AXPONA 2024

[BobInWi]

I did see Steve Guttenberg wondering around.

Saw him in the Odyssey room. After the selection, he was telling whoever was running the room how much he liked it. Maybe he does that w all the exhibitors? To me, it was one of the better rooms.
Saw Fremer signing autographs. He's vertically challenged..... or he was sitting down?
Seemed like an amiable guy but I did not say hello. I realize these guys are working & I'm just screwing around.

 

[BobInWi]

The looks attracted me but I agree, the sound wasn't there.

I've heard 2 pair of Perry Marshalls open baffles designs at audio get togethers.
They were interesting enough that I'd like to hear a set in a better setting where I could focus on the speakers.
I saw the tree rings but did not go into the room. Don't recall why.

 

[Rudy]

Saw Fremer signing autographs. He's vertically challenged..... or he was sitting down?
Seemed like an amiable guy but I did not say hello. I realize these guys are working & I'm just screwing around.

In person he is amiable and interesting to talk with, but anyone in the media at AXPONA is under pressure to visit as many rooms as they can into the limited amount of time they had. So if he only has 10 second to say hello, don't take it personal; he's hustling to be somewhere else. I may not always agree with his opinions but I don't hold it against him as a person. I admire his passion and dedication.

And I can say the same about almost everyone else in the media. There is fun to be had, and some lighter moments take place throughout the day, but unless a major publication is footing the bill, most of the media attendees pay some or all of their own way, and they are there to work. So even though I'm also there slogging through the rooms trying to find an angle to write about, I let everyone else do their job.

 

[JohnVF]

Thinking back on my day at Axpona, the deciding factor of me staying or leaving in any room was personality. Some rooms you'd enter and it was just an immediate wave of the socially inept washing over everything. I even encountered this in the room I was helping with, with a certain local turntable-setup specialist who I've run across a few times just souring everything the moment he's within proximity. Like, get that guy out of here if you want any positive reaction.

Other rooms would have ok gear, but a positive vibe, a great attitude, and just nice human beings in them, and you could talk or listen and just feel....good. The magic is when great gear is with great people, and that happened a few times...and I stayed in those rooms a long time. That was the OePhi/SupaTrac room, that one awesome kit speaker setup (SB Acoustics), the local-ish dealer with Pass gear and single driver speakers (can't remember the name, sorry!), the Yamaha room where I talked for a long time about their vintage Yamaha gear on display with a knowledgable fellow fan, and several others.

At a show, yeah, the gear should have 'charisma', but man, it sure helps when the people showing it off are also affable, nice, human beings who can carry a short conversation about what they're representing.

 

[Rudy]

At a show, yeah, the gear should have 'charisma', but man, it sure helps when the people showing it off are also affable, nice, human beings who can carry a short conversation about what they're representing.

Indeed. It's all part of salesmanship. You're there to make potential customers feel at home, and open to giving your product a chance. Don't expect to make any sales by having the personality (and clammy handshake) of a sea bass.

And what irks me more are those "I know more than you; you don't know what you're talking about" types, who don't come right out and say that, but give the hint that they are in on a secret that mere mortals know nothing about.

For one, a speaker manufacturer that builds, let's just say, planar speakers. I mentioned that I was going to embark on refurbishing a pair, and got a few jabs about not knowing about what I was doing, and that I didn't have the processes available to them at the factory, implying my results would not work. After pointing out many successful restorations, the rep (an older gentleman) switched into "humor this person" mode. He was also the gatekeeper with the tablet and an obviously inflexible playlist of a dozen demo songs they played throughout the show, not allowing any requests. Yeah, no.

Or another. Covering accessories last year, one booth had some isolators that appeared to work really well, even bringing test equipment to show how effective they were. I mentioned using another brand (well known) and he claimed to not be familiar with their products (say what now?), and also said it can't be possible that the competitor's isolators were "directional" (which they are, as when they are used beneath speakers, the logo has to be aligned towards the front). OK, old dude.

And you have to admit that a certain record cleaning device being sold by the owner and his sidekick, still sporting the "white lab coat" shtick and the "everybody else isn't doing it right, but we are" vibe of their presentations also does not sit well with some of us. Also (relating to some other brands), don't be preachy about the products, and how everyone else hasn't discovered this revelation you've stumbled across.

