AXPONA 2019

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AXPONA 2019
McIntosh MC-611 Monoblocks, Bowers & Wilkins 802D Loudspeakers, Aurender A10 Server
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 12, 2019  |  3 comments
Despite the challenging acoustics of air-walled conference rooms, retailer Audio Video Interiors produced extremely satisfying sound. True to McIntosh Laboratory's sonic signature, the company's C-1100 preamp ($14,000), relatively new 600Wpc MC-611 monoblocks ($15,000/pair), and MPC-1500 line filter ($5500) produced a beautiful, strong midrange and mellow top.
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AXPONA 2019
Monitor Audio Gold Speakers, Roksan Blak Amplifier & CD Player
John Atkinson  |  Apr 16, 2019  |  1 comments
I was impressed by the new Monitor Audio Gold 300 speakers when I auditioned them at the recent Montreal Audio fest. At AXPONA, Chicago retailer Saturday Audio Exchange was showing off the smaller Gold 200 tower ($5000/pair) and Gold 100 bookshelf ($2100/pair) driven by a Roksan Blak integrated amplifier ($4499) and Black CD player ($3999) and hooked up with AudioQuest cables. Like the 300, the smaller speakers feature midrange units and woofers that use Monitor Audio's RDT II (Rigid Diaphragm Technology) sandwich diaphragms, with a "Micro Pleated Diaphragm" tweeter.
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AXPONA 2019
Music Hall In the Marketplace
John Atkinson  |  Apr 13, 2019  |  0 comments
Celebrating 21 years of affordable Music Hall turntables, the irascible Roy Hall (right) was in fine form on AXPONA's opening day, offering show specials.
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AXPONA 2019
Nagra HD Preamp, Organic Reference Cables, Kharma Elegance S7 Loudspeakers
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 14, 2019  |  0 comments
What a difference a change of venue and cabling makes. In the Nagra room at CES, the sound was silvery, glistening, open, and mesmerizing. Here, with smaller Kharma Elegance S7 loudspeakers ($18,000) and mid-priced copper-based Organic Reference cabling that uses a fiber dielectric, the sound was more toned down but no less compelling
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AXPONA 2019
New, Compact, and Classic from Luxman: NeoClassico SQ-N150 Integrated Amplifier and D-N150 CD Player
Jim Austin  |  Apr 14, 2019  |  13 comments
If you're after an elegant classic look and a compact form factor, you'd be hard-pressed to do much better than the Luxman NeoClassic series, including the SQ-N150 integrated amplifier ($2795) and the D-N150 CD player ($2595). Both are new, and both are now shipping.
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AXPONA 2019
Nokturne Audio, Lejonklou HiFi's SINGularity, and the Quad Electrostatics
John Atkinson  |  Apr 16, 2019  |  3 comments
"Good grief! They are using Quads!" I used to use Quad ESL-57s in the mid 1980s before I moved to the US and in some ways, no other speaker has come close to the sonic transparency offered by these idiosyncratic-looking electrostatic speakers. But to see and hear an original pair dating from 1958 in the room shared by Michigan dealer/manufacturer Nokturne Audio and Lejonklou HiFi from Sweden was a highlight of the 2019 AXPONA.
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AXPONA 2019
Paradigm Persona 3F loudspeakers, Anthem STR integrated amplifier
John Atkinson  |  Apr 16, 2019  |  1 comments
The impressive-sounding room from dealer Audio Video Interiors featured the Anthem STR integrated amplifier ($4499) that Tom Norton reviewed for Stereophile in July 2018. Speakers were the Paradigm Persona 3Fs ($10,000/pair), a smaller sibling to the similar-looking Persona 5F ($17,000/pair) that Kal Rubinson reviewed in October 2018.
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AXPONA 2019
PranaFidelity Vayu/fs Speakers, Kuzma Stabi R Turntable, MG Audio Design Monoblocks, Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 15, 2019  |  0 comments
A room sponsored by multiple companies and overseen by Steven Norber of PranaFidelity immediately won me over with its gorgeous midrange. "So beautiful and warm and all-embracing," I wrote in my notes as I listened to a surprisingly good-sounding 1991 CD of David Wilcox on a substitute basic Pioneer Elite player used as a transport. I also loved the sound of an LP that melded the artistry of two greats, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.
