2019 Axpona Review
Went to Axpona on Friday and Saturday. A really great show with a surprising number of TT being used for demonstration My favorite sound was the Avantgarde Acoustics Duo Mezzo XD speakers. $60k and 107dB/Watt efficient! The best (?) sounding demonstration at the show, certainly the most fun. I also liked the MBL setup. My personal favorite sound, at a reasonable cost, was the Gale Sanders Eikon active loudspeaker system, $25k including the pre-amp/processor. To my ears this system came close in SQ to some of the systems costing 10-20 times the price. Furthermore, the system size and appearance was such that it is not going to make you feel like a guest in your own living room. If I was starting all over again in HiFi, the Eikon system would be my first choice of equipment. Quite simply beautiful sounding and looking.
The ATC active and passive SCM50 speakers were very impressive. Both versions sounded excellent, the difference between the active and passive version was very apparent. Not necessarily better or worse, just different.
OK, the Paragon room demonstrating Dan D’Agostino electronics with Wilson Alexandria XLF speakers plus Thor’s Hammer SW with a very expensive Clear Audio SOTA TT and DCS digital front end was breath taking; as is the price and size of this system. To me, Mr D’Agostino is the Leonardo da Vinci of Hifi, an extraordinarily talented artist/engineer who designs and builds incredibly beautiful and sounding products. Dan is indeed the man.
In terms of music, the Lyn Stanley demonstration of Pink Cadillac (SACD and DD, to be released May 10) was hands down the best sounding and fun music, I liked this music so much I heard it maybe 10 times. Lyn also gave a really good/informative description of the recording. The other surprise recording was Illinois Jacquet Swing’s The Thing. Beautiful dynamic jazz, hard to believe this music was recorded in 1957. To my ears, sounded as good as anything modern used for demonstration purposes at the show. All the music used in the Avantgarde Acoustic room was superb; my personal favorite was from the movie Swing Kids, Swing Swing Swing. Certainly made me want to dance, an incredible dynamic and realistic sound on the Duo Mezzo XD speakers. The German gentlemen demonstrating this system was informative and fun to speak with. The other piece of music I really liked was You & I by Flur Pernille Rosendahl. great recording and sounding techno pop (Danish I believe).
Marcus
