Steve Davis has been around music and hi-fi for more than 50 years. Across his varied career in the hi-fi biz, he's seen, heard, and played plenty. Longtime Stereophile readers are likely to recognize the name. With partners, Davis founded AXPONA, America's largest hi-fi show. That's just one chapter in a life that has had a consistent focus. "Music inspired me to be in the audio industry," Davis told me over several conversations. "I always played music of some kind." He took up guitar as an adolescent and eventually studied percussion, accepting a scholarship at Concord University in Athens, West Virginia.
His hi-fi journey began as a consumer, in 1971, when he bought his first system. His friends were into the gear and music, too. Soon Davis became a dealer to support his—and his friends'—upgrade habits. "It wasn't long until my friends wanted to acquire good sound and gear, so I helped them find things in their budget or sold them my pieces and upgraded." By 1976, he was working for the Sound Post, a dealership with four locations in West Virginia. He started his own store—the first of several—in 1982.
Music is Davis's first love. Analog audio is a close second.
"I've been dealing with analog since my first years in audio working in a store in the '70s before I started my stores. We were Linn dealers, and we were Ariston dealers, and Keith Monks, and the Kenwoods, and the Black Widow tonearm by Infinity, and the SMEs, and the Thorens. We were mounting the arms and drilling the armboards and doing all the measurements and adjusting turntables to have the optimum sound."
What does he consider optimal? Above all, he wants to reproduce the real sound of instruments as faithfully as possible. "If they're playing a B-3 Hammond, I want the real sound of a B-3," he said.
Musical taste informs how he sells hi-fi: "That's where you start," he said. "You don't just sell somebody something because it's an easy sale or it's on the cover of Stereophile. You sell it to them according to their taste in music, their listening environment, how they use their system."
In the mid-1990s, while he was operating his retail business with partner Jack Middlebrook, an Italian rep approached, aiming to set up distribution for Aliante loudspeakers. Davis and Middlebrook formed Sanibel Sound, a distribution company. They sold directly to their existing customers and offered the speakers to other US dealers to sell.
"To my knowledge, this was the first time a retail store also acted as a distributor," Davis said. "We advertised extensively, housed inventory, delivered products as needed, and on occasion hand-delivered products to dealers. ... Shortly thereafter, we picked up additional brands such as Aloia, Audiomeca, Piega, Kora, and Audio Tekne from Japan."
Over time, Davis got involved with various hi-fi–related events, including at his HiFi Farm in Roanoke, Virginia. Later, he threw a big, weekend-long bash to celebrate a store near Smith Mountain Lake in Wirtz, Virginia, where he and his wife were living. "We had a big feast and a golf tournament," Davis said. "We had a shoot-out between the mighty Ongaku and the Creek 4240." Stereophile's own Michael Trei and Herb Reichert attended and were designated "the beer cart guys" in charge of driving the golf cart serving beer.
The first AXPONA took place in 2010, in Jacksonville, Florida. It started off small but generated enough interest to justify a second show, which was held in Atlanta. The third AXPONA was an add-on to Digital Downtown, in cooperation with CES in New York City. The next year, the show returned to Jacksonville. "This time we partnered with the [Jacksonville] Symphony and produced a beautiful show that was one of the most musically oriented ever produced," Davis said.
The first Chicago AXPONA took place in 2013. AXPONA had grown. "We learned it was going to be more than we could handle, and in order to continue growth and visibility, it needed professional show management." Davis and his AXPONA partners sold the show to JD Events in 2013, staying on for several years as a consultant.
AXPONA is now in the rear view, but Davis is still in the hi-fi business. He owns and operates Analog Matters, a high-end distribution company and retailer, and Big Ear Consulting, both based in a 1500ft2 space in Ormond Beach, Florida. In addition to warehouse space and offices, there's a listening room and a "technical area," where Davis does turntable, tonearm, and cartridge setups for customers. He later added a recording studio.
The Analog Matters listening room is open by soft appointment: Instead of scheduling a fixed time, customers might call ahead to see if he's around, then stop by when convenient. "I keep a full system set up so they can listen to a turntable, listen to a phono stage."
Steve Davis rehearsing with his band for a performance at AXPONA 2010. (Photo: Jason Victor Serinus.)
Davis talks a lot about how much his love of music—playing it and listening to it—has informed his preferences and choices in hi-fi equipment. "I always played music of some kind, either solo or in bands or trios or whatever was called for," he explained. "That gives me an insight—very strong insight—into what a good audio system is. There are so many audio systems out there that do not sound musical to me. If I don't listen to it, I wouldn't sell it."
Davis has started playing music live again. On August 15, he teamed up with some accomplished jazz musicians for the Willie Nelson Project, a concert celebrating Willie Nelson's Stardust. The show was recorded, and it's available on major streaming platforms. The ensemble is booking additional concerts.
Above all, Davis is grateful for all that he's experienced in the industry over the past five decades. "It's been an amazing journey, with us meeting some incredible people who have become lifelong friends and customers," he said in a follow-up chat. "We've traveled to shows around the world and had great life experiences and have learned how to take life as it comes, ... but it always comes with music.
