AXPONA 2011 June 24-25 in NYC

[VPI]

Yeah I definitely did not feel like this show was one worth traveling to. I thought some of the rooms were okay but the rooms were pretty bad.

This is the 175k per pair monoblocks that I listened to first. Terrible room in that a column was in the sweet spot so you had to be to the side and the huge Wharfdales were so close that it was a useless experience for me.

In action

Legacy. Not terrible, but did not do much for me.

Orion.

MBL. Finally a MBL room that was not blasting techno. I liked these better than a lot of the stuff there.

[faust3d]

What kind of music was on when you were in the Legacy room? These speakers could rock, I heard Legacy speakers many times and in my opinion if hard rock and metal are primary focus it is really hard to do better for the price, especially if buying used.

Edited June 25, 2011 by faust3d

[VPI]

What kind of music was on when you were in the Legacy room? These speakers could rock, I heard Legacy speakers many times and in my opinion if hard rock and metal are primary focus it is really hard to do better for the price, especially if buying used.

It was some audiophile approved stuff I did not recognize. In that room at least the midrange was washed out by the fairly flabby bass. I thought they sounded good but nothing I would want to put in my system. The same reaction I had to pretty much everything there.

Did you listen to those open baffle speakers from Miami in the High End Palace room? I thought they might be alright for the metal guys as they had good control of the bass and pretty good dynamics.

Edited June 26, 2011 by VPI

[faust3d]

It was some audiophile approved stuff I did not recognize. In that room at least the midrange was washed out by the fairly flabby bass. I thought they sounded good but nothing I would want to put in my system. The same reaction I had to pretty much everything there.

Did you listen to those open baffle speakers from Miami in the High End Palace room? I thought they might be alright for the metal guys as they had good control of the bass and pretty good dynamics.

I did listen to them, Coliseum XLS, did not like that system. Dry and kinda boring sounding with unimpressive imaging, HF were poor as well, dynamics were not bad, but they had zero meat and were very lean sounding.

I tried to play as much of my music as possible and Legacy room with my recordings had the best bass, very tight and controlled far from flabby, mids were not the best but overall I like them on hard rock type stuff. MDL on the other had flabby boomy bass and, as always, horrible imaging.

Nightingale was a nice surprise for me, I will be on the look out for these used. If I see a pair cheap I might grab them.

Edited June 26, 2011 by faust3d

[faust3d]

It was some audiophile approved stuff I did not recognize. In that room at least the midrange was washed out by the fairly flabby bass. I thought they sounded good but nothing I would want to put in my system. The same reaction I had to pretty much everything there.

Did you listen to those open baffle speakers from Miami in the High End Palace room? I thought they might be alright for the metal guys as they had good control of the bass and pretty good dynamics.

By the way, whacha got at at home?

[VPI]

By the way, whacha got at at home?

My main system speakers are the Magico M5s. They seem to do everything I need for my speakers. I was hoping to find preamp/amps at the show but this was largely focused on Speakers using utilitarian preamp/amps. I can certainly see what you say about those Miami speakers as there was something a bit off, I thought it was a combo of the amp and the Tact system doing its thing, but some blues guitar he played for me sounded pretty decent.

I also really liked the EAD room. Those little guys sounded better than I would have expected but I was also a big fan of the larger EADs at the last Stereophile show so maybe I like their house sound.

Another note on the HR 1 to 1 disks. These things are seriously good. Not a huge selection but the music is decent and sound quality is some of the best I have heard in my system. David told me they were simply DVD-R copies of the Studio Master.

I got:

Jazz Side of the Moon 24/192

Rebecca Pidgeon - The Raven 24/192

John Hammond - Rough and Tough 24/192

Jimmy Cobb Quartet - Jazz in the Key of Blue 24/192

Jen Chapin - reVisions 24/192

I also got all these UDC discs from FIM but I am having a tough time differentiating between these discs and the standard CDs or these albums. Maybe a tiny bit less grain but not worth the hugely elevated prices these things are going for.

[faust3d]

My main system speakers are the Magico M5s. They seem to do everything I need for my speakers. I was hoping to find preamp/amps at the show but this was largely focused on Speakers using utilitarian preamp/amps. I can certainly see what you say about those Miami speakers as there was something a bit off, I thought it was a combo of the amp and the Tact system doing its thing, but some blues guitar he played for me sounded pretty decent.

Well after Magico M5 I imagine most of the speakers there sound poor to so so. I sadly don't have the space or money for Magicos. What amps/pre are you using with M5s now?

[VPI]

Halcro DM58s.

[faust3d]

Halcro DM58s.

Nice! I bet once you set them up, speakers and amps stay put, unless you have a hand track or fork lift around house If you hold a meet at your place one of these days I am so coming over. LOL

Edited June 26, 2011 by faust3d

[deepak]

So the D-Box demonstration...they played a 2 minute clip from Avatar 3D. Playback was on a high end 3D projector to a very slightly curved screen The curved screen itself was very nice and there was no image distortion that you normally get projecting on a flat surface. Speakers were all Totem. The thing that made the demonstration interesting was the recliner chairs we sat in. They would vibrate and the cushion would physically move with any extreme motion on the video. ie when he is flying on the pterodactyl looking thing when it dives down you can feel the seat giving way under you. And the same when it went side to side. I am not a fan of 3D, but it was done very well on this setup; the projector itself was very bright so it didn't feel like you losing much light when the active 3D glasses were worn.

The part that was disappointing was that the BluRay software needs to be encoded for the D-Box experience... this might be a hindrance given the costs of the setup.

I would LOVE to own that 3D projector, easily the best projected image quality I've seen

[deepak]

Any NYC'ers going to the Chester Group Waldorf Hifi show? http://www.chestergroup.org/index.php/new-york-exhibitors

Looks like a million times better than the NYC Axpona one

[VPI]

I ordered my tickets tonight. Not sure if I will be there Saturday or Sunday.

[bozebuttons]

I am thinking of going Sunday.

[deepak]

Wish I could make it, you guys have fun