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AXPONA 2019
Preparing for the Big Day
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 13, 2019  |  1 comments
Saturday is always the most crowded and intense day of any show . . .
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AXPONA 2019
PrimaLuna EVO 400 Preamp and Amp, GoldenEar Triton One.R Speakers
Herb Reichert  |  Apr 13, 2019  |  1 comments
In front of the room sponsored by GoldenEar Technology and PrimaLuna USA, I saw tube maven Kevin Deal (above)—the latter company's Primary Dude—displaying the insides of a PrimaLuna amplifier. PR man extraordinaire Anthony Chiarella was sitting next to him saying, "Its built like a Fabergé egg." Which indeed it was.
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AXPONA 2019
PS Audio Debuts AN3 Loudspeaker
John Atkinson  |  Apr 12, 2019  |  13 comments
The late Arnie Nudell, co-founder of Infinity, was very much a mentor to PS Audio's Paul McGowan, and Paul and his team have been working a loudspeaker design that would honor Nudell. AXPONA saw the first public demo of the new speaker, the AN3, which is expected to be available toward the end of the year at a price somewhere in the region of $11,500–$14,500/pair. The AN3 features a servo-corrected 12" aluminum-cone woofer, driven by a 700W amplifier mounted on one of the sides, with a folded ribbon tweeter, a rectangular planar midrange unit sourced from Bohlender-Graebener, and an 8" cone "mid-bass coupler," the last a consistent feature of Nudell's designs for Infinity and Genesis.
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AXPONA 2019
Rogers Corona Amplifier, Clearaudio Ovation Turntable, dCS Bartok DAC, Wilson Alexia 2 Speakers
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 14, 2019  |  0 comments
Across the hallway, Paragon Sight and Sound set up a more "modest," albeit hardly chump-change, system that included Wilson Alexia 2 speakers ($59,900 with this special red finish), brand-new tubed Rogers KWM 88 Corona integrated amplifier ($14,000) plus PA2 phono stage ($7300), dCS Bartok DAC ($13,500), Clearaudio Ovation turntable with 9" arm and custom finish ($11,000) and Clearaudio Jubilee cartridge, Transparent Reference and Reference XL cabling, a Transparent Reference Power Isolator ($5995), and Harmonic Resolution System RXR 4V with R3x base audio rack ($9330).
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AXPONA 2019
Rowland Conductor Phono Preamp, Joseph Audio Perspective2 Graphene Speakers, Cardas Nautilus Power Strip, Audio-Technica ART 1000 Cartridge
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 15, 2019  |  3 comments
Once again I experienced the mellow core of the Jeff Rowland sound. This time, it was in the room he shared with Joseph Audio and Cardas Audio, where the big news was the premiere of the Joseph Audio Perspective2 Graphene speaker ($14,999/pair). When I entered, a track from a recording I know very well, Rosa Passos and Ron Carter's Entre Amigos, was sounding far more mellow and toned down than on my system. This setup also brought out the mellow core of a sweet violin in the Bruch Scottish Fantasy.
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AXPONA 2019
Scaena Model 3 Speakers, High Fidelity Cables MA-1 Amplifier, dCS Vivaldi Front End
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 12, 2019  |  5 comments
Spying the Scaena (pronounced Sane-a) room, I was happy to hear their fabulous sounding speakers once again. This time it was the Scaena Model 3 ($90,000 pair including the two big subwoofers), driven by a High Fidelity Cables MA-1 amplifier ($30,000), fed by a four-stack dCS Vivaldi system ($114,996 total) and connected by High Fidelity cables.
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AXPONA 2019
Schiit & Salk Signature Sound
John Atkinson  |  Apr 15, 2019  |  4 comments
The 3rd-floor room shared by Schiit and Salk Signature Sound was so crowded the first two times I stopped by that I couldn't listen, But the third time, Béla Fleck's classic "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" was playing, I snagged a second-row seat and liked what I heard. A big, clean sound from an affordable system. Speakers were Salk's Song3 BeATs ($4495/pair, $4795/pair in custom finishes like those at the show); source was either a Salk Streamplayer Gen III ($1695) feeding Schiit's Yggdrasil DAC ($2395) or an SOL turntable (estimated price $799); phono preamp a Schiit Mani ($129); preamplifier a Schiit Freya ($699); and amplifier a Schiit Aegir ($799).
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