LATEST ADDITIONS

If buying a hi-fi product from an internet retailer is like an arranged marriage, a hi-fi show is like speed dating. Not everyone, I realize, approaches hi-fi shows (or speed dating, for that matter) the same way, and anyway, the analogy between hi-fi and dating is far from perfect. Speed dating is how this year's AXPONA, America's biggest hi-fi show, held at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center (above) near Chicago in April, often felt to me as I moved from room to room. Every new system I heard had the potential to become a long-term relationship. Could I live with this one forever?

These days, there's a hi-fi show taking place somewhere on the planet pretty much every weekend, but for me, spring is show season. First, in April, comes AXPONA, which is held near Chicago. AXPONA is the largest North American high-end audio show, making it pretty much impossible for one person to see everything during the three-day event. Even with my focus on record-playing gear, I found myself skipping some rooms, telling myself that I could catch them a month later at High End Munich. Munich is even bigger than AXPONA, so we'll have to see how that plays out.

With that in mind, here are a few things that caught my eye at AXPONA 2024.

Speaker designer Karl-Heinz Fink’s Fink Team recently bought British loudspeaker brand Epos. “We have changed the Epos designs considerably,” Fink told me about the company’s three speaker models. “Epos loudspeakers are less expensive than Fink Team’s, but the engineering is nearly the same as the Fink Team’s.”

Stephan Crump: Slow Water; John Surman: Words Unspoken; Arve Henriksen/Harmen Fraanje: Touch of Time; Charles McPherson: Reverence.

Beyoncé: Cowboy Carter; Various Artists: We Still Can't Say Good Bye: A Musicians' Tribute to Chet Atkins; Old 97's: American Primitive.

Triode Japan premiered two products at High End Munich: the Triode Evolution Pre Preamplifier and the Triode Evolution Musashi Integrated Amplifier ($10,830). The latter runs in class AB in a push-pull configuration, outputting 100Wpc into 8 ohms. It uses four KT 150 and four 12AU7 tubes for its power and pre stages, respectively.

I followed the throng towards the Straight2Tape booth. A darkened entryway beckoned, promising access to a hidden music haven. But as I neared, the illusion shattered. The passageway was a masterfully crafted cardboard facade, complete with lifesize musicians frozen in mid-performance, a gleaming microphone outstretched, and a realistic pop filter catching the nonexistent light.