LATEST ADDITIONS

ProMusica Audio Specialists of Chicago demmed a Naim/Dynaudio system that was initially hard to hear over all the shouting. When things settled down, I enjoyed the lovely warmth and excellent midrange on a bit of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra's recording of Schubert's Symphony 5.

"We're headed into a new era where you can have music delivered your own way," AIX's Mark Waldrep told the assembled throng.

The midrange on Christian McBride's "Hallelujah Time" was excellent, and the deep bass pretty damn fabulous. Ditto for the depth on a recording by Amber Rubarth, and the air on Reference Recordings' hi-resolution version of dance from Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa (you know, the one everyone plays at audio shows). Instrumental timbres were also spot on. Even though Alan Eichelbaum and Sunny Umrao had not been able to successfully tame all the problems in their very slap-happy room—Alan called it "echo chamber"—their set-up persistence allowed the music to come through loud and clear.

As I literally flew through the Marketplace, I wanted to say hello to cable manufacturer Greg Hovsepian of DH Labs. As you can see, however, Greg was but one of many vendors occupied with making a sale.

The ever-kinetic bassist Dean Peer was but one of several musicians providing live music at AXPONA. As you can tell, my camera's indoor, flash-less "Night Scene" setting could not keep up with the movements of Dean and his drummer Bret Mann, who were sponsored by Audio Power Labs and Cardas Audio.

Somehow I managed to snap a single shot of the large, lobby level show directory signage before another throng of eager attendees covered up my view. On Saturday April 26, when AXPONA was mobbed until the last hour of the show, it would have been impossible to take this photo.

Steve Davis, AXPONA founder, caught on the fly between the "Grab 'N Go" snack area and various presentations. Steve had every reason to smile, given the impressive turnout on the first day of the show. But I'll bet he wasn't smiling in the middle of the second, absolutely packed and tremendously successful day when, somewhere after 2 pm, the fire alarm went off and people were ordered to evacuate the hotel. This, after all, was the second year in a row that an ear-piercing fire alarm went off on the busiest day of AXPONA. Thankfully, it was a false alarm. Within a half hour, everyone had returned to the reality of fine sound.