Nice report. Thanks.-interesting observations.
Axpona 2026 Show Report
This is my belated 2026 Axpona show report.
11 days after the end of the show, it might be a bit passe, but here we are. (Note: I have not read any other show reports, from any outlet.)
I comment here only on the handful of rooms I personally found excellent or otherwise intriguing. If I do not comment on a room - and I do not comment on the vast majority of them - it means it wasn't a standout for me. I did at least enter virtually every room, but some small percentage may have either not been playing music at the right time or have been excessively crowded.
Of course, I returned to any such room if it was on my previously-planned shortlist.
And I did, sadly, somehow miss one room - Treehaus Audiolab - I really would have liked to have heard.
As a preluate, my preferences, biases, and interests are as follows:
- After owning many pairs of multiway box speakers (bass-reflex and sealed, monitors and floorstanders) from the likes of Harbeth, Wilson, many boutique brands, and back horns (Lamhorn, Beauhorn, Cain & Cain, and more), and front horns (AvantGarde, Oris, Cogent (yes, the field coils), Klipsch, and more) and essentially everything else, nearly a decade ago I settled down for a long while with Quad electrostatics - the 57 - including Art Dudley's (RIP) ElectroStatic Solutions-restored pair), 2905, and, mostly rebuilt 63/988s.
Then, as I grappled with the one serious weakness of the Quads - a hard SPL limit of about 100 dB - that cannot be overcome by active crossing, or anything else, I began a return to what is either the next-best-thing or the best-thing: Wideband dynamic field-coil drivers.
- After owning dozens of most single-ended valve and transistor amplifiers - along with all kinds of conventional push-pull Class A or AB amps from the likes of Pass, ASR, Bryston, etc. - in 2023 I settled on Purifi-based amplifiers as the seeming ultimate a few years ago. And I did enjoy them quite a bit, and they are at least *close* to ideal signal amplification.
Then I returned to single-ended tube amplifiers, since the subjective experience (including *objective* things like hearing nuance and decay trails that the on-paper theoretically-perfect Purifi amps somehow miss) was superior.
[Pause for a brief philosophical statement. The criticism that fans of "SET" (the term is often used incorrectly or without understanding) amps are simply drawn to "pleasing distortions" is so much bunk. It can't really be objectively true since, at normal music levels, such amplifiers generally produce distortions quite low in magnitude. More importantly, the entire home audio experience is both artificial and subjective. What we are attempting to create at home is *nothing* like an actual live performance of acoustic music. The sole goal is to make us think and feel as if we are *at* that live performance. The loss function we are attempting to minimize is the deviation from that experience. Period.
Thus, it sounds good, *it is good.* Who exactly are these people worrying about their stereo sounding better than real life? If you're in that category, you either have a system the likes of which I've never heard or you've spent your life in the worst jazz clubs in the world.]
- I no longer listen to vinyl. Some time in the past five or ten years, digital front ends arrived that equal vinyl even in what it does best, IMO.
(This doesn't mean that you can necessarily find a digital version of your favorite 50s jazz LP that sounds just as good - sometimes you can, sometimes you can't.)
I've been running a Schiit Yggy for some time which I've preferred over competitors up to about four times the price.
- Active crossing. I now cross whatever speakers I am listening to to dual 15" sealed Dayton subwoofers (built here) powered by mono 1,000W amplifiers (which I've clipped), via a Marchand electronic crossover, usually at 70 Hz.
The benefits of both active amplification and dedicated bass - especially in a large room, and especially if you value unconstrained dynamics and low distortion - are difficult to ignore.
The biggest problem with the default audiophile solution of a big amp powering a multidriver dynamic loudspeaker with passive crossover is - that. The amp has to drive the midrange driver(s) while it deals with the very substantial back-EMF from the (probably) large woofers, which increases all kinds of distortions by orders of magnitude, and also requires an amplifier far more powerful, meaning with more gain stages and more feedback, than is necessary to produce the parts of the music that are not bass.