A good representative will always make you feel welcome, even when they know that you're on a budget that's two orders of magnitude less expensive than what they're offering.

And we also have to do our part by being just as friendly back to them--what applies to them, also applies to us. Going in with open mind (and open ears), and an upbeat attitude, is the best icebreaker.

 

[Rudy]

Just in:

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AXPONA 2024 REPORTS RECORD ATTENDANCE AND EXHIBITORS

10,000+ attendees and 600+ brands from 50+ countries gather to experience AXPONA​

Schaumburg, IL (April 17, 2024)--AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) welcomed 10,391 attendees, coming from 42 states and 31 countries, to the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center April 12-14, 2024. This was a 14% increase over 2023 and marked its biggest show yet. AXPONA offered music lovers three jam-packed days of spectacular sound, technology, seminars, live music, and the very latest products in the industry.

“The audience growth we experienced at AXPONA 2024 was driven by thousands of first-time visitors to the show, many travelling great distances to attend. We recognize the importance of building awareness of this hobby and industry to music lovers of all ages and backgrounds, so this year we worked on multiple programs to support this mission,” said Liz Smith, AXPONA’s Show Director. “This year our Gen Z pass doubled. It was exciting to see so many attendees ages 15 – 26 discovering the world of high-performance audio.”

AXPONA featured 202 dedicated Listening Rooms (on 12 floors) crafted by the best in the business, including 600 global manufacturers, retailers, distributors, and brands. The bustling Ear Gear Experience encompassed everything for personal audio, from headphones and electronics to accessories and cables. Rounding out the show was the Expo Hall, which is home to the Record Fair, showcasing a vast array of turntables, cables, accessories, racks, stands, tonearms, cartridges, and new and vintage Vinyl.

“Our exhibitors were joined by dealers, distributors, manufacturers, and press from over 50 countries,” said Smith. “We are proud to be the annual B2B gathering of the high-end audio industry in North America and we look forward to welcoming everyone back next year.”

Live Concerts nightly at AXPONA are always a big hit. On Friday night, AXPONA welcomed Bobby Broom to a packed and energetic crowd. Saturday night’s concert featured The Secret Sisters, the singing and songwriting duo that wowed the full house.
AXPONA returns April 11 - 13, 2025.

 

[BobInWi]

It's all part of salesmanship. You're there to make potential customers feel at home, and open to giving your product a chance.

Absolutely & also why the rooms that are not set up w treatments or even window coverings make me crazy.
Someone is paying good money to make a crappy impression. Seems counter productive but I'm not in the industry so ...???????

 

[Pat McGinty]

You'd be surprised at the cost of doing a show. So some guys are just squeeking by, but giving it a try, anyway. Just me: in for a penny, in for a pound. Do it well or sit it out. But some guys just hope for the best.

The near term calculation is that if the show costs X, you'll need to sell 2X just to barely break even, not counting the time spent. So, yeah, it's a real stretch for the little guys.

There's a funny dynamic going on. Most systems are built to perform in the stick-built homes of our customers, not in the concrete box of a hotel room. Very different. While you're struggling to get to 'passable' sound, you're being judged as though this is your best effort.

It does take experience to pull it off. I wouldn't slight the guys on the learning curve.

We scored double at shows by partnering with Echo Busters, and by bringing several extra pairs of Shearwaters and extra room treatment to bail out other (non-speaker) exhibitors who were having trouble. We enjoyed the heck out of that, goodwill and all. 😉

 

[Olson_jr]

There's a funny dynamic going on. Most systems are built to perform in the stick-built homes of our customers, not in the concrete box of a hotel room. Very different. While you're struggling to get to 'passable' sound, you're being judged as though this is your best effort.

It does take experience to pull it off. I wouldn't slight the guys on the learning curve.

Several of the better (IMHO) sounding small hotel rooms I have heard had the speakers set at a 45-degree (or thereabouts) diagonal to the rest of the room. To me, it seemed to open up the sweet area to something bigger than a spot and I sensed less peakiness to the sound.

But then, I prefer, what some think, is an overdamped room, so, I could be more sensitive to certain frequencies and their peaks.

 

[JoeThePop]

I’m no expert, having never been to a show, but it seems to me that playing something too loud (which judging from comments is pretty common) would only make matters worse in a concrete box with minimal treatments. Step #1 - turn it down!

