeping on cots in the airport, and rescheduled up to two days later. By comparison our trek to four different gates before we finally boarded our flight seemed trivial.
Just a reminder, we rarely spend much time in each room. In most instances we pop in long enough to snap a picture, pick up an equipment list if one is available, then moved on down to the next room. In a few cases I was able to sit and listen, and I will duly note those rooms. The vast majority of this report will include whatever was listed outside the room on the door. Even so we found most rooms to sound quite nice.
Pure Audio Project, AGD Production, DENAFRIPS, Esprit Audio, Pass Laboratories.
Pure Audio Project loudspeakers.
Bruce Moore Audio Design MX90 mono amplifiers, retail $14,000. Sonist Audio Concerto 4, Gen 2, $6895. ACE Computers PerfectBit AX/UL media server, $9995. Triode integrated amplifier / headphone amplifier, $2500. Snake River Audio cables.
Expect a more detailed report of this fantastic sounding room from David Robinson. It included GTT Audio, Audionet, AURALiC, Kronos, Kubala-Sona, MolaMola, and YG Acoustics.
Gorgeous Kronos gear.
Beautiful system from Ayon Audio / Lumenwhite. Sounded as good as it looked. Included from Ayon Audio: Epsilon Gen 4 mono amplifiers, $18,000 / pair. Auris preamplifier, $10,500. CD-35 SACD, preamplifier, DAC, streamer, $10,500. S-10 network streamer / preamplifier, $8800. From Lumenwhite: Kyara loudspeakers, $49,900. BBS Audio Rack Systems.
Closer look at the Ayon Audio products listed above, on the BBS Rack Systems rack.
Axiss featured Accuphase, Air Tight, TAOC, Wireworld cables, and Transrotor.
Gorgeous turntable in the Axiss room.
Eric Franklin Shook, Part-Time Audiophile. Photographers photographing one another.
Jeff Rowland Design Group, Cardas Audio cables, Grand Prix Audio, Vivid Audio.
As always, we took the elevator to the top floor, then walked our way down between other floors. In the very first stairwell we encountered this. No idea what it was, but this was the only stairwell that came equipped with one. The space did sound better than the others... just kidding.
Another outstanding room, the sound in here was stunning. EAR Acute Classic CD player, $6795. Merrill-Williams 101.3 turntable, $8995. Helius Omega tonearm, $3695. EAR V12 integrated amplifier, $9795. Also included was the world premiere of the EAR Phono Box, $1895 (black), $2595 (chrome). Marten Django L loudspeakers, $10,000. Cabling by Magnan Audio Cables.
Marten Django loudspeakers. Dan Meinwald played one of my favorites, "Fruitfly in the Beehive" by Gang of Four. It sounds phenomenal on this system.
The Merrill-Williams turntable is fantastic. The sound fills the room. Along with the Helius tonearm it also included a Koetsu Rosewood phono cartridge.
Another great sounding room. Steve Norber cued up "Giorgio Moroder" by Daft Punk, it rocked! Pictured are PranaFidelity Vayu loudspeakers. Kuzma Stie R turntable with 4Point tonearm and CAR 50 cartridge. Technics RS-1500 reel-to-reel, Charles King tape head preamplifier. Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2 (modified by PranaFidelity). Prana-Fidelity purna/ca preamplifier. MG Audio Design prototype monoblock amplifiers. Cabling by Kubala-Sosna.
Kuzma turntable, really sounding great.
The Joseph Audio room was always crowded, a good testament to the fact that it always sounds good. I have no doubt that Jeff Joseph would have played whatever I asked him to, but it was hard to get a word in edgewise. Suffice to say, it sounded amazing! Included was the world premiere of the Joseph Audi0 Perspective2 Graphene loudspeakers.
Also included in the room was cabling by Cardas Audio and Jeff Rowland Design Group. Phenomenal.
Gingko Audio Clarissa LE loudspeakers. Triode Corporation of Japan TRV-A300XR amplifier. Wells Audio Majestic amplifier. Cyrus One HD amplifier. Danacables. Margules BTV-4 Bluetooth receiver. Also in the room a VPI Cliffwood turntable. LampizatOr Amber 2 DAC, and a Pro-Ject DAC. Salk Stream Player music server.
The main system in this room consisted of Auranas SRV, $3500. Conrad-Johnson ET-6 preamplifier, $5750 and Classic 62 amplifier, $6250. Soekris dac1541, $1200. Eminent Technology LFT-8b loudspeakers, $2500. Vandersteen Sub Three, $2490. Audioquest Niagara 5000 AC power source, $3999.95, and Audioquest cabling throughout.
Auranas SRV.
LUXMAN M-900u stereo amplifier, $14,995. Martin Logan Renaissance ESL 15A loudspeakers, $24,995. There were many stellar LUXMAN products in this room, and it was another room that was always packed.
LUXMAN D-08u SACD player, $14,995. To the right is the C-900u preamplifier, $14,995.