But, like all things in audio, it's a trade-off of sorts. If you're listening to a solo trumpet or vocalist, etc., it's likely best to have no crossover of any kind in the mix.
- I attempt to construct systems capable of at least coming close to being able to recreate the live jazz experience in terms of SPL. I don't need to get all the way there, because I've always prefered the second or third table from the front at the Village Vanguard rather than the front. But, it is good, if one wishes for actual "realism," to keep a few numbers in mind. One of them is that even a solo trumpet will hit 105 dB at three meters.
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- Best Sound of Show: Songer Audio
These wideband drivers in large bass-reflex cabinets, with Songer's 300B amplifier, had everything. Tone, speed, and microdynamics were as good as it gets - and, for acoustic jazz, these are most of the things that matter. I could have spent hours listening to music in this room. I could have stayed here all day.
The only caveat: I can no longer not-hear the artifacts of bass reflex cabinets. But this is a quibble to be sure.
I am strongly interested in purchasing either finished speakers or drivers from this company.
- Runner-Up: Martin Logan (Expression 13A/AnthemSTR Pre/Power)
For whatever reason, I've never heard Martin Logan hybrid electrostatics sound as good, overall, as they did in this room - and this was with mid-level solid-state electronics.
I usually find myself drawn to the bass modules as a distinct sound source. Not here, despite the rather high 300 Hz crossover point. True, of course, the illusion of one voice is not *perfect,* but it's extremely good. The fact that the speakers were actively crossed to a huge Depth sub at 80 Hz may have been a factor (less excursion of the Expression woofers, less harmonic distortion extending into upper octaves which the ear is better at localizing).
The ML electrostats are every bit as good as the Quads (any model) in what electrostatics do, and, to my ear, are free of the latter's minor bugaboo (the hard SPL limit being the bigger one): That 10-12 Khz resonance that manifests as a very slight sheen or brightness on some material.
I have been running my own electrostats, when I run them, crossed actively at 80-100 Hz (24 dB/octave). I had considered that about the ideal crossover point, as it frees the panels from the large excursions required for bass but it low enough to be very close to transparent. But I have missed something: Designing an electrostatic panel to handle only, say, north of ~300 Hz produces a speaker that, as in the ML's case, has almost no serious SPL restriction (the power handling and sensitivity 600W and 91 dB - reflect this). This is *big,* for me, at least.
The ultimate in tone? No, but I believe that was entirely due to the electronics. Other than that, the system was nearly perfect: Instant ESL transients, incredible clarity and separation, coherence, and everything else.
Everything from solo male & female vocals to the most bombastic percussion was about reference-class.
- Honorable Mention: Jones & Cerreta
This room generated masterful hype with the large posters in prominent places in the 2nd floor common areas of the hotel as well as by gating entry.
Indeed, this dual-concentric field-coil driver has that field-coil magic, and the room was superb overall.
Transients (guitar, when I noted this) have ESL-like purity and speed. The speakers are perfectly-balanced, very dynamic when required, and have no bad habits at all.
However, decay and nuance were not reference-class.
Of course, that could have been due to anything. I neglected to take note of the vinyl front-end, but, as with the push-pull Lab12 amplifier, this was clearly not a spare-no-expense exercise - perhaps more of a "see what our speakers can do with everyday electronics" thing.
However, IMO, it was not SOTA sound in most respects. I think my ear just prefers a wideband driver outside of the bass range, and push-pull tube amps are never my cup of tea. The long decays and very natural treble I hear with SE amps were not present.
- Honorable Mention: Popori (Now Prodigio) WR2/Atma-Sphere
This, like last year, was one of those rooms with jaw-dropping potential.
As with the Martin Logans, that electrostatic purity *probably* cannot be obtained in any other way (jury is still out for me regarding wideband field-coils).
