On Friday, I entered a Schaumburg hotel room that, it's safe to say, looked like no other at AXPONA. The first thing tipping me off that this would be special was that exhibitor Tony Crocker (shown above), the man behind Swan Song Audio, greeted me with a good-natured "Hello! Come to see the freakshow?"
Once inside, it was hard not to be impressed. Make that amazed. Delighted. In front of me stood a pair of loudspeakers that looked like honest-to-god rockets. I don't mean they were vaguely cigar-shaped and pointy. I mean that right there arose (if you will) two 3D-printed speakers, each roughly the height of an NBA small forward, that looked like they were waiting for Wallace and Gromit to board and go on a twinsies claymation space adventure. These things have fins and everything. Talk about a product launch.
(Remember that I visited this room on the day that the crew of Artemis II splashed down after slingshotting around the moon. The universe, apparently, has a sense of humor.)
Just like the Rockets, every component chassis in Crocker's system is 3D-printed too. Oh, and everything is battery-powered on top of that, including the Swan Song Audio monoblocks with a 9.5-hour runtime ($14,000/pair); the preamp with a hi-res DAC ($8000); and the turntable (built with VPI innards, a Moerch tonearm, and a Van den Hul cartridge—price TBD). All were constructed from black filament with purple or blue throughlines—but Crocker, who is somehow amiable and intense at the same time, says that you can have any color you desire. Just be sure to pick carefully, as he's not about to redo the color afterwards—it takes almost 2,000 hours to print each speaker. Good thing he has five 3D printers.
Crocker figures that he can singlehandedly produce half a dozen pairs a year, and will sell them “once I figure out how to ship them.”
My gaze drifted back to the speakers again and again. Can you blame me? Prominent FaitalPRO drivers notwithstanding, they look like they were designed by someone who grew up with the same Tintin books I did (think Destination Moon). I mean specifically the part where Tintin's rocket sits on the launchpad and you think, "that can't possibly fly." But you root for the operation regardless, and hard.
The Rockets, by the way, cost $17,000/pair. The full system in the room, including Swan Song's Argentium cables, runs $68,000. Together they are either the most audacious system at the show or the most expensive conversation piece. I enjoyed listening to Masterpieces by Ellington and Hans Zimmer's Dune soundtrack.
Do form and function achieve liftoff together in the Swan Song system? If you're doubtful, and the chance arises, go listen—but especially, go watch.
Just like the Rockets, every component chassis in Crocker's system is 3D-printed too. Oh, and everything is battery-powered on top of that, including the Swan Song Audio monoblocks with a 9.5-hour runtime ($14,000/pair); the preamp with a hi-res DAC ($8000); and the turntable (built with VPI innards, a Moerch tonearm, and a Van den Hul cartridge—price TBD). All were constructed from black filament with purple or blue throughlines—but Crocker, who is somehow amiable and intense at the same time, says that you can have any color you desire. Just be sure to pick carefully, as he's not about to redo the color afterwards—it takes almost 2,000 hours to print each speaker. Good thing he has five 3D printers.
Crocker figures that he can singlehandedly produce half a dozen pairs a year, and will sell them “once I figure out how to ship them.”
My gaze drifted back to the speakers again and again. Can you blame me? Prominent FaitalPRO drivers notwithstanding, they look like they were designed by someone who grew up with the same Tintin books I did (think Destination Moon). I mean specifically the part where Tintin's rocket sits on the launchpad and you think, "that can't possibly fly." But you root for the operation regardless, and hard.
