Jason Victor Serinus

There was one room at AXPONA where I was too in awe to take notes. In shock is more like it. The brothers who own JS Audio have acquired and restored the very first pair of WAMM loudspeakers that the late Dave Wilson began to manufacture in 1981. It seems that after living with the model for a few months, Dave's other half in the truest sense, his beloved wife and life partner Sheryl Lee preferred a different cabinet color for their living room and encouraged him to move this pair along. (If I've got that wrong, please forgive me.)

Having reviewed the top-of-the-line Innuos two-piece Statement music server, I was eager to hear an A/B demo of the version I reviewed with an Innuos Statement that contains its forthcoming Next-Gen power supply upgrade. Thanks to two extremely helpful and enthusiastic Innuos staff people, Director of Sales Steven Gomes and North American Director of Sales, Kevin Jackson, it was easy to hear the improvements.

Strange as it may seem, this huge air-walled exhibit room's sponsor, AudioQuest with Abt Electronics of Chicago, was the mostly invisible partner that enabled Rotel's Michi P5 preamplifier with phonostage ($4299.99—follow-up coming in our August issue) and Michi S5 stereo power amplifiers ($7499/each—reviewing coming in our July issue) to sing through Klipsch Jubilee loudspeakers ($35,000/pair including outboard electronic crossover).

I wasn't the only reviewer who sought Nirvana in the large 16th floor Aster Presidential Suite jointly sponsored by retailer Kyomi Audio of Chicago, Audio Skies distribution, and Stealth Audio Cables. On Sunday morning, less than eight hours after many members of the press hung out in the room until 2AM, several returned for yet another fix.

"New Patented Product Replaces Stereo Systems, Headphones and $100,000 Listening Rooms" declared the press release in red bold letters. "Introducing to the public for the first time a transformational new pure acoustic audio technology and the TigerFox® Immerse 360® Pure Acoustic Sound Pod—a disruptive new high-performance audio product that delivers immersive sound quality without the pain points of modern electronic sound systems."

More debuts awaited in Fidelis Distribution's second room, where Heretic Loudspeaker Company's handcrafted-in-Montreal A612 high-sensitivity loudspeaker (price TBD—no more than $10,000/pair, I was told) and Lab 12's handcrafted-in-Athens electronics sang with AVIDHIFI's Volvere turntable ($8000, below) equipped with a TA-3 tonearm ($650) and inexpensive (by audiophile standards) Grado Opus3 cartridge ($275). Through Lab 12 and Siltech cabling, the sax on "Trippin' Out," on an LP from Vanessa Fernandez, sounded fabulous, The energy of the track came through loud and clear. It was all I could do to stop myself from getting up and dancing. Without a doubt, this system delivered the most fun I'd had during my first two days at the show.