The AtmaSphere electronics are first-rate - and you'd never know those switching amplifiers are just that - and they use a crosstalk-canceling DSP solution as well.
A few lines from my raw notes:
-- After Songer Field Coils: Excellent, but no better in purity or speed AFAICT, and maybe a bit too sterile
-- Treble purity is first-rate
-- Bass Dynamics (Nardis): Volume was too low (ran out of gain?), but deep bass not really there, and bass dynamics soft
-- Treble purity is first-rate
-- Bass Dynamics (Nardis): Volume was too low (ran out of gain?), but deep bass not really there, and bass dynamics soft
The DSP rep contrasted the speakers 8 Khz crossover (to a small (ribbon?) tweeter) specifically as superior to the Martin Logan solution of a crossover on the bottom. However, one of the ramifications of this choice is a low peak SPL limit - 105 dB as spec'd. For me, that is a deal-killer.
- Honorable Mention: High Water Sound
Jeff Catalano has been absolutely masterful at both system-building and setting up show rooms for longer than I can remember. His room - always vinyl-only, always tubes, always some kind of horns - never disappoints (his excellent and electic musical tastes being part of that equation).
As always, the sound was simply divine.
And an uncanny quality is how greatly similar the sound is even when he changes almost all the gear.
If one wished to find nits, the bass was a bit diffuse, and lacked extension - but for the types of music these systems are designed for, this is not really an issue.
- Honorable Mention: Rethm Maarga
I owned Jacob George's first model of Rethms (ironically, the "Second Rethm") as well as at least one pair of his subsequent, powered-bass speakers.
I don't think that cabinet design is the best way to get great sound out of a widebander, but the Maarga here sounded very good, with single-driver speed and coherence, and no glaring bad habits.
This room was running simple two-way monitors & vinyl and had really, really great sound. As I told them, I’d take that system over some of the $500K rooms.
The horn tone sounds like 300Bs but these were small Class A/B SS amps.
- Honorable Mention: Bruno Audio
Two-way hi-efficiency, 12” woofer, horn-loaded tweeter, both Neo magnets, with 300B amp. Virtually reference-class sonics here - perhaps very, very slight, occasional horn coloration.
Great tone, dynamics, detail, but did notice some bass smearing - not as bad as most boxes.
- Honorable Mention: PAP/LAiV
- Honorable Mention: PAP/LAiV
Last year, this was one of the top three rooms at the show IMO, and the gear and the sound were the same this year. Great balance, tone, dynamics. Pink Martini sounded about as good as I’ve heard it. Horn tone about as good as it gets. Transient speed and coherence from the excellent Voxativ driver.
Brief comments on selected other rooms:
- Pure Audio Project/Pass
Unlike the PAP/LAiV room, this one sounded - mediocre. I was not at all impressed by the Beyma coax driver.
- Wilson/REL/D’Agostino
- Wilson/REL/D’Agostino
I spent very little time these days in the "Large Box Speakers With Expensive SS Electronics" rooms, but, in prior shows, I have been pretty impressed by the Wilson/D’Agostino sound.
It was as expected this year. The room was actually run by REL, demoing their subs used as line arrays.
[Fun Fact: I once owned a Basis Ovation turntable owned previously by D’Agostino. I purchased it from "The Audio Pimp" in NY, who informed me of the previous owner, and I confirmed that with Dan in person at a show later.
Last I'd heard, The Audio Pimp was in prison.]
- Quad (2912X)
The Quad room was running the larger model (2912X), with Quad electronics too.
Having owned the 2905 (the previous version of the same speaker) and numerous 63/988/2805s, I know the sound well, and here it was: Superb clarify, instant transients, but that very slight glassy sheen and odd bass resonance.
The horn tone was to die for. As it should be with any electrostatic.
- Audio Note
I was really looking forward to the Audio Note room this year because they were to be running the field-coil AN/E.
I have previously owned a full Audio Note Kits system, which I built - phono stage, preamp, DAC, amps, speakers.