 

[Rudy]

I’m no expert, having never been to a show, but it seems to me that playing something too loud (which judging from comments is pretty common) would only make matters worse in a concrete box with minimal treatments. Step #1 - turn it down!

It varies room to room. There are those few that play music too loud, and I don't hang around those (or avoid the room entirely). What I've found, though, that a system dialed in nicely can play loud but not sound loud, if that makes sense. It's just that the overbearing loud rooms have some frequency anomaly where it already has a harshness to the sound, and playing it louder only magnifies that harshness.

That $4 million system was like that. I don't care for horn-based systems as a rule (not my cuppa tea), but a couple others that were set up properly sounded quite good. Like this one, from AvantGarde.



That said, after show hours 🤫, the decibels went up a bit in the PS Audio room over the FR30s and it wasn't painful or harsh at all. And that bass...I think they helped clean the dust off that big chandelier overhead. 😁 Like @Olson_jr hinted, they also up across the diagonal of a corner (Schaumburg A is basically a cube-shaped room), and at least have some sort of room treatments to assist. While it wasn't as good as what I heard in Boulder in one of their listening rooms, it was good enough to give visitors a taste. And that's about all any manufacturer can hope for at these shows.

 

[Rudy]

This was PS Audio's room last year. They went with the same setup this year, but rotated between the FR30s (pictured), the smaller FR20 and new FR10 tower, and the prototype FR5 bookshelf. Hard to see with the curtains in the background, but these are diagonal across the corner of the room.

 

[Tom Brennan]

Too bad I didn’t decide on going this year. I would have loved to hear the Fyne Classics and talk with the old Tannoy crew. Oh well….

The 15" Fynes were at the show and sounded good. They played the overture from Ben Hur for me and they passed the Ben Hur test. Nice speakers.

I liked the Lowther room and the Martin Logan stat-dynamic hybrids. I'd stick my head in a room and if I saw a skinny box full of cones and domes I usually passed. The ESD horns sounded good but I can get as good a sound with Altec, JBL and EV gear and not for a million dollars or four million or whatever the Hell they want. The surprisingly modest Harmon room had good solid sound from some run of the mill JBL direct radiators.

The valet parking is worth the 19 bucks, two bits with the tip.

 

[Rudy]

I liked the Lowther room and the Martin Logan stat-dynamic hybrids.

ML had two rooms--one were the Motion line of speakers with the "accordion-fold" tweeters, which are more like traditional bookshelf and tower speakers. The other were the ESL 11A stats. In that latter room, I felt they did themselves a disservice with subpar electronics, as they've done in previous years. (I've only heard one room properly demo them, and they were running the stats using a stack of Constellation amps/preamp/DAC.) I was just discussing this elsewhere, and I almost had the feeling they "jumped the shark" this year by playing up their 40 year heritage, and how "cool" and "stylish" their products are. 🤦‍♂️

 

[Rudy]

BTW, I also don't discount the fact that the type of music some of these rooms play often doesn't play well with the systems. So it may not even be the systems, although it does make you wonder if some of them can handle anything besides acoustic jazz...

 

[Tom Brennan]

BTW, I also don't discount the fact that the type of music some of these rooms play often doesn't play well with the systems. So it may not even be the systems, although it does make you wonder if some of them can handle anything besides acoustic jazz...

I was sick to death of hearing sparsely instrumented lame easy listening Jazz and Blues full of sonic holes to better give an impression of clarity and openess. Very little dense or dynamic music. That's why I enjoyed the Fyne people playing Ben Hur for me. When I got home I played the same music over my Altec 604Es, to my complete satisfaction.

 

[S0und Dragon]

I wonder how many rooms would be willing to play the Telarc 1812 Overture at a decent volume?

 

[JohnVF]

In comparing how my own setup sounds to the typical Axpona setup, mine is less bright. That seems to be a trait in the high end that I just don't like. Most of the setups are exceptionally detailed and zingy up top. I feel this almost always enhances the feeling of listening to a recording rather than a live event, or if a studio creation, just the music itself. It's not that I like a 'warm' sound, I just don't like a brightly lit sound, with a spotlight on everything. My systems are all very detailed, but I pay more attention to natural timbre and an 'organic', for lack of a better term, voicing.