I grew past that sound, but Audio Note always does a great job of making music at shows.
Also, last year, Peter Q. himself was running the room. Back in the day, I corresponded a great deal with Peter about why he settled on that old Snell design for his speakers, the benefits of TX-coupling, and other things. He was the head of one of the most respected hi-fi companies in the world and I was just some guy, yet he clearly spent hours on those emails.
Alas, both times I visited the room, he was engaged in conversation, so I didn't really get to chat him up.
And this year, unfortunately, Peter was not present, and, in addition, IMO the sound was simply - off. In particular, I heard some splashy treble that sounded like vinyl tracking distortion.
- Fern & Roby
I'd wanted to hear these widebander monitors. Vinyl. Only Ok. A bit bright, muddy. Not impressed.
- PAP/Consonance
- PAP/Consonance
Last year, the Consonance room was a real gem - they were getting absolutely fantastic sound from their own shoebox monitors and a parallel 300B integrated SET.
This year, a push-pull amp was in the mix, with other speakers, which I failed to note. It was still good sound, but nothing out of the ordinary.
- GIP
- GIP
This firm makes Western Electric theater speaker replicas. They were running them here - field-coil woofer, of course - with a small horn tweeter, and alternative to the large segmented WE-style treble horns. Power was a small Leben integrated.
The sound was superb, but, yes, there are colorations - this type of thing is, I believe, chasing a particular sonic signature.
- Rockport/Axiss
- Rockport/Axiss
IMO one of the major high-end box speakers that gets closest to ESL-style transients, along with YG, is Rockport. And the sound here was indeed very good (and should be for the price).
- AvanteGarde Trios with AirTight ATM-3211 (Push-Pull 211s)
As I previous Trio owner, I am familiar with the sound - fast but always large and rather "vague." The speakers *can* be time-aligned, but, that's going to work only in a single plane, and the lack of coherence of this paradigm is a killer issue for me.
(I concluded, after several front-horn systems, that that topology is not a win for any sort of real-world home environment. The narrow bandwidth of such horns necessitates many (at least three, as in this case) drivers with, obviously, a passive crossover as well. Though the directivity is a nice effect, unless you want to play at 120 dB - and you shouldn't - this isn't the path to nirvana for any genre of music.)
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Nice report. Just a couple questions, meant in the spirit of genuine engagement with your observations: 1. You argue that subjective sonic goodness is the sole criterion ("Thus, it sounds good, it is good"), yet you find yourself unable to unhear objective artifacts—bass reflex distortions, electrostatic resonances, horn colorations—that theoretically shouldn't matter if the system sounds good to you. This suggests a more complex loss function than you initially state: not just "sounds good = good," but "sounds good and doesn't trigger trained pattern-recognition of known artifact-types." Are those two criteria ever in genuine conflict for you? 2. You praise the simple Lu Kang system and say you'd take it "over some of the $500K rooms," yet your own solution to the SPL problem was to add an electronic crossover, dedicated amps, and dual sealed subwoofers—the opposite of simplicity. Are you drawn to simplicity as an intrinsic ideal, or do you praise it only when it happens to punch above its weight class? |
@paulfolbrecht - great report, thanks. When discussing sound quality, were you taking the room itself into consideration, as that can affect the sound more than the gear, and audio shows are not known for the best room acoustics in untreated (mostly) hotel rooms. Bad room acoustics can make excellent gear sound sub-par. |
Nice report maybe next year I can go. Like your idea of electronic crossover and so does klipsch as they now offer one. Like marchand as I have several as well as sublime accoustics and jbl ,dsp and others. As with your idea of back emf from large woofers that is a bi amp or tri amp to get around that. Horns have hi spl as I got lucky and found some jbl like k2 or the 9000 series. Like the ribbons so did you see the alter room and what did you think? Enjoy the music. I do like the d sonic Pascal module. |
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