Most of the systems there seemed to be playing way too loudly for their rooms, as there seemed to be a weird emphasis on bass performance, even on smaller speakers. But that volume didn't do a lot of favors for the painful brightness of some of these systems. And while my hearing isn't exactly that of a 22 year old, I must have more top-end left than some of these people, as they seemed far less bothered by it.

Though I was in one room where the guy next to me, who was a manufacturer visiting from another room, kept insisting, "please turn it down, you're going to damage our hearing".

 

[Rudy]

I was sick to death of hearing sparsely instrumented lame easy listening Jazz and Blues full of sonic holes to better give an impression of clarity and openess.

That and female vocals, or vocals in general, with little accompaniment. Especially if it's one of those "emo" singers trying to be heart-wrenching or whatever. I prefer to listen to a little of everything.

Another thing that bothers me--anyone whipping out a 60s or 70s rock album. Few of those are sonic gems, and the systems just make them sound all that more dated. Even if the music is good (arguably--it's usually not my cuppa tea), it sounds like a dull multitrack recording, not audiophile by any stretch of the imagination.

I wonder how many rooms would be willing to play the Telarc 1812 Overture at a decent volume?

That is an interesting thought. Especially the Telarc version with the live cannons. Honestly, that's one classical work I could live my entire life without ever hearing again, but I'd play the ending for those cannons, to see if the speaker really has the cojones to pull it off.

In comparing how my own setup sounds to the typical Axpona setup, mine is less bright. That seems to be a trait in the high end that I just don't like. Most of the setups are exceptionally detailed and zingy up top.

Boomy bass is maybe partly due to the systems, but many modern recordings, even of jazz, have way too much bass content. And I also suspect many have exaggerated highs. If I were seriously auditioning speakers, it would be music I already own and am familiar with on my own system.

I had that experience in Boulder. They had a couple of demo tracks, but then had me request a few. That's when I went to a 1960 Living Stereo recording I know well...and everything just fell into place. No frequency exaggerated, and a soundstage unlike few things I've ever heard before.

It's not that I like a 'warm' sound, I just don't like a brightly lit sound, with a spotlight on everything. My systems are all very detailed, but I pay more attention to natural timbre and an 'organic', for lack of a better term, voicing.

Same here. I've listened to live music (not that amplified/distored sh*t from rock concerts--that's just a giant and dangerously loud stereo system). I've played it. I've had trombones splatting the back of my head in a big band. I've sat a few feet from a drum kit and vibraphones. I've been near the flutes or hell, even play(ed) flute and other woodwinds, and also abused a Baldwin Acrosonic for many years. Those are timbres that stick with me through life, and a proper recording through the right system will sound like they should. Sounding natural is my #1, and natural also includes plumbing the depths of the bass (better be able to do 27Hz cleanly) and having highs that don't sound "off." The extremes are just as important as the middle for me.

 

[JohnVF]

The day before Axpona I went to see my friend's new band play interpretations of Angelo Badalamenti's soundtrack songs and covers of songs from, say, Lee Hazelwood in that style, in a chapel in a Chicago cemetery. It was sparingly amplified, a mixture of room-gain (and reverb) and a strange sound reinforcement speakers in the center of the sanctuary. Think "Trinity Sessions" by Cowboy Junkies for a sound reference. Sax, upright bass, keyboard, vibraphone, vocals.

Not once system at Axpona sounded like that live event. They weren't even really close.

If you routinely go to see live music, you can immediately tell if music playing somewhere is live or recorded. The only thing we can do is approximate it. And knowing that I think frees you up to not go so crazy with this shit. I like to be transported to a feeling of live music but my dog is never confused, running around, like "Where's that bass player? WHERE IS HE?"

And I'm so happy I decided to skip Saturday Axpona and see the band instead, it was so much more memorable.

So if a million dollar system isn't fooling me, I can be a lot more content with my relatively humble setup. I just like sitting in my sunroom and playing records. I wouldn't trade it for anything I heard on Sunday... because the things I heard that bettered it, were so convoluted and large that I'd laugh at myself every time I looked at the stereo.

The WORLD for a very-convincing small-scale setup without garden-hoses supported off the carpet by cabron-fibre tripods running to the speakers (that also has a nice sound and not ridiculous looking record player in it).